Helen Oriatti-Bruns
Scot Council Reporter
On Oct. 30, Scot Council held its weekly general meeting. President Anne McCall was in attendance, and answered student questions for the majority of the one-hour meeting.
Scot Council Vice President Giselle Rivera ’24 opened the meeting with a conversation about Scot Council’s Oct. 25 Missions and Outcomes meeting. This event allowed students to discuss issues and ask questions of the Board of Trustees. Moving forward, Rivera would like to invite student speakers to Scot Council general assemblies, allowing them to receive additional information about the meeting itself.
President Anne McCall provided additional information about her goals to students in attendance. One of her main objectives is facilitating building renovations — including Douglass Hall, Wishart Hall and McGaw Chapel. However, according to McCall, it can be difficult to balance the community’s need for a space and the functionality of a space that needs renovation.
“[McGaw Chapel is] not a building that is meant for the ages,” McCall said. “It is a hardship for the community when it’s shut, but I really don’t like the idea that there are buckets of water everywhere [due to rainwater leakage].”
Per McCall, allocating funds for renovation projects can be difficult; when she began her position four months ago, the College did not have a budget officer. McCall is currently in the process of meeting potential donors.
During the general assembly, she also answered students’ questions about protests during her inauguration. In response to students who asked her to address the protests in a message to the College community, she stated that it was too soon after them to respond.
“I’m really confused about how to respond in a thoughtful way on a dime,” McCall said. “I was extraordinarily saddened to see that our three highest-ranked African American staff were called out by name in public.”
However, McCall said that it was important to hear students and that she scheduled meetings for early next week. McCall also mentioned that the demands outlined in a handout circulating during and after inauguration were “HR issues,” and that some of the demands are either not legal or not “in line with our policy.”
During her first months at Wooster, McCall wanted to learn about its culture before creating ideas and plans for her future as president. In the coming months, she hopes to develop these concrete plans and share them with the College community. Ultimately, she hopes for the College to continue to push itself on accessibility and academic freedom.