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Students’ Council Minutes 4/18/21

Absent: JLo, Katie, Kim, Lisette, Lyvia, Rasaaq

Evan: Just wanted to acknowledge the email Dean Bylander sent out today about Duante Wright, Adam Toledo, and the trial on Derek Chauvin. I felt like it would be wrong to not talk about that. Any thoughts or reflections. I was also hoping to think about if there’s anything we could do, any organizing actions or spaces we could open. If anyone reading the minutes has any ideas, please contact us, Raquel, Theresa, or Joyce.

Fiona: I was thinking about how stuff in the world affects the classroom, and how class doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I’ve been thinking about how we can acknowledge that and to remind professors that people come to the classroom with their whole selves. Two other things, Evan brought up study spaces last week, we’re going to try to get Stokes for 24 hours, we’re going to present a proposal to Dean Bylander tomorrow. If there are any thoughts about how to present that. Also something about the Restorative Justice committee. Beatrice and I have created a survey, I’ll put the link in the chat so we can look it over. We want other voices besides the two of us to effect the committee. 

Evan: regarding the first thing, we talked about this a few weeks ago, a lot of what students reported from the AAPI shootings was that professors were not on the ball with this, haven’t been super respectful. We did bring it up to Linda Strong-Leek, she said she would talk to your committee, I guess that didn’t happen, but she should know.


Fiona: The other thing I was thinking about was some kind of academic protocol like a pass, but I like the idea of addressing in the classroom as well. I’ll talk to Linda.

Sam: There are more conversations around Customs. Likely there will be a public announcement coming soon, because they need to figure out on-hall living before housing, so that’s still in the offing. 

Evan: Are the COMLs involved? I heard they reached out to admin and got ignored.

Sam: they sent a survey to the first years, there’s some amount of conversation, I’m not sure to what extent.

Dex: Plenary! A few bullet points. The first thing is how we get out the vote, that’s the most important thing. We were thinking a lot about tabling. Evan made a spreadsheet so you can sign up, I think we’ll put the table right outside the DC as people come out. Things we have to bring? We need a computer so people can sign up.

Luka: Can we have a bowl of candy to incentivize?

Dex: Yeah, I’ll buy a thing of candy.

Vic: What if we set up the table outside Founders on the testing days?

Dex: That’s brilliant. Thank you Vic. I wonder if the weeks will match up?

Luka: It’s this week and the week after next.

Sam: We could extend the deadline.

Evan: We could extend the resolution period but also we could put up a thing to hype people up if the dates don’t match up.

Dex: the other thing we want to do is create some posters to put up. If anyone is inclined to do that, that would be great. 

Evan: if people want to make something to share on the instagram, that would be a good plan. Ok, on to resolutions. I hope people had a chance to read over the resolutions, keep commenting, we can go over to see if anyone has any initial thoughts? Resolution 1 is from Nick about simplifying the election processes. They’re trying to consolidate to two election periods a year rather than 4. He also wants to extend the coordinator positions to 4 semesters so there’s always a senior coordinator. Resolution 2 is brought by the COMLs, they’re consolidating their positions, and then 3, 4, 5 are brought by Honor Council, they’re trying to reflect the strike demands, editing the social code and academic code, and then streamlining the timeline process. Feel free to leave comments, we’ll write them up as student council feedback to be shared with the authors.

Dex: And now, again, the budget surplus. We spoke with the CPGC leaders over email, and they let us know about 2 additional ways to support them. I think these are a bit better fit to support them. They’re a lot less money per item, these two different options are to support their coursework that is happening outside the classwork, so a lot of what we like about the Haverphilly fellowship, but on a smaller scale. The other thing is the CPGC support of Let’s Circle Up, a restorative justice project. They get $1800 dollars of support from the CPGC annually. It looks like these are on the chopping block, and we could support them. They’re both good examples of partnerships, because both sides are benefitted.

Ella: I think this is an excellent use of our resources.

Dex: Does anyone have any reservations or things you might want to learn more about?

Sam: do we know about how this specifically benefits the students?

Dex: They run workshops at Haverford, and then obviously the community engaged courses are courses that students take. 

Evan: The other thing to think about how a lot of Haverford’s social justice programming is inward facing and not outward facing, so that’s something to think about going forward.

Dex: Is everyone good for us to start facilitating this? 

(All nod)

Dex: Good, I’ll send an email to them tonight. Do we have any other ideas about budget?

Vic: I’m talking with first years about restarting the QTPOC group. There’s no space for that right now, we’re looking for a space within the campus center maybe? We’d love to be back in the North Dorms basements if they were renovated back so they’re able to host clubs again.

Dex: Vic, what about another North Dorm basement besides Lunt? I think Jones has a good room.

Vic: I have a personal attachment to Lunt, but any basement would work.

Dex: Were you meeting in the cafe space or the main space?

Vic: The cafe space.

Evan: There’s a lot of interests on Lunt, but it’s a big space, so there should be plenty of room. Were you imagining a designated meeting space, or what?

Vic: I’ll have to speak to the organizers more. I think a designated space would be good because it would make it easier to meet more queer BIPOC.

Erin: Do we know if the first year move to the north dorms is permanent or short term? Because that affects what we want to do.

Dex: I think it’s short term due to over enrollment, but unsure.

Luka: I reached out to Elizabeth Jones Minsinger, one of the archivists who has been running dual projects on the strike and the pandemic. I talked with her, and she expressed tentative support where we could pay strike leaders for their time to be interviewed. The money would probably have to come from us, so I just want to hear people’s thoughts and feedback.

Noorie: So is this effort being organized by the libraries?

Luka: Yes, it’s part of their documenting student life project. 

Noorie: Has contact been established with the strike leaders? Is this to document the experience of organizing the strike or just the broader strike experience?

Luka: right now anyone is eligible to put something into the archives. I think getting the specific perspective of the organizers is pretty valuable.

Evan: The OMA was also doing some archival work on the strike, so talking to Theresa Tensuan might be valuable.

Noorie: I think if this is going into the archives, I think the organizers should have a say in how the narrative is organized, so that’s definitely something to point out to the librarians.

Dex: We’ll keep discussing going forward. Is there anything else about the surplus?

Isabel: I’ve been talking to seniors about a potential study space in the apartments. The apt 30 basement exists, but it’s kind of grim, and people don’t want to go upcampus. So perhaps converting a basement.

Evan: Fiona and I were talking about using Stokes as senior only space, but that’s obviously not ideal for apartment people, so we can add 30 to that proposal.

Isabel: Sounds good, but I also meant in the long term.

Dex: I think we need to discuss who oversees that space. Because the problem with apt 30 is that nobody does upkeep.

Margaret: I just went to apt 30 to print and you can’t even get onto the internet. But I also want to emphasize that restoring affinity and club spaces on-campus would be great. I go to PARC and it’s always leaking, which is not conducive to a good environment. I think since we’re not using the spaces right now, it would be a good time to renovate.

Dex: Homework is to think about spaces on campus you’d like to see renovated. This is a legacy project, let’s try to do that. 

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