By Sarah Laud, Staff Writer
Senate was called to order on March 28 by President Sydney Quan ’22. Secretary Evelyn Datte ’24 took roll.
Officer reports began with Quan. She reminded the floor about the Senate’s expectation of respect for each other. She said, “You have two ears and one mouth. Please listen to what you are saying before you speak. It is not hard to do.” She ended this week’s presidential report with reminding the group of the College’s upcoming Get Acquainted Day for accepted students. Quan noted that it is important for current students to get involved so that accepted students can see what campus is like. She encouraged members of Senate who are involved on campus to sign up and represent their club.
Vice President Miranda Zamora ’23 reminded that the election forum on March 29 at 7 p.m. in Mara Auditorium. The forum is for the student body to get to know the candidates for President and Vice President. If students have any general questions, comments, and concerns about the election, contact Zamora. Zamora also announced her stepping down from organizing President and Vice President elections due to her candidacy for President. Quan will be taking over.
Treasurer Connor Heath ’23 gave a budget update. Money allotted for Student Senate is $91,511. As of now, $57,754.82 has been spent with $33,746.18 remaining. There is a rollover fund of $41,994.53.
Datte gave an update about the Senate Open taking place on April 2. The Open will be Glow Theme. Datte encouraged the group to reach out to her with questions.
Jon Allen, Director of the Office of Student Activities and Greek Life (OSAGL) and Senate’s advisor, announced that spaces on campus are limited for club and organizations’ events to take place. Currently, the Attic and Mara Auditorium is booked through most Thursday through Sunday. If any more clubs or organizations plan on having something before the end of the semester, sign up for your event as soon as possible.
Committee reports began with an update from Safety. Elizabeth Farner will be attending their meeting on Friday 11 a.m. to noon in CUB 212 to discuss and debate the new proposed medical amnesty policy. At the meeting, they will also be discussing the current key to see if there can be room in the future to switch to ID cards, codes, etc. The reasoning is that technology is changing and so should we to ensure that campus is more secure.
Senate announced the well-being survey going out to the student body and encourages students to take it so they can make the appropriate changes. At the Policy Committee’s meeting this Friday, they will be discussing standing rules and going over leadership positions on campus.
Budget requests began with the 26th Pennsylvania College Guard (PCG). They hope to host a Daniel Lady Farm Reenactment with the hope of funding in the amount of $2,075 for the event and replacement of clothing and equipment. BMC recommended passing the amount in full. The motion passed.
Gettysburg’s American Cancer Society requested a budget for Relay for Life of $4,978.24. When the event was last hosted in 2019, the budget request was about the same. BMC recommended the full amount minus the prices of prizes. The motion to approve the request in full passed.
Club reports and announcements began with the announcement of a Listeners and Performers event on Sat. April 2 from 9–11 p.m. at Waldo’s.
Hillel is hosting Passover Seder on April 21 from 6–8 p.m. in the Atrium.
Peace and Justice Studies is inviting anyone who is artsy and creative to submit their work to the Peace and Justice Studies Art Competition. For more information contact Daniel Jones at joneda05@gettysburg.edu.
On April 2, Alpha Chi Rho and Alpha Phi Omega are hosting their Anything is Possible 5k from 9 a.m.–noon.
Lauren Browning announced her student-directed show on April 8–9. Gettysburg’s Women’s Network is launching their first meeting on Wed. March 30 from 8-9PM in Glatfelter Lodge. Chipotle will be served. Spark is hosting an event on Thurs. April 14th from 8:30-9:30PM. ROTC is having PT weekly at 6:25AM.
Student concerns were expressed. A student brought up concerns about vending machine accessibility. The snack machine has been removed from the library. It was found that the removal was a result of getting printers in the basement. The beverage machine in Hanson is also broken.
Another student requested that there be a water fountain on all dorm floors. Senate responded that they have funded them before and will look into the matter.
