I know you’re always eager to hear from your constituents, and after our conversation over the bagel toaster in the Cave last week, I got to thinking about salad dressings.

The salad bar at the Bistro is 2409234 times better this year (thank you, SGA?) but the variety of ingredients is wasted on those same 6 slightly congealed gag-inducing salad dressings (much love to the Ranch, though). Perhaps the SGA could encourage Chartwells to mix up the dressings a bit. I’m a fan of the sesame soy dressing that Mrs. T sometimes has on her salads at Mather… mm…. could we put some of that in a cup and stick it at the end of the line at the Bistro, please? Maybe a Dijon vinaigrette? At the very least, could we have some white/red wine vinegar in addition to the balsamic?

Thanks for listening, my dear Senators.

-Disgruntled and Hungry Bistro Salad-goer.

Also the final ~$1,000,000 SAF budget was approved last night. If anyone has questions about the budget, please contact me via email.

For more information about requesting funds, download the Financial Request Information Sheet.

I have served as a senator for the Class of 2011 since the first semester of my freshman year. My freshman year, I sat on the Academic Affairs committee and chaired an ad-hoc committee to address issues of sexual assault. This semester, I have sat on the Student Life committee, founded and chaired the new Student Safety and Wellness committee, and co-chaired the faculty/student Safety Advisory Group, along with David Andres, Director of Strategic Projects. Although I have never served on the SGA Budget committee, I do have institutional financial experience, having sat on the faculty Planning and Budget Council for my entire freshman year.  I also helped to establish the new Entertainment Activities Council, which you all will vote on shortly.

For as long as I’ve been on the SGA, I’ve wanted to do more. I want to help this organization grow and I want to leave Trinity better than I found it. I know it sounds cliche, but I really mean it. Outside of the SGA, I’ve been involved with the Anti-War Coalition, Trinity Zen, the African Development Coalition, and most recently, Trinity Students Organized Against Racism (T-SOAR).

All I can ask of you is your trust, and your vote. I’d love to hear from you if you have a questions for me, concerns, general issues that you’d like me to bring to the SGA, pretty much anything. I always respond to email promptly, so please don’t hesistate. Andrea.Wise@trincoll.edu

Thanks so much, and I look forward to the vote in February.

1. The lighting walk is on Tuesday (11/1108) at 6:30pm, starting at Campus Safety. We’ll walk around campus and see what areas are too dark, what lights are burnt out, etc. and any student is welcomed (and encouraged) to attend.

2. Voices Raised in Power is on Wednesday (11/12/08) at 6pm at Gallows Hill. It’s sponsored by SART, SATF, the WGRAC, and others and seeks to “to raise awareness and help prevent sexual assault and rape”.

-Writing/Revising a Student Safety Bill of Rights and Responsibilities

-Working to improve sanitation and cleanliness in Mather Dining Hall

-Improve accessibility of information about existing safety/wellness services on campus

-Integrate a safety orientation into the first year program

-Improving handicap accessibility

-Combat eating disorders on campus

Also, the lighting walk will be next Tuesday, November 11th, at 6:30, so please come out and join us for that.

If anyone has any questions or ideas for things you’d like us to address, again, feel free to contact me (Andrea.Wise@trincoll.edu)

Our campus is in a critical period right now. The actions, or inactions, that we, as students, take in the coming days will define us in more ways than we know. The issue of racism at Trinity is particularly visible right now, and while it is not a new one, we have an opportunity before us to send a clear message that we stand for compassion and inclusiveness, not for racism and bigotry.

Everyone at Trinity seems to have a different opinion about how to deal with the racism that faces us, and everyone seems to have different ways of coping with it, but let us not allow these technicalities to distract us from the real issue before us. Often times, when we feel hurt, we need to find a source for our anger, and in times like these, we pick a person to wrongly blame. At this time, no one knows who posted the offensive TrinTalk post except the author him or herself, and we hope that you will all dismiss any rumors that you may have heard about its authorship.

Today, Monday, October 27, 2008 we will be standing together, as members of the Trinity College family to show our friends and classmates that we want Trinity to be a truly welcoming and inclusive place. So, please join us at 5:00pm on the Mather Quad (in front of Austin Arts) to stand in solidarity with all those who have been hurt by racist or otherwise offensive statements at our precious institution. Trinity is our college and let’s claim it as such.

Peace,

Rosalia Abreu ‘11
Ibrahim Diallo ‘11
Marston Hefner ‘12
Adam Katcher ‘12
Tomas Kavanagh ‘11
Channon Miller ‘11
Shannon Smith ‘12
Bryan Wedeen ‘12
Andrea Wise ‘11