SGA Meeting 11/24/13
Natalie calls the meeting to order at 7:10 PM.
Absent: Colin Baumann, Rhett Richardson, Kaeun Bae, Celeste Gambino, Hannah Hastings, Alex Beda, Jessica Ferriera, Alexandra Krusinski, Sam Terry, Jennifer Mendez Alba, Emily Garcia
Announcements:
Emma Rosenblum ’14: We checked in with Tuesday Group about food waivers because it has been a topic of conversation. We asked about the repercussions for not asking for a food waiver. Multimedia will tell Lisa Zernicke if there has been food at an event. The food waivers exist for your protection. When in doubt, use them. You only need to use them for public and reservable spaces through Virtual EMS. If you are caught you will get an email from Lisa and your club or organization can also be denied access to public space in the future. You can email me or Anna with questions.
Odeymarys Garrido ’17: On Tuesday December 3rd there will be a class tea for the class of 2017 from 8 PM to 10 PM in the Campus Center!
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: Abstracts about Haverford’s cases with Bryn Mawr students are on their Honor Council page if you want to look into it.
Your 2 Cents:
Angel Suero ’16: Will there be a time for questions about the SFC bylaws?
Natalie Kato ‘14: Yes, during the agenda item. We have allotted 15 minutes.
Special Events Funding Report – Asian American Heritage Week
Grace Chung ’15: I am one of the members of the Asian American Heritage Week committee. We invited Lisa Lee as our keynote speaker. She spoke on November 11th. She is an award-winning keynote speaker and was named one of the top 30 Asian-Americans under 30. She spoke about her experiences as the program diversity manager at Facebook, publisher at Hyphen, and her blog called thickdumplingskin about body image issues in the Asian American community. She centered her talk around using social media for social justice as an Asian American woman with a considerable amount of power. We had reserved 60 seats and they were all pretty much filled. The event was open to the Tri-Co, faculty, and staff, and a considerable amount from each showed up. The audience felt that she was a much-needed presence in the Bryn Mawr community because what she did had hit close to home, especially regarding body image issues which isn’t talked about much within our community. It was good to hear from someone who was so frank.
Plenary Survey Feedback Presentation
Jessica Villalta’16: The first graph shows a breakdown of who responded to the survey. There was an even split between classes which was good. Here is a description of how people heard about plenary. Some key ones: through friends, SGA, and posters, social media, dorm leadership… something we also noted was that very few people didn’t actually hear about it.
Did you attend? Yes and no. 63% said yes, and 37% no, they did not attend.
Factors influence staying – the spirit of self-governance was top answer. Others were friends, interest in resolutions.
Why did you not attend? Most people said “other” which was frustrating. Class and TA sessions and homework influenced people.
Natalie Zamora ’14: How do you see plenary changing in light of what has happened? Some said it is a good thing because now we have to discuss SGA more in a larger sense rather than just at plenary. There were optimistic and pessimistic views. Some people think that more people will come in the spring because more people see that because nobody came in the fall that means we should all come in the spring. Other people think that no one will come in the spring because everyone is sad.
With all the drama plenary will be more visible. Everyone has been talking about it so maybe in the spring more people will come.
Highlighting our weaknesses will mean that meaningful changes will occur. It can lead to looking at changing plenary larger than just what time we have it at – more so like plenary on a larger scale, changes that are more meaningful. We all know that plenary didn’t go so well. It gives us a reason to look at it more intensely
Natalie Kato ‘14: Suggestions for how to get quorum. A lot of people had feelings about having foodm not having food, having incentives or not, closing the library or not… it was interesting to see that it was split. If you do see from the chart the highest idea that we posed was voted to be ‘increasing incentives’. Other people suggested more advertisements, time limits/estimated time limits, close dining halls, turn off internet. Boosting Wi-Fi in Goodhart. I don’t know if that can happen. Start time with no quorum. DLT advertise more. Increase tabling.
Natalie Zamora ‘14: Out of all the suggestions out of the surveys we have put out these are what we are discussing in more detail. Some are more than likely going to be implemented. Some we still thinking about and discussing: online plenary. Repercussions if there is no plenary. How can the DLT be more involved. That has been brought up a lot. Incentives vs. no incentives, time limit vs. no time limit. We have done estimated time limits in the past but we are still looking at a solid time limit which goes back to repercussions of no plenary. We are bringing back “brought to you by Plenary and SGA” so people can see what it has done, as well as estimated time and a description of what plenary is on the posters. DLT involvement, and bringing back past years’ plenary resolution writers and presenters to give reports back. People who had done resolutions in the past can present at plenary showing progress and their next steps just to see that people are fulfilling what they said they will do.
