Senate Beat Grieves SB Info

This week, Senate discussed the administration’s decision to block Student Body emails (SB Info) and wondered about the future of the Missed Connections (MCs). 

Senate is still hiring Renn Fayre Czars, and the petition deadline for prospective senators in the upcoming special election has been extended until this Friday, October 4.

Assistant Treasurer Maya Gutierrez ‘27 announced that the most recent meeting of the Student Committee on Academic Planning and Policy (SCAPP) reviewed the dance department last Monday, and said that the meeting saw lots of “discussion about… retention rates within the department.” Gutierrez also said that there were conversations within the committee about consistency across Hum 110.

Senator Catherine Hoyle ‘25 announced that the Accessibility Committee, Community Accessibility Resources and Disability Services (CARDS), and Disability & Accessibility Resources (DAR) were working towards a larger, more cohesive committee to cover accessibility, describing it as “a campus-wide issue.” Assistant Treasurer Gutierrez then said, alongside Vice President Jefferson Ratliff ‘25, that the HCC would be starting a poster campaign to make students more aware of underutilized medical and counseling resources.

Senator Andrew Sakahara ‘27 reminded those at the meeting that the bylaws accessible on the senate websites are not fully updated, and said that if students wish to access the up-to-date bylaws passed last semester to contact him privately.

Senator Andrew Happy ‘27 reported from his first meeting with the Occupational Health and Safety department that they recommended “People be aware of their surroundings when engaging in activities to avoid accidental injuries.”

Senators Lindsay Worrell ‘25 and Bella Moore ‘26 nominated Logan Warren ‘28 and Griffin Jeffords ‘28 as Bike Co-Op Managers, and Hanae Furigaki ‘27 and Vabis Qudus ‘28 as Judicial Board Secretaries.

Senator Moore announced that in a Community Safety Office committee meeting with Community Safety Director Gary Granger the main topic of discussion was posters  — of unknown origin — that “caused concern for our security.” Moore added that the posters encouraged vandalism and property damage, and confirmed that they were not Rupert’s missing posters (see page __ for more on that). Moore concluded by announcing that CSOs will be hiring private security during late hours to make up for the fact that they are currently training new staff. They clarified that private security can only “walk around”: they are observers focused on the perimeter of campus, and will not be permanent. 

Vice President Jefferson Ratliff ‘25 announced on behalf of Sexual Health, Advocacy & Relationship Education (SHARE) director L. Mattson that if students have noticed sort of decline in SHARE’s involvement this semester, they are “reworking the program this semester, and are hoping to step it up” in the second semester.

The meeting ended with a much-anticipated discussion about the ending of SB Info. Julia O'Beirne ‘25, from the audience, asked for Senate to clarify the recent changes.

President Andee Gude ‘26 said that they and Vice President Ratliff were called into a meeting with administration Vice President for Student Life Karnell McConnell-Black and Dean of Students Chris Toutain, where they said the way SB info was operated (unbeknownst to Andee, who inherited the listserv) violated college policies. Gude recounted that McConnell-Black and Toutain then gave the other half of their ultimatum: SB Info could continue if Reed staff could have prior review and authorization. 

According to Gude, their biggest priority is student autonomy, and as a result, they made the executive decision to move SB Info to a Google Doc hosted on a non-Reed affiliated personal email in order to preserve student autonomy (and to avoid having to either make a faculty/staff member review out of a normal business schedule or adapt as a busy college student to a 9-5 schedule). Summarizing the whole affair, Gude said “I was disappointed about it… [but] I made that decision to prioritize our autonomy.”

Next, Rosalie Imbibo ‘24 asked from the audience about the future of the MCs. President Gude responded by first referencing the MC public meeting held last semester to discuss the future of the MCs after senators were informed that “unacceptable” things were happening in the MCs (bias, abuse, etc.). The result of that meeting was a resounding defense of the MCs as a format, with a non-binding student body referendum yielding a more than 84% approval rating. Senators reviewed the MC guidelines in response to three central tenets: high student support for MCs, administration concerns about the existence of the MCs, and the existence of real, harmful content in them. Ultimately, they changed the MC editor to be a paid and hired position, reformatted the submission link, added easy access to accountability processes in the MCs, and expanded access to the submission link to include three editors, the two co-chairs of the Appointment Committee and the Senate President and Vice President, with the MC editor ultimately able to turn to Senate for support if any dangerous material was submitted. President Gude, as well as other members of that group, would take accountability measures and respond if the MCs got a dangerous submission, and people could be banned from using the MCs. 

Gude summarized their general feelings about the situation, saying “I took this position so that I could be a representative for the student body… What I want is the continuation of the MCs.” They added that there will be additional communications from both Senate and admin in the coming days. “I hate that there’s a barrier in communications and I can’t be transparent because I’m scared of what will happen for me. I can’t speak for us all, but I think we all want MCs and we’ve worked really hard on MCs.” Throughout, Gude emphasized that they couldn’t give a full account because they were afraid of overstepping confidentiality and of retribution. President Gude added that they often receive questions about the MCs, many of which were described as “not-so-nice.”

 “I fear for myself, because what we’re chatting about is meant to be kept confidential,” Gude said. “I took this position so that I could be a representative for the student body. What I want is the continuation of the MCs and I’m pushing for the continuation of the MCs.” 

Senate Public occurs weekly on Mondays in the Student Union (SU) at 4:00pm.