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Minutes

September 6, 2015 Minutes

Bryn Mawr College SGA Meeting – September 6, 2015

Roll Call

Announcements

Your Two Cents

Representative Council Member Introduction

Vote on Meeting Procedures

Old Business

New Business

Roll Call

Present: Olivia Hollinger, Elaine Holehan, Rhea Manglani, Madison Wilson, Samantha Heyrich, Jasmine Rangel, Celeste Ledesma, Delaney Williams, Emily Gifford-Smith, Mara Dominguez, Natalie DiFrank, Miranda Smith, Chanel Williams, Coco Wang, Connie Lam, Lyntana Brougham, Emma Basen-Engquist, Kyra Sagal, Shakari Badgett, Lindsey Foster, Modupe Olufemi, Dijia Chen, Rachel Ofili, Eve Cantler, Charlette Williams, Casiana Omick, Bridget Murray, Sarah Andrew, Ana Llamas

Absent: JoyAngelica Chan, Ann Tran, Stephanie Montalvan, Emily Siegel, Khadijah Seay, Danielle Cadet, Tosin Ajiboye

Charlie Bruce called the meeting to order at 7:14pm

 Charlie Bruce ’16: Hi! Hey everyone! Thank you for coming to the first SGA meeting of the year, sorry for the technical delay. We’re ready to go! Welcome to everyone here- first timers, or returners. This will be super fun! We’re going to do a little bit of business and also fun introductions so we know who everyone is. So let’s introduce the five people up here- the EBoard. I’m Charlie, I’m the president, I use they/them pronouns, class of 2016.

Linh Tran ’16: Hey! I’m Linh, I’m the treasurer. I use she/her pronouns and I’m class of 2016.

Gabrielle Smith ’17: I’m Gabby, and I’m the Vice-President! VEEP! I use she/her pronouns, and I’m class of 2017.

Molly MacDougall ’16: It’s ok; we have a microphone here, thanks Gabby! I’m Molly, I’m head of the honor board, I’m class of 2016 and I use she/her pronouns.

Angela Motte ’17: Hello everyone! My name is Angela, and I use she/her pronouns. I’m class of 2017, and I’m the secretary.

Charlie Bruce ’16: Swell! Next agenda item! Angela takes the roll call of all the representative council members, so that’s what we’ll be doing next.

 

 

Roll Call

Angela Motte ’17: Hi everyone! If I mispronounce your name, please correct me. When I call your name, please say here!

Present: Olivia Hollinger, Elaine Holehan, Rhea Manglani, Madison Wilson, Samantha Heyrich, Jasmine Rangel, Celeste Ledesma, Delaney Williams, Emily Gifford-Smith, Mara Dominguez, Natalie DiFrank, Miranda Smith, Chanel Williams, Coco Wang, Connie Lam, Lyntana Brougham, Emma Basen-Engquist, Kyra Sagal, Shakari Badgett, Lindsey Foster, Modupe Olufemi, Dijia Chen, Rachel Ofili, Eve Cantler, Charlette Williams, Casiana Omick, Bridget Murray, Sarah Andrew, Ana Llamas

Absent: JoyAngelica Chan, Ann Tran, Stephanie Montalvan, Emily Siegel, Khadijah Seay, Danielle Cadet, Tosin Ajiboye

 

Angela Motte ’17: Thank you guys! Also, I take minutes of every single meeting we have. That means that whatever you say during the meetings, I will be recording. I would really appreciate if before you spoke you could say your full name and class year so my minutes will be accurate. Keep this in mind as the meeting goes on, please!

Charlie Bruce ’16: Excellent, next agenda item! Announcements! During this item, any new items for discussion, questions, or announcements can be made. We have allotted ten minutes for this agenda item.

