Photo by Makenna McCall for The Lafayette

Delegates were randomly assigned clubs to represent by spinning a digital wheel.

Lafayette College’s Student Government relaunched its club delegate system during its Oct. 1 meeting, assigning senators to specific student organizations through random selection via a digital wheel spin.

The relaunch follows a pilot program test run last fall, which saw 13 out of over 100 student organizations participate. An April bill, proposed by Student Government’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, overhauled the system into its current form, according to Inclusivity Officer Evalina Ibrahim ‘29. 

The club delegate system replaced the former hours system, where members were required to complete a set amount of community service hours every semester. Student Government members have not had an hours requirement since the replacement.

Delegates, which include all Student Government senators as well as the inclusivity officer, parliamentarian and secretary, are expected to “maintain consistent communication” with their assigned organization, according to Ibrahim. 

“We’re still ironing out the details, because I feel like that’s kind of ambiguous,” Ibrahim said. She added that delegates are also expected to meet with a member of each assigned organization’s executive board once a semester, as well as have some type of “supportive interaction,” such as attending a club general body meeting or event. 

During the Oct. 1 meeting, senators were assigned to their clubs by spinning a digital wheel, with the number it landed on corresponding to a predetermined list of clubs the delegates were assigned. 

“We didn’t want senators to have clubs that they were all completely familiar with, just because I feel like it’s not necessarily connecting Student Government to someone that they don’t know already,” Ibrahim said. 

“The randomness of it is just to connect people, connect Student Government with clubs that they might not even know about on campus,” she continued.

There is not a policy for delegates or club representatives to request a different assignment; such requests will be addressed on a “case-by-case basis,” according to Ibrahim.

Jadelyn Camey ‘27, a co-president of Leopards@Nite, a late-night programming organization, said her organization’s executive board had already met with their assigned delegate, secretary Hayden Cohen ’29.

“We were mostly just listening to her tell us what her role is as a delegate,” Camey said. 

“We ended up discussing later, after she left the meeting, some things about budgets that we’re planning on reaching out to her for,” she added, such as requesting funds for a potential event held in the Bicentennial Village and food at the club’s shows. 

Representatives from multiple clubs declined to comment, citing a lack of knowledge of the delegate system.