In their last Senate meeting of the semester on Dec. 6, the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) discussed six resolutions. Two of the resolutions were voted on and passed: Resolution 6.37, “Student Website Funding Guidelines” and Resolution 7.37,“First-Generation Dean in the Office of Equity and Inclusion.”
Both resolutions were passed unanimously. Resolution 6.37 was passed 24-0 votes, with 2 abstaining, while Resolution 7.37 was passed 23-0 votes with 3 abstaining.
Alex Garcia ’17 and Aidan Martinez ’17 sponsored resolution 6.37. The resolution highlighted a policy for the student budget committee to streamline who receives funding for websites.
According to the resolution, there will be amendments to this prior policy.
“Website has a recurring Wesleyan audience and user base, serves an informational and mission related purpose,” the resolution reads. “Must be more than a vanity site that showcases member profiles. Cannot be for business or personal gain.”
Furthermore, the resolution affirms that student group leaders will submit login credentials to ITS for recovery purposes, and also commits to privacy and creative control with those login credentials stored in a secure server.
“[The resolution] allows for student groups to decide which website builder they want,” the resolution reads. “[It] utilizes website traffic (to be shared with the SBC as a ‘viewer’) as a criterion for website-tier funding.”
Aidan Martinez ’17, Azher Jaweed ’19, Alessio Larios ’19 sponsored resolution 7.37, calling for a full-time First-Generation Dean to be hired under the Office of Equity and Inclusion. The resolution notes that the Office of Equity and Inclusion only has two full-time employees, and one is solely dedicated to Title IX.
“[The resolution] calls for a full-time, First-Generation Dean [to] be hired under the Office of Equity and Inclusion,” the resolution reads. “Commits the First-Generation and Low-Income Student Working Group in the House of Representatives to work alongside the First-Generation Task Force to highlight need on campus, draft a job description, and ultimately hire an individual to serve first-generation students on campus.”
This resolution also proposed a new budget to request funding for a First-Generation Dean in the Fall of 2016.
“I understand that the resolution reads that there are two people in the office, but there are actually four,” University President Michael Roth said. “So the resolution requires some reductions. We are [in the process of] hiring a Dean of Equity and Inclusion.”