Student Senate Minutes
5 February 2009

I. Attendance
II. Additions/Revisions
III. Consent Agenda
Additional Funds Requests
Alpha Phi Omega; $30 for Copy Card
Finance Committee Recommendation: $30
SASS; $816 for Alex Olsen
Finance Committee Recommendation: $816
IV. Treasurer's Report
Balance Prior to Allocations: $19,830
Balance after Allocations: $18,984
V. Old Business
VI. New Business
    a) Greek Task Force Report Discussion--E. Wilson, B. Lund, & H. Kopec
    b) Gender Neutral Housing Resolution--M. Leon
    c) Safety & Services Recommendations for Surveillance Cameras--S. Jarvis
VII. Committee Reports
VIII. Community Business
IX. Announcements

Consent Agenda:

APO request for $30 to get a copy card.

SASS $816 for Alix Olsen

Passes

New Business:

Look- How was the data collected? Some of the numbers were wrong.

President Wilson- I’m not exactly sure.

Anderson- The numbers for each membership have been corrected and sent to
Xavier and Breitborde.

Jordan- is it just about whether the colonies should become locals?

Polk- The hold on the progression of the colonies was only until the task force
finished.

Soehngen- That’s our understanding and we’re ready to move forward.

Look- So colonies can move forward now?

President Wilson- Yes. As soon as the March meeting is over any colonies that feel
ready can then proceed.

Chaudry- I totally support all three colonies.

Soehngen- The general process is that a colony forms by submitting an alpha
document to the office of student development. This document explains the intent
of the organization. Then we go on a probationary year period where we show that
we are a useful member of campus society. We would solicit opinions and approval
from Pan-Hel and IFC and then we would get approval from SLC. Then get approval
by the faculty members. When the year is over what is the faculty going to say “no”?
And instead of one we’ve waited two. And now we need to send a letter stating
we’re looking to become part of a national group. Ideally keeping our culture intact.

Claypool- Now that the faculty has submitted this, do you think they will give you
the go ahead.

Soenjen- We think we’re on pretty good footing. We’re doing two philanthropy
events in the next month and a half. We have over 1600 hours of philanthropy since
we started and about a 3.4 GPA. We do not know why they’ve said no despite
certain prejudices. I’ve had about 3 conversations with the faculty. I’m sure they’d
like us if they met us.

Claypool- It seems like the faculty wants to cap off people creating new greek
organizations at our school.

President Wilson- That may be the sentiment of a few. I think their main concern is
with how the colonies go through the process.

Soehngen- I would say it’s hard to talk about the faculty in general. There is a camp
that would like to cap, one that wants to remove the greek system, and some that
would like to see us go through.

Brady- What do you see as the advantages of getting national affiliation?

Soehngen- Being part of a national organization would put us on the same level as
the 3 existing sororities. We could recruit at the same time. Local colonies are not
under the same rules as the nationals. We’re essentially a club that calls it
something different. Personally we would like to legitimately charge dues. We want
to wear pins and sweatshirts and we want to be around for a while.

President Wilson- I would like to commend the colonies of the sororities for playing
by the rules. How many members do you have?

Soehngen- We have about 15 girls and 15 came to recruitment.

Lund- There are students on campus who feel strongly about it. Send an email to
your constituents to email the senate exec board with any concerns or opinions. The
broader the ideas the better.

Stacklin- I’ve heard that a lot of people would prefer to see the greek organizations
individually rather than looking at the greek system as a whole. They all have very
different roles on campus. Addressing problems on the greek system is too broad.
So I think what people would like to see is for the individual organizations if they
are contributing positively or negatively.

President Wilson- What we’re expecting to do is give our opinions on the colonies.
What we’ve heard is that people would like to see them move forward.

Liz- Thanks for your concern. I would charge you as senators to see why it took so
long for the report to come out and why it took so long to be distributed. In my
dealings with the faculty you can go through half your college career before a
decision is made.

Pratter- Will the faculty committee be voting on the individual colonies or as a
whole?

Southern- It will be individually.

Soehngen- in the history of the creation with this report it is unclear what caused
this report. In some ways the rise of the colonies caused more scrutiny of the
established and scrutiny of the established caused problems for the colonies.

Moving to gender neutral housing resolution:
A Resolution Concerning Gender-Neutral Housing.

