On February 26, an HA pseudonymously known at “CT” alleged that full-time Bryn Mawr College staff, including Residential Life Coordinators and Student Engagement Coordinators, would be present and supervising two key WTF events in the upcoming week. They also alleged that admin would be instituting a new “no container” policy and that the only bags permitted would be clear plastic bags.
Student reaction to these alleged proposed regulations has been negative.
As a college, Bryn Mawr prides itself on its traditions, and there is no tradition trotted out more often to signal Bryn Mawr’s apparent trust in its students than our policy of self governance. The most recent Bryn Mawr College Student Handbook even goes as far to state, “With regard to the consumption of alcohol, students are responsible for their own well-being.” It also makes it clear that the Honor Board — not the Deans, like at Haverford College — is responsible for hearing cases brought forth regarding underage drinking.
In the recent past, WTF Week events have been supervised by student bouncers and hosts, who, as per Bryn Mawr’s Party Policy, serve to ensure parties are only attended by Tri-Co students, and that underage students are not consuming alcohol. In light of this alleged impending announcement, it seems that this responsibility will reportedly no longer fall on students, despite campaigns for students to volunteer to host and bounce both events earlier this month. Instead, this role would seem to allegedly fall now on full-time staff members, including a dean.
These alleged changes are directly contradictory to the Bryn Mawr College Honor Code, which stresses the “need for community agreement” on social resolutions, including the Party Policy. An alteration to Party Policy regulations is reported to be coming less than 48 before the beginning of WTF with no student input from the student body at large. What is the point of having a collaborative Social Honor Code if changes can be made that nullify its importance exclusively by staff?
This alleged disruption to events also complicates dynamics between staff and student workers. As both students and employees of the college, the reported threat of having our employers lurking at a student social event that is known for nudity is particularly disturbing. We are employees of Bryn Mawr College. We are entitled to a private life outside of our work. We should not feel that our jobs will be threatened by the perception that our behavior will be somehow construed as inappropriate by our employers. The partial or full nudity of students is not something that administrators should be seeing. It would not only violate the privacy of students’ bodies, but also violate the sanctity of students’ traditions.
Bryn Mawr has been slow to alter institutionalized traditions in the past. However, they seemingly do not have an issue interfering with student-initiated traditions, while simultaneously selling themselves around them: Admissions Ambassadors are asked to share their experiences with traditions and emphasize them as a core part of the student experience at Bryn Mawr.
The traditions present at Bryn Mawr are not only very personal to the student body, but differentiate BMC drastically from other colleges. While it is important to educate students about the dangers of hazing and excessive drinking, allegedly discouraging students from engaging in a student-led tradition creates an environment that will only lead to further endangerment, and further distrust between admin and students.
This critique is not to call into question the choice to provide dry events and discourage underage and binge drinking, but to challenge the reported infringement of the Honor Code and student privacy. How can a school that both prides and markets itself on its trust in its students and its commitment to tradition justify dismantling its long-held tradition of student-supervised social gatherings, in favor of surveillance from employers and deans? It is uncomfortable at best, and a violation of its students’ rights at worst.
Yep—it is for & about the student community, no reason it should be done by admin. The fact that they feel the need to police us with Deans shows they don’t actually trust their students to “Welcome the First-Years” (when obviously, upperclassmen have been doing the welcoming since September, and not the admin). Traditions are already so heavily regulated & further admin presence isn’t making them better.