SGA Meeting
Absent: Gabby Marangell, Giang Tran, Heather Taddonio, Hannah Smith, Daisy Sheng, Olivia Xia, Emily Tafaro, Sumedha Niranjan.
7:10 YJ calls the meeting to order
Announcements
Adrienne Webb ’11: Art Club is having a party on Erdman Green this Saturday called the Erdman Sidewalk Chalk Hop from 10am-1pm. If it rains it will be inside.
Sam Salazar ’11: The time capsule is still accepting things.Anything can go in it, so send stuff to Box 718 before 5 on Thursday. On Friday at 4:10 there will be a time capsule burying and tree planting ceremony.
Katie Dahl and Liz Ritchie ‘11: Room selection is this Thursday at 10pm. Haffner room selection will be in French. South in common room. North in quiet study. Make sure you go or get a proxy.
Tina Hu ’12: Last day to submit reimbursements is April 29th. Clubs who submit their receipts after April 29th will not be reimbursed, so please plan accordingly.As I mentioned last week, SGA Exec Board will be offering summer storage in the SGA House for all clubs on campus. All club treasurers will need to submit the application to the SGA House by 5 pm on April 22nd. I emailed all club treasurers with detailed instructions.This year I am going to allow club treasurers to put money back “into the pot”. I understand that sometimes clubs over budget or events fall through. This will be an opportunity for clubs to return money back to SGA. If you chooses to do this, your club won’t be penalized during the Fall semester budgeting and interviewing process. Please email sgatreasurer@brynmawr.edu with your club name and the amount you would like to return back to SGA.
YJ ’12: Most of the money that goes back into the pot will go back to the student body this year… through a secret event…
SGA is on the current student page. We got more than 500 responses about increased access into Philly.
Julia Fahl ‘12: What were the results?
YJ ’12: Most people go once a month, for restaurants, for Penn courses. Everyone said that they would like free R5 and R100 tickets into Philly.People said they would go all the time. I’ll bring it up with Dean Rasmussen. She’s looking at how Haverford does it and she’s seeing if Swarthmore does it so we can compare.
Earth week is this week. There’s going to be a picnic/party Friday in front the campus center.
Big Cheese Forum Reflection
YJ ’12: Before the Big Cheese Forum we made a list of what we wanted to cover with the Big Cheesers. We pretty much covered everything. Is there anything you want to get more information on?
Liz ’11: Have we thought anymore about Mawrk Notes?
YJ ’12: That’s the fourth item on the agenda.
Kimberley DeRosa ’13: There was more discussion of the graduate programs at the faculty meeting. They hire committees to see if the graduate programs are still relevant. They have to reach certain benchmarks in order to be retained. They’ve recommended that the Psychology program close, even though they’ve met the benchmarks.The faculty are concerned that the benchmarks mean nothing.They’ve gotten indications that if the Russian graduate program closes the undergraduate program will close.
Julia Fahl ’12: What is the reason for closing the Russian program?
Kimberley DeRosa ‘13: It wasn’t really disclosed because of confidentiality issues. They’re thinking it would be for budgetary reasons – to have more money for salaries and to help increase Bryn Mawr’s ranking. We’ve fallen at least ten spots in the last few years. This is part of an effort to get us competitive again.
Jen Savage ’12: 1.) How many of you have taken a math course and had a grad student as your TA? (a lot) I’m organizing a meeting with JMac and undergraduates where undergraduates can talk about their experience with having a graduate student as a TA and let her know how much it means to us. If we want to expand that to include other departments we can, or anyone who is interested can come to the math one. JMac wants to hear student responses.
Sophie Papavizas ’11: One of the things JMac has said was that a reason for closing the graduate programs is that it’s drawing money and attention away from undergraduates. If you feel that having grad students around is enhancing your experience, you need to speak up. A common misconception is that graduate students will monopolize the professor’s time, but they actually allow for them to have longer office hours by assisting with their workload.
Jen Savage ’12: We don’t want this meeting to be us yelling at JMac or making her feel guilty. We want to make sure she feels comfortable talking to us.
YJ ‘12: I know that she wants to be prepared and able to respond.
Adelyn Kishbaugh ‘12: What are the benchmarks?
Kimberley DeRosa ’12: The departments set them themselves. They were asked to come up answers to questions like how can you get people to enroll in the program? how can you make your program more competitive in the next three years? how will you be attractive to graduate students in a more competitive environment where a lot of people are drawn large research universities?They’re thinking a lot about what it’s like to have a graduate program at a small liberal arts college like Bryn Mawr and what makes Bryn Mawr stand out.
Jordan ’13: Is it all of the graduate programs that are under review? Are there specific ones that they’re looking to retain?
Kimberley DeRosa ‘13: The only one they’ve reached a definitive answer for is Psychology. If you anyone has questions that I’m unable to answer, you can ask a member of the faculty.
Sarah Theobald ‘12: We can ask for more information tomorrow at the curriculum committee meeting.
Julia Fahl ’12: Does this affect student teacher ratio?
Kimberley DeRosa ‘13: They’re purposefully working to change it, but I’m not sure in which direction it’s going.
Julia Fahl ‘12: Was there any discussion of our history as the first women’s college to offer graduate programs?
Kimberley DeRosa ‘13: It was not mentioned explicitly, but it’s a concern and JMac is taking into account what alumnae of graduate programs think. She’s not trying to take things away.
Rebecca Sanders ‘12: There isn’t an increase in enrolling students, so the student to faculty ratio won’t be affected by that.
Vrinda Varia ‘13: Course lists are not finalized yet because they’re looking to expand the faculty.They’re looking to hire more professors, which will affect what courses are being offered.
Jordan Cottrell ‘13: Is the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research part of the discussion?
