Performances

Victoria: Welcome everyone! We are still waiting to reach quorum but we have gotten to 80%! While we wait we have one wonderful group that wanted to perform today and are here. While we wait please text, email, do whatever it is to remind your friends to come if they’re not here yet!

We have asked those who would like to give community comments to sign up in advance, however, if you have not done so and would still like to give community comment, please come forward to the main table now and talk with the Co-Vice Presidents.

Now let’s give a warm welcome to Bounce!

*Bounce performs*

Introduction

Yehyun: We have now reached quorum and can start. As some housekeeping items, please make sure to pick up your trash and dispose of any snacks or boba. The Athletics Department was kind enough to allow us to bring boba into the room so please keep the space clean. There are trash bins located throughout the room. Additionally please return your pieces of paper you use for voting today to the empty boba boxes as you exit so that it can be used by CER.

Lastly, a huge shout-out to our quorum counters. To help them out and to also avoid losing quorum we ask that if you need to use the restroom please use the left side door and that if you are leaving please use the right side.

Yehyun: We will now begin a moment of silence as is customary.

Statement of the Fords

Victoria : Hello everyone, welcome to the 2024 Fall Plenary! My name is Victoria Haber. I am class of 2026, I use they/she pronouns.

Yehyun: My name is Yehyun Song (he/him). I am class of 2025. We are honored to address the Student’s Association on behalf of Students’ Council.

Plenary exemplifies one of Haverford’s core values: student governance and it encourages us to engage in imagining the future of the College as a collective. As such, we are happy to see the Haverford community come together as a body to engage in healthy dialogue and to discuss the issues that affect our community.

Victoria: Thank you to all the students present, both in person and online for your commitment and engagement.

Yehyun: You may be wondering, what have we been up to? It is customary for us to begin with the State of the Fords to share what Students’ Council as elected representatives have been working on these past few months, as well as to share the current concerns and initiatives happening on campus.

Victoria: Building off of last year’s restructuring of the Students’ Council, we have chosen to honor a more structured and legitimate council by maintaining the integral structure of general weekly council meetings, the weekly open executive board meetings, and the focus on accessibility.

Moving Students’ Council beyond what was established last year, we have been working closely with our new and returning council members to redefine, reframe, and refine the goals and effectiveness of their positions.

Yehyun: Coming into this position, we have established two foundational principles to guide our leadership, engagement, and goals. The first principle is that we are a GPS. Rather than Students’ Council taking the driver’s seat in every initiative and project, we hope to be a useful guide that can help student leaders and groups navigate the right tools, connections, and avenues to best fulfill their goals.

The second principle is taking a grassroots approach. In order for us as co-presidents and the council as a whole to be effective servants and leaders to the student body, we recognize that a top-down approach is often ineffective and impersonal. Therefore, we strive to be in touch with our general student body by inviting student input and feedback in our work, such as Plenary suggestions, community comments, and It’s On Us Grant suggestions. We have also been better utilizing established avenues such as our Class Reps, Bulletin Board, newsletters, and more.

Victoria: Furthermore, we hope to be a bridging gap between students and senior administration. One way we hope to accomplish this is to demystify how money works in Haverford. In collaboration with Nico Washington, we are working on a Financial Transparency program for students to be more informed about how their money is used and how Haverford functions financially.

All of this brings us to our larger hope: to establish a strong sense of collective identity. We hope that by inviting more student engagement and empowering student agency, we can strengthen our shared identity as Fords.

Yehyun: Together as a Council we began our term with a 2-day long retreat held at Pendle Hill. This was an opportunity not only for us to establish our responsibilities on the Council, but closely bond and get to know each other better. Since then, our Council has already done some amazing work.

Victoria: Our Co-Vice-Presidents co-chair three standing committees: the constitution committee which aims to make our Constitution more concise and up-to-date, the appointments committee which appoints various students to our seven shared governance committees in areas ranging from student accessibility to campus safety, and our bulletin board committee which includes one of our many modes of communication to the student body.

Yehyun: Our Treasurers co-chair the budgeting committee which makes joint decisions on StuCo budgeting requests that exceed $5,000. Over $130,000 was approved and distributed among various clubs in this committee. The Treasurers currently monitor the rolling budget, in which over $6000 has also been distributed.

Victoria: Our Secretaries monitor various communications in the Council including the email policy they wrote last term, the Students’ Council Newsletter, and the Weekly Consensus. They have also been working closely with facilities to determine the best way to use the Facilities Fund.

Yehyun: We have been working closely with our individual class representatives to concretely define their roles and responsibilities, as historically their position descriptions have been vague. Our various officers have begun their individual projects with focus on topics such as accessibility on campus, regular student events and activities, and an arts festival.

Victoria: As Co-Presidents Yehyun and I have joined the ad hoc committee and implementation of Haverford 2030 committee respectively. We have also been building relationships with the dining services to discuss possible solutions to to-go boxes.

We connected with the Campus Safety advisory council and addressed accessibility and safety issues from the lack of hand railings in the new electric bus, we now have hand railings!!! We have also been in connection with RESE so that community and affinity houses are better supported to fulfill their important missions and contributions to our community.

Yehyun: The work that we have shared with you is a fraction of the incredible work your peers have accomplished and have been working on for the betterment of our campus. Real change can happen when we come together!

Can we quickly give a round of applause to our incredible student council team?!

Victoria: Late October, we attended the Board of Managers week and brought up concerns ranging from campus climate to food justice or food insecurity and reproductive health resources on campus. We also hope to build a stronger relationship with the Board of Managers so that both the BOM and Student Body can be demystified. We look forward to bridging the gap!

