Gianna Hayes
News Editor
Scot Council convened for their final general assembly (GA) of the semester on Monday, Dec. 1 at 7:00 p.m. in The Alley. GA meetings are open to the campus community.
Scot Council President Flynn Cowie ’26 began the meeting by greeting attendees and moving into the opening discussion. Cowie discussed a potential bake sale that Scot Council will be hosting during the week of MLK day, the proceeds of which will go to a local charity.
The meeting then shifted to guest presenters Kayla Campbell and Jake Marion, co-directors for Equity and Belonging (a branch of the Center for Belonging and Intercultural Dialogue). Campbell and Marion presented on “Perspectives,” a new training offered by the College that encourages constructive dialogue. This training is part of Pillar II of the Strategic Action Plan that President McCall and her cabinet put forward to strengthen the College through the Framing Our Future initiative.
The program is a blended learning program with six 30-minute online lessons and three peer-to-peer conversations. The learning itself is split into two sections — one that contextualizes identities and values that individuals might have and one that focuses on building skills to engage in healthy conflict.
“The whole point of dialogue is to achieve mutual understanding,” Marion said, emphasizing the importance of widening perspectives.
The training has already been completed by some teams in the Athletics department, Resident Assistants and other student leaders. First-year students also completed part of the training during orientation. Scot Council discussed having elected members complete the training.
Cowie then shifted the meeting to committee updates. The budget committee met with WOODS about their appeals request and will be meeting with Brian Webb, director of sustainability on campus, to discuss disincentivizing single-use plastic water bottles. The conduct committee had a meeting to discuss the winter break housing fee and is beginning to research other similar college’s fees — including graduation fees, which Wooster has now implemented this year at $100. Cowie reinforced the email sent out by Scot Council that encourages students concerned about the winter break housing fee to meet with the Financial Aid Office to discuss options.
The constitution committee emphasized their continuous work on processing constitutions, reminding students about etiquette around their working hours. They are currently working on constitutions for Disability Advocacy and Support Alliance (DASA), Black & Code, Video Game Club, Cricket Club, Grappling Club and Equestrian Club.
The outreach committee shared that they had posted flyers about winter housing concerns in the POT and around campus. The social justice and equity committee discussed the results of The Wooster Voice’s fall 2025 approval ratings survey. The liaison committee is accepting new members, and they reminded attendees of the Longbrake Student Wellness Center toy drive, which ran until Dec. 4, and the upcoming hygiene drive, which will run from Jan. 19-23.
The executive committee is in communication with the board of trustees to meet sometime in February. The Compton ad hoc committee will be walking through the building and looking at floor plans. The climate ad hoc committee is in the process of forming a faculty, student and staff committee and touched on the single-use plastic water bottles again. They are hoping to create documents to educate student organizations on sustainable practices. Ashley Reid, advisor to Scot Council, reminded students about final exam de-stress events and quiet hours, which begin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 5.
Constituency updates followed committee updates. The racial and ethnic diversity, gender and sexual diversity, first generation and limited income and religious and spiritual representatives had no updates. The international student diversity representative shared that the Thanksgiving dinner was successful, and they are working on a letter to the board of trustees. The accessibility representatives shared that they are working with the Academic Resource Center to make their website more user-friendly and are working on reviving DASA.
During the closing discussion, an attendee brought up the possibility of donating extra meal swipes. Cowie intends to bring this suggestion to his next meeting with Marjorie Shamp, director of Campus Dining.