Natalie Kato ‘14: Things we hope to continue to discuss: agenda item for the first meeting after winter break, discussing more of these things that we want or do not want to see happen at plenary. Any questions about the survey?
Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: Will we decide at the first meeting of next semester whether we will take any of these steps?
Natalie Kato ‘14: We can do a vote if you feel it’s necessary. We were hoping to implement them already. Should we do a straw poll?
Anna Kalinsky ‘15: Do we have to have a vote about different types of posters?
Natalie Kato ‘14: Not necessarily.
Posting Policy: Accessibility Clause
Natalie Kato ‘14: We will vote on adding a phrase that will read
“It is recommended that advertisements for events include the following statement:
“Please contact Access Services if accommodations are needed””.
Daniele Arad-Neeman ‘14: The statement reads as a suggestion, not a requirement. Is that true?
Natalie Kato ‘14: It is a suggestion for now. We are not sure how many people will remember it every time they advertise something. We hope to integrate it into the community and then it will become a part of advertisements.
Emma Rosenblum ‘14: Can you put a contact email for Access Services on the poster?
Natalie Kato ‘14: We can do an extension number. It is 7351.
“It is recommended that advertisements for events include the following statement: “Please contact Access Services if accommodations are needed at ext. 7351””. This is a friendly amendment. Does anyone have any questions about that or comments regarding the additional extension number that has been added?
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: I have a question about the placement of the access clause. All of the general information about the posting policy, before the specifics are gone into, is at the beginning, not the bottom.
Natalie Kato ‘14: You’re recommending that it be added at the end of the first part? Part 1? Dorm spaces?
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: Potentially, because it goes from the introductory clause and then specifics: residence, academic, and outside grounds. As long as there is a way of noting that it’s a different section and doesn’t just apply to the last clause.
Natalie Kato ‘14: It will be denoted as a separate entity rather than be included in the last clause.
In favor: Carolyn Jacoby, Elizabeth Vandenberg, lucy Gleysteen, Anna Sargeant, Sarah Lovegren, Noor Massanat, Erin Saladin, Sarah Lesser, Odeymarys Garrido, Natalie Zamora, Ivy Drexel, Xavia Miles, Sara Kim, Christina Tse, Mariam Khoudari, Namita Dwarakanath, Jessica Arbon, Anna Kalinsky, Jancy Munguia, Emma Burke, Karina Siu, Christine Newville, Phoebe Jordan, Karunya Venugopal, Kayla Bondi, Sofia Oleas
Not in favor: 0
Abstain: 0
Natalie Kato ’14: We will be adding this clause to the posting policy.
Emma Rosenblum ’14: Will it be possible to send this change in the posting policy out as a separate email to the campus so people are extra aware of it?
Natalie Kato ‘14: Amy can email it to club leaders through the SFC Moodle. It can also be sent through the newsletter.
LWG Presentation by Undergrad Rep Lisa Merrick
Lisa Merrick ’14: I am the Undergraduate Representative to the Leadership Working Group. It’s a committee that has charge of recommending to the Board of Trustees the next president of Bryn Mawr College. It consists of 7 trustees, 4 faculty reps, 1 rep from the Haverford Board of Managers, 1 staff rep, 1 undergraduate rep (me), and 1 grad school rep. We had our first meeting on October 5th and have been having biweekly conference calls. We spent the last month generating feedback from the Bryn Mawr community getting their views on the state of the college, challenges, goals for the future, and attributes they are looking for in the next president. We have also been exploring the three processes in which we will select the next college president.
The first process would be: Full support behind Kim Cassidy to become the next president of the college.
The second process would be: A full scale national search with the help of a search firm to find qualified candidates.
The third process would be: A shorter, more targeted search would would also employ a search firm.
The latter two processes include both external and internal candidates.
In terms of getting community input, I sent out a survey about 3 weeks ago and received 233 responses, 211 of which were from the undergraduate community. We are putting together a position description on the college’s state.
