An unusually long Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) meeting was also a productive one, as representatives discussed the proposed revised sexual misconduct policy with Associate Dean of Student Affairs Mary Pat McMahon and unanimously approved a pair of proposals.
As the Orient reported last week, McMahon has been working on revising Bowdoin's sexual misconduct policy for more than eight months, and recent revision proposals have made the policy an important topic for discussion.
"It's a big change," McMahon said. "It's important that the campus community understands what we're doing and why."
McMahon has been working alongside campus administrators and organizations, such as the Student Affairs Committee to craft a more accessible policy with which students can feel comfortable.
"My big goal is clarity," McMahon said. "Our policy as it stood was fairly convoluted. It tried to do too much at the same time."
McMahon was heavily influenced by the University of Virginia's sexual misconduct policy, which the university offered freely to Bowdoin.
"We basically took Virginia's policy and made it to line up with Bowdoin's social code," McMahon noted. "We had to have it fit Bowdoin's needs."
The revised policy was a focus of last week's BSG meeting, as students prepared questions for McMahon and discussed differences between old and new policies.
At this week's meeting, McMahon answered a variety of questions from students and, as was her goal, clarified some of the policy's points.
"I've heard from some students that the policy is really dense," McMahon said during the meeting.
Many students were concerned with the meaning of "effective consent," which is a central term in the new policy. Vice President of Student Organizations Stephanie Witkin '07 was curious about the difference between effective and ineffective consent.
Vice President of BSG Affairs Dustin Brooks '08 added that the role of drugs and alcohol in relation to consent seemed inconsistent.
"If you can show me a definition of 'consent' that's any less vague, I'll be impressed," McMahon replied, adding that some flexibility in the policy would be necessary to allow for differences between certain situations.
While the former policy listed mediation and formal hearings as the two responses to a misconduct filing, the revised policy also includes a "structured meeting" as a response. Inter-House Council (IHC) President Alex Lamb '07 questioned the distinction between a mediation and a structured meeting.
"The structured meeting would be more for sexual misconduct-like complaints," McMahon responded.
"What we really want to do is get people who should be learning about this to the table," McMahon replied. "I would encourage people to actually read [the policy]. If people have reactions to it, we'd like to hear them."
Class of 2007 Representative Emily Hubbard suggested a mandatory forum to address this issue. "It's important that people know the College cares about [sexual misconduct]," Hubbard stated.
Lamb agreed, adding that starting a mandatory forum would be a "big step to make" for Bowdoin.
While McMahon suggested an online forum, Hubbard countered that "hearing an official voice is much more effective than reading something online."
Vice President of Academic Affairs Burgess LePage '07 and President DeRay McKesson '07 both took issue with the gender balance of the sexual misconduct board.
"My concern is what do we do if there's a single-gender board," McKesson stated. McMahon replied that the gender issue would be addressed and codified in a subdocument.
Because the new policy reduces the size of the board from 10 people to seven, some representatives were worried about the power of the student voice in the policy process. McMahon replied that the reduction was necessary in order to promote comfort for the complainant, and because serving on the board is "intense in its own right."
"If you have more people, the fear is that if a student has a really traumatic story, they'd have to share it with that many more people," McMahon stated.
After the meeting, students felt overwhelmingly satisfied with the discussion.
"I thought it was a fantastic meeting," Lamb said.
At-Large Representative Kata Solow '10 added that it "felt like a breath of fresh air."
"This meeting was very positive," Vice President of Student Affairs Carolyn Chu '07 remarked. "Dean McMahon was very welcoming to our questions. We appreciate all of the time she took to speak with us."
Students felt that their general preparedness and planning had much to do with the success of the conversation.
After the sexual misconduct discussion, BSG also covered three other issues, including a proposed leadership development program meant to give students the chance to develop leadership skills through seminars, classes, and other means.
"This is an opening step," Brooks noted, "towards establishing a legitimate program."
Several students saw little use of a formalized program for instructing students in leadership. IHC Representative Avery Forbes '08 saw no reason for a "certification" of leadership, while fellow IHC Representative Kristen Gunther '09 felt "it seems like you'd be getting people who are already leaders" enrolled in the classes.
Treasurer Rebecca Ginsberg '07 supported the idea, noting "there are professionals who teach these skills and there's knowledge you can learn. I've been to things like this and they've been extremely helpful."
Hubbard added that "adults do the same sorts of things. It seems like something that's incredibly positive that Bowdoin doesn't have in place already."
BSG did not vote on this presentation, but two proposals that followed both met with unanimous support.
Chu presented a plan for "Nametag Day" and outlined a budget slightly higher than last year's. Following unanimous approval of this, Chu proposed a plan to fund and create posters to support the Field Hockey and Women's Rugby teams.
McKesson noted that BSG "historically has not targeted women's sports in the same way it has for men's," while Witkin echoed that "we need to step up the support for the women's teams."
Unanimous support of the poster funding request, which approved a $50 expenditure, ended the meeting.