12/02/12 SGA Meeting
Vrinda calls the meeting to order at 7:10pm.
Absent: Kendra Kelly, Sarah Henkind, Hannah Lehman, Taj Meyer, Lija Geller, Karunya Venugopal, Amani Chowdhury, Tina Chang, Neha Kamran, Vanessa Sanchez, Julia Stuart, Hannah Smith, Stephanie Clarke, Cesiah Novoa Ordonez.
Announcements
Su Oner ‘14: next weekend on Saturday at 1pm-3pm we are having our second bike workshop if you want to learn about how to fix bikes and change tires and adjusting break cables, you are more than welcome to join us. It is open to everyone. We will be meeting at Rhoads basement common room and depending on how many people we have, we will move.
Kersti Francis ’13: class of 2013, we want you to know to check your email in the next few days because since we do not have a year book anymore, we need to talk about whether or not we want to do class portraits. By that, I mean senior portraits. If you personally want to have your glamorous photo taken to give to your family.
Maddy Court ’13: last year they were really unpopular, but I think they mean a lot to some families. So we are trying to see if it’s something we want to bring back. They are not free, you would be paying for them.
Kersti Francis ’13: yeah so in the next days, check your email because this is really important.
Irene Shin ‘13: Hannah Lehman is not here today so on her behalf, I want to announce the Winter Formal and the theme is casino night. The flyer says poker and black jack and photo booth and more. It is going to be on Saturday, December 8th from 10pm-2am. It will be here in the campus center. It is free with your id and you are allowed to bring guests. If you have any questions contact hlehman@brynmawr.edu.
Vrinda Varia ‘13: GSA hosted a panel this week on Tuesday to talk about grad school applications. It was well attended so they wanted to thank the student body for coming out. If you are interested, there will be more workshops to talk about grad school and talk about the applications with the grad school students at Bryn Mawr and also with the CDO coming out next semester. So keep an eye out for that. They were really thankful for the senior class for showing up for super happy hour on Tuesday and forming those GSA connections. So thank you everyone who came out. Thanks to Ana Cordova for helping host from the undergraduate side.
Tyler Garber ‘14: will all of the newly appointed committees and reps come forward and introduce yourselves if you are here.
Caitlin Homstad ‘16: my name is Caitlin I am a freshman and I am the new Access Services Rep. My goal for this year is to make the dorms more handicap accessible.
Evan Rivers ‘14: I am one of the new Customs Committee Co-Heads and a goal for our committee for this upcoming year is to modify the role of a customs person in a way that makes them more accountable.
Sophia Dauria ‘15: I am on the Customs Committee. One of my goals is to talk with the Orientation Reorganization Committee and work on DLT training during Customs Week.
Hayley Burke ‘15: I am also on the Customs Committee and one of my goals is to better streamline Bi-Co relations with Customs.
Syona Arora ‘15: I am on the Customs Committee. One of our goals for this year is to better communication Res Life and Customs People.
Pamudu Tenakoon ‘15: I am on the Customs Committee as well and they said everything I was going to say.
Alisha Pandit ‘14: I am also on the Customs Committee and one of my goals is to try and organize early arrivals with Customs and how to manage that.
Tyler Garber ‘14: just to reiterate
Customs Committee Co-Heads:
-Evan Rivers
-Emma Rosenblum
Customs Committee:
-Syona Arora
-Amanda Beardall
-Hayley Burke
-Sophia Dauria
-Alisha Pandit
-Pamudu Tenakoon
Independent Major Rep:
-Mirella Deocadiz
Access Services Rep:
-Caitlin Homstad
Vrinda Varia ‘13: this Tuesday, the President’s Office is hosting a conference called The Next Wave. It is being hosted at Bryn Mawr and it will be awesome. I hope some of you will get the opportunity to meet some wonderful leaders that are coming to campus. You can find the webpage at brynmawr.edu/nextwave. Assembly members should have received it in an email from me and has been circulating in emails from the President’s Office. Go and attend. There are also a lot of Seven Sisters visiting in attendance of the conference. So if you have time, there will be a lot of people on campus so you should get to know people.
Bi-Co Budgeting Bylaws Revisions
Vrinda Varia ’13: The Bi-Co Budgeting Bylaws were passed in January 2010 by the Exec Board that was led by Sophie Papavizas, for those of you who were around back then. The intent of them initially was to streamline the budgeting process and have a constituent base at Bryn Mawr and Haverford. We were working under the precedent of those Bylaws up until this year. This year we saw some need for change with the Bylaws so Sowmya and I and the Haverford SC Treasurers drafted some Bylaws. The Bylaws agreement is contingent on the SGA Assembly. We sent then to the Assembly this week, so you should have had a chance to look at them. I will pass it to Sowmya to explain the content and answer any questions.
Somwya Srinivasan ‘13: one of the reasons we thought about editing these Bylaws was because we feel that it was kind of vague what clubs could be considered for Bi-Co funding. We wanted to make it more streamlined. One of the big changes is that we used to have the minimum for Bi-Co funding be $4000, and now it will be reduced to $1000. They also need to submit something explaining why they want to go Bi-Co to the SC and SGA Treasurers before they can go through the process.
