Introduction

College Council discusses Community Policing with Security Officers and Morgan speaks to the effective use of single-ply toilet paper

(11-10-99)

Introduction: Medha and Bert started off the meeting by reminding all juniors and seniors that they should run for the Athletic Director Selection Committee. The description of the committee was sent out in an all campus emailJ . RUN , and change the face of athletics. Your co-presidents stated that they are extremely happy about the progress at the log. Bert stated that the barrier between the bar and the dance floor is no longer there. He also stated that he is very happy about the progress that has been occurring on the Bylaw Revision committee and the Tenure Committee. He stated that constituents should start talking to their reps about the need for a 24-hour study area, for example the basement of the library. He also stated that there was a meeting between MinCo Members and CC members whereby communication lines have been opened and the two groups hope to work together in the future.

The CC listserver archives – should they be open to the public?

Todd Rogers ‘01 stated that the reason the archives were set up was in order to establish a stronger institutional memory for council. The listserver should be a place where members can freely and privately formulate opinions. Hall O’Donnell ‘03 stated that he feels as though the listserver should be public because all students should be able to see what discussion is going on between council members. Joe Masters ‘02 and Carrie Ryan ‘00 supported the idea that the listservers should remain private because the thoughts on the listserver are not formulated

Bert stated that members should get constituent opinion on this issue and that this will be discussed further next week.

Opinions:

-A student felt that personal opinions should not be taken into account when making funding decisions. It was stated that if College Council is going to adopt a policy on which they only fund organizations that are popular, College Council is overstepping its bounds.

Nelson responded to the email by stating that he is working on changing the funding bylaws and that he welcomes all council members to work with him. Before his proposal is presented to council he will be asking for student opinion. Morgan Barth ‘02 will be responding to the email.

-Another student applauded the council's concern over the amount of money allottedannually to the lit review. She stated that other groups on campus produce magazines of as good, or better, quality with less money. Carrie Ryan ‘00 will be responding to this email.

-There was another email about making CC Archive public. This is an ongoing CC discussion as shown above. Todd Rogers ‘01 will be responding to this email.

-There was an opinion concerning the all campus emails and how they are decided. The student was concerned with the email about the "Porn Party" at Agard this past weekend. Joe Masters ’02 is working on revising the all campus email policy and this opinion was sent to the Housing Committee.

-There was an opinion expressing concern over the alteration in the Housing Committee executive structure. It was stated that the system of co-presidents is imperative to maintaining a system of checks and balances. This email was sent to the Housing Committee.

-There was an email requesting the setting up a listserver for students who wanted to receive the menu every week. Joe Masters ’02 will work on this.

-A student wondered why one couldn’t get a stamp on the Goodrich friend of the bean Card for steamed milk. This was sent to the Goodrich Committee.

-There was an email from a student at Swarthmore College asking us for advice on how to run an effective student government.

-It was requested that the following be printed in the minutes:

"In the minutes for the college council meeting of October 20th, 1999, the following was printed: "A student wrote in that improvements to the RideBoard were necessary - this was sent to WSO." As of November 8th, WSO has not received this message, and thus cannot act on it. Please send any suggestions or complaints about WSO services towso@wso.williams.edu. They WILL be read, and acted on if appropriate or possible. We cannot guarantee that complaints sent through third parties will ever reach us"

Student Faculty Committee Reports

--CUL – June Yi ’02 reported that at the last meeting CUL met with Security and that they are addressing the Housing System and the Cluster system. They are also working on continuing to improve the advising system. Comments? Email 02jhy

--Safety Committee -- Carrie Ryan ’00 stated that the first meeting will be this Friday.

Council members requested ground lights on the steps outside of West and more lighting in the Science Quad. Safety Committee will be soliciting opinions about where more lights are needed. Comments? Email 00chr

--Winter Study Committee – Chris Warshaw ’02 reported that the WSC has reviewed all 99s. He also stated that they are assessing the ways in which 99s are reviewed and they are addressing the issue of winter study class sizes. Council members asked if they could be informed as to which classes are prioritized when students are selected for certain courses.

Comments? Email 02cjw.

