SGA gears up for '06 elections Smoking recommendation comes to vote at long last

Author: Scott Greene

The Student Government Association (SGA) announced its candidates for the positions of SGA President and Student co-Chair of the Community Council (SCCOCC) during its meeting on Sunday, April 9 in the Robert A. Jones '59 House conference room, a list that does not include current SGA President Eli Berman '07.5. The SGA also passed a recommendation regarding the College's recent smoking issue, and engaged members of the SGA's Finance Committee in a discussion on improving the transparency of the fund-allocation process.

After allowing the prospective candidates to speak before the SGA and highlight their campaign platforms, members of the senate excused them from the room to approve their candidacies. The SGA approved both candidates for SGA President, Alex Stanton '07 and Alina Levina '09. In addition, the Senate approved all three candidates for SCCOCC, Annie Williams '07, Ryan Tauriainen '08 and Mike Tierney '09. The election will take place from April 20-21.

Berman said that though he would not run for re-election, he was grateful for the opportunity to lead the SGA during what he characterized as a great year.

"I spoke with many student leaders, doing many important things, and I realized that we really do have the power to make effectual change," he explained. "Grades? Social life? Who knows? But hopefully those things may rise more than a little bit next year with a little more time on my hands."

In addition to hearing from and approving each candidate, the SGA also passed its recommendation to the Community Council with regards to possible smoking restrictions on campus.

The SGA recommended that "smoking be kept a respectable distance from entryways," pointing out that there exists "neither an entitlement to be able to smoke on campus, nor one to have a smoke-free campus."

The Senate approved the bill with little opposition. However, Senator Jessica Singleton '08.5 motioned for a friendly amendment stating that senators will support and endorse the recommendation by writing op-eds. She believes this strategy is in line with the recommendation's "goal of mutual respect," supporting its soft-sphere ideology and off-radius nature.

"The reason that the soft radius is a good idea is because it isn't patronizing and enforcing," she said, adding that "indirect enforcement gives people the opportunity to be respectful of each other, and everyone should be aware of the need for the respect that we agree to when we sign the honor code."

The Community Council will consider the SGA's recommendation along with recommendations from the Faculty Council and Staff Council. In a recent vote, the staff council did not reach a clear consensus on the issue, but the most largely supported option involved a ban of smoking on campus.

"They have not actually weighed in with a recommendation," cautioned Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson as she played down the outcome of the staff council's vote. "They've only shared their votes." She added that the Community Council fears that professional staff responded mostly to the survey rather than staff without on-campus e-mail access.

"The faculty council and staff council may have different recommendations and we'll try to work towards a compromise," explained Eli Berman with regards to the plurality of opinion that the Community Council will sort through. Still, he asserted that "(Senators) Max Nardini, Antoinette Rangel and I will be there and we'll push for this respect, a respectful distance away from the door."

After passing the recommendation, the SGA summoned several members of its Finance Committee to the front of the room for a lengthy discussion. The Finance Committee is an administrative body that tries to allot the Student Activities Fund based on what committee member Ben Lowenburg '06 described as "the concept that this money is given to students for the purpose of supporting student life on campus."

Many of the Senate's questions revolved around the Finance Committee's perceived place within the power structure of the student government. Lowenburg explained that the Committee is a non-elective, administrative body that is applicant-based because it doesn't want to be political at all. He added that the Committee follows a very strict set of guidelines when delegating money.

Still, other members of the Senate questioned whether these guidelines served the interests of every single group on campus. The Finance Committee agreed that while 95 percent of incoming fund requests pose no problems, more can be done to properly handle the five percent of applicants who conflict with the rigid guidelines.

Berman defended the Finance Committee, saying that it has done a great job.

"They follow the guidelines perfectly, and nobody is questioning their integrity or anything," he said, while noting that complaints about the Finance Committee have been "at an all-time low."

The discussion culminated with the formation of an ad-hoc committee, consisting of members from both the Senate and the Finance Committee, to discuss reforming the Finance Committee to create what Berman called "a structure that best allows for student initiatives."

Berman added that "the primary way to do that is with communication. Right now we want to make them more accountable to someone, to make it so that conversation is completely necessary in order to function."