7:10 – Sophie Papavizas ’11 calls the meeting to order
Roll Call
Assembly Members Present: Simran Singh ’10, Shannon Ryan ’10, Lindsey Turr ’11, Heather Taddonio ’12, Gabby Marangell ’12, Malina Toza’13, Claire Smith ’12, Madeline Vellturo ’11, Jennifer Savage ’12, Blair Smith ’12, Sarah Kelley ’11, Zandra Martinez ’11, Jenny Nam ’12, Miranda Hansen-Hunt ’11, Mae Carlson ’12, Isabel Donlon ’12, Alice Fischer ’13, Mary Margaret Peebles ’13, Saba Qadir ’13, Emily Tafaro ’12, Elle Works ’10, Hildi Greenberg ’10, Eileen Downs ’10, Annalee Garrity ’11, Sara Jane Rodgers ’13, Colleen Haley ’11, Sarah Sherman ‘11
Assembly Members Absent: Maddy Court ’13, Hope Wayman ’13, Julia Fahl ’12, Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12, Taline Cox ’10, Sophia Abboud ’12, Antara Tulsyan ’12, Ellen Butler ’13, Meghan Mahoney ’10, Rachel Brody ’11, Augusta Irele ’10, Sophie Balis-Harris ’12, Jill Settlemyer ’10, Caitlin Evans ’10, Alexandra Ashley ’11, Kali Graham ’10, Julie O’Neil ’10, Reggie Kukola ’10, Marisa Franz ’10
Community Members Present: Jess Martzall ’12, Sarah Theobald ’12, Sharan K Mehta ’12, Lydia Bello ’12, Lena Barnard ’12, Kendra Kelly ’13, Emma W-B ’11, Elizabeth Olecki ’12, Ariana Hall ’12, Krista Imre ’13, Celia Turner ’10, Aya Martin-Seaver ’13, Elizabeth Held ’12, Amanda Kennedy
Announcements
Shannon Ryan ’10 and Simran Singh ‘10: We just wanted to let everyone know that senior cocktails were a success, so thanks for supporting us. Please stay tuned for an email about Senior Week Activities. Also, please submit your senior dues, $20.
Yong Jung Cho ’12: Earth Week starts Monday, and the Greens have planned a week of events ending on Thursday with a big birthday party for the Earth outside from 10-3.
Your Two Cents
Big Cheese Forum
Sophie: The main portion of meeting is the Big Cheese forum. We have 5 administrators who will introduce themselves, and tell us what they do. President McAulifffe needs to leave at 8 so if you have questions for her, you should try to ask them early.
President McAuliffe: I’m Jane McAuliffe, and I’m the President of Bryn Mawr College
Dean Tidmarsh: I’m Karen Tidmarsh, Dean of Undergraduate Students
Jerry Berenson: I’m Jerry Berenson, and I and the Chief Administrative Officer
Jenny Rickard: I’m Jenny Rickard, I was formerly the Dean of Admissions, and now I am the Chief Enrollment and Communications Officer. I also work with Financial Aid.
Jerry Berenson: John (Griffith, Chief Financial Officer) does the money.
Sarah Kelley: I would like an update on college finances, like where we are right now. Are there going to be cutbacks in the future?
John Griffith: Right now the college has a balanced budget. We’re going to be increasing the tuition by 3.5%. Last year we cut $6.5 million from the budget and the budget will be tight for the next few years, but we probably won’t be cutting more. Newsweek announced that the recession is over, but there are still problems. I continue to be conservative with the budget, but it’s a tight situation.
Annalee Garrity ‘11: For the past few years, there have been more and more freshmen admitted, I know there plan to be more, how are we handling that, especially with housing?
Jenny Rickard: Over the past 8 years our target class size has been about 355-365. This is not a larger class based on previous years, everyone thinks it’s bigger though. In terms of housing, the apartments are back. We saw that we might need additional housing, and our way of accommodating students is with the apartments. We might be able to lease more apartments soon. We’d love your feedback on the apartments. If there were a possibility to live in Philadelphia, would people be interested? We’ve had different ideas that have been brought up to deal with housing, but so far the apartments are most feasible.
Jerry Berenson: We’re allowed to have up to 20 apartments according to the township, but it depends on how many are available in the complex.
Emma W-B ‘11: Following up with the emergency referendum at Plenary regarding the Health Center, I was wondering how that was going, especially with May Day coming up.
