Agenda 4/6/16; Minutes 3/30/16

Post date: Apr 5, 2016 3:15:14 PM

Agenda 4.6.16

• 1. Approval of Minutes

  2. Reports

  3. Gender Motion

  4. Notes & New Business

Council Minutes 3.30.16

“What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” ~Ralph Marston

Order of the Day

• 1. Reports

     • Mod: Welcome to our new School Board Rep

     • A-Mod: Continuing to seek a response for Athletics over Break

     • Treasurer: $5,133.66 in Council Funds; $3,604 in co-curricular funds. Council funds will be going down by $1799 after grill money goes through

     • Secretary: Senior and Staff Alternate can vote

     • DSB: Will be taking notes on Gender motion in place of secretary, as secretary is the one who brought the motion

     • PR: Very excited to welcome so many community members today. Ms. D’Amato and Mr. Phipps are here as co-advisors of Rainbow Alliance. Reese Kelly and Michelle Kerman are here to help with Gender Motion discussion

• • • SA: Handed out budget forms yesterday. Due Friday (Monday at the latest)

    • Admin: Discussed awards: Skip Bean

    • SL: Planning on sending out Student Life Survey tomorrow

    • OEC: Council Elections are coming up. If you want to run, you have to attend at least one meeting. Nomination forms due Wednesday, April 27 and Elections are Friday, May 6

    • Curric: Discussed presentation from last week; hoping to come back next week with suggestions for how to fix issues

    • RJ: Discussed new language to reflect current practices

    • COI: Discussed purpose of X periods

• • Approval of Minutes

  • Gender Motion (This section of the minutes was done by Connor Stafford)

    • Dean of Plurality at Dartmouth

      • Professor

      • Transgender male

      • Made the transition later than most - experiences are different

    • Member of Center for Gender and Student Engagement

      • Promotes gender equality

      • Educates about student sexuality, gender, anti-violence

    • We need to be aware that phrases like “be comfortable in your own skin” can be hurtful to trans individuals

    • Pronouns

      • We should keep in mind that not all students want their parents to know what pronoun they prefer

      • Other is not a great option - fill in the blank is better

      • When it comes to surveys, does gender even matter?

    • Teenagers are exploring gender

      • Can feel confused

    • This issue affects more than just trans individuals

      • What about children and opposite sex handicap assistance?

      • The sign on a bathroom door is not a lock

    • There are concerns that people will abuse this privilege

      • Being trans is hard, so it is unlikely people would pretend to be so.

    • We need to to make sure we respect everyone’s opinion.

      • Some religious groups may feel attacked

      • Is there a difference between public and school restrooms?

    • It is possible that by not doing this we are in violation of title IX and that this could be considered discrimination

      • Could open the school up to a lawsuit.

    • How would this motion effect sports and locker rooms

      • NHIAA has its own policy on this issue

    • Education is important

      • Information outside bathrooms

        • Basic information about initiative

        • Where you can go to find more

    • Middlebury college

      • Maybe only a few centrally located bathrooms need to be changed

      • Have parties in the bathroom

  • Meeting Adjourns