WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS STUDENT UNION SENATE MEETING

DATE CONVENED // October 6, 2020

LOCATION // Zoom

RECORDING SECRETARY // Kristina Lee

TIME CONVENED // 7 PM — Speaker Gaby Smith Calls to Order

Agenda:
Swearing in of new senators
Introductions
Speed dating
Marijuana Expungement Policy Legislation
Medical Leave of Absence Project Presentation
Project Updates/Open Forum/Student Body Pulse
Exec, Advisor Updates
Senate Snapz

Attendance

First	Last	10/6
Chloe	Doumar	P
Nkemjika	Emenike	P
Stephanie	Hernandez-Barrales	P
Philip	Keisler	P
Kristina	Lee	P
Nicole	Leers	P
Gaby	Smith	P
Dylan	Rosenthal	P
Tennyson	Holmes	P
Adam	Oubaita	P
Christine	Muoghalu	T
Ani Kesanapally	P
Zoe Siegel	P
Maddy Kish	P
Braxton Sizemore	P
Emmet Klein	P
Ramadan Ibrahim	P
Jaitsiri Kaur Ahluwalia	P

Swearing in of new senators

Completed!!! Finally sworn in!!!

Marijuana Expungement Policy Legislation

Resolution created by CRE Chair, Phillip and voted in favor by CRE Committee
This resolution supports the idea that we have expungement policies for marijuana and alcohol, similar to other universities who have these policies
- Last presentation by Rob Wilde in March supported only the expungement for alcohol
What is a Resolution? → Senate to send an official stance to administration
Q&A
Push by certain administrators was the restorative justice approach, we can make mistakes and they shouldn’t be held to you forever
- Senator Kristina: Did you consider putting more WashU tiered level universities in the second whereas clause?
- These universities in the resolution were brought up by Rob
No current expungement policy as of now, current policy after 10 years, non-suspension concerns get expunged
- Important to get these expungeable before graduation
Motioned to go into discussion
- Senator Chloe in favor of passing this resolution, would be very beneficial to students. People make mistakes, shouldn’t be held against you especially 10 years ahead
- Senator Nkemjika raises a lot of good points, the criminalization of marijuana wielding towards certain segment of people, use of marijuana and alcohol on campus is pretty similar
- Speaker Gaby, substance abuse is something people struggled with, punishments going on actions students can’t control is antithetical, should have expungement policies
- Senator Nicole, propose to amendment of “substance abuse” to “substance use”
  - On discussion on motion to amend…
  - No objections to vote on amendment
  - 16 votes in favor of the amendment
  - 0 votes in opposing, abstainment
  - Amendment passes
- Senator Nkemjika motions to vote on the resolution
  - Senator Ramadan opposes and motions to make an amendment on the 4th clause, to remove clause “academic integrity violations”, leave on table for the future
    - 19 votes in favor of amendment → amendment passes
- Senator Nicole motions to vote on resolution
  - 19 votes in favor of resolution
  - 1 vote in abstention

Medical Leave of Absence Project Presentation

New transcript notation for medical leave of absence
Background information:
- “W” = Withdraw, notation you get on your transcript when you withdraw from a course
- Old policy: still get that W notation when you take a medical leave of absence
- Detrimental to students and their futures, deterrent from taking a leave
- Was brought up by a StudLife article
Working towards a solution:
- Research on peer institutions, had 2 meetings with 4 deans, emailed the registrar, finalized this fall
Timeline:
- StudLife article (Nov 2018) → First meeting (Jan 2019) → Second meeting (Feb 2019) → Emailed registrar (April 2019) → Followed up with registrar and deans (Sept 2019) → Implementation (Present)
New Policy
- W → WLA (Withdrawal Leave of Absence)
- Starting fall 2019, students who take a medical leave after the add/drop deadline will have a “WLA” noted for each course instead of “W”

How it works
- Combined process with Habif and 4-year advisor
PR & Student Response
- StudLife article written!!!
Next Steps
- Encourage HW and AA committee collaboration on policy changes
  - Ex. Add/drop deadline
- Advising other senators on how to successfully research, plan, and complete a project

Project Updates/Open Forum/Student Body Pulse

Formalizing participation point system: expectation that everyone sometime throughout their term attend student group events, sharing senate stuff on social media, etc.
- Will be harder with Zoom
Now accepting applications for Senate Chief of Staff
- Helps Senate leadership with implementation of goals
- Willing to take minutes, help with miscellaneous activities
- Will post application on Slack
Committee meetings
- Introductions, mini-projects
- So much fun !!!
Senate meetings are now bi-weekly
- Check Slack + Email regularly
Anne’s project update
- STL Engagement project
  - In response to rise in activism
  - Mission: Empower more students to take action to meet the needs the of STL community, especially marginalized communities
  - Leverage SU’s management of these student organizations to creative more positive student engagement in STL
  - Need interested senators with various perspectives
    - Reflect on the role of WashU students in STL
    - Work as a team with various skill sets
    - Partner with student groups to build a infrastructure to further streamline student to community engagement
- Pilot Project:
  - Create survey + graphics for Westend neighborhood
  - Make graphics to increase census turnout for neighborhood
- Working Group Phase:
  - Thinking more long-term, built into SU
  - Continue to pull in actual student groups, pairing them to the community
Nkemjika
- ArtwithImpact nonprofit reached out to her
- Does online programming to address mental health esp with marginal communities

Exec/Advisor Updates

On campus, tuesday tea is happening!
Deadline for voter registration is tomorrow for MO!
Reflections event facilitated by CDI, thursday at Noon
Anne and Chloe are meeting with Provost, questions related to academic concerns in the fall or spring
As of mid-Sept, university is going to talk about fees for Spring semester + university restrictions related to Covid

Senate Snapz