Letting go of the past (or in this case, Lehman).

Chief Operating Officer Gregory Brown joined us for Monday’s SGA meeting to brief us on Barnard’s endowment and plans to revamp Lehman (and by revamp I mean bulldoze and rebuild). Diana Center Bureau Chief Lauren Beltrone fills you in.

After a speedy round of introductions and PGPs, COO Brown began the meeting by updating us on the status our endowment. In short, it’s kicking ass. We’re sitting at a cool 244 million with returns of 14.3 percent and ended last year in the black. As a proud recipient of a 2 on the AP Micro exam, I speak as an expert when I say this is very good. You also ought to know that 5% of our endowment is not invested, but rather put towards things that better the lives of our study body. You know those nifty hand-dryers that replaced the paper towel dispensers in the Diana bathrooms? You can thank the endowment for that.

If you haven’t heard yet, Barnard is replacing Lehman with a new building to address the shortcomings of our much beloved library. If you’re a sophomore or younger, you will most likely get to use the Teaching and Learning Center during your time here (hold for applause). This new and improved building will boast classrooms with flexible seating, places to hang out, and oh yea a library I guess. As of now, the college is tirelessly searching for the architects (ideally we want a female-led team based in NY) and raising funds. Since our school happens to be in the middle of an urban area with real life people, we’ll be regularly holding meetings to inform our neighbors and apologize profusely for the noise.

After COO Brown shared his last tidbits of information (most notably that we’re in the process of making eBear less bad), the meeting turned into the normal council committee updates.

SGA was more than pleased that 70 people turned out to the Town Hall event. If you missed it, a group of “very engaged” attendees discussed the varying faces of feminism at Barnard and in the world.

Sophomore Class Council has changed the “Breakfast in Bed” event to “Desserts After Dark,” which will take place on October 15^th from 11-12AM. Check your email for a Google form to RSVP.

Junior Class Council has received approval for the boat cruise in the spring, which was easily the best news of the night. They have also recruited members of a Duplica, a company that makes reusable menstrual products, to come to Barnard in the near future. Aren’t you glad you go to an all-girls college?

Senior Class Council would like to remind the class that homecoming in on October 19^th and there will be a tailgating experience with FREE GIVE-AWAYS. The council has also begun planning the senior gala in February.

Bird tattoos come to life via Shutterstock.