During the Academic Affairs Committee, Vice President of Academic Affairs Emily Bank discussed changes to the drafted grief absence policy, currently in a University Committee on Undergraduate Education ad hoc committee in Academic Governance.

Academic Governance is the policymaking body of the university.

Bank said there will be something in the final draft of the policy regarding lab courses, such as those in ISP or ISB, although she is not sure whether these will be something a student is allowed to miss.

“I don’t think that a student should be punished for going to a funeral at all,” Bank said.

She also suggested most students obviously will choose the funeral of a loved one over a lab.

She also said there has also been discussion of moving the authority over the issue from the Dean of Undergraduate Studies to an “emergency dean” that might be put into place. She said there might be an emergency hotline of sorts put into place for students to contact in case of issues such as this.

Committee members expressed concerns that this could cause issues with consistency in handling grief absence.

Bank said more discussion is needed within the ad hoc committee to address this issue.

Also during the Academic Affairs Committee, Bank discussed the potential of an academic program for Queer Studies, which she said had been raised at previous meetings.

Bank said there is currently a queer studies specialization under discussion in a University Committee on Curriculum ad hoc committee in Academic Governance.

“There is a potential for it to become a major,” Bank said. “It will be years (down the line) though.”

During the Policy Committee, College of Social Science representative Paul Mooney discussed concern over an email forwarded to him by an individual who works at a West Circle front desk. The email suggested individuals canvassing for political candidates would not be allowed to go door to door in residence halls.

Mooney discussed concern this could possibly be in violation of constitutional rights, specifically the right to free speech.

Other committee members looked for information concerning these rules on their smartphones, and more concern was raised that there was not clear rule regarding this issue.

Vice President for Governmental Affairs Dylan Miller said he believes the issue doesn’t get challenged regularly, but groups hoping to discuss politics with students residing in the dorms would do best to check with residence halls beforehand.