O'Rourke wins SGA presidency

Election results are in, and Middlebury has chosen its new Student Government Association (SGA) President: Riley O’Rourke ’12. O’Rourke won the election by a wide margin, garnering 291 votes, while Sabrina Bektesevic ’11 followed with 170 votes and Ethan Schmertzler ’12 received 96 votes.

Notably, out of a student body of more than 2,300 students, only 557 students voted — 23 percent of the student body. Minimal student participation is a source of concern for SGA members, who hope that voter turnout will increase in future elections.

Raffie Parke ’13 felt that low voter turnout may have reflected lack of direct communication between candidates and the student body. “It’s hard to say whether it is the student body’s responsibility to seek out information about the candidates’ platforms or if the candidates should make their positions more clear. On one hand, it takes about 10 seconds to vote online, so why wouldn’t you? But on the other hand, if you’re not familiar with the candidates, you may not have an opinion you feel you need to voice.”

At the SGA meeting on April 18, discussion addressed an issue that affects every student on campus: housing.

Senator Tony Huynh ’13 moved to discuss the future of gender-neutral housing on campus. Gender-neutral housing is a system in which student housing is not restricted by traditional gender limitations. The idea of gender-neutral housing developed out of demand from students whose housing wishes could not be fulfilled due to their gender identification or gender expression. Although gender-neutral housing is on the rise, and has already been implemented at many peer institutions (including Williams, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Brown, Harvard and Yale), the College still lacks a policy specifically addressing gender-neutral housing.  This lack of clear policy regarding roommate choice posed a problem during the recent housing draw, in which two first-years of different genders struggled to obtain a two-room double in Coffrin. Approval was granted, and Atwater Commons changed their policy to allow different genders to room together in these two-room doubles. However, the problem still remains that the College addresses such housing issues on a case-by-case basis. Huynh, and many members of the SGA Senate, feel that the College should work to determine college policy regarding gender-neutral housing.

“Now is the time, with housing drama behind us, to tackle the issue of gender-neutral housing as a whole,” said Huynh. Huynh’s goal is to make the entire housing system gender-neutral for sophomores and above, since first-years do not have the option to choose their roommates or living situations. SGA President Mike Panzer ’10 notes that the Community Council has already begun to address the housing issue, and thus Huynh’s initiative will fit in well with current discussion over gender issues on campus.

In other business, Vrutika Mody ’10 moved to discuss the Public Speaking Initiative, a movement that the SGA and Middlebury faculty and staff have been developing since its inception in 2006. Mody and Katie Hylas ’09 started the student initiative with a goal of providing all students, from first-years to seniors, with any training they need to be comfortable with public speaking. The initiative then gained the support of the CTLR, which offered a Winter Term class on oral presentations and held workshops for students presenting at the Student Symposium held last weekend. In addition, the CTLR developed a public speaking tutor program in addition to collaborating on the creation of a public speaking rubric for faculty use. Mody shared the initiative’s goals at the SGA meeting to increase student awareness about public speaking tutoring opportunities. Mody hopes that seniors preparing to defend their theses or present independent projects will take advantage of the tutoring resources available in order to improve their presentation skills.

The SGA also discussed two administrative issues. First, it discussed a proposal to amend the SGA bylaws to include a mechanism for reexamining existing legislation. Currently, there is no mechanism within the bylaws of the SGA to reexamine or repeal previously enacted pieces of legislation, a mechanism that was deemed necessary by the SGA to ensure an effectively functioning government body. The committee will vote next week on the revision of the bylaws, which will outline a novel repeal process.

In other administrative news, the SGA voted to approve the 2010-2011 SGA budget. The budget totals $46,350, which includes ACTR funding ($10,000), awards for faculty and staff ($1,000), newspapers ($18,150 to purchase The Campus subscriptions, $6,000 for other subscriptions), and operating costs ($4,000), in addition to individual committee budget allocations.