Minutes
Taken by: Hannah Chinn ‘19
February 14, 2016 – SGA Meeting
Roll Call
ABSENT: Mara Dominguez, Nolan Julien, Erin Saladin, Rina Patel, Natilie Difrank, Miranda Smith, Olivia Hollinger, Celeste Ledesma, Ann Tran, Oona Ryle, Radhika Singh, Kyra Sagal, Modupe Olufemi, Eve Cantler, Rachel Ofili, Casi Omick, Stephanie Montalvan, Bridget Murray, Tyler Brown-Cross, Emily Siegel
Announcements
Genesis Perez, ’19: February Elections are over and now we have our new elected Eboard! If you guys could just stand up here and introduce yourselves to the Bryn Mawr community, that would be great. We have our new SGA President, our SGA Vice-president, our SGA Treasurer, and Secretary, and Head of the Honor Board.
Swati Shastry ‘18: My name’s Swati, she/her, 2018, Head of the Honor Board
Rhea Mangliani ‘17: Rhea, 2017, she/her, SGA President
Shaina Robinson ‘17: Shaina, 2017, she/her, SGA Vice-President
Rachel Bruce ‘18: Hi, I’m Rachel, 2018, SGA Secretary
Jocelyn: Hi! Jocelyn, 2018, she/her, SGA Treasurer
Genesis Perez ‘19: Also, aside from the Eboard, we have our newly elected coheads of Elections, that would be Mariana Garcia and myself. Aside from these positions, we also have elections for ResCo head and 2017 president, if you could stand up that’d be great. Okay, Alexis Wiltshire, class of 2017 President
Also we have the new appointments committee members, if you could stand up here, that’d be great. Oh, and if you could introduce yourselves.
Delia Landers ’19: I’m Delia, class of 2019, she/her pronouns
Kamara Simms ’19: Kamara, class of 2019, she/her
Nanda Bhushan ’19: I’m Nanda, class of 2019, she/her
Anushka Robinson ’19: Anushka, class of 2019, she/her
Genesis Perez ’19: Okay, thank you everybody!
Charlie: Clap!
(applause)
Jasmine Rangel ‘17: Hello, I’m half of the traditionsmistresses, I have a couple announcements about the upcoming WTF week, which starts this Wednesday at 5:38 pm. There are three announcements that I have
First is to the juniors: we need volunteers for the upcoming TGH staycation time, so you can sign up to be a leader for movies, video games, board games, or you can hang out in the great hall and be with first years who are working on their Goodhart performances
Seniors: if you want to sign up for a senior strut at the end of goodhart performance, you need to make sure that it’s about three minutes in length, and we have about 10 spots. You need to include the name of your group, the name of your performance, and the music file that you’re gonna be dancing… or whatever your performance is… to.
To first years: the TGH performance schedules are going out at 12pm tomorrow! And the Goodhart ones are going out Tuesday at noon. So take a look out for that in your email as well, and that’s it! If you have any questions regarding WTF week, please email us at wtfweek@brynmawr.edu.
Charlie Bruce ‘16: Alright everyone, what is next week? (Plenary!) What time does it start?
Plenary is at 11:30, that’s when doors open, what is quorum? 441! That’s been sent out on the listserv, it’s gone out on the SGA Facebook page, I’ve advertised it on my personal page. If y’all could advertise it as well then that’d be great! Please come to plenary, encourage your friends to come, and if they’d like to volunteer there’s a page where you can sign up to volunteer. Does anyone have any questions about that? If you have any questions you can email me at cebruce@brynmawr.edu. Does anyone have any more announcements?
Your Two Cents
Charlie Bruce ’16: Anyone have any cents? No? Alright, the next thing up is
Plenary Resolution Discussions
Charlie Bruce ‘16: First we have the reaffirmation of the resolution, which Rhea is going to read, as the next president of SGA, and if you have any questions, go ahead and ask!
