Every Tuesday, the Hamline Undergraduate Student Congress (HUSC) gathers for their General Assembly (GA) meeting. These meetings allow student representatives, the Internal and External presidents and other elected officials to share announcements and vote on amendments to the HUSC bylaws or constitution. This week, HUSC voted on several items, including a resolution to provide HourCar services on campus and a resolution to address the observation of religious holidays on campus.
An Amendment to the Bylaws Concerning Maintaining HUSC Governing Documents
The first amendment on the docket addressed the maintenance of governing documents within HUSC bylaws, written by senior and Board of Elected Representatives (BER) chair Abbi Kutz. Prior to the passing of this amendment, a change to the bylaw’s language, sentence structure, clarity and/or style required an additional amendment to be passed, allowing for those changes to take place. The proposed amendment allows senior and Political Affairs Committee (PAC) chair Alexandra Kretsch to edit any governing document within HUSC for the aforementioned reasons. A vote of two-thirds at the following GA meeting can overrule Kretsch’s change if the edit is deemed unnecessary or overreaching. The amendment passed, effectively allowing Kretsch to edit the governing documents of HUSC without full council approval.
An Amendment Addressing Outreach Meetings in the Bylaws
The next amendment to be reviewed was written by Kutz and first-year and Heights Representative Brooke Paar, which addressed outreach meetings held by non-executive representatives. Such positions include residential hall representatives, disability representatives and more. The amendment requires representatives to hold an outreach meeting and to gather with their respective constituents once a semester. Following said meeting, representatives must work to address student concerns or questions, at the risk of impeachment from their position. The amendment passed, implementing a requirement that representatives hold an outreach meeting once a semester.
A Resolution to Provide HourCar on Campus
The third resolution up for consideration was written by junior and sustainability representative Cece Chmelik, sophomore and Food and Basic Needs representative Kaitlynn Fuller and junior representative AJ Escalante. The resolution proposed the implementation of HourCar, a sustainable rideshare service used by Macalester, Augsburg and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. HourCar will serve as an alternative to students’ personal vehicles and public transit. Students can choose to opt into the service with a subscription payment or choose to not participate with no financial repercussions. Additionally, the resolution specified that Hamline may choose to invest in electric charging stations as a way to keep HourCar running smoothly. The resolution passed, although all resolutions are simply suggestions that the administration may or may not choose to endorse.
A Resolution Addressing Observing Religious Holidays on Campus
The final resolution, written by sophomore and Advocacy Representative Finnley Abbott,, sophomore and Apartments Representative Sam Luhmann, Kutz and Kretsch, addressed the observation of religious holidays in conjunction with academic penalties and attendance policies. Some students have received pushback from faculty regarding absences or late work when a religious holiday falls on a day when class is in session. This amendment suggests to the administration that no class should take place during any major religious holiday, including but not limited to Christmas, Easter, Ash Wednesday, Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, the last day of Passover and both Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year. Additionally, this amendment suggests that the appropriate accommodations must be made for students observing any of the aforementioned religious holidays, including extended access to dining facilities, additional time to complete assignments and leniency to leave class to pray when needed. The amendment passed, putting these changes into action.
HUSC general assembly meetings are open to students, staff and faculty. Meetings take place in Giddens Learning Center (GLC) 100E on Tuesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. To learn more about HUSC and to find your representative, visit husc.hamline.edu.
