The College will begin offering Arabic courses next fall, according to an announcement by Vice President of Academic Affairs Sam Dinning '09 to Wednesday night's Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) assembly.
The announcement was one of several academic and social issues that the assembly discussed at its meeting, which also featured a presentation from Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols.
Dinning said at the meeting that the first-year Arabic course Bowdoin is adding to its curriculum would appear on Bearings in time for course registration and will be taught by a post-doctorate fellow.
"The course should be available for registration this week, and we have every reason to believe that it will be incredibly popular," Dinning wrote in an e-mail. "This should be a great resource for the College, and certainly something that students have been very interested in for several years."
Dinning's announcement, which occurred at the end of the meeting, was welcomed among many members of the assembly.
"Sam Dinning has been working hard on academic policy, and it's great to see some of that work concretely pay off," BSG President Dustin Brooks '08 wrote in an e-mail to the Orient.
BSG also unanimously approved an academic affairs bill requesting $300 toward setup for an academic advising session. The session, which will take place on Tuesday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Smith Union's Morrell Lounge, will cover course selection and major requirements.
According to Dinning, the session will be an "informal venue for underclassmen to talk to the various departments as they deal with course registration and look forward to the rest of their Bowdoin careers."
The session will feature student and faculty representatives from every academic department, with additional representatives from the study abroad and dean's offices.
At the meeting, Dinning said that "the hope we have is if we just have the people there, students can just shape their own info session basically."
BSG also extended last week's discussion of gender and sexuality with a pair of resolutions, the first concerning Residential Life's same-gender roommate requirement and the second regarding "omnisex" bathroom facilities on campus.
While the assembly did not vote on these resolutions, they were meant to help promote discussion among members.
"I think at Bowdoin, it's easy to assume that we all agree on issues like these, so it's really healthy to work out a compromise," Brooks said.
According to the document, the roommate resolution proposes that Bowdoin remove the requirement that roommates to be the same gender in on-campus housing. The resolution suggests this goes into effect after the first year.
The bathroom resolution proposes that the College "undertake a pilot omnisex bathroom program" that would not restrict access based on gender and that would attend to "an increasing need to accommodate gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered students, faculty, and staff members."
Kyle Ritter '09 expressed skepticism over both resolutions. He said that the roommate resolution could be easily abused by students and could create a "nightmare" for Residential Life and added that he, as a Bowdoin tour guide, felt the omnisex bathroom idea might deter prospective parents.
Residential Life Representative Sam Kamin '08 said that Residential Life currently has an "incredibly small" amount of flexibility in relocating students on campus and expressed concern over the idea of having to accommodate a couple who choose to share an on-campus bedroom but break up during the academic year.
These discussions are part of BSG's ongoing conversation regarding gender and sexuality on campus.
A perennially favorite guest, Randy Nichols also attended the meeting to discuss campus safety in light of the looming Ivies Weekend.
Reminding the assembly that Ivies Weekend "is another regular weekend in the real world," Nichols said that "we need every Bowdoin student to watch out for themselves first and for their fellow students next."
Citing the degree of mutual respect between students and Security at Bowdoin, Nichols said that "it really works, and I'm very proud of that relationship we have at Bowdoin."
He also said that while the Brunswick Police Department "has a different role" than Bowdoin Security, "we want those rules to mesh and complement each other."
Nichols also said that "the worst thing that could possibly happen is that a student wouldn't call" his office in the event of an emergency. "If you're calling for help, you're going to get help."
"We will increase the number of Security officers on patrol throughout the weekend, and the Brunswick Police will step up patrols on the streets and in neighborhoods adjacent to campus," Nichols wrote in an e-mail. "If you have contact with the local police, please cooperate with the officers and you will find that they will be fair and reasonable."
"We'll probably be camping out," he said at the meeting, referring to popular outdoor events such as Pinestock, "if the band's good, especially."