 

 

Announcements

Delaney Williams ‘17: We have a new Dorm President for Erdman! Congrats Shakari! Also elections are underway! Nominations are open as of Sunday, September 6th at 7 PM. They end Monday, September 14th at 9 AM. Information sessions are Monday, September 14th and Tuesday, September 15th. Candidates Forum is Wednesday, September 16th at 8 PM in Campus Center Main Lounge. Voting opens Monday, September 21st at 9 AM. They will end Tuesday, September 22nd at 7 PM. We have a lot of positions up for election, including no more than six Members-At-Large, Haverford College Representative, Off-Campus Representative, Representative to the Faculty, Head(s) of Campus Safety Committee, Office of Intercultural Affairs Representative (Pensby Representative), Class of 2017 Class President, and Class of 2019 Class President.

Charlie Bruce ’16: I have two announcements! I’m really excited about them, well at least one of them! One is from Julianna Perry, the Web Service Project Manager of the college, who is leading an advisory group made of students and staff, the purpose of which is to determine how to migrate our College email and calendar services from Zimbra to either Google Apps for Education or Microsoft 365. All Bryn Mawr accounts for students, faculty, staff, and emeriti/retirees will migrate to the new platform, so we will be enlisting broad input from the community during the course of the upcoming year. The advisory group will seek input from community members through two open forums, tabling in the campus center to get additional student representation to participate in that interview/pizza party session (in order to get a broader range of feedback in terms of first years through upperclasspeople). Additionally, they will be talking to graduate students and faculty as well. If you are interested in being a part of this group, please contact me at cebruce@bmc! Ah wait! This is a moment of learning! We have decorum at SGA. Regularly at meetings, we don’t do snaps, boos, hisses, claps, anything that shows any kind of praise or putting down. It creates a space of preference and we don’t want to do that here. Second committee announcement, BMC is in the process of finding a new Dean of the College. The current interim Dean, Judy Balthazar, will be stepping down at the end of the year so that a full­time staff can assume the role. Pelema Morrice, Chief Enrollment Officer of the College, will be chairing the committee and has asked me for one student nomination from a current BMC senior. If you or someone you know is a senior interested in being on this committee, please email the SGA Eboard (SGA@bmc) with your nomination by next Sunday, September 13th. Students nominated will be interviewed by the Eboard and one will be picked for appointment to this committee.

Gabrielle Smith ’17: So we just heard all about elections, so if you get an elected position you will be a part of the repco here at SGA meetings, but we also have appointments! Applications will be open from the 13th of September at 5 pm to the 20th of September 11:59pm. Interviews will be held the week of the 21st. Appointments up for reappointment are Student Finance Committee, Elections Board, Social Committee, Traditions Committee, Curriculum Committee, Film Series Committee, Plenary Committee, Outreach and Communications. Thanks!

Emily Gifford-Smith ’16: Hey guys! I have some news from athletics. Both soccer and volleyball had wins this weekend! Cross country placed second at the Delaware invitational. We really love your support at our home games, so please come support!

Charlie Bruce ’16: Great! Anything else? Ok we’re going to move on.

 

 

Your Two Cents

 

Charlie Bruce ’16: During this item, any new items for discussion, questions, or straw polls can be made. We have allotted ten minutes for this agenda item. So, for example if I really wanted a punching bag to be in the gym, I would solicit community desires and see if the community wanted one, and I could begin to work on it.

Kristian Sumner ’17: I really want a punching bag.

Charlie Bruce ‘16: Anyone have your two cents?

Precious Robinson ‘19: I think we should have more access to water on campus. You can get tap water, but having water fountains or water coolers or something would be really helpful.

Charlie Bruce ’16: Who can help?

Sarah Andrew ’16: So, this cam up in Dorm president meeting with facilities, so I think if we reiterate it to them, maybe they’ll be more apt to it.

Delaney Williams ’17: I have talked about this with in regards to green initiatives. The infrastructure is so old here, so a lot of the buildings can’t support it, but, here’s my shameless plug, if you come talk to me, we can see if my group can help.

Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: I don’t actually know, but maybe try the head of grounds?

Delaney Williams ’17: We have a new head of grounds!

Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: The new head of grounds would be a good person to talk to.

