Gianna Hayes
News Editor
Scot Council met on Monday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. for general assembly (GA). GA meetings are held every Monday at 7 p.m. in the Alley, and are open to the campus community.
During the opening discussion, Scot Council President Flynn Cowie ’26 welcomed new non-elected members and returning elected members. He also went over the nine vacancies on the elected board, which include three representatives for the class of 2029, one representative for the class of 2026, one international student diversity representative, two sexuality and gender representatives and two religious and spiritual diversity representatives.
Those interested in running for these positions can apply through an application that will be sent to students’ emails around Sept. 15. The application will remain open for about a week. Candidates will have the option to table in Lowry to support their campaign. The student body will have approximately a week to vote, and winners are expected to be announced Sept. 29.
Cowie also reviewed general Scot Council guidelines for new non-voting members and emphasized his hopes to increase the regular attendance of non-voting members who attend GA meetings. Any student can be a non-voting member and can also attend executive committee meetings to voice concerns or ideas, which are held on Thursdays from 7-8 p.m. in Lowry 251.
After the opening discussion, committees and constituencies offered their respective updates. The conduct committee is looking to improve students’ understanding of the Scot’s Key. With that, Ashley Reid, dean of students and vice president for student affairs, offered clarity on the Student Speech and Demonstration Guidelines that were discussed last academic year. As the Scot’s Key already has a policy on “disruptive classroom behavior” on page 17, discussions on implementing the guidelines will not be moving forward.
The executive committee discussed the Scot Council bylaws and demonstration guidelines, as well as the approaching Scot Council elections. The racial and ethnic diversity representatives will be putting up QR codes to gauge students’ needs. The accessibility representatives will have weekly office hours in Allen Commons every Tuesday from 12-1 p.m. All committee and constituency meetings and office hours are open to students.
Those interested in attending meetings and office hours can reach out to current chairs of said committees. These are TyLynn Gault ’27 for the liaison committee, Ty Reynolds ’27 for the budget committee, Madeline Eaton ’27 for the outreach committee, Braden Shildmyer ’28 and Pooja Rayanki ’27 for the constitution committee, Ben Rozner ’27 for the social justice and equity committee and Cowie for the executive board. The conduct committee has yet to select a chair.
The constitution, outreach and liaison committees had no updates, alongside the international student diversity representatives. The faculty committee representatives also had no updates, as they cannot discuss the meeting until the meeting minutes are approved next month. Additionally, the first-generation and limited-income constituents had no updates as Scot Council no longer has access to the list of first-generation students from the class of 2029.
In the closing discussion, Cowie touched on topics he would like to cover going forward, including the higher prices and shorter hours in campus cafes, before adjourning the meeting.
