By . Published on September 28, 2014

RA Meeting Minutes 9/28/14

Bates College Student Government

Representative Assembly

MEETING MINUTES

In accordance with the Bates College Student Government Bylaws

(Article I, Section 4)

Sunday, September 28th, 2014

Attendance and Announcements
Officer Reports
1. Treasurer (John Stansel ‘15)
  1. Spoke of an exception made to the funding asked for by the Bates Outing Club for their trip to Ktaadn. Instead of only letting a third of the people go, they made the change to 750 (which allowed two more vans to go, bring twenty more people), they can let half of those who signed up go.
  2. Question: Are you paying anything out of your own pocket?
    1. No, the students are paying for that which is not covered by funding.
  3. Question: How will you be selecting those who signed up?
    1. It will be based on who emails first, saying that they can make the trip.
  4. Vote: All vote in favor. Passes.
2. Vice President of Student Committees (Tenzin Namdol ‘15)
  1. Honorary Degree Committee
    1. Decided to extend the deadline to apply for the honorary degree committee. This will be extended to Wednesday, Oct. 1st, 2014. This committee works with staff to select who receives the honorary awards at the end of commencement.
3. Parliamentarian (Allen Sumrall ‘16)
  1. Proposition of constitutional amendment for senior class co-presidents.
    1. Was reached out to by the Alumni Office. Change called for in by-laws to include responsibilities that the senior class co president had regarding the Alumni Office. Traditionally work with Senior Gift co-chairs to create senior gift. Also in charge of post-graduation communication through compiling annual class writing for newsletters, keeping college informed of class activity, collecting writing for the news letter, etc.
      1. Changes would occur in Article V, inserted into Section I.
      2. Changes were presented to the RA in written form.
      3. Students running for senior class positions were notified to the additional responsibilities, and they had no qualms with this change.
President’s Report – It’s On Us Initiative and Pass/Fail legislation
1. Spoke about getting committees compiled of members of the RA together, regarding the It’s On Us initiative. She spoke with a public director of engagement at the White House, getting in touch with student leadership at school to make a national movement against sexual harassment and violence. Made a plug to form a volunteer committee to do some work as one of the projects that come out of student government to work in line with this initiative. Watched motivational video. Suggestions to mobilize men in combating the issue of sexual assault on college campus.
2. Kody (head of MASV) talked about the issue of their name, and how MASV reaffirmed the stereotype of masculinity. Club tries to promote positive values and traits of masculinity. The majority of sexual offenders are men, but the majority of men are not sexual offenders, and we are left with the opportunity to stop the stereotype, actions, and meaning of masculinity.
3. Four items recognized by initiative
  1. Recognize
  2. Identify
  3. Intervene
  4. Create (a supportive environment for survivors)
4. Five action items pushed by the White House
  1. Take the pledge – Table in commons to urge all college students to sign the pledge (Can take it online too)
  2. Press/Media – press release template we can release to our campus
  3. Early semester round table – as BCSG we can mobilize student leaders and have a conversation about what we can do throughout the year to combat the issue
  4. Form student leadership outreach team – take the lead and recruit other schools in Maine
  5. Change profile picture – takes fifteen seconds to do and it helps spread awareness
5. Jake Barbato motioned to form an AD HOC committee, seconded by RA members
  1. Put to a vote: Votes for: All. Against: 0. Abstaining: 0. Passes
  2. Interested in joining
    1. Anan Ahmed
    2. Forrest Naylor
    3. Kiernan Majerus-Collins
    4. Alyssa Morgosh
    5. Tenzin Namdol
    6. Tayla Duarte
    7. Matt Bodwell
    8. Cole Limbach
    9. Ben Gilmore
  3. How often would the group meet?
    1. Decided in the initial meeting
  4. Responsibilities?
    1. Tabling to spread awareness
    2. Partnering with MASV
    3. Bringing round table discussion with group leaders
Pass/Fail grading legislation
1. At NESAC student government conference, the deadline to drop courses and pass/fail grading came up. Bowdoin changed deadline from five weeks to seven weeks. Ours is one week into the semester, which is very soon after which classes start. Lengthening it would be mutually beneficial for students and teachers – evaluated constantly, and only get credit for the students in their classes on the last day. If option to drop course is changed to pass/fail option, we can stick it out even if we do not thrive in the class.
2. Student who take classes pass/fail do as little work as possible. Teachers could be investing a lot of time in a student who is not trying, as they do not know who is taking a class pass/fail. This is so that they treat all students fairly over the course of their class. You don’t want the teacher to arbitrarily assign grades.
3. Students are encouraged to reach outside their comfort zone, and the option of switching an unfamiliar subject to pass/fail is still beneficial to their growth as a student.
4. Motion to form an AD HOC committee
Adjournment

Respectfully Submitted,

Katharina Harling ‘17

Secretary

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