April 17, 2016 Minutes

SGA Meeting:
Role Call:

The regular SGA meeting was expedited to respect students’ schedules after Big Cheese Forum. The meeting began at approximately 8:15.

• Present: Casi Omick, Jess Shill, Alice Bell, Veda Nambi, Kyra Sagal, Tyler Brown-Cross, Diamond Ray, Lindsey Foster, Bridget Murray, Nikitha Shakamuri, Oona Ryle, Lillian Oyen- Ustad, Sam Heyrich, Emily Gifford-Smith, Maria Minaya, Erin Saladin, Miranda Smith, Shiwei Zhu, Alexis Wiltshire, Modupe Olufemi, Chanel Williams, Dijia Chen, Nolan Julien, Khadijah Seay, Melanie Bahti, Connie Lam, Ann Tran, Rina Patel, Olivia Hollinger, Coco Wang, Hannah Chinn, Dani Cadet, Rachel Ofili, Eve Cantler, Charlette Williams, Genesis Perez-Melara, Mariana Garcia, Nora Dell
• Absent: Sneha Soni, Elizabeth Lorenzana, Jasmine Rangel, Celeste Ledesma, Kat Phifer, Radhika Singh, Tosin Ajiboye, Ana Llamas, Stephanie Montalvan, Sarah Andrew, Emily Siegel

Announcements:

• The April Appointments Round will close April 18th at midnight. Please see the Appointments Blog at appointments.blogs.brynmawr.edu for a full list of available positions and their descriptions. If you have any questions, please contact Shaina Robinson at srobinso99@brynmawr.edu.

Your Two Cents:

• There were no Your Two Cents.

Feedback Hotline Budget Vote:

• The E-Board was approached by a Student Representative of HarvardUniversity regarding implementing a new, anonymous texting service for Bryn Mawr students to give feedback to the E-Board, as well as talk about instances of sexual assault, mental health etc.
• The Self-Government Association would be able to vote on the four subjects or “pillars” that the students could provide feedback for. Every Bryn Mawr student would receive a phone number to text to, would receive confirmation of the message being sent, and the E- Board would respond (the E-Board would receive a code to access the anonymous messages).
• The original price was $1000, however the E-Board bargained with the representative to bring the cost down to $700, between full and temporary use.
• After several minutes of debate, the Representative Council ultimately voted no due to lack of information and interest in the project at this time. The Representative Council may revisit this proposal in a year.

Old Business:

• There was no Old Business.

New Business:

• There was no New Business.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:42 P.M.

Big Cheese Forum:

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Welcome to Big Cheese Forum, the place where you get to ask all of your burning questions. Let me introduce everyone that’s here. We have President Cassidy, Provost Osirim, Dean Balthazar, Kari Fazio (Chief Financial Officer), Pelema Morrice (Chief Enrollment Officer), Stephanie Nixon (Title IX Coordinator and Dean of Diversity), Gina Siesing (Chief Information Officer), and Glenn Smith (Head of Facilities). Thank you for coming out. We are going to have two fifteen minute discussions. They’ll help make sure that the conversation runs smoothly. At the end of the conversation you’ll get a two-minute warning.

Two fifteen minutes took place, the second session had a motion to extend time by five minutes.

Rhea Manglani ’17: Okay, everyone; we’ve reached the end of the extended time. Facilitators and note takers please come up to the mic.

Lillian Oyen-Ustad ‘19: I took notes for Pelema. We talked about being need-blind [financial aid]. While that is great, only 25% of colleges do that. We have the next best thing where we are able to meet 100% of the demonstrated need of the student. We also discussed the McBride Program’s growth and what we are going to be able to do to continue that growth. We also talked about continuing relationship between athletics and admissions to properly recruit student athletes. We also talked about international recruiting and recruiting in general of students around the world.

