OUR PLATFORM

Overarching Goals

Policy Focus.

1. Student Engagement

2. Funding Student Orgs + Cultural Centers

3. FGLI Support

Reach out. Listen. Advocate.

Make YCC a true student advocacy group again.
Increase engagement from students across all sectors of Yale by creating new avenues for input and by proactively seeking ideas from students and their communities.
Be a team that is approachable, communicative, transparent, and deeply caring.
Advocate for equitable solutions to community concerns and needs that uplift and empower every member of the community.

Work Together.

Increase collaboration & build relationships with student groups so that we can all work together and build off each other’s progress to drive meaningful change.
Collaborate with Yale to institutionalize and adopt YCC programs, ensuring their continuity and impact in future years.
Bringing together the events and policy branches.

4. Health & Accessibility

5. NHV Engagement

6. Sustainability

Student Engagement

Goal: Improving student input and advocacy –– making an effort to actually hear from students on what they want to see implemented.

Student Engagement Branch

We will create a new policy branch called the Student Engagement Branch.
- There will be two Co-Directors for this branch.
- The Co-Directors will be responsible for randomly selecting groups of students to attend monthly coffee chats.
- Co-Directors will be responsible for monitoring student outreach completed by the President and Vice-President as well as Senators.
- Co-Directors of Student Engagement will meet monthly with presidents and leaders of various student groups that are often overlooked (including student-athletes, FGLI students, international students, Eli Whitney students, ROTC students, transfer students, DEFY, rural students).
- Core to the mission of the Co-Directors will be leveraging their leadership positions in the YCC and their mandated engagement with all student organizations to act as a bridge between underrepresented groups and YCC changemakers.

Town Halls & Office Hours

We will host one town hall per semester to get student input
- We will host additional town halls as necessary
We will host monthly office hours
- We could have a contact form where students can sign up for coffee chats with either Mimi or Esha
- On the first of each month, we will select 5 students who have filled out the form for a coffee chat to happen within that month
We will require Senators to host office hours within their residential colleges once a month, and we will allocate money within our budget to accommodate Senators purchasing snacks for students who attend the office hours.
We will require Policy Directors to host office hours once a semester where they can listen to student input. This will be advertised within the newsletter at least one week in advance.
We will have an anonymous student input form within every newsletter so that students can put any questions, concerns, or ideas they have into this
- We commit to checking this form every week and presenting the updates to both Senate and E-Board
- We’ll consider opening an Ed Discussion for YCC, which can act as an anonymous platform in which students can share ideas and feedback and engage in a dialogue with us. In the fall survey, many students take the time to share personal negative experiences they have had at Yale and there is never any follow up. It would be helpful to have a platform in which students can still share anonymously but there can be back-and-forth to come up with a solution and keep them updated.

Changes to Annual Events & University Advisory Group

We will continue to have the annual Fall Survey so that all policy teams can gain valuable knowledge of student concerns. Unlike previous years, we will have a larger giveaway pool rather than a singular grand prize so that more students can benefit from filling out the survey.
We will host an annual Community Dinner, where we will bring all students together and invite all students to engage with student government. We want to physically bring students together.
We will revise the University Advisory Groups to ensure the Policy Director and Deputy Policy Director of that policy area are serving on the committee.

Student-Athletes

Yale College has over 800 student-athletes, and we want to ensure that we are engaging student-athletes in YCC discussions and activities.
Our Co-Directors of Student Engagement will meet monthly with at least one representative of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Within our weekly newsletter, we will highlight one “game of the week,” as recommended by SAAC. We hope to encourage student engagement at athletic events and support for student-athletes, increasing school spirit.
We will collaborate with SAAC to host an Olympic Trials Event, where students can join student-athletes at PWG to learn more about different sports and learn some of the ropes from our experts. (Described more in the Events section.)

Academics

Goal: Enhance academic flexibility, accessibility, and support for students at Yale, by advocating for changes in credit/D/Fail policies, add/drop procedures, language courses and majors, academic advising, ROTC credits, academic breaks, and academic fees.

