Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) approved a resolution on the funding of academic instruction on Wednesday at a meeting that also included a conversation with Judicial Board representatives and a rare executive session.
According to the funding resolution, BSG hopes to direct students with "an interest in pursuing academic endeavors beyond those currently available in the curriculum" to the College's Academic Affairs division for funding.
The body's approval, which fell one vote shy of being unanimous, ends over a month of discussion and debate.
"The Student Activities Funding Committee simply doesn't have the resources to fund all types of academic instruction," Vice President of Academic Affairs Sam Dinning '09 told the Orient, "so the Academic Affairs division of the College is the logical place to go."
The resolution reads, "It is the opinion of BSG that there must be a mechanism through which students can obtain funding for academic instruction deemed sufficiently popular, relevant, and beneficial to the Bowdoin community."
Although the resolution itself does not guarantee action, BSG hopes to use it as a foundation for talks with the Academic Affairs division of the College.
"While not an immediate solution, we will be talking with Dean [of Academic Affairs Cristle Collins] Judd and [Associate Dean of Curriculum] Cornish to figure out how this funding could occur," Dinning wrote.
No BSG members offered comments after Dinning's introduction of the bill, which led to an immediate vote. Ben Freedman '09 was the only representative who did not vote in favor.
In an e-mail, Freedman wrote that, "I do not believe that this bill will provide a swift solution to academic funding in addition to the longer term goal that it works toward, and I'm not sure that academic affairs should even be the source of such funding."
"I do not expect significant near-term impacts given the understandable long-term vision of this bill," Freedman continued. "It is clear that the BSG widely supports this bill and I know that we will all work hard to ensure the success of this effort."
After the meeting, BSG President Dustin Brooks '08 said that "this bill will give us a framework for both the discussion of future agreements with Academic Affairs and provide some initiative for more pressing conversations."
BSG also discussed Bowdoin's Judicial Board (J-Board) with Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Laura Lee and J-Board Chair Katie Hyman '08.
J-Board is a body of students and faculty members that hears cases of suspected violations of Bowdoin's social and academic honor codes.
"We hope to not only shed light on the violations," Hyman said during the meeting, "but also reiterate the core values of our community."
Lee and Hyman summarized the board's 2006-2007 Annual Report to the Community and discussed the inclusion of a BSG representative in the J-Board selection process, which is an addition to the board's current process.
"In previous years, the BSG President played an observatory role in the selection process," Lee said.
"Through a committee last year we discussed changes and decided to have the BSG play a more involved role through a representative and also not restrict it to the president," she added.
Both Lee and Hyman were pleased with the conversation they had with BSG.
"It was the first time we've presented the annual report and just fielded general questions so we weren't sure what to expect," Lee wrote, "but I think it went well."