Your Weekly Update (11/3/09)
Greetings Residents of YMCA,
Your Senators: Aaron, Shane and Zachary have been hard at work getting our various priorities outlined and ready for implementation during the Spring Semester. We have an exciting series of updates for you this week:
This evening was an important meeting with a visit from President Crutcher himself. During this meeting, the President explained the NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges) evaluation visit by a team of administrators from across the region to evaluate Wheaton’s growth and progress over the past ten years since its last evaluation in 1999. Students are strongly encouraged to read Standard Six: Students; of Wheaton’s Self-Study. You can download it at the following link: http://www.box.net/shared/ais141omgz. Students should also read Standards 1, 2 and 4. In regards to the visit, there will be an Open Forum Discussion on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 4pm in the SGA Office, with no administrators in the room. Students are free to openly to state their opinions about the college to the evaluation team: concerning the positive and negative aspects; and how Wheaton should improve over the next ten years.
President Crutcher stated to the assembled body that the college continues to be good financial condition but an ad hoc committee of administrators has been created to develop a new financial model that can help Wheaton through these current economic times. The Ad Hoc committee’s goal is determining a new model that will be able to provide more revenue for the college while making investments in residential halls, the new science center, financial aid and faculty and staff salaries. Therefore, growth is the only alternative. For their committee’s next meeting, they will be gathering data to evaluate the costs and benefits of funding capital projects and obtain more information on how to renovate current residential halls and the construction of a new residence hall. If you want further information on President Crutcher’s visit to Senate, contact Aaron, Shane or Zachary.
The Senate this evening voted 24-1 in favor of the Gender-Neutral Housing Proposal which was recently approved by the Office of the Dean of Students and the Wheaton Administration. The proposal will go into effect Spring 2010 for upperclassman (Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors) and in Fall 2010 for Freshman and Transfer Students. You can read the proposal in its entirety by downloading it from the following link: http://www.box.net/shared/av5pcddey6
The Senate Finance Committee is preparing to evaluate the clubs selected to be audited this November. If your club is one that was selected by the committee, your audit report is due November 16th, 2009. Please check out the audits page for further information: http://sga.wheatonma.edu/www/treasurer/audits/
The Senate currently has a vacant Senate seat. If there any interested people, the application is available to download from the following link: http://www.box.net/shared/i3dssmk9r6. The applications will be due on Sunday at Noon. The Committee on Appointments will meet later that evening to make their decision.
For everyone who has yet to make a Spring Weekend Concert suggestion, time is running out. The deadline is November 21st, 2009. If you have a suggestion, please write it on the wall at the following link: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1241641276&ref=name#/event.php?eid=154936668757&index=1. More information about the Spring Weekend Committee will be made known in the near future. Contact Natalie Allen for further inquiries.
Tomorrow is the last day of SGA Week but the Executive Board and as many Senators as possible shall be hosting a Meet and Greet at the Loft tomorrow night from 10pm to 11pm to hear your opinions and grievances. There is a $250 Loft Tab so come on down and meet your Senator face-to-face.
The Educational Policy Committee, one of several within the larger Educational Council has updated Senate on its projects. So far the committee is proud to announce that there is now a new Pre-Journalism Minor consisting of one course in statistics, a course in ethics, a course in research methods, one course in written or visual production, an internship of at least six weeks, and an electronic portfolio of clips, photos, or film to be compiled and assessed with an advisor. Pre-Journalism Minors will also be required to take three courses in from an extensive list (not provided here). The Educational Policy Committee is also working on transforming the Environmental Science Major, analyzing data concerning the Natural Science Requirement and beginning the discussion on course caps. For more information, contact Jonathan Wolinsky, the Educational Council Chair.
At next week’s Senate meeting at 7pm, Dean Williams will be our guest speaker and will be focusing on the Alcohol Policy on campus and off-campus activities since there has been an increase in conversations about these topics, even as far as being the front-page article in this week’s Wire. Students who have opinions on the matter are encouraged to attend this meeting.
We hope everyone is doing well as the semester starts nearing its end. May everyone have a productive week and for those who have tickets to the Bash this Friday, have a good time!
Your Senators,
Aaron, Shane and Zachary
November 04 2009 12:09 am | YMCA