We have already made a decision on which process we will undertake. That will be sent out in the next week. I can’t provide too many more details, as we want the entire Bryn Mawr community of all constituent groups to find out at once. I will be remaining after the meeting to answer questions. I can always meet with anybody individually if you have questions or want to give more feedback! You can also contact our chair at leadershipworkinggroup@bmc.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: Can you elaborate on the third option?
Lisa Merrick ‘14: It’s an in-between. The full national scale search would be a two-year timeline. The third option has a shorter timeline. We would look to recommend someone by early 2014 so it’s a more limited search and it would be a quieter search so that candidates could be more anonymous.
Anna Kalinsky ‘15: Just to clarify, Kim Cassidy would remain standing president throughout the search process?
Lisa Merrick ‘14: Yes.
Emma Rosenblum 14: Do you happen to know how much it’s costing the college for an external search?
Lisa Merrick ’14: I don’t know but I can get that information.
Revised Student Finance Committee Bylaws
Natalie Kato ‘14: We first presented these bylaws and emailed out to student body one or two weeks ago. We discussed them at the SGA meeting. Now we are here to answer any questions you may have before we proceed to a vote.
Khadijah Seay ‘16: This is in response to the email that Amy sent. Sister Circle happens within Sisterhood. It doesn’t fall under special events. What is it?
Amy Chen ‘14: I emailed you a response. The answer is in the document under the closed event clause. If an event is not widely advertised to the campus, such as closed events that would be advertised through a listserv, that event would be kept at $100. If the club seeks more, they will present to the Representative Council before the budget interview so that we have a timeline to see if the Representative Council decides not to approve the event. You can send the treasurer a preliminary review. It will be a closed review you don’t need to share it with the Rep Council. The treasurer just will want to see it beforehand so it follows the bylaws. You will just have to explain the purpose of the event to the Rep Council.
Khadijah Seay ‘16: There is similar protocol to special events and annual events funding but there is still a $100 quota.
Amy Chen ‘14: We do have a number of estimated attendees though.
Khadijah Seay ‘16: If the Rep Council doesn’t approve what would be the next steps and how could we assure we receive funding because it’s a tradition to our club?
Amy Chen ‘14: We changed what’s happening in the interview processes. There is time to discuss in the process before we settle any club budget. We changed it so that it is longer to get to your final budget but there is more time to ask question. It is out of the Rep Council’s hands.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: Given that a club will be penalized if they have too much money left over at the end of the semester, is there a process to give money back so clubs won’t be over budget?
Amy Chen ‘14: Last year it wasn’t done, but this year we sent out an email about putting money back into the pot so that clubs won’t get penalized with 25%.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: Have you thought about having different budgeting processes for different kinds of clubs? Publications don’t always fall under a lot of requirements and questions in budgeting just don’t apply to them.
Amy Chen ‘14: It’s hard to create a new one because there are so many clubs that are separated through classes and committees. Some parts of the budget form you just can’t fill out. It’s just easier to say “don’t fill out this part”. More specific forms are harder to apply when clubs fall out. We want to keep it more general, on a case by case basis.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: what do you mean case by case?
Amy Chen ‘14: You don’t ask for advances, generally, for printing, because invoices just go directly to us. A lot of clubs just have separate things that don’t apply – like, they don’t do gratuity. But separating clubs into groups would be difficult.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: If all privileges don’t apply, will all restrictions still apply?
Amy Chen ‘14: Exceptions are put in, major exceptions, in clasuses. People can ask. It depends on what they’re asking for.
Elizabeth Chen ‘16: Will you consider granting exceptions?
Amy Chen ‘14: Yes.
Angel Suero ’16: We struggle to get Sister Circle approved. How will we ensure that this doesn’t happen again?
Amy Chen ‘14: This year you didn’t AMO money, you used SGA money.
Khadijah Seay ‘16: We had to start with AMO money. We had to rearrange it because we didn’t have the approval for SGA before we had to spend money for Sister Circle.
Amy Chen ‘14: We try to avoid targeting certain clubs. I didn’t mention Sisterhood and Sister Cirl especially. Are you asking me to put Sister Circle into the bylaws?
Khadijah Seay ‘16: I’m not saying specically but if a clearer statement could be like “Sister Circle is necessary” because it’s not special or annual, it could be unclear for getting our event funded
Amy Chen ‘14: There could be a new clause for a closed group meeting. I could put in an example for Sister Circle from Sisterhood or you could pass it down through your club? We can’t assure funding for anything. We just can’t.
