12/09/12 SGA Meeting
Vrinda calls the meeting to order at 7:10pm.
Absent: Molly Kaufman, Jenn Burns, Lija Geller, Maddy Court, Kelly Wilkinson, Tina Chang, Devanshi Vaid, Cesiah Ordonez.
Announcements
Kelechi Njoku ‘15: if some of you guys noticed that outside around the edge of the Campus Center, there is a bake sale that the NAACP is holding. We are raising money for a book scholarship that supports students who are unable to pay for books for the upcoming academic year. Everything there is a dollar. If you could come support, that would be great!
Ali Raeber ‘13: this is in advance, but nominations for elections will open basically when we get back next semester. So if you want to run for anything, please think about it. If you know anyone who will be good for any of the positions coming up, think about nominating them. The positions coming up in February will be: the exec board, my position (elections head), off campus rep, and jr honor board position, I think that is it. A more complete list will be available at elections.blogs.brynmawr.edu. You can email me if you have any questions.
Vrinda Varia ‘13: just a note to that. The Eboard will probably be hosting office hours if people want to hear about our positions and are interested in running sometime next week. We will be emailing you.
Lindsey Crowe ‘14: Class of 2014, keep a look out. We are planning a few distressing activities in the next coming weeks. Just keep a look out. There will be multiple events
Karina Siu ‘14: there are a couple of meets and games this week, if anyone wants to take a break from studying. Basketball has a game this Tuesday at 7pm here in the Schwartz Gymnasium. Indoor track will be at Haverford on Saturday. I am not sure of the time. It is not completely up yet. It will be there!
Kendra Kelly ‘13: facilities wants to let everyone know, if you experience if it is too hot or too cold, something is not working, be sure to call them and or fill out the online form. It is really easy. Make sure you specify the time it happened, the day, and the exact place. So do not just say in the Campus Center, but what corner, kind of describe the corner where it is. This will help them better chart what is going on with heating and cooling.
Irene Shin ‘13: this is just to remind everyone that Thomas Great Hall will be used as a quiet study space where food is permitted. It is starting Monday the 17th. If you have any questions, please email me. We are excited for everyone to use it.
Vrinda Varia ‘13: thank you to the social committee for throwing a special events funded Casino Night. It was a big success and we really appreciate all of your hard work in planning an event that so much of the campus enjoyed. Also, the President’s Office hosted the Next Wave Conference on Tuesday. They had a wonderful turnout from Bryn Mawr students, faculty, and students from other campuses. There were some really wonderful women leaders. I hope some of you got a chance to attend and got to talk with some of the women in attendance. A special thanks you to all of our hosts that helped out with the seven sisters that were visiting. We really appreciated it. On Friday the 14th there is a workshop to add QR codes to the tree labels. Ed Harmon sent out an email. They will be circulating through the greens list serve and the activities list serve. If people are interested, it is an awesome aspect of campus and making the natural aspects of campus come to life. So come out and support it.
Dining Services Conversation
Jancy Munguia ‘14: last week Bernie, who is in charge of Dining Services, and Dave, who is the Assistant Director of Dining Services, met up with head supervisors from all of the units. She clarified things that are happening. What she said is that over the last decade, Bryn Mawr College Dining Services has not received a significant budget increase despite the fact that food costs have increased and we are serving more meals every year. Over the years, Dining Services has tried various strategies to deal with these issues, such as working with GPOs, we have been buying smarter, and many different strategies. Keeping in mind what the students need, what and deserve. The issue is now is that we have run out of options and cannot really rearrange things. So now we are running out of options, and our only option is to take away many things from Dining Services and change the quality of the food.
