Meeting Minutes for SGA General Assembly, 3/19/23
In Attendance from E-Board:
President Ananya Hindocha ‘23
Vice President Desi Bagot ‘24
Secretary Bryn Osborne ‘24
Co-Treasurer Catherine Fu ‘23
Co-Treasurer Lola Rodrigues ‘23
Social Justice and Equity Chair Fatmata Sesay ‘23
Head of the Honor Board Carlee Warfield ‘23
Groups called to Meeting: Representative Council
Meeting Agenda
- Community Comment
- RepCo Plenary Amendment Vote
- Community Comment
Desi Bagot ‘24: The Pan-Asian Potluck is next Saturday in the Well Kitchen
Lizzany Mayta ‘24: April 22nd, 3-5 pm, Mujeres* culture show!
Desi Bagot ‘24: SGA Gala is on March 31
Anai Dominguez ‘24: Junior Prom is on April 8 at 9:30 pm!
Desi Bagot ‘24: Choom boom showcase is next Friday, the Pulso showcase is April 1
Esenia Bañuelos ‘26: The access services committee is having a meeting on April 11 at 7 in Dalton 300, we will look to make the accommodations process easier and having an accommodations guide. Also will have admin and professors present on how to make classes more accessible
Kelly Douglas ‘24: There was a faculty meeting the week before spring break, I wanted to give an update. They approved a bid to finish construction on Park and approved the money. The upper playing field has been provisionally approved for an upgrade. The New dean, Karlene Burrell Mcrae, talked about the new power equity and justice curriculum, and how that will be covered with certain academic areas, still a lot of argument about it but moving forward well. Starting a new wellness initiative moving physical education more into wellness, classes that combine movement with the science of wellness and understanding mental health.The presentation given was confusing and doesn’t seem like they understand how students utilize the wellness center. The president and provost gave speeches on random work-in-progress events that students are not invited to.
Hannah Lawrence ‘23: Do we know what the 2nd phase of park renovations will be?
Kelly Douglas ‘24: Lots on physics wing. The profs are not happy, a new professor needs a specific physics lab
Cole Churchill ‘25: They want to make one big lab, a particular professor who was hired who needs specialized equipment is getting that put in
Ananya Hindocha ‘23: The total Park renovations will cost around 47 million dollars.
Nora Williamson ‘25: Plenary next week!
Ananya Hindocha ‘23: General plenary is next Sunday, March 27-31st is voting.
Maia Tsalik ‘26: The election candidate’s forum is at 7 on Wednesday. All honor board and e-board positions are up for election, so come ask questions.
Lola Rodrigues ‘23: Will there be a virtual option?
Maia Tsalik ‘26: Yes
- Plenary Amendments
Attendance was read out and there was not a 2/3rds quorum of Representative Council present. SGA E-Board had people reach out to contact members and request proxies, and quorum was met during the 2nd round of attendance.
Ananya Hindocha ‘23 read out the history and importance of plenary
Ananya Hindocha ‘23 read out the summary of resolution 1, reaffirmation of the SGA constitution
RepCo voted unanimously to pass the resolution to Plenary
Ananya Hindocha ‘23 read out the summary of resolution 2, recommitment to the values of the Honor Code
RepCo voted unanimously to pass the resolution to Plenary
Hannah Lawrence ‘23 read out the summary of resolution 3, Improving signage and directions in Marion Edwards Park Science Building
RepCo voted unanimously to pass the resolution to Plenary
Ananya Hindocha ‘23 read out resolution 4, election requirements for the Head of the Honor Board
Cole Churchill ‘25: If they have other conflict resolution training does that work, or does it have to be Bryn Mawr specific?
Ananya Hindocha ‘23: Bryn Mawr Specific, because the job is specialized to the Bryn Mawr Honor Code
RepCo voted unanimously to pass the resolution to Plenary
Elle Thompson ‘23 and Maia Tsalik ‘26 read out the summary of resolution 5, creation of a student worker’s representative
Elle Thompson ‘23: We think there should be a member on Repco that can run surveys, work to build further initiatives for better pay, and advocate for student workers, carry on the work of the current E-Board.
Esenia Bañuelos ‘26: Does this assume that there will be a student workers committee?
Elle Thompson ‘23: No, reps are not necessarily heads of committees, although if we feel that would be beneficial, we could start that.
Esenia Bañuelos ‘26: There are so many different avenues of student work, it would be beneficial. For example dining, labs, uncommon, erdman and new dorm, making a committee would be beneficial.
Elle Thompson ‘23: Were you proposing an amendment?
Esenia Bañuelos ‘26: Yes
Ananya Hindocha ‘23: Vote on adding an amendment to include the creation of a student workers committee.
Amendment passed unanimously
Elle Thompson ‘23: Would be called committee head rather than rep, but the function would be the same
Ananya Hindocha ‘23: Voting on resolution with amendment, new student workers committee headed by the SGA Vice-President.
RepCo voted unanimously to pass the resolution to Plenary
Bryn Osborne ‘24 read out resolution 6, updates to SFC bylaws
Bryn Osborne ‘24: We’re just putting in writing what already exists, no huge changes to the rules.
RepCo voted unanimously to pass the resolution to Plenary
Elle Thompson ‘23 read out Resolution 7, routine updates to the SGA Constitution
Elle Thompson ‘23: Routine changes to committee descriptions, only update was to institutional memory. There’s also a new addition to committee guidelines- if new committees are created, can be formalized after 2 years if they only passed through Repco and not Plenary
RepCo voted unanimously to pass the resolution to Plenary
Ananya Hindocha ‘23: Regular plenary is next Sunday, voting will start the next morning. Voting will need to reach quorum, we will need ⅓ of the student body to vote to have the honor code and constitution. If you have not filled out the student wages survey, please do so now.
Bryn Osborne ‘24: Tomorrow I am going to a meeting with the Board of Trustees about the M. Carey Thomas inscription on Old Library, and it sounds like they are going to give us the decision on whether or not they’re removing her name, so hopefully we will have news on that soon.
Ananya Hindocha ‘23: Hopefully by the end of the semester we will have news on whether or not her inscription will stay up. In April they will vote on that and on the budget and we will learn whether we will get a raise.
Cole Churchill ‘25: Will we have another RepCo meeting before the end of the semester?
Ananya Hindocha ‘23: Not unless we need to call one.
Meeting adjourned at 7:45 pm