With Zauyah Waite, Dean of Students, unable to make it to the Chatham Student Government (CSG) meeting on Thursday, January 29, her advisor’s report was delivered by Stephanie Reynolds, Assistant Director of Student Affairs and Residence Life.

Highlights of the report included information regarding the HAVEN (Helping Advocates for Violence Ending Now) training, which will occur in the spring and which is compulsory for all students including graduate students and graduating seniors, as well as a reminder to, “be careful sledding.”

Reynolds’ portion of the report held information about the candidate presentations for the leader of Chatham’s new Women’s Institute.  She explained that three people presented, however one removed herself from the running, and that the students will be notified once one has been chosen.

In other news, Reynolds excitedly said that applications for the Student Organization and Leadership Awards will be posted on the Student Organization Forum Moodle page in February, and Reynolds encouraged everyone to nominate their organizations.  The winners of the awards will be announced at the end of the semester.

She finished by reminding students about Relay for Life on Friday, February 6, and the “Pack the House With 145” event on February 14, where everyone is encouraged to wear white and the first 150 people to arrive will receive a t-shirt.

In CSG Executive President Sarah Jugovic’s report, she discussed her efforts to fix the women’s bathroom on the third floor of the library, which requires a key to be accessed. She said she is working with Waite to resolve the situation.

Jugovic’s report was followed by that of Jenny Schollaert, CSG Executive Vice President, who spoke about the fact that many outside organizations host events at Chatham, meaning that students need to get their event request forms in very early in order to reserve space.

The topic of discussion at the meeting then shifted to the constitution committee, which is working to improve the structure of the CSG. Tahmina Tursonzadah, Class of 2017 President and chairwoman for the committee, explained their plan to eliminate one to two class representative seats from each class, and to split secretary and treasurer into two separate positions.

Her proposal received divided reactions from the CSG.

“With 2016, we’ve had such a hard time filling representative positions,” Chloe Bell, Class of 2016 Vice-President, said, comparing it to the Professor of Dark Arts position at Hogwarts.  “I like the idea of not having as many representatives.”

On the other hand Phoebe Armstrong, Class of 2016 President, spoke about the importance of the representative positions, saying, “People have the opportunity of being part of the CSG, without the responsibility of having a title.”

Sam Elbaz, CSG Vice President of Finance, agreed, saying that with the impending transition she doesn’t want to cut representation, only to have to go back and change it.

She then asked the representatives how they felt about the situation, and received a variety of responses from individuals who are enthusiastically in support of representative positions to individuals who think having three representatives is completely unnecessary.

Despite the variety of opinions on the issue of representatives, most of the CSG agreed that dividing the secretary and treasurer into two positions would be beneficial.

In New Business, the CSG discussed the Town Hall Editorial, which will include the administration’s feedback from the last town hall meeting. Schollaert read aloud the template that the CSG executive board drafted, pointing out that they were still waiting for the information from the administration and will add it when they have it.

One of the last points of discussion at the meeting was that of the mechanical bull, which the CSG will sponsor at Relay for Life. The question was whether or not people should pay, but as Elbaz, who used to work at a carnival, jokingly pointed out, “the number one rule of carnival workers: never give anyone a free shot.”

Most of the CSG agreed, and it was decided that they should have a competition, involving the bull, in which half of the proceeds go to the winner, and half go to Relay for Life.

In regards to the debate about the motto/alma mater change, the CSG decided to send a survey to the students, which should be coming out in the near future.

The meeting ended with a few brief announcements, including a reminder that the Vagina Monologues is February 13, the Class of 2015 is taking people to see “Fifty Shades of Grey” on February 11 as a fundraiser for senior gift, and the CSG is having an appreciation meet and greet with facilities staff sometime in the future.

The CSG meets every Thursday in the PCW room, and all meetings are open to the student body.