CG announces important Cabinet election dates
College Government (CG) announced that all cabinet positions are open except for positions of House Presidents’ Council and College Government liaisons.
Statements of Intent are due electronically on March 17 at 10 p.m. to the elections committee. Candidates must attend a mandatory information session on March 18. The campaigning period will begin on April 1 at 8 a.m. and extend until April 7 at 11:59 p.m.
The CG debate will take place on April 5. The House Presidents’ Council will host their debate on April 7, while election day will follow on April 8 when students may vote online beginning at 8 a.m. The Senate meeting on April 14 will be a turnover session to install the new Cabinet members.
Senate opens applications for ballot initiatives
Senators who are not running for CG Cabinet positions this year may propose ballot initiatives. CG has a fund of $11,000 to help finance these special initiatives, which focus on student activism.
The Student Leadership Stipend, which provides monetary assistance to residential assistants and house presidents on work-study, succeeded as a proposed ballot initiative last year. Another past ballot initiative was the installation of a swipe system that allows students to pay laundry fees with a credit card.
To formally propose a ballot initiative, senators must form a group and have 5 percent of the student body or 110 students sign a petition supporting the initiative. CG will review the proposed initiatives in less than two weeks.
Mental health ad-hoc committee presents current comparative report findings
The mental health ad-hoc committee updated Senate on its current findings from a comparative report of the College’s mental health resources against the resources available at 10 other schools. These institutions included Harvard, MIT, Williams, Smith, Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke.
The committee found that Wellesley has a reasonably sized staff at the Stone Center in relation to the size of the student body in comparison to other schools. However, Senator Hana Glasser pointed out that most of the schools were still understaffed. The Center’s Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. hours of operation are standard, though the mental health offices at MIT, Oberlin and Amherst hold walk-in hours throughout the week. Wellesley also holds more group therapy sessions than other schools. The committee will continue to look into other aspects of the report, such as support for those with eating disorders.
