The Student Senate discussed concerns surrounding student organizations, announced plans to install new printers in the University Center and passed a resolution supporting Lehigh’s Sodexo workers during its Tuesday meeting.
The Senate also discussed how their bylaws outline the process of revoking their connection with any club they had recognized.
Allegations about a Students for Life club member threatening to stab a student with scissors during a debate at a tabling event on the University Center Lawn on Oct. 2.
Student Senator Bryn Kidd, ‘29, said she was made aware of the alleged threats made by a Students for Life club member through the GroupMe for the Student Political Action Coalition.
Kidd alleged the student had filed with the Lehigh Police Department after the incident.
“I think that as a club they should not be acting in an official capacity that way,” Kidd said. “No one should be acting that way.”
Senator Dylan Gross, ‘29, who started the discussion about Students for Life, brought up a different concern related to a repost the club made through their Instagram account.
Gross said the repost stated: “Planned Parenthood lynched more black babies than the KKK.”
Senate Parlementarian Heidi Bauer, ‘28, said the process of breaking ties with a club would start with the judicial committee for a club conduct meeting to discuss the complaints against the club. She said the judicial committee would then bring their conclusion forth to the full Senate.
Bauer said the Senate must provide at least 10 days of written notice before the club would have to present its case to the Senate, in what she assumed would be in a full-body fashion. For the club’s Senate recognition to be taken away, a two-third majority vote of senators present would need to happen.
“I feel like a lot of their proceedings as a club haven’t been engaging with campus and the Lehigh community,” Gross said. “I plan on bringing up a case against Lehigh SFL to the Office of Student Involvement.”
Club Affairs Chair Raquel Romero, ‘27, described the process of removing a club from campus through the Office of Student Involvement. She said the first step is filing a complaint, followed by an investigation if the complaint proves to go against Lehigh’s Principles of Equitable Community and Student Code of Conduct.
Two new printers to be added to the University Center
Senate Vice President Mariana Roldán, ‘28, announced the Senate would be funding the initial costs for the addition of two new printers in the University Center.
Despite a dozen or more senators absent from the meeting due to common hour exams, the room still erupted with claps and cheers from the present senators at this announcement.
Roldán said at least one of the printers will be put in the Club Hub and the second may be placed in the same room, or potentially in the first floor living room of the UC.
She said the Student Organization Resource Center will cover the physical labor necessary for the maintenance of the printer, including the replacement of paper and ink, but the Student Senate would cover all the initial costs and those relating to its upkeep.
Roldán said after the student outreach committee surveyed students at Fairchild-Martindale Library, one of the main requests that students had was 24/7 access to a printer.
“We had all kind of identified that as a task that we can tackle pretty easily,” Roldán said.
She said she discovered there was 24/7 access to printers through the Computing Center, but Roldán said this information wasn’t readily available to students and the printer was in an inconvenient location.
The exact date the printers will be available is undetermined.
Senate resolution about Sodexo strikes
The Senate worked on a resolution stating their standing in solidarity with Lehigh’s contracted Sodexo employees’ and their fight for a new contract, which would provide them with better working environments. They released the statement Tuesday night.
The statement resolution passed unanimously among the Senate.
It included statements about their hope Sodexo would return to negotiations to accept the workers’ new contract, which would provide them with higher wages and stable full-time hours. It also included a call for the Lehigh University Administration to express their support for its employees as a contracting party with Sodexo.
Crash course on using the new LINC
Invited by Senate President Drew Smith, ‘27, Nick Christy, associate director of Student Involvement and Student Center Operations gave a speech during the meeting about Lehigh’s new online system for club affairs through the platform Ready Education-Campus Groups.
He said the new development of Lehigh Involvement Connection provides better ways for clubs to schedule their events, for students to keep their groups organized and includes a feature for club websites to be easily created.
Clubs recognized by the Senate can also reserve event spaces through the website, which Bauer said isn’t available to non-recognized clubs.
In the past, Christy said they had been using the platform Anthology-Engage for managing campus clubs, but the company recently went bankrupt last year.
The customized platform remains under the name LINC but a different software.
“This has been a transition,” Christy said. “We’re building this plane as we fly it.”
Christy said he recognized there has been a lot of confusion and some difficulties for students learning how to use the new app.
Smith said he brought Christy to the meeting for that reason, to inform senators about how to use the service so they can spread that information.
“I believe this software can be a hub for student life at Lehigh,” Smith said. “As student representatives, senators can be a catalyst for getting information out there, and having informed senators who are able to answer questions is a great way to provide those options for students.”
Christy also pointed out LINC has its own app which students can download. He said they have recently fixed issues which had at first prevented students from making reservations in the app.
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