Members of the College community attended the annual State of the College address on Monday, Sept. 10, during which Student Government Association (SGA) President Morgan Lingar ’13 and Vice-President Kareem Kalil ’13, along with College President William “Bro” Adams, spoke and answered questions from the audience.

Lingar and Kalil commenced the address with a discussion of their initiatives for the 2012-13 academic year. Specific goals include bringing the diverse student body together, bettering the Colby-Waterville relationship, improving the culture of the campus social scene and establishing a successful monthly Story Time series in the Pugh Center, which is already underway. This series allows students to hear their peers recount their different journeys to the College.

The SGA president and vice-president plan to further their support of a “stronger and more cohesive student body” through their continuing support of efforts to reimagine the College’s diversity requirement and by taking steps to actively support the January Program multicultural literacy courses that are in their second year of a two year pilot program.

In addition, SGA will be actively involved in Pledge the Pugh, a student movement to get every student on campus to attend at least two events in the Pugh Center each semester. They will also work to enhance the International Extravaganza by making it more inviting to the whole student body.

Following Lingar and Kalil’s address, Adams informed the audience of other College initiatives. He praised the “tremendous admission results” of the Class of 2016, highlighting that the class boasts a record of 50 Presidential Scholars and that for the third admitted class in a row, at least 20 percent of the class is drawn from underrepresented groups in the United States.

Adams went on to discuss the College’s bicentennial celebration, which will feature celebratory events on campus and around the country throughout the 2012-13 academic year. He also highlighted the addition of two new positions at the College, Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life Kurt Nelson, and Director of Gender and Sexual Diversity Programs and Associate Director of the Pugh Center Andrea Breau.

Adams elaborated on other projects on campus, including progress on the Colby College Museum of Art, which is to be completed in the spring of 2013. Adams also discussed the soon-to-be completed resurfacing of both the Wadsworth Gymnasium floor and the field house floor, made necessary by a flood this past summer. He announced that in a couple weeks, the College will break ground on a new science building that will be located adjacent to the Schair-Swenson-Watson alumni center and will house the computer science, mathematics and psychology departments, which will eventually make Roberts Hall available for conversion to a residence hall.

Furthermore, Adams introduced the planning stages of a future extensive renovation of the library. “We are very mindful of the ways students use [the library], and we are hoping to improve the ways that we accommodate those uses by optimizing the use of the space,” he said.

Adams concluded with discussing a transitional program to a tobacco-free campus and institution, reminding the audience that there are now restricted areas for the use of tobacco on campus. He reiterated that the College is providing assistance to students and employees that wish to become tobacco-free. The College is in the process of establishing a disciplinary policy for violating the tobacco prohibitions on campus.

Following his address, Adams, Lingar and Kalil answered questions from the audience, with students focusing a long discussion on the issue of dorm damage. In response to one question, Dean of Students Jim Terhune noted that cameras in the Alfond Apartments is “an option that is on the table.” However, reiterating the importance of collective social responsibility on campus, Adams said, “There’s nothing that cameras can do that 1,700 residents of the college can’t do.”