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On Friday, the General Student Senate held an unexpected meeting and passed two resolutions that will help protect students’ health and safety.
The first resolution required Cutler Health Center to cease distribution of Premium brand condoms. The majority of the senators voted to cease the Premium condom distribution.
The second resolution involved urging Dining Services to rethink the decision to limit the amount of money students are allowed to transfer from dining funds to Black Bear Bucks. The senators voted 10-1 on this resolution.
Senator Adam Kirkland proposed a new resolution that wasn’t printed in Friday’s agenda strongly encouraging to cease the Premium condoms that were provided by Cutler Health Center to RAs in each dormitory.
“Student groups on this campus have conducted unofficial tests of the Premium brand of condoms included in a recent shipment to Cutler Health Center and have noted an extremely high rate of failure with them,” said senator Adam Kirkland. The groups “found in testing that this is the only brand of condoms that has failed over and over again,” added Kirkland.
Recently, several RAs have been e-mailing students, encouraging them to not use that brand of condoms. Many RAs recently replaced the Premium brand condoms that were available to everyone and were attached to the RAs doors with other reliable and safer condoms.
“This [issue], combined with several reports of failure during sexual activity by UMaine students, raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of this batch of Premium condoms,” Kirkland said. “We encourage Cutler, at the very least, to be overcautious in this situation and limit their condom distribution to other brands in their stock. Cutler Health Center does have other brands of condoms currently in stock.”
Several student senators heard second-hand that several students had reported cases in which the Premium condom broke on them or their partners during intercourse.
Without knowing your partners’ sexual history, you can become at risk of a sexually transmitted disease when you’re not using protection, or if the protection fails.
“If the university is going to supply students with contraceptives, they should be safe,” said Senator William Pomerleau. “They should not break. Cutler should compile some statistics ‘officially’ about the condoms, and if what we’re being told matches the results of the study, then the condoms should be changed.”
Pomerleau was a co-sponsor of the condom resolution.
“This isn’t anger language,” said Kirkland. “We are not coming at Cutler. We’re not ‘stickin’ it to the man.’ Honestly, I don’t see it as attacking an important concern.”
In other news, Pomerleau sponsored another resolution to the student senate with an issue concerning the Dining Services on campus.
“From last year to this year, I see a number of negative changes: the closing of Stodder and the consolidation of the remaining commons, charging 50 cents for a cup of water and the new dining meal programs,” said Pomerleau. “I see all of these changes as being negative. The system as it stands now is inadequate and unacceptable.”
Up until this year, the MaineCard Off-campus Merchants program was helpful to some of the students on campus. Students had other options on where to eat besides the dining commons in which they were able to use their Dining Services money as takeout from some local restaurants. However, this year, the MOM program was terminated for the students who wanted to use their dining funds for takeout in place of Black Bear Bucks.
“The MOM program was an excellent program,” said Pomerleau. “What we have is Dining Services trying to keep money on campus at the expense of students being forced to eat campus food endlessly. Students should be able to transfer more than $75 to their Black Bear Bucks account. I am not specifying a number because, as the sponsor of the passed Dining Services resolution, I am hoping to negotiate a more reasonable amount.”
Some senators mentioned that students from this campus were not enthused with this change in Dining Services. However, the University of Maine students are adjusting to the options of eating either at the commons, at the Union or at the markets. After 11 p.m., however, students are out of luck in finding a midnight meal or snack, which leaves them the option of going to bed hungry until breakfast the next morning.
“The MOM program was basically used after hours,” said senator Aaron Sterling.
“Students should most definitely not be going to bed hungry,” said Pomerleau.
“According to Dining Services, under the MOM program, students spent an average of about $150 on off-campus merchants. For what reason would they cut that amount in half? It is completely nonsensical. We’re not asking Dining Services to lift the restrictions completely. We’re asking them to reconsider and raise the amount.”
Student Senator Jeff Bailey said, “It’s [the students'] money,” and they have a right do decide on what and how they want to spend it.
“As to my understanding, the Dining Services was losing money through the MOM program,” said Senator Sarah Bigney. “This Black Bear Bucks decision is trying to keep money on campus. I’d rather have UMaine Dining than have other outside services provide meals to students. I think that they need to keep the money on campus.”
Student senate President Kate O’Brien shared her views on Dining Services.
“The role [of this change] is to get students to interact with each other on campus,” said O’Brien. “The changes are going to outweigh the sacrifices.”
Kirkland commented on the meal exchange program that Dining Services has to offer this year. It was not optional last year. Some of the “items that people get are controlled and specific,” he said. “If someone wanted a caesar salad instead of a garden salad with their pizza, you cannot exchange a garden salad for a caesar salad.”
In other news, GSS voted unanimously to endorse the “UMaine Won’t Discriminate” group.
“I was very thrilled that the Student Government has joined as a coalition partner,” said Bigney. Bigney explained that this increases the vote on “No on Question 1″ come the November elections. At the end of the meeting, Kirkland stood to announce his candidacy in running for president of the student body in the 2006 election. Sterling also stood to announce his candidacy for vice president in the 2006 election.
In addition, Senator Gabrielle Berube was voted as the new Executive Budgetary Committee member, Senator Morgan Pottle was appointed the new student Affairs Committee chairwoman, and Senator Zach Brochu was appointed as the new Membership and Retention Committee chairman.
