Student Council Debates Key Issues at the Academy

As fall term nears its halfway point, the Student Council Executive Board utilized the meeting this week to discuss various committee reports, the “Goodness” assembly that StuCo will host next week and possible reforms to the Academy’s current dress code.The phrasing and meaning of the dress code policy has come under criticism in recent years for a variety of reasons, including the inequality between genders and the binary gender system. Consequently, this year’s executive board deemed it useful to deliberate about possible amendments to the current model.Although the discussion on Tuesday night progressed smoothly, it was difficult to discern any key issues that the majority of the student body constituents agreed upon.“From the conversation, we definitely heard a variety of voices, but as for right now, council is split about their feelings toward whether the dress code should be more or less professional, and/or equal for both genders,” upper and StuCo secretary Kevin Zhen said. “Unless there is a very strong majority of an opinion, it will be difficult to suggest further change to the dress code.”But council members were able to form a reliable consensus on one suggestion: relaxed attire on days with few classes, such as Wednesdays or Saturdays. “Faculty may be open to experimentation with that idea,” Zhen said.Preceding the dress code talk, council members weighed ideas for the upcoming renovation of the library periodicals room to include a cafe.This week the Services Committee met with library staff to discuss the cafe’s possible decor and flooring, as well as conceivable ideas for hiring outside caterers to service the cafe for certain hours each day.Council members suggested a variety of providers, such as Me & Ollies or Good Karma Cafe, and the library staff will weigh the options based upon practicality and price.Now that the response from Student Council has been gathered, the executive board will be moving on in the coming weeks towards their next goal on this year’s agenda: web applications.“One of the things I am working on is my Online Harkness App. I am meeting with the head of Information Technology Services to talk about integration of the website into Exeter life,” Zhen said.“Hotchkiss also made a great dining hall application, and we have contacted the coder to make a few changes and implement it at Exeter; that way, students will be able to quickly view menus and efficiently provide feedback for certain food items,” he added.Online Harkness, a campaign platform that Zhen ran upon for the secretary position, is a website in which one can partake in forums for each of their classes and clubs.“When you click on any class, it opens a forum for the entire course,” Zhen said. “Let’s say I have Math 330, and I have a question about cosine, I can post it in the forum, and different students or teachers in that course can reply to my question.There is an upvote, downvote, and a flag system as well.”Although the application, which requires complex coding from the dedicated coders volunteering to create the site, is only in the layout phase, Online Harkness is expected to be released during winter term. Until then, the executive board will be talking with faculty and council to ensure that everyone sees the app as beneficial towards the Exeter community.“We are meeting with the heads of the academic departments in the next week or two to gauge if they are on board with the idea as well as discuss some of the ethical dilemmas, and we will definitely show it to council soon,” Zhen said.