Yehyun: Being mindful of time, we will end by saying that the Students’ Council’s biggest priority is to serve you all and provide all of you with the resources and support you need. We are still learning and growing to better fulfill this duty.

We see you, we hear you, and we care for you. So we encourage you to reach out if you ever have questions, concerns, or visions to make our campus a better place for us all. Thank you.

Community Comment

Victoria: We will now have our community comment time. This is a time for any announcements or concerns you would like to bring up to the student body. Thank you to all the people that signed up to share today. We now invite those students to please come up.

COMLs

Deyana: Hi, I’m Deyana, she/her pronouns, sophomore.

Ben: I’m Ben, he/him pronouns, sophomore.

Eshal: I’m Eshal, she/her pronouns, junior.

Ellie: And I’m Ellie, she/her pronouns, senior.

Ellie: We are the COMLs, or community outreach multicultural liaisons! COMLs are a resource to help students initiate mediated dialogue and confrontation through a non-punitive, community-oriented framework, in order to address harm or violations of community norms when they occur. We focus on advocating for students. In general, we are mediators for things that don’t quite rise to the level of Honor Council.

Deyana: COMLs can help facilitate dialogue when all parties are present or approach people on someone’s behalf, or anonymously, if they feel unsafe or uncomfortable initiating confrontation themselves. We can facilitate dialogues to address harm, whether it involves other students, staff, faculty or administration. Our goal is to relieve the burden that comes along with advocating for yourself, and mitigate any potential harm from the confrontation process itself, on both sides, in order to enable resolution going forward.

Ben: We want to ensure that students who experience harm are listened to, feel heard, and given the support they need to engage in confrontation if desired. Although the role was created specifically to deal with identity and multicultural issues, COMLs are actually able to help with all forms of confrontation, not limited to any particular subject.

Eshal: Basically, if you feel that some form of harm has occurred, either to you or someone around you, no matter how big or small, contact us! We are trained in practices for how to approach restoring things in a way that is beneficial for both parties and the community as a whole and can often help in ways you might not think of immediately.

Ellie: We are tabling this afternoon over there! (point to where our table is) so feel free to stop by and chat. We’ll be postering around campus soon, so look out for that. We have office hours on Sat @ 1pm in Lutnick 211, the conference room in the Philips wing. Scan the QR code for the google form to reach out to us, and our email is on the screen. Thank you!

Bi-Co Mutual Aid

Kira: Hi everyone, my name is Kira.

Brisa: My name is Brisa.

Kira: We are speaking for Bi-Co Mutual Aid (BCMA). Bi-Co Mutual Aid is our community’s mutual aid group and we are entirely student-run. Dean Spade defines mutual aid as “collective coordination to meet each other’s needs, usually from an awareness that the systems we have in place are not going to meet them.”

Brisa: Mutual aid takes a lot of different forms, but right now, BCMA focuses on supporting students who need financial support and redistributing wealth within our community. We collect contributions to our community fund through venmo and redistribute the money based on the requests. We have a lot of requests for support in this community for things like rent, groceries, medical bills and medication costs, family emergencies, and more.

Kira: We are here to make sure everybody knows what BCMA, that you can request support, and that you contribute when we can. I am going to contribute $25 right now. I ask everyone who is able to join me in contributing to our community fund. You can venmo @bicomutual. Especially right now, we have to rely on each other for support and care. Our systems and institutions are failing us and they aren’t supporting these urgent needs that exist within our community.

Brisa: If you need support, fill out a request form, you can find the link in our instagram @bicomutual or at our table. To stay updated on what we do, join our email list, sign up for weekly contributions, and follow our instagram. we’re tabling over there, come talk to us, ask questions, and draw with crayons about what mutual aid means to you

CAPS

Kai: Hello everyone! We’re the CAPS Liaisons.

Phillip: My name is Phillip and I’m a senior. As always, CAPS is here if you need us. As CAPS liaisons, we’re here to be the communication between you and the counseling center. Please feel free to come up to us on campus with any questions that you might have. CAPS therapists are also always interested to hear feedback about CAPS and about the general campus mood, so we’re happy to pass that along as well.

Kai: This semester, we have been holding a series of events called CAPS + Cookies where people can talk to CAPS therapists about a specific topic. One of the remaining CAPS & Cookies is about the experiences that student athletes face and will be held on Nov 21st from 12-1pm in the DC, Pendle Hill Room. The final event is about mindfulness and includes a mindfulness practice. It’s called Peace w/ Pam which will be held on Dec. 5th from 12-1pm in the MCC. If you’re interested in these topics, this will be a great opportunity to explore them further with therapists from CAPS.

Phillip: Quickly, to run through our services, in addition to individual therapy, we offer the current groups: neurodiversity, living with anxiety, and connecting & relating. If you’re interested in joining, you can email Jon Krigel; his contact information can be found on the CAPS website. We also have drop-in hours every weekday from 11-12 and 2-3, where you can talk to a therapist for about 15-20 min. If you have any more questions about our services, you can just look up Haverford CAPS and visit our website or speak with a liaison.

Kai: Finally, due to the new email policy, CAPS cannot send hc-all students emails, so you need to manually subscribe to receive CAPS newsletters. We will only send a few emails a semester, and these include information about therapy options, events and workshop offerings, psychiatry deadlines, etc. If you want to sign up, you can just scan the QR code at our table.

Philip: Thanks for listening everybody!

Victoria: Thank you everyone. That concludes community comment time. We will now continue with the overview of the agenda and rules of order.

