SGA Meeting 11/20
YJ ’12 calls the meeting to order – 7:10
Absent: Sarah Lovegren, Julia Fahl, Lili Elsesser, Kate Ciarlante, Sophie Balis-Harris, Caroline Herman
What is your favorite thanksgiving food? : stuffing, sweet potato with marshmallows, turkey!, mashed potatoes, sweet potato and marshmallows, butternut squash soup, pumpkin pie! mmmmm, all of it, corn pudding, pie!, pie J pie J pie!, sweet potatoes!, cranberry sauce, stuffing with cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, anything with pumpkin, mac and cheese, cranberry sauce, duh!, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn bread!, cranberriezzz, bread stuffing, pumpkin EVERYTHING, apple pie, pumpkin pie, pumkin ERRYTHING, cold pumpkin pie!, soup, stuffing and GRAVAYYY, black peppercorn soup, pumpkin alcohol, KFC
Announcements
Aya Martin Seaver ’13: I’m the faculty rep. The last faculty meeting consisted mostly of internal matters, but they also re-discussed the course evaluation form. You should see the new one soon. They’re going to include both in the packet. We discussed plenary and the new curriculum. If you want more information about the modes of inquiry, talk to Sarah Theobald.
Julie Gorham ’12: I’m the McBride Advocacy Mistress, which means I act as the SGA rep. Because I can no longer act as SGA rep, we had emergency SGA elections and Pam Lavin is your brand new SGA rep. Look out for some emails – we’re going to be holding a karaoke night and a perceptions workshop.
Saba Quadir ’13: This is an announcement from the Health Center Advisory Committee and the Health Center, who are planning a class dismissed project. We’re looking for individuals to talk about health care in an interview. Are there any correlations between class and health care? The interviews will be the second week of December, which can be a bit busy for some people. There will be a ten dollar Wawa gift card to every participant. If you are interested please email me, squadir@brynmawr.edu, or talk to me after the meeting.
Sarah Moser ’12: Safeword’s event is on Nov 29th. The workshop is going to be in the Campus Center at 6:30. It’s called Radical and Responsible Gender, and it’s with Sinclair Sexsmith, who is a blogger, activist, and writer. A question that will be addressed is: after the academic deconstruction of gender, how do we rebuild it in a responsible way? It’s going to be cool. There’s a facebook event and there’s going to be free pizza.
Amanda Beardall ’14: The Art Club is selling cookies to decorate in Campus Center tonight and after nine in Lusty. The money will go to the Overbrook art program. Our club is their only resource to raise money to have art classes.
Blair Smith ‘12 and Lee McClenon ‘14: Project dorm room ends tomorrow. Submit your room to it because you can win money and roomdraw numbers.
Irene Shin ’13: Can office campus apply?
Blair Smith ‘12: Email Stephanie Wujcik.
Natalie Zamora: Does it give you a confirmation email?
Blair Smith ‘12: Email Stephanie Wujcik.
Courtney Pinkerton ’12: I’m the COPS head. We’re having a tea this coming Tuesday (November 22nd) at 1 in front of Canaday. It’s a traveling safetea. There will be coolies and apple cider and donuts. Mike Ramsey will go over different safe traveling methods.
Nora Chong ’12: We have one more cocktails this semester. It will be on December 8th. Please remember to pay your dues and remind your friends to pay their dues. We have a really exciting event coming up with all the graduate schools. It’ll be on Tuesday, November 29th from 5-7 in the DVR in Haffner. It’s a happy hour.
Priya Saxena ’12: Thank you to everyone who came to the stressball tea. If you want to make one, I have extra supplies so let me know.
Rebecca Sanders ’12: We have a new Board of Trustees representative – Yichun Fu. It’s her birthday.
YJ ’12: Thank you for everyone who came to the Miss Representation screening. About 120 people came, and 50 stayed for the discussion. We’re trying to get it into the library. Thanks you to Saba, Eva, Emma, and Elizabeth for re-doing the SGA board. December 7th is the last community forum. RSVP today if you haven’t gone yet. This is the last opportunity for input about where Bryn Mawr should go. TEDx is streaming in Goodheart on December 3rd. Only a hundred people are allowed to register for each session.
BS ’12: Why 100?
YJ ’12: It’s a contract that college has done with Tedx itself.
