Want to get to know President Beilock’s takes on the annual Leadership Assembly and more? You’ve come to the right place.

SGA, Barnard’s Student Government Association, met with none other than Barnard College’s President, Sian Beilock, for this Monday night’s meeting. That’s right, the queen herself. As the meeting was opened, a sense of excitement wafted over the council members.

Briefly, representative of Mālama Hawaiʻi, a Columbia University run student organization dedicated to spreading Pacific Island and Polynesian culture, spoke to thank Beilock and the College’s efforts in supporting the upcoming Indigenous Peoples Day on October 14th (mark your calendars!). A representative from the Native American Council followed by listing off the Council’s upcoming activities and events; this Thursday there will be an open education session about settler colonialism and Indigenous Peoples Day, a way to spread awareness and bring ally-ship to the community. On Monday the Council will be tabling on Butler Laws, so be sure to stop by! At the end of October, the Council is sending a letter to the Senate to have Indigenous Peoples Day finally fully recognized. Be sure to be on the lookout for updates from both Mālama Hawaiʻi and the Native American Council on upcoming events!

The night kicked off with Beilock introducing the Barnard Leadership Assembly, which took place just last week. The Assembly is a chance for Barnard alumni of all ages to come back to campus and serve as ambassadors to the College. Beilock talked to the alumni about “how amazing Barnard is” and some campus initiatives — overall, she was keeping the alumni up to date in changes. Her prominent discuss with faculty was about financial donations and financial support; she stressed how important it is that everyone who has the opportunity to be on campus is here, through financial age. Barnard is pushing forward the importance of social mobility, something Beilock made an effort to stress to the alumni.

Beilock then touched on pre-professional resources on Barnard’s campus, explaining her talks with alumni about supporting Beyond Barnard and other pre-professional development communities on campus. She urged alumni themselves to come utilize Beyond Barnard, as it is indeed a life-long resource for all alumni. Though most alumni who come back to utilize their services have graduated in the past five years, Beilock wants to stress that the skills and resources Barnard provides are long lasting.

Her next point covered health and wellness on campus; her goal is to make the “feel well, do well” mentality pervasive at Barnard. Her main goals are to not just talk about health and wellness at Primary Care and Furman, but all across campus. It is a student body and staff-wide issue that should always be discusses and considered, in and outside the classroom. She is working to train peer educators, RAs, and faculty to have a better understanding of what it means to be healthy. An all-staff meeting at Barnard took place last week, where Beilock urged professors and staff to consider how their own actions can affect the health and wellness of their students and the general community. She is also pushing community events oriented around health and wellness in order to bring staff, faculty, and students together to have a better idea of how physical and mental health impacts us all.

Key questions emerged around the recent Climate March at Barnard, with questions of how Beilock and Barnard will continue to make pushes towards sustainability. Beilock assured the council that the College is actively looking to make more changes, and reminds us to remember how their small actions can impact the community. She praised the work of all of those involved with setting up and attending the march, saying that seeing everyone gather was ‘”fantastic, but it can’t end there.”

President Beilock via Wikimedia Commons