Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) engaged in a lengthy discussion with Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster on the options for changes to next year’s First-Year Orientation calendar schedule at its meeting on Wednesday.
Foster presented three options formulated by the Working Group on Student Orientation for the class of 2017’s Orientation experience.
The first option was to continue the Orientation style used by the class of 2016, during which freshmen arrive on a Tuesday, and classes begin on Thursday of the following week.
The second option required a Saturday arrival, and meetings with academic advisors before leaving on orientation trips. Foster said this option had low feasibility due to “low faculty interest” in returning to campus a week early.
The third option also involved pushing back first-year arrival to Saturday, which Foster and several BSG members agreed was a more “family friendly” choice than the mid-week Tuesday arrival, but also meant beginning classes two days earlier.
Dean Foster also said the working group had considered that those two days could possibly be added to make a full-week Thanksgiving break, but stressed that the decision was dependent on the eventual decision on orientation scheduling, and further discussion with the faculty.
At the end of the night, BSG President Dani Chediak ’13 stated her support for more discussion of the third orientation option, but added that she “considered the orientation changes to be important enough to stand on their own” without the promise of two extra days for Thanksgiving.
BSG voted to pass updated Student Organizations Oversight Committee (SOOC) bylaws, and presented changes to the Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC) bylaws.
SAFC Chair and Vice President for the Treasury Charlie Cubeta ’13 presented edits to the committee’s bylaws. Changes included requiring increased oversight of Student Activities office when buying tickets for trips, as well as restrictions on uses of BSG vans within the immediate Brunswick area to increase van availability.
The changes also limited BSG funding provided for student dance, theater, or music performances seeking to use Moonlighting—a local production company—to now only offering funding for Moonlighting’s lighting and sound services for one performance per semester.
Both Cubeta and Chediak stressed that changes to the SAFC bylaws are often controversial due to their impact on club funding, and recommended that club members review the changes posted on the BSG website and discuss any concerns with their BSG representatives.