Author: Morgan Flake
The Associated Students of Occidental College (ASOC) Senate met on Tuesday, Oct. 28 for their weekly meeting to discuss club event funding, the potential creation of an Arts Endowment Fund, and the possibility of purchasing new TVs for various first-year residence halls, among other topics.
Student representatives of the Board of Trustees presented updates from the first meeting of the year. Meredith Martin-Almy (senior) reported that all of last year’s goals for annual giving were met. Richard Highsmith (junior) reported that due to the current economic recession, the endowment of Occidental College has decreased about 60 to 70 million dollars, or about 7 to 13 percent. Currently, Occidental College’s endowment is at about 338 million dollars. According to Gregory Benz (sophomore), Occidental still has a balanced budget. A 17 million dollar renovation and expansion of Swan Hall is currently in the planning stages.
“We want to maintain the architectural components of Myron Hunt in Swan Hall, but we want to make it more accessible to students and staff,” Justin Laufer (senior) said.Additional tennis courts and renovations to the aquatic facilities are also being planned. Other proposals included a renovation to Chilcott Hall this summer and a clearer path to Rangeview Hall.
ASOC passed funding for numerous events during the meeting, including a T-shirt fundraiser for Voices for Planned Parenthood, Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s haunted house, an alumni brunch hosted by Alpha Lambda Phi, a pow wow exhibition and evening talk hosted by First Nations, the installation ceremony for Phi Alpha Delta, Dia de los Muertos celebrations hosted by Mecha/Allas, and the round table talk with a venture capitalist for Entrepreneurial Society.
First-year senators Aliza Goldsmith and Andreas Bloomquist presented a proposal to purchase three new flat-screen televisions for Braun Hall, Stewart-Cleland Hall and Pauley Hall. The proposal was tabled for next meeting so that more precise estimates could be gathered.
Bloomquist presented information on the possibility of card swipes in vending machines on campus. The vending machines are contracted out to American Vending Corporation and it is up to that company to enable card swipe usage on the machines at their expense. Currently, card swipe capability is being added to the machine outside the library and the machine at Bell-Young Hall.
ASOC president Patrick McCredie (senior) along with Joellen Anderson (sophomore) and Alison Dempsey (senior), presented on the proposal for an Arts Endowment Fund. This fund would encourage students to paint permanent murals on campus, particularly in residence halls. The fund would provide a process for approval of murals proposals and money to purchase art supplies.
Konstantin Chaykovskiy (junior) presented a proposal to replace the barbeques in Sycamore Glen. He estimated that three new grills would cost 1,285 dollars. The proposal was tabled to allow time for a more precise estimate.
Goldsmith presented four proposals for academic advising, including a two-year course catalog, the availability of a four-year plan for each major, the requirement of a graded assignment returned to student before the drop date, and the possibility to retake classes.
Most of her proposals met with support among department heads. The four-year plan is already available for many majors. It is not possible to require professors to return a graded assignment before a class’s drop date, but it may be encouraged in the future.
“It seems like the students, administration, and faculty are all on the same page. Although these changes won’t happen overnight, I will make sure to pursue them until we get what the students want,” Goldsmith said.
ASOC Senate events and general comments were discussed.
“This was by far the most productive meeting that we have had so far this year. We’ve accomplished more this semester than the past two years combined in terms of creating innovative policies that benefit the students with meaningful and tangible results for the student body,” McCredie said.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.
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