November 22, 2015 Minutes – Self-Government Association

Bryn Mawr College SGA Meeting – November 22, 2015

Roll Call

Announcements

Your Two Cents

Vote on 7 Sisters

Follow up on the Conversation About Posters

Old Business

New Business

Roll Call

Present: Delaney Williams, Chanel Williams, Coco Wang, Eve Cantler, Charlette Williams, Ann Tran, Khadijah Seay, Danielle Cadet, Connie Lam, Sarah Andrew, Delia Landers, Hannah Chinn, Nora Dell, Melanie Bahti, Sedi Agawu, Mara Dominguez, Sneha Soni, Rhea Manglani, Alexis Wiltsire, Tosin Ajiboye, Kyra Sagal, Shakari Badgett, Dijia Chen, JoyAngelica Chan, Rina Patel, Maria Minaya, Miranda Smith, Elizabeth Lorenzana, Diamond Ray, Jasmine Rangel, Celeste Ledesma, Lillian Oyen-Ustad, Nikitha Shakamuri, Lilly King, Lindsey Foster, Modupe Olufemi, Stephanie Montalvan, Casiana Omick, Tyler Brown-Cross, Emily Gifford-Smith, Erin Saladin, Olivia Hollinger, Radhika Singh, Emma Basen-Engquist, Rachel Ofili, Emily Siegel.

Absent: Madison Wilson, Natalie DiFrank, Elaine Holehan, Samantha Heyrich, Oona Ryle, Veda Nambi, Bridget Murray, Ana Llamas

Charlie Bruce ‘16 called the meeting to order at 7:10pm

Charlie Bruce ’16: Hey everyone let’s begin with roll call!

Roll Call

Angela Motte ’17: Hello everyone! As a reminder, I record these meetings, so keep that in mind when you speak.

Absent: Madison Wilson, Natalie DiFrank, Elaine Holehan, Samantha Heyrich, Oona Ryle, Veda Nambi, Bridget Murray, Ana Llamas

Charlie Bruce ’16: Thanks! We’re going to move on to 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: Hi, I’m Delaney.

Joy Chan ’17: And I’m Joy. Voting for the emergency elections will start tomorrow morning at 9 AM until Tuesday night at 7 PM. The positions up for election are Committee on Public Safety and Elections head. Remember to vote on Moodle!

Celeste Ledesma ’17: Traditions will be hosting a Hot Topic about WTF Friday activities after SGA at 8:30 tonight.

Charlie Bruce ’16: Any more announcements? Ok Next item! Your Two Cents! Anyone in the BMC undergrad community can host a straw poll or bring up a topic for discussion.

Your Two Cents

Charlie Bruce ’16: Any cents? Ok, next topic!

Vote on 7 Sisters

Charlie Bruce ’16: Two weeks ago, Emily and Elizabeth came to talk to us about 7 Sisters, and our role within that community. In order to proceed with our alliance, we need to ratify the constitution. I’m going to pass it over to them to talk about it.

Emily Spiegel ’18: I’m Emily, and I’m one of the 7 Sisters reps.

Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: Hello, I’m Elizabeth and I’m the other 7 Sisters rep. We have to do four votes today, and I’m really, really sorry. The first vote is to reaffirm the 7 Sisters Constitution.

Emily Spiegel ’18: The second is to allow us to send delegates to the coordinating board of the 7 Sisters. The third is if you’re ok with Elizabeth and I, the currents reps, be the reps to the leadership board. And the last one is if you will allow us to make a temporary committee to get this all done, so we can host the 7 Sisters conference next year. Any questions?

Hannah Chinn ’19: In article 2 section 1 part a, one rep would be on the exec board…?

Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: We have the ability to not choose to use that, so we will not be using that.

Casiana Omick ’18: Does this have any potential cons? Like our hosting of it.

Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: Not that I can think of. We’ve hosted it before. We’ll need to house people, so I guess that could be a con.

Emily Spiegel ’18: But that’s like cool, and lets us get to know people better.

Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: And every SGA pays $750, so that covers the costs.

Emily Spiegel ’18: Let’s put it to a vote. The first vote is to reaffirm the 7 Sisters Constitution. Yes, no, abstain. This vote passes.

Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: The second is to allow us to send delegates to the coordinating board of the 7 Sisters. Yes, no, abstain. This vote passes. The third is if you’re ok with Elizabeth and I, the currents reps, be the reps to the leadership board. Yes, no, abstain.

Emily Spiegel ’18: The final one is if you will allow us to make a temporary committee to get this all done, so we can host the 7 Sisters conference next year. Yes, no, abstain. Thank you all.

Follow up on the Conversation About Posters

Charlie Bruce ’16: Last week, I organized this haphazardly, so this time, I will be passing over the microphone to someone who will do it better than I did.

Danielle Roomes ’17: Hi everyone! In this corner, and spread out in the audience, you have members of the BMC Coalition. We want to send out good vibes to begin, so Khadijah is going to help us out with that.

Khadijah Seay ’16: So, this time will have a structured set up. Out structure will begin with a reading of the BMC Coalition mission, then the revised list of demands. Then, we’ll give a quick BMC history so everyone knows how we got to this point. After that, we’ll be having an open discussion. I want to encourage you all to have an open discussion. We want everyone to be able to participate. Please ask questions, give us feedback, concerns- we want this to be an open dialogue. We want this to be taken back to the greater community.

Assata Acey ’19: The mission of the BMC Coalition is to empower students to create long-lasting institutional change through collaborative partnerships and accountability among administration, faculty, staff and students. We are a coalition whose aim is to make Bryn Mawr and its resources adequate and accessible for all students.

Danielle Roomes ’17: Hopefully, you all have had a chance to go on Moodle to see the updated list of demands. Did everyone see them? If you haven’t they are available on Moodle. A brief history will be read by Rachel to give our demands some historical context.

Rachel Massey ’18: In 1916, President M. Carey Thomas’s words to the student body -“If the supremacy of the white race is maintained, as I hope it will be. . . .” “it is the only race to educate women. . . .” “certain races have not intellect, government.” “If the laws of heredity mean anything, we’re jeopardizing . . . by [a] headlong intermixture of the races.” Florence shared that Thomas questioned each new member of the student body: “Where did you come from? Where did your parents come from?” In 1954 Evelyn Jones Rich, a Black woman who graduated in 1954, attended BMC because she felt that her experience here would help her fulfill her larger role of being a proponent for fundamental change in society. She described experiences of being denied entrance into certain spaces if she was with a Black man. This is from Florence Goff and Karen Tidmarsh “Examining Our History: Inclusion/Exclusion at Bryn Mawr.” In 1988, a Latina student, Christine Rivera, finds a note under her door reading “Why don’t you leave Bryn Mawr? If you and your kind can’t handle the work here, don’t blame it on this racial thing. You’re making our school look bad to everyone else. If you can’t handle it, get out. We’d all be a lot happier.” This is silencing to protect the Bryn Mawr image. And finally, we have the 2015 Yik Yaks. “Do Bryn Mawr students have to make everything about race? I understand that race is a hot topic in the US but we have it so privileged here at Bryn Mawr compared to outside the Bryn Mawr bubble.” And another, when asked about the BMC Coalition, someone responded saying, “It’s about fucking N word people being fucking bitches. Basically that’s it.”
Danielle Roomes ’17: To reiterate, that information was provided to give context to the conversation. Diversity is something we need to constantly work on. Admissions isn’t where it starts and ends, but it takes a lot of work to make people feel comfortable. We need proper resources provided. In 1988, we see similar demands that are being made today in 2015. Basically, what we’re trying, what the Coalition is trying to do, is bring about action. We can’t drop the ball; we have to take it past talking, and make a bridge into action. We need to make Bryn Mawr hold up to the ideals it says it holds. One more round of good vibes from Khadijah, because this is heavy stuff.

Khadijah Seay ’16: Piggybacking off of this being heavy, this has been a heavy week, especially if you came to the conversation Thursday. Some of us need time to think, and need time to respond, and you can’t always respond in the moment. We all need time to process because we all have different access points. We want to give space for what people are trying to say. We also want to keep in mind that while for some people speaking in this form isn’t the best, but we’re supportive of them. We can’t create a safe space, but this can be a brace space. I really liked that one, Charlie. We hope that people can engage in the conversation. If you want to get involved, or have a conversation, you want to express that, and you want to get a response that the concern has been heard, feel free to take some time to think, and when you’re ready, feel free to jump in.

