Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) discussed gender and sexuality on campus and the group's next step in the issues surrounding Credit/D/Fail at a bill-less meeting on Wednesday night.
"I don't think we're going to be able to necessarily pass a resolution that will change the Bowdoin culture," James Harris '08 said regarding gender and sexuality on campus, "but having the discussion is something that's worthwhile."
"The bigger discussion is how Bowdoin deals with gender deviance," Nicole Willey '08 said during the start of the meeting, noting that Bowdoin can be "very conservative" regarding the subject.
"We could be a catalyst for dialogue," she said.
Rutledge Long '10 agreed with Willey about a lack of dialogue but disagreed with her comment on the campus's conservative tone.
"In this liberal environment, I almost feel that I can't speak what I really feel because [the campus is] overwhelmingly liberal," he said. "Everyone at Bowdoin is covering their mouth all the time."
Regarding sexuality, Justin Foster '11 discussed the difference between a campus "friendly" to sexual differences and one that is "open."
"We should just focus on making this an open atmosphere," he said. "This is a bridge that you can see in the distance that we'll have to cross... we know it's there, and knowing that, we should strive to engage dialogue."
Foster also said to the assembly that "if you're not gay, you don't know how it feels to be gay at Bowdoin."
"From the sounds of the conversation, for the BSG this is only the beginning of a series of initiatives on this topic," Brooks wrote in an e-mail to the Orient. "We're hoping that we can make Bowdoin a place that is friendly and welcoming to everyone, including people with non-traditional gender or sexuality identities."
Regarding the ongoing Credit/D/Fail issue, BSG discussed how it will approach the debate over the length of time students can have to elect to take classes Credit/D/Fail.
Among faculty, "there's interest on both sides of the spectrum, from zero weeks to 14 weeks," said Vice President of Academic Affairs Sam Dinning '09.
William Donahoe '08 said that the Credit/D/Fail discussion "needs to be more of a two-way street" as far as student-faculty dialogue.
"Policies on their side are completely liberal, while ours are becoming increasingly conservative," he said.
Sophia Seifert '09 discussed the fact that courses taken Credit/D/Fail cannot count toward a student's major or minor and that students may want more time to consider the Credit/D/Fail option for a class in a potential field of concentration.
In an e-mail, Dinning wrote that Wednesday's discussion was "not meant to be the start of any major project" but rather to circulate ideas.
According to Dinning, a working group will be created to address some of the issues regarding Credit/D/Fail that the Recording Committee began discussing last year.
The creation of this working group is part of February's faculty decision to prohibit students starting with the Class of 2012 from being able to use the Credit/D/Fail option in classes taken to satisfy distribution requirements.
"I was impressed by BSG's appreciation of many of the nuances of the issue," Dinning wrote. "The opinions voiced last night at BSG will be very helpful in ensuring that student opinions are accurately represented in this working group."