Leah Kahler ’16: Dawn Giovanni is new and she’s coming to the next SGA meeting, and you can ask her then.

Lyntana Brougham ’16: Brecon doesn’t have a water fountain, so if you want someone to advocate with you, I can join you.

Shakari Badgett ’17: We can get water bubblers instead.

Norah X ’19: What’s a bubbler?

Shakari Badgett ’17: It’s like a portable water machine.

Charlie Bruce ’16: Final comments? Nothing? Ok, swell.

 

 

Representative Council Member Introduction

Charlie Bruce ’16: Ok, the next item is Representative Council Member Introduction. Please come up and introduce yourself with name, pronouns, and fun fact.

Angela Motte ’17: Please speak slowly.

Charlie Bruce ’16: We have allotted until the end of speaking order.

Shakari Badgett ’17: Hello, I’m Shakari, I use they/them pronouns.

Kyra Sagal ’17: Hey, I’m Kyra and I use she/her pronouns.

Shakari Badgett ’17: We’re your Erdman dorm presidents, and our fun fact is together we make “Sha-kyra.”

Ana Llamas ‘18: Hey, I’m Ana and I use she/her pronouns. I’m the new dorm dorm president. Fun fact, I like German football.

Casiana Omick ’18: Hello, I’m co dorm president of Rhoads with Stephanie. Stephanie is at the “Made in America” concert. Our fun fact is that Stephanie and I are Bryn Married.

Delaney Williams ’17: Joy is also at “Made in America.” I’m Delaney and I was in a beauty pageant when I was 16.

Natalie DiFrank ’17: Hey, I’m Natalie, I use she/her pronouns, and I’m the CPD liaison. Fun fact, I can make one of my eyeballs squeak.

Emily Gifford-Smith ’16: Hey guys, I’m Emily, I use she/her and I play soccer.

Samantha Heyrich ’17: Hey I’m Samantha, I use she/her pronouns and my fun fact is that I’m a duel sport varsity athlete.

Miranda Smith ’16: Hello everyone, I’m Miranda Smith. I use she/her pronouns. My fun fact is that when I need to relax I juggle.

Madison Wilson ’17: Hey I’m Madison and I use she/her.

Rhea Manglani’17: I’m Rhea and I use she/her. We’re the co heads of SCC, and our fun fact is that we transferred together. Not like from the same place, but we transferred in together.

Jasmine Rangel ’17: Hey I’m Jasmine and I use she/her pronouns.

Celeste Ledesma ’17: Hey I’m Celeste and I use she/her pronouns. Together we are your traditions mistresses for the year.

Jasmine Rangel ’17: Our fun fact is that on parade night, someone took our lantern and we really want it back- it’s super special, it has 4-panes in all the class colors, and it’s not yours so please return it.

Lyntana Brougham ’16: Hey I’m Lyntana and I use she/her pronouns. I have hyper mobility so I can move my arms in ways people normally can’t. Want to see?

(crowd screams)

Lindsay Burak ’16: I’m Lindsay, I use she and her pronouns. When I was nine, my parents took me on a trip around the world.

Bridget Murray ’17: I’m Bridget, I use she/her pronouns and my fun fact can’t top that one Lindsay. I’m a really big Philly sports fan.

Mara Dominguez ’16: Hello everyone I’m Mara and I use she/her pronouns. I can recite the nations of the world in under two minutes in a song.

Olivia Hollinger ’16: Hey you all, I’m Olivia. I use she and her pronouns.

Elaine Holehan ’16: Hey I’m Elaine and I use she and her pronouns.

Olivia Hollinger ’16: Our fun fact is that we’ve been roommates for the last three years.

Eve Cantler ’16: Hey I’m Eve, and I use she/her.

Charlette Williams ’16: I’m Charlette and I use she/her.

Eve Cantler ’16: Our fun fact is that we both live in Radnor.

Sarah Andrew ’16: Hello I’m Sarah. I use she/her. Emily is at a concert, but we’re co-dorm presidents of Rock. My fun fact is that my hometown is the home of World Series baseball.

