By Brandon Fey, News Editor
The meeting opened with a quorum. Attendance was exactly at the minimum quorum for voting.
Officer Reports
President Michael Woods ’25 acknowledged the meeting as the second to last of the year and encouraged everyone to “finish strong.”
Parliamentarian Carl DeMarco ’25 said that the election ballots for the next year’s senate would be available that evening.
Vice President Abby Ruggiero ’26 asked volunteers for the Senate’s upcoming “Big Spring Blowout” event.
Treasurer Jack Thompson ’27 reported that there is $4,700 remaining in the yearly budget, though more will be available once unspent money apportioned to clubs is returned to the Senate.
Inclusion Officer Eckloff stated that there are now QR codes on female product dispensers on campus for students to report malfunctions. In addition, Facilities Services is working on adding the gender-neutral bathrooms on campus to the online repair form.
Advisor Report
Director of Student Activities and Greek Life Jon Allen reported that the Garthwait Leadership Center would host its Leadership Showcase on Wednesday, with different panels and a gala in the CUB ballroom. Additionally, the International Food Fest will be held on Saturday on the field beside Servo.
Guest Speaker
The Senate hosted Dining Services Director Deb Hydock and Executive Director of Auxiliary Services Michael Bishop for a discussion on College Dining Services.
Hydock began by explaining that Dining Services oversees Servo, the Bullet Hole, Commons and College Catering, while providing lunch for the Growing Place campus day care. Dining is self-operated through the College with no outside contract, and is licensed and inspected through the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
She said that staff members receive training in safe food handling and allergens, which is regularly updated. 12 staff members have full allergen certification and there is a separate allergen kitchen that serves over 100 students with a registered food allergy.
Dining staff also take the temperature of food regularly during each meal to ensure safety.
Dining facilities also use locally grown and processed food when possible, and constantly have a manager on duty available to speak with students.
Hydock mentioned Dining Services’ student-run Instagram and TikTok accounts (both @gburgdining) as good resources for information about hours, specials and events.
In addition to social media, the new FD Meal Planner app has replaced the menu previously posted on the website. Hydock said that the app gives more information than was available on the website, including nutritional analysis and potential allergens of each meal.
Servo has an “order ahead” option, where food from Litefare can be picked up between 1:30 and 4:35 p.m. each weekday at the Grill on Lincoln. Food can also be ordered ahead from the Bullet Bar through “Bullet Express.”
Hydock also talked about Dining’s sustainability initiatives, in that food waste is processed through the Pro Pulper system in Servo, and then dehydrated by an Eco vim machine into a sterile biomass used by Facilities around campus. Dining also makes an effort to recycle cardboard, glass and plastics.
“Servo to Go” has been a popular addition this year, allowing students to take food from Servo in a reusable container. There have been over 2,000 checkouts of Servo to Go containers this semester, and a total of 3,009 last fall by over 2,000 patrons.
Hydock also mentioned Servo’s award-winning themed dinners and revealed that the next one will be a “Wonka theme” and will take place next fall.
In response to questions from the floor, Hydock said that Dining will explore heartier options for Vegetarians, including tofu and bean products. She also said that Dining is committed to improving the FD Meal Planner app, and has already devoted a substantial amount of time to entering recipes. She said that while it remains a “work in progress,” Dining will not return to the previous system in which menus were posted online.
Honor Commission
The next guest speakers were three student representatives from the Honor Commission to discuss plans for collaboration with the Senate next year, after its proposed amendment to give faculty the option to proctor exams was rejected in a Senate vote.
In light of this, the representatives said that technology changes have introduced new methods of cheating, and that the Honor Code must also change to reflect what is currently happening in classrooms at the College.
They explained that several faculty members have already been proctoring exams despite the current policy, which requires that they leave the room during examinations. The amendment being currently revised would officially allow faculty to proctor exams as long as the intention to do so is explicitly written in their syllabi. The Honor Code would still encourage faculty to allow their students to self-proctor, but would not keep self-proctoring mandatory.
Some senators asked about the potential for compromise with the amendment, mentioning a possible system where proctoring is allowed for only certain classes, perhaps at the 100 or 200 levels.
Student Concerns
President Woods commented on the progress that has been made on previous student concerns:
- Commons is looking into better coffee cups that limit spillage.
- The original brand of the tropical mango juice has returned to the drink fountains at Servo.
- Pomegranate seeds will be available again at Servo when they are back in season in the Fall.
- School supplies will be available for purchase at the new bookstore, including multiple types of headphones.
- The bookstore will be managed by the UK-based UGS logo company, which will provide store merchandise. These will be mostly the same brands with more UGS products.
The floor was then opened for students to voice new concerns:
- There is a handle missing on the door to the CUB near the junction.
- The new plastic cup lids at the Bullet Hole are of poor quality.
- The Blue PowerAid Zero and Peach-Mango Body Armor beverages have been discontinued by the College’s supplier. The College will look into new zero-sugar sports drinks to be offered at Commons.
- Sections of Servo are closed on weekends, limiting seating.
- The possibility of a portion of dining dollars rolling over to the next semester will be requested.
New Business
The DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship requested $2,000 to attend the annual “Focus” conference in Newville, PA. The Budget and Management Committee recommended funding for the entire amount, which was approved in full.
A new policy was proposed to mandate attendance of senators at assigned committees by marking an unannounced absence as “unexcused.” This was approved with unanimous consent, as was required.
An additional policy proposed that the Inclusion Officer would be separate from the Inclusion Committee leader to divide duties more evenly. This was also passed unanimously.
Prior to adjournment, President Woods shared the link for senators to vote on annual “Senate superlatives” to be announced at the final meeting.
