Fall Plenary
10:00 – Official start of Plenary, but no quorum.
11:29 – Sophie Papavizas ’11: We still don’t have quorum, but we’re going to do a practice straw vote regarding the possibility of getting Go Boards similar to the one at Haverford.These boards are similar to Haverford’s Go Boards, which give students the opportunity to advertise events and other things. Haverford has offered to set these up for us, so I’ll use this vote to talk to them about what we might want. We’re going to have the section counters count everyone’s votes. The vote will be to have just a Bryn Mawr Go Board, Bi-Co Go Boards, a Bryn Mawr Go Board and a Bi-Co Go Board or none at all.
12:48 – Quorum reached.
Sophie: Welcome to Fall Plenary 2010. If you can’t hear me, please either come up and tell me or have someone let me know. Quorum is 431, one third of the student body. We’ll first go over the Rules of Order, which are displayed on the screen. There’s a small change in voting method, we’re going to vote by visual ballot this year. It is in Roberts Rules of Order, but we haven’t used it in the past. Haverford does it. If we have quorum in the room, we can use a visual ballot. Section counters will not count your vote, I will just look around the room to see if there’s a majority. If you want a traditional hand ballot, you can request that, if you contest the vote. Are there any questions?
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11: How does the visual ballot work with people in the teaching theater?
Sophie: We would hand count them. Susie is going to type up any questions and answers from the mike. If you want to make any amendments to the presented resolutions, it’s best to go to the questions mike to suggest those changes. Everything is in the packet. There’s no food allowed in the theater. The balcony is a designated quiet space for people who want to study, since the music doesn’t travel up there very well. We need to approve the rules I’ve just read, and we will do this through a visual vote.
Rules approved.
Sophie: We will now move on to the first resolution.
Audra Fannon ’11: Whereas, Bryn Mawr being a women’s college, there are usually more women on campus than men and thus more women than men in need of facilities such as restrooms,
Whereas, a single-use men’s restroom includes the same fixtures and amenities as a single-use women’s restroom,
Whereas, many women choose to use the men’s restroom when faced with the inconvenience of waiting for a single-use women’s restroom,
Whereas, it is socially acceptable to use lockable, gender neutral, single-use restrooms and thus it is unlikely that Bryn Mawr community members and guests would feel uncomfortable using one,
Whereas, individuals with non-binary genders, on the other hand, may feel uncomfortable when choosing between two gendered restrooms,
Whereas, we the students make an effort to be more inclusive of individuals with non-binary genders in our dorm bathroom labeling,
Whereas, Facilities Services also makes an effort to include bathroom and changing room options for individuals with non-binary genders in new building projects,
Whereas, Facilities Services supports changing single-use restrooms to gender neutral and can cover in their own budget the nominal cost of completing this change in non-dorm spaces,
Whereas, Pennsylvania building codes restrict our legal options for converting the restrooms in question,
Be it resolved that a committee of at least 3 student volunteers be formed to aide facilities in identifying the lockable, gendered, single-use restrooms in non-dormitory buildings (including the dining portions of Erdman and Haffner), determining which restrooms are legally available for conversion, and implementing a change to gender neutrality for optimal convenience in keeping with the law.
Just to clarify what I mean by a lockable single use bathroom is that it’s a single room, no stalls, just going in and locking the door. Examples include dining hall bathrooms in Erdman and Haffner, and some in Park. Dorms and multi-stall bathrooms don’t count. It’s a point of convenience, and Facilities has said that they are on board to help make the changes.
Kati Zaylor ’11: I was just wondering if you could explain ‘keeping with the law’? What are the consequences of changing the signs?
Audra Fannon ’11: Glen Smith from Facilities looked up the law, and it says that each floor needs a men and women’s bathroom. He said it would be okay to change the signs if we did it after the building inspectors left.
Alisha Park ’13: Some of the bathrooms in Park are single use, but they have a stall. Would those be included in the change?
Audra Fannon ’11: If there’s a chance that someone might be in the bathroom at the same time you, then it is not covered by this resolution.
Mary Zaborskis ’12: I’m absolutely for the motivation behind this resolution, but both the bathrooms smell, just as like a reality, and I think making bathrooms non-gendered will make them gross.
Audra Fannon ’11: I’m actually of the opinion that since the women’s bathrooms are more frequently used, those ones are just as gross as the ones Haverford boys might be using.
Hannah Payne ‘11: What would the committee do?
Audra Fannon ’11: It depends on who volunteers but it would mostly be counting which bathrooms would need to be changed and then working with Facilities to make the sign changes.
Sophie: We will wait 30 seconds for any more statements. 30 seconds has passed, and we’ll now move to a visual vote. The vote will be for the resolution, against the resolution, or to abstain. Teaching Theater please write down your votes and bring them to us.
The Resolution passes.
Sophie: Are there any objections to the visual ballot? Okay, we’ll move onto the second resolution, which will be presented by Yong Jung Cho.
Yong Jung Cho ’12: Whereas, computer access has become necessary for academic success in the 21st century.
Whereas, Bryn Mawr professors in particular have become more dependent on the use of Blackboard and other online resources for course readings, out of class discussions, blogs, problem sets and paper submissions.
Whereas, students have expressed frustration with current public computer access on campus, in particular 24-Hour computing space.
Whereas, public computer access is always at risk during the annual budget process and vocal student support of public computer access is essential to maintain our current access.
Whereas, Bryn Mawr prides itself on innovative use of technology and digital media in the academic environment.
Whereas, at the request of Information Services a student committee was formed to examine public printer use and saw success
Whereas, Information Services has been receptive to student input in the past and has expressed the desire (such as the student committee on public printing) for more student involvement.
Whereas, student groups have effectively brought issues to Information Services in the past but there has been no consistent line of communication.
Be it Resolved, that two undergraduates be appointed by the Appointments Committee to serve as Computer Access Co-Coordinators and work with a committee of student volunteers to work on issues related to computer access on campus.
Basically, it’s important that students have the resources they need in order to be successful students. Since the majority of students on campus have laptops, the small number of people who don’t are at a disadvantage, and need to have their voices heard. We want to make sure that changes to computing on campus benefit students and that they don’t make life more difficult.
Sophie: We’ll open the floor to questions, and pro and con statements.
Amanda Kennedy ‘12: How does this differ from Help Desk?
Yong Jung Cho ‘12: Students will have direct access to the Administration, and if they have concerns, they can go directly to the source. The Help Desk is more tech support whereas this committee would advocate for students’ needs.
Sophie: We’ll move to a vote if there are no more statements to be made. The vote will be all in favor, against or abstentions.
The Resolution passes.
1:18 – Plenary over.