I spread swag everywhere I go

Bwog’s wisest correspondent Renée Kraiem reports on yesterday’s SGA meeting.

If last night is any indication, Rep Council ought to have a pretty fulfilling V-Day; last night’s meeting welcomed a hearty number of visitors to the Diana Café, and even scored some swag in the process.

Rep Council’s first guest of the evening was the honorable Dean Dorothy Denburg (talk about swag), current VP of College Relations, former Dean of the College and First Year Dean, and, most notably—PrezBla’s predecessor. Denburg stopped by to update SGA on her new role at Barnard, shed some wisdom on her days in SGA, and solicit Rep Council suggestions.  Denburg spoke about Barnard’s upcoming capital campaign, in honor of its 125th anniversary, and her role in the whole shebang. Denburg is traveling extensively, it turns out, to reach alumnae in conjunction with DSpar. “It sounds like an exaggeration but it’s not,” she said, of the “literally thousands of alumni out there” that she worked with as students at Barnard since she started working at the College in 1993. Denburg described her travels as “very gratifying” upon learning that many alumni had come to see her at their first Barnard event as an alumna, and said that this fact had “affirmed the decision to create [her] new position.” If last night is any indication, Rep Council ought to have a pretty fulfilling V-Day; the meeting welcomed a hearty number of visitors to the Diana Café, and even scored some swag in the process.

“I need to feel that I’m still somehow connected” to current students, Denburg reminded SGA; in addition to teaching a class, the Dean still advises students and serves on the Committee on Honors. Spreading some (pink) pearls of wisdom upon the group, Denburg declared: “the trick really is for students to feel connected, and if students feel connected as students they’re going to feel more connected as alumni.” And connected she was as a student: Denburg reminded Rep Council of her time on the council herself, and spoke about the breadth of issues that her Council took a stand on during her tenure, from tuition heights to the war in Vietnam.

Her wisdom resonated when Rep Council later found itself responding to the sweet nothings of a more controversial suitor. PrezBla put to a vote the question of whether Rep Council would support a letter, circulated among student governments in universities around the country, condemning recent violence and police action on protestors on UC campuses. The Council voted unanimously to support the effort following an off-the-record discussion. This correspondent isn’t complaining, though, since there weren’t any prizes for this one.

Coach Nixon, head coach of the Lion’s Women’s Basketball team, set the standard pretty high as the third candidate for Rep Council’s love. Visiting to plug this Saturday’s Barnard Appreciation Night at Levien, when the Lions take on Penn at 7 pm, Nixon reminded his rapt audience that the evening is also this year’s Play for Kay event. At the event, half of all ticket revenue will be donated to the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at the CU Medical Center for breast cancer research, in honor of the late coach Kay Yao. An expert at pumping up the crowd, Nixon raffled out t-shirts and other goodies as a reward for basketball trivia knowledge, as a pregame to Saturday’s Pre Game Event; Barnard’s Pink Party at 5:45 pm in the Hive.

Pearls of wisdom via Wikimedia Commons