SGA Meeting 4/9
Campus Center 7pm
Summary
During this meeting there were a few special discussions as well as important announcements. I wanted to start off this summary by reminding people that there will not be an SGA meeting this upcoming Sunday! Remember to keep up to date with Room Draw events. There are two dance concerts this weekend, R&M on Friday at Swarthmore and the student dance concert on Saturday in Goodhart. There is going to be a 3 v 3 basketball tournament hosted by BMC Basketball. We will be having an SGA Rally in lieu of the last SGA meeting at which we will celebrate Bryn Mawr school spirit and highlight the efforts of the Representative Council. The E-Board will be holding forums for Seniors to discuss their feelings on SGA and what they would like to be changed, more details to come. We are still working on what updates we want from Admin in regards to virtual Big Cheese. There was a discussion on Athletics in the Community to close out Division III week, SAAC talked about new things they have been working on to make Athletics more active in the community. Please see the notes on the discussion to see the ideas proposed to work towards creating a better athletic department after the confederate flag incident. Finally the purple team won the trivia questions.
Roll Call
Rep-co announcement
Nanda Bhushan ‘19: Appointment election, nominations open on Monday, Sophie and Milan are running this round, props to them. Also application for appointments which will be due by the 17th so please tell your friends to apply if you think they will be good for any of the committees.
General Announcement
Jessica Breet ‘18 :Dorm draw is coming up. If you have any questions feel free to ask your dorm president or me.
Alisha Clark ‘18: Fun studd is coming up like the RNM showcase on the 14th
Jessica Breet ‘18: Spring dance concert on 21st & 22nd in Goodhart, and it is free for students.
Kyra Sygal ‘17: Just to reiterate RNM is a Tri-Co Dance Group that focuses on dances of the African diaspora, show 8pm LPAC, there is a shuttle that will come around 6:20, info will be on the Facebook page
Sam Heyrich ‘17: SAC President, BMC Basketball Fundraiser, a 3 v 3 tournament Saturday april 22nd from 1-4 and registration closes on 19th
Alisha Clark ‘18: Also Financial Aid is due soon, so make sure to do that so you can be here next year.
Pep Rally Proposal Discussion
Alisha Clark ‘18: I was going to rename this SGA rally but I think that pep rally works
Taylor: a pep rally is to gather school spirit, good here at bryn mawr where school spirit not particularly abundant all year round. Shouting & being happy about sports teamns and other events that are happening around school. Do you guys think that is a good idea or a bad idea?
Eda Tse ‘19: Since it is normally a sports team thing would we be rallying around a specific team? ? What would we rally around?
Alisha Clark ‘18: I really want this to be a time to highlight rep-co, we would be held here, the last meeting of the year, so next meeting we will be having this as meeting instead, we will be having cupcakes. Having things decorated and fun. Discussing things that we want to do for next year too
Sam Heyrich ‘17: I know you want to do an SGA sponsered event but if you want to do any event related to athletics, feel free to send me an email.
Alisha Clark ‘18: Having the sports team would be great because we are having a conversation
Jessica Breet ‘18: What if we get pivotal clubs on campus to do some I love BMC propeganda? I love bryn mawr propaganda?
Alisha Clark ‘18: Yeah that’s a great idea, I wanted to make sure that the rep-co is highlighted but I still want it open, like if people want to perform they can.
Cassidy Gruber ‘19: Just to clarify this is a party for everyone but we are highlighting repco?
Alisha Clark ‘18 : anybody is welcome to our meetings. If you see people around the campus having SGA related conversations, tell them to to come to our meetings, because Alisha is president so of course she’s gonna let u speak.
Will we have cupcakes for everyone? No, probably not. Don’t advertise food to your friends. People can probably get pizza though.
Taylor: There will be water!!
Claire Gaposchkin‘17: I am just wondering about the name because we’ve been switching back and forth between SGA Rally & Pep Rally.
Alisha Clark ‘18: We will be calling it a SGA Rally.
Kyra Sygal ‘17: Would this be a one time thing this year?
Alisha Clark ‘18: Like taylor was saying there a loss of school spirit, I want to work on getting everyone hyped up, having fun is my plan, plenary is going to be party itself. Making Plenary somewhere that people want to go. Do you guys want to do this?
