A committee to develop a bill of rights for the Student Union Constitution met for the first time last Wednesday, Director of Student Union Affairs Jason Gray '10 said. Goals of the committee include identifying what rights students have, what rights students should have, and framing the bill of rights in a clear and understandable manner, Gray said.

Gray, who put forth the idea, said that the bill would seek in its final manifestation to protect such student liberties such as those pertaining to freedom of speech and rights in the classroom.

In addition to defending such privileges, the eventual official bill of rights would also "provide for students an easy to read document that tells everyone what their rights are," Gray said. He said he believes that a great deal of students are not actually conscious of what their liberties are.

Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 agreed, saying she thinks that the student bill of rights is much needed on the grounds that "students have many rights, but aren't always aware of them, including the ability to activate the Community Prejudice Task Force, the University Board of Student Conduct, or the Student Union."

Union Vice President Alex Braver '09 said a bill of rights would be "a great way to empower students and re-emphasize the 'rights' part of 'Rights and Responsibilities.'"

Gray and his fellow committee members plan for the development of the bill of rights to be a fully inclusive process, as they intend to involve students, faculty and staff in its creation. Through the use of open forums, discussions and the Internet, the comittee hopes to incite comments and other contributions from the Brandeis community.

Members of the committee include Gray, Student Union Advocate Brian Paternostro '08, Asher Tanenbaum '08, Patrick Garofalo '08, Justin Kang '09, Laura Cohen '09, Julia Simon-Mishel '09, Ryan McElhaney '10 and Gabriel Gaskin '08.

Gaskin said he recalls instances in which he would have benefited considerably from knowledge of his rights as a student. Consequently, when Gray approached him with an idea for a document detailing student's rights, Gaskin said he decided to join Gray on the committee due to his strong conviction that "students deserve to know just what they're

entitled to and exactly what they are expected to avoid doing.