Vote on Bi-Co Budgeting Bylaws:
Yes, I approve these bylaws (22): Vicki Sear, Ali Raeber, Muna Aghaalnemer, Karina Siu, Marian Slocum, Molly Kaufman, Kaeun Bae, Kersti Francis, Sophia Dauria, Devanshi Vaid, Kelly Wilkinson, Diana Tive, Anika Ali, Xavia Miles, Jenn Burns, Elizabeth Vandenberg, Rebecca Payne-Passmore, Jenna Myers, Nikki Ditto, Alice Fischer, Noor Masannat, Anna Kalinsky, Nitya Hajela.
No, I do not approve these bylaws (0): none
Abstain (1): Kayla Bondi.
The bylaws pass
This approval is still contingent on SC’s approval, so we will let you guys know if Haverford approves it or not.
Constitution Review Discussion
Vrinda Varia ’13: We left the last SGA meeting talking about the constitution or with the intent on talking about the constitution. We hope you all read it over because we are bringing it back up today. We were thinking about how we wanted to shape this conversation. For those of you that want a reminder, a lot of us have been talking about the constitution and whether or not it represent as and what SGA stands for and does today. So we wanted a place to talk about whether this document as it stands is appropriate and fitting for what we are trying to accomplish. So we asked everyone to review the constitution so we could have a place for conversation to begin about revamping the constitution. So if people are interested in forming a committee, we wanted to continue the conversation with what you all discovered in your analysis of the constitution. We are going to split into groups to have a space for that conversation to take place. I know we talked about splitting up by position, but I don’t think we will do that today because there are a lot of positions in SGA that do not have a counterpart to them. So in order for the conversation to be as cohesive as possible, we will group everyone randomly. Those of you that do have positions that have groups of them; so dorm presidents, we are going to ask the Res-Co Heads to facilitate a conversation within the capacity of Res Co. Similar for Members at Large, when you all meet, you can have that conversation. Class presidents, it would be wonderful if you could all gather and talked about your means of what it says in the constitution about your role. So until then, we are going to break into groups. We will count off by 7. If people could come up with a couple of things that were issues in the constitution when they read it, that would be great. Could we have one representative from each group come back and tell us what you talked about please.
Emily Tong ’13: we first talked about the number of positions that are written in the constitution. We felt that there are too many positions and a lot of people might hold more than one role. So we should really streamline the roles and see if anything could be put tougher or taken out.
Chloe Bauman ’14: We also talked about how some committees seem extraneous. Some of that would be committees that seem to be doing the same thing. Something that comes to mind is the Recycling Committee that is elected at the beginning of the school year, but they seem to be duplicated by all of the sustainability groups, which could be funneled into something more useful and cohesive. Something else is the Alcohol and Party Committee and the Alcohol Review Board.
Emily Tong ’13: Yea, so there is a lack of consistency about how these committees are described. Just the names are inconsistent. One of the points we had was that if we form a committee, they should review terms that are used and make sure that we are being consistent throughout the entire thing.
Chloe Bauman ’14: We also talked about how the document is kind of inaccessible; it is just cumbersome.
Emily Tong ’13: we should make an app.
Chloe Bauman ’14: so we also talked about voting rights in the Assembly. Like the CEO Rep or Cops Co-Head; it was mentioned that people feel they need to abstain because why does Campus Safety have an opinion on budgets. So that reduces the voting numbers and maybe increase the number of Members at Large to compensate for removal of voting rights from people who do not represent a student constituency.
Emily Tong ’13: We also need to review whether roles should be appointed or elected. For example, if you represent students, maybe you should be elected. If you represent faculty and staff, maybe you should be appointed.
Chloe Bauman ’14: we also talked about what the community should do. So something is engage student body in town hall meetings, just get more people interested in SGA. Also to approach each member and figure out and understand their roles so that way it is not completely blindsided. Close contact with Assembly and comprised of students from all class years. Realizing that having a senior rep might be difficult since second semester seniors don’t really want to rewrite the constitution.
Kersti Francis ‘13: we talked about three main things. Number one, how they are a lot of archaic committees. So they already brought up, maybe some things are superfluous, but also some things exist but maybe shouldn’t, like traditions committee and how that is not really a thing that needs to happen. There are already a lot of ways to handle the same problems they are dealing with. Or committees that should exist but are not active right now like Major Council. That would be something for Major reps to do, but there isn’t really anything like that. The last thing we talked about is accountability of appointed positions. Right now, if you have an appointed position, we hope you will come to meetings, but if I choose not to go to my Independent Major meetings, then there is no real process to call me on that and remove me from that position.
Maybe adding something that at least three times a semester that people have to report in. Just some sort of framework so people know that appointed positions aren’t just something that people are doing to put on their resumes, but that it is something to do actually.
