SGA Report: Senate meets April 15, discusses student safety survey and police resolution
The senate went over some old business, but primarily focused on the results of a student safety sent out, then made decisions on the resolution proposed by BCCJP on campus policing.
On April 15, the Bethel College Senate met. The senate meeting opened with some minor announcements, before an ISR was briefly discussed in executive session.
Next, Bill 92-034 was discussed, which would provide SGA funds to redo the Center for Academic Development, including the purchase of a new whiteboard, tables, chairs, and primer and paint. The bill passed unanimously.
The rest of the meeting was spent discussing Bill 92-029, which was introduced in March, calling for an end to campus police patrols. The results of a student safety survey were made available and discussed.
The survey had 178 respondents, although six were not counted in the results due to not being active students at Bethel. Respondents were 63% White, 8.7% Hispanic, 8.7% Black, 1.2% Asian, 0.6% Native American, 0.6% Native Pacific Islander or Hawaiian, 14% multi-racial, and 4.1% preferred not to respond.
Looking at gender, 57% of respondents were women, 40% were men, 0.6% were transgender, and 2.3% preferred not to respond.
In regards to safety, 87% of respondents reported feeling safe all or most of the time. 45% of respondents felt that police patrols should be continued on campus, while 35% felt that they should be discontinued. The remaining 20% had no opinion on the subject.
Multiple other questions were asked in the survey, and the full results are available by request to SGA.
After looking at the survey results, the Senate viewed two letters which had been sent to the Senate, one by President Jon Gering, and the other by North Newton Chief of Police Jim Bethards.
After reflection of the results of the survey, and some discussion of the contents of the letter, the Senate decided to reject Bill 92-029. Senators expressed their interest in working with BCCJP further to develop another bill in its place, taking into account the results of the survey.