By Sophie Lange, Staff Writer
Monday’s meeting focused on changes to the budget process, as well as the approval of two official Senate opinions.
Officer Reports
President Miranda Zamora ’23 opened by offering congratulations to Drew Lemon ’24, Geoffrey Meadville ’25 and Abby Ruggiero ’26 for their recent elections to the respective positions of president, vice president and inclusion officer for the upcoming 2023-24 school year.
Meadville then discussed the current technocratic, senator and class officer election applications not opening correctly. He explained that this was likely an issue with Engage and that it was out of Student Senate’s control.
Treasurer Hannah Repole ’24 gave the budget update. She said the remaining budget for the spring semester was $7,436.98. The rollover fund, which is made up of funds left over from last semester, had a balance of $21,489.53. Repole then discussed the procedure that the Budget Management Committee (BMC) has been using and gave several recommended steps for future budgets.
Repole explained that she and other members of the BMC had noticed that the Senate went over budget almost every year with the exception of the years during the COVID-19 pandemic. The BMC attributed this to several large events hosted by the school. Of more than one hundred events hosted each year, twelve events accounted for more than 60 percent of the yearly budget, and many of these events are hosted annually.
The major suggestion by the BMC was that they continue to informally reserve funds after confirming that these events would continue to be held. It was also suggested that the Senate should have these organizers request funds earlier for events costing more than $999.99. This would allow these larger events to continue without being at the expense of smaller events.
Zamora reminded those present at the meeting that there were only four weeks left to plan events and that the posting policy had changed. She said that the updated posting policy could be found on the College’s website under its freedom of expression section.
Committee Reports
The Senate Opinions Committee reported that, in response to the second diploma fee, Gettysburg no longer offers a second diploma option. Therefore, students must choose whether they wish to receive a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science if they are double-majoring in different fields.
The committee also announced that they would have a cheerleading opinion and a scholarship opinion on the floor later that night.
The Wellness and Safety Committee announced that they planned to host a “Cook-out with the Cops” in conjunction with the College Life Advisory Committee (CLAC) on April 27, but this event was not yet set in stone.
Student Concerns
Many updates on previous student concerns were presented.
In response to concerns about guests in Servo, Dining Services will now be putting up signage when groups are going to be present. They will also be putting menu changes into effect beginning this semester. Additionally, yellow mustard will be offered more consistently in the Bullet Hole. Also, Bullet resolved the issue of paninis being served cold.
Zamora spoke with Director of Campus Recreation and Wellness Annette Hunt-Shepherd about the possibility of offering swimming lessons. Zamora stated that Hunt-Shepherd will be speaking to the aquatics department and the swim team’s coach about this possibility.
The wages opinion codified by the Senate did not go over well with administrators.
When questioned about this, Zamora said, “I was just told that… [the administration] thought the language was a little too demanding, and because of that, they did not respond well to it… Again, as always, they see it as the students bullying the administration.”
Several new concerns were raised.
Senator Jack Murphy ’24 raised two concerns. The first was about a facilities requests regarding the laundry in Paxton not being taken into consideration. This concern was redirected to facilities. The second was about classes being released at the same time around lunch, causing overcrowding in Bullet. Zamora explained that Dining Services was in the process of evaluating scheduling trends to accommodate this, but part of the issue is the lack of available staff.
Budget Requests
Two student organizations made budget requests.
First, International Club requested $200 for food for their event celebrating Bengali New Year. This request was granted in full.
Second, Muslim Student Association requested $2,790 for their event celebrating Eid. The breakdown of this request was as follows: $630 for decorations, $1,860 for food and $300 for transportation. At the recommendation of the BMC, the request was granted in full and funded by the rollover fund.
Old Business
The Senate voted to move the duty of committee attendance policies to the Board of Committee Chairs, making it easier for members who struggle to find times that work for meetings or cannot attend meetings for a semester to be able to participate.
They also voted to table making Academic & Career Affairs, which was a standing committee, an ad hoc committee.
Opinions
The first opinion brought to the Senate floor was in regard to the cheerleading team. The opinion stated that the cheerleading team was not being treated in the same manner as the other intercollegiate teams. The Senate Opinions Committee met with the athletics department but wanted an opinion passed because they were dissatisfied with the response. They sought the reinstatement of cheer travel and procurement of new cheer equipment as a starting point for the team to be treated like the other college-sponsored teams.
Representative of the cheer team Katelyn Grazioli ’25 detailed the way she has been treated in the past by the athletic department staff.
“I fractured my [wrist] this cheer season doing a stunt on the track [without a] mat… I heard my wrist crack… and I had my captain run into the athletic trainer’s office, and [she] asked [Director of Athletic Medicine and Sports Performance and Athletics Health Care Administrator Michael Cantele], ‘Hey, can you come out?… There’s a girl who we think broke her wrist,’ and he made me walk back [to the Athletic Trainer’s Office]… [and told] me that I was not hurt, that I was ‘just a flier,’ and that I could cheer for the rest of the game, so that is the type of treatment that we get… I got tape and a Gatorade.”
Grazioli said she later went to the ER, where they told her that her wrist was broken.
Senate passed the opinion.
Senate then brought to the floor an opinion about scholarships at Gettysburg College. As it stands, when outside scholarships are applied to tuition, the College takes them into account when considering the financial aid package a student receives, which is unlike most other liberal arts colleges of a similar size. Senate voted to pass an opinion recommending the removal of scholarship displacement.
Senate will meet again on April 10.