Credit/D/Fail

We will continue work to allow Cr/D/Fail classes to count towards distributional requirements, such as Science and Writing. Since both Cr/D/Fail and distributionals are meant to broaden student knowledge (as described in the Yale Catalog), we believe that Cr/D/Fail classes should count towards distributional requirements. We will meet with leaders in the Faculty Senate and Deans to discuss and implement this change.
We will continue work to extend the Cr/D/Fail Deadline, especially past the finals period.
We will work to standardize the Cr/D/Fail policies across all majors, recommending that all majors allow students to so that students

Add/Drop

We will work to extend the add/drop from the current one week period to a ten day period. We want to ensure that students will be able to attend all of their classes at least once before the add/drop period, which is not currently the case with Friday classes. We will meet with the Faculty Senate, Deans, and other leaders to ensure open communication so that this change can be implemented successfully.
We will continue work to increase the maximum number of credits in Course Search during the add/drop period. We think this should be till 8 credits.
We will continue work to remove unnecessary add/drop fees so that students have more flexibility in determining schedules. We will also work to remove add/drop fees especially in the case that a student is facing mental hardship.

Language Courses, Certificates, and Majors

We will advocate for the addition of Native American Studies and South Asian Studies as primary majors.
We will work to ensure that the ability to earn a certificate in a language is a standardized process across all languages.
We will work to standardize the course credit and work load across all languages. We will also analyze the work-to-credit ratio for the intensive language courses to ensure equity.

Majors, Certificates, and Tracks

We will work to standardize the Cr/D/Fail policies across all majors, recommending that all majors allow students to so that students
We will advocate for all majors to have roadmaps so that students can better plan for their path to the major.
We want to create formal pre-professional tracks, such as pre-med, pre-law, and more so that students can find mentorship and internship opportunities more easily. We will work with the Office of Career Strategy to make this happen.
We will work to expand certificate programs to allow for more students to earn certificates. We will work with administrators and faculty to explore these options.
We will advocate for students who double-major to be able to list both majors on their diploma or receive two diplomas for the work they have completed.

ROTC Deans Extension and Credits

We will continue work to add ROTC commitments as an excuse for Deans Extensions.
We will advocate for accreditation of ROTC courses within the required 36-credits to graduate from Yale College. We will work with ROTC students on this policy.

Academic Advising, Breaks, and Fees

Academic Advising
- We will work to reform and overhaul the academic advising system at Yale. All first-years are paired with advisors, but these advisors often do not know much about Add/Drop, Course Search, Cred/D/Fail, and more. We will work to ensure that advisors are able to truly understand and advise students and that advisors are held accountable for meeting with their advisees.
- We will work to ensure that training programs exist for all advisors and materials are better shared with first-years to make the transition to Yale easier.
- We will advocate for requiring advisors to meet with their advisees at least once per semester.
Academic Breaks
- We will advocate for restricting assignment deadlines or exams during the three days immediately following breaks to ensure that students are allowed to rest over breaks.
- We will work with Administrators and Faculty members to ensure that this is enacted.
Academic & Transcript Fees
- We will work to eliminate the fees associated with academics, such as the add/drop fee and the transcript request fee.

Financial

Goal: Alleviate financial burdens, provide essential resources, and promote equity and inclusion within the Yale community.

Free Laundry

We will push administrators to break the CSC contract and then subsidize the cost of laundry for all students at Yale, especially high-need students.
If the contract is not able to be broken, we will ensure that the 2025 contract with CSC functions in a manner that promises all students free laundry.
For First-Year FGLI students, we will create a stipend program at the beginning of the year to help support the cost of laundry.

FGLI Peer Liaison program

We will implement a one-on-one style of mentorship, as well as opportunities for group activities, for first-year FGLI students. This program would supplement the FGLI Mentorship Circles that currently exists for first-years and sophomores.

Stipend and Grants

We want to institutionalize financial aid grant programs, including those for Printing, Extracurricular Activities, Food Reimbursements, and Health Transportation. We believe that these should be covered by financial aid, and we will continue to advocate for these grants.
Students who are financially burdened should be given stipends by the school, not YCC. We will ensure that all of our stipend-based pilot programs collect data, and we will advocate for these programs to be permanently provided by Yale.
We will continue the extracurricular grant.
We will work to institutionalize a school supply program, similar to the current YFAM calculator program.

Earlier SEA/ISA Disbursement for Summer Funding

The late disbursement of SEA and ISA funds can create difficult financial situations for FGLI students. Several popular study abroad programs with Yale students, including London School of Economics, require upfront housing and tuition payments. Given that students may not receive ISA funds until June, this may limit the accessibility of such programs for FGLI students. Similarly, students may need to pay for transportation or housing costs for summer opportunities several months in advance, but the SEA is not disbursed until May. Disbursing the SEA/ISA even just a month earlier would eliminate barriers for FGLI students.