Whereas: Knox College Students are legal adults with the capability of making
responsible decisions in regards to who they live with; and

 Whereas: 89% of Knox College Students who approached the Housing Director and
Senate

Residential Quality of Life Committee when they tabled expressed interest in and
support of gender-neutral housing at Knox College; and

Whereas: As guaranteed by Illinois state law Knox has and will always continue to
have a certain percentage of its housing be single-sex housing; and

Whereas: 5 of our ACM peer institutions have already instituted gender-neutral
housing including Colorado College, Grinnell College, Lawrence University, Carleton
College, and Lake Forest College; and

Whereas: Knox has a history of being a progressive institution when it comes to
taking a stand on issues of equality and discrimination; and

Whereas: Knox College's Non-Discrimination Policy States: "Knox College does not
discriminate on the basis of sex, gender identity or expression,… sexual orientation
or  affectional preference…[in] any of its educational policies and programs"; and

Whereas: The current housing policies violate Knox's non-discrimination policy;

Therefore Be It Resolved: That the Student Senate of Knox College requests that the
College adopt a gender-neutral housing policy whereby housing requests are
reviewed in a gender-neutral fashion for all upper-class students; and

Therefore Be It Further Resolved: That if the college is unwilling to consider all
upper-class housing requests in a gender-neutral fashion that it guarantees a
minimum and varied number of on-campus locations where housing applications
will be processed in a gender-neutral fashion; and

Therefore Be it Further Resolved: That instructions will be added to the First-Year
Housing form to contact the Director of Housing should an individual feel
uncomfortable living with members of their own biological sex, and that these cases
will be considered on an individual basis by the Director.

Leon- This is something that the RQOL has been working on all year. We’ve been
asked to express our opinion as a student body to see if we want this at Knox or
not.

Chaudry- Would it be a particular part of campus?

Leon- We would prefer that gender could not be a discriminating factor. The college
is willing to consider all the requests that we have. There will always be single sex
housing on campus.

Claypool – If you’re in the lottery is gender still looked at?

Leon- yes you would have to special request it.

Chaudry- If a first year comes in and wants to live with her boyfriend?

Leon- No, the committee agrees that it’s a case by case basis.

Rabble…

Friendly amendment to change the second whereas and combine it with the third.

Amendment passes

Resolution passes

Jarvis- We collected data on who wanted security cameras. The vote was split on
who wanted cameras and who didn’t. CFA had the most votes and then the
bookstore. It is a possibility to have cameras down West street and Academy.

Stacklin- Cameras in parking lots?

Jarvis- Yeah people were concerned about that.

Look- Is there any way we could do an online survey?

Jarvis- I do not know how but I’m down.

President Wilson- It’s kind of too late for a survey.

Abazam- Inside SMC a lot of things tend to get stolen.

Chaudry- I do not think we can have cameras in the hallways. Isn’t that a violation
of the honor code.

Jorgensen- Who monitors these cameras?

Southern- I imagine they would be recorded in case of some incidence.

President Wilson- There’s been violence in the entrance to the bookstore.

Look- I have a constituent that works down there and she’s down there alone
sometimes. She feels uncomfortable and I think that’s a great place to have a
camera.

Earhardt- The point of the camera being there to see if people were taking stuff out
of the bookstore. When the murder happened the girl ended up down near the
bookstore anyway. We’d be killing two birds with one stone.

Claypool- I feel fine in the middle of campus but its more the perimeter that I’m
worried about.

Chaudry- These are just recommendations.

Jarvis- I do not see the school putting up cameras all over the place just because of
the cost.

Ginny- Maybe we could have more lights if we can’t have cameras around residence
halls.

Jarvis- I think the cameras might give you a false sense of security. A camera will
watch something happen but it can’t interject.

President Wilson- I think this is to address that there have been physical attacks.

Giese- Was the question where do you feel unsafe?

Jarvis- Well, like where they felt cameras would be a good idea.

Graves- Are there going to be security cameras in parking lots?

Jarvis- That’s up to the security committee.

Lawson- There was a big tire slashing thing going on here. Tires aren’t cheap.

Committee Reports-

Talk about senate T-Shirts

Google image search Nixon for graphic. Tricky Dick. Georgia font.

Cochran- Is Elaine Nixon?

Brady- She liked it.

Leon- Gender neutral housing.

Faculty Committee reports:

Athletics committee (Look) – We’re discussing club sports. The four main issues are
club sports do not have an outlet to go to express concerns, facilities are lacking,
liability, most are under-funded, and not enough storage.

John- Club sports are funded through the student activity fee. We’re going to have a
meeting with them.

Look- The athletics committee wants senate to start talking about this. We will have
specific questions and an agenda for a report.

Community Business:


Announcements:


Adjourned