On the Issue of Division and the Effectiveness of Hunger Strikes

College Council Minutes for 11/15/00

[introduction]

Ami Parekh (Co-President) announced that the College Council appointments committee received thirty-one nominations for two positions on the Admissions Director Search Committee, a new record. Ami also congratulated the Frosh Council for working so diligently on preparing an alcohol policy statement (more on this later).

Todd Rogers (Co-President) mentioned that an editorial had been published in the Record criticizing CC for not representing minority concerns on campus. Todd told council that although the rhetorical technique of the article was unnecessarily combative, it did raise very important issues. Members of MinCo, CC, and Housing Committee will all be discussing these issues at the Gaudino Forum on Monday at 8pm in Goodrich Living Room: "The Color of Student Government."

[frosh council alcohol statement]

Members of Frosh Council met last night to draft a statement endorsing alcohol education, and Ari Kessler (Morgan/Lehman) and Tim Patterson (Frosh Council) brought it to council for feedback. The proposal is divided into two parts: an alcohol education program, and an alcoholic curriculum group that will consider alcohol education throughout the year. The education program is designed with the Katie Koestner speech in mind; a dynamic speaker in Chapin during First Days, followed by entry talks. For this year’s freshman class, the Frosh Council recommends that a speaker be reserved for Winter Study, and that all first-years be strongly encouraged to attend. Tim Karpoff (Co-Op) asked what this proposal seeks to accomplish; he believes that most people know the dangers of alcohol, and one night of a dynamic speaker isn’t going to get anything done. Princess Alegre (MinCo) said that it’s not the overall message (that alcohol is bad) but the little things that will stick in your mind. One such example is that we don’t know when a student needs to go to the hospital as opposed to being allowed to "sleep it off." Princess also asked Karpoff what he would see as more effective methods to combating near-death alcohol experiences. In response, Karpoff offered two examples: banning hard alcohol from campus (it’s hard to drink yourself to death with beer), and providing a safe atmosphere for first-years to drink beer. Matt Dahlman (East/Fay) disagreed with the first suggestion, saying that banning hard alcohol wouldn’t solve any problems; students get sick on beer, too. Shenil Saya (At-Large), addressing the second idea, knows that many JAs feel uncomfortable providing their underage first-years with alcohol. Addressing the program, Aaron Marsh (At-Large, sub for Chris Koegel) recommended that they choose someone who has had a personally devastating experience with alcohol (like Koestner) and not just someone who’s charismatic (like the TIPs training guy). Ari responded that they did not want to use scare tactics to enforce the message.

Finally, Nishant Nayyar (At-Large) addressed the second part of the proposal, which seeks to create a new curricular committee on alcohol education. However, there is already an existing Health Committee (in coordination with the Health Center). Patterson answered that the Frosh Council will modify the proposal to work with the existing committee. On a slightly different note, Dan Elsea (Mark Hopkins) wanted the proposal to include language tying the Williams Police Department’s breathing-down-the-College’s-neck to much of the unsafe drinking atmosphere that exists here at Williams. Ari wondered if the proposal was the appropriate forum for such a statement. The actual statement is online at the College Council website (wso.williams.edu/cc).

[funding]

Abbey Eisenhower requested $208 from Council for Best Buddies, a community service program that brings college students and people with mental retardation together. For this semester, they will be throwing a group party for the Williams volunteers and their Buddies, and next semester will be providing transportation for the program. Catherine Denver (Mills/Thompson) asked if they had asked the Chaplain’s Office for money. However, because the group is new, funding from that office would not have been allocated in their yearly budget. CC voted to give Best Buddies $208: 29-0-0.

Pete Munoz, Ben Angarita, and Heather Brutz asked for $57 from the Intergroup Fund for Students for Social Justice and VISTA to jointly attend a conference on the Crisis in Colombia at Columbia University. The students going will each chip in $18.57 toward parking and registration, and asked CC to contribute $57 toward food. Matt Wessler (Off-Campus) suggested to the groups that if they went to similar events in the future, they should request more money from council, because he feels that CC should pay for most of these expenses. CC voted to give $57 out of the IGF: 29-0-0.

