After moderate debate, the Student Assembly passed a resolution last night that endorses a primary draft of the "Student Response to the Recommendations of the Committee on the Student Life Initiative," drafted by an Assembly subcommittee.
The document, which addresses every part of the steering committee's recommendations and includes a section for problems not addressed, has been in the works during all of Winter term.
During discussion, several members raised concerns that the Assembly was not prepared to vote on the resolution because people had not had enough time to read the newly-finished report.
Other members voiced worries that if the draft was not endorsed at the meeting, the efforts of the student life committee would be wasted.
The resolution passed when it was pointed out that the most of the time between now and the Trustees' weekend on April 14 and 15 would be needed for the general student body to read and become familiar with the report.
The document is not finalized, however, and will now be distributed to students and campus organizations to gauge support for the document and discover which parts may require revision.
Possible changes will depend on the amount and specific nature of student feedback to be collected this week and reworked into the Assembly's report by next Tuesday's meeting, when the Assembly will vote to endorse the final edition.
When collecting feedback, the Assembly will ask about specific parts of the document rather than the report as a whole in order to make changes only to those parts which need it.
It is expected that the Assembly will make revisions before endorsing a final version of their report.
Casey Sixkiller '00, who served as chairman of the student life committee during the formulation of the response but resigned from his post last night, said that he is "very confident" about the report, adding that it, "stands out from other reports in that it truly captures student opinion."
The Assembly also passed a second resolution that calls for gatherings resembling "fireside chats" to be held at least three times a term, and will focus on pertinent topics chosen by the Assembly.
The resolution, sponsored by Amit Anand '03, met with some objections from various Assembly members on the grounds that sustained interest in the conversations would be difficult to keep, but these concerns did not impede its passage.
The resolution was later amended to name the proposed meetings something other than "fireside chats," which some members felt wrongly implied discussion on the Student Life Initiative. The exact name will be decided upon at a later date.
New committee appointments at the meeting included Taylor French '02 as chair of the committee on student organizations, Molly Stutzman '02 as chair of the committee on student life, and Amit Anand '03 as chair of the committee on administration and faculty relations.
