Updates on SOAC Restructuring

Saafia Masoom ’20, College Government Vice President (CGVP) and Student Organizations and Appointments Committee (SOAC) president, presented on a new proposal to change the internal organization of the SOAC committee. Currently, SOAC is the CG committee responsible for managing both organizations and appointments. Masoom’s proposal includes splitting SOAC into two committees; one responsible for organizations and the other responsible for appointments. This proposed change comes after Masoom’s announcement to streamline the org recognition process. Masoom states, “The benefits of this change are numerous … and this new structure will allow us to spread out work more evenly among SOAC representatives.” Masoom’s proposal will be voted on at the next senate meeting.

Counterpoint Requests GP Funded Status

Members of the Counterpoint e-board attended Senate to request for guaranteed percentage (GP) funded status. According to student bursar Gina Scoprintini ’19, GP funded orgs are orgs that are guaranteed a certain percentage of funds from the SOFC budget. Francesca Gazzolo ’19, managing editor for Counterpoint, argued that more funds would enable Counterpoint to print more issues and better meet student demand. Currently, the only other student publication with GP funded status is The Wellesley News. Other GP funded orgs include College Government, WZLY, Upstage and the Sexual Health Educators (SHEs). Members of Senate will vote on whether to give Counterpoint GP funding at the next senate meeting.

Peter Eastment and Local Motion representative present on transportation issues

Peter Eastment, director of transportation at the College, and Bob Bassill, a representative from Local Motion addressed student concerns regarding transportation. Sanson Hernandez ’21, CG secretary-treasurer, sourced a list of concerns from the student body prior to the Senate meeting. A primary concern addressed by Eastment and Bassill was unreliable bus schedules, particularly on the weekends. Bassill stated, “It’s often difficult to fill the evening shifts, because it’s not a time most drivers want to sign up for.” Though Bassill and Eastment said they would look further into this issue in the future.