Summary:
- Role Call:
- The meeting began at 7:10. A list of those present and absent can be found below. The meeting lasted approximately 17 minutes and was adjourned at 7:27 PM.
- Announcements:
- Fall Elections have begun! Positions up for election are up to six Members-at-Large, Haverford Representative(s), Representative(s) to the Faculty, Head(s) of the Committee on Public Safety, and 2020 Class President. Other positions up for election that are being carried over from the Spring Election are LILAC: Civic Engagement Representative, LILAC: Career and Public Development Representative, Senior Honor Board Representative, and Junior Honor Board Representative. You can nominate yourself or someone else by emailing elections@brynmawr.edu. Any questions can be directed to the Co-Heads of Elections (Genesis Perez-Melara and Mariana Garcia) at elections@brynmawr.edu.
- The Honor Code and SGA Constitution have been hyperlinked to make it easier for readers to access the section they need. You can look at the new feature on the SGA website at sga.blogs.brynmawr.edu. The Representative Council page is also being updated to include position descriptions and contact information for current position holders.
- The SGA Bulletin Board is being updated! If you are a member of the SGA Representative Council and have not yet sent in your picture for the board, please email it to Rachel Bruce at rbruce@brynmawr.edu.
- Your Two Cents:
- There were no Your Two Cents.
- Welcome to SGA:
- SGA President Rhea Manglani gave a brief overview of SGA meetings, including basic motions and information about meeting times and agendas.
- The E-Board introduced themselves to those present. They are: Rhea Manglani ’17 (President), Shaina Robinson ’17 (Vice President), Rachel Bruce ’18 (Secretary), Jocelyne Oliveros ’18 (Treasurer), and Swati Shastry ’18 (Head of the Honor Board).
- Hot Topic – Swastikas at Swarthmore:
- This Hot Topic has been postponed to next week. Rhea Manglani ’17 and Joy Chan ’17 apologize for this. There was a miscommunication regarding the date on which the discussion would take place. The discussion is a very important one to have and will definitely take place at the next SGA meeting on Sunday, September 11th at 7:00 PM in the Campus Center.
- In lieu of the Hot Topic, several newer members of the SGA Representative Council briefly introduced themselves. To those present. They are: Clair Romain ’17 (Rhoads North Dorm President, he/she/they), Emma Lasky ’18 (Radnor Co-Dorm President, she/her), Emma Levin ’17 (Radnor Co-Dorm President, she/her), Adriana Gay ’19 (Brecon Co-Dorm President, she/her), Nikki Westerdein’17 (New Dorm Co-Dorm President, he/him), Juhi Aggarwal ’18 (Denbigh Dorm President, she/her), Emily Drummond ’17 (Pem West Co-Dorm President, she/her), Madison Brown ’17 (Pem West Co-Dorm President, she/her), Farida Ilboudo ’18 (ECC Co-Dorm President, she/her), Claire Gaposchkin ’17 (Rhoads South Dorm President, she/her), Evelyn Aviles ’17 (Pem East Co-Dorm President, she/her), Celeste Ledesma ’17 (Rock Co-Dorm President, she/her),Jasmine Rangel ’17 (Pem East Co-Dorm President, she/her), Emma Porter ’17 (Merion, she/her), Sarah Awad ’17 (Rock Co-Dorm President, she/her), Katherine Nichols ’17 (Athletics Association Representative, she/her), Hannah Henderson-Charnow ’17 (2017 Co-President, she/her), Priyanka Dutta ’17 (2017 Co-President, she/her), Ananya Kumar ’18 (Curriculum Committee Head, she/her), Catherine Bunza ’18 (Co-Traditions Mistress, she/her), and Tyler Brown-Cross ‘17 (McBride Representative, she/her).
- Old Business:
- There was no Old Business.
- New Business:
- An SGA online digital archive is currently being organized by the SGA Archivist (Nora Dell ’19) and the Committee on Institutional Memory. All Bryn Mawr students will be able to access. Additionally, in finding out more information about SGA positions, especially those up for election, can email the SGA Archivist (Nora Dell) at ndell@brynmawr.edu for more on the history of the position.
————————————————–Transcript——————————————–
Role Call:
Rhea Manglani ’17: Okay, it’s 7:10 so we’re going to start the meeting with Role Call.
Rachel Bruce ’18: Hello everyone! I am required by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to tell you that everything tonight will be recorded.
Present: Ananya Kumar, Tyler Brown-Cross, Bridget Murray, Kyra Sagal, Sam Heyrich, Catherine Bunza, Genesis Perez-Melara, Nora Dell, Priyanka Dutta, Hannah Henderson-Charnow, Lillian Oyen-Ustad, Nikki Shakamuri, Adriana Gay, Juhi Aggarwal, Emma Porter, Farida Ilboudo, Nichol Westerduin, Evelyn Aviles, Jasmine Rangel, Madison Brown, Emily Drummond, Emma Lasky, Emma Levin, Clair Romaine, Claire Gaposchkin, Sarah Awad, Celeste Ledesma
Absent: Sohini Maniar, Mariana Garcia, Connie Lam, Veda Nambi, Jessica Breet, Makeda Wade, Phoebe Dopulos
Announcements:
Rhea Manglani ’17: Our first agenda item is Announcements. Announcements are a time when any member of the Bryn Mawr Community can make an announcement. We’ve allotted ten minutes for this agenda item. Are there any announcements?
