Last night’s A.S. Council meeting was slightly more presentation-heavy than normal. First up to bat was Kari Gohd, who gave a special presentation on Senior Spring, an effort to inspire spirit within the senior class, and the Web site for all events related to graduating seniors.
‘The Web site is going to be alive on Monday, and we’re working really hard to market this Web site and also the concept of Senior Spring,’ Gohd said. ‘Hopefully by the end of spring break every senior will know about this Web site and about Senior Spring.’
Associate Vice President of Student Advocacy Frank Carroll followed with a special presentation on the drafting of the new sex-offense policy.
The guidelines are designed to be more supportive of sexual assault victims. It extends the university’s jurisdiction to off-campus reports and also includes lengthy definitions for contentious terms, such as ‘effective consent’ and ‘requisite capacity.’
‘Unfortunately, for these definitions we had to be very legalistic,’ Carroll said. ‘I didn’t want to be in a situation to have to defend a scumbag on a technicality.’
Carroll ended his presentation with a list of resources currently available to victims of sexual crimes. These include the Sexual Assault Resource Center, the Office of Sexual Harassment Prevention and Policy and Counseling and Psychological Services.
‘This was literally the best committee I’ve ever served on,’ Carroll said. ‘Everybody from the most senior administrators to the student representatives were treated as equals and I’m very proud to be a part of it.’
The next presenter was Benjamin Balthaser, a sixth-year graduate student in the literature department, who gave a presentation on a resolution that supports the immediate relocation of the staff, faculty and students who occupy the literature building.
‘Basically, our feeling is that it may cost human lives to stay in the building; it may cost people careers, but it costs very little to move us,’ Balthaser said. ‘Hell, they can put us in a tent. I don’t care. Basically, what we’re asking for is for an immediate evacuation of the building.’
The council then argued back and forth over various changes to the literature building resolution in an attempt to make it more concise.
‘What makes us effective as Associate Students is to get things done efficiently,’ All-Campus Senator Chris Westling said. ‘We need to look at the bigger picture here and just pass the resolution.’
The council unanimously approved the resolution after whittling down the language to a basic demand for campus administrators to ensure the safety of all affiliates of the building.
‘We need to get out into the community and do more than write little resolutions, because we have more power than that,’ Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Lana Blank said during open forum.
All-Campus Senator Garron Engstrom followed up by announcing that Student-Run Television would broadcast the first video of A.S. meetings today at 3 p.m. Stay tuned.