Category: Elections

CANDIDATES STATEMENT September Elections: Off Campus Representatives

Archivist Note: Originally published on the Elections wordpress site. Sep 20, 2015 @ 12:45, “CANDIDATES STATEMENT September Elections: Off Campus Representatives”

 

Sneha Soni & Elizabeth Loenzana: 

Hello, our names Sneha Soni and Elizabeth Lorenzana and we are excited to represent the off-campus community at Bryn Mawr. We hope to expand the Bryn Mawr community by fostering communication between the Mawrters living off-campus and the Bryn Mawr community. We’re living off-campus for our second and third years, respectively. We have many ideas for all our off-campus commuters, whether you live as close as Mermont, as far as Philadelphia city, or even at home.

Having lived off-campus for multiple years, we understand the joys and struggles that come with not living in a dorm. Since Bryn Mawr has a tight-knit dorm culture, it can be hard to maintain on-campus participation at community events. We plan to foster awareness of the non-residents, who can often be forgotten.

In addition to being an intermediate between the off and on-campus communities, we hope to introduce fellow non-residents to each other. We’d like the off-campus community to be aware of other non-residents that live around them and build relationships that they can count on. We’d also like to expand our community and strengthen our relationship with the McBride students.

With our experience, we can address any questions about the logistics of living off-campus, about finding student-approved housing, and finding potential roommates. We also welcome all questions concerning room draw, financial aid, and budgeting.  We live as close as Brecon and are always available to meet and talk with anyone living off-campus now or looking to live off-campus in the future.

Thank you, we look forward to representing our off-campus Mawrters.

Sneha and Elizabeth

ssoni@bmc, elorenzana@bmc

Thank you,
Sneha and Elizabeth

Emergency Elections November 2015 Minutes

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:

  1. 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.

  1. 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:

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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 .

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

CANDIDATES STATEMENT September Elections: 2017 Class President

Archivist Note: Originally published on the Elections wordpress site, Sep 18, 2015 @ 01:12, “CANDIDATES STATEMENT September Elections: 2017 Class President”

 

Emma Porter: 

Hello! My name is Emma Porter, and I am running for 2017 junior class president. I am really excited about the opportunity to work together and continue to build on the sense of community that welcomed us into Bryn Mawr back when we were first-year students.

In my time at Bryn Mawr so far, I have enjoyed collaborating with fellow classmates and other members of the community, which encouraged me to consider running as your class president.  Last year, I served as a Customs Person in Rhoads North, where I learned the value of communication between the student body and administrative offices. I have also founded two student groups on campus, one of which being “First Go-ers” for first-generation college students. In my involvement in “First-Goers”, I found the importance in providing a sounding board for students, which would be the role I would adopt as the junior class president.

As your class president, I will actively listen to my classmates to continue to make Bryn Mawr our own. I value SGA as a platform for the student voice, and I will represent our class and vocalize the desires and concerns of our community at weekly SGA meetings.

In addition to acting on student input, I will foster a stronger community within our class. First, I am excited to welcome in our new sister class of 2019 by working closely with their president(s) to host combined 2019/2017 teas. I also look forward to reaching out to the many members of our class who are abroad this year, and send them post-cards from their friends at home!

I am excited to launch my campaign to become your next class president, and I hope to connect with many more of my classmates. Please fee l free to contact me at elporter@brynmawr.edu.

More information about elections and the other candidates running can be found at http://elections.blogs.brynmawr.edu/; or you can contact the elections heads, Joy and Delaney, at jschan@brynmawr.edu and dcwilliams@brynmawr.edu.

Thank you for reading, and I encourage you all to vote. Voting will take place starting September 21 at 9 am through September 22 at 7 pm.

Best wishes,

Emma Porter

Jess Shill & Katherine Nickols: 

We are running for 2017 Class Presidents because we want to help make our classmate’s penultimate year at Bryn Mawr as memorable as possible. Junior year is a key year—we’re finally over the sophomore slump and many of us are studying abroad—but it is also a very stressful year.  With many of us studying abroad this year, it is easy to lose touch with our classmates, hindering the tight knit community fostered at Bryn Mawr.  We will do everything in our power to prevent that from happening and make sure that our class will stay as connected as possible this year, no matter how busy we all are.

We plan on doing this by planning even more class teas, along with reaching out to those abroad by sending postcards and care packages to remind them of home.  We also want to make the class teas more inclusive and accessible for every member of our class by hosting them at hours for people with extracurricular activities, or for those who live off campus, could attend based on their schedules.  That way, we can have the maximum amount of members of our class there, allowing us to build relationships with members which we may not have been able to foster otherwise.