Dining Halls Over Break

We will advocate for a selection of dining halls to remain open over spring break as a significant portion of our student body opts to stay on campus over the break due to various reasons. These reasons encompass financial constraints associated with travel, finding it hard to return home (particularly for international and low-income students), and mandatory athletic commitments. For many students, the closure of dining halls presents a significant challenge, as they may not have the means to afford alternative dining options or the ability to prepare meals independently.
If dining halls are closed, we will work to create voucher or stipend programs that effectively subsidize the cost of meals for the duration of the break.

Professional Support

We will host professional clothing drives for FGLI students.
We will host opportunities for free headshots.

Rural Student Support

To support rural students, we will work with financial aid to ensure farms that households rely upon as income are not considered/weighed as assets. Families cannot sell the farms so that their children can go to school but often cannot afford the cost of attendance when farms are considered to be assets.
We will advocate for better travel considerations for rural students as they often spend more on travel due to living farther away from large airports

Receiving Refunds for Off Campus Housing for Students on Aid Earlier

Delays in receiving refunds from Yale financial aid can impose financial strain on FGLI students who must make down payments and rent payments for off-campus housing. Ensuring that refunds are disbursed as early as possible can make this process less stressful and less financially burdensome for FGLI students.

Financial Aid Calculations

We will encourage Yale to have more comprehensive views of financial situations – not just based on a spreadsheet/calculator.
We will push for Yale to use the same generous calculation methods for all class years.
We will work to waive the requirement to re-submit the CSS profile each year after a student’s initial enrollment, which is currently in place for only QuestBridge students.

FGLI Collaborations

We will assist First-Generation and/or Low-Income organizations and student groups at Yale with publicizing FGLI events, including Yale First-Generation and/or Low-Income Advocacy Movement and First-Gen Yale.
We will assist with recruiting professors to serve as mentors for YFAM’s Faculty Mentorship Circles program.

Summer Storage

Student Employee Compensation

We will advocate for fair compensation of student employees, as we believe that students should be justly compensated for their work.
We want to institutionalize buttery staff compensation across all colleges. Currently, some colleges do not pay all of their buttery staff, including TD and Trumbull.
We will advocate for fair payment of all student jobs associated with academics, including peer tutors, ULAs, and writing tutors.

Student Organization Fees

Student organizations should not need to pay to have events in Woolsey Hall and Schwarzman Center. This will allow for registration and ticketing fees to be lower for all students, as oftentimes, event coordinators will make tickets more expensive due to these unnecessary fees.

We will work with administrators to ensure that storage costs for high-need students (less than $10,000 parent share) is continued in future years and is raised to cover 100% of storage costs.

LSAT and MCAT Costs

We will subsidize the cost of training programs/materials for students taking the LSAT and MCAT as well as covering the costs to sit in and take each test.

Internship and Networking Opportunities

Compile a list of internship opportunities, including positions intended for diverse applicants, and disseminate this to FGLI students.
Organize networking events with Yale alumni for FGLI students to attend.

Increase Stipend for FSY Participants

Increase Accessibility of Information About Financial Aid Re-Application

In 2022, the stipend for FSY participants was $250. This does not cover the losses that many students, who otherwise would have taken summer employment, would have made had they not participated in the program. We will work to increase the stipend to allow for more FGLI students to feel comfortable and financially secure participating in the program.

We will work with FroCos to ensure that they are equipped with training that covers information about financial aid re-application and financial resources at Yale.
YCC will send out reminders to students about financial aid application deadlines and the necessary forms and documents in a timely manner.

Health & Accessibility

Health & Accessibility Policy Proposals

We will work to reform the Yale Shuttle and Accessible Transit system to fix delays, accurately display wait times, and expand boundaries.
Currently, Yale outsources its ASL interpreters for events which is more expensive and takes more time to organize so interpreters need to be requested at least two weeks in advance by students. We would like to advocate for Yale to hire its own staff interpreters. This will allow interpreters to be present at more events which is crucial for inclusivity.
Creation of a disability cultural center – outside of SAS. Important for people with disabilities to have a common space where they can have private conversations and relate to one another.
In collaboration with YEMS and SSDP, host Narcan and Fentanyl Test Strip Workshops.
Work with SSDP and Social Clubs/Greek Life at Yale to ensure that party-hosting spaces have consistent supplies of harm reduction supplies (including Naloxone and Fentanyl Test Strips) as well as members who are trained in how to use them in emergency cases.
Continue to work with Yale Administration to expand the Yale Shuttle Program so that students can receive transport to/from Yale Health and New Haven Hospital.
We want to create a Transparency & Accountability Campaign to share statistics about numbers of students seen by health services, accidents/incidents on campus, police interventions, wait times, and updates from facilities.
In order to promote menstrual equity on campus, we want to work in collaboration with Yale Bleeds to ensure menstrual product dispensers are being consistently restocked so they can be a dependable option for people who menstruate. We would also like to make menstrual cups more available in bathrooms or Wellness Cabinets in each residential college.
Expanding the Live Safe app to include this, by working with Yale Bleeds
Reinstitute the bartender training for Yale College students.
Collaborate with the Office of Gender and Campus Culture and Yale CCEs to incorporate information about other drugs in addition to workshops for first-years.

