The Student Union of Brown University cancelled its general body meeting Tuesday night after about 25 students, less than its quorum of one percent of the student body - 59 students - appeared in the Crystal Room in Alumnae Hall. After calling to reschedule the meeting, students opened the floor for discussion for those who wanted to stay.
Donata Secondo '10, a SUBU member, said the union would prefer a discussion in which more students participated. "Ideally, students would publicize before meetings and get a lot of students who care to volunteer" to attend meetings and advocate for issues.
The quorum was set at SUBU's first general body meeting last May, when 84 students attended, according to a Sept. 17, 2007 Herald article.
Four items were on the agenda of the cancelled meeting, including proposals on student-worker pay, accessible education, transparency of the Undergraduate Finance Board and a proposal for "academic-free time" by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a group that represents student-athlete interests at Brown.
Several members of the committee, including Dylan Sheehan '09 and Julie Mandolini-Trummel '08, spoke about their idea for "academic-free time." They advocated the University set aside a time when classes aren't scheduled to ease the conflict between athletics, extra-curricular activities and class meetings. Noting similar policies already in place at Cornell and Princeton, Sheehan and Mandolini-Trummel said they are seeking support from fellow athletes and other student groups to pressure University administrators.
"What it comes down to is maximizing our time at Brown," said Sheehan, adding that he did not think it was possible to do that with the limitations of practice schedules.
Mandolini-Trummel spoke briefly of efforts to reach out to alumni, those in the athlete-faculty liaison program, other student athletes and student group leaders to define exactly what they want to advocate, provided there is enough support. She said committee members would like to find answers to several questions, such as what times of the day would be best to set aside, given University space constraints.
"It is not just an issue for athletes," she said.