Emma Basen-Engquist ’17: Hi I’m Emma, and I use she/her and they/them pronouns. My fun fact is that I can cook pasta in a frying pan.

Modupe Olufemi ’17: Hello, I’m Modupe, I use she/her pronouns. My fun fact is that in my dad’s native language, my name means “thanks be to God.”

Connie Lam ’18: Hey guys I’m Connie. I use she/her pronouns. Ann is also at a concert right now, but my fun fact is that I’ll be seeing “Panic! At the Disco” soon!

Dijia Chen ’16: Hello I am Dijia. I use she/her pronouns.

Rachel Ofili ’16: Hey guys I’m Rachel and I use she/her pronouns. We’re the Pem West Dorm Presidents.

Dijia Chen ’16: We don’t have a combined fun fact. I can move my ears.

Rachel Ofili ’16: I like my eggs burnt.

Coco Wang ’16: Hello everybody! I’m Coco. I use she/her pronouns.

Chanel Williams ’16: I’m Chanel, I use she/her pronouns.

Coco Wang ’16: Fun fact, together we’re Coco Chanel.

Chanel Williams ’16: Also, as far as we know, we’re the first co presidents to both be international students.

Charlie Bruce ’16: Thanks everyone! So now next we’re going to talk about our vote on Meeting Procedures.

 

 

Vote on Meeting Procedures

Charlie Bruce ’16: Ok, so RepCo, you all should have gotten the email from Angela over the summer. In it, it went over meeting procedures. We’re going to take a vote on that now. A quick and brief recap for everyone would be options are ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘abstain’, we have rules on the microphones, the outline of what an SGA meeting does. Let’s take a vote.

(Vote is passed)

Charlie Bruce ’16: Excellent! So the next vote would be KCass and Deans at plenary. We’re going to have 4 votes. First, should Kim be able to come to plenary? The options are yes, no, abstain.

(Vote is passed)

Charlie Bruce ’16: Ok, so we have 19 for yes, so KCass will be invited to plenary. What about the deans? Yes, no, abstain?

(Vote does not pass)

Charlie Bruce ’16: Since more people abstained, we’re going to have to say that’s a no. Ok, in that case, this is the third and final question. Should KCass have speaking rights at plenary? Yes, no, abstain?

(Vote is passed)

Charlie Bruce ’16: President Cassidy will be invited and given speaking rights. Thank you for participating in SGA. We will next be reading fall plenary resolutions. We had plenary resolution writing workshops this past week. Plenary is super early this year, so that doesn’t give a bunch of time, but we have one resolution that has been written, but this time is for the writer to come up and present her idea to the community and get feedback.

Delaney Williams ’17: Thanks. “Whereas, there’s no dedicated budget or staff for sustainability at the college. Whereas, sustainable initiatives such as conservation hours, tray-less dining halls, LED lighting, composting, and waste reduction have saved funds for the college. Whereas, initiatives take place through partnerships of students, staff, and faculty. Whereas, in the future such a fund could save the college money. Whereas, a mission including sustainability would be attractive to prospective students Whereas, the college has previously set and met goals for sustainability and in or Be it Resolved, the college initiates a fund to support sustainable initiatives and/or staffing in which cost savings from new sustainable initiatives are deposited. Be it Resolved, the college includes sustainability in its mission.” Ok, so I’m the intern for the sustainability leadership group. Faculty and students come together to work on this. We’ve always put in for a budget, and it’s been denied. Students have figured out ways to save the college money. Does any one have any questions?

Shakari Badgett ’17: About how much money will come in? What if you go over budget?

Delaney William ’17: Victor Donnay is away, so I’m contacting Deb Grant Tuesday because she’s in charge of all the bills from facilities. If we go over budget, I think facilities will help pay. They have really shown their support.

Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: I would really talk to facilities about that.

Delaney Williams ’16: I work really close with Jerry Berrrinson, and he helped me write the budget. Who do you suggest?

Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: Whoever has the most power.

Delaney Williams ’17: Thank you.

Elaine Holehan ’16: Just to clarify, you’d be asking for the money from composting because it saves?

Delaney Williams ’17: We’ve already saved a good amount of money through composting and waste reduction. I don’t know the dollar amount so I don’t want to spread false information. Like if they have a fancy new light bulb that saves more energy and money, we’d take the difference.

Norah X ’19: Do you have specific projects?

Delaney Williams ’17: We have national guidelines. Over the summer I was working on writing them. I had once a week meeting with Jerry, but it was mostly just me. We’d have other staffing, well not all staffing, but more like to pay for my internship and to pay for the report payments, like fees. Projects that students have, such as green groups. It’s just about helping time and helping us do this like bike shares.

Melanie Bahti ’16: There has been some discussion between a shared position between Haverford and Bryn Mawr. Maybe talk to someone who knows more?

Delaney Williams ’17: At Haverford they got someone for the position, they have an arboretum. The woman who co holds that, she was originally hired for the arboretum, but also takes care of sustainability initiatives.

Leah Kahler ’16: Talk to Dawn, she’s the new landscaping lady. She’s really into student input and like the environmental impacts of that. Are you asking the college to start raising money from alumnus?

Delaney Williams ’17: So pretty much, if we have something from sustainability, like a study that showed that we shaved the college $5,000 annually, we’d get a portion of that. Anyone else?

Charlie Bruce ’16: If someone wants to contact you, what’s your email?

Delaney Williams ’17: dcwilliams@bmc

Charlie Bruce ’16: Ok, so remember September 20th at noon in Goodhart auditorium! We will have a quiet study space in Hepburn teaching theater. Plenary is time for people to come together to have discussions about changes we want to have on campus. Please come, have your friends come! That’s if for this agenda item. On to old business! During old business, material that has already been presented may be revisited, questioned, or announced. We have allotted 10 minutes for this agenda item.

 

 

 

Old Business

Shakari Badgett ’17: So last year I talked about an Erdman party called Heaven vs. Hell, so we’re going to gauge our support form constituents.

Madison Wilson ’17: I’ll email this to you Angela, I promise!

Angela Motte ’17: Thank you so much!

Rhea Manglani ’17: During Big Cheese Forum, two issues were brought to our attention: the diversity requirement and taking community college classes as summer school classes. We brought these issues up in committee and they’ve been added to our agenda. We will keep you all updated on the progress of these agenda items.

Gabrielle Smith ’17: If you want to help them, you can apply to be on the student curriculum committee!

Charlie Bruce ’16: That was lovely. On to new business. New business! New business is for the Representative Council members only. Any new items for discussion, questions, or announcements can be made that relate to the representative’s position. We have allotted 10 minutes for this agenda item.

 

 

New Business

Charlie Bruce ’16: No new business? Alright! We’ve reached the end of our first SGA meeting of the year! Rep Council needs to vote if we end, the options are yes, no and abstain.

Shakari Badgett ’17: I motion to end the meeting.

Sarah Andrew ’16: I second.

Charlie Bruce ’16: The options are yes, no and abstain.

 

(Olivia Hollinger, Elaine Holehan, Rhea Manglani, Madison Wilson, Samantha Heyrich, Jasmine Rangel, Celeste Ledesma, Delaney Williams, Emily Gifford-Smith, Mara Dominguez, Natalie DiFrank, Miranda Smith, Chanel Williams, Coco Wang, Connie Lam, Lyntana Brougham, Emma Basen-Engquist, Kyra Sagal, Shakari Badgett, Lindsey Foster, Modupe Olufemi, Dijia Chen, Rachel Ofili, Eve Cantler, Charlette Williams, Casiana Omick, Bridget Murray, Sarah Andrew, Ana Llamas vote to adjourn the meeting)

 

Charlie Bruce ’16: Meeting adjourned! Have an amazing night!

 

Meeting adjourned at 7:55pm