Rules of Order/Agenda

Yehyun: The agenda for today includes two resolutions. The first is titled Equitable Tax Coverage for International Students’ Summer Funding. The second is titled Promoting Disability Justice Through COVID Resource Accessibility. We will also ratify the alcohol policy.

Victoria: The rules of order go as follows and can also be found in the Plenary Packet which you can find in the email we sent on Thursday.

These proposed rules of order are from section 4.02h(iv) in the Students’ Constitution.

(i) Quorum

In order for quorum to be reached, at least 66% of the students living at Haverford must be present at Plenary. When computing quorum, students studying away will not be counted when determining the total number of the Students’ Association. If quorum is lost at any point during Plenary, the meeting will be suspended until quorum is again reached. After 30 minutes without quorum, the Chairs may evaluate the situation going forward.

(ii) Voting Options

When voting, students may choose one of three options: “Yes,” indicating approval of the matter at hand; “No,” indicating disapproval and “No Vote,” indicating a conscious decision to not vote.

(iii) Majority Rules

The outcome of all votes is determined by the proportion of students present at Plenary voting in the affirmative. Ratification of or amendments to the Alcohol Policy, the Plenary Rules of Order, and the Students’ Constitution will require a two-thirds (2⁄3) supermajority. Ratification of all other resolutions and amendments will require a simple one-half (1⁄2) majority.

(iv) Voting Procedures

Votes at Plenary shall be conducted electronically for remote attendees and overseen by the Elections Coordinators. Each ballot will be required to reach a 66% quorum of the students living at Haverford, and Students’ Council shall ensure that only those physically present and counting for quorum at Plenary may cast ballots for that vote. When electronic voting is impossible or impractical due to time limitations, the Students’ Council Co-Presidents may permit a vote to be conducted using an informal method (e.g. raising of packets). If the outcome of the vote is abundantly clear in the eyes of the Elections Coordinators, they may proceed as if that outcome were decided by a formal vote. After any such determination, the Co-Presidents will call for any dissent as to the adjudication of the vote. If eight (8) or more members of the Students’ Association come forward, or if the Elections Coordinators determine that the result of the informal vote is unclear, then a paper or electronic ballot must be conducted.

(v) Amendments to the Plenary Rules of Order

These may be presented and voted on prior to the presentation of the first resolution. Any portion of the agenda may be changed.

(vi) Pro-Con Debate

During any given pro-con debate, a person will not speak for longer than 90 seconds at any given interval, nor shall they be recognized by the chair more than two times. Upon each extension of a pro-con debate, a person may be recognized by the chair one (1) additional time. Pro-con debate shall initially be restricted to ten minutes and thirty seconds of speaking time, or seven (7) speakers. It may be extended by a simple majority of the Students’ Association.

(vii) Amendments

Plenary may add “Friendly Amendments” or “Unfriendly Amendments” to a resolution by a vote of the majority. All friendly and unfriendly amendments must pertain to the current resolution as seen in the eyes of the chair. Once an amendment has been approved, it may not be reversed nor the resolution be withdrawn. Friendly amendments are passed with the consent of the resolution writers, whereas unfriendly amendments are passed without, but require petition of seventy-five (75) plenary attendees.

(xiii) Recusal

To speak to the content of a resolution, a chair must step down until the proposal is resolved. The Co-Vice President(s) shall then preside for the remainder of that resolution if both chairs of Plenary step down.

(ix) Time Limit

The time limit for Plenary shall be three and a half hours. If this time limit expires, the assembled Plenary shall vote to extend the time limit for half an hour no more than two times. If the assembled Plenary fails to extend the time limit by a majority vote, the pending resolution (if any) will be voted on immediately, without further discussion.

Yehyun: If you are on a device, and have access to data, please switch to data, thank you. Now we are opening the floor for debate. Does anyone have any amendments they would like to present to the rules of order?

Great. With no amendments presented, we will now move on to ratify the Plenary Agenda and Rule of Order,

Victoria: In line with the rules of order, Students’ Council has talked to Megan Fitch, Chief Information Officer from IITS, and given the frustration of the two year’s ago Fall and Spring Plenary electronic voting we will be proceeding with informal voting. Megan Fitch assured us that IITS has done its best to provide extra routers but has determined it is not possible to support the size of this much of the student body using the server all at once. As such, in order for us to finish on time we will proceed with informal voting. Those on Zoom will still have the opportunity to vote virtually and that should not be a problem. After informal voting, the elections coordinators will declare the outcome of the vote if it is abundantly clear. At this point, you will have the opportunity to object if you disagree with their interpretation. If 8 students object, we will proceed to formal voting using a Google form.

Voting for Rules of Order/Agenda

Yehyun: With that being said we will now vote on the rules of order. This needs a supermajority of 2/3 to pass. We will have the people on Zoom and in our satellite rooms vote first, and then we will conduct voting for those who are here in the GIAC. So, for those on Zoom, please respond to the poll that just went live. For those in the satellite rooms, please now follow the instructions of the StuCo member in your room to vote.

After counting all the votes from the satellite rooms and the GIAC, in the eyes of the Election coordinators, the rules of order pass with more than 2/3rds of those present. If there are any objections, please come forward now. Seeing none, the rules of order pass.

Presentation of Equitable Tax Coverage for International Students’ Summer Funding Resolution

Victoria: With that being said, the first resolution to be presented is the Equitable Tax Coverage for International Students’ Summer Funding. Presented by Coco, our international student rep.

Coco: Hi everyone my name is Coco, she/her pronouns, and I am a junior. I would like to give a shortened version of the resolution. Some international students can get taxed heavily. I will now read the resolution.

