By Elle Thompson, Staff Editor
After a hard school year, Bryn Mawr’s plenary game is back on track.
Bryn Mawr’s spring 2021 plenary was a resounding success, hitting quorum with a day left to spare and passing four amendments. Voting took place from the ending of the plenary webinar on March 21 until 11:59 PM EST on March 27, with 495 voters in total participating.
Due to its new online setting, reaching quorum for plenary was significantly easier than in previous years—casting a single vote was sufficient to contribute, rather than attending the entire program. This ease made the process of reaching quorum less a challenge of retention than one of keeping student interest via the digital route.
The Resolutions
The full plenary packet can be found here.
The first two resolutions are a reaffirmation of the Self-Government Association (SGA) Constitution and a recommitment to the values of the Honor Code, passing with 98.4% and 96.9% of the vote, respectively. Both resolutions need to be passed every spring semester. In spring of 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, the SGA Executive Board failed to hit quorum. Although the SGA Constitution and Honor Code were renewed nonetheless, the risk of losing quorum has been a source of apprehension for Bryn Mawr SGA members in recent months.
The third resolution is a commitment to “Changing Gendered Language of the Honor Code,” passing with 96.8% of students voting in favor. This amendment, presented by Liz Burke ‘23, Avalon Vanis ‘23, and Anderson Gaskill ‘22, stipulates that the Honor Code, previously written in gender-specific language including both “her” and “she or he,” should be edited to use non-gender-specific language in consultation with non-cisgender students. This resolution was initially suggested by Vanis after they ran for the Honor Board last spring, though calls for gendered language to be changed had occurred multiple times in previous years.
Burke, who was recently elected as head of the Honor Board, told the Bi-College News that “while I hope that this change encourages more non-cisgender students to apply to Bryn Mawr, I also acknowledge the multitude of other ways in which they are excluded from equal participation in community life that need to be addressed.” She asked any non-cisgender students interested in consulting on the continued edits to the Honor Code to contact her at lmburke@brynmawr.edu with any ideas for board additions.
The fourth resolution is an amended version of a resolution presented in the Fall 2020 semester regarding consideration of religious holidays for students. This resolution, originally focused around Jewish and Muslim holidays, was edited after students suggested the inclusion of Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist holidays. The resolution now asks that in addition to the original four days—Yom Kippur, the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Eid ul-Fitr and the first day of Eid al-Adha—the school ensures that no classes occur on the third and fourth days of Diwali (Lakshmi Puja/Kali Puja and Annakut/Padwa/Govardhan Puja), Vijaya Dashami/Dussehra and Lunar New Year/Spring Festival.
Diwali, the festival of lights in multiple South Asian cultures, is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and certain Buddhist sects. The third or fourth day can be the most important depending on the region. Vijaya Dashami/Dussehra is a celebration of good over evil for Hindus and Jains, marking the end of several important festivals. Lunar New Year is the most culturally significant day in many East Asian countries, including China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Given that 21% of Bryn Mawr undergraduates are international students, the highest proportions of which are from China, India and Vietnam, these holidays are celebrated by a significant proportion of students.
This resolution was originally presented by Stephanie Lichtenstein ‘23, Tillie Rippin ‘23, and Lily Small ‘23, with Malini Rajbhandari ‘24 and Sil Lai Abrams ‘21 joining the team to consult around dharmic religions and Lunar New Year, respectively. The amended resolution passed with 93.3% of voters in affirmation.
“It’s important that all faiths are respected by the college, and it was a major oversight to not include them in the first place,” said Small of the resolution. “If it helps any student on campus, it will be super worth it to me.”
The SGA Elections
With the Spring 2021 plenary at an end and the SGA constitution affirmed, the new Board will step into place. The 2020–2021 elections occurred from March 5–7, 2021, electing a full new board, as follows:
- President: Gabriela Capone ‘22
- Vice President: Andreanna Papatheodorou ‘22
- Secretary: Daisy Shepherd ‘22
- Co-Treasurers: América Nájera ‘22 and Rania Dali ‘22
- Head of the Honor Board: Liz Burke ‘23
- Chair of Social Justice and Equity: Fatmata Sesay ’23
- Archivist: Aaliyah Joseph ‘22
- Election Heads: Bharati Ganesh ‘22 and Shreya Bhutani ‘22 (re-elected)
- Heads of Social Committee: Darpan Chahal ‘24 and Ritzy Davidson ‘24
- Members at Large: Spencer Auerbach ‘24, Natalie Petersen ‘23, Kyle Blesdoe ‘24
The new president, Gabriela Capone, is the former SGA Co-Treasurer—Bryn Mawr students may know her from her Zuko-gif-filled plenary emails—and announced her priorities as follows:
- Continuation of COVID-19 safety.
- Ensuring the administration fully enacts their commitments in response to the Fall 2020 Strike as well as push for increased response to BIPOC needs.
- Prioritize accessibility in administration conversations and push for rebuilding in the Access Services department to truly accommodate disabled students.
- Begin efforts to research the history of Bryn Mawr Traditions and rebuild them to be more inclusive and welcoming of BIPOC and Jewish students.
- Regain access to the SGA blog and update it. (The Bryn Mawr SGA lost access to their blog, assigned under the college domain, sometime after Fall 2017.)
Capone also plans to increase meetings with Kim Cassidy, Jennifer Walters and Ruth Lindeborg from the current once a month to two or three times per month. “I’m so glad to have student support, and now I’m in a great position to help everyone, grow SGA and change things for the better,” Gabriela told the Bi-College News.
The February 2021 candidate statements can be found here.
The SGA Legacy
The Self-Government Association of Bryn Mawr College is the first and oldest system of student self-governance in the United States, in continuous existence since 1892. In running another round of successful elections and a successful plenary, we honor that legacy, and hope to continue on to the future. As this year’s Bryn Mawr resolution #1 states: “The students of Bryn Mawr College have pledged to work together for the welfare, benefit, and preservation of the community as a whole… to reach full potential of our community, we require a commitment on the part of each and every individual.” By widely participating in plenary and electing representatives through a democratic process once again, Bryn Mawr has once again demonstrated its commitment to participation, community building, and change.
Image credit: Bryn Mawr College
