The Campus Life Council passed a resolution urging Student Affairs and Food Services to research a "Flex 10" meal plan option and discussed the upcoming Board of Trustees meeting and task force reports at Monday's meeting."This is to get the dialogue between Food Services and Student Affairs going," Sarah Bates, chair of the Senate residence life committee, said.Since the resolution has already passed through Senate, the next step in the process, according to Bates, is to send it to Father Mark Poorman, Vice President of Student Affairs. He would ultimately decide on a course of action,, and Bates said her committee would try to discuss the plan with Poorman.J.T. Arseniadis, co-chair of Hall Presidents Council, said many hall presidents were concerned about passing a resolution designed to install a "Flex 10" option because the side effects could include limited dining hall options."This is just a beginning. The end is maybe two, three years down the road after the planning and the research," Arseniadis said, emphasizing the need for deliberate consideration of the potential problems caused by the added plan.In considering the arguments of those opposed to "Flex 10," chief executive assistant Dave Baron said the proposed meal plan would not reduce the sense of community."I don't see a problem in fostering more people at LaFortune," Baron said, explaining he feels LaFortune provides just as much of a community atmosphere as the dining halls.Siegfried senator James Leito supported Baron, noting students currently eat only 10 meals in the dining hall and while giving them a "Flex 10" option would reduce the amount of meals available, it would not necessarily reduce the amount of meals consumed by students.Currently, "Flex 14" and "Premium 21" are the only options for on-campus students. "Flex 10" would give students 10 dining hall meals a week and proportionally increase the amount of Flex Points per semester.Student body president Adam Istvan discussed the student government report sent to the Board of Trustees on "equality and creating a welcoming environment on campus" will be presented at the Thursday BOT meeting."We feel that the issue we're discussing is really important, as the whole student body's report," Istvan said.He explained while this was part one, raising awareness of the current level of diversity on campus, part two, the solution, would take shape from now until April.To reinforce the idea of a unified student body, not just student government, in support of the report, students are asked to wear their "We are ND" or other green shirts Thursday.Primarily Istvan, vice president Karla Bell and Baron wrote the BOT report, along with the help of several senators.
In other CLC news:u Cavanaugh senator and co-chair of the social concerns task force Jordan Bongiovanni said her committee had been busy getting information in order for the Board of Trustees meeting.u According to Leito, the vending committee will be meeting with Dave Prentkowski, director of Food Services, Thursday. Prentkowski will then share the results of the 2,000 e-mails he sent to students regarding vending and laundry.u Alex French, O'Neill senator and chair of the security task force, said either Fire Chief John Antonucci or his representative would be at his committee's next meeting regarding the issue of fire safety presentations in dorms. According to French, Notre Dame Security/Police assistant director Phil Johnson is setting up a meeting with the South Bend police this week to discuss the possibility of a security ListServ for Notre Dame students. French also said Jimmy Flaherty, Student Union Board manager, is looking into adding lighting around the D6 parking lot.