The next student concern surrounded the installation of Wellness Days. The student asked whether Senate has the power to request more Wellness Days to the administration. President Quan said that it has been in the conversation and can certainly be brought up again.
The final student concern included a concern about there being no traffic light in between Lincoln and Washington Street for student foot-traffic. Senate decided that their concern should be brought up to Safety.
New business on the floor began with Jack Comegno ’24. He proposed an amendment to Senate’s Constitution regarding class officers going abroad. The amendment proposed that those interested in being a class officer should not be penalized because of their plans to go abroad. At the same time, class officers are always looking to bring in more students to give opinions on events, etc. The amendment would allow the replacement of class officers during their time abroad. As such, class officers will run on a joint ticket. Both officers will serve on a full capacity, but for opposite semesters.
Discussion began on the floor. There was a concern that sophomores interested in studying abroad would not be able to exercise the amendment since it excluded them in the proposed language, allowing only juniors to benefit. It was decided that there was no reason not to include the sophomore class and this change to the amendment would be made.
Vice President Miranda Zamora ’23 checked the constitutionality of the amendment’s passing. She reminded the floor that elections for technocratic and class officers open April 8 and close on April 18. The amendment would need to be tabled at this meeting in order for it to be passed in full, apply to the new elections, and applicable next year. A motion was made to include both sophomores and juniors to be eligible to run for class officer while they are abroad for one semester. A second motion to table to amendment. The motion carried.
There were three opinions proposed to the floor, the first regarding off campus housing. The current administrative plan is to decrease off-campus housing by 50% during the 2022–2023 academic year and eliminate it the following year of 2023–2024. A proposed document expressed concern of getting rid of the traditions of living off-campus. Seniors have had the privilege of off-campus housing, something that is advertised to prospective students during admissions info-sessions and tours. The tradition of living off-campus is to practice independence and autonomy. The floor recalled being told this when they decided to come to Gettysburg College.
A discussion continued on the floor. One student brought up the fact that Gettysburg is a 4-year residential college and that the administration is trying to live up to that name in conjunction with ensuring that students have the most culturally diverse experience with living in the same quarters. Inclusion Officer Alexandros Economou ’22 recognized that people are different, yet that living closer is not necessarily beneficial nor does it work to put aside those differences.
Another discussion included the power Senate has, not only in passing this opinion, but whether their doing so would do anything to sway the administration. Daniel Jones ’22 supports the concern about the removal of off-campus housing, but said that the administration’s decision is unlikely to get revoked. In fact, Residential Life has expressed that Senate has no power to say anything on the matter.
Students discussed how the student body and Senate needs to do more in order for themselves to be heard. If there is a cause that both the students and Senate can collectively stand behind, their cause is better recognized by the administration. Senate knows that just their talking about the matter gets put in The Gettysburgian and that makes the student body aware that there is discussion taking place. As such, freshmen and sophomores are encouraged to go to the administration. To make Senate’s case stronger, precise student demographics should be consulted on who lives off campus. The logic behind passing the opinion is to allow Senate to take their voice and have the utility of passing something with Senate’s name on it. The motion for the opinion to be send back to committee for revisions and to be brought up later was carried.
The next opinion included the college’s foreign language requirement. The student body has an international population where these students are most likely fluent in more than one language. Some of them question their need to fulfill the language requirement when they are already bilingual. “This is something that many students who speak multiple languages struggle with,” Ratul Pradhan ’25 said. Since the curriculum is undergoing major changes, the opinion proposed that language resolution should expand the exemption to non-native English speakers. The motion passed.
The final opinion was concerned with current COVID-19 policy, specifically the process in which the administration goes through to decide what or what not to enforce. There is concern present over the fact that there has been little or no meaningful student debate over the recent booster mandates. Discourse between students and college administration regarding COVID is present. Although students hope there will not be anymore COVID policies, the opinion proposed that the College should be creating these policies alongside students. The motion to table the opinion and send it back to committee was passed.
Senate was adjourned.
