Fresh Check Day
College Government President Zainab Younus ’17 reminded the Senate body that Fresh Check Day will be held on March 8 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Alumnae Ballroom. The event is centered around mental health and suicide prevention. She encouraged the student body to attend and engage in conversations about mental health.
Pendleton Performance Hall Complete
The Pendleton West Performance Hall is complete and ready for use. The bridge between Jewitt and Pendleton, however, is still under construction, and it will not be completed until later this spring. Work also needs to be done on the landscaping around Pendleton West. This should also be done by the end of the spring.
Financial Aid and Admissions for Undocumented Students
Student representatives from the Admissions and Financial Aid Office presented at Senate about tentative changes to Wellesley’s policy towards undocumented students. Currently, undocumented students are considered international students and thus receive financial aid from the international pool. The committee has been working to change the policy, and they decided to create a pool of money from the international aid reserved for undocumented students. This new policy will not affect the number of international students admitted into Wellesley. The new plan is set to be presented to the Board of Trustees at their next meeting for approval.
Guaranteed Percentage (GP) are up for review by SOFC
The Student Bursar announced that GP organizations will be reviewed by SOFC to examine whether or not they still require the amount of funding they requested. GP orgs have demonstrated that they perform a necessary function on campus, and 39 percent of SOFC funding is allocated to GP orgs. The application for renewal is due on March 6 at 2 p.m. Organizations must submit both a hard and soft copy (submitted online) of their form to the Bursar’s Office.
CG Proposes Constitutional Amendments
CG announced amendments to their Constitution pertaining to College Government Cabinet elections, which will take place later in the spring. The amendments focus on changing the minimum GPA of a candidate from a 2.0 to a 2.5 and widening the scope of who would be able to run for certain positions in the event of a special election. There were also revisions to voting protocols since voting is now done electronically. Senate is expected to vote on the amendments in two weeks since there is no House Council this week.
College Drops SAT II Requirement
After a vote conducted during the last Academic Council meeting, Wellesley College has officially dropped the SAT II admission requirement. The decision came after discussing the fact that many peer institutions also no longer require these scores because they fail to provide new information on entering students. Dropping the test will also make the college admissions process more accessible to students who cannot afford to send all of their test scores to colleges. The admissions office announced that they will publicize this information in April.
