Compass revisions, sanitary products and constitution changes, oh my!

Beginning its regular meeting at 7:02 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, in room 301/302 of the Henderson Campus Center, Allegheny Student Government asked for feedback regarding the student conduct policy revisions, announced a pilot program to make feminine sanitary products available in the campus center and spoke to its own constitution revision process.

To begin the meeting, Faith Simms, ’19, director of diversity and inclusion, announced the Council on Diversity and Equity is working to create a list of schools to compare Allegheny to in terms of goals in different departments such as public safety, academics, financial aid and “all that jazz.”

“(CODE wants) to create a universal set of schools that all departments can use,” Simms said.

A “Rep Your Flag” party is scheduled for April 5, in Schultz Banquet Hall, Simms announced.

“The party is just about a celebration of your roots,” Simms said. “You don’t have to be from a foreign country to come, but if you’re really proud of your hometown, or your state or your city, you can come in apparel that’s a celebration of where you’re from.”

Chief of Staff Jason Ferrante, ’20, stressed the importance of voicing feedback regarding the student code of conduct revisions.

“I can’t stress to you all how important this is to have your voice heard,” Ferrante said. “For a lot of you, this may be one of the last times that you as senators have the opportunity to do this. First year class, you’ll probably be around for another revision to our policy, but we’re really looking at everything.”

Conduct cases and bias response — every rule is up for discussion, Ferrante said. The policy revisions will decide whether or not Allegheny bans hoverboards, vapes and juuls — “literally, top to bottom review,” Ferrante said.

ASG is doing some revising of its own. Ferrante reminded members that he and Attorney General Monessha Jayabalan, ’19, have been working to update its governing document.

“The constitutional review process is going pretty well,” Ferrante said. “We’ve made a lot of headway. There’s a lot in our constitution that we’re looking at.”

A number of dates will be made available where members of ASG can offer comments and “meaningful feedback” before the constitution revisions are made official.

“We want to make sure that everyone has a chance to speak about this,” Ferrante concluded his report.

Co-Director of Student Affairs Catrina Steckler, ’19, announced an ASG pilot program that aims to provide women with free sanitary products.

The products will be made available in the restrooms of the campus center, including gender neutral restrooms.

“It’s going to happen at some point this semester,” Steckler said. “We don’t have a set date yet. We’re still working out a few of the logistics.”

While this program is in its beginning stages, Steckler said she does not think it will continue to be an ASG-run program. Instead, ASG is hoping to work with St. Moritz and Women’s Services to coordinate donations.

During her president’s report, Camila Gomez, ’19, echoed Ferrante’s request for comments and suggestions about the conduct policy revision process.

“I can honestly say that I’m really encouraged by the discussions we’re having, and it’s really important that we get as much student input as possible,” Gomez said.

The revisions still go through the shared governance process, Gomez said, meaning ASG still has to pass the changes before they are officially implemented into college policy.

“…You guys will have the opportunity to review the document before you vote on it,” Gomez said. “I can’t stress enough that if you have anything that you feel very adamantly that you think should be in there or should not be in there, please do make sure that you get that feedback into Dean (April) Thompson or if you don’t want to contact her, at least reach out to one of us on cabinet, and make sure you express those concerns so that we can pass them along.”

David Roach, ’21, director of communications and press, added he will be including Thompson in ASG’s biweekly email to ensure students are aware of this opportunity to offer feedback before the Feb. 20 deadline.

After a discussion about updates to the college’s room draw system, Simms confirmed that no changes to the process will be implemented this year.

Class of 2021 President Emma Godel brought up the topic of summer orientation for first-year students, asking how the program was going to be run this upcoming year and if incoming students were going to be given enough notification before its occurence.

“From the day they commit, they will now be receiving at least one communication from Allegheny per month,” Gomez said.

This communication is meant to keep incoming students engaged and excited about coming to the college, Gomez said.

To conclude the meeting, Roach raised the issue of double-ticketing, explaining that people have been receiving multiple parking tickets over the course of 24-hours.

“People will get tickets on their cars around like 9 (p.m.), and then they’ll wake up around like 8 (a.m.), and there’s a second ticket on their car,” Roach said. “So, it’s not really allowing people enough time to move their (cars).”

Ferrante chimed in on the discussion to say the current parking policy does not have a 24-hour rule in regards to ticketing, but said it would be a “great thing” to be suggested to the Committee of General Policies and to talk to him with any questions about parking.

The general assembly closed after 27 minutes at 7:29 p.m.