On Sunday Nov. 16, the Bryn Mawr Self-Governance Association (SGA) hosted its semesterly Plenary in Goodhart Hall. With this semester’s Plenary theme being girl group KATSEYE, SGA invited K-pop dance team Choom Boom to give the first performance in SGA Plenary history. This semester’s Plenary discussion was restructured to have a two-minute period where students could queue to speak, followed by a maximum of 20 minutes of comments and questions after each of the 12 resolutions was presented. Voting was conducted via online form for the following four days. Plenary reached quorum two minutes before the official start time at 12:58 p.m., with 140 attending on Zoom and 250 in-person. Plenary concluded in just two and a half hours at 3:30 p.m. Quorum for online voting was also achieved at a record time of 12 hours after opening; 948 of the 1360 undergraduate students voted.
Resolution 1 proposes a new Smith Machine, a type of weightlifting machine with an existing mechanism to catch the weight as well as functions expanding the use of the machine, providing a safer and more diverse alternative to other weightlifting machines. Students presented concerns about equal use of the machine if only one was added, as well as space limitations in the weight room. The resolution passed with 81.6% of students voting yes.
Resolution 2 proposes a new Black Studies major and minor at Bryn Mawr, given that “the student body has demonstrated significant desire and interest in Black Studies.” This program would replace the current minor in Africana Studies, which the resolution claims “engages in the politics of respectability and panders to normative social values by using the word Africana in place of Black.” The proposed program would reshape Black studies on campus, creating a Black at Bryn Mawr tour requirement for all incoming students as a part of integration onto campus. The proposed Black Studies Department also asks for the addition of two new Black Studies professors and “equitable financial support in order to encourage its growth and success.” Students commented on the importance of filling in gaps in Bryn Mawr’s liberal arts education, including instruction about omitted histories of the college. Resolution 2 passed with the largest margin of students voting yes of 96.7% of votes.
Resolution 3 proposes the creation of an Alliance of Multicultural Organization (AMO) Advisory Budgetary Board and Board Treasurer Position under the Student Finance Committee, such that “there is no way for all AMOs to have an equitable means of advocating for themselves directly to the SGA treasurers throughout the early semester process.” The resolution proposes a position reserved for an AMO Advisory Board Chair in the Representative Council and such that “[the] AAB Head can contest on behalf of all AMOs at Rep-Co Budget Meetings.” The SGO AMO Advisory Board, consisting of a President and Treasurer from each multicultural organization on campus, will receive a collective lump sum budget that it can distribute among the AMOs as the Board sees fit. The board is not an SGA Committee and will not be distributing for the Spring 2026 semester, but an AAB head will need to be selected as soon as possible for the purposes of preliminary meetings that will “[develop] an itinerary for each semester – discussing what events must be considered per semester.” The resolution passed with 87.9% of votes.
Resolution 4 proposes the opportunity for two individuals to run together for a co-president role in the SGA, arguing that “it is the Office of the President that often demands commitments each week of upwards of fifteen hours through constantly evolving, unanticipated, and fielding deeply systematic concerns and crises, including the recently devastating SGA budget crisis.” The candidacy for the upcoming Spring elections, which will select the SGA Board for the 26-27 school year, requires at least one individual to be a rising senior— first years and rising sophomores may not run for the position. Both co-presidents must be on campus for the entirety of their tenure. Responsibilities will be divided between both co-presidents equally, including representing the student body and correspondence with administrators. 89.6% of students voted to pass the resolution.
Resolution 5 formally recognizes the student body’s support for the “Faculty Statement of Principles of Academic Freedom,” which the resolution states “affirmed faculty’s and students’ right to academic freedom as members of the Bryn Mawr community and as private citizens.” This resolution also reaffirms that “the student body recommits to continued engagement in dialogue across campus constituencies on issues of academic freedom, the Honor Code, freedom of expression, and other pressing concerns.” 93.8% of voters were in favor of Resolution 5.
Influenced by the recent SGA budget crisis, current Traditions Mistexes Kathleen Tan ‘27 and Eleanor Sullivan ‘27 introduced Resolution 6, which sought to diversify funding for the College’s traditions. The traditions budget, which accounts for things such as the lanterns new students receive and May Day festivities, currently accounts for 35.6 percent of the total SGA budget for the fall semester. They emphasized how the College benefits from using traditions such as Lantern Night in marketing materials but does not financially support them.
The Resolution will allow traditions funding to be supplemented by both the College administration and donations from alums, who previously had no way to donate directly to fund traditions. Former traditions mistress Kendall Phillips ‘26 criticized the potential control this resolution would give to administration, calling it “likely to be the end of WTF Week as we know it.” Welcome the First Years (WTF) Week is currently able to be financially separated from the College, allowing administration to deny legal responsibility. Sarah Haskell ‘27 questioned whether this would invite retaliation from the College, citing the 2024 disruption of May Day in support of the student encampment for Palestine. Tan called these scenarios “nebulous futures” and emphasized that this resolution does not require administration to fund traditions, it simply opens up the possibility. Even as one of the more divisive resolutions, it still passed with 66.2% of votes.