Natalie Kato ‘14: The purpose for not putting anything specific and having the Rep Council to decide is a reason for not putting it as an example. We’re not assuring a certain amount of money beyond $100 for a closed group event. It is the Rep Council’s decision. It would be strange to put it as an example because future Rep Councils will not have decided for or against funding your specific event.
Kamyra Edokpolor ’16: Is there a specific reason for the cap for special events?
Amy Chen ‘14: The 100 people cap? That was decided a few years ago and it seems like a reasonable amount to request so we just kept it.
Natalie Kato ‘14: Special events is supposed to be open for entire community and usually bi-co and tri-co. A special event is 1000 dollars. Many EBoards ago they designated 100 people for that.
Khadijah Seay ‘16: Do annual events have to be open events?
Amy Chen ‘14: Yes because the minimum is $2000.
Karina Siu ‘14: Annual events have to be open or on campus?
Natalie Kato ‘14: open… and on campus. We can add “open to entire campus” to that description to annual events.
Karina Siu ‘14: For the annual event I know that the Athletics Association applies for that and it is not open. It has never been open to the general campus. It is for 300 people.
Amy Chen ‘14: You apply through regular funding… you have to present to the Rep Council.
Erin Saladin ‘16: The on campus part – what about bi-co annual events? There was a dance concert at Haverford.
Amy Chen ‘14: That’s funded through the regular process because it’s not a bi-co funded club
Erin Saladin ‘16: It didn’t matter that it was off campus?
Amy Chen ‘14: The off-campus rules are that we won’t pay for SEPTA tickets and airfare.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: Transportation won’t be funded by the SFC. Have you been in discussion with the CEO? What did they say?
Amy Chen ‘14: They fund service trips.
Emma Rosenblum ‘14: For future representative councils and EBoards could you make a spreadsheet showing where money has been allotted for however many years?
Amy Chen ‘14: On Moodle there are past budgets of the majority of the clubs.
Emma Rosenblum ‘14: Could you make an accessible document for more than just people on the SFC Moodle page?
Amy Chen ‘14: Everyone has access if they request it. It’s not a closed group. Anyone can tell me they want to be on it and I can add them.
I approve the SFC Bylaws: Elizabeth Vandenberg, Lucy Gleysteen, Sarah Lovegren, Dani Weissman, Alex Francendese, Odeymarys Garrido, Natalie Zamora, Christina Tse, Sara Kim, Sarah Lesser, Jessica Arbon, Jancy Munguia, Emma Burke, Mariam Khoudari, Angela Blatz, Kayla Bondi, Sofia Oleas, Nina Shmorhun
I do not approve: 0
I abstain: Carolyn Jacoby, Anna Sargeant, Noor Massanat, Emma Rosenblum, Ivy Drexel, Xavia Miles, Namita Dwarakanath, Marian Slocum, Karina Siu
Natalie Kato ‘14: We have voted to approve the SFC bylaws. They will be posted on SGA blog page hopefully later tonight! Yay!
Old Business
Amy Chen ‘14: What I was looking for – it’s under penalties!
Natalie Kato ‘14: Stay for the holiday photo! It’s for anyone and everyone!
Karina Siu ’14: It’s not old business but I can say an announcement? Claudia Keep ran at the national cross-country meet. She got 47th out of over 200 runners!
New Business
SGA Meeting 12/08/13
Natalie calls the meeting to order at 7:10 PM.
Absent: Daniele Arad-Neeman, Erin Saladin, Rhett Richardson, Mariam Khoudari, Noor Masannat, Hannah Hastings, Alex Beda, Jessica Ferriera, Chrystyna Colon, Kayla Bondi, Sarah Gilmour, Jennifer Mendez Alba, Namita Dwarakanath, Phoebe Jordan
Announcements:
Anna Kalinsky ‘15: We have two announcements from Tuesday Group regarding safety things that don’t fall under campus safety. They are interested in starting a student committee on smoking. If you have feelings about smoking, especially if you are a student who smokes, contact Don Abramowitz. If you know anyone who is interested then tell them.
We also have an request from Bernie Chung-Templeton to solicit complaints especially regarding cleanliness and use of space in the dining hall. Leave napkin notes and please be honest!
Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: The next round of elections is in February. Nominations will open right after the first SGA meeting when we get back on January 26th. Positions being run are: the Executive Board, the Elections Head, and the Appointments Committee. Please nominate people and email your nominations to elections@bmc.
Natalie Kato ’14: This is the last SGA meeting of the semester. The next SGA meeting is on January 26th. You will receive an email and announcements.
Carolyn Jacoby ’14: Sign-ups for proctoring have gone out for self-scheduled exams. There are still slots with too few people. Please sign up. We need proctors to run them.
Amani Chowdhury ’14: TGH Alternate Study Space starts tomorrow! It’s a space you can eat in. Don’t eat in the library.
Your 2 Cents:
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: We had some requests to add a printer to the space. I spoke to info and tech services and it might be an idea we can implement – maybe the second week, not the first. Do keep in mind the acoustics. How popular would this idea be? I want to take a straw poll.
Colin Baumann ’14: Is this wireless printing only?
Amani Chowdhury ’14: Yes.
Natalie Kato ‘14: The options are: in favor of seeing a printer, not in favor in a printer, and abstain.
In favor: 15-20 people.
Not in favor: 12-145.
Abstain: Many.
The results were mostly abstentions but most are in favor of seeing a printer in the alternate study space. Amani will look into it and there will be an announcement through the SGA listserv.
Colin Baumann ’14: I want to get a feel about what you guys want from So-Co next semester, particularly in events that we hold. In the fall we just do Halloween. In the spring would you like to see a larger event like a formal, or smaller fancier versions of the presidential pop-ups?
Anna Kalinsky ‘15: There will be food?
Colin Baumann ‘14: Yes. I’m looking for opinions. Feel free to email me. Right now I want to take a straw poll. The options are: a larger open-campus event, several smaller events, no events, or abstain.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: All of those events will be dry?
Colin Baumann ‘14: Yes.
Natalie Kato ‘14:
Smaller: Around 15 people
Bigger: Around 25 people
None:
Abstain: Around 6 people
The option that received the most votes was a large event.
Colin Baumann ‘14: Halloween was unattended. If you have ideas about what people would be interested in going to, please let me know.
Appointments Introductions:
Hayley Burke ’15: Co-head of the Customs Committee. Sophia Dauria is the other co-head who is abroad. We’re excited!
Khadijah Seay ‘16: Customs Committee.
Xavia Miles ‘16: Customs Committee.
Coco Wang ‘16: Customs Committee.
K.C. McConnell ‘16: Customs Committee.
Marisa Rafsky ‘16: Plenary Committee.
Bridget Murray ‘17: Orientation Reorganization Committee.
Angie Chen ‘16: Constitution Review Committee.
Leqi Liu ‘17: Constitution Review Committee.
Rebecca Cook ‘15: Thank you everyone! I also have an appointments-related announcement. The campus greening rep is graduating this winter. The formal reappointment is in April but it’s a very important position on campus and Ed Harmon asked me to ask the community to see if anyone was interested in taking the position temporarily.
Here is the description of the position: The Primary Responsibility for this person(s) is to be the essential link between Students, College Administration, Facilities Services and the Board of Trustees. The students will work closely with Director of Grounds Ed Harman, an annual meeting with the Board of Trustees, to bring news regarding changes to the campus landscape from the Facilities to the student community, to collect and deliver student inputs on landscape projects on campus, and create and run Student Services Project once every year to keep up the college’s recognition as the Tree Campus USA college. The role will also requires students to manage the Department’s different communications channels (including website, facebook page, connections with the College Communication, etc) to effectively use them as tools to liaise among different parties. Candidates should be well organized, have strong communication skills, and be willing to take initiative on projects. Students will gain experience making campus wide connections with Administration and Faculty, and potentially create visible impact on campus. Knowledge of and interest in Bryn Mawr’s history and landscape are helpful but not required.
Please email me or sga@brynmawr.edu if you know someone who is interested encourage them to send us an email it’s an important position and there must be someone willing to fill it!
Honor Board Mock Hearing:
(For more information about Honor Board hearings and the Honor Code, refer to http://sga.blogs.brynmawr.edu/honor-board/).
Amani Chowdhury ’14: Do you have any questions?
