Student Senate has been at work covering a wide array of issues this week, starting with a resolution to share its office space in Wilder 222 with the nascent Office of Student Communications, which should serve as an advertising and information hub for student groups and events.

The compost working group, chaired by College junior and Senator Samantha Bass, is working through a 10-year plan for composting at Oberlin with facilities administrators, while the coal working group gathered 1,248 signatures from students that were presented to the trustees at Thursday’s forum voicing solidarity and urging quick action to get Oberlin off coal.

The educational plans and policies committee is revisiting 9-9-9 requirements as it works to overhaul the credit system. The committee on equity and diversity is considering the creation of a forum on the experiences of students and faculty of color at Oberlin, possibly culminating in a book. After successful meetings with trustee representatives, the new socially responsible investment committee hopes to release Oberlin’s top 10 company investments in a few weeks.

A letter is being drafted to condemn the new laws in Uganda establishing same-sex intercourse as punishable by death.

After much interest was expressed over the issue of tuition transparency, Senate is working with help from administrators to create an informational sheet breaking down where Oberlin’s money comes from and where it goes, which, with luck, should grace mailboxes soon.

To hold itself accountable for getting good work done, Senate routinely assigns points to Senators who fail to perform one or more of their senatorial duties. Points can be given for things as trivial as turning in a week’s work log late before our plenary meeting, but are also allotted for more serious offenses.

In darker news, College junior and Senator Cristina Rodriguez accrued 20 points, which, as the bylaws stipulate, merit automatic censure. The majority of her points were from late weekly work logs.

Senate is, as always, ready to help students become actively and directly involved with policy and process at Oberlin by appointments to openings on the advising, assessment, athletics, community-based learning, Danenberg Oberlin-in-London, Fagerstrom fund, forum board, joint chartering, library, musical studies/double degree, peace and conflict studies, anti-sweatshop purchasing and sexual offense policy review committees. Interested students should email [email protected] or see Senate’s website for more information.

The Green Referendum is still open, 92 votes shy of quorum. Every year Senate is hard pressed to get enough votes to validate the referendum, and even with door-to-door campaigning, this year has proved no exception. Vote at tinyurl.com/ocreferendum.

This Sunday at 7 p.m. is Senate’s last meeting of the semester. All plenary sessions are open to the public, and outside concerns jump to the top of the agenda. Please see sites. google.com/a/oberlin.edu/studentsenate/ or email [email protected] with concerns, questions or for more information.