Chaney Harter ‘14: So basically, the last 10 years Dining Services has done a lot of things in order to save money. I don’t know if you guys knew this, Haffner and Erdman used to have the same menu, a few years back they changed it. For example, they put in in the first couple of years a Pho Bar, which is very cost inexpensive. They have been doing basically of that. Starting in 2002, Dining Services has not gotten a significant increase. I think they have only received about $130,000, which is only about 9-10% of their actual budget. This does not even cover the rise of food costs. They have literally run out of options for things to rearrange. Last year, Dining Services overspent about $200,000, which sounds like a lot. This is basically because they have not gotten enough of an increase over the last ten years. So now what the strategy is, is we really need the budget to be increased. What Bernie said is that if we got the $200,000 to cover what was overspent last year and stuck with the same budget we received last year, with a 3% increase every year, because that is what it takes to keep the dining halls afloat, but we have not been getting that at all in the last ten years. There are some years where we did not get any increase at all; there are some years where they actually had a budget cut. Like Jancy said, we have been serving more meals, food costs have gotten exponentially bigger. What we need to do is let the administration know that we do not want them to cut the quality of our food and the Dining Services that we are used to. The people who really are in charge of this are the Board of Trustees because they decide. They are the ones who say what money goes where. So we are going to personally go and talk to the Board of Trustees. We want to send out a petition. We will probably be in the dining halls early next semester because we want them to know there is student support for this. They will not do anything if it is just Jancy and me trying to get Dining Services to change, but if we have a bunch of signatures, that will make a big difference. We are also going to talk to JMac and let her know what the situation is. People have already been writing emails to her after the supervisor meeting. We have met with supervisors from Haffner, Erdman, Lusty, and Uncommon, and it went really well. That is pretty much it for what our plan is from now on. We also talked with Vrinda yesterday, and she is thinking about having Bernie and Dave come in and talk to you, SGA, about all of this as well has having John and Jerry come in, probably during a different meeting, and discuss financial transparency in general because this is really a financial transparency thing. They keep raising our room and board every year, and now they are going to try and really cut the quality of the food. The administration has told Dining Services that they think food isn’t an important part of what we have here and that we will not notice if they cut it. Basically it is up to us now. The administration is going to do what they are going to do and if we do not stand up and tell them that we do not want them to do this, then they are going to take away the food that we love.
Vrinda Varia ‘13: can you speak to some of the changes we might see in the dining halls?
Chaney Harter ‘14: reduction or elimination of take out, a cut in quality of food. There are different levels of food that we can buy; starting with the stuff for catering all the way down to the stuff they serve in prisons. So basically, they would drastically reduce the quality of our food to the kind of food they serve k-12 and in hospitals and stuff like that. There will probably be a reduction in the number of special dinners. Like we said, May Day strawberries are on the chopping block. I do not think anyone is actually going to touch that, but it is definitely on the list of things that could be cut. Garden parties is another one. Dining Services funds a lot of parties, so there may be a reduction in that. I think that is pretty much it.
Stephanie Clarke ‘13: do you know any exact figures about where the most money goes to?
Vrinda Varia ‘13: I can actually speak to that. There are 2 different issues that I see this is bringing up. There is one issue of how budgeting is done at Bryn Mawr and where our funds are being allocated to. Then also the concerns that are happening within Dining Services and how things are actually being taken care of. Sowmya met with John, and John and John will hopefully be here early next semester to talk about what the budget looks like and how that process is undergone. I don’t want to speak to those numbers right now because I don’t think any of us know them for sure, but it is something we are looking into to having clarified for the greater student body.
Lindsey Crowe ‘14: is this something that is just a petition or something you would bring to plenary? I am curious to the importance of a petition versus plenary resolution.
Chaney Harter ’14: we need the Board of Trustees to understand that this is not an issue that is not going to only affect Jancy and me basically. We need them to understand that it is a student issue and that people want to have their say in it.
Jancy Munguia ‘14: I feel if there were a plenary resolution, it would be more overall. Like about the transparency between what is going on with money and the students.
Vrinda Varia ‘13: with plenary bylaws, this is something we could make into a plenary resolution, but in looking at the timeline, the Board of Trustees meet early in February and plenary is not until mid-February. So in order to act quickly on it, a petition is probably the quickest way to get something out there. Whether or not that is a simultaneous action with a plenary resolution, which could be after they meet, is something that we have not talked about, but something that is possible.