The SGA Executive Board presented Resolution 7, aiming to lock Erdman Dining Hall, New Dorm Dining Hall, The Well, Taylor Hall, English House, Bettws-y-Coed, and Russian House at all times, requiring students, staff, and faculty to unlock these buildings with their OneCard IDs. Park Science and the Campus Center will be open to the public from 9-5 p.m., but immediately be locked after 5pm to be opened with OneCards. Currently, most of these buildings are completely unlocked and thus open to the public until about 10 p.m. on weekdays. Recently, Dalton Hall has been locked at all hours of the day. The Executive Board stressed “eminent threats against our community” as the reasoning for this resolution. In direct response to fears about administration collecting and using OneCard data, the resolution stipulates that all data would be deleted after 24 hours and asks for the removal of all security cameras on campus. The resolution also suggests the implementation of a digital, phone wallet form of the OneCard. Honor Board Co-Head Isabelle Stid ‘26 made a comment in support of the resolution as protection against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on campus, saying “if you have the privilege, like myself, of not being worried about being forcibly kidnapped by ICE, the minor inconvenience of having to bring your OneCard places literally pales in comparison.” Students brought up concerns about OneCard issues worsening, logistical details, and potential surveillance. In response, Bañuelos emphasized her commitment to the “essential and non-negotiable” clause that data will be deleted. In an email to the student body on Friday, administrators said that they would be continuing to add, replace, and update security cameras on campus and instituting card-only access to various buildings to “better manage access.” In the days following Plenary, flyers warning about college surveillance were distributed. 73.9% of votes were in favor of Resolution 7.
Bañuelos also presented Resolution 8, proposing a one-time raise of student SGA dues 2.5%, an increase of $10.75 per student for the 2026-2027 school year. The available SGA budget would increase by $14,620 for the entire year. This resolution is an attempt to remediate the consequences of the SGA budget crisis which left clubs, AMOs, and club sports with significantly less funding than previous years. “For the price of a medium chai at Uncommon Grounds each semester, students would be able to contribute to the largest increase to the budget post-quarantine,” the resolution reads. Students asked if this increase would be covered by financial aid, to which Bañuelos responded yes. The resolution passed with 70% of votes.
Resolution 9, written by Jai Abbott ‘27, who was not able to attend Plenary, repeals the College’s new protest guidelines released last month. The guidelines limit the use of amplification and encampments and ask students to register their protests weeks in advance. The policy listening sessions held last year were based on a different version than the released guidelines “without comprehensive student or faculty input, representing a troubling break with democratic values of community governance and freedom of expression.” The resolution requires that new protest guidelines be written with faculty, student, and administrative input, then passed through Plenary. No students made comments or asked questions, but many cheered in support. 85.7% of votes were in favor of repealing the guidelines.
Resolution 10 was co-presented by Bañuelos and the SGA Co-Treasurers, Jet Taylor ‘27 and Zoe Beer ‘26 and aims to restructure the Student Finance Committee (SFC), allowing those in SFC roles to handle SGA semesterly budgetary requests and advise the treasurers. Currently, the only two students who can handle these requests are the Co-Treasurers. Members of the SFC would not make decisions about budgetary requests, simply advise the Treasurers. No questions or comments were made. The resolution passed with 79.3% of votes.
Ellie Leonardo, the current SGA Co-Archivist, put forth Resolution 11, creating an archival records management policy. At the moment, there are no standards for how to archive SGA materials, leading to “a lack of continuity.” The resolution establishes such a policy in collaboration with Special Collections to be displayed on the SGA website. The resolution passed with 91.4% of votes.
The final and by far one of the most controversial resolutions was written by the SGA Executive Board and presented by SGA Secretary Evan Pineo ‘28. The resolution calls for the unsubscribing of Bryn Mawr from Fizz, an app that allows Bi-College students to post and reply anonymously. Due to recent harassment and stalking, the resolution calls the app “extreme safety concern” and in violation of the social Honor Code. Three students spoke in support of the resolution and one student asked about preventing censorship. In response, the Executive Board emphasized that the resolution is not intended to set a precedent for censorship but to protect student safety and wellbeing. Another speaker spoke in support of Fizz, saying that “overall the positive posts on Fizz outweigh the negative.” In response, the Executive Board spoke about the harassment that they have received on the app and criticized the ability of an anonymous app to build community. In the following days, a contentious debate developed on Fizz, with many posts mentioning the SGA President by name and leveling intense criticism at the Executive Board. The resolution passed with the narrowest margin of votes with only 58.2% of votes in favor of the ban. Bañuelos mentioned at an SGA meeting on Sunday that Haverford Students’ Council was “inspired” by the resolution and plans to introduce a similar resolution at their Spring Plenary.