People vote to have the SGA rally.
Let’s Revist
Nanda Bhushan ‘19:N An idea the E-Board has been having is to hold a senior SGA forum to ask what people want to see based on their four years, when do you think would be the best time to hold this?
Alisha Clark ‘18: This is going to be an honest time
Cassidey: Just as SGA archvists we have done interviews with past e-board members? Would be cool to put seniors in that archive to have their thoughts and feelings be heard.
Claire Gaposchkin‘17: In SGA meeting or something separate?
Alisha Clark ‘18: We would want this to be seperate
Sam: As a senior who is writing two theses, this time is really bad for seniors. We could do this through an online forum.
Alisha Clark ‘18:We were going to do both, people may have last minnute regrets while they were still here about things they could have changed. We are also going to reach out to old Alums We found old books that should probs be in the archives, and they have the same issues that we have now and its sad that things haven’t really changed.
Nanda Bhushan ‘19: I am scared that with the forum people may not feel that they can fill it out.
Cassidy : I made a post on a facebook page and I got responses back from Alumns from ’75 got back to me with eboard memories. I would love to see those books
Kyra Sygal ‘17: Forum in person, the only time we would be able to would be after senior work is done, May 6th , then events start the next day for senior week.
Community Forum
Alisha Clark ‘18: Last week we decided as a group we didn’t wanna do big cheese forum, we told Emily that we wanted updates and she responded saying that there werent really any updates during that time, She wants to know what questions were talking about.
Lea Williams ‘20: who is Emily?
Alisha Clark ‘18: Emily is the assistant to KCass, we have to run everything through her.
Lillian Oyen-Usted ‘19: I have been a three semester note taker for cheese forum. We gather questions as a rep-co, we formulate questions that are going around campus. For admissions? Counseling center being more diverse, having more hours, being accessible? Brecon water foundation? Polema? Park and health center construction? Campaign?
Lydia Sanchez ‘18: Some of the next questions will be answered with upcoming board of trustees meeting. Things will be announced. Need blind. We will not be going at need blind. We cannot afford it.
Lillian Oyen-Usted ‘19: I was just talking about questions that have been asked in the past?
Alisha Clark ‘18: What exactly if anything can we ask them? Are there any updates?These questions can be answered at the Board Meeting, we need to be asking other questions that people can ask.
Lydia Sanchez ‘18: The health center they are working on it. $10 million Blueprints have been approved. Release final budget in a few weeks. Like how many people they will be hiring Park has been a discussion since Fall 2015. Planning and wanna be under budget. Park of this has to do with the Campaign. They will update us on things like new bathrooms in merion.
Claire Gaposchkin ‘17: I am not sure what the medium would be for discussion with admin? So since we’re not on the same page with say general projects & what they are working on might be a good place to start with this kind of thing. They could introduce themselves and things they are aiding with. Some questions are being addressed. Getting everyone on the same page.
Alisha Clark ‘18: I will tell you guys of any p=big updates coming from the Board of Trustees meeting.
Jessica Breet ‘18: Another idea would be to put out a survey? Maybe put in questions for admin because as a whole they seem pretty frightinging if you don’t know how it works. ?
Kyra Sygal ‘17: I agree with what everyone has been saying. But just to update on construction. Facilities meet with resco and dorm presidents. I will let you know somethings that will be updated. Construction in park will begin on june 2017 and end fall 2018. Nosiest park will be happening over the summer. Merion will be getting new carpets ,light, & bathrooms this summer. Then in batten Summer 2018 Batten will be renovated. Feel free to reach out to dorm presidents and res-co heads if you have questions or want something communicated.
Alisha Clark ‘18: Administrators wanna know things 3 weeks in advance. So right now we are on thin ice. They like to know what we are talking about. Alisha said that this is what the student body wants. I will pass it around on facebook please encourage people to put questions on the forum. In the meantime, I can email her and ask for a recap of projects that they have been working on.
Lydia Sanchez ‘18: I could recap
Alisha Clark ‘18: Is that all about Big Cheese, Sam want to take it away?
