Naomi Safran-Hon '08 spoke to the senate about her frustrations with the housing selection process. Safran-Hon said she has gathered about 300 of the required 480 signatures for a petition to go before the student body for a vote demanding that ResLife reform the process. Mike Kopko, CEO of Dormaid, told the Senate about his corporation, which provides a laundry pick-up service to students on campus.

Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Elaine Wong came to the meeting to hear senators' reaction to the proposed changes in the University Seminar in Humanistic Inquiries program under review by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.

Senator for the Class of 2006 Michael Hellmann said not all Teaching Fellows are qualified to teach University Writing Seminars.

He also said courses labeled as "writing intensive" are not always the ones that improve writing skills.

Wong said the UCC and faculty have little confidence in the current format of writing instruction.

Ph.D candidates in departments other than English will teach writing seminars in their fourth or fifth years of study, so they will have more experience, Wong said.

The new UWS courses will be uniform in terms of skills taught, expectations and assignments, Wong said.

Appointed Representative to the UCC Carol Ortenberg '06 said the economics department wants to require students completing the major to take econometrics.

Director of Club Development Darren Gallant '08, chief of elections for the spring round of Student Union elections, said candidates must sign up in front of the Union Office by 9 p.m. Wednesday.

The senate debated the merits of funding a dance hosted by a residential quad council.

Some senators said they don't feel comfortable funding a dance that should be paid for by the Department of Residence Life.

Castle Quad Senator Adi Shmuel '08 said Castle Quad Director Kara Cucio told her it has taken Residence life a long time to reimburse quad councils for events because an employee was recently fired.

Ridgewood Quad Senator Brian Paternostro '07 said Dean of Admissions Gill Villanueva reported that the acceptance rate for the class of 2010 decreased to 29 percent.

The Office of Admissions is aiming for a class of 760 students including 70 international and 85 mid-year students, Paternostro said.

He also said campus tour guides will be paid in cash starting next year, rather than WhoCash, which they now receive.



-Justin Sulsky