Rhea Mangliani ’17: Reaffirmation of the SGA Constitution
Presented by Rhea Manglani ‘17, Shaina Robinson ‘17, Rachel Bruce ‘18, Jocelyne Oliveros ‘18, and Swati Shastry ’18. The Bryn Mawr College Self-Governance Association — the first collegiate student government in American history — was established in 1892 as a way for the students to govern themselves. SGA is having the voice and the power to create positive change in our community through confrontation, discussion, and action. SGA empowers us to create a community of mutual respect for all Mawrters. This resolution is to reaffirm our commitment to the spirit of self-governance, the Honor Code, and the SGA Constitution.
Rhea Mangliani ‘17: yeahhhhh… any questions?
Charlie Bruce ‘16: if not, next person to talk is Molly!
Molly MacDougall ‘16: I’m representing the honor board, and we’re presenting three resolutions, so bear with me. The first is waiving the requirement of minutes in Honor Board hearings. Whereas it is in the spirit of restorative justice for proceedings to be kept comfortable and confidential,
Whereas the Honor Code states that minutes will be taken during hearings (Article II, Section A, Subsection 2, Subsection e; Article II Subsection B, Subsection 2, Subsection d),
Whereas information that comes up in hearings is often sensitive,
Whereas it would be inappropriate to have permanent records of certain information discussed in hearings,
Be it resolved that, the requirement of minutes taken during hearings be stricken from the Honor Code to protect the safety of hearings and the confidential information discussed during them,
Be it resolved that, Article II, Section A, Subsection 2, Subsection e be changed to read, “…Each record includes all written statements and the Honor Board’s final decision in the case.”
Be it resolved that, Article II Subsection B, Subsection 2, Subsection d be changed to read, “Social hearings are confidential. Each record includes all written statements and the Honor Board’s final decision in the case.”
Shakhari Badgett ‘17: does that mean there will be no record of what happened in the hearing at all?
Molly MacDougall ‘16: so that means we won’t have a verbatim record of what goes on in the meetings. We still will have notes about what our final decision is on. Any other questions? Alright, the next resolution is about Honor Board reports to other institutions. Whereas, at the moment, all hearings concerning violations of the Honor Code are reported to institutions of higher education,
Whereas, certain violations of the Honor Code are understood in hearings to be mistakes in good faith,
Whereas, not all students were afforded the same education on issues like plagiarism and use of resources in high school,
Whereas, the intent of the Honor Code is to bring about restoration after an infraction,
Whereas, it counters the values of restorative justice to penalize such a lack of education with such an impactful measure as reporting to other institutions of higher education,
Whereas, Haverford, our closest peer institution with a student-run Honor Board, has the discretion to recommend that infractions not be reported,
Be it resolved that, the Honor Board be given the discretion to recommend on a case by case basis that the Dean’s Office not report violations to other institutions of higher education. Any questions? And our third is a recommitment to the values of the honor code and positive confrontation.
Whereas, the life of the Honor Code relies on community investment and engagement,
Whereas, all members of the undergraduate community have a responsibility to abide by the Honor Code,
Whereas, confrontation is the necessary first step toward bringing an infraction to the attention of the Honor Board, and is a responsibility listed in the Code (Article II, Section A),
Whereas, our bi-co partner, Haverford, lists a similar responsibility for individuals to the community in its Honor Code (Article 2, Section 3.06),
Be it resolved that, we, the undergraduate students of Bryn Mawr College, reaffirm our commitment to positive confrontation. Any questions? Kay, thanks!
Sam Heyrich ’17: I am representing the alcohol concerns review board. Measure to modernize and rename the Alcohol Concerns Review Board in the spirit of self governance and continuing education
Whereas The Alcohol Concerns Review Board (here in after referred to as “ACRB”) has recently become re-instated, after years of inactivity, in which time students affiliated with the board have graduated, and records relating to it have been lost.
Whereas the role of the ACRB has changed since the time it was defunct, the culture of Bryn Mawr College continues to evolve and it proves imperative to update the board to reflect the needs of the community.
Whereas it is in the spirit of self-governance, keeping our community safe and continuing and promoting education, the ACRB shall increase efforts of peer-education in regards to alcohol, drugs and parties in addition to holding those who violate the party policy accountable.
