Senate Beat Says “God Bless the Fucking MCs”

This week’s Senate Public, on Wednesday, April 10, was themed around student thoughts and concerns regarding the Missed Connections (MCs). President Andee Gude emphasized that the forum came into being because Senate is “supposed to represent the student body and their opinions and their needs.” At the end of Public, Senators Lily Garvey and Andrew Sakahara revealed that the non-binding referendum during Student Body Elections will be “Do you support the existence of Missed Connections (MCs) as a function of Reed College’s Autonomous Student Body?” with an added disclaimer that “The conduction of this advisory referendum is solely at the request of Senate and is not a result of Article III, Section 4 or Article IV, Section 1 of the Community Constitution. This referendum is non-binding for any actions, with the intention of being used as a poll to gauge student interest in Missed Connections.”

Nomi Solwren ‘25 began the discussion by saying “If people have an issue with the MCs, don’t read them,” and expanded on their point by advocating that issues be solved through the MC Editor, and for the idea that in the case that issues regarding the MCs don’t get fixed, then Senate should “get a new editor.” President Gude responded by explaining the traditional process through which MC Editors have been picked, a lottery for the unpaid position, and also explained that if the process were to change then Senate would communicate that with the student body next year. 

Katie Williams ‘26 then asked why there was only one MC Editor, and President Gude explained that the process of expanding the MC Editor role was “a conversation [Senate had] had.” Senator Dussin then said he believed that expanding the role would be a good idea, but President Gude reminded Senator Dussin that Senate was there to listen and not share opinions during the forum. Aliya Ghassaei explained that her issues with the MCs were that the forum had “turned into a platform where people can generally just be an asshole to other people,” and that there were plenty of other platforms that Reed students could do that on that aren’t associated with the student body. She further argued that because the MCs are anonymous, people are motivated to post without accountability, that “people should be accountable for what they’re saying,” and that she didn’t think any organization associated with Reed should sponsor a platform without accountability. 

President Gude responded by saying that the MCs had been “taken away” before, but what had happened is that some form of the MCs continued to exist except not run by Senate, a sort of “underground” MCs. In other words, preventing the MCs from being circulated on SBinfo did not get rid of the MCs, it got rid of their regulation. Sofia Pomeroy then said that she believed that a big issue with the MCs came from its “structural weirdness,” and argued that it would be better if there were 8 editors instead of one. She also said that the anonymity of the MC editorship was “a bit odd” because she believes that there’s no recourse for the MC Editor to follow their own guidelines. She also commented on the topics being discussed in the MCs, noting that the MCs consisted of many things “merged together” and that it would be better if there was a way to separate that.

Senator Lindsay Worrell defended the reasoning for the anonymity of the MC Editor, saying that the MC Editor holds a lot of confidential information and that the reason the MC Editor was made anonymous is because there has been a history of harassment of the MC Editor. Lee Whitting ‘25 responded to this and explained how the last time the MC Editor was made public, racial harassment, sexual harassment, and death threats ensued. Whitting also emphasized that students can email the MC Editor with their concerns if needed. Ares Carnathan ‘25 concurred, saying that when the MC Editor wasn’t anonymous, a severe level of harassment occurred, and thus anonymity should be at least considered as an option for the MC Editor, due to it being “unsafe for students who are put in that figurehead position.” 

Asa Ferguson ‘24 noted that the MCs were “wonderful” 50% of the time and the other time they break down into “a whole bunch of different subcategories” of increasing levels of negativity. Ferguson argued that an anonymous forum is not the place to share many serious concerns people have been sharing in the MCs, especially interpersonal conflict. Ferguson stated that “if you actually sat people down” in person, they would have a more respectful discussion. He concluded by saying that “unproductive discourse” should not be in a platform sponsored by Senate, and that the Reed student body should “try our best to come together” instead of causing this discourse. Senator Bella Moore responded by addressing the discourse over drug policy, explaining that these issues in particular should go through Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). Senator Sakahara reiterated the idea that a lack of senate-regulated MCs would create an even more uncontrollable “underground MCs.”

Piper McKeever ‘26 focused on the idea that the MCs should live up to their name more, as “missed connections,” explaining how positive interactions on the MCs should be reinforced. She explained that “culture is made by what people see,” and that people reiterate the behavior they observe in the MCs. She suggested that there should be a greater effort to make the MCs more positive, like challenges to “share an MC about someone who made you smile,” and how if students make an effort to change the way they thought about the MCs by referring to them as “missed connections” instead of the abbreviation “MCs,” students can put emphasis on the positive parts of MCs. 

