Senate Tables Amendment That Would Derecognize Inactive Clubs
Fall leaves on Stevens Lawn (Photo by Gettysburg College.)
By Katie Oglesby, News Editor
Senate’s Oct. 28 meeting began by swearing in the newly appointed Inclusion Officer, Daniel Jones ‘22.
Chair of Opinions Committee Giacomo Coppola ‘22 gave his committee report discussing a proposed opinion to have members of the Student Senate take the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), which is a three-part implicit bias test. The opinion passed.
Senate Parliamentarian Lauren Browning ‘22 discussed an amendment being proposed. She proposed that club representatives must meet with their affinity group leaders once a week during mandatory affinity group leader office hours. A club that failed to show up to these weekly meetings would be derecognized upon the third warning.
Browning said, “We’re trying to make sure that everyone is actually voicing their opinions…because I feel like sometimes club reps [are like] ‘why am I here?’ It’s because you have a voting member and you should talk to them about your specific issues.”
Nadine Snyder ‘21 expressed a concern that derecognition of a club after three missed meetings with an affinity group leader was a harsh consequence because not all clubs have concerns that need to be addressed on a weekly basis.
Browning responded that “The point of an affinity group leader is not to give a vote to a specific person. It’s to give a vote to someone who represents someone…so at least the affinity group leader isn’t making an educated guess on how their constituents would feel about [a proposal].”
Senate tabled the amendment.
Miranda Zamora ‘23 discussed the recent meetings of the College Life Advisory Committee, which is working with the College to handle COVID. She discussed the decision-making process for the Spring Semester while students brought up concerns about transparency and possible breaks in the academic calendar in the Spring with the absence of Spring Break.
Lucas Toglia ‘22 gave a presentation for the Diversity Committee about empowering marginalized communities on campus to join the Senate and forming a new group for students of color and LGBTQ+ students in Greek Life.
“I think we’ve really seen that there are clear barriers for underrepresented students to join the Senate and gain leadership positions,” he said. “We really need to make sure that we are changing that because I think it couldn’t have been more clear that there is this problem where our Senate right now is not reflective of the student body.”
He then passed the conversation onto Colin Hughes ‘23 to discuss plans to work with the Department of Public Safety (DPS) on reforms over stricter reporting guidelines and the use of force.
Senate will meet again Monday, Nov. 2.