Whereas there should be a student lead initiative dedicate to peer-education focused on drug and alcohol education, which shall promote the health and safety of all Bryn Mawr College Undergraduate students.
Appendix A:
Article IV: The Representative Council
Subsection B: Dorm President(s)
- Dorm President(s) shall serve on the Alcohol Concerns Review Board
Section XI: The Alcohol Concerns Review Board
Subsection A: The Alcohol Concerns Review Board shall be responsible for reviewing and updating the Alcohol and Party policies, Party Notification Forms and other relevant documentations. Furthermore, the Board shall be responsible for reviewing and approving all Party Notifications Forms and submissions to the Party Fund. The Alcohol Concerns Review Board shall thereby be responsible for reviewing possible infractions of the Alcohol and Party Policy, with regard to guidelines surrounding such policies, and offer resolutions based on evidence found in written statements, Party Notification Forms and other relevant documents. All possible infractions of a behavior type will be reported to the Social Honor Board.
Subsection B: The Alcohol Concerns Review Board shall consist of the Head(s) of the Social Committee, Haverford College Representative(s), Head(s) of the Campus Safety Committee, two members of the Honor Board, and three members of the Residence Council including the Dorm President(s) of Rhoads, the Dorm President(s) of Radnor, and one additional member to be chosen each term.
Subsection C: The Alcohol Concerns Review Board shall be presided over by the Head of the Social Committee.
Subsection D: Quorum for a review session or hearing of the Alcohol Concerns Review Board shall be five people.
Subsection E: The Alcohol Concerns Review Board shall work by consensus.
Subsection F: All proceedings and material of the Alcohol and Party Review Board shall be confidential. However, the Alcohol Concerns Review Board shall publish a statistical annual report at the end of the year to be distributed campus-wide. This will include the number of review and hearing sessions held that year, number of Party Notification Forms signed and not signed prior to the party, amount of damage, resolutions, etc.
Subsection G: The Alcohol Concerns Review Board shall meet at the beginning of the year with the Dean of the Undergraduate Students to review and amend the Party Notification Form and College policies on alcohol and parties. The Alcohol Concerns Review Board shall meet with the Dean of Undergraduate Students and/or the College in subsequent meetings as deemed appropriate by any party involved.
Appendix B:
Be it resolved that the name of the ACRB be changed to “Board of Social Life Orientation and Wellness (BSLOW)” as mentioned in every instance in appendix A.
Strike Article VI, Section I, Subsection B, Sub-subsection 8.
Be it resolved that Article VI Section XI Subsection B be changed to read “the members of the board shall be The Head of Social Committee, The Head of Campus Safety Committee, one member of the Honor Board and one Dorm President to be voted upon by the residence council. The head shall be a member of the board. The head of the board will be determined by the consensus of the board.”
Strike Article VI Section XI Subsection C.
Be it resolved that Article VI Section XI Subsection B be changed to read “Quorum for a review session or hearing of the Board shall be 3 people.”
Be it resolved that that there be a Section XI Subsection H that reads “the board shall be responsible for hosting continuing education efforts including but not limited to 2 events in the fall semester including one aimed at continuing education for all returning Bryn Mawr College undergraduate students and at least one additional educational event, and at least one in the spring semester.” Any questions? No? Thank you!
Nora Dell ‘19: Hi everyone, my name is Nora, and I’ll be reading the plenary resolution on institutional memory. Okay, so we have a title now. It’s called Constitutional Amendment: institutional memory of the Self-Government Association. Whereas the knowledge present in SGA records dating back to 1892 could be valuable in solving present day problems.
Whereas without institutional support or permanence, a project will face challenges in recovering and organizing those records.
Whereas the following Subsection D in Article IV, Section IX reading, “The Traditions Committee may appoint a Bryn Mawr College historian”, has not been utilized in recent years.
Whereas the work of a committee would make those records useable in a shorter period of time.
Whereas Black at Bryn Mawr and similar student initiatives have done wonderful work preserving critical moments in our history.
Whereas institutional memory, or the collection of learned experiences by a group of people collaborating in an institutional framework, is important for the transmission of learning from generation to generation, and injects accountability and transparency into the system of self-governance.
