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The newly elected members of this academic year’s Bethel Student Council met for first time Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. The meeting took place in the Trustee Board Room on the fourth floor of the Academic Center.
Executive Council President Ray Williams started the discussions around a potential “Because I Care” on-campus event. According to its website, Because I Care is a national campaign to spread awareness to college students about the importance of voting in local and national elections. Williams said Shawn Holtgren, vice president for student development, encouraged the council to co-host an on-campus event with Because I Care.
“This general election is very important, so we should work with this organization,” Andrew Miranda, vice president of the Upper-Class Council, said.
Some council members questioned the tight timeline of setting up the potential event. Williams said he did not receive much information about the council’s role in co-hosting the Because I Care event. The only information known so far is that some council members would be talking to students at tables about voting.
The council decided to let Holtgren know that they agree to co-host the Because I Care event. The next step is to set up a date for the event.
The upper- and under-classmen also gave updates about what each group discussed at their respective meetings.
“We talked about the senior gift,” Hannah Darling, president of the Upper-Class Council, said. “We considered updating the grill and patio space by Founders.”
The upperclassmen council also discussed the upperclassmen formal dance. They looked into the budget they have for hosting the event and set a target date for late March or early April. They are looking to contact a rental company.
Ashleigh Neier, President of the Under-Class Council, said the underclassmen discussed the annual can food drive occurring Nov. 2 through Nov. 13. The event will again be a dorm versus dorm event, where the dorm with the highest donation of canned food wins a prize. Neier said they want to make announcements about the food drive over Bethical News and through chapel announcements.
The council meeting then turned its discussion to house cleaning matters including budgets and constitution bylaws. Williams asked the entire council if they should consider changing any of the bylines to the council’s constitution. The council decided to table the discussion so council members have time to look over all of the bylines before proposing any changes.
The council voted to approve the budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year, but questions were raised about the amount of money being allocated to each smaller committee.
“Why was $100 moved from both the upper- and under-class budgets?” Darling said.
Executive Council Treasurer Skyler French said the upper- and under-classmen have $100 less in their budget this year because they did not spend of all of the budget last year. He also affirmed that there is money in the discretionary budget.
The council addressed initiatives to update the council’s online presence. Some initiatives to improve their online presence includes updating the website and running a social media strategy.
While the council wants to flesh out the details for building a better website and improving their social media, further steps of approval are needed. Jim Bennett, student council advisor and education department chair, said the Office of Marketing and Communications needs to approve the council’s social media efforts. Bennett said he would email Lissa Diaz, Director of Marketing and Communications, about assisting with updates to the website.
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