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11/24/19 Students’ Council Meeting Minutes

Sunday November 24th, 2019

5:15-6:00pm

Minutes by Devi Namboodiri and Sydney Churchill

Meeting Minutes November 24th, 2019

Table of Contents

  1. Attendance
  2. Campus Updates
  3. Officer Updates
  4. Presidential Updates

  1. Attendance
    1. Council Members
      1. Co-Presidents: Katie Lieferman & Mariana Ramirez
      2. Co-Vice Presidents: Noorie Chowdhury & Evan Moon
      3. Co-Treasurers: Dex Coen Gilbert & Eliza Koren
      4. Co-Secretaries: Devi Namboodiri & Sydney Churchill
      5. Officer of Multiculturalism: Brittany Robinson
      6. Officer of Academics: Lev Greenstein
      7. Officer of Arts: Mackenzie Somers
      8. Officer of Athletics: Rodrigo Zuniga
      9. Officer of Campus Life: Katie Chung
      10. Representative of International Students: Saket Sekhsaria
      11. First Year Rep: Rasaaq Shittu
      12. Sophomore Rep: Natalia Cordon
      13. Junior Rep: Brian Hu
      14. Senior Rep: Emily Lin
      15. SC Librarian: Nick Lasinsky
    2. Absent: Marked with Red
    3. Late: Marked with Orange

  1. Campus Updates

Mariana: So what happened on campus this week?

Mackenzie: There was a FUCs show this weekend, it was the first one after a hiatus and it went really well

Rasaaq: There was a fall dance showcase yesterday, that was really cool!

Mackenzie: There was the re-think incarceration panel that got a lot of turnout

Eliza: There was the trans day remembrance vigil

Emily: Tonight, ICONIC will be performing at 8pm in marshall

Mariana: Anything else happening?

Devi: Women’s basketball had a huge win against Ursinus yesterday, they killed it

  1. Officer Updates

Mariana: We’re gonna go around sharing officer updates, do you guys wanna do popcorn style?

*yes*

Katie L.: Ideally if we didn’t hear from you last week, we would like to hear from you this week.

Rasaaq: This week, I finally got to meet with Katrina Glanzer regarding the consent program and other first year issues. Regarding the consent thing she put me in contact with Wendy Smith and the unofficial director of the Women*s Center because they’re still searching for permanent director. That’s (*the consent program*) looking to be put forward very soon and I already sent the outline to the Women*s Center so it would be up to the students and other professionals from the Women*s Center to approve it. Hopefully within the next couple of months, we’ll be able to approve it. She (*Katrina Glanzer*) also put me in contact with the Title IX Director. As far as the first year module for self-governance, we were talking about how to tackle apathy and how to how to prevent future students at Haverford from having the apathy that current students do. 

As far as the website goes, I am transferring it to a wordpress format. It’s not as engaging as the adobe, but this way I can pass it down to future first year reps.

Mariana: Just to clarify with the consent project, is the goal to get feedback or approval of the outline?

Rasaaq: Feedback is important, right now, I would say. I do have an outline of how I want it to be formatted based on the previous session with Rugby, etc. but I do think that there needs to be feedback not just immediate approval.

Katie L.: Is the website currently running or is it coming soon?

Rasaaq: Soon to be running. I have to transfer it from Adobe to the new format still

Katie L: Maybe when that’s ready to go we can debut it in the consensus just to people can see what you’ve been working on.

Rasaaq: Sounds good.

Katie L.: Other updates?

Evan: This past week we appointed two people to the Athletics Task Force

Noorie: Tonight we are appointing for CSSR and Honor Council Librarian.

Mackenzie: Tonight I’m helping FUCS out with their appointments process and I am in the research mode of figuring out a check out system for James house supplies. Supplies have been inaccessible to both groups and individuals, so I want to be making sure that everyone knows what’s there and able to be used.

Emily: I created a survey and drafted an email regarding senior week and Evan and Noorie if you could send me the names of the people that just got appointed that would be great

Evan and Noorie: Sounds good

Natalia: As we’re getting close to finals, I’ve heard a lot about the sophomore slump, so that’s something I’d like to start addressing and finding out more info about it, especially from my peers. This seems like something I would like to focus on. This week I want to start talking to the OAR and I drafted an email just to understand more about what it is and if anyone has experiences or any ideas about what it is that would be great. I’m still a bit unclear about what it means but it seems like something I should focus on as Sophomore rep

Emily: I would recommend talking to Mike Elias because SoHo was created to address the Sophomore Slump

Natalia: That’s the thing, but I don’t think it has really been addressed through that avenue. I feel like it has to be something done outside of that or incorporated into that more.

Brittany: I think in that conversation it might be interesting to bring up the housing system. Bringing up Haverford’s unique housing system and the idea that you don’t always have a community unless you make it. That could be an interesting part of that conversation. 

I can go into other stuff now too. WeSpeak for Us is December 8th, 2-5pm. Mac is helping with the art for the space after it. Afterwards, we are trying to do a restorative spaces workshop. What we are trying to do in this space is reimagine what will happen after WeSpeak. To me WeSpeak is a very emotional and heavy space but I think that we need to start thinking more intentionally about what that after space would be. Last year, the COMLS had a space after WeSpeak and we want to expand on that. There’s going to be care packages and quotes from inspirational people. And we want to think about what this space could be in the Spring after WeSpeak.

