SGA Potpourri: A Little Bit of Everything
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11 called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM.
Roll Call
Unexcused Absences: Kendalyn Brown ’09, Sofia Nitchie ’09, Sarah Capazzo ’11, Anne Bugnaski ’10, Nga Nguyen ’12, Rodline Louigeune ’11, Christina Wagner ’11, Noelle Fair ’10, Rachel Awkward ’09.
Excused Absences: Tanya Kaur ’10, Chelsea Dukel ‘11
Community Members Present: Reggie Kukola ’10, Ashton Shaffer ’11, Nelly Khaselev ’11, Lindsey Turr ’11, Stephanie Migliori ’09, Jill Walker ’09, Sarah Blatchly ’11, Sarah Sherman ’11, Kayla McDaniel ’12, Liz Frantino ’12, Katie Scire ’12, Jasmine Arnold ’12.
Announcements:
Katherine Redford ’10: I’m taking minutes tonight since Tanya is away for the religious holiday. If you want your announcements in the minutes email them to me at sga@brynmawr.edu by midnight tonight.
Tali Cox ’10: COPS is hosting an Alcohol Awareness Tea this Wednesday at 8 in Dalton 119! We’re discussing safe drinking in preparation for May Day. It’s a really important issue, and we’re hoping that you will all come and join us! There will be food and root beer, and we can’t wait to see you all! Thanks!
Judy Barr ’09: Student Curriculum Committee would like to announce a reprieve from the dreary end of the year: COFFEE HOUR is back, at 9:30 to 11:00 in the campus Center on Friday, April 24th. Coffee + bagels + coffee cake + a chance to meet professors and talk about C/NC, minors/concentrations, how lotteries work, scheduling, and, especially, BUDGET ISSUES regarding anything academic at Bryn Mawr College. Come. Eat. Talk. Thanks.
Your Two Cents:
Steph Hilton ’09: I wanted to talk about the recent safety issues happening not on our campus, but at Haverford and Swarthmore. I was pretty upset that we didn’t hear about the Haverford incident sooner, but I spoke with Mike Hill and asked him why this was. They’re going to try to revamp the E2Campus system, maybe making it a more mandatory thing. Perhaps this will help people feel safe. A lot of bad things happen, but we can learn from it. Don’t worry we are safe. If you have any concerns about this email COPS or Mike Hill. Stay safe!
Laurel Lemon ’11: I’m just curious to see what the reactions are to the changes made to the Halloween Party, including moving Rhodes to TGH, hiring professional bouncers, and servers, inviting only Haverford students and allowing only Bryn Mawr students to bring guests, which are limited to one per student and must be registered in advance.
Marisa Franz ’10: Will Radnor’s budget be adjusted to account for the cost of professional servers?
Taline Cox ‘10: Public safety will be funding this.
Laurel Lemon ‘11: Mary Beth Horvath told me SGA would be partially responsible for funding them.
Sarah Gelfand ’11: What defines a professional bouncer.
Steph Hilton ‘09: They’re not a Bryn Mawr student.
Reggie Kukola ‘10: Why has Swarthmore been excluded?
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ‘11: I spoke with Dean Tidmarsh and she said this was mainly due to overcrowding.
Sadie Marlow ’11: I am a fan of these changes. I think this is the best way to the number of incidents on a lower level. Lots of things can be prevented when responsibilities are met. I like the idea that there won’t be any random non-Bi-Co students wandering around.
Amanda Ciccone ’09: I’m happy to hear about these changes, as someone who ran Radnor this year. It’s amazing to see that we need professional bouncers now, Radnor has evolved in such an interesting way since I first came to Bryn Mawr.
Katie Dahl ‘11: I am irritated that we are excluding Swarthmore because we are allowed into every event on their campus, but we aren’t letting them in. I worry that we’re moving away from the Tri-Co.
Sarah Kelly ’11: I was a bouncer in Rhodes, I worked three hours, and I think this is a great idea, because people respond to badges, not Bryn Mawr students with buttons.
Cara Sogliuzzo ‘09: I’m worried about the fact that since there will be professional servers, there will be off the wall underage pre-drinking. I know it takes a lot to run these parties, but they become so overcrowded because we only have one huge party every year. If we developed a more social scene, maybe this wouldn’t happen.
Appointments Update:
Sophie Papovizas ’11: Appointments is still in their round of appointments, but we’ve appointed some positions whose interviews were heard only in the first week. So I’m going to have them introduce themselves.
Lily Mengesha’ 10, Plenary Committee: I love resolutions and plenary. I’m really excited to be a part of the plenary process.
Christina Munoz and Kayla McDaniel, Recycling Committee Co-Heads: We’re interested in working on recycling Comitteee and spreading enthusiasm for the environment on campus.
Jasmine Arnold ’12 and Katie Scire ’12, Financial Aid Committee: We want everyone more involved in the Financial Aid process, especially in applying for aid. Our academic responsibility should carry over to the dollars and cents of our education.
