Images Courtesy of KSS Architects
Hello again! After conferring with my editorial team, we decided to explore me continuing to write this column despite my new(ish) position as Chair of Academic Affairs. Though I now hold an official position on SGA, I feel I can still write about the events that occur in the meeting and convey to the campus community the feeling of being there. In some respects, because I feel more comfortable in the room, I feel I might even be able to achieve that goal better than I would be able to previously. However, I recognize the position I have does not make me a removed party from any SGA events/meetings
However, don’t take my word for it—I’m clearly a biased party.
This meeting is one I am particularly excited to report on. Dean of Students Victor Arcelus and Interim Dean of Equity and Inclusion Nakia Hamlett met with the General Assembly as a part of the Assembly’s typical open forum period to discuss the closure and future of the tunnel between Larrabee and KB, the College’s email regarding freedom of speech on campus, new DEI announcements, and the Cro renovation plans.
The meeting began, as always, with the Student Government Oath and Parliamentarian Timothy Friend ‘25 running through attendance. Fortunately—and, honestly, unexpectedly at this point—we made quorum! This means we had enough elected representatives (people who are supposed to be there) actually there so we were later able to vote and pass resolutions (which is how SGA actually does things for the College. As a side note, TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO SHOW UP :). Thanks.)
The meeting began with the open forum from Deans Arcelus and Hamlett. President Bella Castellanos Palacios requested Arcelus review the event that occurred in the tunnel to provide context to those present who were not aware or who had forgotten. As mentioned in an email sent to the campus community on Dec. 9, Arcelus reminded the Assembly that Campus Safety officers on standard patrols noted racist, antisemitic, and harmful new language was added to the walls of the tunnel typically known as the “free expression tunnel” or “the tunnels.” Arcelus recalled being in the tunnels in the early hours of the morning—3 or 4 AM—and spending about three hours taking in all that he saw. Later that day, Conn’s administration made the decision to close the tunnels as they spent time engaging in dialogue among themselves and with students to determine the future of that space.
Meeting with the General Assembly was part of that ongoing conversation the College is continuing to have about that space. He presented three broad options the College is currently considering. First, the hallway could be closed entirely, since it isn’t essential. Second, the hallway could be painted over, opened back up without allowing art, and a camera could be installed to monitor the space. And third, a coordinated way of providing oversight from a group like SGA or Residential Life could be designed to approve and allow murals while helping restrict the potential of harmful language and art in the space.
Expanding on his opinions on the current state of the tunnels, Arcelus said that his impression was that “It’s kind of like a form of YikYak, in a way, because it’s anonymous. That’s counter to our Honor Code, which says that it’s important for people to take responsibility for the things they say or do.” Honor Council Chair Ali Rubin ‘25 nodded appreciatively a couple seats to my right in response to this acknowledgement.
In addition to the ethical concerns, Arcelus added that he (and others) have health concerns about the space. A great deal of the things on the walls in the tunnels were done with spray paint, which is dangerous for people’s health—especially without proper ventilation, which does not exist in the tunnels—and bad for the environment. The spray paint isn’t just harmful to the students using it and choosing to go into the tunnels for their own enjoyment, it’s harmful to Facilities staff who are required to enter the space for their jobs. If the College pursued an option of allowing murals in the future, they would come with health guidelines for the artists. Arcelus then asked for student thoughts.
Class of 2027 President Lily Tobin ‘27 noted that while the tunnels are like YikYak, they are more permanent, making the things said in them stronger and therefore stronger violations of the Honor Code. Students of the Assembly generally conveyed that they liked the tunnels for art but they had little faith that the more problematic aspects of the space would stop without surveillance, which brings up the question of whether Conn students would be comfortable with surveillance in this area.
Chief of Finance Maddy Rose ‘25 commented that “It seems like a cultural issue more than what the space actually is. It’s been established culturally as a space where people can get away with that.” She was skeptical that students would abide by any restrictions on the type of art that would be displayed in the tunnels since they are accustomed to being unrestrained.
In response to Rose’s statement, Chair of Academic Affairs Adrien Landon ‘25 (me) brought up the idea of delaying the opening of the tunnels until at least the current students have graduated to try to address the cultural conception of the space.
