On Sept. 13, class representatives, senators, and representatives filed into the forum of the Elaine Langone Center to participate in the first Bucknell Student Government (BSG) meeting of the year. After students and faculty were greeted with snacks and music, the new governing body sat down to discuss alcohol use on campus and continuing efforts to address campus safety, as well as announce new committee assignments.

The meeting commenced with an introduction of the Executive Board, consisting of President Alex Rosen ’16, Vice President of Operations Katie Chambers ’17, Vice President of Finance Charlotte Clegg ’17, and Vice President of Administration Taylor McCready ’17.

Rosen presented a series of updates, including the announcement that President John Bravman will attend  the Sept. 20 meeting. She also opened with a discussion about alcohol use on campus. She stressed that it was BSG’s priority to figure out why 17 students were admitted to the hospital during “welcome weekend.”

She said that BSG will “keep the conversation going” and try to “mitigate potential dangers” related to these alcohol-related issues. As an extension of this discussion, BSG announced plans to initiate a “lighting tour” to figure out where additional lighting is needed on campus and downtown to make walking at night safer.

Lastly, Rosen explained how there was little difference between last year’s number of reported incidents on campus and this year’s number.

“If something is wrong, we need to have people report them,” Rosen said. 

In order to promote campus safety and prevent future incidents, BSG encourages students to report any problems to the Buffalo Valley Regional Police Department (BVRPD).

Chambers took the podium next. She asked the government for suggestions on a Club Spotlight that would highlight the activities and events of a University organization. Some of the proposed groups included Activities & Campus Events (A.C.E.), Japan Society, Active Minds, and the Bucknell Environmental Club. Afterwards, Chambers talked to the members about joining external committees to get involved with faculty and “make more of a difference on campus.”

McCready finished the Executive Board’s presentation by promoting “caught in the act,” a program in which students can submit their University photos to be displayed.

Some of the more organizational agenda items included finalizing a modified attendance policy permitting only three excused absences, and agreeing that committee meetings will not be held on Sundays to prevent conflicts with scheduling.

A motion was passed to introduce specialized dining cards for the class president of each class. This card would be used to buy snacks for BSG meetings, allocating $100 to each class Congress and returning any unused funds back to the government.

Finally, committee assignments were announced, which divided senators into academic, advocacy, community, diversity, public, organization review board (ORB), and finance committees. The committee chair slate was approved as well.