Wyn Caudle
Editor-in-Chief
On October 23, following the cancellation of the semesterly Missions and Outcomes event, the board of trustees sat down with Scot Council for a private lunch to discuss the cancellation of the public Missions and Outcomes meeting, which allows students and the board to discuss overall concerns from the campus community. There were five tables set up for lunch, where students could rotate through talking with different board members. To begin the event, Scot Council President Flynn Cowie ’26 spoke about upcoming campus events, ongoing campus initiatives and Scot Council’s fall elections. Remarks were also made by Vice Chair of Missions and Outcomes Committee Anne Wilson and Chair of the Board of Trustees Mark Goodman.
Following introductions, a video created by Autymn Anderson ’26, the racial, ethnic and diversity committee chair for Scot Council, showcased students from campus stating, “our voice matters,” as well as a short speech highlighting how the campus community was concerned with the cancellation of the Missions and Outcomes meeting.
After this introductory period, the event switched to a discussion about various topics, with students and board members talking at their tables for roughly 10 minutes. One conversation was about the use of AI within an academic setting and the College’s policies on generative AI use in curriculum. Another prominent topic of conversation was student response to the cancellation of Missions and Outcomes. Many Scot Council members responded by sharing that students feel their voices are being ignored by the school.
“[The lunch] obviously was not as great as a public-facing event would have been. It seemed like it was pretty fast-paced with limited time to speak to each representative, which was disappointing,” Basil Keck ’28, Scot Council representative of the class of 2028, said of the new format.
Cowie echoed these sentiments, sharing, “To me, this semester’s absence of Scot Council’s annual in-person, open-format student meeting with the Board of Trustees Mission and Outcomes Committee is unfortunate. Scot Council is working hard as an organization to communicate and advocate for the reinstatement of this vitally important meeting aimed at giving voice to the student experience on campus.”
“It’s concerning to me that an avenue for students to reach out to the board of trustees with their concerns was so easily cut, especially as many of these concerns, such as the changes to the Wellness center and over-break housing policy, affect their lives,” said Zach Goode ’26, a member of Wooster Democrats.