YJ ’12: We have a graduate student rep here tonight and she will be here for the rest of the semester. Claire Wanquet.
Mary Beth Horvath
Mary Beth Horvath: I’m Mary Beth Horvath. I’m the Director of Student Activities.
Blair Smith: Is there any record of how many people attend a party or an event?
Mary Beth Horvath: No. I’m not there so I don’t know who’s there. It’s student run, so students could give me a tally at the end if they wanted to.
Emily Kirchner ’12: There has been more fun on campus with the roller rink and pets on the green. Can we expect more fun next semester and what would that look like?
MB: There will be more fun. What ‘s going to look like… I don’t know. I have ideas, but I’m not going to tell you because it’s a surprise.
Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12: When was the last time the party policy was looked at? Do we need to look at it again?
Mary Beth Horvath: I think it’s fine. It was revised four years ago. It’s only revised when you want it to be revised. You could convene committee that you’re the chair of if you wanted to look at it.
Danyelle Phillips ’14: I know we can only have wet parties in residential areas. What kind of process would change that rule?
Mary Beth Horvath: I don’t really know. There are lots of issues with having wet parties in non-residential spaces. Most of you are not 21, so we don’t want to have parites in a public space. You can’t tech be outside with alcohol because of laws in Pennsylvania. In order to have a party in a public space it would have to be would have to be controlled. I can bring it up to the deans and see what type of possibilities there would be. The college doesn’t throw parties with alcohol for students so a student would have to want to do it.
Elizabeth Held ’12: Is the alcohol concerns review board functioning?
Rebecca Sanders ’12: The alcohol concerns review board is half appointed members, half assembly members and members of the Exec. Board. It was not opened up for appointment because there was no interest.
YJ ’12: According to the appointments bi-laws, if a position is run three times and no one applies, we see that it doesn’t serve a need for the community.
Mary Beth Horvath: The alcohol concerns review board is only convened when we’re revising the party policy. If there was one, it could be used more for outreach and education.
Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12: The social committee will consider this.
Kyle Aguilar ’13: Is there any progress by which showing movies in public must be approved?
Mary Beth Horvath: We have a contract with Swank Motion Pictures. It has to be a Swank movie for it to be covered. If there is a particular movie you want to show, pick it out and send an email about it.
Lily Scott ’12: Would now be a good time to discuss the possibility of the Campus Center being transformed into a more suitable space for concerns?
YJ ’12: Yes.
Lily Scott ’12: The first question on the survey was do we need a space? The majority of people who voted stated that BMC needs a concerts/events space. The next question was would be in campus center? The other questions concern the different possibilities for the Campus Center, like lighting, a permanent stage, speakers, a collapsible stage. People would prefer something less permanent like a collapsible stage and lights and speakers. The last question was would people like Uncommon open during events? A vast majority of people said yes. As of now, it is against Uncommon’s policy to stay open. We’ll put the written opinions that people submitted up on the SGA blog.
Nora Chong ’12: How many people does that represent?
Lily Scott ’12: 100 per class year. 2014 had 96.
Mary Beth Horvath: I don’t know what turning the Campus Center into more of an event space would entail. I think it would be a good idea to have a fixed light and sound system that was appropriate to the bands that we bring in because we rent out for almost every event. I don’t think that this space is horrible. I know there are mixed feelings about this being a party space. We have been at least two dances in here this semester. When you make it dark and have a DJ on the balcony, it’s not a horrible space. Maybe it looks big, but it’s bigger than dorm spaces. The other spaces we’re looking at Rhoads, Thomas Great Hall and those are almost two times as much space and it doesn’t make sense to have all parties there. Lighting in here is kind of dim. They would need to do something with that. I don’t know what the stage would look like. But I know that they gave stages that are removable in other spaces.
YJ ’12: This is the Mount Holyoke Campus Center. In their Campus Center they had an event space, which had a stage chairs and a cool bench.
Emma Condy ’12: I know we’ve brought this up before, but have we talked to BMCS?
Rebecca Sanders ‘12: BMCS is not here. They are coming on December 4th
YJ ’12: It wouldn’t be just for BMCS. Open mic club could have events here and a cappella groups could have concerts here.
Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12: What might it cost us to do this?
