Dickinson Student Senate

We’re not in the habit of posting emails on our Tumblr, but the message below is just fantastic. Keep reading, whether you’ve seen the coverage on CBSSports and ESPN or not. 

We wish to express our sincere appreciation to all members of the student body and other members of the Dickinson community for your incredible support at Saturday’s NCAA men’s basketball playoff game.

There were many highlights from the fantastic, memorable contest that we hope will be shared in the ensuing months. Meanwhile, we wish to articulate how proud we were of the controlled behavior exhibited by student spectators at the end of the game.

As many of you know, “court storming” at the end of basketball games has been a hot topic during the last week as a result of the recent Duke and Virginia match-up. We were delighted at the end of Saturday’s game that our students recognized how dangerous, disrespectful and inappropriate it would be to celebrate while the opposing team and officials were still on the floor. Everyone still celebrated our momentous victory— but in a classy fashion. This was also recognized by CBS Sports when they posted a video of Dickinson’s court-storm on Sunday, titled “D-III students show perfect, proper way to storm the court,” and commented on how Dickinson students got it right.

In addition, one of the spectators supporting the Marietta basketball team, a retired U.S. Navy commander from its class of 1942, Nick Wasilewski, attended the game with his wife and commended our students for their spirited, reverent and spontaneous version of the national anthem. He noted that it was a great way to begin the game, and the rendering reflected highly on the type of student who attends Dickinson College.

In future contests at the Kline Center, it will be tough to match the unprecedented level of excitement that we all experienced Saturday night. However, we strongly encourage your active support and positive school spirit in upcoming Dickinson athletic events. Once again, on behalf of the Department of Athletics, Office of the Dean of Students and the Department of Public Safety, we offer our genuine thanks.

Les Poolman, Director of Athletics
Leonard Brown, Dean of Students

You might not know her name, but you’re probably familiar with at least the outlines of her story. Kris is the respondent in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the case currently before the Supreme Court contesting the constitutionality of Proposition 8 — California’s ban on gay marriage. We couldn’t be more excited to hear from Kris about her personal and legal journey! She’ll speak at Dickinson’s Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium on April 8th at 7PM. More details on PAC’s page. 

Will

We’re very pleased to launch an even more accessible, vibrant web presence for Dickinson Student Senate on Tumblr. It’s easier than ever to ask questions, post an idea, or make a suggestion. Whatever you send us, I’ll review it - along with the members of Senate’s Initiatives Committee - and get back to you in a few days!

Another update to our Tumblr is the addition of a Public Affairs Committee page. I am so excited about the great work that PAC is doing, and I hope you’ll take the time to learn more. The page has details, but suffice it to say that PAC is bringing speakers like Ta-Nehisi Coates, John Lott, and Richard Wilkinson to our campus, among many others. Check it out!

Will

Senate has been asked to pitch in to assist students afflicted by the flu in the first few weeks of the semester. We’ll be helping deliver “flu kits” from Health Services to students with the flu! If you’re not on Senate and are interesting in helping us out (it would only take a few minutes on any afternoon M-F in the first month of the semester), just email the Senate account (senate@).

Andrew

Senate had an exceptionally productive fall semester and I’d like to highlight some of our most significant accomplishments:

• Purchased bulk New York Times subscription for students on campus
• Funded significant portion of Carlisle Circulator Bus
• Purchased 12 water bottle filling stations to upgrade campus water fountains
• Allocated funding to create a student music group practice & performance space
• Fundamentally changed housing selection process to permit students to live in inter-class housing groups with penalty
• Amended roles for class officers to incorporate Our Dickinson, the Senior Class Gift Drive, and Senior Club
• Improved procedure to class budgeting process
• Created the Public Affairs Committee to oversee the Poitras-Gleim lecture series and Senate’s other work enhancing the intellectual life of Dickinson students
• Funded Rush the Vote and organized shuttle buses to the polls (and the celebrity shuttle!)
• Passed the Social Progress Fund to support programming that fights discrimination on campus
• Funded weekly Pilates and Yoga classes for students
• Approved the Exiled Spoken Word Poetry club
• Selected students to serve on advisory committees for the Trout Gallery and the Wellness Center, as well as to offer input on future housing renovations
• And much, much more (like Greek yogurt in the CAF!)

We are very proud of the work that we’ve done this semester and hope to do even more in the Spring!

Senate has its third meeting of the semester tomorrow (today!) and boy is it a doozy! Here are just some of the highlights from the agenda:

• Discussion of Carlisle Circulator Bus proposal with Chris Gulotta ‘76. A group of Carlisle residents are working on a proposal to initiate a bus service throughout the Borough and are looking for funding support from Senate. We’ll be discussing the proposal with Chris, one of the major proponents and a proud Dickinson alum.
• Intra-class housing discussion. Senate is reevaluating some significant housing policies on campus, including what happens when students from different classes choose to live together. This will feature another Dickinson alum, Dan Confer ‘02 who oversees housing in Campus Life.
• We’ll have first reading of a resolution to purchase an academic New York Times subscription for campus, which will allow us to put the newspapers throughout the HUB and campus and also provide some additional programming to bridge social and academic life on campus.

You can read about some of the other work we’re doing here in our first newsletter. Today’s meeting will be, as always, at 6pm in Denny 317. Hope that you can make it! 

-Andrew