Chair of Residential Affairs Mel Rollins ‘25 added, “Limiting this tunnel is limiting our freedom of expression on campus,” and that the tunnel is useful for residents of KB and Larrabee.
Blackstone House Senator Abdul Dare ‘27 said, “It’s true that some people are using it for wrong and doing some really awful things, but I don’t think that those some should mean that we stop making it available for other students.” He added that cameras could be limiting but they would still enable the students to have something.
Adding to the earlier conversation of providing an avenue for murals in the tunnels, Arcelus reentered the conversation to clarify that “It doesn’t have to be a MURAL, it can be a mural. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, it can be a bunch of things. I think we can think creatively about the language we use when talking about it.”
Arcelus assured the Assembly that “Anique’s piece will never go away.” Anique Ashraf ‘17 was a student at Conn. who tragically lost his life in 2015 when he was hit by a car on Mohegan Ave. Shortly before his passing, he put up a work of art in the tunnels that depicts a [IMAGE] and says “[WORDS].” Regardless of the future of the tunnels, Arcelus claimed the piece will be preserved and made viewable to students.
Bringing up a different and critical concern regarding the tunnels, Spokespeople Team Leader Allison Bull ‘26 said, “My team has lost serious traction since the tunnel has been closed. We’ve had to table our spring rental since the tunnels closed. We understand that this is a significant problem that needs a thoughtful and effective solution, however, we have been impacted by the lack of access to the one space on campus that has our materials.” Spokespeople is a team of the Office of Sustainability that works to provide bikes and bike maintenance to students on campus as well as information about public transportation options in our local community. The entrance to their storage room is located in the tunnels and the closure has blocked them from accessing their equipment. Arcelus responded that he would like to work with Spokespeople moving forward to either get them access to their space in the tunnels or potentially move them to another storage location that could be more conducive to the work they are doing.
Discussions about the tunnels will continue and the opinions and ideas conveyed in the General Assembly meeting will be taken to future meetings on the topic. Arcelus left the figurative door open about freedom of expression on campus saying, “These are discussions that are always ongoing.” Unfortunately, he lamented, “I think the challenge is some of the people that really need to hear them are the people that are not in the room.”
On that note, Friend directed the meeting to move on to the next point of discussion: chalking on campus and the recent email titled “Public Inquiry and Freedom of Expression Policy Interpretation Guidance.” Arcelus began this topic by asking the General Assembly what they felt like the student response was to the email sent by him, Hamlett, and Associate Dean of Equity and Compliance Programs/Title IX Coordinator Megan Monahan.
He said, “I know it was a long email. It took that many words to communicate what we felt was important at that moment. I know not everyone will read it, but I think those that are really invested will read it and that’s what’s important.”
Arcelus noted that he checked YikYak and kept an ear out around campus but didn’t see or hear much from students. The General Assembly seemed to agree that there was not a large or notably strong student reaction to the email. The deans did acknowledge, however, that they had come into conversation with students that did have a strong reaction to it. At the monthly Lunch with the Deans on March 27. They felt that the conversation they had at this lunch was helpful to them and beneficial for the students there.
Hamlett concluded the topic saying, “This is always a dynamic and fluid process. I think that’s why constant conversation and communication is so important.”
Following this, Hamlett brought up some particularly exciting new announcements. Conn is set to open a disability cultural center in Smith-Burdick, an international student association center in Knowlton, and both a social and a new prayer room for Muslim students also in Knowlton. The establishment of a disability cultural center and issues with the current international student center and Muslim prayer room were topics brought up in the Student Voice for Equity (SVE)-led activism movement in Spring 2023.
Referring to the SVE demands published last year and commenting on the reasoning behind the new centers, Hamlett said, “I go back to that list from last spring all the time…It feels really good to be able to check things off that list.”
In other news, Hamlett announced to the Assembly that Mediators Beyond Borders will be coming to help Conn with dialogue skills, peace-building, conflict resolution, and peace negotiation. After this spring, they will return in the fall to help create a community action plan.
Arcelus took over the projector for the rest of the open forum period to tell the Assembly about the renovation plans for the Student Center at Crozier-Williams. The Cro renovation project was evidently inspired by a student decades ago who, as a part of his senior project, shut down Cro Blvd and permitted the campus to feel what a pedestrian focused central campus would be like.
