Meeting Minutes – October 29, 2016 Summary:
- The meeting was heald Saturday, October 29 at 2:00 PM to accommodate for Lantern Night on Sunday, October 30 at 8:00 PM.
- Announcements:
o Namrata Basu announced the Seven Sisters Conference which will
take place November 11 through 13 at Bryn Mawr. If you are interested in hosting one or several delegates, please sign up ASAP using the form found on Facebook and the community digest.
- Your Two Cents:
There were no Your Two Cents. - Big Cheese Discussion:
o There weren’t many updates as SGA President Rhea Manglani and
Emily Espenshade, Chief-of-Staff to President Cassidy have not yet been able to meet. Instead, students present were asked to break into small groups to discuss issues on campus they would like addressed at Big Cheese Forum. This included the large class size for 2020 and its implication for school resources, diversity at Bryn Mawr, better communication in the Health Center, and better conditions for Housekeepers in dorms.
- Old Business:
There was no Old Business. - New Business:
Rhea Manglani ’17 met with the Board of Trustees Saturday, October
29. Some things discussed were adjustments in Park Renovations (focusing more on funding for programs than just construction), new diversity outreach programs for Admissions, and Admissions research using high schools.
Jasmine Rangel ’17, Pem East Dorm Presidnet, announced that East v. West will be taking place Saturday, November 12. The theme will be announced soon. If you are interested in bouncing, please email Jasmine at jrangel@brynmawr.edu.
Farida Ilboudo ’18 announced the BACASO Culture Show on Friday, November 11 in Thomas Great Hall from 7:30 to 9:00. The theme is “Deconstructed”.
Sohini Maniar announced that Lantern Night will be taking place Sunday, October 30 and that tickets can be picked up Sunday afternoon.
• Hot Topic Overview:
President Rhea Manglani ’17 gave a brief overview of next meeting’s
Hot Topic on the Confederate Flag incident in Fall, 2014 and its remembered history. The Hot Topic will take place Sunday, November
6 at 7:10 PM in the Campus Center Main Lounge. It will be the second agenda item for the evening after Role Call.
——————————-Meeting Transcript ———————– Role Call:
Rhea Manglani ‘17: Okay, it’s 2:10 so we’re going to start the meeting with Roll Call.
Rachel Bruce ’18: By the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania I am required to tell you that everything said here tonight will be recorded for the minutes.
Present: Ananya Kumar, Camilla Duluc, Catherine Bunza, Mariana Garcia, Genesis Perez-Melara, Nora Dell, Connie Lam, Abby Chernila, Dilesha Tanna, Lea Williams, Leticia Robledo, Adriana Gay, Makeda Warde, Farida Ilboudo, Emma Porter, Evelyn Aviles, Jasmine Rangel, Claire Gaposchkin, Celeste Ledesma, Sohini Maniar
Absent: Katherine Nichols, Abbie Sullivan, Elizabeth Hilton, Tyler Brown- Cross, Precious Robinson, Kyra Sagal, Sam Heyrich, Bridget Murray, Priyanka Dutta, Hannah Henderson-Charnow, Lillian Oyen-Ustad, Nikki Shakamuri, Margaret Gorman, Manal Hussein, May Zhu, Veda Nambi, Juhi Aggarwal, Jessica Breet, Phoebe Dopulos, Nichol Westerduin, Madison Brown, Emily Drummond, Emma Lasky, Emma Levin, Claire Romaine, Sarah Awad
Announcements:
Rhea Manglani ’17: Announcements is a time when any member of the Bryn Mawr community can make an announcement. We have allowed ten minutes for this agenda item. Are there any announcements?
Namrata Basu ‘19: I’m a part of the seven sisters planning committee. The Seven Sisters Conference will be held Friday though Sunday, November 13 through 15. If you’re interested in meeting students from different Seven Sisters schools, please sign up to host delegates. The form can be found on Facebook and the digest. Your main job is to provide a place to sleep, however you will be invited to one social event. The deadline to sign up is November 3.
Rhea Manglani ‘17: Are there any other announcements?
Your Two Cents:
Rhea Manglani ‘17: Your Two Cents is a time when any member of the Bryn Mawr community can pose a topic for discussion or host a straw poll. We’ve allowed ten minutes for this agenda item. Is there any Your Two Cents?
Big Cheese Update:
Rhea Manglani ‘17: This isn’t much of an update but the Board of Trustees met today. Emily Espenshade, who’s Chief-of-Staff to the President, and I haven’t had a chance to discuss who we are inviting yet. Want to break up into groups for ten minutes to talk about problems you see on campus, things you want to critique, or widespread things we see on campus. We’re going to break into groups of three since we’re a little bit smaller. Please designate someone to take notes, and that person please email your notes to the E-Boart at sga@brynmawr.edu.
————————Assembly Breaks for Ten Minutes for Discussion ———————
Emma Porter ‘17: We talked about representation for People of Color in the faculty, as well as the housekeeper issue and why they’re understaffed right now. We also talked about options for the dining hall to accommodate for the larger student body and dining restrictions, services for STEM people, and that we need to expand and better counseling and Health Center.
