Archivist note: Originally published on the Elections WordPress site. Sep 21, 2014 @ 23:22, “Head of the Committee on Public Safety”
Rhea Manglani
Bryn Mawr is an all-woman’s (and trans/non-binary’s) college. While Bryn Mawr exists in an affluent area, that does not mean the campus is always 100% safe and more importantly, Bryn Mawr students aren’t always on this campus. I want students to feel safe not only when they’re leaving the library at 2AM after a long day of studying, but also to feel safe as they return from parties or long weekends. I want students who go to tri-co events and parties to understand there are resources here for them in any issue of sexual assault, harassment, or stalking by a member of the tri-co community. Furthermore, I want students to know what to do in case of emergencies whether they are weather related or dangerous persons are on campus. While not ignoring rape culture, I want to expand resources for preventing sexual assault (more classes, a section dedicated to self defense videos on a website, etc) and resources for victims. I want every student to have a clear understanding what to do during an fire emergency, snow emergency, and how to utilize their resources if they’re off campus (as long as it is within the jurisdiction of this campus).
I transferred from a campus that was not well-lit, had few resources available to students on weekends, and had massive amounts of crime. As a result of the three, two attempted abductions took place on that campus and one actual abduction occurred. Few women ever felt safe on that campus again.
I am also open to a myriad of safety concerns students have on this campus. I am new here and I want to know what makes students feel unsafe on this campus and how they want SGA to go about resolving these issues. I want to know the confines of this position and how much positive change I’ll be able to make on this campus. I also enjoy what SGA stands for in terms of empowerment and how a self-governing student body is to proactive. I am eager to get more involved with Bryn Mawr and make this campus a home for me and improving its safety while working with other great individuals.