Members of the Student Government Association (SGA) approved all five motions on their agenda, as well as one tentative motion, during their first meeting of the semester on February 13. Despite the high level of consensus, however, members still took the time to discuss in-  depth several of the issues at hand, specifically motion five, aimed at making the results of the hard alcohol policy visible to the student body. 

Anthony-Mitchell-Schupf (AMS) Dorm President Charlie Wulff ’11 raised the motion, which members modified during the meeting. It now requests that, “the Dean of Students Office publish a brief in The Colby Echo and send an Official Announcement before Spring Break 2011 detailing the effects of the new alcohol policy instituted  by the college in Fall 2010 in accordance with the Campus Culture Working Group (CCWG) report. The report should include all relevant statistics regarding discipline and hospitalization from consumption of alcohol and other approaches adopted by the college to mitigate dangerous drinking behavior.”

The other passed motions included approving the up-and-coming humor magazine The Colby Libel as a student club, as well as approving the Ralph Bunche Society, the Screenprinter’s Guild and the Feminist Coalition as student clubs. 

Class of 2012 President Sam Andler presented the tentative motion in favor of establishing a Student Dining Services Committee. The tentative motion said that the committee “will be responsible for helping Dining Services cater to the needs and requests of the student body while relaying information bilaterally about upcoming food events and community efforts.” However, Davis criticized the motion, stating that committees are “useless;” and did not see the need for instating another one on campus.

After the discussions of the motions, SGA members brought up the fact that the SGA is listed in the description of the College’s alcohol policy as one of the campus groups involved in its establishment. However, the SGA “really has no part [in] it anymore,” Vice President Athul Ravunniarath ’11 said. 

As President Leslie Hutchings ’11 said, “One year ago, the SGA voted to approve the alcohol policy after [the Conference Committee] made certain concessions.” The College created the Conference Committee  after the SGA rejected the initial proposed hard alcohol ban; it is composed of students, faculty and members of the administration.  However, the SGA is now comprised of a different group of people, and listing their involvement in the description of the alcohol policy “confuses the students [by sending them the message] that we’re all united around something that we’re not,” Hutchings said. 

Wulff agreed, stating that the revisions to the alcohol policy are “drastic changes affecting the student population that have not been consulted with us.” 

Hutchings later discussed the SGA’s recent accomplishments, which include reassembling the socioeconomic task force on campus and organizing a task force on learning differences, which will launch this week. Hutchings also said that the SGA plans to hold another State of the College address, which is tentatively scheduled for the last week of February.