Mary Beth Horvath: It depends on you making a decision about what you want to do. Sound equipment costs thousands of dollars. It would be nice to have it so we don’t have to keep spending money for each concert. Milkboy in Ardmore has a little stage and lights around it. It could also be a removable stage like the one that is sometimes set up in TGH.
Blair Smith ’12: How many of you guys have been to Lunt basement and seen the stage? Have you ever been there during the day? Lunt during the day is not scary and gross. You can sit on stage and have conversations with friends. It’s a normal manageable space.
Mary Beth Horvath: It’s a corner stage and they have lights around it. Even if there was a permanent stage who’s to say you can’t have chairs up there?
Elizabeth Held ’12: How much money do you spend on setting up?
Mary Beth Horvath: About $15,000, but it depends on the artist and what they’re bring. If they have special things that they need we spend money on it. There have been very few we’ve spent less than $15,00.
Lee McClenon ’14: My support would hinge on Uncommon Grounds being open during events. If it’s closed every other Saturday for events, it would be disappointing for students. Who would you go to talk about that?
Priya Saxena ’12: The Uncommon Grounds policy is reviewable. You could talk to Lisa and Richard.
Lee McClenon: I would want to have that policy changed before we decide.
Mary Beth: If it’s open, there would have to be an agreement to not use the mic. If in the middle of an even someone’s like “hamburger and fries” it could be intrusive to the event.
Emma Condy ’12: Last year UG had huge problem with stealing. Keeping it open during events could augment that.
Priay ’12: Three security cameras have been put in there now.
Natalie Zamaora ’14: Why is Uncommon closed?
MB ’12: I could see that (I can’t speak for them, you can contact Bernie) with a capacity of 250 people it would be hard to control who’s going to the café versus who’s coming into your event.
Nora Chong ’12: There’s a theft problem in general. It might be closed specifically to prevent people milling around.
Mary Beth Horvath: That would make sense too. They could close the doors and see how that would go.
Blair Smith ’12: Even if you could close the doors, Uncommon’s PA system is connected to the sound system that is used for events. People in Uncommon have said it’s unbearable to work with the sound and it’s unbearable for to stand in uncommon.
Mary Beth: What should I do with this information about event spaces? Should I talk to the deans? Bernie Chung?
YJ ‘12L How does the assembly feel? What do we feel about the responses that we got? Is that a good indicator for us to pursue an event space?
Straw poll: Everyone is for having an event space somewhere.
YJ ’12: The Exec. Board has talked about this with Dean Rasmussen. The only viable space is the Campus Center. If the Campus Center is the only space we could use who in here is in favor of pursuing the Campus Center as an event space.
Straw poll: Many people.
Mary Beth Horvath: So maybe what we should do is come up with ideas.
Adelyn Kishbaugh ‘12: I have a meeting with Dean Rasmussen soon about social things.
Lily Scott ’12: It could get messy if the Campus Center is used for wet parties. It should only be for dry events
Lynne Ammar ’13: Why not put the stage in Rhoads?
Priya Saxena ’12: The accessibility to Rhoads is quite limited. In terms of safety, getting in and out of Rhoads is very hard. It’s hard for pub safe to get up there and there are problems with strangers wandering the halls. There’s only that one bathroom. In the Campus Center there are manageable exists for people to get in and out. No one’s private space is being violated. It’s not fair to have the main event space on campus in a dorm.
Blair Smith ’12: Having it be in a non-residential space is important. It would impose a lot of people.
Sarah Theobald ’12: What would be helpful is if we have actual plans, suggestions proposals, costs and if the assembly was presented with options.
Mary Beth Horvath: Adelyn, do you want to work on that with me?
Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12: Yep.
Natalie Zamora ’14: Is Rhoads going to be a concert space anymore?
Mary Beth Horvath: It’s a multi purpose space. Anyone can reserve it. There’s stuff that happens there during the day.
Karina Siu ’14: Could we turn Rhoads dining hall into a student space?
MB: I don’t know
YJ ’12: Adelyn, can you bring that up with Dean Rasmussen? Thank you, Mary Beth. Mo Ho students are not allowed to use common spaces in dorms for events. BMC has a lot of freedom and independence.
YJ ’12: The Exec. Board got an email from students working on a software program that could be a new type of calendar for events. We wanted to gage your interest in Planga.
