By Garrett Adams, Staff Writer
Associate Dean of College Life Jim Duffy and Director of the Jaeger Center and Campus Recreation Cindy Wright, two members of the Academic Advising Committee, dominated the agenda for Monday night’s Student Senate meeting, followed by amendments, club recognition, and funding.
The Academic Advising Committee is charged with reviewing the academic advising on campus and its effect on the students and faculty on campus. The main goal of meeting with senate was to “Look at strengths and challenges in… first-year advising… faculty advising… and major advising,” Wright said. The floor was then opened to the members of senate to share their opinions and experiences in the different groups.
Some students felt that there needed to be a way for Academic Advising to connect more with students and their personal needs. A few students voiced that there is a disconnect between the college and first-generation students with the office as well.
Senator Alexandros Economou ’22 called for an easier way for “neuro-diverse students to find the information they need.”
Many of the students were also pushing for more inter-departmental relations for students wishing to expand their advising into a separate or new field. They viewed the process of receiving a first-year advisor as rather flawed and said that they were often frustrated with not being able to make connections with different departments through their advisor.
“I think there’s a common theme of understanding protocol… and the training of first-year advisors,” Duffy said.
The meeting then moved onto the case of the newest amendment which entailed ending Senate funding towards de-recognized clubs.
Parliamentarian Shane Carley ‘22 summarized the amendment: “Any items purchased by clubs using Senate funds will be repossessed by the Senate should the club be de-recognized.”
The amendment was sent back to committee to reword and will be seen again next week.
Club recognition was the next item on the agenda with Il Circolo Italiano leading the way. This was a club re-recognition by Senate. The club intends to spread Italian culture around campus through various within the year. They were re-recognized by senate.
A new club called Younglife came forward as a “non-denominational mission community” according to their representative. The club is to provide leadership and mentoring to various students in the Gettysburg school system while advocating the ideas and morals of Christ. After a very brief discussion they were also approved.
The committee reports ended the meeting with Academic and Career Affairs announcing that students of the Class of 2023 will be able to declare a business major next semester. The Safety Committee will also be moving around campus during their next meeting looking for areas that are poorly lit at night and plan on meeting with the college about those issues.