Mental Health

Work with student government at UPenn to help bring the Grief Project to Yale where programs and support groups are provided to students going through grief.
Host Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Training Sessions for students every semester. We also want to prioritize working with the College Dean’s Office to ensure Heads and Deans of Residential Colleges are also getting Mental Health First Aid Training.
Having a health orientation for first-year students so that they can understand the mental health resources available at Yale, especially within their insurance plans
- This health orientation would also include general information about what the different insurance plans include and how to waive the specialty insurance if applicable

Cultural & Religious

Goal: Ensure that all Yale students receive equitable support and resources to feel empowered to access and thrive within their communities. This includes advocating for policies that enable students to practice their faith, if they have one, without discomfort.

Cultural & Religious Policy Proposals

Advocate for blanket extensions for academic work and exams assigned on cultural and religious holidays.
Work to ensure that real student representation is included in the design process for the new MENA space on 305 Crown St. This includes advocating for the establishment of a student advisory committee comprised of MENA undergraduate and graduate student leaders for the space’s architectural design.
Reach out to each of the Cultural Centers to explore how we can work to maximize their opening hours. Specifically, this means advocating for funding for more student employment to enable centers to stay open until dinner on the weekends and later opening hours during the week.
Work to ensure that funding across the Cultural Centers is equitable. This means that where certain Cultural Centers have endowment-specific funding –– the University should compensate other Cultural Centers from a centralized endowment for Cultural Centers to mitigate this imbalance in the student experience at Cultural Centers.
We will create a customized cultural/religious recommendation application for students participating in the Extracurricular Bazaar. The application will help them locate the cultural/religious tables of the cultural/religious organizations that matter most to them.
We pledge to work relentlessly to push the University to remove all remaining references to Calhoun in Hopper College
We will revitalize cultural Peer Liaison programs, extending the First-Year PL program to sophomores and creating a new PL program that pairs Juniors with graduate-student PLs
We will hold the Admissions Office accountable for admitting diverse and representative classes following the end of Affirmative Action by pushing for Town Halls with students for the Office to take questions, feedback, and communicate its outreach strategy
Establishing a Cultural Connections tour highlighting the historical involvement of the University in slavery and land theft for all students during first-year orientation
Holding Yale accountable for its promise to move the Chaplain’s Office above ground

Sustainability

The Sustainability Policy Team was created for the first time this year. We will keep this Policy Team in our administration and work hard to create an ongoing relationship with the Office of Sustainability so we can build on the progress made.
We will work to install Water bottle fillers in every entryway.
We will work to improve and standardize the composting systems across dining halls.
We will work to have reusable take-out containers available in all dining halls.
We will work to add drying racks for all laundry rooms.
We will work to install fans in all common rooms.
We want to work with administration to add a sustainability orientation workshop/section to fireside chats for first-years so expectations are set.
Throughout the year, we will also host educational workshops and events on sustainable living practices, including energy conservation and waste reduction.
Expand Bike Share Program to every college.
We will continue to work to expand the equitable bike share program to all colleges at Yale. Currently, it is only in Berkeley, Franklin/Murray, Morse, Pierson, and TD, and we hope to expand it to more colleges on campus.
We will work to get baskets for at least two bikes per college so that students could potentially use bikes to place their items or purchase groceries.

