Hammond and Cooley present on North 40
Ben Hammond, vice president for finance and administration, and Marianne Cooley, clerk of the Board of Trustees, spoke at Senate this Monday about the future of North 40, a 46-acre parcel of land located in the town of Wellesley. The college hosted two meetings last week, one of which was targeted toward members of the Wellesley College community and one of which was designed for residents of the town of Wellesley. Cooley mentioned that the meeting for students coincidentally took place during community time on Lake Day. According to Hammond and Cooley, projected profits from fringe properties was explicitly factored into the budgeting for Campus Renewal (previously known as Wellesley 2025), which was approved in April 2013, although the original deed to the North 40 were only overturned last May. The administrators announced that next week they will receive the results of the request for proposals they put out in mid-September and the Trustees will discuss the plan of action in the following weeks. Hammond stated at the meetings last week that the College plans to sell the North 40 by the end of the calendar year. Finally, Cooley suggested that the sale of the North 40 might be related to maintaining financial aid at Wellesley. Cooley also said that while the College is trying to interest conservancy groups, it needs to make a good financial decision about the sale of the North 40. The land was priced at $25 million dollars by the town of Wellesley.
Applications to CGPC and Advisory Committee on Gender open to students
The College Government President Committee (CGPC) is a committee of Senators and students who work closely with the College Government President (CGP). Hana Glasser ’15, the CGP for the 2014-2015 academic year, will lead the committee. The members of the committee will help the CGP move Senate projects forward and assist the CGP in her goals. Applications are due this Friday. Additionally, President Bottomly is seeking five students to sit on the President’s Advisory Committee on Gender. The committee was formed to discuss issues of gender fluidity at a historically women’s college. President Bottomly initiated the discussion through two college-wide announcements in September. Students can apply for the committee through the Student Organization and Activity Committee (SOAC). Both Hana Glasser ’15, College Government President and Timothy Boatwright ’16, Multicultural Affairs Coordinator, will be present at the interviews for the committee this weekend.
The Bubble will be developed further in the future
“The Bubble,” a new tab on every Wellesley student’s MyWellesley page, is a source of campus information deemed most important for students to be able to find. The page includes dining hall hours, college policies like the alcohol policy, the drug policy and the new hazing policy, job postings and college announcements. The Bubble was developed by the Office of Student Life last academic year. This past Monday at Senate, Dean DeMeis reminded students that the Bubble has officially launched this year and welcomed feedback from the student body. Dean DeMeis also said that the Office of the Dean of Students will continue to work on the page. In particular, she hopes that eventually the page will be targeted toward different groups of students, by class year and/or by residence hall. For example, only first-years would see announcements related to orientation while only seniors would see announcements related to graduation.