Through these teas, we as class presidents will also seek to hear the voices of our class so we can better represent their ideas and voices in SGA.  We want to be accessible and transparent to our fellow reds, so we will try to be as visible on campus as possible and keep you up to date on current SGA matters via social media, email, and our teas.  This will all help strengthen the unity of our class, while also helping us represent our class as accurately as possible.

We also want to stay connected to the rest of the community, and continue to maintain our already strong relationships with the evens (2016 and 2018), and help guide our sister class through their first year here.  We will do this again through the class teas, but instead of having them be exclusively to our class, we will have teas with the other classes as well.

Although we have not previously held positions in SGA before, we have always wanted to get to; we just were not sure what position would be best suited for us.  We believe that junior year class co-presidents is the position for us, and we believe that we have the experience to do this because we both have extensive backgrounds in leadership.  Both of us are members of the Varsity Soccer Team, where we have gained invaluable leadership experience and time management skills.  Furthermore, we both have very different academic backgrounds, and the combination of these will help us plan and manage the best class events.  Jess is an Economics major, so she has the knowledge to make sure we’re maximizing the budget we’re given.  Meanwhile, Katherine is a history major with a focus on Gender, Sexuality, and Race, so she will ensure that all events are inclusive and enjoyable for everyone.  Together, we believe that we have the necessary experience and desire to make junior year at Bryn Mawr the best year yet for each and every one of our fellow Reds.

Sedi Agawu & Alexis Wiltshire: 

Hello! We are Sedinam Agawu and Alexis Wiltshire and we are running for 2017 class presidents. We can be contacted at sdagawu@bmc and amcdonald@bmc. Sedi is a junior anthropology major on the pre-med track. Alexis is a junior history major. We are interested in the position of Class Presidents because we want to foster a better sense of community within our class, as well as create a more inclusive environment. Bryn Mawr is an institution that really values connections and community, and we want to further that ideal. Our ideas include hosting teas for transfers and McBrides in the class of 2017. We also want to continue the tradition of holding sibling class teas and postcard making teas for our classmates who are studying abroad as a way of including them in our community, even though they aren’t physically here. Another idea we had is to make our events more accessible to those with disabilities. We want to do more to bring attention to the struggles of students with disabilities, and make sure that we’re doing our best to keep students with disabilities feeling safe and included on Bryn Mawr’s campus.

Concerning our involvement with SGA prior to this semester, Alexis was the 2014-2015 Perry House Dorm Co-President and therefore served on the representative council. She is currently one of the junior history major representatives and has experience working with others, collaborating on projects, and organizing events. Sedi has held several leadership positions, including Customsperson and Dorm Traditions Representative, as well as Dorm Representative. Since we both have experience in communication and event organization, we plan to draw on this to help us more efficiently plan events for the Class of 2017. We also want to draw on our class community, because ultimately, we are here to represent their ideas. We plan to stay in contact with our class in order to make them really feel like we are doing our best to be there for them.

We are both very excited for this opportunity to become Co-Class Presidents, and are looking forward to being able to represent such an amazing class!

CANDIDATES STATEMENT September Elections: Co-Faculty Representatives

Archivist Note: Originally published on the Elections wordpress site. Sep 18, 2015 @ 01:14, “CANDIDATES STATEMENT September Elections: Co-Faculty Representative”

 

Melanie Bahti & Erin Saladin: 

Melanie Bahti ’16 and Erin Saladin ’16: Co-Faculty Representatives

Melanie: I am interested in holding the position of Faculty Representative in order to continue my involvement in SGA into my senior year, and to continue being involved in the Bryn Mawr community. The position of Faculty Rep is an important one for community building, since both students and faculty are members of this community but often find communicating with and understanding one another difficult. Erin and I both hope to use this position as an opportunity to serve as liaisons between students and faculty, and to provide information and opinions to both groups. I have experience working with faculty in my past roles as Member and Head of the Honor Board, and more recently as a student consultant as part of TLI. I have also worked closely with my peers in those positions, and as a TA and in DLT positions. I hope to leverage these skills and experiences to communicate effectively with both students and faculty, and to connect both constituencies in meaningful ways.

Erin: I think self-governance is exciting not because it gives us as students some kind of unilateral power, but because it allows us to participate in a community composed of students, alums, staff, and faculty. I am excited to work with Melanie to facilitate conversation among students and faculty to help maintain our campus community as a respectful and collaborative space. Like Melanie, I have worked with faculty and students in multiple contexts throughout my time at Bryn Mawr. Most recently, I worked as a summer research assistant. I have also acted as a student leader in various capacities, including as a club president, a student manager at the library, and a DLT member. Having co-held the position of Faculty Representative during the 2013-2014 academic year, I look forward to returning to both to the Representative Council and the specific position with new perspectives I have since gained through student leadership and closer working relationships with members of the faculty.