Allegheny Student Government opened its weekly meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 16, with a presentation from guest speakers Chief Information Officer Katrina Yeung and Provost & Dean of the Faculty Jennifer Dearden, who provided a status update on Allegheny’s artificial intelligence taskforce.
Guest Speakers
President Ron Cole, ’87, has directed Yeung, Dearden and others from critical roles across the administration to look at “how AI is being used, could be used and various other facets of artificial intelligence at Allegheny College,” according to Dearden.
The taskforce, which began its review in December, has been preparing a report focused on many aspects of AI usage around campus such as in classrooms and social organizations.
“It’s utilization, ethics, how the data is used within any AI platform, thinking about security and intellectual property,” Yeung said. “We want to make sure we have some transparency and some guardrails.”
Yeung and Dearden expect the full report to be released to the college via email in the near future.
ASG Director of Organizational Development Brayden Devinney, ’26, asked if the taskforce had decided on any “hard rules” around AI usage at Allegheny. Dearden said that coming up with policies is difficult because of the speed AI technology is advancing at.
The administration has been “pretty reluctant to come up with hard policies about what you can and can’t do, simply because it’s going to change so quickly,” Dearden said. “Instead what we’ve been trying to focus on is creating clear communication structures. So, for example, helping faculty create common-sense language they can include in their syllabi so that students can look at their syllabus at the beginning of the semester and know, this is where I can use AI, what kind of AI, when and how it can be used in this class.”
Dearden also made it known that while Google’s AI assistant Gemini is currently within the set of programs accessible to Allegheny students, students should be aware of concerns about its security. Allegheny hopes to address those concerns by “looking for a tool that’s self hosted, so that we can put some more security around it and make it a little bit safer,” according to Dearden.
Allegheny is a part of a program known as the AI Ready Network, a program of the Council of Independent Colleges, a group of over 200 colleges working to provide materials to educate employees and educators on responsible AI usage in education.
ASG President Chezka Quinola, ’27, when asked for comment on student involvement in the process of developing an AI policy, said, “With the rise in AI right now, there would be student involvement. I think people are interested. I know definitely when I was looking, listening to what they had to say, I was interested.”
ASG Committee Reports
Director of Finance Nick Banez, ’26, reported that almost all club budgets have been reviewed and decided upon and that those that have not submitted the proper paperwork are being contacted.
Director of the Treasury Dominic Juliana, ’26, announced several financial updates alongside club budget releases, including that reimbursements to clubs for gas will be moving from 68 cents to 70 cents per gallon. Juliana reminded organizations that Grounds for Change open tab events have a maximum cap of $250. Financial requests for open tab events must be given at least two weeks in advance. According to Juliana, no finance requests have been submitted yet.
Director of Communication and Press Jake Slater, ’26, announced that all future ASG meetings will be livestreamed via Instagram to improve accessibility and communication. Improving General Assembly access was a feature of both campaigns in the ASG presidential election last year. Quinola is hopeful that livestreams will help make GA more accessible.
“Because it’s the first day, we’re just kind of gauging, trying it out, and so obviously we’re looking at if we’re having people actually watching it, and we’re looking at — right now you can’t really hear it, so we are looking into getting (microphones) and the like,” Quinola said. “Even if nobody is watching, the fact we have it up there and people can go back and look at it is what matters.
Co-Directors of Student Affairs Iris Styers, ’26, and Lyra Lindsay, ’27, announced that bathroom supply restocks in the Henderson Campus Center are ongoing and funding is being requested for the Food Recovery Network station on the third floor of the campus center. Surveys from Student Life and Parkhurst should be released soon to all students to share their thoughts on both before the end of the fall semester.
Attorney General Anna Kohler, ’26, announced that the ASG Constitution had been updated to reflect the split of the ASG financial office into two positions and the separate amendment that passed last year to remove the role of parliamentarian. This amendment was moved successfully to be implemented on April 8. Kohler is also aiming to ensure all club constitutions which need updating are handled in the next week or two.
Class Reports
Class of 2026 President Sydni Junker reported the class may host a GFC tab event and table to collect event ideas from seniors.
Class of 2027 President Kirandeep Khroud reported the class will be tabling for ideas and reviewing past events for inspiration.
Class of 2028 President George Asante reported the class hopes to table before fall break and host a GFC open tab event.
Class of 2029 President Niki Hineman reported the class will plan a coffee-focused event around midterms.
Advisor Announcement
Dean for Student Life Trae Yeckley informed ASG that on Saturday, Sept. 20, Brooks Dining Hall will be closed from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. as Parkhurst will be catering for the Blue & Gold Weekend football game. A continuous shuttle service will be provided to the Robertson Athletic Complex and back to campus with pick-up at Lord Gate at the top of Brooks Walk.
The next GA will be held on Tuesday Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in room 301/302 of the campus center.