Whereas, international students whose countries of citizenship do not have applicable tax treaties with the US can have up to 30% tax withheld from their summer funding from Haverford, depending on how their funding is classified, compared to 14% for income during the school year.

Whereas, information regarding tax classification has not been communicated to students in a transparent, accessible, or timely manner.

Whereas, international students already face limited summer employment opportunities and limited summer funding sources compared to domestic students, with the majority of international students having to rely on College funding.

Whereas, summer funding from the College is typically less than $5,000, which, when taxed at 30%, is not sufficient to support the student through the summer, much less save towards summer earnings contribution for students receiving financial aid.

Whereas, international students affected by this situation are disproportionately first gen low income (FGLI) and BIPOC, meaning that they are disproportionately harmed by the decrease in summer earnings.

Whereas, Haverford currently covers the tax on unqualified scholarships (i.e. the taxable part of financial aid) for international students whose countries of citizenship do not have applicable tax treaties, and provides tax information for international students receiving financial aid on the financial aid website.

Whereas, a key element of Haverford’s 2030 strategic plan is the Summer Experience for All initiative, which aims to ensure equitable access to summer funding.

Be it hereby resolved that, the Controller’s Office communicates with international students regarding possible tax classification for summer funding in advance of the classification decision so that students are able to estimate their budgets in advance.

Be it hereby resolved that, an International Student Tax Task Force will be created, tentatively including the author of this resolution and three other students (ideally, with at least one student affected by the current tax withholdings), as well as John McKnight (Dean of the College; Summer Experiences for All) and/or Marissa Deitch (Executive Director of the Center for Career and Professional Advising; Summer Experiences for All), Natasha Weisz (Director of International Student Support), and a staff member from the Controller’s Office.

Be it hereby resolved that, the student body recommends that the International Student Tax Task Force pursue the coverage of the additional tax amount (i.e. 16%) for international students whose countries of citizenship do not have tax treaties with the US and whose summer funding is classified to be taxed at 30%, as part of the Summer Experiences for All initiative, to ensure equitable summer funding.

Be it hereby resolved that, before the initiative becomes implemented, the Task Force works with the Business Office and/or offices and departments funding summer internships to seek ways to support affected students on a case-by-case basis to minimize the financial burden on the students.

Be it hereby resolved that, applications for the Task Force be opened no later than November 15th, 2024, the members of the task force be selected no later than November 22nd, the Task Force will meet no later than December 5th, and the Task Force will complete the goals outlined in this resolution by the end of the 2024-2025 academic year, but the Task Force or a successor role will continue to work towards ensuring equity for international students thereafter.

Q/A

Victoria: We will now begin a time for question and answer. As a reminder please raise your hand to ask a question. The presenter will then respond. We will be alternating from the Zoom to the GIAC to ensure all spaces are able to engage. We will begin here in the GIAC. Adam and Yasmin please raise your hands! If you have a question please raise your hands and one of these two lovely StuCo members will bring the mic to you.

Ben: To clarify, the 14%, will that be made up with more funding from the college, as taxing is still at a 30% rate. Could you explain that please?

Coco: The tax disparity will come from the college. I am proposing it be part of the summer experiences for all initiative. Everything for that is going to be coming from donations. Ideally it should not be coming from existing things like increasing student tuition.

Ben: Thank you.

Coco: In the meantime, before the initiative gets implemented, we are going to see if there is a way to use underspent funds.

Ben: Thank you, that answers my question.

Student 1: Do you guys know how much that will cost, like a ballpark range?

Coco: It is not a fixed budget because it depends on what summer job a student gets.

I’ve been in contact with the people in the office. It should not be a lot of money. I do not have a concrete number right now.

Pro-Con

Yehyun: Now begins the pro/con debate. Speakers will be given one and a half minutes to present their reasons for supporting or opposing the resolution. We will alternate between those speaking for and those speaking against the resolution. Similar to the Q&A section, please raise your hand to request to speak. We will start with someone speaking in favor of the resolution.

Masha: I’m Masha, I am class of 26, I support this resolution because I am living it everyday of my life. As a low income international student, I have to fully financially support myself because my parents cannot afford to. I have to take care of all of my legal documents on my own. I just do everything on my own, I have no other support network other than Haverford. As my community and support network, I ask you to please support this resolution. All of the international students have worked so hard on this. This is such a great opportunity for us and a life changing opportunity and we need your support. I live for the day when students like me have to work a little less because of more support from the community. If you have any questions or want to talk more please come find me after plenary. Please vote yes!

Yehyun: That concludes the pro/con debate. The presenters will now be given 3 minutes to respond.

Coco: Since there was only one pro, I don’t have too much to say. I see how hard my fellow international students have worked, how hard those coming from a low income background have to work to be at the same starting line. It is my pleasure to be able to work to support my community. Please consider voting yes for this resolution. It is really important to your fellow community members.

Call for Amendments

Victoria: We will now call for friendly and unfriendly amendments. These should have been shared with us and resolution writers by Saturday. As a reminder, friendly amendments have been accepted by the resolution writers, whereas unfriendly amendments have not been accepted by the resolution writers and require 75 signatures. None currently have been brought to our attention. All amendments require a written change and require a majority vote to be adopted. If presented they will also need their own Q&A session as well as a pro-and con debate. If you have a friendly or unfriendly amendment you would like to present now, please come forward.

Victoria: Seeing no amendments, we will now ask for a moment of silence before we vote on the resolution itself.

Voting for Resolution #1

Yehyun: Thank you. We will now vote on the resolution. This resolution needs a simple majority to pass. We will have the people on Zoom and in our satellite rooms vote first, and then we will conduct voting for those who are here in the GIAC. So, for those on Zoom, please respond to the poll that just went live. For those in the satellite rooms, please now follow the instructions of the StuCo member in your room to vote.