Arcelus said, “The intent—it’s very intentional—is to make this a much more pedestrianized campus.” We have such a small campus with a residential focus and cars are antithetical to that vision.
Arcelus also expressed just how needlessly prevalent cars seem to have become on campus. He said that on his way over to Blaustein (where the Assembly gathers) from Cro, he saw someone get in their car and drive that same distance. To this, Rose turned away from Arcelus—toward the rest of the Assembly—with a hand over her face clearly attempting to hide her silent laughter. With good-natured humor, she pointed to herself and mouthed “That was me” inbetween laughter. The General Assembly, understandably, broke into peals of laughter due to the hilarious nature of the action itself and Rose’s silent admission of guilt.
Most significantly, the renovation proposes to move Humphrey’s Pub into Cro’s Nest, establish it as an area open multiple nights a week and, hopefully (fingers crossed), for students of all ages with the second-floor patio area developed for outdoor pub seating. Arcelus also hopes to use Humphrey’s as an area to provide students with more than just alcoholic beverages, like smoothies, kombucha, bubble tea, etc.
As for the rest of second-floor Cro, the hope is that students will have more areas that they want to hang out in—another space to socialize with open laptops while pretending to do homework.
Skimming over the rest of the details for the sake of this column and keeping your attention, the renovations were met with approval from the Assembly and many lamented that they had come to Conn too early to benefit from the new version of Cro for a full four years. Images of the renovation plans/mock-ups that were shown to the Assembly will be made available online at a later point for all students. The renovations are set to be completed in January or February of 2025. In the meantime, alternative means of late-night eating will be arranged for students while Oasis Snack Shop is under construction.
Arcelus said that the “Goal is to make the central and north part of the campus feel like the green,” and connect it to our identity as a campus arboretum.
Arcelus’s presentation ended with a round of applause from the Assembly that seemed truly genuine. He left the front and went to pick up his bag in the back after making a pit stop by Associate Dean for Campus Life and SGA Advisor Geoff Norbert to check the score of the “game.”
Friend transitioned the meeting to resolutions and reports (the action stuff). Since the Assembly had successfully achieved quorum (YAY), we were able to vote on the CONNposting resolution presented at a prior SGA meeting. The resolution passed and $400 was directed from the Sustainable Projects Fund to CONNposting to provide composting materials to various College residences with kitchens.
Moving on to senator reports, Dare proudly announced to the Assembly that work orders had been successful in correcting issues that had been plaguing Blackstone House toilets!
For committee reports, I actually had the most to report. As Chair of Academic Affairs, I am a member of the Academic and Administrative Procedures Committee (AAPC). At the Monday meeting of the AAPC preceding the General Assembly meeting on Thursday, we discussed a proposed name change from Winthrop Scholar to Susanne K. Langer Scholar. The short version of it is Winthrop was a problematic person and Langer was way cooler and better. We also discussed issues with class scheduling and the difficulty many students encounter when trying to take a full course load of major-relevant classes. I polled the Assembly to see if this was a shared experience and they responded strongly in the affirmative. More discussions for solutions will be pursued later in the semester.
The Equity and Inclusion Committee approved funding for the Africana Students Association and Craddock reminded everyone that the class council nomination period had started and voting will begin soon.
During presidents’ reports, Tobin announced the Class of 2027 is having an arboretum yoga event and all applicable students should re-elect her for Class of 2027 President. Unfortunately, Castellanos Palacios’s laptop had died and she had no announcements for the Assembly.
Likely not a minute into the open discussion period, the move was made and seconded to adjourn.
And that’s what happened at that one meeting that one week! A couple reminders for all students: this is not everything SGA does in a week (not even close if all elected members are doing their full responsibilities) and these General Assembly meetings are open to all students! If you are ever interested in attending one yourself or sharing your opinion about anything at the College, you are welcome to come to Ernst Common Room at 7:15 pm on Thursdays. One day soon we will have the New London mayor attend for our open forum! We will also be presenting and voting on changes to our Bylaws this month. If you have opinions about how SGA works—or even if you’re just curious about it—feel free to attend a meeting, email any member of the e-board (including me), or Yak about it. A couple of those options might be much more effective than the other.
Until next time,
Adrien Landon
The Totally Not Conflicted or Biased (In Favor of SGA) Chair of Academic Affairs
& Your Loyal Co-Editor-in-Chief