Dante Zangrillo ‘27 began his comment with the statement “God bless the fucking MCs,” and explained how he is grateful for the MCs because of the fact that he met his boyfriend on the MCs. This was met with resounding applause from the crowd. President Gude then responded to discussions surrounding positive interactions on the MCs with the idea that the MCs are important for preserving institutional memory, and that this shouldn’t be sacrificed, that “there is a way to provide more structure, guidelines, and oversight to make the MCs something that provides people with happiness.” 

Steph Jacquot ‘25 then commented on the cigarette discourse on the MCs, arguing that the anonymity allows for more extreme positions on issues to exist in ways that are different from how they exist offline. Mica Kim-Shapiro ‘25 then commented on some uses of the MCs, for questions such as “Can you help me find something” and “I think you’re hot,” and then argued that while the anonymity of the MCs is beneficial sometimes, in a lot of cases where the MCs are useful, anonymity is not useful. 

President Gude then explained the importance of the discussion at hand, saying how Senate is “being approached by other people at Reed” with regard to the MCs. Estella Burque ‘26 then wanted “to reiterate Nomi’s point,” that those who dislike the MCs should not read them. Imogen Hinchliff ‘26 emphasized that there should be more trust in the Reed community and that it’s better that we talk through ideas in a democratic fashion instead of using platforms that go through the administration.

President Gude, responding to previous discussion over MCs, concluded with the idea that the student body should find a solution that focuses on the “wholesomeness” of MCs that isn’t harmful, and reiterated McKeever’s point of focusing the MCs on being “Missed Connections.” Afterward, Senator Dussin attempted to organize a vote among the crowd on whether or not people thought that discourse in the MCs was important or fundamental to the platform’s function. However, President Gude vetoed Senator Dussin’s vote organization, and ended the open forum. They then decided to give the floor to Senator Garvey and Senator Sakahara to announce the topic of the non-binding referendum.

After the committee reports and before the MCs forum, Solveig Gisslen ‘26 shared that she had heard student projects not officially approved by Renn Fayre committee will be taken down by CSOs on sight, and wanted to know if student projects that don’t require funding will also be taken down, and if it was possible to get projects that don’t require funding approved by the Renn Fayre committee. President Gude explained that since the deadline for applying for project funding had already passed, it would be “a lot of work for czars” to go through the process of approving projects now even if they didn’t require funding. They recommended students in the situation of having projects not approved by the Renn Fayre committee discuss with Community Safety if they want to avoid getting their projects taken down. Nomi Solwren ‘25 confirmed that CSOs would take all unapproved projects down on sight.

In committee reports, Senator Meera Balan talked about how she’s been working with the AOD committee on an orientation week module, along with EpiPens, pamphlets, and posters, along with expanding the gym hours. Head Treasurer Anahi Sanchez Marcial, in Finance Committee, received a request of $37.80 from CARDS for posters for Autism Awareness Month. Senate offered a partial allocation of $15, which was approved unanimously in a motion in Senate Public, with Senator Dussin motioning and Senator Balan seconding the motion. In Senator Caroline Spiggle’s committee reports, she discussed how on May 2, DAR will be hosting a neurographic art activity in coordination with CARDS. This will be an art therapy exercise meant to help students during reading week. 

Senator Lindsay Worrell recommended Eli Ashcroft ‘27 for J-Board Secretary in Appointments Committee, which was unanimously approved by Senate, after a motion by Senator Moore with Senator Balan seconding the motion. In President Andee Gude’s committee reports, they spoke with CLBR about current students being able to submit their info to be matched with an alumni mentor. In Vice President Jefferson Ratliff’s committee reports, he briefly mentioned progress on the CARDS mural proposal, along with J-Board misconduct cases happening over the summer. In Senator Andrew Sakahara’s committee reports, he discussed how a new AOD proposal would remove Honor Council and J-Board as the initial place for AOD violations to be filed through, along with how the Conference and Events Planning (CEP) committee plans to issue a form to handle double bookings for student events going forward. Senator Sakahara also discussed diversity among Senate members with the Student Committee on Diversity and Sustainability.

Senator Lucy Knight-King was not at Senate Public this week, but President Gude informed Senate Public that Senator Knight-King will be attending a meeting with the Physical Plant on May 15. In Baby Money Emma Benson’s committee reports, she discussed Renn Fayre, specifically the process of creating a cash box for Beer Nation to collect money in during Renn Fayre. Senator Spiggle also discussed how ideally by next semester there will be an allergen binder to help students with allergies at the grill in Commons. In Senator Lily Garvey’s committee reports, she discussed the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) program, which is looking for proposals in October relating to courses in literature, math, and psychology. Senator Garvey also announced the approval of a new study abroad program at BIS Stockholm. Senator Garvey also explained how in the latest faculty meeting, there was discussion about course sharing between majors and minors.