Student Council Pushes Forward with Policy Changes

Since the 2017-18 Student Council (StuCo) took office, the Executive Board and individual committees have made significant progress on their projects to improve student life at the Academy. Some projects, such as the implementation of a new Community, Equity and Diversity (CED) Student Council committee, have already been implemented since fall term. According to Co-Presidents Jackson Parell and Menat Bahnasy, other more long-term projects such as the Visitations Policy and the Student Council turnover policy are within their final stages and are predicted to be passed by the end of this Student Council’s term.

"We feel confident that the wait during many of our projects will ultimately pay off in the long run, and we are hopeful that Exeter continues to push for progress every day,”

Student Council is looking to implement four final policies by the end of winter term: the Visitations Policy, Student Council turnover policy, dorm service policy and College Counseling Office (CCO) college visit day clause. Members of the Executive Board are confident that the groundwork established during the fall term will lead to the successful passing and implementation of these four policies.

Many of the smaller projects, such as the implementation of the new CED committee are already active; they are in the midst of reforming Academy Life Day. Other projects that have been completed include moving school printers to more accessible places for students such as Agora and the recent completion of the Student Council website which will provide the student body constant updates and access to forms or surveys.

Bahnasy maintained that the members of Student Council have responded appropriately to the community’s requests. “[The] Council has been working every week to push these goals through discussions and meetings with various bodies on campus. Of course, projects of this scale take time, patience and lots of discussion.”

Despite Bahnasy’s assertion, students seem to have mixed views on Student Council. Prep Philip Oravitan said, “while I am obviously new to the Exeter community, I sometimes get the impression that [Student Council] are not really doing a lot. I feel that they are focusing too much on huge projects like visitations reform when they should focus more on simple things to improve our daily life.”

On the other hand, some students felt that the Council was vital to school life. Prep Cooper Walshe cited discussions about changing Academy Life Day next year as a key example of Student Council’s importance. “Change starts at the student life. For example, when teachers wanted to know whether students liked Academy Life Day they came to us,” he said. Lower Emma Watson agreed, saying, “I understand that StuCo has an important job that goes way beyond things like visitations reform. They do things like organize events, so they really help keep school running.”

With StuCo’s many ongoing projects, members of the Executive Board are optimistic that the changes will be made after thorough consultation with both students and faculty. “StuCo is excited to continue working alongside our fellow Exonians, our faculty, the Deans and the rest of the administration. We feel confident that the wait during many of our projects will ultimately pay off in the long run, and we are hopeful that Exeter continues to push for progress every day,” Bahnasy said.

New Turnover Timing

The Executive Board’s first and foremost concern is the turnover policy which will make Student Council turnovers at the end of winter term instead of the beginning of spring term. It will also reconfigure the Executive Board to have two co-presidents and two co-secretaries instead of one co-president, one vice president and one secretary.

The policy change was designed to create a more productive Student Council. “[The Executive Board] is trying to promote the vice president position to co-president and [to] have two co-secretaries because we think the secretary position requires enough work and assistance for two people,” Parell said. Within the following weeks, both the new Student Council turnover time and new Executive Board composition will be voted on by students, faculty and staff.

Vs Policy Update

One of the other Student Council’s largest projects this year has also been revising the current Visitation’s policy which violated the institution’s non-discriminatory clause by being heteronormative. In order to be gender-neutral, the Visitations policy must require any student, regardless of gender, to get visitations at any dorm or house that is not their own.

“Exeter's Visitations policy has been in the works for many years, and we have chosen to continue proposing ideas and sharing input to ensure the new policy will embrace our inclusivity ideal,” Bahnasy said.

After recent drafts of the Visitations policy were turned down by dorm heads, Student Council subsequently conducted a survey and found that lunch was the most important time for students to have visitations. According to Parell, the new Visitations policy, which is to be voted upon by faculty this week, has visitation hours during lunch and 7-8 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; and 1pm to check-in on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Dorm parents and faculty members would be in charge of overseeing visitations and would take shifts.

In terms of the timeline for the Visitations policy, Parell said, “We (the Student Council Executive Board) are bringing the Visitations policy forward to dorm heads with their suggested revision.”

CCO College Visit Day Clause

The CCO college visit day reform allows students to visit colleges for three days a year without petition instead of the current two college visit days per year, one per term. The reform also simplifies the process for students to petition for more college visit days. Parell said that the Executive Board is “currently trying to reserve space in a faculty meeting for that to be passed.”

Dorm Service Program

In partnership with ESSO, the dorm service program will require each student to do mandatory community service up to 2 hours per term. Each dorm and house will choose from a variety of community service opportunities provided by the school for its residential students and day student affiliates to complete over the term.

According to Parell, “ESSO is currently meeting with facilities and dining hall to look at how the logistics of a policy like that would work in dorms," he said. When they receive feedback, they will revise the policy for the Academy Life Task Force, asking for further steps from there. "If we decide that it’s something we want to do in the future, that would be a job for future boards.”