She's about to Gangnam Style

Strong, Beautiful Businesswomen Point Forward

SGA’s Rep Council met last night for the first time in a lot of nights in the Diana Center Café. Amid an unusually plentiful amount of baked goods, and guests, discussions both new and overdue were had by all. Bwog’s Barnard Bureau Chief and Resident Baked Goods Bandit Renée Kraiem was, as per usual, there.

Without an administrative guest, Rep Council dove right into the proverbial deep end of Northampton, MA with a presentation from Rep. for College Relations Rachel Ferrari. Ferrari reported on SGA’s trip to the annual Seven Sisters Conference, held this year over Fall Break at Smith College. Ferrari presented the new and improved Seven Sisters Coordinating Board as the most exciting product of the conference, and promised a series of Google Hangouts this semester and in the spring to improve communication between members of the conference, and between attendees and other students of their colleges. Ferrari also reported that Conference attendees visited the libraries and student centers at Smith and Mount Holyoke to gather some intelligence on how they organize their libraries and student centers up there.

While we’re talking about libraries, you should probably also know that Rep. for Information and Technology Leah Metcalf is working on a survey about the current Barnard library and about its next incarnation. And, since you’re probably only going there if you don’t have Wifi where you live, if you’re going you probably live in 110 or Cathedral Gardens where, apparently, the internet’s been a little rough lately. Metcalf’s working on that too.

If you’re worrying about your Wifi, take a deep breath, because at least you don’t have to worry about being a good samaritan; last night VP of SGA Julia Kennedy announced that in the (very) near future Barnard Residential Life will abide officially by the same Good Samaritan Policy that residents of Columbia students enjoy today. In response to a helpful question by the very helpful CCSC Rep. to SGA, Kennedy responded that SGA also intends to use this policy change as a springboard to increase the dialogue on campus about student behavior in situations that the new policy would pertain to.

Speaking of (hopeful) policy changes, SGA passed, unanimously, the resolution written by CCSC VP Policy Will Hughes, in support of the CU Arts Initiative. When asked about the purpose of the resolution, SGA President JungHee Hyun responded: “this is our support,” and now “councils can move forward and make this a priority.”

SGA, for its part, is certainly moving forward after last night. Here’s the rest of the meeting in bullet-point-form for your rainy day convenience:

  • Barnard has a new provost, and so far it’s going pretty good. According to Rep. for Academic Affairs Elaine Gottesman, she’s focused on getting to know the community for now, and moving forward is looking to increase the amount of grants for students who do research with faculty, and increasing the visibility of diverse opinions on campus.
  • Rep. for Diversity Mia Cooper is working on getting admissions materials printed in Spanish.
  • Under the leadership of VP for Student Activities Sarah Steinmann, SGA is revising its by-laws for clubs recognized by SGA. Specifically, her Committee is looking to increase consistency among policies, and correct what Steinmann characterizes as a “misinterpretation” in the enforcement of SGA’s policy not to recognize groups affiliated with national organizations. The real concern here is national organizations with political affiliations; and you thought the election was over…

Strong, Beautiful Businesswoman via. Shutterstock