Dean Tidmarsh: We haven’t made plans to have a nurse on campus for this year’s May Day.We should be concerned about people who have had too much to drink, but don’t need to go to the hospital. People do really need to be watched constantly if they’ve had too much to drink. In general even if the Health Center has been open on busy weekends, they haven’t taken in people who need lots of monitoring. I think a good solution for next year would be the live in staff. Public safety is still a good resource because they get a lot of training, and that is useful. Having a weekend nurse is not off the table for next year, but I haven’t gotten a response from the Health Center saying that having a nurse to monitor students would be a good solution.
Colleen Haley ’11: Just a follow up from the last question, as the person who brought this forward, I think the concern of the students is that we need to have a second defense, a place to take people for monitoring. We really need to have it. The people who get drunk aren’t usually getting drunk, and don’t have the safety net of friends who will know that they’re drunk.People don’t want to go to the hospital and have that put on their record.
Dean Tidmarsh: I hear you, but I think we have to err on the side of safety and that’s why we rely on Public Safety. We’re one of the few schools who still has a night nurse. Public safety is always on call. This is the system that’s being used on campuses across the country. Nurses feel limited in their position to judge whether or not a student needs to go to the hospital.Underage drinking doesn’t go on a student’s permanent record that I’ve heard of. None of that should trump students’ concern for safety. I think anyone we hire to be that second line of defense will still be in the position to decide if students need to go to the hospital.
Colleen Haley ’11: I understand, but there is a concern among the students about this, and Public Safety might not know how to make the right call.
Dean Tidmarsh: Sending people to the ER is the only way to be really safe.
Colleen Haley ’11: People avoid Public Safety because they are worried about the consequences. During the big events on campus there’s no way to know how much a student has had to drink. The question is, whether they get monitored after they get back to their dorms. If someone’s kind of on the edge and you don’t know if their friends are going to monitor them well, then we need someone who’s trained to know when they need a lot of help.
Dean Tidmarsh: Monitoring is what the ER does. No one can really replicate that in a Health Center.
Colleen Haley ’11: We’re usually a responsible campus, but it’s the people who rarely drink, that fall through the cracks. During these large events, it’s hard to know who’s watching who.
Dean Tidmarsh: And those people really probably need to go to the ER.
Shannon Ryan ’10: My concern is that people aren’t making the phone calls if they need help.Maybe adding to the Customs program that we make people aware of what their options are would be a good way to spread the message about alcohol safety.
Dean Tidmarsh: I think that would be a good idea.
Simran Singh ’10: One more thing about this topic, this is what I think the student body wants.A lot of the ER trips are a reason why we don’t have a lot of parties on campus. This is why parties have gotten stricter. The student body wants this, and we passed it through Plenary.
Dean Tidmarsh: I hear that you want to make it safer, and you want a medically trained person to watch, but only large universities can afford to have a medical person available all the time.We have a hospital close by, so that if a situation gets worse, you get a quick response.
Simran Singh ’10: What’s happening to Rhoads once the gym is finished? Will students get a say in what the space is used for? Will the kitchen be functioning for students? Would it be possible to have another student run café?
President McAuliffe: I think the hope was that it would function as a multipurpose place.Students could book it like they book TGH and hold student dinners or club parties. We want to see if there’s a demand for the space next year and then base decisions for future on that.
Jerry Berenson: The kitchen is shut down right now. You can’t just start it up quickly, and part of the reason it was closed, was to cut costs on keeping everything running. Food could be served there, but we’re not planning on keeping the kitchen running again like it used to.
Blair Smith ’12: Guild isn’t being utilized very much. Could we bring back more computers so it isn’t just a laptop space or could we make it multi-function space?
President McAuliffe: We’re thinking about options. We were considering giving the Graduate School a new home in Guild, but there was a concern about parking, and their class schedule is different. Right now they aren’t interested. At this point we’re still at the drawing board. We may need to use it for swing space, since TGH’s stonework is going to be repaired. Faculty might not be able to work in Thomas because of the noise and dust, so we’re not entirely sure what’s happening with Guild yet.
Simran Singh ’10: Does it have to be an academic space? Like the Ryan gym at Haverford is now a student space, maybe we could turn Guild into a concert space.