Emma Rosenblum ‘14: How do you know that you collectively are representing the best interest of the community?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: We were voted on by the community so that’s approval right there. The head of the honor board meets earlier and outlines, reads through abstracts – that’s the preparation. It’s also a lot of learning from experience. If a new member would like to be part of the hearing, we try to have at least two experienced members so that it is a gradual transition.
Anna Kalinsky ‘15: How common are repeat offenses?
Amani Chowdhury ’14: I don’t know if I can disclose that. It is made note of in the abstracts.
Lindsey Crowe ‘14: When discussing resolutions is it natural or do you often make an example of someone? For example, Kevin G was a mathlete and Professor Park had said that he’s a representative and should fail the course. Is that normal?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: We try not to make an example of anyone. When we look at a case there are no general trends – we don’t want to use the same resolution for the same offense because each situation is different. We want to gauge students’ understanding of violation of community values and base the resolution off of that.
Colin Baumann ‘14: Is there a process in which members of the honor board can refuse hearings?
mani Chowdhury ‘14: We ask members if they are free, then ask them about a conflict of interest, then the student involved is asked about a conflict of interest.
Colin Baumann ‘14: There are also faculty reps on the honor board. Is there a process for them also?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: I don’t coordinate faculty reps.
don’t coordinate fact reps. Joann O’Doherty notifies students and student can have a say in it.
Ola Madamidola ‘16: Is there any way that a student can appeal the decision?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: A reason for an appeal could be that the procedure was not followed. The president will not review new evidence. If you were asked to come to a hearing, we expect you to come with the full story. Not bringing all of the information makes it difficult for the board to gauge the situation.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: Other than reading the honor code, is there a simpler way for a student who goes before the honor board to know the procedure?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: When I am approached about a hearing I email both parties and personally give them an outline.
Melanie Bahti ‘16: Point of information, we are also working on a hearing flowchart that will be online once it’s done.
Emma Rosenblum ‘14: What does it look like if a student disagrees? If Kevin G learned new methods but it wasn’t cheating.
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: If we cannot think of resolution? They are always recommendations. If we cannot figure out whether he has taken the exam honestly, it is left up to the professor and the student because we cannot make a recommendation. We help with follow up. This is not very common.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: Does this mean that even if the honor board would recommend to the professor not to fail the student, could the professor disregard the recommendation?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: The faculty can choose to participate in the Honor Code through confrontation but they do not have to take and apply resolutions.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: Is there a way for the student to challenge the decisions?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: This hasn’t ever come up. I haven’t ever seen it. People have approached me about actions from professors or faculty that can be deemed dishonorable but the Honor Code applies to just the undergraduate community so it’s difficult to judge those who can opt in and out.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: How are we governed by the spirit of self-governance and the honor code if the professor can make a decision that trumps the honor code? Doesn’t that invalidate our idea of self-governance?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: Yes, but that hasn’t happened because professors understand and appreciate the honor code. It is a cooperative and appreciated system.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: Is this something that comes up when professors go up for tenure? If they don’t respect honor board decisions?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: That would mean that information would go beyond the honor board.
Colin Baumann ‘14: It could come up through the student.
Student Financial Services Q&A:
Natalie Kato ’14: The advisory board has come to discuss questions posed before Big Cheese about off-campus financial aid. They will also give us an update about financial aid and other questions that they can report on.
Ola Madamidola ‘16: In regards to housing, how does financial aid work if a student lives off campus at the Haverford apartments, Mermont, or Overbrook?
If you are on financial aid then you will receive the same amount if you are living in off-campus housing. The only difference is that if you have a meal plan – if you live in off campus housing, you can choose another meal plan. But it’s the same thing.
Colin Baumann ‘14: In an instance where students receiving aid that covers partial board, whereas if the meal plan at Mermont/Overbrook/Haverford is supplementary, is there a system in place to reimburse food costs? It’s not always the student’s choice to live there.
Ola Madamidola ‘16: I don’t think there is reimbursement but I can talk to the director about that. We are in communication with her talking about the student experience and feelings towards financial aid.
Rebecca Cook ‘15: If you’re not in school housing, what happens?
Ola Madamidola ‘16: The Mermont room and board are not on-campus, you pay the board yourself and that is cut out of the financial aid. I don’t actually know.
Amy Chen ‘14: I’m curious what you mean by Bryn Mawr or Haverford housing when the partial meal plan is significantly cheaper and doesn’t actually affect financial aid. Does that extra financial aid get deposited into your account?