Dining

We will work to extend Dining Hall hours, especially in certain dining halls that are central
We will continue to advocate for meal swipe transparency and standardization. We believe that all meal-swipes should be valued at either $12.50 or $15. Currently, a meal swipe at the Bow Wow is valued at $10, at Commons is valued at $15, and a dining hall is valued at an average of $12.50. There is an extreme discrepancy between what a dining swipe is equivalent to.
We will advocate for more culturally-accurate meals. We will work with Hospitality to create a list of cultural clubs that Hospitality can reach out to for recommendations of meals. We will also work to ensure that during religious holidays and celebrations, there are meals that are accessible and appropriate for the occasion.
Meal Plans
We will continue to advocate for the lowering of the price of the Flex Meal Plan. Currently, the worth of the Flex Meal Plan varies greatly from the worth of the Full Meal Plan.
We will continue to work to increase the number of dining points on the Flex Meal Plan to make the worth of it more equivalent to the worth of the Full Meal Plan.
We will work to create a lower-priced meal plan for upper-class students that are living on campus. All students living on campus are required to be on either the Flex or Full meal plan, but the prices of Flex and Full are the same.
We will advocate for better labeling of dietary restrictions and allergens, especially halal, gluten-free, and vegan/vegetarian options
We will work to ensure that Black History Month meals are expanded to more days of the month rather than the current 3-4 day method.
We will work to bring back Breakfast Pastries, as well as advocate for more protein-rich options for continental/cold breakfast.
Dining Halls during Breaks
- We will advocate for at least one dining hall to be open for the entirety of breaks that occur during the semester, such as the October, November, and March breaks.
- If dining halls are not open, we pledge to support students straight from the YCC budget (similar to the exc grant or something like that)
- will work to create stipends for groceries for students who are on campus during break, especially for low-income, international, rural, and athlete students.
We will advocate for allowing students to use their meal swipe at New Haven restaurants
We will advocate for opening the Elm on the weekends, ensuring that students have access to dining options between the hours of 1:30pm to 5pm (when dining halls are closed).

Laundry

We will have a laundry task force.
We will continue to collect data on broken and dysfunctional machines in the laundry rooms so that we can try to break the CSC contract before 2025.
Continue and expand on the amazing efforts this year to provide laundry detergent and drying sheets to students to help curb the cost of doing laundry at Yale.

New Haven Engagement and Community Service

Feature a local New Haven business in our student body newsletters every week!
- This would be mentioned at the Dwight Hall Cabinet.
We will continue the annual Day of Service.
We will host our office hours at local coffee shops to engage with the New Haven community.
Stay up-to-date with New Haven news and ready to offer support when needed.
Establish channels for community members to provide feedback, suggestions, and input on how Yale can better serve the needs and interests of the New Haven community. Actively listen to community voices and incorporate their perspectives into decision-making processes.

YCC Reform

Funding
- We want more funds to go back to students. We will increase the allocation of funds that is dedicated to UOFC.
Communication
- We will continue to send out weekly newsletters.
- We will post what has been passed in the Senate for the week on our Instagram, and all meeting notes will be public and within the newsletter.
- We will continue to have a policy tracker, keeping the community up-to-date on what we are working on.
- In collaboration with SAAC, we will add a “game of the week” to our newsletter.
- We will publish a mid-year and end-of-year report.
Transition
- The President and VP will appoint a Senate Historian to ensure better YCC institutional memory as well as provide a better transition for incoming Senators.
- We will create transition slideshows and provide them to any senators who newly join. We will also make sure that there are mentorship programs to ensure that every new YCC member has a better transition and has the resources they need.
- Forward votes (as opposed to backward ones) on all policies to ensure all senator voices are heard and empowered.
  - We will work on creating a Computer Science-backed system that will track votes and automatically count quorum so that no time is wasted during meetings. All votes will be public.
  - Have class presidents present at Executive Board meetings to create better communication between class councils and the senate.
- Work with Dean Lewis and Dean Peck to have them present at two YCC meetings per semester.
- Improve YCC institutional memory by having each Policy Team create a handbook throughout the year of specific policies they are working on, the administration they recommend reaching out to, and next steps for the following year to hand down to the next Policy Directors.
- Each policy director should be connected with the previous administrators that lead their policy branch. We will ensure that policy directors are meeting with their respective administrators at least twice a month.
We will have a mid-year and end-of-year report to ensure transparency. We will also require all committees within the YCC to have a mid-year and end-of-year
Accountability
- Senators will be required to write at least two policies per semester.

Events

Yale Olympic Trials
- We will collaborate with SAAC to host an Olympic Trials Event, where students can join student-athletes at PWG to learn more about different sports and learn some of the ropes from our experts. We will have student-athletes representatives for each sport available to teach other students how to play their sports. We hope to bring together all community members at Yale through this gap, bridging the gap between student-athletes and all other students at Yale.
Accessibility at Events
- Have Yale hire their own interpreters so they can be present at more events, on shorter notice.
Work closely with the Events Director and give support.