Welcome Back Saints!

I hope you’re all settling back in and getting off to a good start in your classes. I understand many of us have been feeling frustrated at times with the Laurentian Pact rules and the limitations on student gatherings, but I encourage you to think about the following. This semester and socializing in small groups presents us with a unique opportunity to strengthen our friendships, create new bonds and to reflect on our St. Lawrence experience. I for one have noticed these few weeks have seemed to go by slower than in past years. It’s no secret St. Lawrence students are extremely busy, but during this lull, I encourage you to stop and look around. Go outside, sit in an adirondack chair, listen to the Chapel Bells- take a few minutes for yourself. 

This semester, Thelmo is focusing on a wide variety of topics, but three overall goals. First, actively working to be an anti-racist organization. To do this, we are forming an investigative committee that will broadly look at Thelmo’s practices within the context of racial justice and equity, and determine where we are underperforming. This committee will publish a final report, made widely available to the community, with recommendations to the Senior Executive Board on where to improve. Next, we are continuing our open discussion periods, in which at the end of every other meeting, the Senate informally discusses Thelmo’s current work and critiques it. We are shifting open discussion periods around topics of institutionalized racism on campus and systemic bias. Going into my fifth semester in Thelmo, we have yet to discuss relevant topics relating to racism on campus and the experiences of St. Lawrence’s Black students- it’s about time we start talking and then work on providing solutions. Third, we will examine our budgeting process, specifically over the past 10 to 15 years, to determine whether clubs that represent BIPOC students have experienced budget increases at the same rate of organizations that are predominantly white.

Thelmo’s next goal is to continue strengthening our connection to the student body. Every student will have a specific Thelmo Senator that represents them. Each Senator will reach out to their constituents multiple times a month and hold Zoom office hours. Senators will directly represent their peers and bring their concerns, questions, and opinions to the Senate floor. Thelmo will also be hosting informal events on campus to reach a wide variety of students in a fun and relaxed setting. 

Next, our final goal is to educate and inform students on the Laurentian Pact and widely University policy in regard to COVID. As student leaders, we are here to represent you and give you the information you need to be successful at St. Lawrence. In addition to Senators conveying information to their constituents, we will continue improving our social media presence, specifically our short infographics from this summer that make sense of dozens of pages of rules and regulations in just a few slides on Instagram.

Thelmo is here to serve you. We look forward to representing you, developing new projects and policies from your feedback, and tackling a wide variety of issues this semester. I am proud to say that your representatives this semester across all class years, represent 4 greek life organizations, 6 sports teams, 16 different majors, and 57 student organizations. The Thelmo Senate this semester is the most representative Senate of the student body I have seen in my time at St. Lawrence. 

I am thrilled to start what I think will be one of Thelmo’s best semesters in recent years.

All my best,

Molly Thompson

Thelmo President