Author: Soo Jin Kim
On Tuesday Oct. 21, the Associated Students of Occidental College (ASOC) Senate met for its weekly meeting in Fowler 111 at 7:30 p.m. Issues of interest covered in the meeting included Alcohol Awareness Week, a new resolution allowing the Honor Board to disclose Honor Board cases brought against the ASOC, funding clubs for their events, Taste of Oxy, ASOC funding guidelines and projects that senators are currently undertaking.
The ASOC is the student government of Occidental College and primarily deals with the concerns of students by acting as “a voice for the student body, [to] support students and their activities, identify and act on student needs, approve funding for recognized clubs and organizations, act upon legislation proposed by the General Assembly, and approve an annual budget for the Student Services,” according to the ASOC Web site.
ASOC has passed a resolution which allows the Honor Board to disclose Honor Board cases brought against ASOC members. Honor Board, the jurisdiction branch of Occidental College, is responsible for taking legal action for and against students. Honor Board is responsible for taking action against students plagiarizing or cheating and takes into account any reports filed by students against another student, faculty or staff member.
According to Patrick McCredie (senior), president of the ASOC, passing this new resolution means that any reports filed against ASOC senators will be disclosed. In any cases brought forward to the Honor Board, the Board keeps all identities private. However with this new resolution, the positions of the ASOC members will be disclosed. This means that wherein the past, (should a case have been brought against a senator) the senator would also have been regarded as an ‘individual,’ now the senator’s position (for example, ‘campus-wide senator’) will be disclosed, to at least give some form of privacy.
The resolution was passed with the argument that, as representatives of the student body, the senators lead less private lives and are held to a higher responsibility than the rest of the student body and should therefore also be held to a higher accountability. Representatives from the Honor Board present during the meeting promised that with its strict guidelines, disclosing such information will not get out of control.
The meeting also concentrated on the funds to be granted to clubs for their events. All clubs have received funds for their events. Included (but not limited to) clubs in this list are: the Greek Council for its ‘Trick or Treat on Greek Street,’ Alpha Phi Alpha for its fundraiser in which members will make scarves and sell them, the intramural Football Club for scrimmages, the hip hop club Pulse for its Halloween performance and dance instructor, Sigma Alpha Epsilons for an alcohol awareness event (to be co-sponsored by Alpha), Occidental Hillel for its Hookah in the Sukkah event, Rebirth for its carwash fundraiser, Trails for a day hike, and finally Alpha for its Walk for Hope, Union Station Thanksgiving Dinner and volunteering at the Downtown Women Shelter.
Sandy Runyan (senior), a campus-wide senator, gave her report on the Taste of Oxy event. She said that Taste of Oxy was a “good choice to fund” and concluded that a stricter auditing system is necessary for a more standardized system. She said she would prefer it if all groups who received ASOC funds were audited.
Runyan also randomly attends events at Oxy, “to make sure that they have followed through with the funding request, funded by ASOC,” adding that it is to “make sure [that] students get what they have paid for.” She added that any events she or other senators attend to report on are decided on random chance and is non-partial.
A new ASOC funding guideline has been added to the already existing guideline, which can be found on the ASOC Web site. This new guideline reads, “ASOC funds shall not be used to compensate students for services rendered on behalf of a club or organization.” According to McCredie, this guideline had been sparked by an actual request several weeks ago.
“An instructor, who is a student, thought he should have been compensated,” McCredie said. But due to ethical reasons, especially that of mild defrauding as such compensation would enrich the individual rather than the club, ASOC has had to rethink “what determines appropriate funding pricing regiment,” McCredie said.
Funding to pay outside instructors coming to instruct clubs is fine, but students requesting to be paid with ASOC funds will be rejected, especially as this new guideline has been approved and passed with a unanimous vote, McCredie said.
The projects of two senators were also presented. Senator Xochiltl Ramos (sophomore) presented an update on her project, extending athletic facility hours. David LaPorte (sophomore) also gave an update on his project concerning the birth control amendments, especially in Emmons. Following an open floor discussion concerning some minor issues, the meeting was adjourned.
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