In its first meeting of the semester, the Senate debated whether to comment publicly on proposed federal changes to Title IX and discussed potential changes to Senate committees. 

Sagie Tvizer ’19 came to the Senate to discuss the Department of Education’s proposed changes to Title IX. Title IX, a federal statute forbidding sex discrimination in education, has expanded over the years to include greater protections for victims of sexual harassment and assault. Recently, however, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has proposed changes to Title IX which include requiring cross-examination at hearings and changing the means of reporting sexual misconduct. Tvizer argued that the University needed to submit to the DOE’s forum a public comment opposing the changes.

In his remarks, Tvizer explained that his commitment to social justice and being “an ally to gender and minority communities” compelled him to take action against the proposed changes. Having the Union make a statement against these changes, Tvizer said, would potentially lessen the impact of the proposed rules. Elaborating on the statute’s changes, Tvizer stated that reports of violations of Title IX would have to be made specifically to the Title IX office on campus, “creating conditions such that individuals wouldn’t bring allegations forward.” Currently, many campus officials are mandatory reporters, which the new rules would abolish. After Tvizer spoke, the Senate moved to debate the issue.

Class of 2022 Senator Alex Chang was supportive of the University submitting a public comment, stating that “as students, we need to take a proactive role on how our University responds to incidents on the campus.” Massell Quad Senator Kendal Chapman ’22 echoed Chang’s statement, adding that “we should be conscious that it’s not just putting out a public statement. … It’s actively talking to administrators.”

The Senate debated whether to endorse Tvizer’s written statement or write its own, as well as whether to delay the vote until its next meeting. The Senate voted to postpone voting on the statement itself until next week’s meeting, giving Senators time to propose changes to Tvizer’s statement.

Moving to Executive Officer reports, Vice President Aaron Finkel ’20 announced that the Senate will for the first time have a theme, “Brandeis Teams Up.” Finkel stated that the theme would promote “a renewed focus on working together and partnering with the administration,” with the goals of long-term planning for the future of the Union and better attendance at Union meetings. Finkel reminded the Senate of Tuesday’s upcoming election information meeting.

Finkel then announced the spring Senate committee chairs, including new Services and Outreach Committee Chair Chapman, and stated that all other chairs would remain the same as they had been the fall semester, pending the completion of thorough semester plans within the next two weeks.

The Senate subsequently debated an amendment to Article X of the Student Union Bylaws, cosponsored by Ridgewood Senator Leigh Salomon ’19 and Executive Senator Kent Dinlenc ’19. The amendment would bar an impeached or recalled member of the Union from running again for a minimum of one academic year. Rosenthal and Skyline Senator Josh Hoffman ’21 backed the measure, reasoning that if someone is impeached or recalled and quickly reelected, they could have a “personal vendetta against the Union” that they could use to slow down business. Chang was opposed to the measure, stating that the amendment should be in the Union Constitution’s list of requirements to run for office rather than in the Bylaws. The Senate moved to postpone the vote to next week’s meeting.

The final item on the agenda was a proposal to merge the Health and Safety and Campus Operations Working Group committees into a new Campus Operations committee. Finkel stated that the goal of merging the committees is to streamline and “bring people together and not branch … off more than we already have.” He added that should the amendment pass, the new changes would be in a trial period for one semester, and then would be reevaluated. Some Senators were in opposition, including Health and Safety Chair Hoffman, who stated that the proposed committee’s broader name could “discourage people from bringing up problems.” The Senate agreed to put the amendment to a vote at next week’s meeting. 

Closing the meeting after Senator reports, Finkel stressed that “we are all in this together“ and that he wants to make the Union “something that we can be proud of.”