2008 Woodie Awards
EDITORIAL
Initiatives on the right track
Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Opinions
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In the first few weeks of the semester, the Student Government Association and Presidents' Council have stepped up and put things in motion that could significantly change the much maligned on-campus social scene for the better. Communicating efficiently and making good use of their listserv between meetings on back-to-back weeks, they were able to address real student concerns and do so without wasting time discussing things outside of their control.
Senior Class Representative Mark Biggar proposed, and PC concurred, that they recommend to the College Affairs Committee that students who are of legal drinking age be allowed to drink alcoholic beverages (open containers) in residence halls during appropriate hours (Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening). The practicality of this motion may be questionable with regards to the demands it puts on an already overtaxed security staff to card students. However, Biggar's motion could prove to be a valuable addition to College policy if enacted. It could serve to get drinking out from behind closed doors where it is only more dangerous, more anti-social and less healthy. It gives students an opportunity to conduct themselves like adults in the presence of alcohol.
Lately, students do not have such an admirable track record in this regard. Dorm damage is always much higher than it needs to be, and our "us versus them" mentality toward security officers is certainly not helping our party-going causes any. AMS Hall President Trevor Hanly '07's suggestion of a Student-Security Advisory Group consisting of students, administrators and Security staff will open up a dialogue between students and security that should have happened long before students began accumulating anecdotes and often misguided notions of what security officer they would prefer patrolling the hallways on the weekends. Now students will be able to actually voice their concerns in a context in which it will be taken seriously rather than bickering drunkenly with officers on a Saturday night. The Campus Climate Working Group's Party Right Campaign aimed at lowering dorm damage finally puts into writing the desperate need to address the negligence that has become an all too pervasive way of life since the debauchery of Doghead 2004.
While all of these initiatives are fresh ideas that could possibly make big changes in the social life on campus, perhaps what we are more excited about is the fact that SGA is acting in response to widely felt student concern about a pressing campus issue. Only time will tell if Biggar's motion, the advisory group, or the responsibility campaign will create positive and effective change, but here at the [Echo] we think it is clear that the SGA is on the right track.
Senior Class Representative Mark Biggar proposed, and PC concurred, that they recommend to the College Affairs Committee that students who are of legal drinking age be allowed to drink alcoholic beverages (open containers) in residence halls during appropriate hours (Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening). The practicality of this motion may be questionable with regards to the demands it puts on an already overtaxed security staff to card students. However, Biggar's motion could prove to be a valuable addition to College policy if enacted. It could serve to get drinking out from behind closed doors where it is only more dangerous, more anti-social and less healthy. It gives students an opportunity to conduct themselves like adults in the presence of alcohol.
Lately, students do not have such an admirable track record in this regard. Dorm damage is always much higher than it needs to be, and our "us versus them" mentality toward security officers is certainly not helping our party-going causes any. AMS Hall President Trevor Hanly '07's suggestion of a Student-Security Advisory Group consisting of students, administrators and Security staff will open up a dialogue between students and security that should have happened long before students began accumulating anecdotes and often misguided notions of what security officer they would prefer patrolling the hallways on the weekends. Now students will be able to actually voice their concerns in a context in which it will be taken seriously rather than bickering drunkenly with officers on a Saturday night. The Campus Climate Working Group's Party Right Campaign aimed at lowering dorm damage finally puts into writing the desperate need to address the negligence that has become an all too pervasive way of life since the debauchery of Doghead 2004.
While all of these initiatives are fresh ideas that could possibly make big changes in the social life on campus, perhaps what we are more excited about is the fact that SGA is acting in response to widely felt student concern about a pressing campus issue. Only time will tell if Biggar's motion, the advisory group, or the responsibility campaign will create positive and effective change, but here at the [Echo] we think it is clear that the SGA is on the right track.
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