Veda Nambi ‘18: Hi everyone, my name is Veda Nambi and I use she/her pronouns. Our group was the group with Kari Fazio. First we talked about what students want and how that affects the budget. For instance, we liked how students had smaller classes. We discussed that because of that Bryn Mawr is relatively expensive. Around 60% of budget is used for faculty, 20% is for facilities, and the rest is left over for other uses or to save. The exact numbers will probably be in the email but it is around 30% in, the rest is grants. Then we discussed how much more expensive having old versus new buildings is. It is a little more expensive, but in the long run it is worth it because they are more durable. We also discussed what Kari Fazio’s role is and what your team does as well. Also, like you said, your role and your team’s role is going to expand because of people retiring. Because there are a lot of positions…because there are student faculty….. Study abroad tuition is done the way it is to prevent [any discrepancies].

Nora Dell ‘19: We started off with a conversation about the community diversity conversations, they were started to do three things: be more transparent about what the college is doing, share this information, and also to bring new and unrelated ideas into a forum for students to talk about. Diversity Talks on campus have achieved goals in that people have come and that they’ve learned and shared their ideas. We could be increasing attendance, only 40 people come right now. We went over some ideas to increase attendance including have meeting at dinner, have it be on Thursday or Friday afternoon, or publicize meetings through Facebook or SGA emails because we all get a thousand emails every day. The other thing we talked about was the climate survey. We only have 25% students and 50% of faculty, whereas 50% of students participated a few years ago. Your last chance to fill out survey is coming up. It is important because there is a question of whether you feel you belong here at Bryn Mawr, and that is something that KCass wants to know. There are office hours and she wants you to come, but the survey is another way that the administration wants to get to know about your feelings. Then we went off of pre- set questions; what we want to see done on campus done the fastest, transparency as initiative, especially in financial aid and why decisions are made so we can understand more where we are coming from.

Melanie Bahti ‘16: I was the note taker for Provost Osirim’s group. In the first session we got really into the nitty-gritty of faculty hiring so Daniela and I know a lot about faculty hiring, which will be in the minutes but you can also come talk to us about it. Who is on the community, who makes final decision. One thing that came out of that was an advocate for increasing diversity [among faculty]. Used to be one person but now that is combined with [faculty] committee on appointments. I asked provost Osirim about this and we talked about how this is combined with…what we need in the… because of that combined perspective (what people need versus what they want). We also talked about how important teaching is at Bryn Mawr. Research doesn’t take precedence over their teaching. It is definitely important to see how faculty works with students, which goes into their reappointment. In the second sessions we talked about protesting and how the college doesn’t have a set procedure in relation to student protest and how there is nothing preventing it. Plans were made to deal with if there were a protest. We also talked about how students feel they’re getting reaction or lack of reactions for faculty when protesting on campus. That has to do with time lag when protest happens and administrative response. People aren’t sure what plan is going to happen. They want to increase communication and make sure folks are all on the same page. The last thing was how student values and school values came up, and making sure people who are hired can get behind these values.

Chanel Williams ‘16: I was the note taker for Glenn Smith and we talked a lot about renovations happening on campus. We talked about the Health Center and what the new plan for that would look like and where it would be located (possible admissions or close to where it is now] and we talked about the goal of the new Health Center, which is to be more of a wellness center. We talked about how there are a lot of different departments such as the Pensby Center [where] students can use the space, have it be more of a place for wellness rather than a place you go when you’re sick. Talked about Rock and how the bathrooms and laundry rooms are going to be renovated. We also talked about what happens, if you drew into Rock, if your room will be safe from renovations (it will, any rooms being taken offline have been indicated on the floor plan). Denbigh renovations will be taking place over the summer to fix the windows. Scaffolding is going up over the summer. There are some concerns over that because the scaffolding is going up over the summer and how this could change the plan. We also talked about Park and how renovations will happen there, but that’s a bit more a ways a way so there weren’t as many questions about that

Palak Bhandari ‘16: I was the note taker for Dean Nixon. We talked about Title IX, sexual harm, and how this will be changing over the next year to take into account small and large groups. We also talked a bit about what Pensby looks like and really how the student body is using Pensby. One point about accessibility was brought up. While people get there it is often very difficult. Second session we talked more about protocol such as on the HA and Customs level— people who are responsible to report to Stephanie about Title IX incidents. We closed with talking about general reports that happened in the last few years and what schools are required to have for Title IX.