Whereas this constitutional amendment seeks to make the preservation and presentation of institutional memory, in the spirit of those student projects, a permanent, intergenerational feature of the Self-Government Association.
Whereas the lack of institutional memory among members of the SGA Representative Council and Executive Board pertaining to the history of their positions affects their ability to execute their responsibilities.
Whereas the annual turnover of position holders and their constituents results in the forgetting of solutions to recurring problems.
Whereas “improv[ing] the Self-Government Association’s ability to effectively and efficiently achieve objectives and confront issues through a commitment to the preservation and utilization of institutional memory” is a long term goal of the Representative Council.
Whereas the efficient and effective resolution of issues confronting the student body is a long term goal of the Self-Government Association.
Be it resolved, that the following Subsection be removed from Article IV, Section IX: “Subsection D: The Traditions Committee may appoint a Bryn Mawr College historian.”
Be it resolved, that “The Committee on Institutional Memory” be formed, hereby referred to as “committee” to collect, research, and publish materials pertaining to the short and long term history of SGA in the area of elected and appointed officials. This committee shall be comprised of up to six appointed positions, and chaired by a “SGA Archivist” who would be elected to serve on the representative council.
Be it resolved, the constitution be amended as indicated in Appendix A and Appendix B.
Be it resolved, that the “SGA Archivist” be elected through a Special Election to be held at the earliest opportunity following the passage of this resolution, in accordance with Article VIII, Section IV, Subsection E of the SGA Constitution, and in the future through a normal elections round in the spring semester.
Um, what questions do you guys have?
Molly MacDougall ‘16: how is spring break going to affect the elections round you’re proposing?
Nora Dell ‘19: that’s a good question, I’m going to think about it.
Genesis Perez ‘19: you said that we haven’t utilized the opportunity–
Nora Dell ‘19: Um, we said that we haven’t used the clause given in the Constitution.
Genesis Perez ‘19: but do you know, when was the last time they actually used a historian? Because I’m wondering why we’d stop…
Nora Dell ‘19: I’m not sure they’d ever started that. Well anyway, it’s things like that that we’re hoping to resolve by starting this committee.
Charlie Bruce ‘16: And lastly, it’s Niki Barker and Rachel Bruce reading their resolution
Rachel Bruce ‘18: I’m Rachel Bruce, class of 2018
Niki Barker ‘18: I’m Niki Barker, she/her pronouns, class of 2018
Rachel Bruce ‘18: it’s our resolution to reinstate the campus shuttle. Whereas many students, especially those with physical disabilities and health concerns, often find it difficult or are unable to access Brecon Hall, the Pensby Center, Cambrian Row, Batten House, and the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research (GSSWSR).
Whereas many students taking classes at the University of Pennsylvania find it difficult or time-consuming to reach the R-100 (Norristown High Speed Line) due to the 1.5 mile distance, and the College only provides financial help for students using this form of transit.[1]
Whereas students may find it difficult to access Bryn Mawr Hospital and other medical offices and must often use a car service or Campus Safety to attend appointments, which presents a significant financial burden on students and a time/personnel burden on Campus Safety.
Whereas the Lantern Van runs from 7:00 PM to 1:00 AM during weekdays and from 4:00 PM to 1:00 AM on the weekends, providing an invaluable service to community members with nighttime on-campus transportation needs.
Whereas Lantern Van student-employees often find it difficult to find substitute drivers during nighttime hours when they may need to complete educational obligations.
Whereas the Lantern Van requires at least four employees to run a successful shift but does not currently have enough to consistently do so.
Whereas according to the Winter 2015-16 Student Accessibility Survey, 98% of students
surveyed are in favor of one or both of two easier methods of accessing the Pensby Center/Cambrian Row/Brecon Hall area of campus.[2]
Whereas the College ran a prior Campus Shuttle until 2009 (proposed by a Plenary Resolution in 1998-99) that made stops at the following locations: Glenmede Manor (no longer owned by the College), Pembroke Arch, the Bryn Mawr R-100 station, the Bryn Mawr and Rosemont R-5 stations, the Campus Center, Public Safety, GSSWSR, and Brecon Hall/Cambrian Row.
