SGA Update: 12/03/09

At the Nov. 22 Student Government Association (SGA) meeting, Dean of the Students Gus Jordan spoke about the College’s controversial “sober friend” program, clarifying that sober friends were not legally liable for their intoxicated friends. However, when questioned about the unpopularity of the program, he pointed out that being a sober friend or having to be taken care of by a friend was not meant to be a positive experience.

Rather, he explained that the draining experience of being a sober friend was designed to put the responsibility of alcohol consumption back into students’ hands, in effect creating a student policing system. Students would be less prone to overdrinking if they knew that they would have to be closely watched by a friend for the rest of the night, according to Jordan. Satisfied with Jordan’s explanation of the new alcohol policy, SGA did not plan any future action concerning the issue. However, the College’s decision to close Parton Health Center over the weekends will be debated at later meetings in 2010.

Also on the meeting agenda was the MiddView orientation program, formerly called MOO, which was cut from the College budget in 2008 and replaced with a student initiative called OINK. Earlier this semester, the SGA Finance Committee and the Middlebury Mountain Club sent out a survey asking students whether they supported renewing MiddView orientation, with a majority of answering students in favor of a reinstatement. Because of this seemingly large level of support, the SGA invited Derek Doucet, director of Middlebury Outdoor Programs, to present a proposal for SGA funding. He suggested that the SGA would fund MiddView over the next three years, with a cost of $50,000 per year. Most SGA senators seemed to be in favor of the proposal and a bill that would build funding for it into the SGA’s financial structure will be introduced at this week’s meeting.