Senate Beat Addresses the Elephant in the Room
This week’s Senate Public was held on Monday, March 3 in Eliot Chapel. Key topics of discussion included updating library lights for accessibility reasons, the loss of grant funding for Narcan, and questions regarding the use of funds and last week’s Quest article.
Student Body President Andee Gude ‘26 called the meeting to order. Gude said that the Presidential Council on Campus Climate (PCCC) discussed its upcoming workshops and the Reed Union, reported that an appeal has been made for the Appeals Board, and announced that a speaker has been selected for Commencement. Community for Accessibility Resources and Disability Support (CARDS) discussed Renn Fayre accessibility. The Library Committee talked about its collection development policy and reported that they are currently removing all fluorescent lights in the library for accessibility. Gude said that they will send a follow-up email to the webmaster, accountability groups have meetings coming up, they are working on the space project, and Student Publications will meet with Receipts this week. They announced that polaroids are now available in the Visual Resources Center (VRC) for use by students, who can ask FinCom for polaroid film money or put it on club budgets.
Senator Ren Raskin ‘27 called in via Zoom, but due to a bad connection, Gude read her updates aloud. There are upcoming meetings for Conference and Events Planning (CEP) , Appeals Board, and Academic Student Support. The Student Committee on Academic Policies and Planning (SCAPP) had no meeting this week, and she is waiting to hear back from Student Life.
Senator Sima Fasihi ‘28 said SCAPP will be meeting this week, they missed the Hum 110 meeting, and a Center for Life Beyond Reed (CLBR) meeting will be scheduled. The Student Committee on Diversity (SCOD) had their first meeting last week, where they discussed creating more connections between students and the need for more support in response to the recent hate crime incidents.
Senator and Appointments Committee Co-Chair Andrew Happy ‘27 recommended Estella Burque ‘26 for KRRC Record Librarian and Jay Bishnu ‘28 for KRRC Studio Engineer, both of whom were approved unanimously. Happy also reported that several senators met with Restorative Practices to discuss how Senate can be supportive to them. For the Hum 110 Committee, he reported that Hum is looking to embrace a similar model for the first semester as they have for the second semester, so that the first semester would have two distinct themes and feel more cohesive. Finally, he said Sustainability is discussing how to make catering events more sustainable.
Student Body Vice President Lucy Knight-King ‘26 reported that the Commencement speaker has confirmed their availability and will be announced soon. The Legislation Committee discussed a proposal for posting legislation and is going over concerns with the current draft. The Student Committee on Diversity (SCOD) discussed what they’re trying to accomplish this semester.
Senator Milo Gardner-Stephens ‘25 reported that he met with the Hum 110 committee and that in response to some people’s concerns that the Hum curriculum is too Eurocentric, one reason given is that Reed doesn’t have enough faculty who are experts in other regions.
Senator Lina Eid ‘26 reported that the Art Collection and Murals committee will finally be meeting.
Senator Karter Stanton ‘26 said that the Computing Planning and Policy Committee (CPPC) met and discussed which computer policies have to be described as policies for legal reasons and which ones can be moved to be guidelines, although nothing is immediately changing. Admissions and Financial Aid are meeting soon. Regarding Restorative Practices, she said they discussed making their services more widely known for club leadership in particular.
Senator and Appointments Committee Co-Chair Bella Moore ‘26 said there is a CSO meeting soon. For CARDS, they are working on making lighting in the library more accessible with fewer LEDs, since there was feedback that it’s hard to focus in some places, and they are continuing to market that CARDS is available to provide support and advocacy for things that don’t fall under the umbrella of Disability and Accessibility Resources (DAR). For Harm Reduction, Moore said they discussed that during HCC intake meetings, students will be asked if they smoke and will be offered resources about quitting if they say yes. They also said that the grant that Reed has for harm reduction resources like Narcan and fentanyl testing strips has been redistributed to other higher-need institutions in Portland, so the school doesn’t have the funding to get more Narcan past what we already have. They are working to find money within the school for that. Finally, Moore reported that there will be a Reed Union on March 14 at 3:30 pm, where there will be a discussion on what the honor policy means to students.