Julia: The votes of those on Zoom and in our satellite rooms have been recorded. For those in the GIAC, please be ready to vote. Raise your white paper if you would like to vote for the resolution. Raise your white paper if you would like to vote against the resolution. Raise your paper if you would like to abstain from voting. After counting all the votes from the satellite rooms and the GIAC, in the eyes of the Election coordinators, the resolution passes with more than 50% of those present.

*resounding applause*

Julia: If there are any objections, please come forward now. Seeing none, the resolution passes.

*more resounding applause*

Presentation of Promoting Disability Justice Through COVID Resource Accessibility

Victoria: We will now be moving to the second resolution which is titled Promoting Disability Justice Through COVID Resource Accessibility, presented by DASH.

Renata: Hi everyone, I’m Renata, a senior.

Swagnita: I’m Swagnita. I’m a freshman.

Renata: We are here to present the DASH resolution. The resolution is pretty straightforward. It covers how we want to institutionalize funding for high quality masks and Covid tests on campus and come up with an equitable way to distribute resources, specifically for immunocompromised and marginalized communities. I can go ahead and read the resolution for everyone:

Whereas, the U.S. is entering the 10th major wave of the COVID pandemic, where COVID transmission is expected to reach close to 2 million daily infections.

Whereas, disabled students, faculty and staff, specifically those immunocompromised, are at higher risk of contracting and being affected by illness, and lack of access to high quality masks and tests disproportionately burdens our vulnerable community members with the responsibility to self-provide personal protective equipment

Whereas, we can presume that a large portion of our campus community is at high risk for severe illness from COVID given that people are considered to be high risk if they: have any disability, including asthma, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and ADHD; smoke, including vaping; experience barriers to accessing healthcare, such as being from a marginalized group; and have already had COVID

Whereas, students have been denied testing by Health Services, as testing is only provided if students present specific symptoms (such as fever), while the CDC recommends testing after known exposures, even if asymptomatic or presymptomatic.

Whereas, Health Services provides a limited amount of surgical masks, which is insufficient in both quantity and quality as the CDC has proved them to be less effective in preventing COVID transmission than tight-fitting masks, such as KN95s

Whereas, there is considerable demand for both high quality masks and tests from students, staff, and faculty, with the BiCo COVID Co, a student-run club, distributing 1,485 masks and 152 COVID tests in the Spring Semester of 2024,

Whereas, there is currently no sustained access to timely and adequate high quality masks and COVID tests outside of the BiCo COVID Co

Whereas, Haverford has expressed commitment to accessibility and prioritizing the “the health, safety, and well-being of students, faculty, and staff”

Be it hereby be resolved that, the College will provide at least 20 high-quality masks (KN95, KF94, N95; purchased from reputable sites) per student, staff, and faculty member per semester, with 500 masks being allocated to the Nest, starting in the Spring 2025 semester

Be it hereby be resolved that, the College will provide at least four rapid COVID-19 tests per student, staff, and faculty member, per semester, starting in the Spring 2025 semester

Be it hereby be resolved that, the College will commit to monthly meetings between DASH and BiCo COVID Co representatives, and the appropriate administrative staff to evaluate, implement, and improve access for mask and test distribution, to begin in the Fall 2024 semester.

I also want to mention this is a great time to institutionalize this kind of funny. Especially as people are concerned about losing public health resources given the outcome of the election. It would be really great to have those sustainable resources set at Haverford.

Q/A

Arlo: My question is how these masks and tests will be distributed. I am looking around and I am a bit worried if they are distributed individually then there would be waste.

Renata: That’s a good question. The purpose of these monthly meetings we hope to set up with admin is to set up the best method for distribution. We have the 500 already allocated for the Nest. The meetings will be to iron out the details of which communities need these the most. It will be directed that way to give them to people who will use them.

Joseph: I’m wondering, did you talk to Health Services or the student organization to get an estimate of how many masks and covid tests you would need. Or have you talked to students with disabilities that are interested in this program to get a better idea of how many masks you need.

Swagnita: Yes, in terms of demand, we are looking at what BiCo Covid Club requested, in the Spring it was.

Renata: We distributed over 4,580 masks. Also this semester we’ve gotten closer to 40 requests for COVID tests and masks, so we’re seeing some demand from students, and also other campus members as well. We are reps of DASH, Disability, Accessibility for students at Haverford, we are all disabled or allies. We have been in conversation with Health Services. They don’t have an idea on numbers yet, unfortunately they are not very tuned into what our needs are.

Zoom: How was the number of 20 masks/person per semester derived? Perhaps 26000 masks. That seems like a lot of masks, and I am afraid of wastefulness.

Swagnita: We want to clarify, this is just an action item for what we should do in the Spring, past Spring 2025 we want to have meetings to make sure there is no waste and that the resources are being given out.

Renara: If we see a higher demand we can increase supply and if there isn’t we can decrease from there. These numbers are just a starting point.

Student 2: Just to follow up on the prior question, the language in the section be it hereby be resolved, is it meant to indicate that this is a general statement? Is the language meant to be fluctuating, or is it that 20 masks is a bare minimum.

Renata: It is the minimum as a starting point and then it can fluctuate according to demand on campus.

Zoom: Wouldn’t a mask mandate be more effective? Distribution doesn’t do much unless we all mask up.

Renata: From our conversations with admin, they have told us that they are not interested in a mask mandate. If people wanted to organize one I would be happy to talk to you. We have found distribution is helpful. I see people wearing masks all the time. There are many ways people use masks, sometimes people only use them when sick. At the very least distribution increases accessibility.