Genesis Perez-Melara ‘19: As elections head I want to let you guys know that elections have begun for the Fall Election Cycle. There are several positions you can apply for. They are up to six Members-at-Large, Haverford Representative, Representative to the Faculty, Head of Committee on Public Safety, and Frosh Class President. There are also positions that haven’t been filled in the last elections cycle that you can nominate or nominate yourself for. They are SAAC Representative—
Sam Heyrich ‘17: That’s already been taken care of. I am SAAC Representative but I can’t have two Representative Positions, so the vice president of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee is going to take care of and that is Katherine Nichols. We already spoke to Rhea about it last semester.
Genesis Perez-Melara ‘17: Okay when you see the posters, just ignore that. The other positions are LILAC: Civic Engagement Representative, LILAC: Career and Public Development Representative, Senior Honor Board Representative, and Junior Honor Board Representative. You can send nominations to elections@brynmawr.edu. If you have any questions about these positions, like what duties do they hold, these hold please email me. I’ll be more than happy to talk to you about it.
Rhea Manglani ’17: Does anyone have any questions for Genesis? I’m going to be very transparent right now. The person who was supposed to host the Hot Topic forgot to CC on an email asking to move it to next week. So for those of you who are here for the Hot Topic specifically and would kind of rather leave because that’s what you came for, you can go ahead and leave if you want. It will definitely be next week. I apologize for the miscommunication and I hope to see you all next week. Are there any other announcements?
Rachel Bruce ’18: I have two announcements. The first is that over the summer the SGA Constitution and Honor Code were hyperlinked to make it easier for readers to navigate to the section that they need to find in both documents. Now you just click on the section and it’ll take you to wherever you need to go (so now there’s no excuse not to read the Honor Code or the Constitution). Additionally, the Representative Council Page is currently being updated to include links to position descriptions and other information. I also have one more thing. If you’re a member of the Representative Council and haven’t submitted a picture of yourself for the SGA Bulletin Board or the website, please do so when you get the chance. You can send it to me email at rbruce@brynmawr.edu, and thank you to everyone who has already.
Your Two Cents:
Rhea: Next we have Your Two Cents. Your Two Cents is a time when any member of the Bryn Mawr Community can host a straw poll, bring up an issue, or even an idea for a Plenary Resolution. We’ve allowed ten minutes for this agenda item. Any “Your Two Cents”?
Welcome to SGA:
Rhea: I’m going to apologize; this will be the most I will ever speak at a meeting. This is just a time to give you a very basic introduction to SGA and different talking points, just the way meetings are conducted in general. I want to introduce myself. My name is Rhea Manglani ’17 (she/her). This is all I have to say about myself. I am your SGA President, and all of the rest of the E-Board can introduce themselves.
Rachel Bruce ’18: Hi guys, my name is Rachel Bruce ’18 (she/her) and I am the Secretary of SGA.
Swati Shastry ’18: Hi, I’m Swati (she/her), Head of the Honor Board.
Shaina Robinson ’17: Hi, Shaina Robinson ’17 (she/her) and I am the Vice President.
Jocelyne Oliveros ’18: Hi, I’m Jocelyne Oliveros (she/her) and I am the Treasurer.
Rhea Manglani ‘17: Great! So SGA meetings are conducted every Sunday at this time unless there is a holiday or voted otherwise. Usually when it’s a holiday, like Valentine’s Day, we will vote to change it. If it’s a major holiday, like if we had a break from school, you are not expected to be at SGA that week. They will always be in the campus center; it might change if we vote to change the time because we might not have the space if it is not available. To be considered part of the SGA meeting you have to be down here. Balcony seats don’t count, they’re generally doing homework or listening in if they want. So SGA meetings kind of go in the same kind of order unless things come up. Ordinarily a meeting is Role Call, Announcements, Your Two Cents, Old Business, New Business, etc. Today we interrupted the introduction to welcome you to SGA (I’m not reading this word for word so don’t worry). If you keep coming to meetings you’ll begin to see the structure more and more and it’ll make sense. We practice decorum, usually when something’s going on during a meeting we don’t want people like snapping, clapping so we can give people a space to say something. You can respond after the fact with a direct response to what people have to say, but not interrupt them in the moment only after they’ve spoken. There’s something called motions, there are several of them. There’s motion to extend time, so if there’s an agenda item—something like Hot Topic. Let’s say I set it to be 20 minutes, but people feel that’s not enough they can motion to extend time, second, and we can vote on it. There’s Motion to Call to Question, which isn’t used as much, you can just raise your hand. This is very rarely used. Motion to Extend Time is something we more regularly ask you to use. Motion to Table Discussion—yes, Nora?
Nora Dell ’19: Motion to Call to Question is—
Rachel Bruce ’18: Name and class year?
Nora Dell ’19: Sorry, Nora Dell ’19. Motion to Call to Question is not calling to a vote.