Sophie Papovizas ’11: We’re running emergency appointments for Plenary Committee this week so encourage your friends to run for this position! It’s fabulous! The remaining two positions on the Financial Aid Advisory Board will be open to applications in the first round of appointments following the summer vacation. The two Plenary Committee positions will be filled in an emergency round of appointments. Applications are due Friday at 5 pm via Blackboard. Applicants should sign up for an interview when they submit their application. All questions should be sent to appointments@brynmawr.edu.
Environmental Awareness:
Bryn Mawr College Greens
Emily Rueman ’11: I’m pres of BMC Greens, I’m here to tell you about what we’re up to. I want to know what you’re interested as a I move through my presentation. Everyone is invited to our celebration for Earth Day on Wednesday.
We re-evaluated our Mission Statement this year. We want to focus on task forces this year, and next year the educational aspect of awareness.
We’ve completed a lot of projects, especially in the fall. The windmill was installed on Cambrian row, it doesn’t provide a lot of power but is a really good example of what’s out there in alternative energy. We want to have a demonstration with facilities to explain how it works. It’s small because of zoning and because Bryn Mawr is such a challenging landscape
CFL’s are compact fluorescent light bulbs, we started handing them out everywhere we can. They really pay for themselves in how energy efficient they are. BMC uses CFL everywhere possible.
We’re trying to ease recycling of CFLs and techno trash. Hopefully this will be set up in CC, so students will be able to use it easily.
Food Wasting happens a lot. We’re hoping once by weighing in once a semester we will remind students how much we waste.
Stalled Projects:
Biodegradable cutlery was cut due to budgeting. We also incinerate our trash, so it isn’t really worth the extra cost.
Bike share is something that used to be on campus, it may have been a BiCo project, but the person who took care of the bicycles graduated, and so the program fell apart. We need a system to fund this and operate this, it is a lot of responsibility.
Low flow shower heads requires a 15 year payback, so it’s not feasible with the current budget.
Compost isn’t feasible because you have to watch it year round, which means a practically a full time job for students and facilities, especially in the summer when students are away from campus. We thought about outsourcing, but it is not financially feasible.
Ongoing Projects:
As the former recycling committee co-head I found that recycling was maintained by housekeeping, but we should use the dorm reps for educational purposes and maybe they could collect more complicated recycling.
Katherine Bakke ’11: Where can we recycle our batteries?
Emily Rueman ‘11: Keep an eye out for a box in the Campus Center soon.
We’re planting flowers this Sunday on Cambrian Row, and keeping up with our vegetable garden behind English House. Everyone is welcome to get involved.
The Green Planning Committee sort of fell apart more recently. I spoke with President McAuliffe, and we’re working on putting together a new committee. We signed on to the President’s Climate Commitment and we need to reduce carbon emissions, and we are failing, so we’re working on that.
Don’t forget that you can’t recycle anything soiled with food waste or bottle caps.
Haverford Environmental Representatives:
Liz , HC, ’12: We’re part of the Council of Twelve and a subcommittee called the Greens Committee. At Haverford we have three environmental committees. The first is called College Enviormental Responsibility. They work with the deans and President Emerson to formulate policy for the campus. The Committee meets weekly, goes over initiatives, and submit two letters a semester to President Emerson with new ideas.
Earth Quakers is a student-run group that coordinate trips and programs, they hold meetings and work with the community.
Environmental Subcommittee work with important people on campus such as the Dining Center and get them to work with Students’ Council on coordination of environmental initiatives.
HC, ’09: So here’s what we’ve managed to accomplish so far. We have an email series with things students can do to help the environment. For example, you can put your computer on sleep mode when you’re not using it, it only uses 1 Watt of power that way. You can turn off lights, save power anywhere and everywhere.
In 2007 there was a plenary resolution that tried to make Haverford a sustainable campus. To that end we’re replacing lighting with CFLs and they are available to students for free via facilities. We’ve also switch Dorm Bathrooms to low flow shower heads. Lastly we bought wind power from PeeCo. All the power produced goes into the same power grid, but we’re buying from wind power now, with only a slight one year increase in tuition. Recycle Mania is a 10 week competition to see which campus could recycle the most per captita. We placed 17th of 293, which means 34.99 lbs per person.
Liz, HC, ’12: Energy Czars who are students who are paid to go around and check temperatures, computers and lights in public spaces on campus. This was developed this year, and it has been going well. We’ll be moving into common areas of dorms soon too. Dorms are where most energy is used because people forget to turn off lights. We’re working with Claudia Kent to change energy use all over campus, dorms included.
HC, ’09: For next semester we’re dealing with the issue of heating in the winter. Some dorms are extremly hot or cold. We’re working on finding out where the thermostats are located. If students don’t know we can waste a lot of energy. We want to inform residents where their thermostats are, and tell them not to open the window. We want to encourage students to communicate with facilities where it is too hot to keep dorms at a comfortable temperature.