Swagnita: The resolution would not be a policy change. In conversations with admin, we are really looking to have it be equitable so those who want to mask are able to.

Zoom: This may have already been discussed, but it was kind of hard to hear here, but how would this be funded?

Renata: I think as we heard from the beginning, there is a lot of uncertainty about how funding works at Haverford. The idea is that in this meeting, we can pinpoint where haverford can find resources to pay for these things. At the moment that is still undecided.

Student 3: I’m a little confused as to why Covid tests are important. If you are immunocompromised, any disease is bad, it seems like a shot in the dark to buy a lot of Covid tests and hope it helps immunocompromised students.

Renata: Being able to test for Covid can help you prepare on how you can treat Covid. If you are immunocompromised it would help you start treatment as fast as possible. Knowing is good.

Student 4: I was wondering if part of the funding would be allocated to surgical masks, CDC guidelines say surgical masks, which is what people opt for more often and might increase the number of students using masks.

Renata: At the moment we are focusing on funding for high quality masks. Unfortunately, surgical masks do not provide a right fit around your face and are much less effective. We want to get KN95s, or other options if those are uncomfortable for people to wear. Surgical masks have been available through health services, if that is what people would wear, you would see people wearing them.

Victoria: If there are still a lot of questions we can vote to extend Q&A. This requires a simple majority vote.

Julia: We are voting to extend Q&A, if you are in favor, please raise your white paper. If you are against extending, please raise your packet. If you wish to no vote, please raise your paper now. In the eyes of the elections coordinators the request to extend Q&A does not pass.

Victoria: This includes the Q&A section, please go to the resolution writers if you would like to follow up later.

Pro-Con

Student 5: Hi everyone, I want to speak in favor .We already talked about how community care is really important, especially in the post election landscape. It should not cost students extra money to take care of their health. This resolution would provide free health access to students. It’s not something that will force anyone to do anything they don’t wanna do. It’s about access so people can protect their health without spending any extra money. I think this is something we should all support even if this is not a choice you want to make personally.

Peter: How many people here in the past week have wanted to wear a mask but didn’t because they can’t afford one. No one says they did. This tells me this resolution is a waste of money. Money does not pop out of nowhere, wouldn’t it be better to spend the money on the first resolution which is something students really care about. This seems like a waste, I hope we can spend the money on something more productive.

Yuriko: In reply to that previous comment, just because you support one resolution doesn’t mean the other cannot be supported.

Chyanne: While I believe everyone should have access to health care. If we have only given out 1400 masks, now you are asking for 26k masks. These numbers do not make sense. We have given access to mask and covid tests and I don’t think handing out all of these masks when the demand is only 1500 is beneficial. With that, I disagree.

Christian: My name is Christian, I think we have all seen that it can be hard to ask for help sometimes. I think it would be inappropriate for those who are not in a position financially to raise their hands in front of all of their peers. That’s embarrassing. Also, if health is being offered directly to you, it is easier to take it, than asking for it. Students get turned away from health services when asking for Covid tests, because they don’t have them. We should be testing for Covid, it’s still around. I care about the people in my community and you should too.

Yehyun: I would like to call to vote if we want to extend the pro/con debate. Raise your packet if you would like to extend the pro con debate. Raise your packet if you would not like to extend the pro con debate. Raise your packet if you would like to not vote.

Julia: As seen in the eyes of the election coordinators, extension of pro/con debate passes.

Zoom Pro: My dorm has requested masks from BiCo Covid Co multiple times and the school funding this instead of a club is basically the bare minimum. We ran out sometimes and I had to buy some for us. I could only find surgical masks so we didn’t have access to better masks for a week. Also, I’m an actual disabled person. This is important to a lot of people and barely costs the college much. There is no reason to vote against this.

Student 7: I really respect the spirit of this resolution. I agree that students need masks and covid tests and should have their needs met. I just think that by buying what seems like a lot of supplies we are depriving people outside of the community of these resources. We’re potentially wasting a lot of materials as well. Thank you

Student 8: Hello, I want to know where the discussion of waste is coming from. Masks do not expire. Covid tests do expire but it takes quite a while. Maybe the number of masks we requested is a little excessive. We will have leftovers and we can use them next semester. People need and want masks. BiCo Covid Co does so much and they are overwhelmed, they don’t have the resources to support what everyone needs. I just don’t understand this conversation about waste. In the resolution, if the number of masks is excessive, it can be adjusted.

Student 9: I am sort of con and sort of pro. I think it is reasonable for people who ask for masks at Health services to get them. I don’t understand why, the number seems excessive. I would be in favor of reducing that number, and making them at request instead of distributed. I think this would be much simpler if this was easily accessible.

Zoom Pro: To the person who asked who here has wanted to wear a mask and couldn’t, don’t speak unless you are in that category. I am a person who masks for myself and the people around me and I haven’t had proper masks UNTIL I came to Haverford via things like BICO COVID CO. Covid hasn’t budged since I came here in fall 2023 but now health services doesn’t provide those anymore. So unless you are broke AND DISABLED, don’t stand there and speak about this.

Also Haverford BY DESIGN wastes money left and right, it is ridiculous to stop it at masks. AGAIN, the writers which i am not connected to said the 26k is an ESTIMATE.

Also Haverford not buying masks doesn’t mean ppl outside of Haverford get them for free or for less. That’s not how the current economic set up works. wake up.

Y’all are talking like we aren’t having whooping cough going around and a very inadequate response from haverford about it.

Student 10: Covid tests are like $20 at CVS, some of us want to test whenever we get sick, some of us want to protect our community. It would be great to have free tests and masks.