Whereas the reinstatement of the Campus Shuttle would open the campus for all community members regardless of physical status, impairment, or disability, and would greatly ease the social and time demands put upon residents of Brecon or Batten, visitors to Cambrian Row/Pensby, or students who attend the Graduate School.
Whereas the reinstatement of the Campus Shuttle would increase the turnout for cultural and community events at the Pensby Center and Cambrian Row, as well as social events at Brecon Hall and Batten House.
Whereas the reinstatement of the Campus Shuttle would allow students taking Penn classes to be able to more easily access the R-100 stop, as well as allow students to return to Bryn Mawr’s campus in a timely manner.
Whereas the reinstatement of the Campus Shuttle would allow the undergraduate student population to more easily access graduate school-level courses and resources and allow the graduate students to better access main campus resources.
Be it Recommended that the College reinstate the Campus Shuttle to run during class hours (approximately 7 AM to 7 PM) and during the day on weekends (approximately 10 AM to 4 PM), circulate at least once per hour, and that the College hire a professional driver(s) to staff the Shuttle during the daytime hours.
Be it Recommended that the Campus Shuttle make the following stops: Brecon Hall/Cambrian Row, Pembroke Arch, Bryn Mawr R-5 Regional Rail Train Station, Bryn Mawr R-100 Norristown High Speed Train Station, Rosemont R-5 Regional Rail Train Station, and the GSSWSR.
Be it Recommended that the College hire more students (a recommended total of 20 employees overall) to work for the Lantern Van so that the service can have multiple vans running nightly (including an accessible van available upon request), students are able to find substitutes when necessary, and increase work-study/job opportunities for students.
Should we read our summary?
Niki Barker ‘18: so the summary we’re—we’ve got two we’re working with.
We want to reinstate the shuttle to make the campus and community more accessible for students and guests.
Rachel Bruce ‘18: any questions?
Anushka Robinson ‘19: in regards to your proposal to expand the lantern van, I know there’s certain requirements, so would you suggest boosting those requirements, for example I know that there’s two years of driving experience required?
Niki Barker ‘18: this is something that I believe we’d have to ask Mike Ramsey, he mentioned that he only had 14 people, and he’d need 20 to run it successfully
Melanie Bahti ’16: can you just speak to conversations that you’ve had with – you mentioned Mike Ramsey, but are there conversations you’ve had with heads of transportation and staff about this plan, and could you tell us how feasible they think this is?
Niki Barker ‘18: We’ve spoken to multiple different departments, and we’ve spoken to Jerry Barenson, and this would end up being cheaper than the glensmeade shuttle. We’ve gotten pretty much support from Campus Safety, Access Services and the Pensby Center, and we’ve spoken to DLT in Brecon
Rachel Bruce ‘18: specifically Bev Adler, Stephanie Nixon.
Niki Barker ‘18: in addition, Jerry Barenson has expressed that he felt this was a pretty essential service when it was running
Rachel Bruce ’18: Anything else? Okay, thanks!
Charlie Bruce ‘16: two more things that I forgot about plenary: one, resolution writers, you need signatures, about 147, in order for the resolutions to be presented. RepCo, you have to be there otherwise your absence counts as two absences.
And, I bought a gavel. I did not buy a gavel so that I could shout for quorum because that would be rude, but rather so I could clank it once to end and clank it to begin. So. Any questions on plenary resolutions?
Nora Dell ‘19: In your email you said 101?
Charlie Bruce ‘16: Did I really? I meant 147, that is a third of quorum.
Niki Barker ‘18: how did you figure out the number that we need?
Sam Heyrich ‘16: What information has to be collected for signatures, is it just students first and last name?
Charlie Bruce ‘16: Yes! And their email!
Rachel Bruce ‘18: When should we have this information to you by?
Molly MacDougall ‘16: it needs to be to me.
Charlie Bruce ‘16: it needs to be to Molly.
Molly MacDougall ‘16: by Saturday.
