Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
StuCo Spring Elections
Terms are up at the end of the semester for the following StuCo members: Student Groups Advisor Lanie Schlessinger ’15, Campus Life Representative Tony Lee ’15, Educational Policy Representative Rachel Stein ‘15, Financial Policy Representative Natalia Choi ’15, and Co-President Vic Brady ’13.
More information will be emailed out in the next week.
Meeting with Dean Braun
Brady said he sat down with Dean Braun last Friday to discuss the one passed referendum (Question 2, on gender neutrality). He said they also discussed sexual assault. Brady encouraged StuCo members to attend the Wednesday night meeting being held by Dean of Students Liz Braun and President Rebecca Chopp in Kohlberg Coffee Bar.
Brady said that Braun highlighted practical solutions including the hiring of an external consultant to evaluate sexual assault policies. Amherst is currently doing the same.
The idea of hiring a consultant at Swarthmore has been floated for several months. Readers will note that the Monday morning email statement from Chopp, which mentioned the external consultant, was therefore already “going public” before the story on sexual assault was published in Monday’s edition of The Daily Gazette.
Student Budget Committee (SBC)
SBC Chair Jacob Adenbaum ’14 led 2013-2014 budgeting discussion at the StuCo meeting. Adenbaum said that he has analyzed student labor positions on campus in order to ensure that positions like SBC Chairperson and Manager, which have historically been underpaid, will have an increase in hours for pay next year. Adenbaum has estimated that about $10,000 more will need to be put into student labor next year.
StuCo Co-President Gabby Capone ’14 expressed a desire for greater accountability before pay is increased. She would like to see committees attending StuCo meetings, SBC hours, and Student Senate meetings to check in more often. A distinction was made between student laborers who produce a product for the campus, such as The Phoenix and The Daily Gazette, and those who do not.
The floor was opened for StuCo members to vote but in the end Co-President Vic Brady ’13 decided to hold off. StuCo has asked Adenbaum to submit a side-by-side comparison of this year and next year’s budget, broken down by student positions.
StuCo Constitution
Capone proposed an amendment to the StuCo Constitution adding experience requirements for StuCo candidates. Students will now need to complete one semester at Swarthmore before running for positions on StuCo. Anyone running for Co-President will now need to have either one semester of experience as a member of either StuCo or SBC or attend at least five Student Council meetings during that academic year.
Philly Access Program
The Co-Presidents discussed funds for the program to expand next year. SBC has allocated $6,000 to the program for next year, but StuCo is still looking for other forms of funding, like shuttle service and President’s Office funding.
This week, the program received well over 250 students requested tickets. The program’s eighth and final week will be next week.
Miscellaneous
StuCo has acquired all materials to begin filling in the calendar in Shane Lounge. Schlessinger and Brady will meet on Wednesday night to begin working on it.
Student Outreach Coordinator Aya Ibrahim ’15 said the LSE was a success, though she noted the unfavorable acoustics of the field house. Ibrahim would also like to remind any groups needing to reserve a space for an event that might need chairs and tables to do so with at least one week’s notice in order to avoid end of the semester chaos.
The Student Senate Rules and Logistics working group has been asked to outline the bylaws by which the whole Senate will operate. Once these bylaws have been compiled they will be sent out to the campus for a vote. By the start of next semester the Student Senate will have a permanent structure in place.
Appointments Chair Yuan Qu ’14 announced that over 90 applications have been submitted for committees. With the application deadline extended for the handful of committees that did not receive enough applications, Qu expects to receive well over 100 applications. Applications will be read during the next two weeks with interviews to follow.
