Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) unanimously approved two bills on Wednesday concerning club membership activities policy.
The two bills represent the division of BSG's original, single hazing proposal which the group discussed last week. After the split, the first bill outlines affirmative and unacceptable club practices as well as rules of conduct, while the second addresses the procedure for responding to policy violations.
Debate arose over an "opt out" clause in the first bill, which in the "Rules of Conduct" section calls for clubs to provide "clear and specific processes by which members can opt out of any activity." Some members stated that this clause should appear earlier in the bill.
"This is the BSG's attempt to say that there are certain parts of what is now defined as hazing that can actually be used to build team morale," Community Service Council Representative Alison Spencer '08 said during the meeting. "If some team participant doesn't want to participate, that's all right."
To address this, BSG passed an amendment adding the sentence, "Note that the 'opt out' clause under the rules of conduct section below still applies" to the bill's second paragraph.
A motion to vote led to unanimous approval of the slightly edited bill and a discussion of the second proposal regarding response to policy violations.
While some members said that the bill might create confusion for clubs, Vice President of BSG Affairs Kata Solow '10 reminded members that "this is not a document outlining club policy."
"We're not telling clubs what they can or can't do," she said. "This is a guideline for the Student Organization Oversight Committee (SOOC). It's not instruction for clubs."
In an e-mail, President Dustin Brooks '08 said, "I think it's important for people to remember that this only applies to clubs chartered by the SOOC and funded by the SAFC [Student Activities Funding Committee]. Other groups or people don't fall under this document's guidelines as far as we're concerned."
BSG passed an amendment changing the order in which the bill lists possible responses to policy violations. After amendment, the bill reads, "These responses could include issuing a conditional public warning, reducing it to Charter II status, or revoking the club's charter."
Class of 2010 Representative Bryce Spalding stated that Bowdoin's Judicial Board would "do a sufficient job" of handling policy violations. In response, Class of 2011 Representative Hannah Bruce said that "it's been hammered home" that the Board does not generally deal with such issues.
"Punishing the individuals doesn't really hammer home the point," added Vice President of Academic Affairs Sam Dinning '09. "Punishing the club has a much clearer, more direct effect."
"If we don't pass this... our first bill is going to be useless," Amir Abdullah added.
A motion to vote resulted in unanimous approval of the amended bill.
"Last night the BSG Assembly fulfilled its responsibilities as the leading organization for clubs on campus by entering the campus conversation regarding hazing," Brooks said in an e-mail. "This seemed to be a good moment to make a statement of principles and lay out a procedure to enforce them."
Before discussing the bills, BSG unanimously approved $900 for bussing to the Men's Hockey game tonight at Colby.
Because spots on the allotted bus were in high demand, BSG motioned to double the funding from the proposed $450 to $900.
Earlier on Wednesday, BSG also met with faculty members in Cram Alumni House as part of an attempt, Brooks said, "to think of ways to reach out to faculty members."
"Until this semester, a faculty member had never been to a BSG meeting, which is reflective of a pretty large problem that we've had in the past," he said at the gathering.
Brooks added that one of BSG's goals this year is increasing the group's campus transparency.
"Whether we've succeeded or not, we'll see," he said. "But I think we're doing a lot better."