Meeting with Security about increased policing of dorms-

Bert introduced the subject of the increased policing by security in dorms. Jean Thorndike spoke to the rationale for increased policing. As she mentioned in the record article, she hopes to hear the student opinion about the present policy and situation. She hopes that every student read the article "Community Policing" because it encompasses many details of the new policy and illustrates that the policy has to do with environmental management and not just policing. There were a lot of complaints from students saying that there was a need to change the social environment in recent years, and this new policy was a way in which security felt it could help the situation. Ben Finholt ‘00 said that although there were nothing but good intentions, the new policy has had very different effects than those that were hoped for. He stated that students perceive the new policy in a manner that is not in line with the policy’s intentions. Hall O’Donnell ‘03 stated that he got 59 emails from his constituents about this matter, 54 of these were against the new policy. He then read an excerpt from one of the emails. The email stated that the new policy is increasing hostility towards security and in actuality making the school more unsafe. The emails that stated that the community policing was a good thing still said that the system needs to be changed so that it does not turn students away from feeling safe talking to security. Ash Bradley ‘03 stated that many students in his dorm stated the security sweeps are not allowing for a pleasant exchange with security. Instead the random walking through is leading to students seeing security officers as opposing them. The policy is leading to increased unsafe drinking instead of reducing unsafe drinking. Jean emphasized that if a student is taken to the Health Center, the information is not sent to Security. A trip to the Health Center concerning alcohol is strictly confidential. Dave Thal ‘03 and Mayo Shattuck ‘03 stated that their constituents had very negative feelings towards the new policing policy.

Bert raised an interesting question: Should security enforce the drinking age? Abid Shah ‘02 would like to see statistics as to how the policy is helping. Terri O’Brien ‘02 spoke about the recent formation of under 21 drinking rooms at parties. She also stated that some of her constituents were in favor of monitoring and not policing, security should talk to students and not just police their actions.

Nelson Hioe ’00 and Peter Krause ‘02 stated that they understand the need to uphold the law, but that the issues of safety or community are not being addressed by this new policy. Todd Rogers ‘01 suggested that we have some sort of social event with security or a Gaudino forum whereby all students can speak frankly with Security about this issue. Dave Boyer said that there are students out there whose needs are not being met and that these students have come to security. Nancy Walworth ’02 said that she does feel as though there needs to be a greater sense of community but that distrust of the students is not the way to increase the community feeling between security and students. Jean said that she would like to work on the educational aspect of drinking, and maybe they need to think about addressing low risk drinking. Ash Bradley ‘03 stated that he doesn’t feel as though the sweeps are providing a safe environment for those individuals who Dave Boyer had spoken about earlier. Morgan Barth ‘02 stated that we might need to reassess substance free housing. Jessica Liebler ’00 brought up the issue that we should consider the right of students to not be disturbed by other students drinking. She said that we should not forget that there are students that do not drink and that they have certain rights.

Where do we go from here? Jean would like to integrate the housing governance system and security. One idea would be to set up a committee of students to work with Security. Security will be speaking to Council in a later meeting and will be taking all these comments into consideration when they reassess the policy.

The Residential Improvement Committee –

Bert reported that this committee is still in its early stages. It is working on increasing the residential feeling of community. They will be coming up with ideas and be sending these to the students and soliciting student opinion. Medha asked if the clustering system was a core idea of this committee. Bert said that it had been, but there are always other options and possibilities.

Any Questions email Carrie- 00chr or Bert - 00arl.

NESCAC Update –

The NCAA advocacy group was hoping to hand out flyers at the homecoming game about the facts of the new policy that will be effective next year and comparing it to the current policy. There was a move to take an opinion as to whether the officers should use the discretionary fund to fund the flyers. Council opinion was 28-1-1 for the officers to use the discretionary fund to finance these flyers.

Member’s Open Time-

Ben Finholt ’00 expressed concern about the porn being played at the Agard Party this past weekend. Ben will email the housing committee

Brad Geddes ‘00 brought up the parking policy. A constituent of his stated that it is very difficult to have a car on campus. Carrie will be taking all of the parking complaints to the Safety Committee.

Hall O’Donell’03 asked if snack bar could be opened later on Saturdays because there is no other place on campus for students at that time. Also the snack bar should be open before 8:00am, because classes start 8:00.

Hall O’Donnell ‘03 also asked what could be done about the fact that we only have single ply toilet paper. He will be emailing B and G about this. Morgan Barth ‘02 takes a longer strand of the toilet paper and folds it in half. This allows for the comfort of double ply toilet paper. Any questions…email Morgan – 02mmbJ

Ami Parekh ’01 stated that members are working on getting the CC meetings on the radio, so that the meetings will be archived and interested students could listen to everything that goes on at the meetings

Abid Shah ’02 stated that his constituents wanted to see a juice bar in Goodrich. Jeff Herzog ’00 will take this to the Goodrich Committee.

Chris Delaney ’01 stated that his constituents think that students should have a choice whether or they want to compost their food waste.

PEACE-

Ami

Any Comments about the minutes? Email 01amp.