On Sunday, Student Council convened to discuss its findings from an investigation into Social Board’s finances and procedures, the results of Student Council elections and upcoming elections for Campus Senate and Greek Council. 

Campus Senate Student co-Chair Delaney Gallagher ’23 is wrapping up her stint on the Senate by preparing to usher in a new wave of senators. Voting begins on April 26 and Gallagher will announce the winners the following Sunday. Vice President for Student Life Bijan Khaghani ’23 then congratulated the winners of the recent Student Council elections before diving into how to improve the election process going forward. New to the race this year was an election board, which was implemented to oversee conduct and establish rules for candidates. Khaghani hopes that the board will be able to play a larger role in the future by setting clear expectations early on for those involved. 

Khaghani also hopes that the Council will draft a policy around rules for posting flyers, as he observed people taking down others’ posters for events and flyers accumulating in areas where they should not be. Dean of Students Brian Janssen said that the Office of Student Engagement (OSE) is exploring a campus-wide policy for posting etiquette, which would specify where people can post flyers for events and encourage groups to take them down once an event is over. “It’s a double-headed initiative that would create some structure,” he said. “But we would need to have the resources to add some bulletin boards in other spaces.” 

Gallagher and Vice President for Business and Finance Melissa Nixon ’23 then unveiled their findings and recommendations for Social Board after a Council-led review into Social Board’s finances and operations, which was prompted by reports of possible misconduct. They concluded that there was no “malicious activity” by members, only minor issues of oversight and policy violations. As such, Gallagher and Nixon announced recommendations that were then unanimously approved, including that Social Board must now provide semesterly budget outlines to Student Council and submit all proposed constitutional changes to the Student Life Committee. (For more information on this, see page 1.) 

Another item of note on the agenda was the fulfillment of a two-year-long Council project to acquire more outdoor chairs. OSE now has 20 purple Adirondack chairs to distribute around campus and are in the process of deciding where to put them.