Last week, Senate did not take a stand on the student protestors’ J-Board trials. It was suggested that Senate send an amicus curiae brief to the J-Board in favor of the students. South Campus Representative Adam Rick ’02 said he would support the writing of such a brief.

Environmental Affairs Commissioner Pamela Grewal ’03 and North Campus Representative Grayson Schaffer ’01 said that J-Board and the Senate are representative of the community, and that making such a decision would not be overstepping the Senate’s bounds. Academic Affairs Commissioner Richard Sun ’01 said he didn’t really see a point to writing a brief. Schaffer noted that the Senate doesn’t really have a way to check CUC for their actions. ASPC President Brian Andrews ’01 said that he doesn’t want to do this unless the J-Board chair is in favor.

Junior Class Representative Jake Oken-berg ’02 said he was interested in helping to draft the letter. Rick said that he was interested in writing about the penalty aspect of the case. Dean of Students Ann Quinley noted that J-Board is already under a lot of pressure, and that we might not want to add to it. Oken-berg noted that nothing was going to be done until the opinion of the J-Board chair regarding this idea was received. Quinley said that she didn’t think that there would be heavy punishments.

Grewal said that she thought it was kind of hypocritical that students might be punished for standing up for something that is good and that they believe in. Schaffer noted that "good" is a value judgement, and that he felt the problem was CUC’s iron fist handling of the situation. Grewal said that the students felt they were supporting a good cause.

Off-Campus Representative Omayra Ortega ’01 asked what other avenues students have to protest. Quinley reminded the Senate that CUC did negotiate with the Friends of the Bernard Field Station and that they had reached a compromise. Grayson said that he thought Ortega was right and that we need CUC to instill the values of the liberal arts education. Andrews told the Senate to check emails for the letter, and a vote through email will be taken.

Community Affairs Commissioner Leslie Mallman ’01 thanked everyone for participating. Everything went well. There were 11 projects.

Sports Commissioner Nick Grudin ’01 is working on getting TVs put up in Rains. Twenty-five people are signed up for the Clippers game. Grudin said he was currently focusing on SAC and 5-C sexual misconduct.

Vice President Ellen Lin ’01 passed around a copy of the Budget Committee Bylaws. Grudin stated that some parties might merit more expensive kegs. Assistant Director of the Campus Center Dave Swenson noted that this would involve the Budget Committee making judgments on which parties should be chosen. Schaffer suggested adding to section IV, to read that "in the case of co-sponsored activities, at least one of the organizations must be eligible for funding." Andrews noted that this addition would be redundant and that the current bylaws already explain this. The bylaws were approved (with per request crossed out) was approved with two dissenting votes.

Lilas Harley ’03 spoke about the importance of mentioning that consent is in the law. She wanted a structure to help women who want to bring a sexual harassment case before J-board. She said that she feels that currently perpetrators have the advantage and that women need some kind of advisor or counsel. Senior Class President Lauren Shawn ’01 will be working with Dean Quinley and Dean of Campus Life Taylor to work on the student code. Schaffer passed around Harvey Mudd’s policy for sexual harassment. He feels Pomona’s policy should be at least as comprehensive as Mudd’s. He talked to the Scripps’ President yesterday and saidthat they discussed ideas such as giving members of J-board special training on these types of cases. Andrews mentioned the idea of a default advisor to women. Grewal noted that Senate should not ignore the idea that men can be assaulted. Harley stated that someone should talk to Judiciary Board Chair Emily Cross ’01 directly about some of these issues.