Rhea Manglani ’19: Just kidding, you’re right! Motion to call to a question is to call to move it immediately to a vote. There’s also motion to Table a Discussion. We kind of have these phrases as a formality. It’s just to kind of keep the basics. There’s Point of Order, which is to protest a rule, I’ve never seen anyone use that in my time here. The other is to motion to adjourn, someone motions, seconds, we vote, and the meeting’s over. Point of information is like when someone says something incorrect you can say “Point of Information” or like, “yo, I worked on this and that doesn’t sound right.” Almost everyone who has to come on Sunday night is elected part of the Representative Council. Some are appointed. There’s appointed positions for those of you who want to be involved but don’t want to sacrifice your Sunday night. You can talk to Shaina more about that. If you aren’t part of Rep Council you can have power even if you don’t have voting power, you are free to say what you want; SGA is not meant to put a hierarchy, that’s not what we’re about. It’s meant to give responsibility to members of our community. Anyway, those are the main points.
Hot Topic – Swastikas at Swarthmore:
Rhea Manglani ’17: We’re going to change this to letting the DP’s introduce themselves instead since they’re newly elected. Stand up if you’re a Dorm President so we know. You’re also very visible to the dorm you live in. Just say your name, class year, and PGP’s. Let’s start this way and make our way down.
Clair Romain ’17: Rhoads North, he/she/they.
Emma Lasky ’18: Radnor, she/her.
Emma Levin ’17: Radnor, she/her.
Adriana Gay ’19: Brecon, she/her.
Nikki Westerdein’17: New Dorm, he/him.
Juhi Aggarwal ’18: Denbigh, she/her.
Emily Drummond ’17: Pem West, she/her.
Madison Brown ’17: Pem West, she/her.
Farida Ilboudo ’18: ECC, she/her.
Claire Gaposchkin ’17: Rhoads South, she/her.
Evelyn Aviles ’17: Pem East, she/her.
Celeste Ledesma ’17: Rock, she/her.
Jasmine Rangel ’17: Pem East, I prefer she/her pronouns.
Emma Porter ’17: Merion, I use she/her pronouns.
Sarah Awad ’17: Rock, she/her.
Rhea Manglani ‘17: Okay, thank you, is there anyone else who is new to RepCo that hasn’t had a chance to introduce themselves? Anyone else (looking at you)? Okay, just go around and do the same.
Katherine Nichols ’17: Katherine Nichols, she/her. I’m the SAAC Representative.
Hannah Henderson-Charnow ’17: Hi, I’m Hannah Henderson-Charnow and I am Senior Class President.
Priyanka Dutta ’17: Hi, I’m Priyanka Dutta, class of 2017, and I am also Class President.
Ananya Kumar: Ananya Kumar, class of 2018, she/her pronouns, and I am Curriculum Committee Head.
Catherine Bunza ’18: Hi, I’m Catherine Bunza, class of 2018, I prefer she/her pronouns, and I am one of the Traditions Mistresses. I also wanted to note at this time that my Traditions Lantern was stolen so if anyone sees it please let me know.
Tyler Brown-Cross ’17: I’m Tyler Brown-Cross and I am the McBride Representative.
Old Business:
Rhea Manglani ‘17: So Old Business is a time when any member of the Representative Council can bring up something from last semester about their position. Is there any Old Business?
New Business:
Rhea: New Business is a time when any member of the Representative Council can bring up a new item related to their position that they wish to discuss. Is there any New Business?
Nora Dell ’19: Hi everyone, I’m the SGA Archivist.
Rachel Bruce ’18: Name and class year?
Nora Dell ’19: Nora Dell ‘19, sorry. For those of you who are in new positions, I am compiling an archive where you’ll be able to access information related to SGA. But in lieu of that, I want to offer myself as a resource to talk about the information that is available on the Internet about positions and SGA instead of having to go through and find it yourself (instead I can send it to you). Feel free to email me at ndell@brynmawr.edu. Thank you!
Rhea Manglani ’17: Does anyone else have any New Business items? Sorry, before anyone wants to adjourn the meeting, I want to apologize. Usually I like to use SGA as a place to discuss more substantive discussions. What was originally planned was a discussion– before what happened, the hate crime, at Swat—to talk about ways to improve SGA, but again that wasn’t emailed to all of you and made at your disposal I didn’t want to use your time in that way. So again I just wanted to apologize. Next week there will be the Hot Topic that Joy promised. Once again, I apologize. Is there a motion to adjourn the meeting?
Bridget Murray ‘17: Motion.
Rachel Bruce ’18: Name and class year?
Bridget Murray ’17: Bridget Murray, class of 2017.
Rachel Bruce ’18: Thank you!
Rhea Manglani ’17: Second?
Sam Heyrich ’17: Second!
Rhea Manglani ‘17: This is a Representative Vote only. Your options are yes, I want to adjourn the meeting; no, I don’t want to adjourn the meeting; and abstain. Raise your hands if yes (if you’re in a co-held position only one of you can vote at a time, just want to make sure you all know what you want), no, abstain? Okay, meeting’s over.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:27 PM.