Student Council met on Sunday night to discuss a new online platform for student organizations, conduct a first reading of a new anti-racism funding bylaw, announce upcoming student events and approve two student organizations.
Director of Student Engagement Caleb Young attended the meeting to share information about a new online platform that he and the Office of Student Engagement (OSE) believes will better support student organizations. He explained that the platform will provide a space where student organizations and leaders can advertise their events, reserve spaces for events, manage their finances and keep documents such as constitutions and bylaws in one place. The platform will have a central calendar, a resource the College does not currently have. According to Young, the College had a platform like this in the past, but the company that provided it folded about four years ago. The OSE and student organizations have been operating without a similar system since then.
Young noted that he believes the platform will allow student organizations to act more independently without needing to reach out to the OSE, which will give the office more time to address other tasks. “I think that it gives you more autonomy as a student group, as a student leader, and then helps our office better support you and frees up some of our time,” he said. There is not yet a timeline or name proposal for this new platform.
The Council also plans to make changes to one of the bylaws in its constitution under Article 6 Section III, which currently states that Student Council will designate 10% of its semesterly and supplemental allocations to programs that promote anti-racist initiatives. The new bylaw will have a more detailed definition of what counts as anti-racism or an anti-racist initiative. Upon passing the bylaw, the Business and Finance Committee (BFC) will also report the percentage of the funding they allocate to affinity groups each semester instead of having a fixed percentage of allocations set aside for that purpose. “This will allow for more flexibility and if the campus demands more funding towards anti-racist initiatives, they won’t be restricted and if the percentage drops, we will inspect how the allocations have been decided and make adjustments and recommendations to BFC,” Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Khue Tran ’25 wrote in an email to the Collegian. This week’s Council meeting was the first reading of the new bylaw, which Tran anticipates will be passed after the Council conducts its second reading.
Several Council members also discussed upcoming campus events. Tran reminded attendees about the Sexual Respect Peer Alliance (SRPA) Town Hall this Thursday about sexual assault advocacy and prevention. The Council also announced the candidates for this year’s Student Council elections and that voting will begin next week. Greek Week will also be next week April 10-15, and Social Board’s Spring Fest will be this Saturday.
Finally, the Council approved two new student organizations. The first is the Kenyon Ballet Company, which seeks to offer inclusive, student-led ballet classes. “We want to provide a safe space for everyone who wants to learn about ballet or has already done ballet for a long period of time,” said Clare Purdy ’25, one of the club’s leaders. The Council also approved Book Watcher’s Club, which plans to read books that have movie adaptations to discuss the differences between them.