Yehyun: That concludes the pro/con debate. The presenters will now be given 3 minutes to respond.

Renata: Thank you all for the comments. The numbers are revisable, that’s the whole point. It’s an estimate, we are responding to needs. Also with one of the comments that mentioned. There are a lot of disabled people that are not physically here because this space is not accessible. By asking for people’s needs here, you’re excluding people who aren’t here physically. I’m a senior and this is only my second time in person at plenary because it is inaccessible. I also want to mention that if we are concerned about people outside this community becoming more vulnerable from us buying resources, that would not happen. If we are protecting ourselves, whoever we see outside the community are then more protected. What you do impacts other people. You can still help stop this chain of transmission. Honestly, if that’s a real concern you have and you are not wearing a mask, I find it hard to take it seriously.

Call for Amendments

Victoria: We will now call for friendly and unfriendly amendments. These should have been shared with us and resolution writers by Saturday. As a reminder, friendly amendments have been accepted by the resolution writers, whereas unfriendly amendments have not been accepted by the resolution writers and require 75 signatures. All amendments require a written change and require a majority vote to be adopted. If presented they will also need their own Q&A session as well as a pro-and con debate. If you have a friendly or unfriendly amendment you would like to present now, please come forward.

Victoria: There is a friendly amendment in the process of being written.

Yehyun: Folks, I know the day has been long. Let’s please try and stay in quorum. Thank you.

Friendly Amendment

Mei-Li: We have a friendly amendment. We want to create an anonymous survey to send to the entire campus, including students, faculty, and administration, to get a more accurate gauge for demand. The poll results will be discussed in the monthly meetings of the group.

Victoria: As per the rules of order we will now have a Q&A on the amendment.

Student 10: I’m wondering if you could repeat the proposed amendment. You spoke a little quickly.

Mei-Li: Originally stated as all students receive 20 masks and 4 COVID tests per person – concerns include waste of monetary resources, demand, and environmental impact. Propose to create an anonymous survey to send to the entire campus community (students, faculty, admin) to create more accurate estimates of demand, determining balances of supply to student body and general campus resources. Poll results will be discussed during proposed monthly meetings

Student 11: I would like to be clear on the purpose of the amendment. It is to collect more data for the distribution of the supplies being purchased. This is not standing against the resolution?

Mei-Li: No, the purpose of this amendment is to based on the students who say yes, they will order masks and tests for whoever says yes to the survey.

Student 11: So if I fill out the survey and say I do not anticipate needing any of these is that an opt out for these supplies?

Mei-Li: Correct.

Student 12: What would happen if someone originally opts out and then circumstances change and they need masks after that?

Renata: One thing we will work with is to meet the needs of the people who say no. The idea to clarify is that originally we had 20 masks per person. This does not mean that everyone received a package or something. There will be options for students who are exposed to have access to these resources if they had previously opted out.

Mei-Li: Based on the poll in the monthly meetings. There will be a way to opt into those resources. By some way, people can be added to the number of people who want masks.

Student 12: So is this going to be something that happens regularly? How often will the survey go out?

Mei-Li: The survey would go out once the first time, and then there will be an open poll that people can fill out to opt in.

Renata: There will be a mechanism to request as needed. Even if you originally say no, you can change your mind. It’s really open ended to see what people will find more accessible. If people want to pick up they can, or they can get as needed. It’s what helps people the most.

Zoom: What are students who have a demand and are at risk supposed to do in the meantime while the number is deliberated?

Renata: You can contact the BiCo Covid Co. You can request masks through us. I want to mention that the current funding we get is from StuCo. If you would rather have our funding going to clubs, it would be better to institutionalize our funding.

Victoria: We will now vote on if we would like to extend the Q&A.

Julia: Raise your packet if you would like to extend the Q&A of the amendment If you would not like to extend raise now. If you would like to no vote. In the eyes of the election coordinators, the extension does not pass.

Yehyun: Now it is the pro-con debate.

Jonah: If there are any other latent concerns about this resolution, I am not sure how many people have dealt with Haverford bureaucracy. Your concern will be brought up in some meeting. Or talk to the resolution writers. Let’s just get this passed.

Hasse: I’m class of 2028, the main thing to me is in the case of someone saying they would not have access, and they change their mind. They would have to find some way to do so. There is no clarity. In my mind this is just an extra barrier and something we see given how hard it is to ask for help. I don’t see any reason to not just have these masks available without any extra barriers.

Student 13: I think what the last person said was a misunderstanding. It seems like Haverford will find a way to get masks and tests to students afterwards. I don’t think anyone will say no, you cannot receive those resources. I understand that asking for help is difficult. The most important thing is to get people the resources.

Abigail: I support the resolution as it was written. I think this amendment adds an unnecessary burden to students to get resources on campus. I understand having a survey will help see the amount of supplies people need. I think having them available to all students would be better and eliminate unnecessary steps for students.

Student 14: Hi, I originally thought that this resolution as a whole had a lot of elements that were not thought out properly. I think this amendment adds hard facts to what is occurring. There are still issues with individuals understandably as everything has that. What this amendment does is give us a more concrete plan to actually get these supplies to people that need them

Yehyun: The presenters have 3 minutes to respond.

Rebata: Just to clear up some miscommunications, the number we have originally is just what we chose to quantify it. In this poll, you as an individual are not opting out, it is just a baseline to gauge demand. That does not mean that this will be a strict number. This number will be discussed in meetings. We could provide a cushion amount so if you had originally stated no then these resources can still be available. The reason why the details are still pending is because this is very dependent on administration. We have tried to do this independently for the past 4 years without luck, that is why we are coming to you all as our community. We have thought about these details and brought them up. Admin has continuously individualized this problem and made it seem like we are the only ones that care. We would really appreciate everyone’s support.