Dining Services are working on reducing the use of trays, because they are automatically picked up where they’re currently located. We’re planning on moving them to a place where they will be used only when necessary.
Liz HC, ’12: Our recycling is single stream, which is saving lots of money. We’re going to do an inter-dorm competition on who saves the most energy, but we want to trace where energy is used. We’re working on separating meters to make this happen. Keeping people energized to recycle is one of our main goals.
SGA Web Presence:
Sophie Papovizas ’11: Everyone should know where our blog is, you can visit it via the current student homepage.
SGA now has a Twitter page. The idea is to get out info quickly to people. We’ve been updating it. Twitter is a lot like facebook status updates, and you can update from wherever you are. At a leadership conference I learned how to use these tools to organize. Anyone can see this page. Twitter is free and fast, great for reminders.
Our Facebook fan page is used for updates also, and they’ll show up on your homepage. You’re welcome to send updates to us, and we’ll use Facebook and Twitter to spread the SGA word.
SGA House:
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11: Here’s a youtube video on the SGA House and all the different rooms in it.
There was a discussion a year ago about the kitchen but we would like to see the building used for more things beyond the kitchen. We want some feedback on how this space can be better used.
The upstairs space was meant to be exec board office space, but we really don’t need it for that. There are two functioning computers and many empty cabinets. There are so many clubs that need space, do you think they could use them?
Maybe there’s a way to rent out the upstairs for rehearsal space, or club meetings.
Sarah Kelly ’11: Do you still have to call Conferences and Events to rent the space?
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11: Yes, but currently you can only reserve the first floor.
Sadie Marlow ‘11: I had never seen the upstairs. The rooms look really big, it would be great if we could put stuff up there.
Sarah Kelly ’11: How does onecard access work?
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11: One card will open the building until midnight. You need a key for the kitchen.
Steph Migliori ’09: Are the upstairs locked? Are people still stealing from the kitchen?
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11: The upstairs rooms can be locked, and the exec board have keys, so do facilities. The kitchen has some supplies, and I don’t think the stealing has gotten any worse than the last time we discussed it. Would you be willing for us to let groups use these cabinets?
Straw Poll showed almost everyone in favor of this.
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11: If you come up with ideas about how to use this space, email us! sga@brynmawr.edu
Old Business
Sophie Papovizas ’11: An Arts Association Interest meeting was held this past week.
Steph Migliori ’09: At an SGA meeting a few weeks ago the idea came up to create an arts association, there was a lot of interest, lots of members from arts groups on campus came to last week’s interest meeting. We will be meeting this Wednesday at 11 in Taylor C to elect an executive board. The Association will be open to all groups on campus, we may be suggesting a donation, since SFC doesn’t have money to give us, and we don’t know yet what we’ll need to budget for.
Taline Cox ‘10: People have had a lot of questions about ticketing. They expressed that ticketing has been sporadic and that it has been increasing with warm weather. It’s important to know that ticketing was a job assigned to a specific Public Safety officer, but this is not the case anymore. We won’t be hiring someone to refill this position. Do any you have suggestions or worries regarding parking and ticketing?
Simran Singh ’10: I have a huge problem with parking. Can we open the ward lot to students?
Taline Cox ’10: There are spaces in that lot reserved for students with permits.
Simran Singh ’10: I have an expired permit. I have been on the waitlist since August, so can it be opened to visitor parking?
Taline Cox ’10: We will talk with Mike Hill about it.
New Business
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11: The exec board was discussing the approval of minutes at our last meeting. As community members, we don’t think that the current process makes sense. The secretary take minutes, then the Mawrk Notes are written, printed, and distributed by Thursday. This is all before minutes are scheduled to be approved the following Sunday. But we want a way for people to say that they’ve been misquoted. Should we continue with the way we do it now? Or should we come up with a new plan? Any ideas?
Steph Migliori ’09: I feel like we have to do them this way, because we would need to read them during the meetings per Roberts Rules of order, if we did it any other way. Also, they should be emailed weekly. I am only getting Mawrk Notes.
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11: Tanya has been sending the minutes as attachments, but we can have her put them in the body of the email.
Hannah Curry-McDougald ‘10: Can we check spelling, please, before things are printed
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11: We want to get them out quickly, and that’s why some things like this are being overlooked.
Antonia Kerle ‘11: Aren’t we supposed to not be printing Mawrk notes to be green?
Emma Wisniewski-Barker ’11: We discussed the benefits of printing the Mawrk Notes at a previous SGA meeting, and because they are so effective in the bathrooms, we’ve decided to keep printing them, despite the amount of paper used. People might not open the email containing the Mawrk Notes, but they’ll look at them when they are in the bathroom stall. Are there any other comments or ideas regarding minutes or Mawrk Notes?
Meeting Adjourned at 8:25 PM.