Senate Beat: Sept 17, 2021
Senate Provides Committee Updates
This week’s Public Senate meeting did not consist of a theme or any further discussions following committee reports. Student Body President Alondra Loza was not in attendance, so Student Body Vice President Orion Pendragon facilitated the meeting. Senator Margot Becker began the committee reports. In their role as Student Union (SU) assistant manager, Becker is working to streamline the process for booking student spaces and ensure that student spaces are run and controlled by students.
Head Treasurer Koddina Anachebe wants everyone to vote in the upcoming Funding Poll! A list of all of the clubs and the poll itself will be sent out in SB Info, so keep an eye out and VOTE! Anachebe also spoke about their role as Community Safety liaison. They are planning to email both Vice President of Student Life Karnell McConnell-Black and Director of Community Safety Gary Granger to get a meeting set up.
Senator Arley Sakai followed and discussed the Student Space Taskforce. The taskforce is composed of both administrators and students with the goal of overseeing and managing the student spaces at Reed. Becker is also on the taskforce and said the goal is to also make spaces at Reed more accessible.
Vice Treasurer Kiana Cunningham-Rodriguez spoke about her meeting with David Gruber, the Director of the Office of Academic Support. Cunningham-Rodriguez said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the ways in which the advising program and process can be fixed to benefit students to the fullest extent. Due to the large size of the freshman class, several students did not get their first choice advisor, and Cunningham-Rodriguez wants to bring up the implications of this in her meeting with Gruber.
Senator Safi Zenger is working on setting up a meeting with all student leadership groups. This includes Senate, Honor Council, Restorative Justice Coalition, and the Judicial Board. Zenger hopes the groups can meet monthly and wants to create a closer relationship between them as a means of addressing overlapping concerns. One of the concerns she is looking to address is the issue of student engagement, which several of the groups have been experiencing difficulties with. Zenger also brought up the possibility of creating a Humanities 110 (HUM 110) committee. President Alondra Loza and Zenger both have made HUM 110 reform a centerpiece of their work, and rather than working with multiple committees and groups, Zenger and Loza want to streamline conversations and reform through a new committee. The committee is not solidified yet, but Zenger expressed excitement about the idea. A student in attendance responded positively to this idea. He said he is a freshman taking HUM 110 and finds it difficult to get all the resources he needs to be successful in the class. Zenger responded and said his struggles are felt among several freshmen, which is one of the reasons for the committee.
As Appointments Committee Chair, Zenger reported that multiple jobs are still accepting applications! Renn Fayre Czar application closes September 30, the Appeals Board closes October 1, and Wage Review Board position closes October 8. If you are interested, please apply!
In other Appointments Committee news, Cunningham-Rodriguez will be stepping down from her position on the committee and will be replaced by Sakai. Sakai was chosen for the position because he came to the bias training and can start sooner than another senator who would have to be bias trained.
Pendragon closed out the committee reports. They gave an update about the Basic Need Initiative: it no longer exists! According to Pendragon, the main reason the committee was formed was to get the college to fund the Reed Community Pantry. Now that the administration has agreed to do so, there is no longer a need for the committee. Pendragon also spoke about the meetings they had with McConnell-Black and President Audrey Bliger. In those meetings, concerns about student engagement came up, as did the goals Senate has for the semester. Pendragon announced that they and Loza will be attending a conference with other student body leaders from colleges around the Portland area. Pendragon expressed excitement about this conference and making new connections to other colleges.