October 6, 2009
Secrets Don’t Make Friends, But They Do Make Senators…
At 5:05 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6, the senate room contained only five vacant chairs, a marked contrast from two weeks before, when the room contained only five occupied chairs. Prior to calling the meeting to order, ASPC President Jed Cullen ’10 discussed the poster for Harwood Halloween with Commissioner of Communications Than Volk ’10. Although Volk and Cullen repeatedly used the artist’s name in front of everyone, Cullen insisted that the name remain confidential—however, it is fair to say that the name may or may not begin with a “g” and end with a word that rhymes with “chalk.”
Names, Titles, Animals, Numbers, Beard
Cullen called the meeting to order at 5:10 p.m. To accommodate the many guests and new senators, Cullen asked everyone to give his or her name and reason for attending the meeting. Other than his cryptic introduction (“Jeff Levere, South Campus Representative”) Levere ’10 remained silent for the entire meeting. In his defense, though, he looked quite occupied with growing his beard.
Alumni Host Permanent House Party
Following these introductions, Associate Director of the Alumni Office Holly Duncan addressed the class presidents regarding their class banners, saying it was best to begin them in freshman year and pleading that they not be “totally alcohol-themed.” After all, these banners are like tattoos in that they “will follow you for the rest of your career at Pomona” and beyond. She then detailed the incredible benefits the alumni provide each class: for the freshmen, they provide water bottles; at the end of sophomore year, they help orchestrate the “Where in the World is Cecil Sagehen?” program; for the seniors they plan quite a few events; the juniors don’t really matter. She concluded by saying that students are always welcome at Seaver House, which is on 6th Street and College Avenue. Although there is a door and a doorbell, Duncan said students should enter without knocking (especially if they are wearing all black and approaching the house very late at night).
Good Memories, Sad Facts
Cullen then gave the floor to Nicholas Gerber PO ’10, Zach Barnett PO ’11, and Rosa Greenberg PO ’12, three members of the Workers’ Support Committee. Barnett said that, when Cullen was his sponsor, he had told Barnett to respect the housekeepers, which he followed with a brief description of their upcoming rally and the history of administration-staff relations at Pomona. They distributed a two-point resolution and literally ran it between the senators in a way that could only be described as “HAZARDOUS,” “UNREALISTIC” and “UNSAFE.”
Senate Funds Potheads
After the representatives from the Workers Support Committee left the premises, Vice President for Campus Activities Kayleigh Kaneshiro ’10 asked the senate to approve her proposal to contribute $1,000 toward Pomona College’s Reggae Festival. Volk asked when it was supposed to happen. Adviser Ellie Ash said it was either Nov. 15, 14, 7 or 13. Eventually, the ASPC agreed to provide the funding.
Minutemen Impress Secretary
Finally, Cullen brought the senators to review last week’s minutes. His first and only revision was to force Secretary Amy Li ’10 to add herself to the list of persons present. After she had done so, Cullen breathed a sigh of relief.
More Names and Numbers (Except Without the Numbers)
Commissioner of Campus Community Relations Kim Hartung ’10 then brought forth her proposed changes to the bylaws in regard to the Diversity and Campus Climate Committee. She proposed removing “and Campus Climate” from the name, added “underrepresented groups” to the list of groups she aimed to represent, removed the word “marginalized” (but forgot to remove the preceding “more”) and probably a few other incredibly significant changes. At this point, Cullen pointed out that the new senators had not picked up their notebooks, which remained neatly organized and untouched in front of Commissioner of Off-Campus Relations Hsuanwei Fan ’12. After an incredibly memorable debate, Cullen moved to place Hartung and North Campus Representative Stephanie Almeida on a committee to do stuff about these things.
Potential Change in Cross-Enrollment Policy
Commissioner of Academic Affairs Scott Levy ’10 then informed the group about potential changes to cross-enrollment policies at the 5Cs. Levy began by briefly outlining the current policy, which prevents first year students from talking off campus classes, lets sophomores take one class off campus per semester, and lets upper-classmen take up to half their courses off campus during any given semester. The new policy would maintain the restrictions on first year students, but would remove the other limitations, replacing them with a requirement that Pomona students cannot have taken more than 40 percent of their classes off campus by the time they graduate. The senators debated this heavily, most of them under the false assumption that the 40 percent requirement was a “per semester” requirement. But they were wrong.
Ominous Conclusion
At 6:06 p.m., Cullen adjourned the meeting.