April 5 Senate minutes

by Lucy Morris

Friday April 21, 2006

The April 5 Senate meeting began with short speeches by the three candidates for Senate Treasurer for the 2006-2007 academic year. One contender, current first year Secretary Samantha Scala, said her experience as a senator and as a member of the Student Activities Subcommittee (which allocates most funding) qualified her for the position and said that as treasurer, she would “make it easier for students to get on SAS agenda[s].”

Another candidate, first year Thomas Loder, said he knew club chairs who are “scared to go to Senate” for funding, and as Treasurer would “promote a healthy atmosphere” in which to do that.

Sophomore Frances Grimstad, who said that having bankers as parents meant dealing with finances from an early age, emphasized her goal to make Senate funding transparent. “I want to create an open treasury at this school,” she said. “I want this budget to be taken out of the hands of the Treasurer and back into the hands of the student body.”

Elections for the Secretary position were to take place the following day. Senior Chair Sara Tunick urged senators to “endorse the elections” and to vote.

Continuing discussion of Senate Bylaws focused this week on the introduction of Bylaw 2.4.3, regarding the Student Body Meeting (SBM). Currently, SBM, which holds Senate-granted club status, exists as an independent monthly forum in which community members are invited to discuss a pre-designated topic. Recently, an informal Senate committee including first year Vice-Chair Neil Makhija and sophomore Senator Alana Sliwinski, has talked with SBM co-chairs senior Jesse Hensel and first year Dylan Morgan about forging an official relationship between the two bodies.

The discussion culminated in a proposed Bylaw 2.4.3, which terms Senate “responsible for providing a monthly forum for students to address…concerns or questions regarding the College.” The bylaw goes on to designate ways in which senate can generally help manage SBM. Among them, the Senate Vice-Chair is “responsible for organizing the meeting agenda,” which will “be sent out one week prior to the meeting in a global e-mail.” The bylaw also assigns to Summer Senate the duty of booking Reisinger for the meetings, which will take place “at the same time as the monthly faculty meeting so as to not conflict with any academic commitments.” In its last clause, the bylaw mandates that “anyone with relevant information to the issue [being discussed] shall be invited to attend.”

Some senators expressed discomfort with the idea of a formal union between SBM and Senate. “On one hand,” said senior class Co-President Alexandra Conboy, “If Senate co-opts Student Body Meeting, perhaps that means [the meeting] will always happen.” However, noting that “Senate’s reputation for being helpful to students is not great,” Conboy offered the possibility that Senate’s involvement could prove “damaging” to SBM. Conboy, who has attended SBM herself, did advocate for “a strong Senate presence” at meetings.

Sophomore Senator Catherine Hooper emphasized that SBM leaders had strongly advocated for the union and that it would not entail significant changes in the nature of the meetings. Makhija offered his position in favor of the bylaw. “It doesn’t really make sense to have any outside body that’s more relevant [than Senate],” he said, adding in response to concerns about the relationship diminishing SBM’s purpose as an independent body, “We pay for SBM so we pretty much are [already] in control of it.” Senior and previous SBM Moderator Richard Contreras disagreed, saying, “Senate pays for [SBM’s] donuts, not for the meeting.”

The allotted time for discussion of Bylaw 2.4.3 ran out and the matter was tabled. Subsequently, Bylaw 4.2.4, which explains the purpose and formation procedures of Senate’s Bylaw Committee, was proposed in place of existing committee-related Bylaw 2.3.5. A suggested addition of a clause 8 to Bylaw 3.1.3 (D) further clarified the matter. The clause mandates that the Senate Parliamentarian serve on the Bylaw Committee. Both bylaws were passed in one vote, though no action was taken to strike down Bylaw 2.3.5.

Senate heard two proposals for funding, one from senior PernaLyn Baier and junior Nomfundo Msomi for a Friends From Philly Phest in celebration of Earth Day, and one from Emma Gunderson and Levon Fox on behalf of the Experimental Film and Video Fest. Baier and Msomi requested $5,890 to fund an all-day festival featuring fifteen bands and the participation of nine campus groups. Senate voted to fund $5,540.10, removing from the budget money for one band and overturning a bylaw that does not allow them to fund events taking place simultaneously (the Senate-funded Poetry Festival takes place the same day).

Senate also voted to fund the film festival $2,946 of the $6,596 requested, removing from the proposed budget sums for student stipends and festival prizes, types of funding prohibited in their bylaws.