A Towne Meeting was held by New College Student Alliance (NCSA) Speakers and thesis students Evann Soltys-Gilbert and McAlister Grant the Wednesday before fall break in Palm Court. President Donal O’Shea was in attendance but did not speak. The Police Liaison appointments – thesis student Bo Buford and second-year Dominic Theofan–, creation of the Disability Representative position to serve on the Council of Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) and creation of the Incident Report Representative to serve on the Council of Student Life (CSL) were all approved. Student Court presented new legislation that would have justices appointed rather than elected. The court asked for feedback before they continue drafting this legislation.

Second-year and Vice President of Green Affairs (VPGA) Adilyne McKinlay talked about recycling concerns since only 10 percent of what is in the recycling bins from the courts is actually being processed. She emphasized that no food of any kind should be in the recycling bins and that the Council of Green Affairs (CGA) will be working to disperse educational material on the topic in the near future. Dean of Student Affairs Tracy Murry gave a recap on the completion of fall break inspections. Daughters for Life, second-years Loureen Sayej and Leen Al-Fatafta, circulated a petition and expressed their concern for Dr. Ralph Nurnberger’s presence on campus during fall break.

Buford, NCSA co-president and third-year Shelby Statham, and Postdoctoral Associate at the Counseling and Wellness Center Duane Khan are working with New College Police Department Chief Michael Kessie on a draft of best practices for officers when engaging with trans individuals. For the draft, Kessie communicated with the LGBT Community Liaison at the St. Petersburg Police Department. “I think the draft is shaping up well,” Buford said.

Kessie informed the Police Liaisons that the draft should be done by the end of this week. He does not want to rush drafting because the goal is for the draft to be as thoroughly checked as possible.

Theofan and Buford are both aiming to collect and organize student feedback and concerns to present at the Police Liaisons’ meeting with O’Shea in November. Second-year Eli Barrett has sent out a Google Form to accumulate anonymous accounts that are hopefully as detailed as possible. There is also an active Google Doc where students who RSVP’d outline what they would like the meeting with O’Shea to look like. “Right now it’s a matter of students sharing on the document,” Buford also said.

Natural Sciences Representative on the Council of Academic Affairs (CAA) and thesis student Paige Leary would like to announce that a pre-medical student mentorship program will soon be implemented on campus. Leary is also working to update the pre-medical student handbook.