President McAuliffe: There are departments who have expressed interest in moving to Guild, and I think an academic request would have priority.
Blair Smith ’12: My question has to do with Rhoads, what sort of furniture would you have in there once it becomes a multipurpose space?
Jerry Berenson: Right now we’re planning on having chairs and tables. We had to get rid of the tables that used to be in there because they didn’t store easily, which is unfortunate.
Mary Margaret Peebles ’13: I have a budget question, so we’re balanced for next year, but is the long term span for the budget looking good as well?
John Griffith: Thanks to our Finance chair, we were encouraged to use operating cash instead of taking money out of the endowment. We were fortunate. The next 5 years will have a very tight budget, but it’s balanced. We don’t have enough money to do everything everyone wants to do, but we don’t have any bad news right now.
Sarah Theobald ’12: How are the terms for use for Goodhart progressing? How accessible is that use policy going to be?
Jerry Berenson: This is mostly being handled by Provost, but we’ve been meeting to figure out how to let students use it. It’s harder to use than it used to be, but we’re working on a formal policy on how students can reserve and use space. We’re working on a contract with the light/sound people to come in and teach students how to use the new system that’s been installed. I think we want it to be as accessible as possible. We want it to be open to students.
Susie Kim ’11: I have a question about postbacs, will there be an increase and will it affect the undergraduates?
President McAuliffe: There will be an increase in the number of postbacs we accept and we’re working on adding some positions in science departments to manage this increase in students. We have a wonderful, prestigious program for postbacs, that we want to continue, but we also want to make sure the undergrads don’t lose out on any opportunities.
Sarah Kelley: I was wondering about the status of gym and what any upcoming projects are?
President McAuliffie: I think the gym is doing well, and I want to thank the student athletes for being so accommodating. It looks terrific and they’re just starting to make adjustments to let natural light in. The gym should be opening at the end of the summer, and fully functioning for the fall. We have a fantastic facilities group. The big things that remain to be done on campus are TGH, which needs some work, Taylor and Park Science also needs some work and they’re all pretty major jobs.
Laurel Lemon ’11: This is a really serious and important question, what’s your favorite and least favorite thing about Bryn Mawr?
John Griffith: My favorite thing would have to be the students. My least favorite would have to be the person to charge you all to come here.
President McAuliffe: That’s really hard. When I’m talking to people outside of Bryn Mawr, it’s the quality of students and faculty. My least favorite thing about Bryn Mawr is trying to stretch every single dollar. Our aspirations always exceed our resources. We’re always wishing we could do more.
Dean Tidmarsh: My favorite would have to be seeing the transformation of students over their four years. My least favorite thing would be how hard everyone is on themselves.
Jerry Berenson: My favorite thing about Bryn Mawr is the diversity of the community and how everyone gets along really well. There are PhDs and unskilled laborers working together. My least favorite thing is the number of meeting I have to go to.
Jenny Rickard: My favorite thing would be the distinctive and interesting personality that Bryn Mawr has. My least is that often we’re comparing ourselves to other schools that might not have same goals or characteristics.
Elizabeth Held ’12: We’re working to collaborate more with Public Safety and Dining with Haverford, are other departments planning on collaborating as well?
Jerry Berenson: We’re looking at more collaboration, and those two seemed to work well so far. Group purchasing and contracting together with Haverford might give us some savings.We’re looking at how the registrar and health center can work together. We’re working on getting the best ideas of what each campus is doing.
President McAuliffe: We also want to work with Swarthmore. The three presidents have met recently, and we’ve asked technology departments to get together and make the technology as seamless as possible for all three schools. As I think many of you know we were under review for reaccredidation recently. The president of Hamilton College was the chair of team and they’re trying to do something like our program in upstate New York but the distance is a factor. The desire to create consortiums among other colleges is big, but ours works well probably because we’re located so close to one another. This institution received extraordinary praise from the reaccredidation committee, which is something we need to praise. Other institutions were impressed with us. Perhaps we can step aside from our self-criticism for a second and be happy about this.
Elle Works 10: As a senior who’s in the midst of finishing her thesis, and who gets tired of sitting in lusty, are there thoughts about creating another 24 hour space for students to use?
Jerry Berenson: There’s nothing specifically on the table right now for student space, but I will say that Sustainability Committee has been looking on how to keep spaces open. The academic buildings are open 24 hours in a sense. We’re looking at ways to utilize spaces that aren’t used as much.