Voting on 2016 Spring Budget
Linh Tran ‘16: hi everyone, I’m sorry for the one week delay, but all of the budgets are here, you should have received this in an email from Angela, but if you didn’t have the chance to look at it, here it is… if you have a laptop, you should be able to access it, it was sent out on the SGA listserv
Charlie Bruce ‘16: just for clarification, this is the spring budget for so this is a space where you can ask any questions you have about the budgets, and we can answer them, and the Representative Council will vote on them.
Linh Tran: So, honestly speaking, we still have a lot of budget this semester, so we mostly approved all of the asked budgets, with a few exceptions. For example if you exceed the snack budget, we don’t approve that, or if you’re new clubs, you cannot ask for more than $250. Most of the cuts are due to rules that we already had, but mostly we approved the amount that was asked. Sometimes we talk to the clubs and they agree with us that there are certain things they don’t need, but we approved most of it.
Also, for the most part we have the same SFC members, one of our members is abroad and we have two new members, so we changed the members there, but we try to keep the members the same from last semester. And for class of 2016 and traditions, I took some out, I don’t take them out when I calculate the total amount of money used for BMC clubs, but the total amount of money is available here.
And this is the Bi-co club budget, there are some that don’t get approved as Bi-co clubs, but after the interview process, me and the Bi-co treasurer have decided to approve fully everyone’s budgets. Usually how it works is that we decide to divide up who’s in charge of what club’s budget — in charge of meaning that they will submit reimbursement for Haverford or Bryn Mawr. We split the cost equally, but I would cut a check saying that we will pay a certain amount and then we’ll cover the difference. It’s much easier for the Haverford treasurer to cut checks, so usually the people who are in charge of Bryn Mawr have a lot of Bryn Mawr students in leadership and have more students who have gone through the reimbursement process at Bryn Mawr. Any questions on the Bi-co club budget?
Okay, so, last half is the total funding report, there’s comparison between last year – there are some gaps because I couldn’t find all of what was budgeted. But these are the Bryn Mawr clubs and then the Bi-co clubs are also here. There’s the budget for events, Reslife, and all of these are already budgeted so it’s just the fixed amount that we pay every semester
Any questions?
Nora Dell ‘19: what are the larger, I’m just curious, what are the larger expenditures, like the senior class, traditions?
Linh Tran ‘16: I think you can access all the budgets – one of the links I sent out is links to the spreadsheet of all the budgets, traditions are here, there are certain things that you probably don’t want to see yet, but yeah, it’s all there… class of 2016.
Chanel Williams ‘16: Well I mean there are senior events in there, but it’s just a lot of senior class events and we pay for all that (laughs)
Linh Tran ‘16: I mean it looks like a lot, but when you look at the past years, senior classes have always had a lot of money at the end of the year, and this year they asked for less than last year, so I don’t see a problem with that.
Charlie Bruce ‘16: you said we didn’t budget all the money we have. So what happens with the extra money?
Linh Tran ‘16: it’s still there! So if we have extra money at the end of the year, and we don’t budget for all of it, it just stays there for next year. In the past, the budget has been much tighter, but we’ve been having more extra money left in the budget recently.
Nora Dell ‘19: so like Bi-co clubs that are available through Haverford, like you said earlier, like on the breakdown sheet, is there any way to see that?
Linh Tran ‘16: That’s a good question! I don’t think right now that those clubs have their spreadsheets available to us, but I can put those up there as well.
Mariana Garcia ‘19: so if it’s a new member, and you see that the ambition is just not there yet, do you give them considerably less money?
Linh Tran ‘16: first of all, by midsemester review we encourage clubs to give back money that they know they’re not going to use. We also have penalties, so clubs that ask for a certain amount of money, and then don’t use a certain percentage, they get penalized.
Connie Lam ‘18: so when can we start submitting the budgets?
Linh Tran ‘16: the form will be available today… well, technically you all have to approve it, but you can submit it after the budget’s been approved
Charlie Bruce ‘16: so if no one has any questions, we’re going to go to a vote! The options are yes, I approve this budget, no I do not approve this budget, and I abstain. Yes, no, abstain. We vote to approve this budget.