Syona Arora ‘15: a lot of what we talked about has already been touched on. Like getting rid of the Alcohol Review Board because no one really knows what that is. We talked about, I remember last year, the Board of Trustees Rep was elected but then it got changed to appointed through a Plenary Resolution, and I feel like there are a lot of other positions, like COPS Co-Heads or Elections Head that could maybe be appointed instead of elected because of what Emily and Chloe were saying that they do not represent anyone. Another idea that we had was instead of getting rid of those positions as members of the Assembly, maybe combining that and having their position be a Member at Large. So an Elections Head does not represent anyone, but can also function as a Member at Large so they would have a constituency to represent. Something that I noticed was that when Members at Large do not speak up as much or there is nothing for them to say, so maybe streamlining the role and better define what it has to be. And then maybe cutting down or adding as we see fit.
Vicki Sear ‘13: one thing we talked about was what Chloe said that it is very formal, but it is also very vague. So making the constitution less cumbersome. Even the way it is formatted can be very inaccessible in some ways. We talked about how it feels that the competition has been sort of pieced and fixed here and there, but maybe a full review of it is in order. We had a lot of Dorm Presidents in our group, so especially in terms of the description of what Dorm Presidents do, is not nearly in line with what we think we d0 in some instances. We belong to committees that we don’t really know if they exist or if we belong on them. So we thought it might be a good idea for people are in positions to have a kind of system where they have a meeting and decide these are the rules, this is what we should doing, this is what SGA thinks we should be doing. Or maybe, I know we do not want to make a committee, but maybe a committee made to review the constitution and bring all of this together might be a good idea. Like one full fix and do everything rather than in pieces.
Karina Siu ‘14: basically everything that we have said has been said. One of the things is standardizing and rewording the constitution. I know we are referred to as the Association, the Assembly, and other things. So having that throughout the entire document as one word.
Having the Assembly and Association as one word so it is easier to read. Also, for the positions, consolidating those, especially positions that do not represent the student body, but things outside of the student body. Just going over what the Alcohol Review Board is and if that is something that has to be mentioned in the constitution or is it something that needs to be brought up when situations arise. So maybe just going over what it is.
Nikki Ditto ’14: basically everything we said has been talked about. Our group also talked about updating the language of the constitution to make it better reflect the reality and that was a way to make it more accessible. There were many times when we read it that we didn’t know who it was referring to because it was using language we didn’t use while talking about SGA.
Sophia Dauria ‘15: specifically about my role, Public Safety is now Campus Safety so that needs to be revamped. Also more about the elections at the beginning of the year. Someone said something about the Recycling Committee. Some dorms do not have representatives for the Committee on Public Safety. So if they are going to be mentioned in the constitution, we thought that those elections should be more streamlined.
Vrinda Varia ‘13: thank you everyone. We are going to continue to look for individuals to volunteer for this committee that is forming. There have been people who have volunteered, but if you want work on this and continue this conversation, we would love to have you be a part of it. So come find me after SGA and I will put your name on the list. Does anyone else have any comments or questions about the constitution or how it stands right now?
Karina Siu ‘14: if we have specifics regarding our position, we do not have to go through it all right now and probably not everyone has specifics, but can we email you them?
Vrinda Varia ‘13: absolutely. You can email sga@brynmawr.edu. I really do encourage you that have a committee to refer to, like Class Presidents or Dorm Presidents, to get together and have that conversation. For those of you that have a head or co-head who is leading your position, like Res-Co Heads, we will get in touch with them. For those of you that don’t, it would be really nice if you took that initiative and get back to us. Preferably by next SGA meeting, so we can have all of that information compiled before break. We will stick it in a Google doc until we reach ready to talk about it again. That is going to be your homework actually. Those of you on a committee, or like Class Presidents or Co-Heads, write up what you actually do. Analyze your section of the constitution and email it to us by 7pm on Sunday.
Kersti Francis ‘13: if it is clear in the constitution that what it says we do, is what we do, can we send that?
Vrinda Varia ‘13: send that back then. I only want one from Class Presidents though. I don’t want every Class President to send me one. One email from one group. Also, our really cool background this week is thanks to Natalie Kato. It is a data visualization, word cloud of the constitution that she made and programmed. As you can see, representative is really big, so keep in mind that we are a representative student government. Budgeting updates we are going to move till next week just because we are still working on gathering information for you all.
New Business
Vrinda Varia ‘13: I actually have something that I want to bring up because I just thought of it. As you know, next week is our last SGA meeting of the semester, congratulations, you survived a semester. If anyone has anything they want to have added onto the meeting for next week, can you let me know now. Anybody for next week? Just as a heads up, if anyone has anything they would want to know through the liaison of SGA next semester, if you could send me those before the end of 2012 because I am going to make the meeting agenda early on. Something you can look for is a clearer explanation for the colleges budgeting process. We will hopefully get John Griffith to come to an SGA meeting to explain that and provide more clarity to the student body. So things like that. If there is anything you want to see of have particular information on, that would be helpful.
Devanshi Vaid ‘13: can we have David Chase from Dining Services come?
Vrinda Varia ’13: yeah. We can ask. Also, if any one wants to wear holiday clothes next week, we will probably be taking a holiday picture. Take that as you mean it. You can represent any holiday you want.
Devanshi Vaid ‘13: Can we have snacks?
Sowmya Srinivasan ‘13: I will get back to you on that
Vrinda Varia ’13: yeah so we will be taking a holiday picture next week, so dress your best!