Erin Saladin ‘16: I was the facilitator for Gina’s group but I also had these prepared points about email from Melissa Cresswell which I will report back on. But first, Gina asked us about how aware students were of input program at library (they weren’t). Then we got into email. We will be transitioning from Zimbra to Office 365, which is between Graduation and Reunion. We won’t have any email for a day. Any email sent during that time will be received, all files except briefcase will be transferred, [however] signatures, filters, and other filters will need to be set up again, including mobile events. Students graduating will still have access to email for 90 days. You can export your files from Zimbra, but it will be an easier transition if you wait until Office 365 comes back into service. Keep an eye on Tech Blogs at Bryn Mawr. One exciting thing is that we won’t have so many needs for quota increases. We are going to have 50 GB of storage and one TB of backup. In June students can start downloading Office 2016 for free. For more information, please contact LITS. we will be tabling. There will be a demo in Thomas on May 4th. Resources available on tech dogs and more learning opportunities in the fall for the new system.

Dani Cadet ‘16:I was will Dean Balthazar. For one thing we talked about the Honor Board and the Social Honor Code and what that will be like. We cannot think of a way to improve Social Honor Code because it is among the students. We also talked about steps being taken to make sure it is a much simpler process such as by taking a gap year. More students are

coming back after leaving BMC which is a good thing. Speaking of gap years, we also talked about the way that gap years are chosen. Students are typically asked for a one year but they can ask to come back after a semester. There are about nine reasons (health, family, etc.) why students might decide to take time off— a myriad of reasons. There are reasons why faculty may ask students to take time off. In terms of her time as Interim Dean, she believes that she learned a lot. The Wellness Program will look different, including time where it will focus on confrontation. We also discussed the Pensby Center and whether the Pensby Center and Cambrian Row offices can be more central to campus. With there being a new Health Center, there is a better chance of accomplishing that. We also talked about the process of appointing the new Dean of the College, including the breakdown of the committee.

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Once again, I want to thank everyone for coming. There will be a regular SGA meeting starting in five minutes.

Rachel Bruce ’18: Also, note takers could please email me your notes at rbruce@brynmawr.edu as soon as possible!

SGA Meeting:

Role Call:

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Okay, it’s 8:15 we’re going to start the meeting with Role Call.

Rachel Bruce ’18: I am required by the state of Pennsylvania that everything said tonight will be recorded.

• Present: Casi Omick, Jess Shill, Alice Bell, Veda Nambi, Kyra Sagal, Tyler Brown-Cross, Diamond Ray, Lindsey Foster, Bridget Murray, Nikitha Shakamuri, Oona Ryle, Lillian Oyen-Ustad, Sam Heyrich, Emily Gifford-Smith, Maria Minaya, Erin Saladin, Miranda Smith, Shiwei Zhu, Alexis Wiltshire, Modupe Olufemi, Chanel Williams, Dijia Chen, Nolan Julien, Khadijah Seay, Melanie Bahti, Connie Lam, Ann Tran, Rina Patel, Olivia Hollinger, Coco Wang, Hannah Chinn, Dani Cadet, Rachel Ofili, Eve Cantler, Charlette Williams, Genesis Perez-Melara, Mariana Garcia, Nora Dell
• Absent: Sneha Soni, Elizabeth Lorenzana, Jasmine Rangel, Celeste Ledesma, Kat Phifer, Radhika Singh, Tosin Ajiboye, Ana Llamas, Stephanie Montalvan, Sarah Andrew, Emily Siegel

Announcements:

Rhea Manglani ’17: Welcome admitted students! I’m sorry that this is the first SGA meeting you are coming to— this is expedited. This is the fastest meeting you are ever going to see, please come back next year. Any announcements? Oh my gosh, congratulations! I am so sorry. Announcements? Announcements is a time when any member of the Bryn Mawr community can make an announcement. We have ten minutes for this agenda item. Any announcements?

