The Haverford Students’ Council is off to a busy start. With elections completed and club funding wrapping up, StuCo has focused its attention on spending a $400,000 surplus, addressing concerns with club sports, and re-writing the temporary honor code.
Elections
Elections for unfilled seats were held from Sept 15 to 17. The results come despite challenges in the elections process. Three separate voting links were sent to students (exclusively freshmen received the third), with any votes sent under the replaced links being uncounted. This year’s elected Honor Council First-Year Representatives are Augusta Kankel ‘29, Ian Lihani ‘29, Sandy Xu ‘29, and Ben Levy ‘29. Pratyusha Katiyar ‘29 will serve as Students’ Council First-Year Representative alongside Eliza Kollett ‘28 as Sophomore Representative and Chris O’Connor ‘29 as Students’ Council Officer of Athletics.
Budgeting
The budgeting process for club funding is soon wrapping up. Since August, Co-Treasurers Sophia Goss ‘28 and Ben Perez-Flesler ‘27 have worked through the early and regular budgeting periods, allotting $65 thousand early and $207,713 in the regular round. Soon, the Co-Treasurers will review funding appeals and open rolling budgeting, a period for late requesters.
Surplus
Due to savings during the COVID-19 years, and financial prudence like last year’s $20 thousand surplus, StuCo has built up an estimated $400,000 capital surplus (the precise figure has yet to come from the Controller’s office). This year, however, StuCo plans to put some of its surplus funds to use. Already, the Co-Treasurers have spent roughly $7,000 on items including ping pong and Foosball tables in the Dining Center basement, Adirondack chairs in the outdoor Dining Center pergola, and roughly $3,000 in funding to Bryn Mawr clubs (majority being Bi-Co) amid cuts from Bryn Mawr’s Self-Government Association (SGA). For larger spending projects later this year, the council has been in regular discussion about ideas for projects and plans to involve the general student body. Some suggestions include installing outdoor amenities like hammocks and swings; fixing accessibility issues in campus buildings; making upgrades to certain student organizations, such as lockers for club sports, a lounge for international students and more dance practice spaces; and starting a student-run late-night cafe.
Club Sports
Concerns have been raised about the treatment of club sports on campus. On Sep 26, leaders of club teams like Futsal, Ultimate Frisbee (Men’s and Sneetches), Soccer (Men’s and Women’s) and Crew visited the StuCo executive board to share issues they’ve faced. Many listed the limited availability of game and practice spaces and lack of access to trainers and physical therapy as major problems. Some mentioned negative interactions with varsity teams—including running late into club practice time and overriding spaces and times booked by clubs—as harming their experience. To address the concerns, StuCo planned to meet with the athletics department, and mentioned a possible plenary resolution.
Honor Code Re-Write
CSCAR (Committee for Student Community, Agency, and Responsibility), a student operation to rewrite the honor code, has begun holding open meetings at 4:00 on Tuesdays in Gest 101. Co-Chairs Sofie Quirk ‘28 and Ben Perez-Flesler ‘27 plan for the committee to address the temporary honor code, which was formed when Haverford administration made edits to the code in Spring 2025 in order to “address some misalignments between the Code and the current legal landscape.” The Co-Chairs also cite recent years’ rise in academic dishonesty and faculty distrust as reasons for the initiative.