Kimberley DeRosa ’13: Yes, they are.
YJ ’12: If anything big comes up at a meeting, please make the announcement during announcements and keep the assembly up to date.
March Monthly Repots
YJ ’12: The next thing we’re going to talk about are the March Monthly reports. Does anyone have any questions?Would it be possible for res-co to put the dorm presidents descriptions together so that would be available for elections in the fall? Is it ok with everyone that the dorm president is the only position that would require a revamped description?
Vrinda Varia ‘13: Can so-co heads be revamped?
YJ ’12: I’m talking with the so-co head now about it.
BMCCS
Gabrielle Logaglio ’12 and Kate Grant ’12: We want to increase the budget this year to $28,000 because this is the most successful semester we’ve had. Our concerts have been well attended. We want to have more money so that we can work with other groups/clubs on campus. We like the pacing of one show a month. We think we’re slowly but surely learning about what Bryn Mawr wants out of concerts, so we want to keep having shows that you want to come to. It’s hard to book bands in advance, so this is an approximate that we’re working with now. At the beginning of next semester we can come with names and give you guys a better idea who will be coming. Also, we’re setting aside $500 for tee-shirts. We have a new awesome logo.
Blair Smith ‘12: What will your spring budget look like? Will you cut back? Because other clubs have had less money because of increasing budget of your club.
Gabrielle Logaglio ‘12: We want to increase our budget so we can work with other clubs.
Tina Hu ’12 : It’s not just because of BMCCS that other clubs have had decreased funding.
Kate Grant ’12: We want to have clubs and individuals collaborate with us.We don’t want our concerts to be like special events, we want it to be a series.
Julia Fahl ’12: Do you have any figures to let us know what your attendance rate is and how affective your advertising has been?
Kate Grant ‘12: For Kid Sister we hovered around 230. School of Seven Bells was about 170. Hood Internet was also at capacity. Amanda Blank had similar attendance rate.
Gabrielle Logaglio ‘12: It’s hard to judge because people come for a little while and then leave.
Blair Smith ‘12: For your larger more expensive shows… are you going to have them in Rhoads as well or are you going to look for another space?
Kate Grant ‘12: We want to have one in Goodheart music room, but it’s hard to schedule because the dance, music and theatre departments have priority.
Blair Smith ‘12: What’s capacity for Goodheart music room?
Gabrielle Logaglio and Kate Grant ‘12: There are different numbers for different types of events.
Jennifer Savage: Have you ever thought of doing a big name and charging a bit of admission?
Kate Grant ‘12: As a general rule I’m not sure how well that would go over, because Bryn Mawr students aren’t enthusiastic about paying for things. But if you think it’s a good idea, let us know.We will create a survey monkey.
Gabrielle Logaglio ‘12: Last semester we did a survey monkey.People wanted something big that they could bring friends to. But we don’t have the space.
Julia Fahl ‘12: What about outside?
Kate Grant ‘12: There are issues with outside and sound. We would think about it for spring, not fall.
Yes (18):
Callie Jensen and Sumedha Niranjan ‘11
Liz Ritchie and Katie Dahl ‘11
Courtney Pinkerton ‘12
Sara Jane Rodgers ‘13
Duong Nguyen ‘13
Emily Zhao ‘11 and Kathryn Gary ‘13
Katharine Wools ‘12
Sharan Mehta and Sarah Theobald ‘12
Akshyeta Suryanarayan and Kyle Aguilar ‘13
Elizabeth Olecki ‘12
Vrinda Varia and Naznen Rahmen ‘13
Ali Raeber and Keshia Koech ’13
Kimberley DeRosa ‘13
Tiffany Olszuk ‘12
Irene Shin ’13 and Ellen Halbach ‘11
Kate Gould ’11 and Mary Margaret Peebles ‘13
Jordan Cottrell and Sarah Schnellbacher ‘13
Elizabeth Held ‘12
No (3):
Blair Smith and Jennifer Savage ‘12
Sarah Capasso ’11 and Raella Rothman ‘13
Julia Fahl ‘12
Abstentions (3):
Joo Park and Hope Wayman ‘11
Lindsey Turr and Sam Salazar ‘11
Krista Imre ‘13
YJ ’12: The budget is approved
Mae Carlson ’12: We’ve talked about figuring out a better way to do Mawrk Notes. I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions for how they would like to see information about SGA distributed?
Blair Smith ’12: It would be good to get Mawrk Notes out early in the week.
Julia Fahl ’12: I’ve talked to people who don’t like minute format with everyone’s names listed. People would just like to see general topics that were discussed.
Liz Ritchie ‘11: I think it would be good to get them out by Wednesday. I agree that a more general format for Mawrk Notes would work.
Emma Rosenblum ‘14: Would it be possible to put bullet points summarizing what happens at SGA meetings underneath video on webpage?
YJ ’12: It’s not their job to put up that information, but we will look into it.
Blair Smith ‘12: It would be helpful to contextualize some of the things that are being talked about in Mawrk Notes.
Julia Fahl ‘12: There has been an improvement of SGA visibility and having it be more assessable.
YJ ’12: Next week Adrienne Webb will be doing a community service project and we will have snacks
Old Business:
J Fahl ’12: The board of trustees will be there for the spring meeting. YJ, Melina, and I will be there representing the student body. If there’s anything you would like to talk about or convey to the Board of Trustees it’s not too late. Email me at jfahl@brynmawr.edu
YJ ’12: Dean Rasmussen is sending out an email to the entire campus about the Board of Trustees meeting with more information.Anyone is welcome to go.
Elizabeth Held: I’m going to update the elections bylaws over the summer. If you have any ideas let me know.
YJ’12: We can spend time talking about that next meeting.