Senate Beat is a Stolen Chair
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The third Senate Public of the semester was held Monday, February 17, in a mostly-empty Psych 105. Senate did not have use of the Student Union because Admissions was holding a Reed Admit Day for prospective students. Student Body President Andee Gude ‘26 called the meeting to order at 4:04pm, stating, “hopefully people remember where we are.” Habit-bound senators continued to arrive throughout the meeting.
Gude began the meeting by reporting that they did not attend the most recent Presidential Council on Campus Climate (PCCC) meeting, but Vice President Lucy Knight-King ‘26 was there and talked about responses to racist and antisemitic graffiti and flyers surfacing around campus. The PCCC sent alerts to the Reed community about these incidents on Wednesday, February 12, informing all Reed students, staff, faculty, and parents of graffiti with an anti-Black slur in the GCC basement bathroom and a COVID-denialist flyer featuring a swastika made of syringes in a Library bathroom. The PCCC email noted that this was the third time a swastika has appeared in a Library bathroom.
For Commencement Committee, Gude reported that they are narrowing down a speaker list to three prospective commencement speakers. The Committee will vote on three final speakers to consider and then send their names for graduating seniors to vote on. Gude also talked about publicity and DAR coordination with the Committee for Accessibility Resources and Disability Services (CARDS) and reached out to accountability groups in relation to ongoing discussions about a Reed Union. In a significant step forward for the student body, Gude also announced that they were “starting a space project for checking out cleaning supplies for student space managers so we can keep our spaces clean” and avoid forcing clubs to put cleaning supplies in their Top 30/40 budgets.
Senator Bella Moore ‘26 reported she had no updates for AppCom but will be hiring for open J-Board positions this week. She also provided an update on the CARDS mural in the GCC, saying it will be completed soon and there will be an unveiling announcement once it’s done. For the AOD Committee, Moore met with Assistant Dean for Student Rights and Responsibilities Leo Cruz to discuss medical amnesty. She emphasized that medical amnesty is not meant to be a last resort, saying, “you can call when you’re feeling unwell or minorly unwell,” and it doesn’t have to be a severe medical emergency to apply. During the meeting with Cruz, Moore also discussed the structure of Reed’s honor system, the importance of student autonomy, and how to better serve students “as J-Board is seeing a lot of cases and how we’re going to ensure that everyone can be supported and have their cases heard.” Moore also reported she will be meeting with SHARE next week.
Vice Treasurer Yuri Garcia ‘27 said she would be meeting with the Reactor Operations Committee (ROC) the next day and was excited about doing so. She also emphasized that the ROC is not to be confused with the Visual Resources Center (VRC), as was erroneously done in the first Senate Beat of the semester due to reliance on inaccurate minutes after no Quest reporters attended Senate Public. Garcia also has a meeting with Occupational Health and Safety set for next week and is working on reviewing literature to prepare.
Head Treasurer Maya Gutierrez ‘27 reported for FinCom, saying WMD requested $240 and Gavin Leonard ‘25 requested $833 for Square Ball. FinCom allocated $240 to WMD and $820 to Square Ball. All allocations were unanimously approved, with several senators who entered during the vote abstaining because they did not know what it was on. Gutierrez also reported for the Renn Fayre Committee that their meeting originally planned for last week was cancelled due to inclement weather. For the Commons Committee, Gutierrez said Commons would be increasing beverage options by bringing back 8 oz Red Bulls and Arizona iced tea, introducing a way for students who forget their ID cards to fill out a slip instead of being turned away at the registers, and working with Facilities to improve electrical reliability at tables. She also said she had reached out to the Center for Life Beyond Reed (CLBR) but they were “hard to contact.”
Assistant Treasurer Jules Flynn ‘27 said that Senate held Funding Circus over the weekend and Treasury would reach out to all clubs by Wednesday with their funding allocations. Funding allocations are also available in the Quest. Flynn also reported that they were working on scheduling meetings with the Bookstore and Computer User Services, and that although they were unable to attend Renn Fayre meetings, they would get notes from Gutierrez. Flynn also discussed putting the Missed Connections on the Senate website with Senate webmaster Sandor Jonas ‘28.
Senator Sima Fasihi ‘28 reported that she talked with the Student Committee on Academic Policy and Planning (SCAPP) and set up a weekly meeting. She also said she will work with other senators in setting up a time to go to CAPP meetings. For Sports Services, Fasihi reported that Michael Lombardo neglected to reply to her initial outreach email, but did respond to one from Vice President Lucy Knight-King ‘26, “so we’ll be checking up on that.”
Senator Catherine Hoyle ‘25 reported that her computer died with her committee reports. After borrowing a computer from Gutierrez, Hoyle reported on the Commons Committee, saying that Senate and Commons are working on getting seating for waiting but “unfortunately the chairs were stolen before they could be placed.” “If you see chairs, don’t steal them,” Hoyle implored. She also added that the CARDS mural looks better every day and that she is planning to meet with DAR.
Senator Karter Stanton ‘26 reported that she had meetings with Admissions and Financial Aid but had no new policy changes or updates to share and just continued talking about trends in enrollment. The Institutional Research website reports that Reed had 1,358 students in fall 2024, down from 1,458 in fall 2023 and 1,534 in fall 2022.
Knight-King reported that she attended training for the Legislation Committee with Vice President for Student Life Karnell McConnell-Black and had her first meeting scheduled soon to talk about the PCCC. She also shared that she filled out a WhenIsGood for a SCOD meeting.
Senator Ren Raskin ‘27 was unable to attend public due to illness but asked that Gude report on her behalf. Raskin said that Chris Toutain informed her that Senate doesn’t need to table to collect student input on the proposed language requirement. Her next Admissions meeting is planned for March 17, she is working on scheduling an orientation for Appeals, and has a Conference and Events Planning (CEP) meeting scheduled for Friday. Raskin said she couldn’t attend a recent SCAPP meeting but received notes from Fasihi, and is also working on scheduling with the offices of Student and Campus Life due to previous conflicts.
Senators Alyssa Daggett ‘27, Milo Gardner-Stephens ‘25, Eleanor Davis-Diver ‘26, Andrew Happy ‘27, and Lina Eid ‘26 had nothing to report. Outside of official Senate business, Gardner-Stephens provided the Quest with a brief update on the MLLL, saying that it is closed until further notice. He also said that since last week he has learned the students who took nudes on the MLLL couch also had sex there, but maintains that nobody came on the couch.
Gude adjourned the meeting at 4:17pm and senators rapidly filed out thereafter. Treasury sent the Quest the following statement on Wednesday and requested that it be included in Senate Beat:
As many look at the funding allocations for this semester, there may be many questions about the process and the deliberations made by Treasury and Senate. As you may know, the funding for student body positions, Renn Fayre, and clubs are all sourced from the student body fee paid by each and every student. Research indicates that Reed has a smaller Student Body Fee for comparable institutions and that this fee has not been raised in many semesters. Unfortunately with this semester, a significantly decreased enrollment gave the Senate less funds to allocate. Overall, the Treasury alerted the Senate of this situation immediately and the two have worked together to remedy the situation.
Senate Public is held every Monday at 4:00pm. The next two Senate Publics will be held in Eliot Chapel due to scheduling conflicts in the Student Union.