Commuter students clutch tighly onto justice, dreaming of entering EC without waiting in line

If you’re curious about what’s going on in Student Council, Bwog’s got you covered.  This week CCSC talked about commuter swipe access, further bans on undergraduate use of certain libraries, University Senate direct elections and a random assortment of other things.  Satow Room correspondent Joseph Milholland gives you the scoop. Read on for more!

By its very nature, CCSC meetings are often dominated by updates. But with the introduction of the first year council and the University Senate plenary, this meeting was dedicated almost exclusively to updates with the exception of a quick look at the by-laws and an icebreaker where the council members said the first song that came to their mind (“22,” “God Bless America,” and “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” from Hercules). The most important updates are as follows:

• The commuter swipe access policy will likely not change. CCSC and ESC met with Deans Cristen Kromm and Terry Martinez, and they learned that, according to the deans the policy makes sense because of how housing payments are made. However, the policy was not properly explained and notice was not given far enough in advance. Martinez will send an email explaining the situation, and some changes will be made to alleviate problems (like helping expedite the line in EC).
• Watson Library will not allow undergraduates to use it during midterms and finals next semester. The council is collecting information to prove the library is underused to prevent this policy from coming into effect.
• Direct Senate elections are happening soon. There are many candidates in the race, but some may cancel their campaigns before the election. Campaigning begins in a week. The CCSC admitted it needs to give out more info and updates about situations like the senate elections to prevent controversy.

Other major updates included:

• The retreat got the undergraduate councils talking with each other, although there were some complaints the discussions could have been more “substantive” about policy as opposed to broad sessions on the nature of student governments.
• The class of 2017 is getting ready to appoint its officers.
• The bathrooms in McBain will get new shower hooks and a lower temperature.
• A “sound-proof room” will be built on campus for musicians.
• The class of 2015 will be selling class apparel soon.
• The class of 2014 has 30 possible class day speakers they will shortly narrow down.
• . The October 12 football game against Lehigh will be broadcast on NBC with the hashtag #turnitblue. Prizes will be given out for the student group that gets the most people to turn out to the game.
• There is discussion about moving the CC drop deadline.
• Alumni mentorship has been launched, and many students have already been connected with alumni.
• Several deans raised the possibility of dealing with the honor code through residential programs for non-first years with possible dinners and discussions about the code.
• From the Senate – In the short term, financial aid will not be affected. If the government shut down continues, things will get messy.

It was a pretty rapid-fire, intensive session.

There was also some more cleaning up of the by-laws. Specifically, questions were raised about the independence of the elections board since the council’s by-laws give them instructions, which technically they shouldn’t get from the CCSC. Also, the by-laws specify that Judicial Board is composed of CCSC seniors, who may have conflicts of interest or may not be fully engaged in their job   in the spring.

The council will make sure that the by-laws have been cleaned up by the end of the next meeting.