Amanda Kennedy ‘13: what is the current status for dining hall staff and students? Will there be any cuts for employees?
Jancy Munguia ‘14: when Maruyi and I talked to Jerry, he said that students are very important for Dining Services so he does not see that being cut. But we have not hired as many students as we have in the past, so it is already being affected, but we will still have student workers.
Amanda Kennedy ‘13: what about full time staff?
Jancy Munguia ’14: I am not sure about that.
Hannah Lehman ‘13: I heard it costs more for Haverford students to eat here. Are you charging them a certain number of meals to eat on our campus?
Jancy Munguia ‘14: when Haverford comes here, they pay us. One of the suggestions has been to stop Haverford students and Swathmore students form coming here because they eat a lot of our food, but my understanding, they do pay us per meal.
Yichun Fu ‘13: has Haverford and Swarthmore have a budget and how much? Are they being affected?
Chaney Harter ‘14: Haverford’s budget is about twice of what ours is. What Bernie found out is that Swathmore does not have a budget. This is definitely affecting Bryn Mawr’s campus primarily.
Jancy Munguia ‘14: it is also affecting our peer institutions. Bryn Mawr is not the only institution going through this. I know Smith only has desserts twice a week. It is a bigger issue than just Bryn Mawr. A lot of people are experiencing budget cuts.
Paisley Singh ‘13: there are hordes of people who come in every day. I am not just talking about people here for classes, but here for dinners, like the entire lacrosse team.
Chaney Harter ‘14: that has been brought into discussion. There are indefinite conclusions either way about what we are going to be doing about that. But yes, that is definitely an issue that has been brought forth, but we do not have much to say about it right now.
Kendra Kelly ‘13: I had a question about logistics of if they are cutting the amount of take out, and I know in some meetings Bernie has mentioned the potential of cutting dining hall hours, I wonder how that will impact the seating arrangements. I know it is really crowded and hard to find a seat anyway with the factors of other students coming in from other campuses, and I just think that that is also a factor in figuring out how this is going to work.
Chaney Harter ‘14: there has been a talk about overcrowding. Like I said, we have not gotten anything specific about that, but it has been brought up that it is hard to find a seat at prime times in both dining halls and that will be taken into account.
Yichun Fu ‘13: how will this affect student employment?
Jancy Munguia ‘14: Jerry has said that student employment is very important for dining services. We will still have student employment and student workers. This year we have not hired as many students as we can, but there will be workers and Bryn Mawr is supposed to give students who are on financial aid a job. So it is Bryn Mawr’s responsibility.
Emily Tong ‘13: does the cost of student employment come out of the dining hall budget? Or does that come from somewhere else?
Chaney Harter ‘14: it is Dining Services. From what I understand, they have two different ways they budget. They have the money for labor budget which goes towards students and full time workers and then they have the food cost budget which goes towards buying all of the food.
Emily Tong ‘13: they take that into account? The number of students that the school has said they would fund and give work study to in those budgets?
Chaney Harter ‘14: I am not sure about the exact process.
Raminta Holden ‘14: has there been any talk about alternative versions of take out, like Tupperware check out system or something like that?
Jancy Munguia ’14: the reason Dining Services does not let people use their own Tupperware is that it is a food violation under Pennsylvania law. That is why we are strict on you guys using our containers. So that is something we cannot really change.
Raminta Holden ‘14: I was wondering if there could be Dining Services Tupperware that could be washed?
Jancy Munguia ’14: that has not been, but we will take that into consideration.
Alexandra Kirsch ‘15: just going off of that, I know that at some colleges they have take out containers. The students have chips and they can take out a reusable take out container. After they are done, they bring it back and they are allowed one per day.
Jancy Munguia ’14: what school?