Sam Heyrich ‘17: President of SAAC, this past week was DIII week. One of the themes we decided to focus on student athlete & community relations.This was kind of sparked by Plenary and discussions around that and so we wanted to open a discussion here regarding student athlete relationships here at Bryn Mawr. Earlier held open forum discussion here in the Campus Center trying to address underlying athletic department & how student athlete are linked to confederate flag issue and the way that plays out. The issue was not properly handled and there are a lot of underlying tensions, so we wanted to open a dialogue about this.
Alisha Clark ‘18: I remember when I was a first year, that happened within the first two weeks of being a student. I am a person who is not easily offended by things. At the same time, didn’t wanna shape me me as a student. But it was difficult to see how Bryn Mawr responded, when they did respond it was really empty, like they didn’t care and I felt betrayed and not welcomed. I was intrigued by the way the honor board played out for athletes. No how dept handled issues pertaining to it.
Sam Heyrich ‘17: I am not defending in any part but athletes do not receive any special treatment, especially in regards to the honor code. Athlete’s at Haverford in comparison to BMC is interesting. Stressing the fact that student athletes are not extended special rights.
Alisha Clark ‘18; was this before or after they received their awards?
Lillian Oyen-Usted ‘19: I am a student athlete and I was not here during the issue when I found out I was horrified that it was student athlete. How it was never talked about? Didn’t find out about it until second semester? In regards to awards I brought that up to my coach personally. It turns out that award it isn’t awarded through athletic department, it’s a memorial award given to seniors on rowing team. Sam Heyrich ‘17: These two happened to be seniors on rowing team. Since then, head has been profusely apologetic, especially Kathy
Jessica Breet ‘18: Department of athletics to issue apology.
Sam Heyrich ‘17: I can advocate for this but Don’t think they will be open.
Alisha Clark ‘18: I think that would heal a lot of people. From my position I think that could provide closure. People are always talking about the way that they have never received an apology. No matter what it is essential to treat people with kindness even if we don’t agree.
Jessica Breet ‘18: What if it came from SAAC, not the athletics department?
Sam Heyrich ‘17: I don’t think it’s SAAC’s responsibility/current students have nothing to do with the administrative handling. I feel horrible that current students have to bear the burden, it wouldn’t mean much for these students to apologize for something that the adults did.
Jessica: If they are unwilling to apologize then maybe a public statement of support from SAAC?
Alisha Clark ‘18: Why won’t cathy propose an apology?
Sam Heyrich ‘17: I don’t want to speak on her behalf but I think that they see it as something that has passed, and that it is time to move forward. This year we have made strides in our attempts to fix things, we made a Diversity and inclusion statement that took two years to create and all athletes signed it. We just created a new position on the SAAC e-Board
Lillian Oyen-Usted ‘19: I want to make a point that the comment that was made at Plenary is not representative of majority of athletes, that is not how most athletes feel.We are creating a head of diversity position on our E-Board.. Currently we have a diversity and inclusion committee run by Anushka Robinson. Committee head position → e-board position. Tasked with/focused on the daily tasks and large scale things as well to fix community relationships by working with pensby center the department & AMO groups. We want to hold events within athletics as well as respond to things like this. We don’t want all these responsibilities to fall on one person but we want to show that diversity is priority to all of us.
Claire Gaposchkin‘17: It is very nice that this forum exists. SGA should be an open forum of communication. Line of communication is nice. Being clear about saying this is what happened is helpful. Saying this is what the department did. It’s easy to be confused by all of the difficulties in discussions like this. It’s really helpful for people to understand each other.
Jessica Breet ‘18: Everything SAAC is moving to sounds good.
Alisha Clark ‘18: I agree too, but I am definitely hoping to see an apology. We want all the athletes to be there because we want to show us as a community. Do everyone some healing. Please partake in rally. I think this would help people too.
Sam Heyrich ‘17: If you would like to continue convo privately, please send me an email at any point.
Trivia Time
Apparently there are actually 4 people buried in the Cloisters
Question: What was the original Gateway Building’s purpose?
Answer: Bookstore, point goes to Cassidy Gruber, Purple team.
Alisha Clark ‘18: is everyone okay with missing next week for Easter Sunday, NO MEETING NEXT SUNDAY. Last meeting will be the following weekend, the SGA Rally.