Casiana Omick ’18: I have a question for the coalition? Is this a group that anyone is welcome to join, or are you happy with the people you currently have?

Danielle Roomes ’17: We hate everyone, so no one else is allowed to join. I’m joking, we love everyone. Please show up. It’s not only for affinity groups. It’s for everyone to get involved. We all have different skills. Anyone is welcome. You can email us at bmccoalition@gmail.com or give Nolan, right over here, your information. We have weekly meetings at Wednesday in the ECC at 8:30pm.

Delaney Williams ’17: Where on Moodle are the updated lists?

Danielle Roomes ’17: I’ll answer again. So if you remember last week, Ruth Lindeborg sent out a follow up email. Literally, just search her name in your email, and the email will come up, and the link is there.

Shakari Badgett ’17: If you go to Moodle, it’s under “Diversity Concerns.”

Danielle Roomes ’17: Thank you.

Charlie Bruce ’16: What happened in 1988? Also, I don’t know if this is on the updated list of demands, because you talked about the improved dining staff conditions, I think it was number 20, anyway, I was wondering if also housekeeping could be added to that especially because they’re here in the summer with the camp kids.

Danielle Roomes ’17: Despite what it may look like, I’m not the spokesperson. In regards to 1988, students felt very uncomfortable with a Latina student in the dorm. They decided to write really horrible notes and slip it under her door. The administration condemned the acts, and asked the students to reveal themselves, but no one did. The students put more letters under her door. Eventually she left the campus. You can find this in Black at Bryn Mawr and in The College News.

Charlie Bruce ’16: I ask because the $200,000 towards the diversity initiative- what did it look like? How can I find out more about that?

Danielle Roomes ’17: It’s on Black at Bryn Mawr, that’s a really good resource, after a lot of affinity groups got involved, they petitioned the school to increase faculty diversity. They had a 1988 equivalent to the “Community Day of Learning”, where outside groups came to facilitate the conversations.

Delaney Williams ’17: I couldn’t go Thursday, but a lot of discussion about Yik Yak happened. How can we hold people accountable for the racist things they say on Yik Yak?

Nolan Julien ’18: One of the things that is so hurtful is that it’s people in our classes, who could possible live in the dorms with us. Be an ally, a friend, a good person. Say that these things are hurtful, down vote them, call people out. I personally put my name on Yik Yak, so people know it’s me. A lot of anger came from not knowing what was going on. Tell people to email bmccoalition@gmail.com if they have questions. Stand up for this. The Coalition is a group of students, and no one deserves to be talked to like that regardless of their skin color. Be a good person, and defend your friends.

Rachel Massey ’18: Also, so I’m also an Honor Board Rep, we wish we could say that being rude and ignorant could be held to our processes, but because we didn’t have a threat of violence, we couldn’t hold them legally responsible. But I do agree with Nolan. The idea that people are putting this on Yik Yak, this isn’t the first time people have used microagressive language. We need to acknowledge that, and that they’re hiding their hatred because they are comfortable. They are still thinking these ideas, but they’re just not saying them in a space where they can be held accountable for them.

Danielle Roomes ’17: I’m looking at the 1988 letter incident right now, and just reading down, the college admin responded quickly, saying that discrimination and harassment would not be tolerated. Until everyone was free from that, the admin wouldn’t stand for it. So when students went to occupy campus safety recently, one of the students asked for open condemnation of the events by the administration. They didn’t do that. For me, the difference between the two is alarming.

Sofi Chavez ’17: To Delaney’s question, about how you can combat Yik Yak- they go away over night. What’s good about that is that it’s really easy to take back a narrative. But something’s you need to keep for memory. I’m not trying to plug for The College News, but I’m plugging for free speech. I loved when I saw the admin’s memo, it was really powerful. The 1988 admin took a stand.

Sarah Miller ’18: To people who know more about the Honor Code than I do, is there a way to fix this? Like people were complaining about posting policy regulation, but there is no way to get this into the Honor Code?