Alexandra Kirsch ’15: North Carolina State University
Kendra Kelly ‘13: just a point of information, Bernie said at one the meetings we had with her that the Dining Services budget is per student and is based on the amount that fills a student’s stomach, rather than fills a box. If students have boxes, they will fill it; they will not put less in. Then through take out the Dining Services loses a lot of money. So they are trying to get the budget under control and limit the amount that students are taking out by making us sit down and eat.
Chaney Harter ‘14: one of the most important figures they have is the cost for meal. When you have takeout, the cost per meal goes up.
Yichun Fu ‘13: do we have any plan to address food waste? Some universities, if there is fancier food there is a chip or ticket. So that would also help us to reduce cost.
Chaney Harter ‘14: that is a good idea. It has not been brought up but we will.
Taj Meyer ‘15: what is the largest source of shrink or loss is? Is that all documented, all of the food that gets thrown away? I was curious about the shrink and loss.
Chaney Harter ‘14: we are not sure, I am sure there is documentation, but we do not know.
Jancy Munguia ‘14: so you guys have received an email from Dave that it is that time of the year to choose your meal plan. So just keep in mind that the food at the dining hall will be not so good next semester, so you might want to take that into consideration when you choose next semester’s meal plan.
Vrinda Varia ‘13: this conversation is not supposed to spark a lot of panic. While we do understand that this is a serious issue, we just wanted to explain a lot of the changes you can expect next semester. As you can see, we are trying to get a lot of the questions you have answered next semester. While we feel that there are a lot of cuts, it is very unique that we are at an institution where if we are unhappy, people are willing to pay attention to if we are willing to change something. So keep that in mind and carry on with that spirit.
New business
Jenna Myers ‘14: I just wanted to go over what happened at the last faculty meeting on December 5th. Two things were brought up. One of them, I had talked about implementing a writing system. At the meeting, they voted and they are going to change the writing curriculum so that students in the Sophomore or Junior year will have to take a writing course specified in their major. Though there is a little bit of flexibility. If you are double majoring, you do not need to take both classes. This will not be implemented in a couple of years. It will probably affect 2017 or 2018. It is just something to keep in mind. They voted on faculty representatives for student housing, mainly for Perry House issues. So the two faculty members are Alison Cook Sather and Francis Higginson.
Makala Forster ‘15: are the courses on top of Emily Balch Seminars or instead of?
Jenna Myers ’14: they will still have to take the Emily Balch Seminars but this course is just for their Sophomore or Junior year.
Kersti Francis ‘13: do you know what departments that the Perry House reps or the faculty reps are from?
Vrinda Varia ‘13: Alison Cook Sather works in Education Department. She coordinates the TLI, but she does not actually teach. Pim is in the French and African Studies.
Lindsey Crowe ’14: if they are implementing another course, say for English majors, wouldn’t that be similar to the English 250 course you have to take as a Sophomore or Junior?
Jenna Myers ‘14: I am not sure how that relates to the different departments. Depending on the department, they will already have a class that English Majors will have to take and then they will just make that the writing course that is required for the department. They can create a new course to make it work for the writing requirement, but it can also be a course that people can already take.
Karina Siu ‘14: for the next semester, who do we have coming to speak?
Vrinda Varia ‘13: noting has been formalized yet. We as an Exec Board only have three meetings next semester. So I am only coordinating 3 meetings of which I am looking at having Bernie and David Chase, and then Jerry and John. If there are any other individuals we want to come, we can extend an invitation. Mind you we are trying not to make this a Big Cheese, but trying to get specific information about certain issues.
Irene Shin ‘13: going off of the Dining Services thing. The Honor Board will be hosting table tents reminding people to please bring back the dining ware from their dorm rooms and from their dorms generally. They lose a lot of money in that. I am realizing I was not clear in my email and want to specify. They spend $15,000 a year on replacing dining ware alone. It is not that much, but a little bit goes a long way sometimes. I want to stress, please sleep in your rooms during finals week.