Allegheny Student Government voted at its weekly meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 27, to approve Miranda Wilkins, ’20, as the new director of diversity and inclusion.

Wilkins said she is excited to begin work as the director and hopes to help bring the campus community together.

“To start broadly, this is a very divisive time for our nation,” Wilkins said. “And we want to make our campus an inclusive space.”

Vice President Sofia Kaufman, ’17, brought the appointment up for a vote and answered questions regarding Wilkins’s experience and qualifications.

ASG Senator Walter Stover, ’17, brought up the concern that Wilkins is still relatively new to Allegheny. Wilkins, according to Kaufman, matriculated last fall, but then took a leave of absence from the college.

“We actually saw that as beneficial because this is a new person coming onto ASG with a new perspective,” Kaufman said.

Wilkin said the reason for her leave of absence was for mental health reasons. She said she is ready and excited to be back on campus and begin in her new position.

Wilkins was appointed by a unanimous vote.

During his report, Chief of Staff Hayden Moyer, ’17, reported on recent developments in the College Committees Council. According to Moyer, the Academic Standards and Awards Committee is considering allowing graduating seniors to wear honor cords at the ceremony.

Moyer said their current priority is coming up with some form of recognition for the valedictorian and salutatorian to make them identifiable at graduation.

The Campus Life and Community Standards Committee is also moving forward on expanding the number of gender-neutral restrooms on campus, according to Moyer.

“The college has committed to putting in all-gender restrooms wherever possible,” Moyer said.

Moyer said a map with the locations of all gender-neutral restrooms on campus would be released soon so students could gain a better idea of where these facilities are available.

During class reports, Class of 2020 President Hamza Masaeed updated ASG on the first-year class’s initiatives. Masaeed said the class hopes to implement a new mass text program which first-year students will be able to choose to join for updates.

“It’s something we are hoping to roll out in the next few days,” Masaeed said.

During the Class of 2018 report, the class’s senators announced that the class could have a proposal to place printers in residence halls as early as next week.

Stover reported on recents developments in the ASG Committee on Housing. He said the committee is continuing to meet with representatives from the Office of Residence Life, as well as other administrators, including Vice President and Dean of Students Kimberly Ferguson.

One of the issues Stover said the committee plans to discuss with residence life is the need for more surplus housing, so that students with mental health concerns have a space they can go to if  needed.

“It’s very important for them to have back-up housing, so we are going to be bringing that up,” Stover said.