ASLC Senate

In their meeting held on March 2, the Associated Students of Lewis & Clark (ASLC) welcomed the student representative to the presidential search committee, Tiffany Farmer ’18. Farmer is the only student on the search committee and is responsible for representing the voice of the student body.

“I want everyone to help me figure out what the future of Lewis & Clark should look like and what we want to see in a president,” Farmer said. “I encourage you not to think about Barry or David, but I know that’s kind of hard too. It’s an open dialogue; I am really just looking for input.”

Issues of transparency and honesty were a common theme in ASLC members’ responses. Although Tiffany cautioned against thinking about Barry Glassner, many of the students’ ideal president characterizations were based on avoiding Glassner’s flaws, one of them being his lack of presence on campus.

“My first impression of Barry Glassner was when he was helping students move into their dorms for a photo-op. He came, held a box and left,” Sen. Natalie Souders ’19 said. “That was very off-putting. The president doesn’t need to help freshman into their dorms, but I want someone who is able to connect with the student body in meaningful ways.”

When the discussion with Farmer came to a close, ASLC moved on to their second point of interest: amending the constitution to include a chair from the diversity committee. Applications went out for the positions the following Monday and are due Wednesday, March 15 at 5 p.m. Advisor Harold McNaron commented on the long process undergone to create the position.

“About a year ago, your predecessors, the senate, started talking about putting together the diversity committee,” McNaron said. “We did heavy research and had presentations from other schools in the area who have committees like it. It is very exciting seeing the process happen.”

Another topic of interest was constituency outreach. While students can talk to senators directly, suggestion boxes are being placed in highly-trafficked areas around campus to make giving input more accessible.

Sen. Torin Lee ’17 pitched the idea of having an ASLC liaison in every class to give a weekly update to students about ASLC. However, Lee met critiques from other senators because of the possibility of students hearing the updates multiple times a week.

“I think that is actually good because the first time you hear something you forget it. The second time you hear something you forget it. The third time you maybe remember it and the fourth time you’re like ‘why didn’t anybody tell me this sooner?’” Lee noted.

In addition to these three key topics, senators gave weekly reports about their respective committees. The Budget Advisory Committee is attempting to change their system to prevent budget shortages, the Student Account Center (SAC) won best fundraiser of the year at the NW SAC Conference and Students Engaged in Eco-Defense (SEED) has been working to get enough signatures on their petition to make LC fossil-free. Issues were addressed concerning the length of PSI, the hours of Fields Dining Hall and inconsistencies in fall course guides.

ASLC meetings are open to all students, faculty and administrators and are held every Thursday at 7 p.m. in Thayer conference room located in Templeton.