Genesis Perez-Melara ‘19: Some points we were making was confrontation on campus and how there’s kind of a fear about it. We also talked about the campaign and how it portrays a different picture than what it really is, such as how diversity is not making an impact. For instance, Thomas is named after M Carey Thomas who was a racist and a lot of people don’t know that and there’s been no effort to rename it. A solution could be that there’s a module in the beginning like the one like we did for drinking but instead one being the history of Bryn Mawr.
Leticia Robledo ‘20: Some of the things we talked about include the housekeeping issue with Denbigh, the Health Center and its lack of communication, larger class sizes and issue with triples becoming quads and doubles becoming triples, how that’s affecting Lantern Night, and how the person the person who’s making the lanterns is saying it’s too much.
Rhea Manglani ‘17: There’s an update with the Denbigh situation. There’s two hires out so they’re fixing it, so won’t come up in big cheese unless there’s a longer standing issue. Denise asked me to tell students to be more courteous. If there’s a mess, clean up. For the class size, the reason 2020 is so large is an accident. They under enrolled in 2018, so for 2019 they tried to fix that and 2020 was even bigger because more people accepted the position. They understand that we’re at capacity. The school’s not trying to expand, please be sure to tell people that.
Old Business:
Rhea Manglani ’17: Old Businesses is a time when any member of the Representative Council can revisit a topic related to their position. We have allowed ten minutes for this agenda item. Is there any Old Business?
New Business:
Rhea Manglani ’17: New Business is a time when any member of the Representative Council can present a new topic for discussion related to their position. We have allowed ten minutes for this agenda item. Is there any New Business?
I do! This morning was the Board of Trustee Meeting. Modupe was there as well but had to work so she can’t make it. Everything is on schedule and on budget for renovations. Park renovations were changed to be a little more simplified. They want to focus less money on renovations and more on programming. The Board is also looking to add more diversity [to the Board], more women and POC, hopefully more women of color so that it will reflect America. The Defy Bryn Mawr Campaign is a several year thing. There are going to be launch parties all over the country and the world. While Pelema is gone, there is someone filling his role.There is a market research professor from Wharton and something else helping to diversify admissions and school in general. They’re also starting a study about why people choose Bryn Mawr. They’re going to follow twelve schools and their guidance counselors. Four of the schools send people every year (almost like feeder schools but not really), four sometimes, four sporadically. They want to focus on why students choose or do not choose Bryn Mawr. The school also has a couple of diversity outreach programs that they’re trying to do.
Rhea Manglani ‘17: Anyone else?
Jasmine Rangel ‘17: Hi, Jasmine Rangel ’17, Pem East Dorm President. This New Business announcement is about east v west being on Saturday, November 12. theme will be released soon, hopefully by the end of this week. Also, if anyone wants to bounce, please let me know at jrangel@brynmawr.edu
Emma Porter ‘17: this is a question for Jasmine, will bouncers be paid? Jasmine Rangel ‘17: No, we don’t have enough money for that.
Farida Ilboudo ‘18: Hi everyone, the BACASSO Culture Show is Friday, November 11 From 7:30 to 9:30 in Thomas Great Hall.
Sohini Maniar ‘18: This Sunday is Lantern Night and 2020 will get their lanterns. You can pick up your tickets Sunday. We’ll put it online.
Hot Topic Background:
Rhea Manglani ‘17: We’re going to go back to another slide.
Rhea Manglani ‘17: Next week we’re having a Hot Topic about the Confederate Flag incident. In Fall of 2014, two Radnor students placed a Confederate Flag and tape with “Mason-Dixon Line” written on it outside their rooms. They were asked to remove it and instead placed in their room. There were a lot of meetings and a lot of pressure fell on students because there was little Administration response. The original email was well known and made it seem the issue was taken care of. It’s also a larger apology about how it did take two weeks to get handled. It was a very difficult time for students. After the initial incident, this is by Black at Bryn Mawr, this is a larger article they wrote. Olivia in the back, Michelle Lee in middle, and Allegra’s in the front and helped plan large demonstration to protest the Administration’s silence. The Administration joined in the march and the Board of Trustees were there and saw it. Nora, who’s the SGA Archivist, has been doing similar work and you can see it on the archive. Nkechi will lead the Hot Topic. In the original discussion right after the incident, the Representative Council voted not to take minutes. It was cowardly, and I take responsibility because I was there, though I don’t remember how I voted but I can check in the archive. A professor actually took her free time to create this PowerPoint about why this was wrong. I’m not talking about international students, but people who grew up here who did not understand why this was wrong. This is not about the Confederate Flag, it’s about how the admin ignored it. Demonstrations led to the Community Day of Learning, which majority of students do not participate in. We want new students to learn about it so it doesn’t get cycled out and forgotten. Sharon Ulman made this. This is just a great point to end on. [Bryn Mawr] was founded on progressive movement but it discounted Jewish women, Women of Color, poor women, etc. I’ll stop here if anyone wants to add anything. Any questions?
Okay, we need a motion to end the meeting.
Genesis Perez-Melara ‘19: Motion to end meeting.
Nora Dell ‘19: Second.
Rhea Manglani ‘17: Your options are yes, no, and abstain. Please consult with your co-held positions. Yes? No? Abstain?
Meeting adjourned at 2:50 PM.