During its April 6 meeting, the ASWC Senate approved a finance request, recognized a club, and passed some legislation.

After some debate, Club Latino’s request for $1,600 (an increase from its original request for $1000) to send five students to the Rose City Salsa and Timba Festival in Portland passed.

Mycology Club, whose mission is to promote fungi kingdom awareness at Whitman via lectures, outings, and growing mushrooms, became the newest ASWC-recognized club.

The Senate ended up tabling Act SAS 14.3 for a later senate meeting.  Act SAS 14.3 must be re-approved annually for the Power and Privilege Symposium to occur.  The act calls for the Nominations Committee to select the Power and Privilege Symposium chairperson from a pool of applicants; however, ASWC President Tim Reed appointed Shireen Nori as the Special Initiatives Director instead, which did not follow the process delineated in the act.  Debate ensued regarding whether this part of the legislation should be changed, given that it was not followed; eventually, Vice President Jack Percival’s move to table this Agenda Item to a later senate was passed.

Resolution SRS 14.2, which amends certain bylaws, did pass. Resolution SRS 14.2 decreases the time allotted for the process of filling a senatorial vacancy from 30 days to 13 to facilitate interim elections.

Finally, Resolution SRS 14.3 also passed.  This resolution urges the provost, president, and chair of faculty to release a statement that protects “the rights of staff and non-tenured faculty to engage in and express personal opinions on power and privilege.”  In other words, the resolution seeks to encourage and protect faculty/staff’s ability to discuss marginalization freely in order to benefit the Whitman community at large.