(Planga video)
Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12: Starting to talk about the calendar is also part of my job. All events that not in dorm spaces are on the Bryn Mawr calendar, which is almost everything.
Ali Raeber ’13: The time on the calendar is the time that you reserve it not when it starts.
Blair Smith ’12: The reason we’re looking for new calendar is to advertise for events that are dorm spaces.
Julie ’12: The Bryn Mawr calendar is so user unfriendly. You have to go through for an hour or two to teach yourself how to use it. This could be good because it’s analogous to most social media websites.
Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12: What about it is an issue?
Julie Gorham ’12: It’s confusing. Am I the only one?
Blair Smith ‘12: It’s often wrong.
YJ ’12: We need an assembly member to assess this.
Emily Kirchner ‘12: what are the schools that use it?
YJ ’12: Cal Tech, Dartmouth, Fordham, George Washington, Georgia Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins, Michigan state. So a lot of big schools. We have emailed them and about 40% of clubs have already signed on about two weeks since they started using it. If all student clubs use this site, and it goes down… we have think about that. If someone wants to volunteer, to investigate this…. Currently Planga is free.
Lee McClenon ’14: Do you know how much administrators at those schools use it? The BMC calendar is useful because it posts college happenings.
YJ ’12: Whoever can use it.
Emily Kirchner ‘12: Is the calendar that we use now free?
YJ ’12: Yes.
Adelyn Kishbaugh ‘12: What things do we want to have on this? What is the purview of this going to be?
YJ ’12: Right now we’re using facebook as a big advertising tool. Information only goes to some people – the people we’re friends with. With Planga your pictures won’t go up. It’s just student events and student groups.
Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12: Can we figure out as an assembly things we want to do with this?
Blair Smith ‘12: We’re looking for visually appealing way to integrate weblife with social life at Bryn Mawr. This combines a calendar setting as well as a social setting and could be used to encourage more students to attend events.
YJ ’12: Is there an assembly member who is interested in investigating this?
Lee McClenon: I will do it under my position as GoBoard moderator.
Seven Sisters Update
Julie Gorham ‘12: Sevens Sisters council was amazing. This was the first conference to have a cohort of non-traditional students attend. Other programs like the McBride program are the Ada Comstock Scholars and the Francis Perkins and Davis Scholars. McBrides are the smallest group of non-traditional students. We make up 1% of the student body but we have the most student support. So you guys rock. Yeah you. We’re going to continue talking as we try to strengthen initiatives. If you know of anyone who teaches at community or anyone who would like to go back to school talk up McBrides
Daniele Arad-Neeman ‘14: It was amazing to see women and men together trying to figure out what women’s college is. We got to do a lot of talking about different SGAs. Bryn Mawr is the only school that has self government as opposed to student government. It was great to learn how to articulate the importance of that and bring back because I didn’t even know what self governance really meant.
Irene Shin ’13: I don’t know it was great. I think one thing that we should really appreciate is how much smaller we are and take advantage of that.
Vrinda Varia ’13: It was great to see how we connect with our administration and interesting to engage in a conversation about what it means to be a Seven Sister.
Jacinda Tran ’13: It was fun bonding with the Bryn Mawr girls and seeing how other places function. We’re the only self government association. It was interesting to see the way people talk about their schools and how we’re not comparable even though we’re all single sex institutions.
Daniele Arad-Neeman ’14: To clarify what self government is – at Mount Holyoke their advisor was there. The advisor advises the SGA Exec. Board and everything has to go through him. Here, we collaborate with the administration, but there’s no administrator.
Priya Saxena ’12: We have to remember how fortunate we are to have the relationship that we have with the administration and be proud to be the only college with self government.
YJ ’12: Thank you so much. Vrinda and I are going to continue on with a discussion of what it means to be a Seven Sister college. The Seven Sister’s council convened to talk about what it means to be a Seven Sisters school. What do you think it means to be a Seven Sisters school and are we comfortable with deviating from historical idea of the Seven Sisters.
Karina Siu ’14: Can we explain what a seven sisters college is?
Vrinda Varia ’13: The historic Seven Sisters are Bryn Mawr, Bardnard, Vassar, Radcliffe, Wellesley, and Smith. They were created as women’s colleges that would provide a counter part to the ivies.