[latino studies]

Sergio Espinosa came from VISTA to speak about their ongoing drive to start a Latino Studies program at Williams. There will be a conference on this very issue Saturday in Goodrich from 10:30 am to 3:30pm, with free lunch and snacks. Sergio underscored the fact that you do not need to be Latina/o to come; you might just be interested in another discipline that should be offered at the college. Todd recommended that everyone read the Record editorial about the history of Latino Studies at Williams, and asked Sergio to relate a brief outline of the project. According to Sergio, ten years ago, in order to impress upon the college the need for a Latino Studies program, three VISTA officers went on a hunger strike. Apparently it didn’t work too well, but a couple of years later, many more students (not just from VISTA) held another hunger strike, and this one made more progress. At that time, they extracted some promises out of the administrators concerning a Latino Studies program. However, since that time until last year, VISTA hasn’t focused much on the issue. The denial of tenure for a particularly respected professor of Latin-America-based classes last year, however, sparked new political interest for VISTA. Thus, in this current year of wide-ranging curricular reform, Sergio sees a real possibility for movement on the issue.

Ami asked CC members to be active in helping VISTA, instead of just waiting for a final proposal to vote on. Princess wondered if VISTA is battling members of the administration for the program. Sergio responded that it’s really hard to tell, both because of vague answers ("We’re thinking about it," "Sounds like a good idea…"), and because it really takes a long time to implement a program like this. Nishant asked if other small liberal arts colleges have Latino Studies programs. Ben replied that other schools in New England tend not to have programs, but do have excellent faculty who specialize in certain areas of Latino Studies. Nishant then asked if one reason for not having the program was a lower enrollment in Latino-focused classes. Sergio responded that there is quite a bit of demand, but that enrollment size is not necessarily that important in creating the department; certainly there are classes that we aren’t going to get rid of any time soon that have low enrollments (perhaps some of the foreign language classes). Furthermore, students are going to go to classes taught by great professors, and asking students to postulate on whether or not they would attend a class without considering who teaches it would be to get an inexact answer. Heather added that her Latin-American history class last year was so big that it split into several sections, and she doesn’t see a lack of interest in Latino Studies at all. Ami urged CC to keep this discussion going -- if you want to make a suggestion or get more information, email 02sae.

[opinions]

One opinion (actually from Joe Masters (Secretary)), concerning auditors going into students’ rooms without knocking. Tom McEvoy responded to this earlier today, saying that he had warned the auditors of exactly this issue, and it appears that they just aren’t listening. He has spoken to them again about the issue.

One opinion asking if students and professors can use CUL points at the log for beer… James Moorhead (Class of 2001) responded that CUL will not buy alcohol for student-faculty interaction. The opinion went on to ask why the Log doesn’t have any beers on tap; James explained that it used to, but due to lack of sales, the beer in the kegs went flat.

CC received an opinion from a minority student who felt that Water Polo’s nationals funding was fine, and didn’t relate at all to MinCo’s funding situation, or to minority groups at all.

Finally, one opinion thanking Goodrich for its excellent programming lately, including the election coverage and the Crocodile Hunter movie.

[open time]

Wessler announced a development from CEAC – they will be proposing an environmental policy statement to the president and the trustees by Winter Study, and hopefully it will be adopted. This is especially important in the light of new development projects, and because many colleges already have similar policies in place (Middlebury approved one in 1995).

Ashford Bradly (Dodd) asked if there was any word from Senior Staff about funding for Water Polo. Ryan Mayhew (Treasurer) answered yes, they have chipped in $2,000, so that CC’s total contribution will be just over $3,000.

Dan asked about the current status of the Mark Hopkins printer. Joe replied that we’re still waiting for the network jacks to be installed.

Dahlman wondered if anything was happening concerning the breakdown in communications between Jean Thorndike and an individual security officer during the dorm raids. Nishant explained that it’s really an internal matter, and he’s sure they’re working on it, but behind closed doors.

Todd asked, somewhat rhetorically, whether there should be a bike rack outside of Schow Library, because his U-Lock won’t fit on the rail. He will be speaking to B&G about this.

