Meeting people for the sake of meeting people

At this week’s SGA meeting, hot topics included alumnae relations and diversity, and Dean Hinkson made an appearance. Passionate politico Joe Milholland was there to get you the scoop.

At the Monday night SGA meeting, Barnard’s Dean of the College Avis Hinkson was the administrative guest. The council members of SGA asked her about general topics of student life at Barnard. While she declared many of her answers to be off-the-record (her justification was that there was no official agenda and she wanted a “casual, candid” conversation with SGA’s membership) she did provide a few clarifications on administrative actions.

On the subject of the recent Barnard town hall on alumnae-student interactions, students said they want to have Constellation Dinners on campus, and, instead of focusing on the purely job-search aspect of alumnae interactions, SGA President Julia Qian wants to allow students and alumnae to “meet people just for the sake of meeting people.” According to Qian, the notes from the town hall are being shared among the committee, and concrete plans will come from the Alumnae Association of Barnard College.

• Hinkson also clarified that Dean of the Barnard Library and Academic Information Services Lisa Norberg is stepping down because she is starting a 501c. Hinkson did not comment on sexual assault policy or trans student admission.
• There’s a survey for the Barnard student body about diversity at tinyurl.com/sgadiversity.
• There will be a senior class open mike at Sulzberger Plaza on November 23 at 8pm.
• The Medalist Committee, which goes over nominations for commencement speakers and medalists, has 3 faculty members, 4 students members, 2 trustees members, DSpar as the chair, and two admin guests, according to President Qian.

Editor’s Note November 21 12:15 pm: The reasons for Dean Hinkson’s request for her answers to be off-the-record were previously misunderstood and have been corrected in this post.  Also, it was previously written that Dean Hinkson suggested Constellation Dinners and “meeting people for the sake of meeting people.”  The former suggestion was actually made by students, and the latter was made by SGA President Julia Qian.  We have made these corrections in the post.

Not just networking via Shutterstock