Student Assembly President Jim Rich '96 last night discussed the status of the Assembly's proposal for the administration to support a committee addressing concerns of campus diversity.
At its meeting, the Assembly also discussed the results of a student survey it took earlier in the term and passed a resolution that modified the Assembly's bylaws.
Last week, the Assembly passed a resolution asking Dean of the College Lee Pelton to form a committee to address diversity, in response to recent campus incidents. Since then, Pelton has spoken with Rich about the proposal and said he was not prepared to commit to such a plan, Rich said.
"I appreciate the sentiment," Pelton said. "But I'm not sure if that's what we want to do."
Rich said he understood Pelton's response.
"I think [his] deliberateness of ... implementing a program is the right way to go about it," Rich said. "What we don't want is for nothing to happen."
Also at last night's Assembly meeting Assembly member Della Bennett '96, vice president in charge of the committee of student life, said a BlitzMail survey conducted by her committee "found overwhelmingly positive results" for three of the Assembly's projects.
Students liked the Assembly's aims to make more classes offer the non-recording option, to establish a 24-hour study room open to all students and the development of more music lessons, according to the Assembly's survey.
Bennett said more than 550 students answered the survey, but not all respondents answered every question.
The survey found that 95 percent of students who responded to the question liked the idea of more classes with the NRO, 88 percent of those responding to the question wanted a 24-hour study room and 92 percent of students who answered the question supported the College's offering more music classes.
The survey also asked if students wanted the Valley Tennis Courts converted into basketball courts. The survey showed 59 percent of students who responded to the question supported the idea while 41 percent opposed it.
Bennett said since not enough people wanted the tennis courts changed, the Assembly has ceased working toward converting the tennis courts.
Assembly member Simone Swink '98, vice president in charge of student services, announced a new BlitzMail computer will be set up in Alumni Gymnasium. She said two more may soon be placed in the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts.
The Assembly also unanimously passed a resolution to update its bylaws.
Sponsored by Assembly members Bill Kartalopoulos '97, Rex Morey '99 and Swink , the motion "removed some glaring inconsistencies between the Assembly's constitution and bylaws," Kartalopoulos said.
During Spring term, the Assembly overhauled its constitution. The Assembly had yet to revise its bylaws to reflect the constitutional changes.
Working to produce an upperclassmen directory, Scott Jacobs '99 said he had been in communication with the Office of the College Editor and Jon Slavet '90, the former publisher of the Over the Hill directory.
Jacobs said he hopes the College will work with Slavet to cooperatively publish a catalog of upperclassmen to replace the Over the Hill booklet, which Slavet no longer publishes.
