Barnard women have each other's backs

Barnard women have each other’s backs

Last night Bwog’s Barnard Bearoness, Maddie Stearn, took a break from midterm studying to cover this week’s SGA meeting. The agenda included hot topics such as Health Services offerings, an amendment to the Election Commission, and a conversation about the fire in 600s. Read on to learn more, and maybe you’ll even be inspired enough to take a trip to Well Woman!

On Monday night SGA welcomed three guests to the weekly meeting: MJ Murphy, Director of Primary Care Health Services, Jessica Cannon (BC ’03), Director of Well Woman, and Mary Commerford, Director of Furman Counseling. SGA’s VP for Communications, Emily Klein, aptly referred to the three women as the “Wellness Trifecta,” and they certainly live up to this title. Most Barnard students are somewhat familiar with the functions of Primary Care, Well Woman, and Furman, but perhaps few know how closely these programs work together to meet the needs of students. Murphy, Cannon, and Commerford provided SGA with a ton of information, but the overall message was that the Wellness Trifecta is here for everyone. You do not have to be seriously ill or in the midst of a crisis to take advantage of Barnard’s health resources. In fact, Murphy, Cannon, and Commerford made it clear that they want to meet the everyday needs of students to maintain healthy lifestyles—not just to manage major situations that arise. Here are a few of the points that the Wellness Trifecta hopes to drive home:

  • Health services are FREE. Yes, FREE. It doesn’t matter what kind of insurance you have, just as long as you make sure to bring your insurance card.
  • Primary Care’s IUD insertion program has been incredibly successful—so much so that students are already on the waitlist for next semester. If you are a senior who’s graduating soon, or if you don’t want to wait until next semester, Primary Care can also provide referrals to other clinics that perform IUD insertions.
  • Need more support than meditation can offer? Furman’s psychological services include short-term individual therapy, group therapy, medication management, walk-in appointments, and listening hours.
  • Furman also provides referrals to long-term therapists. Many students are concerned about the cost of long-term therapy, but Furman has an extensive referral network that includes a wide range of affordable care.
  • Well Woman is constantly running programs (punny, because they also have a Running Program) and has a ton of in-office resources. This winter they went through tea like never before. They also have a massage chair and a blog called The W Spot, so you should probably check those out.

After the Wellness Trifecta’s presentation, SGA heard a proposal from Ashiana Jivraj, Senior Representative to the Board of Trustees and Julia Qian, SGA President. Jivraj and Qian presented an amendment to the SGA bylaws that would switch the Election Commission roles for the SGA President and Senior Rep to the Board. In past years the SGA President always ran the Election Commission. However, this system seemed to be a result of tradition rather than practicality. Jivraj and Qian found that it made more sense for the Senior Rep to the Board to run the Commission, as the Senior Rep already had one year of experience under her belt (as the Junior Rep). SGA did a paper vote on the amendment and passed it with an overwhelming majority.

Finally, SGA devoted the 45 minutes to discussing last week’s fire in the 600s. This conversation provided members the opportunity to voice their concerns about how the situation was handled, as well as suggest how SGA, Public Safety, and the Administration can proceed during future emergencies. Overall, members were extremely impressed by their fellow students’ generosity and concern for the residents of the 600s. At the same time, members were generally dissatisfied with the rate and content of email communication from the school. SGA agreed that in the future students would like notices from Public Safety to arrive faster and more frequently and would like more communication from the administration as well. There were also concerns over emails sent to parents, including timeliness and clarity. Many students’ parents found out about the fire from the news, causing more panic than may have been necessary. Parents of international students also did not find out about the fire until hours after the situation was resolved. Both Sarah Shuster, VP for SGA, and Emily Klein, VP for Communications, took extensive notes and stated that they will work on getting feedback from SGA members to the appropriate departments on campus.

If members of the student body have any further questions, comments, or concerns, do not hesitate to email sga@barnard.edu.

Barnard woman ready for anything via Shutterstock