The Grant of Powers to the Student Government Association

The president and the faculty of Smith College, empowered by the trustees, authorize the Student Government Association to exercise the following privileges and responsibilities:

  1. The maintenance of quiet and order in the residential buildings and a shared responsibility in academic buildings. Power to legislate regarding residential quiet hours is included in the provision.
  2. Responsibility for the management of student meetings and entertainment. (Control of the number and type of entertainment, because of their bearing upon the academic work and the reputation of the college, remains in the hands of the faculty and officers of the college with the understanding, of course, that recommendations of the association shall have great weight.)
  3. Responsibility for supporting a system of fire drills and enforcing rules of fire prevention.
  4. The making of house regulations so far as they are in accord with the necessary authority exercised by the head resident and officials of the college, as well as with local, state (Commonwealth) and federal laws.
  5. Responsibility for supervising student extracurricular activities as follows:
    1. For chartering and organizing student activities;
    2. For having accounts of student organizations audited;
    3. For dealing with issues concerning student organizations and extracurricular activities, except for questions affecting the welfare of the whole college (students, administration, staff and faculty) or the relations of the college with the outside world.
  6. Responsibility for appointing a student curriculum committee as its representative on academic matters.
  7. The making and enforcement of regulations on matters not specified above and not affecting the academic work of the college (except as designated in the academic honor system), its health regulations, its financial affairs or its public relations.
  8. Responsibility, with the administration and faculty, for maintaining an academic honor system and a student conduct system.

Any questions about jurisdiction shall be referred to the student affairs office. The president and the faculty reserve the right to revoke all or any part of these authorizations at any time if the exercise of them by the Student Government Association shall prove to be unsatisfactory or impracticable.

Approved by the Committee on Community Policy, February 3, 1994 - reviewed by student government and updated by the dean of the college in March 2024.