Student Assembly Minutes
May 4, 2009
A. Call to Order: 9:01 p.m.
B. Discussion of the legal ramifications of the potential switch to Gmail—Cobus Van Der Ven
• Considering having mail be "outsourced" to Gmail
• Many task forces currently in place to address the possible switch
• Here to determine any legal concerns students may have regarding switching to Gmail
• Gmail mail will not be stored on campus
• Gmail will be monitored by Google and not by the school
• There may be some intellectual property rights concerns given Gmail's Terms of Use
• Some students already forward Hamilton mail to Gmail, therefore would already be facing any of the potential legal issues
• A lot of important emails have gone into SPAM for students in the test Gmail group, looking into the ability to tweak
• One of the issues is that Google does reserve the right in their Terms of Use to modify content and potentially take content and use it for their own advertising purposes
• Many other schools have already made this change and Hamilton has been in communication with these schools
• Addressed would still be __@hamilton.edu
• Will determine whether or not confidential emails could still be accessed by Google
• We would be saving thousands of dollars by switching to Gmail
C. Community Building Meeting Report
• Thank you to everyone who attended
• Meeting was very interesting but had some tension in the beginning
• A lot of action items came to the forefront that will be looked into for next year
• An email will most likely be going out that lists the ideas generated from the meeting
D. Discussion about ban on hard alcohol rumor
• A discussion was had about the possibility of banning hard alcohol at the Alcohol Coalition's meeting
• The Alcohol Coalition can't enact policy since they serve as an advising body for administration
• Nothing is being voted on this week in terms of policy• The president has the final say on whether or not to ban hard alcohol
• This is an issue that definitely concerns the students and is something that people seem to be very passionate about
• This would potentially be a complete ban on campus for people of all ages enactment
• Enforcing a ban on hard alcohol would not occur through "knocking on doors"
o Enforcement could be difficult and is seen as a potential problem with the ban
• A member commented on her visit to Bucknell, which has a ban on hard alcohol and it has not changed drinking habits there and has only put the students at a higher risk of getting into trouble
• Enforcing such a strong rule on everyone could be viewed as an invasion of students' private lives
• A member noted, if you are going to drink too much then it is your personal problem and not a campus-wide problem • A ban would be taking the responsibility away from students
• A ban of hard alcohol could cause drinking to focus on a short time period in someone's room
• This would be contradictory to the Amethyst Initiative
• People would have no experience with hard alcohol when they are outside of campus if the ban is enforced
• As students that reside on Hamilton's campus (private property) it is therefore up to the college to determine our terms of residence and consequently a privilege for us to be able to drink on campus
• We must recognize that we are responsible for are actions in regard to hard alcohol
• We have a lot of policies that govern our living due to New York State law concerning alcohol, fire, et cetera and therefore it is reasonable to expect that more restrictions could be enforced
• Student Assembly members against ban on hard alcohol: Overwhelming majority
• The Central Council of the Student Assembly unanimously passed a Resolution on this potential ban of hard alcohol:
See the Resolution Here
E. Funding
• IMF receives $9000 (next semester)
• Samuel Kirkland Film Society receives $8849 (next semester)
• Total requests for next semester: $17,849
• Funding Decisions Approved
F. Committee Reports
Technology
• May movies are up on the movie channel
• The school will not provide free Sophos Anti-virus anymore but will be providing free online anti-virus software
• You will have until mid-September to get the new anti-virus software uploaded onto your computer
• Macs can get infected, though not as often as Windows, and therefore should still download software
• There will be flyers and emails to advertise the anti-virus software
Facilities
• KJ lighting is fixed now
Food
• There will be a picnic on the Dunham Quad on Class and Charter Day from 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Food
o Commons and McEwen will be closing at 10:30 a.m.
o Commons will reopen at 5:00 p.m.
o The diner will close at 11:00 a.m and reopen at 4:30 p.m.
• The last Pub lunch is this Thursday and will end at 1:00 p.m.
• Pay Raynard would like the help of 5-6 summer residents to discuss food decisions and the student voice survey for next year (email praynard@hamilton.edu if interested)
• A schedule will be mailed out to the campus regarding food situation during Senior Week
G. Announcements
• Ad Hoc Committee on Statement of Community Values: Tomorrow, May 5th, 5:30 p.m. in ELS—all students welcome
• The Continental is looking for editors for next year (email contmag@hamilton.edu if interested)
• Stand's Open Mic will be this Thursday (sign up to perform by emailing stand@hamilton.edu)
• Only seniors are approved to be here for Senior Week and non-seniors must be approved by an academic or administrative office to stay on campus
• Only seniors are allowed to buy Senior Week tickets
• Thank you to senior student assembly representatives for all your hard work!
Meeting Adjourned: 10:08 p.m.