Mariana: So is the goal to have a similar space after WeSpeak in the Spring if the space for WeSpeak for us goes well?

Brittany: Yea, I’m also working on a healing space workshop in collaboration with Ramelcy Uribe and María Mónica Andia.

Noorie: What kind of healing?

Brittany: It’s a healing circle workshop and it’s an iteration of something that one of the collaborators has done before.

Lev: I got to sit in on a meeting with Alison Cook-Sather along with other faculty members for a course they’re developing on how to navigate haverford as an institution and how to do that outside of strict academic institutional norms. I was coming in with the intention of making sure there’s space for students to discuss this too. They want to make it very accessible as a class. The first step is just making sure there is a place for students to talk about that. That meeting was pretty cool, and I met with Franklyn Cantor about these conversation spaces and we talked about a group of students and faculty that are currently working on these issues, I think you (Brittany) are working on it also?

Brittany: Code Inclusion?

Lev: I think so. And I’m seeing all these ways that we can incorporate all these things into conversation-planning with Brian Cuzzolina and Ben Hughes for next semester.

Dex: Going back to the idea of that class, what is the purpose of that class?

Brittany: Who is teaching it?

Dex: Shouldn’t this be the point of customs? And not something that we take a whole class on?

Lev: I’m not sure totally where it came from but they are applying for the funds and if they get it, it would be a class that would be taught for a number of semesters and I’m not sure who would be teaching it. The credit system is kind of weird so it would be 0.25 per year but maybe it will be .5 per year. It’s flexible at the moment it seems.

Dex: Have they talked to Katrina Glanzer?

Lev: Yea, she was at the meeting

Brittany: Could you just clarify who was in the meeting?

Lev: Raquel, Katrina, Alison, Matt with the VCAM?… I can’t remember everyone’s names.

Noorie: The CFG Director?

Lev: Maybe. It was like 11 or 12 people.

Dex: Would this be a required course?

Lev: No

Mariana: Just to clarify it would be offered in the Spring if it’s accepted?

Lev: Yes

Evan: Just to clarify would it be open to all students or just first-gen and low-income students?

Lev: They are balancing that. They want to make sure first gen and low income students have priority. But they are also trying to make sure the broader community isn’t left out of the conversation as it’s a really important resource. And how they choose to structure this with other information, I don’t know about.

Brittany: Could you please let us know about the next meeting?

Lev: Yes 

Sydney: How often would they meet if the class is only .25/.5 credit?

Lev: It would be meeting like 4-5 times in the semester, though I can’t remember specifically.

Noorie: I just wanted to say related to this update on the Clearness Committee last year we talked about because of how many hours we put into data analysis, I think that Theresa Tensuan suggested that it could be something that we could receive credit for. There are many skills you pick up on the way and I think maybe this is a conversation we should be having if there are going to be classes about the institution itself.

Mariana: Any other updates?

Nick: On the constitution front, I officially finished going through all the plenary resolutions, back to 2011 which is when Franklyn Cantor was sure it was last updated and there were only a few concerns raised but once those are taken care of we will have a completely updated constitution

*YAY*

  1. Presidential Updates

Mariana: There’s a couple updates on our end, Franklyn Cantor brought a group together to assess school waste and the goal was to see how haverford disposes of different waste. That’s going to inform future steps that Haverford can take going forward. We met with Jesse Lytle and Raymond to talk about how Haverfarm wants to use $5000 to build fertility tunnel to grow more crops throughout the year.

Katie L.: Talking a lot about Customs and the longterm end versus the shorterm end. The shorterm end is sending out the survey but we’ve been talking to senior staff about a long term proposal. We are also going to meet with SWOL and customs committee to make sure that we are all on the same page. 

We have two other updates that are Council specific: We would like to have individual meetings with each one of you before Christmas. Is finals week largely worse or is it better than when classes are happening?

*visual half and half*

Katie L.: Okay we’ll do half and half and we’ll send out slots. Also, for next Sunday we’re going to cancel the meeting because of Thanksgiving. If anyone has any major updates they can send it in the groupchat. 

Mariana: Does that sound good? Is there anything else people want to share with the group?

Lev: I can forward the email about the meeting I was talking about earlier.

Saket: Is it possible for Dex and me to join the customs compensation conversation?

Evan: Was there another meeting after the initial one where you guys talked about the survey?

Katie L.: Just with admin

Saket: Mac would you be able to email me about James house organization? I think we could collaborate on this as well.

Mariana: This might be more thinking about future steps, I don’t know if you guys saw the Strategic Planning committee from President Raymond they talked about two days of outreach with the community. I don’t know if you guys would be interested in helping get the word out about this opportunity since it seems really important. What do you guys think about that idea?

*general interest*

Evan: Do you guys have any more specifics on that idea?

Mariana: Not at the moment, we’ll get more details but just wanted to see if you guys are interested. 

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