The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) released its mid-year report on Jan. 28. The 13-page report outlines the duties and progress that the seven WSA committees, and their various subcommittees, made last semester.
“It’s an internal gut check,” said WSA President Zach Kolodin ’07.
Among the achievements, the WSA listed the creation of a shuttle service to New Haven, an increased influence at Board of Trustee meetings, its role in the selection of new food service provider, Bon Appétit, and the establishment of “a more reasonable policy” regarding house fines.
The report noted progress still had to be made in informing students about “their rights in the classroom,” working with Public Safety to eliminate student concerns about racial profiling, and increasing the prominence of the Endowment Advisory Committee (EAC).
In the introduction, Kolodin highlighted accountability, transparency, improving support for marginalized students, and assertiveness as the assembly on-going focus.
The WSA cited its bi-weekly Argus column, which details new WSA initiatives and examines students’ concerns, as achieving a measure of dialogue with the student body. It also announced plans to publish a newsletter that will describe the assembly’s goals, progress, and obstacles.
According to the report, the Finance and Facilities Committee (FiFac) is also taking on transparency issues, collaborating with administrators and the Environmental Organizers’ Network (EON) for open student-trustee dialogue on sustainability in the University’s planned science center.
The Student Budgetary Committee (SBC) reported a growth in overall funding due to the recently raised student activity fee, and committee members are now working toward a more efficient system for allocating funds to student groups.
The student activity fee, which is included in each student’s tuition, increased from $107 per student to $135 this academic year. According to Kolodin, this brings the funds available to the SBC to around $640,000, up from $500,000.
WSA members hope that the anticipated electronic request system will reduce paperwork and enable the SBC to phase out the allotment of money in lump sums and instead provide groups with funding on a line item basis.
Although the number of funding requests usually declines in the spring semester, the committee plans to continue its efforts to make the best use of its budget.
“We expect to continue spending very efficiently this semester,” said SBC Treasurer Nicole Ippoliti ’09. “Unfortunately this calls for making tough decisions on where to cut spending, but we are striving to do the best we can with such a minimal budget.”
For the Student Life Committee (SLC), a branch of Student Affairs (SAC), primary concerns include formalizing a protocol to report bias-related incidents that take place on campus, and strengthening the recently debuted Campus Climate Log.
The Undergraduate Residential Life Committee (URLC), also under SAC, reported on their continued efforts to improve the General Room Selection (GRS). Previously, students were able to form housing groups of any size, even if there were no class-appropriate housing options available. A new resolution limits housing groups according to class year. Sophomores can now enter GRS with no more than two people, juniors with four, and seniors with six.
The URLC also addressed the issue of students who are placed in what is deemed class-inappropriate housing due to limited spaces. Students who receive very undesirable housing will now receive a small lottery point increase during the following year’s selection, automatically improving their ranking.
As outlined in the report, one of the aims of the Community Outreach Committee is to improve relations between students and the Middletown Police Department (MPD). A meeting was held last semester between MPD, Ujamaa and the WSA to work toward this goal, but the WSA hopes to have MPD further publicize their specific policies to the student body.
The Educational Policy Committee (EPC) has, according to the report, continued to discuss developing Middle Eastern Studies and Cognitive Science programs, instituting University minors, and improving the current system of evaluating faculty advisors. The committee is also considering how to improve the clusters system so as to connect it more concretely to students’ educational choices and goals.
A summary of the Mid-Year Report will soon be available on the WSA website, at http://www.wesleyan.edu/wsa.
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