Senator Catherine Hoyle ‘25 said there’s an upcoming HCC meeting. Additionally, at Commons Committee, they addressed the focaccia incident where focaccia was incorrectly labeled as gluten-free when it was not, but this was corrected quickly and no one was hurt; this will not happen again, they said. Additionally, Commons discussed how to accommodate more tables and chairs in the seating area because it’s getting crowded, and there is finally grill seating! Hoyle urged students not to steal the chairs. They are setting up a DAR/CARDS Renn Fayre accessibility meeting. If you haven’t already gotten your accommodations for midterms, it’s a good time to put them on just in case, Hoyle said. Students are able to do this by going to the DAR page on the Reed website and reach out to CARDS for help. Finally, they said CARDS meetings are open to the public on Tuesdays from 5:00–6:00pm in the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC).
Head Treasurer Maya Gutierrez ‘27 said Fisher Magazine requested $535 and was allocated $535; this was unanimously approved. For Bon Appétit, Gutierrez said ketchup and other condiments will be available for sale in Marketplace! Additionally, many different drink options will be coming soon; the drinks were delayed due to inclement weather. Students who do not have ID cards at checkout will be required to provide an alternate form of payment, because there were problems with misusing the slip system last semester.
Vice Treasurer Yuri Garcia ‘27 had multiple updates from Occupational Health and Safety. There’s been a request for hall phones in the biology building and other buildings with limited cell service, which is in progress. Library staff and others are interested in being trained in using the Evacutrack. There were a few incidents recently, including a lab incident and a trip and fall on a sidewalk, but no snow-related injuries were reported. Garcia shared that March is National Workplace Eye Wellness Month, so remember to wear safety glasses or goggles in labs, and to follow the 20/20/20 rule to take breaks when working on a computer. Finally, they said there’s been a concern about some academic and administrative buildings having incorrect room numbers on floor plans, so they’re looking at doing an audit.
Treasury read the following statement and requested that it be included in Senate Beat:
No current treasurer has seen any evidence to suggest Andee or any other signator for BSU has used Student Body funds in a way that is unusual for a signator of an Identity group such as BSU. In the future, if any member of the student body has any concerns about a club’s expenses, please note that there is no record or precedence for critiquing the individual expenses of any club, because such critiquing is often done from a place of bias or lacking context. Once Treasury allocates clubs their funds, how those funds are spent is fully at the discretion of the club’s signators. It is extremely common for Identity groups to spend large portions of their budget on food expenses, as the primary purpose of these clubs is to provide a safe, welcoming space for students. We, as Treasury, ask students to be cautious when critiquing such purchases and do not condone the over-policing of any club's expenses, especially those pertaining to a club’s essential functions, such as food expenses for an Identity group. Please come in to Treasury’s office hours if you have any additional questions about club funding or signator responsibilities.
Regarding Moore’s announcement, XiXi Dukes ‘26 asked if there will still be Narcan available in buildings, since HAs have to check Narcan as part of their rounds. Moore said that, to their knowledge, there is still Narcan left, just not a lot, and recommended talking to ACs for more information about Res Life specifically.
Dukes also asked, regarding last week’s Quest events, if there is an accountability group within the Quest besides the editors. Knight-King said that Senate doesn’t give anyone that specific role, and that the Quest has their own bylaws. Gude said that, as someone who is currently trying to get accountability measures taken for the Quest, they think it’s been a consistent issue that there’s no “checks and balances” or accountability within the Quest, because there doesn’t seem to be a third party to evaluate for bias. They think some articles would not have gone out if that third party was in place. Gude said that conversations are going to happen with Student Life and administrators to the Quest about being mindful of bias. Gude pointed out there is very little that anyone can impose on the Quest, because they govern themselves, which they said “is how these things happen.”
