Hi all—
With our Ideafest ad hoc committees formed, College Government has been moving forward with each of our eight winning Ideafest proposals. Keep your eyes peeled on our Senate agendas—released every weekend prior to our Monday 6-7 p.m. sessions in the Academic Council Room—as well as our public minutes—distributed to campus following every session—for more information on each group’s progress throughout the semester. We’ll be having each of the groups touch base with Senate and the campus at least twice during the semester and can expect varying timelines from project to project. I and the rest of College Government are very excited about these projects and the chance to transform campus life with each of them and hope you are as well.
Aside from this, here are a few items to keep in mind for today, in particular, as well as throughout the rest of this month:
I hope you’ll join the college community today in honest, thoughtful Community-Wide Dialogue & Solidarity on Islamophobia and the Muslim student experience at Wellesley. The discussion will be held in the Multifaith Center Gathering Room at Houghton Chapel at 12:30 p.m. and is sponsored by the Multifaith Council, the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, as well as the President’s Office. It is so absolutely crucial that we have these difficult conversations in person—that we all come together in solidarity and in a collective stand against hate speech and intolerance on our campus. It is in these in-person spaces in which we can truly feel the pulse of our diverse community and where we can continue to hold each other to a higher standard of careful listening and thought. I hope we can all enter into that space this afternoon.
Studio Luz, the firm tasked with renovating Acorns into our new multicultural center is also visiting campus today to host various focus groups and get a sense of students’ hopes for the project. If you’d like to be involved in a focus group, please be sure to contact our Intercultural Deans at the Office of Intercultural Education for further details on location and time.
College Government elections (historically held immediately following Spring Break) are fast approaching! And as we nail down the final dates for campaign week and voting, we’re also looking for individuals to help serve on Election Committee (EC). In the past, EC has always consisted of a mix of current Cabinet members not seeking reelection, a senior member of Honor Code Council (as our Chief Justice does not serve on Election Committee), representatives from both House Presidents’ Council and Multicultural Presidents’ Council, two Senate-appointed Senators, as well as three students appointed by our Student Organizations and Appointments Committee. We’re looking for individuals with an interest in helping run unbiased elections as well as individuals who are committed to setting a tone of collegiality and fairness in campus discourse through election rules and policies. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, shoot me an email, and I’d be more than happy to sit down and chat more with you about this.
Similarly, if you or someone you know is interested in serving on Cabinet, I highly encourage reaching out to the individual currently holding the position to get a sense of what their experience in College Government has been like. All of us currently in a position will do our best to speak to the nature of the job and what its expectations are.
And finally, I’ll be holding open office hours beginning this week on Friday from 4-6 p.m. in the College Government/Bursar’s Office. If you’d like to find a time to chat but have trouble making that slot, always feel free to reach out to me via email.
Until next time,
Adeline