Molly Mac Dougall ’16: Head of the Honor Board. It is in the Honor Code; you can’t say hateful things. The problem with Yik Yak is that we can’t find out the identification of the person, unless a judge issues a warrant, which they wouldn’t because no threat was made.

Erin Saladin ’16: Structural changes need to be made. It seems to me that diversity requirements and Black at Bryn Mawr have been kept separated. Selective amnesia causes people to forget things that have already happened. We need to talk about the history constantly to remind ourselves this.

Khadijah Seay ’16: As far as Black at Bryn Mawr goes, we have an issue of keeping the project going. The two students who did it have graduated, and Monica Mercado, her term is up in June. We need to get people to keep it going. That’s a little bit hard. Incorporating the tour in to admissions would be a way to do this. Rhea can maybe speak to the curriculum aspect.

Rhea Manglani ’17: They had a discussion on Wednesday about this. I’m pairing with sisterhood to host a larger discussion. It happens every year- it starts and then stops. Hopefully it’ll be a more current and on going issue. Faculty seems to push more of being in favor with it. It may be with inquiry into the past or cross-cultural. I’ll bring it up in the committee.

Leah Kahler ’16: What role do you want SGA to have in student activism?

Khadijah Seay ’16: I think it’s a work in progress. It’s a little difficult to see what role you want people to play, faculty to play, SGA to play. I have hesitations as an elected person to the Rep council because it’s hard to interact in this space sometimes. It’s difficult to feel included in the larger campus when you don’t feel included in the smaller community. But I really think it’s worth talking about, and it’s good to hear people who are actively involved in SGA talk about it. We need to work towards this together. We need to expand SGA to make it more inclusive, and get more people here who want to be here.

Rachel Ofili ’16: If you come to our meeting, which once again, anyone is welcome in the meetings, you can voice your opinions on anything you have, and we can bring it to SGA, so we can incorporate your opinions and concerns at SGA. We want to get people involved.

Ann Tran ’18: I was wondering if there was a place to look at the original draft for the list of demands. Those had a lot of valid points that weren’t in the updated draft. I was wondering what spurred the edited version.

Danielle Roomes ’17: We are working on archiving so everything is saved. We can put it back up on the Facebook if that’s useful. Again, these demands will continue to grow. The short answer is that these demands are according to the needs of the community. We shortened it to make it more concise. Another thing was that some parts of the demand were jarring to say the least, but for the sake of wanting to make sure we were sending out the right message, and how we want to interact, we edited it. It seemed to contradict our goals and our mission. Again, come to our meetings.

Crystal Des-Ogugua ’17: It was that all the demands have added up, that’s why it was so long. It had a lot of things that have been asked for over the years.

Charlie Bruce ’16: In response to Leah- if anyone wants to bring up something to SGA, please send me an email and we can have a conversation like this. This is what makes things like this happen. One more thing, we’re going to need a motion to extend the time if people want to keep talking about this.

Miranda Smith ’16: I motion to extend the time for 10 minutes.

Charlie Bruce ’16: This is a Rep Council votes only, options are yes, no, abstain. 10 more minutes added to time.

Sofi Chavez ’17: Part comment and question. I’ve heard a lot of talk about solidarity and ally-ship. I’m wondering how you can create a truly representative space, and what efforts the coalition has made to reach out to other groups, to represent the wide range of experiences?

Danielle Roomes ’17: This is a very important question. One of the first things that we’re done is to not talk about experiences that aren’t ours. We’ve made that mistake, and we never want to make that mistake ever again. We want you to tell your friends to come out, to have them tell their friends. We’re going to create a student core group who does strategic planning. Each member will represent a different community on campus. If you’re looking for that responsibility, please let us know.

Rachel Ofili ’16: We also have a Facebook page, BMC Coalition. Like it to stay updated. We also want to have translations of our mission statement on the Facebook page, and if you speak Spanish, German, French, I don’t know, whatever, let us know if you want to translate it, because we want it to be accessible. If you know people who want to create a more inclusive space, so like if you’re not capable to voice concerns, we want to be able to hear them, so have them reach out to us in a easier way for them.