Dukes asked if the only thing governing the Quest is “journalistic duty,” which they said would also be concerning, because journalistic duty only requires disclosing bias rather than not having bias. Stanton gave her personal opinion that this is something they’d like to look more into and that there should be more collaboration and less animosity. Stanton said that the headline and conversation released last week was targeting and led to a lot of harm caused to Gude and “disgusting” reactions from the student body. “I felt pretty uncomfortable with the student body paper representing the Reed student body as a student body that would pursue something like that,” Stanton said, and that she thinks there needs to be guidelines in place so this doesn’t happen again.
Gude said, in their personal opinion, “Fizz is the devil.” Gude said they think that the Quest has a hand in facilitating misinformation on Fizz, given posts they are being sent. They said they were sent things about the article before it came out, which means that people associated with the Quest must have been privy to that information. In response to a question about whether there would be an investigation into this as a bias incident, Gude said they could personally do a bias report and the actions they know are currently being taken are more “why are you doing this” at the Quest on behalf of Student Life. “The problem with the article,” they said, “is that the Quest was saying that I did something that I didn’t, and I think that has to do with bias.” Gude said bias and accountability processes will probably be taken, both from them and on behalf of BSU.
Stanton added that the Senate does not want to silence or have an adversarial relationship with the Quest, but given what has happened, it would be irresponsible for Senate to not comment on the extreme harm that this has caused fellow students. Gude also said that they were speaking in their role as the co-lead of BSU in the private conversation that was published, but the Quest reconfigured it to position them as speaking as the student body president, which wasn’t where they were coming from, and which they thought was “odd and not okay”.
Thomas Kelly ‘26 asked what Senate and Treasury are going to do to restore student trust in how money is being spent, and whether they would consider an audit. Knight-King said, although she’s sympathetic to the request, “who would pay for that?” She said she was hesitant about spending more money on outside services. Additionally, people might not know that everything Treasury does is checked by the Reed Business Office, and the Business Office does get audited. As far as a public audit, she was worried that there might be questions about specific purchases that clubs made and that students might not understand the significance of purchases without context.
Kelly said he recognizes that affinity groups would likely get unfairly scrutinized, but this is directed at other clubs too, like Beer Nation, and he thinks something like an audit would help restore trust. Garcia said that if an audit happens, it’ll happen, but that having more information is not always a good thing, because people will take things out of context. Treasury does keep records, and approving disbursements is always a back-and-forth, she said.
Kelly said again that people don’t have faith in Senate. If not an audit, he asked, how will they give the student body faith in clubs and Senate? Moore said that there’s a limited amount of time that senators can put into this job, and this is already eating into the time that senators have for their committees. Gude added that senators already do the work to be available, such as through SB Info and office hours. They are more than happy to answer questions, they said, but they have an issue with going out of their way beyond that to push information in people’s faces in order to “restore trust.” They think that it’s not that people are curious, it’s that they are coming at this with hatred and wanting to be mean. Senate can consider putting out a longer statement, Gude said, but they are tired of being told that they “need to find people and shove this down their throats.” Additionally, Gude said, “I don’t want to feed the Fizzers, because they will take things out of context and harass me more.”
Peter Bang-Knudsen ‘26 asked if there had been discussion with Student Life and the Business Office regarding an official statement. Garcia said they’d spoken with them but not requested a specific statement, and Gude said they could request that.
Sofia Pomeroy ‘25 asked if they had discussed future-proofing to make sure this budget situation doesn’t happen again. Gutierrez said there will be a budget at the start of the semester so senators are more aware of what budget is available, and that senators have already had access to the budget.
Pomeroy asked if there was any comment about the “weird posters” put up regarding the Quest being complicit in racism. Gude said it was “not me” and not Senate’s responsibility. At that point, the meeting was adjourned.
Next week’s Senate Public will be held on Monday, March 10 at 4:00pm in the SU.