Colin Baumann ‘14: Point of information – I can’t cite my source but I understand that with the price differential it’s more expensive there than on campus. You pay room and board but don’t get a meal plan.
Sara Kim ‘14: Point of information – I’m not 100% sure about Mermont-owned apartments but financial aid will cover room and board but it starts with room first and then board which is the meal plan covered up to what aid you can receive.
Ola Madamidola ‘16: I can pose some of these questions to the department. There is also confusion because Res Life has their own information and Financial Aid has their own information. I can come back to you guys with clarified information.
Karina Siu ‘14: You said you would have a conversation about our feelings towards financial aid?
Ola Madamidola ‘16: I have been talking to students about that especially in clubs in which I am involved. There are bad and not bad experiences with financial aid. Straw poll? What do you think about a survey? The opportunity to talk about your experience and what you would like to see with financial aid, would you guys respond to that?
Natalie Kato ‘14: The options are yes, no, and abstain.
Sam Terry ’14: Is this in opposition to continuing this conversation?
Natalie Kato ‘14: In addition to, and also to get perspective from outside of this room.
In favor of survey: majority
Not in favor of survey: none
Abstain: maybe five
Karina Siu ‘14: I think I would like to have an actual conversation on financial services and processes at an SGA meeting, at least one of the first ones.
Ola Madamidola ‘16: We can have someone come in?
Karina Siu ‘14: yeah if possible. Some conversation. I’ve had bad experiences.
Honor Board Synopsis:
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: This semester there have been eleven academic hearings. They encompass different departments. Some hearings were about stealing peer work, dishonest communication, improper use of technology, use of published work, and unacceptable collaboration. There was a trend of technology and plagiarism. Resolutions included deduction of grade or failure of assignment, failure of class, withdrawing the student from college, etc.
Something that concerned me was that there were 11 hearings in one semester. Last semester I reported 10 hearings over 2 semesters, so 11 in one semester is concerning. It’s just food for thought.
Ola Madamidola ‘16: Is this a reflection of how academics are harder and harder and the increased pressure that students are feeling?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: I don’t think I’m allowed to voice my opinion on that.
Sam Terry ’14: Are you allowed to tell us the breakdown of the class years?
Amani Chowdhury ‘14: I can tell you to look at abstracts. I cannot tell you about hearings that just happened. The class years are in the abstracts, as well as the class levels.
Natalie Kato ‘14: If you have more questions about the synopsis or mock hearings please take advantage of Amani’s office hours – they are from 10-12 on Tuesdays. You can also email her or the board.
Old Business:
Natalie Kato ’14: It was requested that we get information about printing and an update about where we are. 1.3 million pages have been printed. On average each day 13 thousand pages are printed and 8 thousand sheets per day. I don’t know how large the trees are but 8.6 trees thus far have been consumed over 97 days. Keep in mind that this is not just the undergraduate community – it’s about 1,800 people printing. It’s equivalent to 200,000 hours of lightbulb usage. Grayscale printing has been 1.2 million pages and color printing is 86,000. The peak hours are between 1:30 and 2:30 PM. There was a drop in printing when fall break occurred. The highest number of pages are printed in Canaday. Next semester what they have planned to do is to set up a program that if you are set to print to the color printer there will be a pop-up asking if you’re sure that you want to print color because there are excess color prints accidentally. If you have questions, email Eric Pumroy.
New Business:
Syona Arora ‘15: As some of you know we have started a new SGA campaign with the tagline I am Empowered. I am SGA. A large part of this campaign is a photo campaign. We have posters with the decal designed by Sara Kim ’14 with the words “Bryn Mawr College Self-Government Assocation: I am Empowered. I am SGA”. We have dry erase markers and are looking for students to write how SGA has influenced their time at Bryn Mawr. This allows for people to place faces to names especially with titles and names that are thrown around a lot.
Natalie Kato ‘14: This can also expand beyond held positions. SGA encompasses a lot of things on campus. If there was an SGA-funded an event you enjoyed or contributed to something you believe in, write it on the paper! Questions?
Pamudu Tennakoon ‘15: When else will you be doing this?
Natalie Kato ‘14: We wanted to do more this semester but it’s busy. The members-at-large and first-year dorm reps will be taking photographs next semester.
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