The SGA meeting on April 19 opened with an announcement from President Taylor Custer ’15 that the recently passed proposal Coffee Hour would take place at 8:30 p.m. every remaining Tuesday of this school year, in either Davis Family Library or Bicentennial Hall.
Next, Director of Membership Nick Warren ’15 gave an update on the upcoming elections. As of April 19, there were no uncontested races and still more candidates were announcing their interests in running.
At the April 19 meeting, one act and one resolution were passed. The Senate Reform Act sponsored by President Custer was voted on and passed unanimously. It will make slight changes to the procedure of the Senate and its outreach to the student body.
Additionally, the Resolution on Sexual Respect was discussed and eventually passed. Sponsored by Senators Josh Berlowitz ’16 and Georgia Grace Edwards ’18, this resolution established the Senate’s support of changes around campus to promote sexual respect. Some changes were made to the resolution in response to the original discussion of it the week prior, such as including a definition of “sexual respect” and promotion of an affirmative consent policy. It passed 16-0-1.
On April 19, Warren announced that the Student Liaison on Endowment Affairs needed to be selected for the 2015-2016 academic year. The SGA then nominated a committee of senators to review the applications and choose three of the strongest applicants to be interviewed by the Senate at the April 26 meeting. A week later, the Senate interviewed the candidates and then voted to enter “Executive Session” which excluded the public from discussion and selection of the SLSEA. They selected a candidate unanimously and will announce their choice soon.
At the April 26 meeting, a group from JusTalks presented their resolution to make JusTalks mandatory for all first-years. The resolution was sponsored by Senators Naila Jahan ’15 and Kyle Gertenschlager ’15. It supported the instituting of a weekly discussion section in all first year seminars that would be led by two JusTalks facilitators. Each week the discussion would have a different theme, and the semester-long curriculum would promote the discussion of justice and diversity issues in the modern world.
“With an SGA resolution in hand we have a lot more legitimacy towards our cause,” JusTalks member Jiya Pandya
’17 said.
There was some resistance to the idea of making this discussion mandatory and overloading the First Year Seminar curriculum, but ultimately the resolution passed with a vote of 11-4-1.
Today, in addition to deciding the races for next year’s Senate, SGA President and Community Council Co-chair, students will vote on a proposed amendment to the Honor Code that has been brought forward by members of the SGA.
The amendment to the Code has two parts. The first is to add the Community Standards to the Honor Code, making the Code a broader statement on community integrity than its current incarnation, which focuses only on academic honesty. The proposed amendment has a provision that would enact a biennial referendum on the Honor Code. If the amendment passes, every other year students will vote on the Honor Code with the option to maintain, revise or eliminate the Code. The amendment requires 2/3 of the student body to vote in favor in order to pass.