Simran Singh ’10: I know that Canaday stays open 24 hours during finals, but one of those weeks don’t apply for seniors. Is there a way we could expedite that for seniors and make the week before finals also 24 hours?
Jerry Berenson: I would be happy to mention it to Elliot Shore, but I don’t know if it’s possible given the short notice.
Shannon Ryan ’10: I was hoping you could give us an update on admissions process.
Jenny Rickard: So this weekend Admitted Students Weekend, and we have about 300 prospective students on campus. We admitted 1300 students and our target is to have a class of 365. One fact that I’m excited about is that we’ve never had a student from North Dakota since I’ve been here until now, and she’s already deposited so she’s definitely coming here. Other terrific news is that we hired a new Dean of Admissions, Laurie Koehler, from Ohio. She’s terrific and very excited to work here. What resonated with her was the mission of Bryn Mawr. I’m looking forward to working with her. We’re also working on bringing the Financial Aid office and the Bursar together. Our agenda for next year is how best to communicate with students about everything you have to deal with regarding financial aid and employment.
Sophie Papavizas ’11: I have a question, after Rhoads closed there was an employment crunch for students, is there going to be expansion next year?
Jerry Berenson: It was a little bit of a problem this year and just a handful of students couldn’t find jobs. We added to the budget of some departments so they could hire students. All students who want to work can, and while we prefer not to do this, we might have to switch to a system where jobs are more limited.
Jenny Rickard: One of the other aspects in bringing offices together is related to student employment and how to enhance that. We’re looking into jobs we can provide students that would be a good springboard for future careers and that would give them meaningful work experience. We hope that to have an idea of how to improve the student employment vision in the fall.
Nina Cohen ’12: I was wondering if there was any news on printing and maybe getting more printers in the libraries?
Jerry Berenson: None of us here are directly related to the printers, so we might not have an answer. I do know that printing went up 25% this year, which is kind of a problem.
Colleen Haley ’11: Point of Information – the committee for printing that was formed a couple weeks ago met and we’re thinking about making changes to how printing on campus works.We’re working on a proposal to make printing more cost efficient, not have duplicates, and provide more copy center access.
Sarah Theobald ’12: If there was one thing the student body or SGA could address or think about in the coming year what would it be?
John Griffith: I would say that students should donate back to the college after they graduate.49% of your education is being paid by donations from alums.
Dean Tidmarsh: I had a meeting with the Honor Board recently, and I think we need to work on the bi-co relationship and how it could be better. The Supa Fun dance doesn’t seem to be supa fun. I think the positive aspects of bi-co community should be touted more during Customs week and throughout the year.
Blair Smith ’12: Point of Information – The Customs Committee is working with both schools to improve relations.
Jerry Berenson: I don’t have anything.
Jenny Rickard: I wish the students would hold Jerry accountable for coming up with something. I would like students to come talk to us more. If there are rumors or questions or theories about what’s happening on campus and you don’t know what to believe anymore, come talk to us and we’ll be happy to give you the information, the information doesn’t have to be limited to the Big Cheese Forum. Please find us if you want to know anything.
Jerry Berenson: I thought of one. I would like to see the campus support becoming more green. We should try to decrease carbon footprint by 10%. Some of the decreases can be done through techonology but students are important too.
Dean Tidmarsh: With the 125th Anniversary coming up, there are also rumors that are going to be going around about the history of the college. There are archives to check out about history of Bryn Mawr and find out the truth. Some people have come to me saying they heard that Bryn Mawr used to make all the Jewish students live in Brecon. That’s not true.
Saba Qadir ’13: Is it possible to look into bike parking for short term or covered parking that’s not just in the arch?
Yong Jung Cho ’12: BMC Greens has gotten some bikes that we’re debuting on Thursday during the Earth Week celebration. We’re going to start a bike-share program where students can check out a bike from the bike rack in front of Canaday. We’re also looking for some aesthetically pleasing bike sheds for storage.
Saba Qadir ’13: On an unrelated note, is it possible to have Canaday open longer during the rest of the year?
Dean Tidmarsh: We’d have to talk to Elliot Shore about library hours.
Sophie: So thank you so much for coming. Does anyone have any Old Business? New business? We’re a little early, so we need a motion.
Motion. Seconded.
8:21 – Meeting adjourned.