Author: Richie DeMaria
Last week’s General Assembly meeting on October 4 introduced the staff and projects of the Office of Student Life (OSL) and the Intercultural Community Center (ICC). A pending resolution on graduate assistant Hall Coordinators (HCs), however, generated the most discussion in the student forum.
The resolution, passed last semester on May 3, proposed the creation of a student committee that would help oversee the hiring of HCs, with the hope of ensuring a more collaborative hiring procedure. It stipulated that no graduate students from outside the Occidental community may be hired “until such a decision is reviewed by the committee.” However, since the passing of the resolution, no student committee has been established and HCs have already been hired.
GA Co-Chair Jessica Simes (junior) stressed the importance of honoring the resolution. “We do need to respect the work [of the author],” she said. “There was no action after students made their voices heard. If we don’t follow the resolution, then students cannot have dialogue. We must meet student needs.”
Assistant Director of Student Life Kenna Cottrill was skeptical that the resolution would have any real effect. “Realistically, it’s not going to be undone,” she said of the current hiring process. Cottrill reminded those in attendance that though the recently hired HC is a grad student, she is also an Occidental alumna.
Upper Campus Area Coordinator Bobby Rodgers cautioned students about the language of the resolution. “When the resolution talks about ‘the administration’-it’s very us versus them,” he said.
Rodgers encouraged students to reconsider the stipulations of the resolution. “I would strongly, strongly advise you to revisit [the resolution] and do some serious research on everything,” he said.
Simes suggested the resolution was intended to encourage discussion, not conflict. “Even though the language seems abrasive, we want to inspire dialogue,” she said.
Andrew DeBlock (sophomore) agreed. “It seems the authors have a desire to discuss with the administration who gets hired,” he said. Sarah Arvey (junior), the author of the resolution, was not present at the meeting.
The OSL and ICC also discussed their agendas for the coming year and encouraged interested clubs to come to them for funding needs.
“We’re a really good resource for students,” OSL Programming Assistant Stacey McShane (senior) said. “We’re always willing to collaborate. Everything from throwing a dance to a speaker, there’s not much program-wise that’s not in our domain.”
She wanted to stress that clubs should go to OSL for funding needs because they have the resources. “Clubs need to come to us first,” Cottrill said. “We have more funds than academics.”
The ICC also discussed current and upcoming events, including a book club, a dialogue for women of color, Taste of Oxy, a social justice film series, programming on gentrification in LA and a hip-hop/social justice week.
Next week’s GA will focus on the above mentioned resolution on graduate HCs. To view the resolution, visit the GA website at http://asoc.oxy.edu/asoc/ga/resolutions.htm.
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