The Story
College Delly Closing Not a Done Deal
Student Assembly Seal. Courtesy of Student Assembly.
The Student Assembly Senate met on Tuesday night to confirm members to Public Affairs and the Review Board as well as appropriate money for blue books this fall. The meeting began, though, with an update about the situation involving the College Delly being converted into a Starbucks.
To begin, senior Senator Victor Sulkowski reviewed the recent controversy that the College Delly was about to become a Starbucks. At the last Senate meeting it was announced that the Williamsburg Planning Commission was considering changing the building into a Starbucks.
Sulkowski, who worked with the Delly to sponsor a Hookah Night on Wednesdays there, discussed conversations he had with the manager of the Delly. Sulkowski also reported that earlier in the evening Starbucks had withdrawn its application to the Williamsburg Architectural Review Board.
The Senate then heard four nominations for positions in the executive branch and review board. Senior Andrew Costello was confirmed as the chair of the Review Board; next week SA President Ryan Scofield plans to have more nominees for the Review Board in preparation for any election appeals.
Scofield nominated former City Council candidate and College senior David Sievers as a representative of the SA to the City of Williamsburg. Scofield also renominated sophomores Andy Peters and Ross Grogg to be representatives to the City of Williamsburg and Richmond, respectively.
Peters was rejected for this position by the Senate in the spring because of his inexperience and lack of involvement with the community; Grogg had been rejected as the representative for the College to the State Council on Higher Education. All three of these nominees were confirmed by the Senate.
The only other bill passed by the Senate this week involved appropriating up to $5,000 for blue books each exam period and making that a routine expenditure from Student Activities funds. Senior Victor Sulkowski sponsored the bill. The idea of free blue books for students first appeared in 2004 with then-SA Presidential candidate Ned Rice; it was enacted for the first time last year under President Scofield to much success.
In addition, the Senate moved three bills to be heard by various Senate committees: one involving a gender-blind housing option sponsored by sophomore Zach Pilchen, various judicial reforms sponsored by senior Will Coggin, and changes to the membership of the Student Activities budget committee by senior and Senate Chairman Scott Fitzgerald. These bills are expected to be heard in the next meeting after committee vetting.