Shaina Robinson ‘17: Reminder that the April Appointments Round is open and is closing tomorrow, April 18th, at midnight. Positions are available online. Highly encourage people to apply, especially for Campus Greens, very interesting, go take a look at the description.

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Any other announcements?

Your Two Cents:

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Your Two Cents is a time when any member of the Bryn Mawr community can post a topic for discussion or host a straw poll. We have ten minutes for this agenda item. Does anyone have any Your Two Cents? Oh, she changed it to Your Two Cheeses and she wants all of you to notice it.

Feedback Hotline Budget Vote:

Rhea Manglani ‘17: We were approached by a student at Harvard about a new feedback hotline. Basically what happens is everyone gets a number to text to this hotline, and it’s all anonymous, and it will go to us on the E-Board. It’s $700 for one semester. We kind of don’t really know how much this will help, it’s basically just to encourage communication… She’s [Swati] trying to find the exact email. We were quickly hoping to get a vote on it. It’s again $700 for a semester and this was after we bargained with him.

Erin Saladin ‘16: Just a quick question. Can you just clarify feedback on what?

Rhea Manglani ‘17: He said we can decide what four pillars we can make it. Traditionally when he’s done it with other schools it’s been sexual assault, mental health, diversity, and social spaces, so we can decide the four.

Chanel Williams ‘16: Do you know which schools he’s done this with?

Rhea Manglani ‘17: He told us Colby College. I think he’s done it with a few other schools, because we were like we’re a small school do you think this is necessary and he said that Colby is the only school comparable to our size is Colby. Harvard is also using it for their Student Government Association.

Nora Dell ‘19: Did he said how effective it had been?

Rhea Manglani ’17: So most of the think pieces he sent us is how it’s effective for small business versus us. Oh wait, here is the breakdown. So everyone gets a phone number, code for the E-Board (that’s us), personalized reply for every piece of feedback. I think this was intended for small business that they expanded this to. So we bargained for something in between full service, which is $1000, and temporary service. Sorry, does that answer your question at all?

Melanie Bahti ‘16: So when I was looking at this is and I was thinking is this something that is this is something we want to try out for the rest of the semester or in the Fall. How do you know that this is something we want to keep for the future? How are you going to assess this? Like what are the goals for having this and what do you guys as the E-Board want it to do and how will you know if it’s working?

Rhea Manglani ‘17: We were hoping that it would make people more wanting– we have the mailbox now and so when we talked on the phone we said that we had a few open spaces for people but for this specifically we were hoping it would increase response. We were hoping it would reduce apathy because it’s a text message– it’s fast and it’s on your phone. But also when we talked about this we weren’t sure how it was worth $700 that’s why we brought it out to you all. So even though it’s coming back to us, we very much want to know if you all think this is worthy of $700 of SGA money.

Lillian Oyen-Ustad ‘19: If it’s an automatic text back, how does that feedback app work in regards to mental health and sexual assault?

Rhea Manglani ‘17: I think the automatic response It would be just a notification that we received it. That will just tell them that that’s it’s been sent rather than them sending it out that and them being like oh did they get it or not, because it was sent and we respond to it in the end. It’s basically a notification saying that your text was received and this is what the content was.

Hannah Chinn ‘19: If we have any indication that this particular program have worked at our college? Has anyone reached out to say this has worked for them? I know that mental and sexual assault… specific problems we have on our campus.

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Those are four example categories, we get to kind of choose our own too. this was originally used for small businesses and I think that he’s just starting to reach out to colleges so this is like a jump that we’re not willing to make I’ll just send him an email saying sorry, come back in a year.

