Hello Wellesley,

I hope you all are having a great September thus far and are excited for fall to begin soon. I find the campus to be even more scenic and beautiful during autumn. Monday evening, College Government (CG) held its first Senate of the 2016-17 academic year. We celebrated the kickoff Senate with a picnic—allowing students and senators to meet College Government Cabinet (Cabinet) members as well as both the Interim Dean of Students Carol Bate and Interim Associate Dean of Students Lori Tenser.

Next Senate, we will be electing a Parliamentarian and a Senate Policy and Ethics Committee (SPEC) Chair. Senate is chaired by the College Government President and is facilitated by the Parliamentarian, who manages time to ensure that we complete all agenda items. The SPEC Chair heads SPEC and serves as a check on Cabinet. If you are interested in either of these positions or would like to hear more information, I would encourage you to reach out to Deb Rowcroft, Secretary-Treasurer, at [email protected]. Just a friendly reminder that every Senate is open—you do not have to be a senator to attend. I hope to see many of you at Senate this year. Senate meetings are every Monday unless otherwise noted from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Academic Council room (GRH 4th floor).

On Tuesday, the application for College Government President’s Council was emailed to all classes. Broadly speaking, the College Government President’s Council (CGPC) is the CG subcommittee that is chaired by the College Government President (CGP). Its role is primarily to help the CGP execute the platform initiatives that they ran on during elections. Because every CGP comes into office with distinct goals and platforms, the work done tends to vary from year to year. This year, I would like to work with CGPC in continuing discussions throughout the year. So often I find that tragedies—be it campus or national/global incidents—spark discourse in our community. Rather than being reactionary, let us be proactive. I would like to have monthly town hall style forums in which dialogues regarding issues impacting our Wellesley community take place. Many of our siblings are engaged in these conversations within their respective communities. It is my hope to provide CG resources to those already leading these conversations so as to help amplify their work and voices. Moreover, I intend to establish an ad-hoc committee that looks at the mental health resources we currently offer students. Be on the lookout for information regarding this committee around October. If you are interested in applying to this committee or would like more information, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. The deadline for CGPC is Friday, Sept. 23 at 11:59 p.m. I look forward to reading the applications!

This year, Cabinet would like to be transparent by maintaining constant and open communication with the student body. In an effort to accomplish this goal, we will be sending out bi-weekly newsletters and posting updates on the College Government Facebook page, in addition to our individual committee pages. I encourage you to look at these social media sites.

In the coming weeks, I will be releasing information about my office hours. I would love to hear what you, the students, would like to see on campus. Let us work together to make Wellesley a home for all. I hope you all have a great week and are excited for what is truly going to be a memorable year.

Best Wishes,
Zainab Younus, ‘17
College Government President