Modupe Olufemi ’17: I have a comment. I think it’s great that you guys are doing institutional memory, but what do you have in mind to see it through? BMC Coalition will be in transition, so it stays for now, but when everyone leaves, who knows. We need to keep admins accountable.

Khadijah Seay ’16: Part of it I think- I’m a senior now. I’m leaving in the spring. Part of what goes into this is mentoring younger students. We want to bring up leaders, pull them out, and have them learn what to do. We’re going to use underclassman and bring them into leadership roles so they get the experiences now, and hopefully that process will continue. We can also get faculty members on board. Some of them have been here forever. A lot of my time is spent talking to faculty, and when you have these people on board, it’s good. They’re more permanent than us.

Danielle Roomes ’17: We are going to be working, most likely, with someone who has already approached us about keeping out materials. They approached us, and our materials will be kept for memory. Everything builds on this- institutional memory is really important, so through the mentorship, we can keep both alive.

Shakari Badgett ’17: My comment was a little more general. I noticed that in the Yik Yaks, a lot of people felt like they couldn’t have these conversations. A lot of people have friends who have experienced these things, so don’t be afraid to ask those friends. Ask them what is going on, and who to get into contact with. I don’t know what’s going on, and just because I’m a Person of Color doesn’t mean that I know everything. I feel like I’m becoming a spokesperson. Reach out to people who know.

Irène Delaney ’16: It’s important for whites to feel uncomfortable and listen first. Come to the meetings, it’s not threatening.

Haley Johnson ’18: I had a question about the Thursday meeting. Did any conclusions get reached, or was it similar to this?

Khadijah Seay ’16: We have a lot of conversations on this campus. I think what was good about this space on Thursday was that it started off heavy, because people were hurt and got to talk about their experiences. It’s good for us to have that space and talk about what’s really going on, and see patterns that immerge. I don’t think the meeting had a conclusion, I would say, but people are committed to moving forward. Part of that is the President being on board. She has been really good about meeting and talking about what we can do, and turning that conversation into action steps. She talked about the 1-year plan, the 5-10 year plan. What we want and need is to work collaboratively.

Nora Dell ’19: I was at the meeting and thought it would be helpful to write it down, so I have the transcript. I have a transcript-it’s kind of loose, but if you want it…

Danielle Roomes ’17: Yes, please email that to me.

Charlie Bruce ’16: We have reached the end of time.

Hannah Chinn ’19: Motion to extend time to the end of speaking order.

Charlie Bruce ’16: That’s four more people Yes, no, abstain. Yes, please continue.

Rachel Ofili ’16: So mine is really short. We have ribbons if you want to support and show your ally-ship. You can put them on your backpacks! Let people know that we’re a growing, strong group, and we are here to create equality on this campus. It’s a visual reminder. If you want one, get one from Nolan. Also, if you want to sign up, go see Nolan.

Gabrielle Smith ’17: Going back to Leah, about how SGA can make change. Elections for COPS head is Monday and Tuesday. Get someone in the position and make a change.

Assata Acey ’19: I hear a lot of talk about the Yaks, which emphasize on the Yaks and not the people. Just because people don’t say what they’re feeling doesn’t mean they don’t feel it. We have other people who are just as dangerous and hurtful who still have these ideas. If you want to help, work on that. Those people could have been anybody.

Emily Gifford-Smith ’16: Will minutes be taken on the Wednesday meeting?

Danielle Roomes ’17: Yes.

Charlie Bruce ’16: With that, we move to old business.

Old Business

Charlie Bruce ’16: Any old business? Ok, new business!

New Business

Charlie Bruce ’16: Any new business? I have one! We have no SGA meeting next week, because it’s Thanksgiving. Enjoy your break. Our last SGA meeting of the year is December 6^th, and we’re going to take a holiday photo. If you have a nice camera, please let me know ASAP. One more thing- I meet monthly with the President and Interim Dean, and if you ever want me to talk to them about something, let me know. I’m here as an advocate as a student. With that, time is up.

Melanie Bahti ’16: I motion to end the meeting.

Shakari Badgett ’17: Second.

Charlie Bruce ’16: Yes, no, abstain. Have a great break everyone!

Meeting was adjourned at 8:21 pm