Ben Folds Five Coming to Campus

Co-president Will Slocum ’99 said that the system of house governance is beginning to be reviewed so that students will have more input into their residential environment and social events will be coordinated more often among houses. This is a joint initiative of the Dean’s Office, the Committee on Undergraduate Life, the Housing Office, and the College Council.

Negotiator-extraordinaire Carrie Ryan ’00 of SAC announced that on April 30 Ben Folds Five is coming to campus. That’s the day before they appear on Saturday Night Live and a few days after their new album is to be released. In other news, Patchen Mortimer ’00 of SAC is coordinating the spring music fest and is eager to hear from campus bands that would like to play. E-mail him at 00pem.

Christine Pace ’01 of the Campus Environmental Advisory Committee reported that efforts are still underway to save paper at Jesup by printing on once-used paper. Also in the pipeline are discounts on coffee at the snack bar for those who bring CUPPS cups and less packaging on take-out items.

Ami Parekh ’01 brought news from the Calendar and Scheduling Committee that she is working on getting the office hours of all profs published. The committee is also trying to make sure profs don’t schedule evening exams without giving students an equal break off class time.

Liz Lee ’01 relayed the input sent to opinions@wso. There were two letters critical of the letter the CC co-presidents sent. Eric Soskin ’99 and Nishant Nayyar ’02 are working to revise how elections are run to remove the co-presidents from the process to prevent future conflicts of interest with the co-presidents wanting to defend the Council while administering the election. Two students would like breakfast points at Goodrich, but since the coffee bar isn’t run by Dining Services, it’s not possible to transfer Dining Services credits to the coffee bar at the moment. Ami Parekh ’01 and Ryan Mayhew ’01, however, are still optimistic that this can be worked out, and they are going to pursue the issue. Another student wants the library open around the clock; that comment was forwarded to the students on the library committee. There were three opinions on the resource room in Goodrich — one fellow wants it to stay locked, but the other two think it should be open. The Goodrich Committee is currently reevaluating the role of the resource room, and College Council will likely discuss the issue soon in a meeting that hopefully will be well-attended by students interested in the issue. Yet another concern about Goodrich sent to opinions@wso was about groups rehearsing on stage during peak study hours. Goodrich manager Janet Iwasa ’99 said that performing groups probably won’t be allowed to practice there again during busy times.

Erik Tarpley ’02 asked for recognition to restart the Christian Science organization that had been dormant. He hopes to lead discussions of the practice and to bring a speaker to campus. The Chaplain’s Office is paying for the group’s events.

Janet continued to discuss Goodrich by revealing the new structure for the Goodrich Committee. The student activities intern, the SAC chair, the CC president or treasurer, the paid Goodrich managers, a CC at-large rep, a Frosh Council rep, and four members of the student body will constitute next year’s committee. While this committee will make and review policies for the building, the College Council will have ultimate authority over the building except for the coffee bar, which is an independent break-even (hopefully) business. At least that was the thrust of a proposal put forth by Janet and Will Slocum ’99, but the proposal was tabled in the interest of collecting more input from students. Janet pointed out that this expansion of the committee will help students retain control over the building even after the building’s management falls to the new student activities intern next year. Will Chang ’99 suggested that privatizing the coffee bar as a student business would eliminate the question of who would oversee the operation and the administrative structure. John Rivera-Dirks ’99 said that the proposed structure takes too much authority over the student center away from the student government. Medha Kirtane ’00 said the CC should retain some control over the coffee bar. In response to lots of suggestions, there is now picture molding in the Goodrich living room for artwork.

Will Chang ’99, in the interest of the juggling club’s longevity, asked for $294 to buy equipment that the group can use after the senior members graduate and take their personal equipment with them. Medha Kirtane ’00 recommended that the club keep its new equipment in the lockers in the Goodrich resource room. Elissa Shevinsky ’01 hopes that there will be public performances now that CC is paying for the equipment. Funding passed easily.

Dave Walfish ’00 of the Hawaii club asked for $964 to fund a trip to MIT for a conference, Hawaii-style happy grams (mahalograms), and food and decorations for the annual luau. Full funding passed after extended discussion to ensure that paying for food was integral to the event, which will be open to the first 100 students to buy tickets.

Heather Matthews ’02 and Medha Kirtane ’00 asked Council in the future to initiate responses to homophobia and other minority issues instead of just participating in initiatives started by Minco groups; this suggestion was well-received and the new CC co-presidents hope to work on these issues. Liz Lee ’01 and Nishant Nayyar ’02 suggested more coordination between CC and the Housing Committee, another aim that the incoming co-presidents hope to work on. — Farah Musani ’00 announced that the Minco constitution is finished and reflects a spirit of a coalition instead of a loose organization of disparate groups.

After thunderous applause for the fearless outgoing leaders and the senior members of Council, Council wiped the tears and adjourned. We’ll be back after spring break for more action.

Bert Leatherman

CC Secretary Emeritus (boo-hoo!)