Press "Enter" to skip to content

Students’ Council Minutes 3/7/21

Absent: Kim, Lisette, Noorie, Vic

Dex: Updates?

Fiona: As per what we were talking about last time, I think asynchronous plenary is definitely a good idea.

Evan: Has anyone heard anybody talking about plenary? I think that it’s either not on people’s radar or they assume it’s not happening.

Margaret: I heard someone say that they wanted to bring a resolution if plenary was happening this year, but that’s just one person.

Sam: Could we do one small live ritual to mark the occasion? We wouldn’t need to hit quorum, just a short event to mark plenary.

Dex: I think if we do that, not needing quorum is important, as I doubt that we’ll hit it. I don’t personally need to make a symbolic statement, but if someone else wants to, I’m fine with that.

Evan: Usually Honor Council does State of the Code in the spring, so we could talk to them, or stage some kind of performance. We can definitely look around if there’s interest.

Dex: It sounds like it would be helpful if we send a note to the community saying that plenary is happening, so we should do that. Any other updates? We can also do something we used to do, which is general updates. So if any of you have heard anything happening on campus.

JLo: There’s a lot of drama with the cancelling of sports. There’s been a lot of drama, we’re going to try to meet with Wendy Smith and President Raymond. 

Erin: I saw someone saying that sports isn’t the most important thing during a pandemic and they got mass-unfollowed by athletes.

JLo: That has been happening a lot, people are cutting off lines of communication on social media. This is embarrassing and they’re not doing anything about it.

Dex: How has communication been happening, because there hasn’t been an HC-all or anything, so us non-athletes don’t know much about this.

JLo: So there was a meeting that happened on Monday, it was the first communication that was a definitive answer after a lot of delays. Centennial conference posted, and President Raymond sent an email to the athletes. People are commenting on the centennial conference post about President Raymond because of it. That’s the type of communication that’s gone on, I think there are some captains who are still trying to protest the decision.

Evan: Would a statement condemning this or explaining why it’s wrong be helpful? Or any programming about it?

Dex: What would it mean to sit down with team leaders and have a conversation? It sounds like that was trying to happen but didn’t succeed.

JLo: The problem is that that messaging is not coming from higher up. It needs to come from the athletics department. They’re letting it happen. I’m going to try to have a conversation with them, but they’re enabling it.

Rasaaq: I think it’s really important for the athletic department to say something too. All the comments on that post are directed at President Raymond, and I think it’s not a coincidence that the athletic department are letting the administration take the heat. I think the AB is trying to maintain the look that they support the teams that contribute a lot of money to the school, but it needs to come from the AB, otherwise it continues the tradition of them not dealing with stuff that they need to. It’s embarrassing. 

Erin: I agree, these are their athletes that they’re responsible for, and this was their decision too. They’re letting them make a scapegoat, and they need to keep whatever peace they can.

Evan: JLo, let us know if you need support from SC. We can bring it up with the admin at our meetings as well.

JLo: Yeah, this is stuff they need to take seriously now. I’ll CC you and see if we can make a meeting with Raymond, Smith, and the coaches. 

Dex: Thanks JLo, I think it was important we spent some time on this, let’s keep talking about this after the meeting. Transitioning, in kind of interesting and exciting news, the student activities fund is overflowing with money bc club sports have been cancelled and hosting zoom events is not pricey. We have a large surplus. The fund is usually about $350,000 a semester, and it’s sitting there. So the question is what we want to do with it. Last time we had a surplus we created a grant, we put money towards the high tunnel, a FGLI lounge. Last semester we donated the surplus. So we can decide what we want to do with it. We need to make sure we have something worthwhile to do, otherwise we should just give it back to the students.

Sam: That’s enough money for us to build stuff. We could build a space for ALAS. 

Evan: Whatever we should do with it should go towards an equity project.

Dex: regarding ALAS, they applied for grant money last year, I’m pretty sure the reason for it not existing yet is not because of a lack of money but because of a lack of space. But we can definitely allocate a chunk of money to them. We could honestly renovate all the derelict spaces on campus, like James House, Lunt Basement, the HCA basements. Finally, AAC folks, the Thursday time still works for both of you?

One Comment

  1. Spring Athelte March 12, 2021

    First, let me state that I understand your frustration regarding the backlash towards @prezraymond in various Instagram posts; likewise, I understand the confusion as the whether or not the athletics department was privy to the decision making process for the Spring ‘21 season. I felt the urge to comment in order to clarify some points of disconnect I believe there are between the spring athletes and the minutes here. In a meeting with team captains, president Raymond stated it would be “highly unlikely” to have a season and that the decision was hers. This sentiment, following the cancellation, was reinforced to athletes in various meetings. The “lack of communication” does not stem from the Athletics department but rather from the President of the College herself. There has been active communication by the AD. There have been meetings with players. There have been responses to emails. The same cannot be said for President Raymond and Dean Bylander. The Athletic Department “letting the administration take the heat” stems from the very fact that the narrative being passed on is that this decision did not include the AD, AB, or anyone else in the department. If this seems strange to make a serious decision about athletics without the athletic department being represented, it is because that is strange. The peculiarity and surreptitious nature of the decision making process for this season is where the frustration stems from. Likewise, the extended period of radio silence from President Raymond and Dean Bylander has been equally frustrating. Emails and attempts to communicate falling on deaf ears led to the Instagram commenting as an attempt to elicit a response after failing to receive one via other means of communique.

Leave a Reply to Spring Athelte Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.