2015-2016 EBoard Recap
Charlie Bruce ‘16: so I learned—as president I tried to do a lot of things to make SGA more accessible, like experimenting with language and structure, but ultimately I learned the most about my style of leadership. I think one of the biggest things I did was restructuring the big cheese forum, so that it was more like a discussion than a panel of big cheeses. I struggled with trying to communicate my intended goals and execute them, but I have a lot of goals that I’m going to teach the next folks how to do better.
My advice to all of you is to treat everyone like they’re on your team, and always read your emails twice – before you send them and after you read them!
Oh, and Angela could not be here today, due to an unforeseen conflict, so I’m going to be reading her recap…
Gabrielle Smith ‘17: I didn’t prepare anything, but we had three appointments rounds, and they were pretty successful. So I was very happy to see what everyone’s done. SFC members, we went to the Seven Sisters conference with the seven sisters reps, and even though it was pretty hard, and there were a lot of tears, we appointed a customs committee, and that was exciting. It was hard to get a lot of people to participate – we’re all busy, so that’s understandable – but some advice that I’d give everyone who’s going to continue in SGA is, don’t be afraid to have hard conversations. In a lot of situations, you can talk about your day, or your classes, and it’s nice to talk about those things. But in most cases, the people who you’re talking to want to hear about what’s happening on campus, they want to hear about problems, they want to hear how they can do better. If you’re in that position and if you have that opportunity, take advantage of that so that you can actually make change instead of just coming to SGA meetings every week. Use that opportunity, I just think it’s very important for us not to be afraid to have these conversations.
Charlie Bruce ’16 (on behalf of Angela Motte ’17): As secretary, I’ve successfully restructured the members-at-large in a way that allows their position to be more accessible to the community, as well as creating more visibility within the undergraduate community, with out the position feeling like a burden. I’ve tried to merge the bridge between the Outreach and Communications Committee and SGA, although that was tougher than envisioned. I’ve successfully helped to change some of the culture around our constitution within certain micro-groups on campus.
A word of advice to anyone willing to listen- learn to say put yourself first. If you aren’t able to put yourself first, you won’t be able to help others. It’s ok to take time out of your week to do something for yourself, by yourself.
Linh Tran ‘16: there are a few new things that I’ve been really glad that I can do, like transferring all the reimbursement forms to online ones. Also, the way we can treat budgets is much simpler and more organized than before, and I hope that this process will continue to be used. I also have a SFC team, we are really close, like a family, and all these processes wouldn’t be in place without their help… You know, they are really helpful and I’m grateful to have them as well. It’d be nice if we could continue to have a Bi-co relationship with Haverford — I’m really glad that we had the first Bi-co budgeting process at Bryn Mawr, and we were able to split that more equally between Bryn Mawr and Haverford.
I wish I had more time to get it done, but I’m hopeful that the next person will be able to do a more wonderful job. There are a couple things that need to change by the end of this year, including bylaws, but I look forward to retirement from this position. It was a lot of work and I didn’t know how much work it was when I started, but it’s one of the most important experiences I could’ve had at Bryn Mawr.
Molly MacDougall ‘16: I’m head of the honor board, and I’ve done a bunch of things I can’t tell you about… I learned how to run a social hearing! We also worked on presentation and faculty for new students and continuing students. I worked with Stephanie Nixon on conflict and realizing how it falls into bias response, which is important, and we worked on creating a confrontation workshop which was also good.
My biggest piece of advice would be to get everything in writing, always.
Old Business
New Business
Charlie Bruce ’16: Alright that’s the end of our meeting!
Charlette Williams: Motion to adjourn the meeting!
Sam Heyrich ’16: Second!
Charlie Bruce ’16: Options are yes, no, abstain.
[1] Bryn Mawr College will only reimburse students for travel expenses to the University of Pennsylvania for the Norristown High Speed Line. Further info: http://ow.ly/YjcU0.
[2] 60% of students surveyed (148/245) responded that they would be in favor of an additional Blue Bus stop at Brecon/Cambrian Row, and 38% (93/245) supported a “Brecon Bridge”. This was a 3-choice checkbox question where students could pick both measures.