SGA Spearheads Referendum Publicity Campaign

Author: Devin Zatorski News Editor

The Student Government Association (SGA) has designed a multi-part strategy for encouraging students to vote in the referendum later this week, both to ensure maximum participation and to help constituents make informed decisions, said President Brian Elworthy '02.5.

The SGA Senate entrusted this task to an Honor Code Referendum Committee, which "has taken flight on its own" since its creation, explained Elworthy.

The body is comprised of SGA Press Secretary Gail Gaddis '04, Student Director of Academic Affairs Suzanne Slarsky '02, Senators Erin Sullivan '04.5 and Kevin Sullivan '04.5 and Community Council Representative Becky Ruby '01.5.

Slarsky said the concept of a publicity committee is "unprecedented in recent SGA history" — the SGA usually delegates publicity tasks to a single member — but that "the coherent committee format" has yielded a "far more successful publicity drive."

By sending K. Sullivan and Ruby to present the proposed changes to Honor Code language at commons council meetings, the committee "embraced the commons as a means of disseminating information to the students," Slarsky mentioned.

A second avenue for communicating information to the students is the all-campus Honor Code Forum slated for Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Mead Chapel. Associate Dean of Student Affairs Marichal Gentry, Secretary of the College Eric Davis, Student Co-Chair of Community Council Erica Rosenthal '02 and Chair of the Student Judicial Council Lisa Jasinski '02 will offer brief remarks and field questions in a non-partisan atmosphere.

On the committee's behalf, Rosenthal sent an e-mail to all students on Tuesday night, inviting them to the forum and providing additional information on the substance of the changes. She also attached copies of both the old and new language.

"Hopefully the students will feel informed enough to participate in the referendum," commented Rosenthal.

To supplement the committee's work, Elworthy has asked SGA senators to send an e-mail to their constituencies the day of the referendum to "provide the way they will be voting as well as their rationale," he explained. "Senators have had ample time to review the changes and speak to their constituencies about the decision they will be making."

Elworthy and Rosenthal also authored an opinions piece on the referendum, which appears in this edition of The Middlebury Campus, in which they urge student engagement in the referendum process.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Rosenthal said, "It's really important that students take the opportunity to become informed of the changes because this has been a long and complex process," one that consumed five week's worth of Community Council meetings so far this fall.

"We have done our best to make clear the changes that the changes are substantive and will impact the students on campus," she continued. "The Honor Code is owned by the students."

Rosenthal emphasized that regardless of the referendum's outcome, the College has benefited from the community-wide discussion it has nurtured in recent weeks. The result is a "more prominent place for the Honor Code on campus," but she said the "discussion does not end here."

She promised, "The SGA and Community Council will continue to raise awareness and raise the bar of what is acceptable in terms of academic honesty on campus."

Slarsky echoed this commitment, saying that she "foresees a general strengthening of the academic Honor Code," with the policy becoming "more set in stone" and "integral to student life."

She concluded, "There is a movement towards a more generally virtuous and honorable community," but added that the referendum is only the "first step in addressing this."