Archivist Note: Originally published on the Elections wordpress site. Nov 20, 2015 @ 10:03, “Emergency Elections November 2015 Minutes”
Committee on Public Safety Nominees:
Tali Laurence ‘19 & Anushka Robinson ‘19
Nolan Julien ‘ 18
Q&A Minutes:
- Charlie Bruce ‘16: Why are you running for this position?
Tali: I’m running for CoPS head because when I came onto campus I heard a lot of great things about campus safety but now there are all these things about race and issues and as a student, I feel like I am in the position to do something about it. I want to see things that I could do about it and I am a student and this is the first time where I have the power to do something.
Anushka: I was nominated to the position and in light of all the racial events at Bryn Mawr as somebody who these issues directly affect I felt like I should be part of a position that makes this campus more safe and inclusive for all of us undergraduates, postbacs, and students and bring the campus together.
Nolan: I would like to run for this position because I feel like as a prominent student leader on this campus I would do very well in communicating campus safety ideals to students and vice versa. Because of my strong communication and leadership skills, I feel like this position is perfect for me because I have such a passion for creating long lasting and positive relationships with students and faculty all over Bryn Mawr’s campus.
2. As you have all remarked, there have been tensions between Campus Safety and students of color on this campus. What would you do to improve that relationship?
Tali: Well, i’m aware the the cops head is the liaison between student body and campus safety. So my first goal would be to talk to the students of color on campus first to determine why they felt uncomfortable, what they feel can be improved and bring those responses back to campus safety and ask them how they would feel on their side of the situation and how they would handle it. And get them to empathize with the students on campus so that no one feels that they are being attacked. I think that as a 3rd person going in between I have that ability to ease and at least be a communication between cops and students of color on campus.
Anushka: So my first goal would be to increase transparency in this process. I know two things: it hasn’t not been not transparent because I know that the coalition has been trying to show their requests and why but also have cops let student know their initiatives and what they are doing. But I would want cops to be aware when students bring these issues to them what they can do and why they are doing them. Because of the nature of these meetings have been spontaneous I would want to have a more regulated process where we could have a more streamlined process for the benefit of all the students on this campus.
Nolan: As a student leader and a student that is very interested in law and solutions on this campus I believe that I could use my experiences with CS – both positive and negative – on consensus with both the students and officer to cohabitate and create safe spaces for all students. Because i have had personal experiences with cs officer, I would be able to reach out to them on a personal and professional level to be able to translate some student concerns on campus as well as hear cs concerns to students and translate that in resco meetings and sga meetings that I will be attending weekly.
- Rachel Ofili ‘16: How do you want transparency to come about?
Tali: So transparency i feel should go both ways so I would love for both sides of the situation – coalition and cs – to openly express what they are feeling in a respectful and polite manner and also send out after every meeting write down every that was discussed, decided about, what’s in the air, what I don’t have all the information for, and send out all that information to the school and see those responses. I know to be transparent about a situation I would want as much info on it and talk to students who are also not on the coalition and write that down so that everyone on campus would able to know about it.
Anushka: So I’m going to speak in general not just of the coalition but also of other students group if they have an issue with cs, I would definitely try in terms of transparency to make sure the campus is aware of any issues are brought up and make minutes and make those minutes aware to the campus. As for the coalition, I would want to make sure all cs plans of improvement – the process if shown to students and student are participants and that students are aware of every stage that is going on in these talks and the process.
Nolan: So in the case of campus safety – because their staff is relatively small – I believe that it would be a goal of mine to make sure I spoke to every campus officer and employee of that office so that I understood where they are coming from an officer’s perspective and at the same time also relay my own personal emotions with my cs with my negative and positive reactions since I believe it’s important to focus on both of them so that we can focus on what maintained and what can be improved. As having positions on both sisterhood and NAACP boards and being able to have personal and formal conversations with many students that have had negative interactions with cs, I feel that i would be able to relay that information to cs and again be able to gain their insight therefore creating more transparency between the two groups and thus having a more positive and solution driven environment.
4.Charlie Bruce ‘16: What is your favorite fruit?
Tali: Alright, my favorite fruit is the grape. Specifically crunch grapes like the one you get out of the fridge.
Anushka: Mangoes
Nolan: My favorite fruit is the pomegranate because you can open it up and see all the seeds and have them make up one thing … like Bryn Mawr. Like different shapes of seeds – students seeds, health keeping seeds, hahahahahahaa.
Elections Head Nominees:
Genesis Perez ‘19
Q&A:
- JoyAngelica ‘17: How good are you with using Moodle?
Genesis: I use moodle everyday so I think that I’m really good at using it. Yeah.
- Delaney Williams ‘17: How good are you at responding with emails?
Genesis: Really good – I check my email like 5 times a day. When I get something I need to respond to, I usually respond in 2 hours.
- Charlie Bruce ‘16: Why are you running for this position?
Genesis: I originally wanted to run for COPS because I got nominated but I took it because I want to get involved with sga and I think that it’s another good way to be involved with the Bryn Mawr community and I really love Bryn Mawr and I really want to be involved and it’s a good opportunity to do so .
- Anushka Robinson ‘19: Do you think that any improvements need to be made to the elections process at bryn mawr?
Genesis: I haven’t really been involved with the elections process but I vote. I mean, I guess any improvements – I guess I would ask the improvements of the old elections heads. I would take the suggestion and try my best to accommodate to them.
- Charlie Bruce ‘16: Since you are a first year, I am interested – what previous leadership positions have you had?
Genesis: So I was the head and co founder of a spiritual club so it was a student internship group of a Christian group. I was the captain of my tennis team and I was also really involved with volunteering for feeding the homeless.
- Tali Laurence ‘19: How do you increase the number of students voters on campus?
Genesis: I think that I would send out emails just to remind people that this is the time for voting, don’t forget to vote, people like social media so I would post reminders on twitter, instagram, and fb. Social media outlets to increase number of voters.
7.Nolan Julien ‘18: What is your favorite mode of communication?
Genesis: Texting. I do like texting.