Beloit students gathered in the Moore Lounge on the second floor of Pearsons Hall for a Beloit Student Government (BSG) Town Hall led by five panelists, all of whom were BSG executives. The panelists included Club Organization and Oversight Committee (COO) Director Lyndall Breaux‘27, BSG President Journey Beier‘28, BSG Vice President Ella Walters‘27, Funding Board Director Noor Ul Ain‘26, and Communications Director Harshwardhan Singh Chouhan’28. They announced the agenda for the Town Hall, explaining that it would revolve around editing the language of and voting on changes to the Beloit College Student Statement of Culture, and then an open forum for the gaggle of around 15 Beloit students to pose questions and concerns to BSG. Dean of Students Rongal Watson was also in attendance. The Student Statement of Culture intends to be a model of student values on campus and functions more as a set of practices than a list of demands.
Breaux and Walters explained that the Student Statement of Culture was required to be revised every two years, but that the deadline had passed, and the statement was in deep need of updating. They also outlined that students would not only be voting to approve the changes made to the statement, but they would also decide if they wanted another version of it to go on the College’s website. This was to prevent the statement from being flagged by the Trump Administration as “DEI”(diversity, equity, and inclusion) related content that could spur legal action or the revocation of funding by the federal government. Said Breaux, “It’s the DEI concern, and to some extent, the sustainability concern.” Dean of Students Rongal Watson added, “I think everyone recognizes the very challenging times we live in,” expressing that administration wanted the statement to be available to all students but not posted on the college’s website.
After a rigorous round of language adjustments, edits, and additions, changes to the Student Statement of Culture from two rounds of drafting from both BSG and suggestions from the Town Hall’s attendees included copy edits to the Indigenous land acknowledgement in the statement and the addition of a labor acknowledgement, with the newest version of the statement saying that, “what we know of the United States today, including its culture, economic growth, and development throughout time, is the outcome of enslaved Africans, their descendants, and Immigrants. We are indebted to their labor and sacrifices. We must acknowledge the ongoing violence towards these groups of people and generations to come.” Included in this section is a citation denoting that some of the language in the labor acknowledgement is borrowed from a 2021 article in The EduLedger by Associate Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at Iowa State University, Dr. Terah Stewart.
Also under the “Community and Identity” section was a commitment to “actualizing the Black Demands put forward by Black Students United [BSU] and working to create a fair and inclusive institution that recognizes the presence of racism and seeks to eliminate it on campus,” referring to the latest version of the Black Demands updated in 2020. Another notable addition was a bullet point added under “Health, Safety, and Accessibility” after attendee Jake Fein’27 suggested, “I would like to say something [in the statement] around immigrants and those attacked by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].” Others agreed, and BSG Executive Board members began drafting what such an addition to the statement would look like. Responding to the increased presence of AI in higher education, the newest version of the statement added a provision under “Environment and Sustainability” that “recognize[s] the harmful impacts that AI has on the environment and communities,” and espouses the belief “that students have the autonomy to object to using AI inside and out of classes.” A new version of the Student Statement of Culture is set to be ratified no later than Spring 2028.
Some student attendees expressed concern that the revised Statement of Culture was not being sent out to the entire campus, with Breaux clarifying that BSG had originally wanted to send out the partially revised statement to all students, but were advised against it by administration, and admitting that having the Town Hall before the statement was sent out “wasn’t the plan.” They further explained that the reason for this was in part due to concerns over whether students would know if the version they were receiving was the final statement or a draft. Additionally, Breaux pointed out that there were no official provisions in the BSG bylaws that required changes to the Student Statement of Culture to be voted on. “We’re against this,” Breaux said. Walters later added that the BSG Executive Board members had resolved to take a vote on the changes to the Student Statement of Culture discussed in the meeting thus far, as well as whether to publish an abridged version on the website. Although Watson clarified that on this question, “Broadly, it would be the senior leadership team, ultimately, the decider would probably be [Beloit College President] Eric [Boynton].” Both motions were passed by a show of hands among the non-panelist student attendees.
Following the vote, the five panelists opened the Town Hall up to questions from the audience. Topics highlighted to conclude the meeting were awareness expansion for BSG and growth of the COO board, so students in clubs and organizations know who to reach out to. Attendees also emphasized getting future Town Hall meetings on the campus-wide events calendar, as well as establishing documentation for the roles each club needs to fulfill and what their express duties are. Overall, this iteration of the BSG Town Hall provided a forum for students to express their thoughts regarding the evolving values of the student body and accountability for staff and faculty.
Featured image: Cian McKeown‘27
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