Senate Beat Is Back, But My Sanity Isn’t
Highlights and action items: Know your rights! Community Safety has an emergency notification system for potential campus lockdowns. Stop getting so many packages because retail therapy doesn’t work. Donate to the Swap Shop. Vote in the special election. Upcoming meeting of the new Reed Workers’ Council—read more here or on the Quest website.
After a devastating one-week absence, the Quest (or, one editor) is back to reporting Senate Beat. This situation is unfortunate but necessary, and I am once again asking for someone to take over Senate Beat! It’s not that hard to do, but among other things, I work four jobs in addition to being a Queditor and I would like to sleep every once in a while.
As for the matter at hand, the Senate Public for Monday, October 13, began at 4:10pm in the SU (where you can, and should, attend!) and contained some gems of useful information amid the usual formalities.
As always, Student Body President Andee Gude ‘26 began the Public and shared their busy schedule of upcoming and past meetings. Gude will meet with Vice President and Dean for Institutional Diversity Phyllis Esposito soon for a climate assessment. She announced a meeting for Wednesday, October 15, with Campus and Student Life. For the Reed Union committee, they discussed some classic Senate topics: HUM 110 curriculum and the Honor Principle. In other news, the hiring process for Renn Fayre czars has begun! For other important positions, Gude announced the Elections Assembly for the special election of senators and a Quest editor on Wednesday, October 15.
Gude also gave the reports for Senator Karter Stanton ‘26, who was absent. Reports included an announcement that CSOs cannot give law enforcement officers access to college buildings. Students are also able to opt into emergency notifications from Community Safety. Stanton will be reaching out to Honor Council soon, and has meetings scheduled with the Library Board and Sexual Health and Relationship Education (SHARE) in the future.
Next, Senator and Appointments Committee (AppComm) Co-Chair Andrew Happy ‘27 gave an update on the new Residential College Implementation committee, which is continuing to research and plan with assessments for students based on class year. Happy echoed Stanton’s report, urging people to opt-in to emergency notifications in the event of a campus-wide lockdown and informing students that Community Safety has “know your rights” cards in 28 West. He and fellow AppComm Co-Chair, Sima Fasihi ‘28, are trying to get similar guides placed in residence halls. They met with Residence Life and reported back that housing for the Spring 2026 semester opens on October 20.
Senator Sofie Braunstein ‘28 spoke next to announce that Community for Accessibility Resources and Disability Support (CARDS) will be using its acronym without periods between the letters, which is good because the Quest style guide never did that in the first place. More importantly, she met with Sustainability the past Wednesday and passed on the message that students should cut down on the amount of packages they receive, which is putting strain on the staff who deal with them. The Stop Hazing Committee will be following up with Assistant Dean of Student Rights and Responsibilities Leo Cruz about the description of hazing on the Reed website.
Assistant Treasurer Maya Gutierrez ‘27 explained that she was absent at last week’s Public because she was meeting with the Financial Aid office and administration to discuss the success of the preregistration program for freshmen.
Head Treasurer Yuri Garcia ‘27 had no Finance Committee (FinComm) allocations to report. She reported that Treasury is looking into the identity funding process and invited identity group signators to give their input with an email to come soon.
Next, Senator Manoel Pereira Lopez ‘28 reported that he met with Sustainability last week and urged students to donate to the Swap Shop, which needs more items. He kindly suggested a Senate Beat title to this effect, which was duly noted.
Senator and AppComm Co-Chair Sima Fasihi ‘28 announced that the Student Committee on Diversity (SCOD) will be holding a movie night at 5:00pm on October 29 to watch Mississippi Masala (1991). Pull up! Fasihi also has more work in progress: reaching out to meet with the chair of HUM 110 for the HUM 110 Committee and working on a survey for the Student Committee on Academic Planning and Policy (SCAPP).
Student Body Vice President Lucy Knight-King ‘26 added that she met with Community Safety to discuss concerns about information sharing in light of recent events. Importantly, they also talked about getting student input on hiring the next Community Safety director.
Senator Ren Raskin ‘27 announced upcoming meetings with Academic Support Services and the Title IX Office.
This concluded the official business of the Public meeting. There was an announcement about the newly-formed Reed Workers’ Council, which will have its first meeting on November 2 from 3:00 to 5:00pm in the old SEIU hall. More information can be found from posters around campus or on page 5 of this paper. Senate was then asked whether any new allocations or appointments had been made other than the hiring of the Renn Fayre czars; none had been made.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:24pm. Senate Public will return after break—same time, same place. You know the drill. Hit me up if you want to write Senate Beat and, by extension, end my suffering.