Miranda Smith ‘16: Two questions, the first is can we use this for straw polls for students? And secondly, is this something the E-Board feels like it needs and wants?

Rhea Manglani ‘17: The first one I am not sure, but I can ask him. I feel like you could because it sounds fancy enough. The second is we all thought that this is interesting, but we wanted to see if other people caught onto this we thought maybe and that’s why we pulled it out to the rest of you.

Nora Dell ‘19: Why do you think he approached us?

Rhea Manglani ‘17: We’re a school in the area. I think that’s basically it.

Nora Dell ‘19: Has he approached other schools?

Rhea Manglani ’19: It’s a startup. He’s contacting multiple schools in the area.

Erin Saladin ‘16: The thing I’m wondering about is What is this going to do in conjunction with the resolution we just passed to reaffirm our commitment to positive confrontation.

Rhea Manglani ‘17: So it would go to us. It’s made to go to go to a certain group of people. Yes, there could be a problem for any E-Boards in the future. Those people could be targeted by this, but other than that that’s always a concern– what we’ve dealt with on Yik Yak– but I really am not sure. It only goes to such a small group of people.

Dani Cadet ‘16: I was just wondering about how this is different from free text message services?

Rhea Manglani ‘17: The main difference is that it’s anonymous and that it will get sent to the five of us who have the code, or the five people who have it in the future. It’s designated to five people right now, so the five people with this code.

Sam Heyrich ‘17: I was wondering how this is different from if we just opened a public survey that is also anonymous. What are the positives or negatives of that.

Rhea Manglani ‘17: I’ve done several Google surveys that are topic-based. Are you suggesting that we just always have an open one?

Sam Heyrich ‘17: I feel this could be done by having a general form open. I think that what they’re proposing can be done for free.

Rhea Manglani ‘17: I feel the same way, but I wanted to make sure we had this discussion. Nora Dell ‘19: I was wondering what happens if the text messages…

Rhea: I guess he is… I’m not really sure.I think we’re all at the point of this not being understand. So I think that we’ve gone on this for a few minutes and unless any questions are getting different. I think that we’re on the I don’t really get this. There are three options…

Chanel Williams ‘16: Can we vote?

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Yes, I was going to propose that we vote on it. The options are yes, no, and abstain and based on that… Erin?

Erin Saladin ’16: Khadijah has a question.

Khadijah Seay ‘16: I think for me is that Part of the pushback is that students aren’t going to office hours, coming to meetings, or even talking to their friends. I think it’s more important to talk about why students aren’t using the resources we already have. I think that needs to happen before we talk about different services.

Hannah Chinn ‘19: Based on what I’m hearing, can we talk about reevaluate this in a year? We don’t have any evidence that this has worked or that this will work for our community.

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Okay… so we’re going to move to a vote. Nora Dell ‘19: What are we voting on?

Rhea: Manglani ‘17: So the options are going to be yes, I want to pursue this; no; and the maybe. Were you going to say anything else?

Nora Dell ‘19: ….

Rhea Manglani ‘17: So I was just going to email him regardless. That’s the polite way of saying no. We can say we’ll reevaluate this in a year and maybe he’ll forget or we can pursue this on our own. This person emails a lot. So yes, no, and abstain? [This is a Representative Council vote only].

The Representative Council voted a unanimous no.

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Alright I have an email to write tonight.

Old Business:

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Old Business is a time when any member of the Representative Council can revisit an announcement or topic brought up at an SGA meeting. The announcement must pertain to the Representative Council member’s position. We have 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 make an announcement or bring up a new topic for discussion. The announcement must pertain to the Representative Council member’s position. We have ten minutes for this agenda item. Is there any New Business?

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Do we want to motion to end the meeting?

Alexis Wiltshire ’17 motioned to end the meeting.

Sam Heyrich ’17 seconded.

Rhea Manglani ‘17: Okay, this is a Representative Council vote only. The options are yes, no, and abstain. Yes? No? Abstain?

Meeting adjourned at 8:42 P.M.