Sthecarlet & Black ACE chair resignation leaves questions about future of campus events

By Molly Wilcoxson wilcoxso@grinnell.edu

On Thursday, Feb. 2, Natalia

Ramirez Jimenez `24.5 resigned from her position as the Student Government Association’s (SGA) All-Campus Events (ACE) chair, citing concerns with the handling of on-campus student activities. Previously, the ACE chair had complete control of planning on-campus student events, which were funded through the student activity fee — however, Ramirez felt that control was shifting to a balance between the Division of Student Affairs (DSA) and the Weekend coordinators.

In previous academic years, all student-led events were solely handled by SGA, without the direct involvement of DSA. In spring 2022, SGA and DSA were planning to create a programming board to centralize and streamline the process of planning on-campus student events.

“It’s been an evolution,” said Sarah Moschenross, vice president of student affairs. “We’ve been talking about this for years.”

While the exact details of the programming board have not been confirmed yet, members would include SGA, DSA and Weekend. dents would still have control of planning on-campus events.

DSA would act as an intermediary for all of the parties represented on the board to ensure equal representation of the student body, according to Loyal Terry `23, SGA president, and Maure Smith-Benanti, assistant vice president of student affairs and dean of inclusive initiatives.

“The programming board will not get rid of Relays or Tithead. We are currently working on planning Harris events,” said Terry.

Weekend, a student-led organization, was created in spring 2022 as a substance-free alternative to Harris events. Weekend events are funded partly by DSA and partly by the student activity fee. In the absences of Harris events during the fall 2022 semester, Weekend continued to hold events for students on-campus.

According to Terry, Smith-Benanti and Moschenross, with the introduction of the programming board, stu-