New Standing Committee On Campus

At the beginning of this academic year, the Student Government Association created a new standing committee called the Committee on Campus Climate and Civic Engagement. The committee has taken the place of last year’s Diversity Committee. The Committee was created last year by the SGA to tackle issues concerning diversity and campus climate. The new Committee on Campus Climate has a broadened scope of issues that it is presently tackling including diversity, campus climate, admissions, public space on campus, and our perception in the community.

I am very excited to chair the Student Government Campus Climate and Civic Engagement Committee this semester. My name is Matthew Wrzesniewsky and I am a junior and an American Studies major. I have served on SGA for two consecutive years and chaired the Academic Affairs Committee last year. This is the inaugural year of the Committee on Campus Climate and Civic Engagement. The committee has a variety of ideas this year and represents a diversity of opinions and experiences. Other committee members are Flo Monier, Melissa Litwack and Tomas de’Medici. Together we are working to improve campus climate and establish the direction of the new committee.

Presently, the Committee regularly attends Meetings or Multicultural Affairs Committee (MAC). Vice President of Multicultural Affairs, Jen Abalajon, holds them on a biweekly basis. It has been both informative and interesting to see what each cultural organization is doing on campus. At meetings the Campus Climate Committee has gained a perspective about what cultural organizations are working on. Additionally, a member of the Campus Climate Committee serves on the Inter-Social Council (ISC), an organization that emerged last year. The Campus Climate Committee holds weekly meetings on Sunday evenings in Mather Dining Hall. Any student is welcome to join us and come forth with ideas.

At the beginning of the semester we were reminded about the unfortunate events that unfolded last year during Halloween. Early this semester, we found it especially important to publish a full-page advertisement in the Tripod, imploring students to consider the implications of their actions during their Halloween celebrations. A variety of organizations worked to influence students to consider the implications of their actions. We believe that our collective efforts were successful.

A long-term goal of the committee, and the entire SGA, is to bring forth an anti-discrimination policy for the entire campus community. We believe this to be a crucial element to the progress of our campus community. We have researched the policies of other institutions and are working on one for our own community. The policy is intended to be short and concise and be placed in the Student Handbook for all students to access. We believe that a policy of this nature would be a powerful declaration and would be an exclamation that our college does not tolerate acts of discrimination.

Another concern our committee has regarding our campus is the fragmentation of the campus. The vast expanse of spaces on a small is counterintuitive, and further separates students. With the Student Government, we offered recommendations and a critique of the proposal the Charter Committee on Campus Climate created. One area where we have begun to focus on is the issue of a public space on campus. We have had a discussion with Edward Taraskewich from Chartwells, after thinking about public space on campus. We have chatted with him about probable future changes to the Cave that will develop an alternative public space on campus. There are plans for immediate changes and there are long-term goals. The changes will reinvent in environment and create a place that will operate at night, and may include the rumored campus pub.

The SGA Campus Climate Committee has just begun its work and there are many ideas on the agenda. In this op-ed, we have only briefly discusses a few of our ideas and a briefing about what we have accomplished. We are happy where we are at the conclusion of this semester and anticipate next semester and further improvements to our campus community.