Julie Gorham ‘12: Radcliffe is no longer a part of the Seven Sisters. Vassar is co-ed.
YJ ’12: Radcliffe was consumed by Harvard. Vassar co-ed.
Emma Rosenblum: Barnard is also part of Columbia University.
Vrinda Varia ’13: The missions of the schools have changed.
Blair Smith ’12: They all, on a global level, are thinking about how women are educated.
Irene Shin ’13: The Seven Sisters are exclusive. Not all women’s colleges are part of the Seven Sisters. They’re schools of a certain caliber.
Emma Rosenblum ’14: The Seven Sisters evokes a sense of exclusivity and elitism that it does not seem they are trying so much to maintain now.
Irene Shin ‘13: We emphasize higher education for women. Does this mean we’re willing to look at other women’s college to be a part of this?
Emily Kirchner ’12: In light of the recent Vicky Chu literature, there’s something about perception of the consortium and the ways that we’re likened together. We’re not all the same even though it seems like we might be.
Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12: Do we want to include other schools? Is that our decision. What can we do or accomplish?
YJ ’12: Every year there is Seven Sisters Conference with the different SGAs. The council decides who to invite.
Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12: Is seven sisters open to change?
Pam Lavin ’13: Being a part of the Seven Sisters sets us apart as being unique. That elite, reputable status does matter and puts us into a realm of amazing women who have succeeded in this country. Hilary Clinton is a graduate from a Seven sisters college. Getting rid of that will tear the whole system apart and in the future that reputation of the Seven Sisters will just go away. I am very proud to be a part of a Seven Sisters university.
YJ ’12: Vassar was invited to conference this year. Going forward, do we believe that Vassar is a Seven Sister? They are co-ed but historically it is a Seven Sister.
Sarah Theobald ’12: This is just dealing with the Seven Sisters student government conference. Thank you for explaining about Vassar.
Julie Gorham ’12: A seven sisters college has to work to promote women’s education. There are values that go with that uniqueness. I was uncomfortable with Vassar being a part of the conference,especially since their SGA was primarily male. It seemed odd. Men representing women’s education seemed odd.
Lee McClenon ’14: What did the other schools think at the conference? I feel that men can be feminist and a co-ed school can still be in favor of women’s education?
Melanie Rowe ’13: Schools have to compete for students. Being a Seven Sisters school is what makes us unique and helps us approach young women about attending a single sex institution.
YJ ’12: Vassar still identities as a Seven Sisters college.
Elizabeth Held ’12: The remaining five single sex Seven Sisters travel together doing admissions work to recruit students to campuses.
Lynne Ammar ’13: You don’t need to be single sex to support women’s education. The schools have common history.
Irene Shin ’13: I went into it thinking what are they doing? But they were really grateful that they were there and they did want to promote women’s education. The issue that should be addressed is women’s education and promoting women’s education. Even though they’re still co-ed, they did an effective job of doing that.
YJ ’12: Would we feel uncomfortable having Vassar at the conference?
Vrinda Varia: The Seven Sisters Council has no mission right now
Melanie Rowe ‘13: Do they have a mission statement?
YJ ’12: Every school is providing a statement.
Melanie Rowe ’13: It would be better to have Vassar’s mission statement before we decide.
Lily Scott ’12: Has Vassar stated that they want to be a part of it?
YJ ’12: Yes, but the SGA changes every year.
Adelyn: Can we write you our thoughts?
YJ ’12: Yes.
Emma Condy ’12: If Vassar has been wishy washy about wanting to come, I don’t think they should be invited.
Blair Smith ’12: They didn’t know they were invited to the conference at Barnard, so they didn’t accept the invitation.
Vrinda Varia ’13: When Bryn Mawr hosted we chose not to invite because had rejected first invite. Vassar found out they had been invited before and asked to be invited to the conference at Mount Holyoke.
Blair Smith ’12: The goals of the Seven Sisters Conference haven’t been clarified.
New Business:
YJ ’12: Last year, the assembly didn’t want the SGA google website to be public. But this year maybe it should be public for increased transparency.
Courtney Pinkerton ’12: Why was it not public before?
YJ ‘12: It’s just what assembly had decided last year.
Straw poll: The majority of people feel good about having a public SGA google site.
Meeting adjourned – 8:27