By Michael McCarthy, Staff Writer
The students of Haverford College convened for Plenary on Saturday February 22 to propose, debate, and vote on five resolutions. Unlike the previous Plenary, quorum was reached, allowing proceedings to continue.
Before Plenary actually began, the Alliance for Latin American Students (ALAS) delivered an address to those present about their efforts to rejuvenate La Casa Hispanica as a Latinx center for the college. They described a long, tortuous, and convoluted process of contacting administration and receiving almost no response. They asked students to scan a QR code they projected on the screen that automatically sent an email to Michael Elias, Dean of Student Engagement & Divisional Initiatives, asking “Where is the Latinx Center?” Dean Elias received more than 250 emails.
After quorum was reached, the Community Outreach Multicultural Liaisons (COML’s) made a statement asking students to remember the Lenni Lenapi people who for 10,000 years cultivated the land on which Haverford is built. They stressed that Haverford students inherit the legacy of the Lenni Lenapi’s forced displacement and are beneficiaries of the historical injustice.
The Joint Student Administration Alcohol Policy Panel (JSAAP) then reminded students of the party reservation and reimbursement practices of the school. They said they were developing more resources to educate people on the alcohol policy and party planning on campus and are planning to have more areas registered as party spaces. The Alcohol Policy was ratified.
A resolution was proposed to extend the timeline for the Clearness Committee’s data gathering from two semesters to three. The Clearness Committee collects information on behaviors and sentiments among the student body by sending out polls and conducting statistical analysis of the observed trends. Riley Wheaton (Haverford ’20) argued that two semesters didn’t offer enough time to collect and analyze as much data as it could, saying that “in the past, committees have been doomed to defeat because of the time constraint.” The resolution was successfully passed.
Next, a resolution to promote more rigorous move-out day requirements was proposed. The resolution stated that the burden to remove objects such as mini-fridges, microwaves, and fans left by students fell on volunteers, housekeeping, and other selected staff. The resolution would add the requirement to remove all belongings from dorms on move-out day to the Honor Code. In the debate section, one student questioned the reasoning behind putting such a resolution into the Honor Code when it already existed in the Residential Life Handbook. Most of the students present disagreed, however, and the resolution was passed.
The third resolution concerned light pollution on the Haverford campus. Sadie Kenyon-Dean (Haverford ’20) delivered a detailed presentation on light pollution, the subject of her senior thesis, asking “administration to swap out improperly engineered outdoor lighting fixtures in favor of fixtures that abide by standards set forth by the International Dark Sky Association.” She noted that the bright outdoor lights on campus direct light at eye-level, creating a glare that renders it difficult to see in dark places after passing a light. Additionally, the lights disturb natural sleep patterns, both of humans and birds. Many students spoke in favor of the resolution, stating that the lights disturbed their sleep, disrupted the blooming cycle of the arboretum’s flowers, and interferes with astrophysics students observing the stars. The resolution was successfully passed.
Next, the resolution “Capital with a Purpose” was proposed. The students proposing it were quick to point out that it was not a divestment resolution; Haverford is nearly entirely divested from fossil fuels and is waiting until certain contracts holding investments in the fossil fuel industry to expire so that the school’s funds can be removed. Their resolution would grant more weight to Environmental Social Governance (ESG), one aspect of the calculation Haverford conducts when it decides whether or not to invest in a certain stock. They said the resolution would help “ to align [our investments] with our communal values around environmental stewardship and human rights.” The resolution was successfully passed.
The fifth and final resolution was proposed by Sunrise Haverford, a group dedicated to climate justice. They noted that Haverford’s goal of carbon-neutrality had been moved from 2060 to 2035, but this information was not publicly available. The resolution required this information to be made available to the college community. The resolution was successfully passed.
The Honor Council Co-Chairs Carter Patterson (Haverford ’20) and Soha Saghir (Haverford ’21) then proceeded to describe the state of the Honor code. Though the academic code has functioned well, they pointed out severe deficiencies in the social code. They noted that “campus seems to be marred by differences in fundamental social beliefs” and cited instances of racism and insensitivity, particularly the recent Honor Council case the Kardashians, as evidence of social code’s deficiencies. They added that the social code “will remain a meaningless statement of values until we begin to embody these values in our everyday practices.” Nevertheless, the Honor Code was successfully passed, 865 pro, 64 pro with objections, and 27 con (956 total).
For Haverford first-years, this marks their first successful Plenary after the previous Plenary failed to meet quorum. Dylan Kupetsky (Haverford ’23) noted that Plenary mirrored the conversations he had had with his hall as part of the Customs program and thought, “it was interesting to see those same kinds of conversations play out on a school-wide level.” Hopefully, the previous failed Plenary was a fluke and he will enjoy many more such school-wide conversations.
Image credit: Haverford College