Mei-Li: I heard concern about people who don’t say yes originally. When we say the baseline for demand, that includes the people who fill out the poll saying yes as well as campus supplies. There will be Covid tests in the Health Center, there will be masks throughout campus. This is more so people having personal supplies if they choose to. It’s an easier way where people can have their own supply in addition to general access. It’s not if you didn’t fill out this poll that you can’t get it. You can still receive them by going to a location that has those supplied.

Voting for Amendment

Yehyun: Thank you. We will now vote on the amendment. We are not voting on the resolution but whether we add this amendment to the resolution.

Victoria: This amendment needs a simple majority to pass. I will reiterate we are voting on adding the amendment to the resolution not on the resolution itself. We will have the people on Zoom and in our satellite rooms vote first, and then we will conduct voting for those who are here in the GIAC. So, for those on Zoom, please respond to the poll that just went live. For those in the satellite rooms, please now follow the instructions of the StuCo member in your room to vote.

Julia: The votes of those on Zoom and in our satellite rooms have been recorded. For those in the GIAC, please be ready to vote. Raise your white paper if you would like to vote for the resolution. Raise your white paper if you would like to vote against the resolution. Raise your paper if you would like to abstain from voting. In the eyes of the election coordinators this amendment passes. Seeing no objections, this amendment has been added.

Voting on Resolution

Yehyun: Thank you. We will now vote on the final resolution with the amendment. This resolution needs a simple majority to pass. We will have the people on Zoom and in our satellite rooms vote first, and then we will conduct voting for those who are here in the GIAC. So, for those on Zoom, please respond to the poll that just went live. For those in the satellite rooms, please now follow the instructions of the StuCo member in your room to vote.

Julia: After counting all the votes from the satellite rooms and the GIAC, in the eyes of the Election coordinators, the resolution passes with more than 50% of those present. If there are any objections, please come forward now. Seeing none, the resolution passes.

Presentation of the Alcohol Policy

Victoria: With that being said, we will now be moving to the annual ratification Alcohol Policy which will be presented by the JSAAPP representatives. As a reminder this process is overseen by the representatives and no changes have been made since last semester.

Tristan: Hello, I am Tristan, he/him pronouns.

Keyla: I am Kelya, she/her pronouns. We are your JSAAPP Co Chairs. We are here to facilitate the ratification of the Alcohol Policy. The Alcohol Policy is a collaborative effort that aims to promote safe drinking environments and practices by emphasizing moderation in alcohol consumption and individual accountability for those who choose to drink. It also works to create a respectful social atmosphere that is free of coercion and peer pressure.

Tristan: To foster Haverford’s values of building a student body valuing community, integrity and personal growth we have collaborated with the Health and Wellbeing Education office and Cary Carr the Director of Health and Wellbeing to implement the party host training policy.

This policy is a one time training that focuses on education of resources available to promote safer party environments. Such as the introduction of party kit boxes that contain electrolytes, water, first aid materials, and snacks furthering this theme of safer environments . Additionally it provides individuals information that aims to lead to increased informed and responsible decisions.

Keyla: We have no changes to present this year as the policy available to the public is the most up to date.

Q/A

Victoria: Seeing no questions, we conclude Q&A.

Pro-Con

Yehyun: Now begins the pro/con debate. Speakers will be given one and a half minutes to present their reasons for supporting or opposing the resolution. We will policy between those speaking for and those speaking against the policy. Similar to the Q&A section, please raise your hand to request to speak. We will start with someone speaking in favor of the policy. If there are no further pro-cons offered we can proceed to voting.

Jillian: Hello everyone, I just want to speak pro the ratification of the alcohol policy. It looks like it has been working, so we should ratify it. JSAAP has done a good job keeping us safe and educating us. So let’s vote yes.

Yehyun: That concludes the pro/con debate. The presenters will now be given 3 minutes to respond.

Kelya: Thank you all for the support. Let’s get to voting!

Victoria: For the ratification of the alcohol policy there are no unfriendly or friendly amendments in the rules of order so we will now ask for a moment of silence before we vote on the resolution itself.

Ratification of the Alcohol Policy

Yehyun: Thank you. We will now vote on ratifying the annual alcohol policy. This resolution needs a super majority of ⅔ to pass. We will have the people on Zoom and in our satellite rooms vote first, and then we will conduct voting for those who are here in the GIAC. So, for those on Zoom, please respond to the poll that just went live. For those in the satellite rooms, please now follow the instructions of the StuCo member in your room to vote.

Julia: After counting all the votes from the satellite rooms and the GIAC, in the eyes of the Election coordinators, the resolution passes with more than 2/3 of those present. If there are any objections, please come forward now. Seeing none, the resolution passes.

The End

Yehyun: That concludes Plenary, we did it y’all. Thank you for your patience and engagement.

Victoria: We will now be waiting for President Raymond to approve the passed resolutions which she will do within 30 days. Resolution writers will reach out to the community with next steps for implementation. Please return your papers to the boba boxes so CER can use it!!!!

Yehyun: Thank you again everyone and have a wonderful Sunday!

Fall Plenary 2024 Minutes -11/10/2024

Performances

Introduction

Statement of the Fords

Community Comment

Rules of Order/Agenda

Presentation of Equitable Tax Coverage for International Students’ Summer Funding Resolution

Presentation of Promoting Disability Justice Through COVID Resource Accessibility

Presentation of the Alcohol Policy

The End

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