The student senate took the first step towards extending parietals Wednesday night. In a resolution that will now be sent to the Campus Life Council(CLC), the student senate asked for visitation hours in dorms be extended from midnight to 1 a.m. on weeknights and moved from 10 a.m. to 9 a.m. every morning.

"This is in no way a jab at the Administration," St. Edwards senator Seth Whetzel said. "We've worked hard with the Administration in hopes of getting this passed."

Whetzel said he and other members of student government have met with several rectors and Mark Poorman, vice president for Student Affairs.

"We're clearly trying to do this the right way, the respectful way," Whetzel said.

In preparation for the resolution, the student senate conducted a survey to the student body about extending parietals. In response to the referendum, 80 percent of students were in favor of extending parietals past 12 a.m. on weeknights, 15 percent were opposed, and 5 percent had no opinion.

In a second question, 78 percent of students were in favor of ending parietals before 10 a.m., 13 percent were opposed and 9 percent had no opinion. The response figures differed by a less than two percentage points between male and female dorms.

Cavanaugh senator Kristen Caponi cautioned senators about believing the resolution will actually bring forth change.

"Don't get too hopeful. I'm pretty sure this will get voted down," Caponi said. "Students should realize that we have it so much better than some schools... I will support this resolution and think we should go ahead and pass it, but don't get too hopeful."

Whetzel disagreed with Caponi and said he thought because he and other senators have worked closely with several administrators, he feels the resolution will have enough support to go into effect.

"We've worked our asses off to get this done. If we get all the students and faculty to vote for it in the CLC, it will pass... We're doing our best with this archaic institution (of parietals) to try and institute change."

In other senate news:

u Wednesday night's meeting was the last for the current senators and senate chair and vice president Brooke Norton, who will formally take the office of student body president on April 1.

u The student senate approved Jeff Cussin as the 2001-2002 student business board Adworks Manager.

u Tim Jarotkiewicz was approved as the 2001-2002 Judicial Council president.

u The student senate passed an open letter requesting a women's retreat to be offered by Campus Ministry for students from Notre Dame, Saint Mary's and Holy Cross. "Campus Ministry is happy we brought this initiative forth," Caponi said. "This is definitely going to happen."

u The student senate passed an open letter requesting the creation of a peer advising program to aid sophomores in making decisions about their future.

The advising would be specifically useful for sophomore in Arts and Letters who have several majors to decide between, said Kathleen Bufalino, Farley senator.

u The senate passed an open letter regarding the development of service and experiential learning opportunities.

The senate specifically requests that more programs be offered to students where they can learn outside of the classroom through personal experience. The senate suggested the programs be created in conjunction with the Center for Social Concerns (CSC).

u The student senate passed a resolution which requests the University's Mission Statement be printed in full in DuLac.

Because DuLac makes several references to the mission statement, the senate agreed it should be included within the manual.

• Speaking out
  
• Resolution passes to extend parietals by one hour
  
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