SFAC, also known as the Student Faculty Administration Committee, has made recent strides to open the formerly exclusive group up to more students. When SFAC met in person, only G.O. members and certain faculty and administration members were allowed to attend and participate in the meetings. In the past, in order for a student to be able to attend they would have been required to email Ms. Benus, the chair of SFAC, in advance, and would not have been able to participate in the meetings, as written in the official SFAC guidelines. Students who were eager to attend were made aware that, “as a guest you will not be asked to give insight or participate in the conversation unless you are prompted to do so,” according to the SFAC rules.

  However, this year’s Zoom forum has allowed for greater access to the committee’s meetings. To attend the SFAC meetings, students are still required to email Ms. Benus, but are encouraged to present on matters that they feel strongly about.

“We do our best to make sure that every student knows that they are welcome to attend SFAC and present on issues, if they want, but we could be a little more aggressive in recruiting students to attend the meetings,” said Ms. Benus. “We already have had students come in and present on issues regarding the topics that are scheduled to be discussed.”

To ensure that there is transparency between the attending members of SFAC and the rest of the student body, the SFAC agenda is posted on the Schoology calendar before each meeting. In case students are not able to attend the SFAC meetings, G.O. presidents send out surveys asking students for their feedback on certain issues so that they can properly represent the students that elected them.

“I was on the G.O. in both 9th and 11th grade, and they [SFAC] have improved their efforts to include more students in meetings significantly,” said Rachel Freilich ’22, who is currently serving as the Associate Vice President of Communications on the G.O.

Many students have expressed their desire to attend the SFAC meetings or have already attended them, and are looking forward to participating in SFAC in the future. “I did know that SFAC is open to all students,” said Brayden Serphos ’22. “I want to attend in the future, but I haven’t had a chance yet.” 

While SFAC is now open for many more students to attend, the effects of this change are still yet to be seen.