Ami told CC that it is expensive to travel abroad for Winter Study – if you’re on financial aid, and want to do a 99, you can only receive a $500 flat fee towards travel, regardless of whether you’re going to New Zealand or Boston. And, if you’re not on financial aid, you can’t get any help funding a 99. Two years ago, when she went abroad, students were able to beg departments for some money to help with these trips. However, someone has informed departments that they can no longer help students fund Winter Study travel, so a monetary void has appeared, leaving many students in limbo (including Dan, who is not on financial aid, and whose parents refuse to pay for his trip abroad although his 99 has been approved). Mayo Shattuck (Class of 2003) thinks that going abroad during Winter Study is a privilege, not a right, and that the school should not be expected to shoulder these costs. Shenil agrees that funding should be based on the proposal (i.e., going to Vegas for a month to examine the psychological effects of gambling the college’s money away might not warrant much college funding). Ami added that if Winter Study is truly an academic period, then the college should support studies so powerful as studying abroad in a student-designed academic course. On a larger theme, Tracy Cheung (Pratt) is concerned that the financial aid office offers no help for students on financial aid trying to fund expensive academic items, and that the college does not help students seek merit-based scholarships.

Finally, CC discussed in detail Royce Smith’s editorial "College Council: A white student union?" Nishant began the conversation, saying that he found the examples used in the article offensive and untrue. Furthermore, he would like to write a response contesting many of the issues raised in the editorial. Dan, who edited the article, says that despite the technique, there is a perception on campus that CC is oblivious to many minority opinions.

Dahlman reminded CC that its members are not picked to represent ethnic groups; rather, they are selected by class and by residence. Further addressing the issue of representation, James replied to one particular passage in the editorial. Quoting, "Some CC representatives point to proportionality statistics – the student body is 25 percent minority – as proof of adequate representation. Should we believe that the lone African-American representative (the first in at least four years) and the lone Latino representative satisfy the question of representation?" James pointed out that he ran unopposed in his election (Class of 2001 representative), and that if more minority representation is needed, then more minorities need to run for CC. Everyone who does not feel that his or her view is represented by CC should run.

Justin Reliford (Armstrong), in response, explained that because CC is perceived as a white student union, minorities don’t run for positions on CC. Additionally, he thinks that another article in the Record would simply be too argumentative. Several other CC members echoed this opinion, including Wessler, who apparently hates the opinions page (but approves of letters to the editor). Nishant, defending his position, asked how CC looks if it allows untrue allegations to go unanswered? Several examples in the editorial are blatantly untrue and all are, at the very least, taken out of context or misrepresented.

Gideon Lee (MinCo) believes that much of the content was wrong, but he’s glad that CC is shocked that that we’re having a conversation about this. It is a fact that at Williams, minority students are much more unhappy than majority students are. Todd also trusts that this campus discourse about representative is good. Reality or not, the perception is a reality, and something has to be done about it. CC must remain sensitive to minority issues, and continue to keep in touch with all of our respective communities. Dan reiterated that there is a large problem of obliviousness on the part of the majority concerning the problems that minority students see every day. After 300 years of a white male society, it has only been in the last twenty or thirty that America has even tried to work on these issues.

Ash asked what some of the minority issues not being addressed in council are… All it really takes for a CC discussion is for one person to come to Council and raise the issue. Justin pointed to the issue of Latino Studies, which would not have come to CC this week had the editorial not been published. Shenil added that although the Latino Studies issue arose in CC last spring, many minorities feel uncomfortable going to the majority, which is very athletically focused. To understand many minority concerns, you need to experience the issues yourself. Shenil believes the best way for CC to understand minority issues would be to meet students like Royce in forums specially designed to reveal these issues. Ami added that to really see everything, CC members must attend MinCo meetings and go to conferences.

Wrapping up the conversation (for this week), John Phillips (Prospect) outlined one point on which he agrees with Royce: the systemic strictures that divide the communities. Because MinCo funding doesn’t come from the same source as CC funding, and because MinCo exists to be the minority student representative body, CC appears to representative the majority. We are divided by structure.

Joe Masters

CC Secretary

wso.williams.edu/cc