In case you missed the external SGA meetings in April, here are the takeaways from their discussions!

April 7

• If you intend to run for a position in SGA, you are required to attend an information session to run. The information session is where the intent to run form will be distributed.
• Constitutional Review information is coming out soon.
• Class registration begins next week and will take place entirely on Vergil.
• The Earth Day Fair: April 22.
• First Year Class Dinner: April 10.
• Transfer Game Night: April 23.
• Title VI training is due by the end of the week.
• Bold, Beautiful, Black @ Barnard events can be found on @barnardsga (Instagram).
• The Work Order system has changed this semester.
• Contact sga@barnard.edu with any questions or concerns you have for the University Senate and Affairs Committee. 

Two independent mediators, Jed Melnick and Reginald “Reg” Greene, joined SGA’s meeting to discuss their role on campus. This is a transcript of their meeting:

Introductions

Reginald: “I am a mediator. Jed is also a mediator; we work together. Before going to law school, in 2015, I was an educator for over 12 years. I worked for two years at Teach for Miami, then worked in schools in New York. Got to build a school in LA. I ended up running a charter school. Many people making decisions about schools had never been educators, but were lawyers. I wanted to work in educational reform, but then I met Jed and saw what he did with complex, commercial mediation, and seeing that, I wanted to do what he did. After being at the Manhattan DA’s office for six years, I met Jed last year and we’ve been doing mediation together since.”

Jed: “Very similar story to Reg, I am someone who always wanted to be a mediator. I want to be helpful to everyone involved. We got a call from the Barnard senior staff the day after the arrests on campus and the bomb threat. The invitation to us was to come to campus, do what you do, we are not restricting you in any way, but we need help diffusing the tension on campus. We operate under confidentiality in our conversations. We are not here on behalf of any one group. Our job is to help all constituencies on campus, improve the dialogue, and have a safe campus, and return to the education mission of Barnard. I want to acknowledge that we don’t usually find ourselves talking with the press, but one of the pillars of mediation is confidentiality, so our role in this meeting is probably more of an introduction. We understand this is probably not the right form for people to air what they want to air.”

Reginald: “We help negotiate, ranging from two large institutions fighting in court to two individuals in an intimate relationship. We are brought in by either party, often both parties. That’s what mediation is.” 

Question: I know that you were previously a mediator on a case with victims of Harvey Weinstein… Given that you have a history of dismissing sexual violence victims, how can Barnard students trust you?

Jed: “I have been a professional mediator for more than 20 years. I was a public defender for five years before. I’ve been practicing law since 1999. I think you have found the one negative piece of press from a career where I’ve mediated cases in which I’ve helped many people. That had some bad press and was very salacious. I remained the mediator in that case. I was appointed by the court to be a co-settler in the case to help distribute funds. All of the parties kept me on the case. I saw it through. I distributed a lot of money to very disturbing people. I would hope one bad headline would not overshadow an over 20-year career in law.”

Question: What does neutrality look like in this specific context?

Reginald: “Neutrality to us as mediators means that we don’t have an agenda or bias towards any party. We are taking info from one side, and it is one party’s perspective, not our perspective. We are not injecting ourselves into the perspective. We are not evaluative. We stay neutral, we are mirrors of the viewpoint of each side. We try to come up with language and communication styles to get across points that may not be able to get across.”

Question: What is the process of engagement on our campus? What is some actionable work you’ve done?

Reginald: “The first step is getting trust. We met with the administration. They are the folks who brought us in, and they gave us the scope of things and perspective. They want to increase and enhance communication between the community and the administration. Our job is to figure out how to do that. We met with certain groups and staff on campus. We want to know the issue that is permeating all these stakeholders, then bring it back to the administration. We will probably meet with senior staff again to report what we’ve heard. This back and forth is hard, as we have to gain your trust first. We want to know what trust actually looks like on this campus. What things will the stakeholders be willing to do?”

Question: How will you be publicizing your process to students?

Jed: “Part of the answer is that in mediation, our process is to keep people apprised as we make our way through the process. Themes emerge as we talk to people, which we try to share. We want to make sure people are comfortable with how things are proceeding. As themes emerge and we talk things through, we would be happy to stay in touch with liaison members of the SGA. You are an incredibly important part of this and speak for the students. At some point, we’d like to help with the dialogue and advancing concerns you have with the administration. It is an interactive process.”

Question: You said earlier that you specialize in commercial mediation, but Barnard is not a commercial institution. How would you shift your commercial process to Barnard, a non-commercial institution?

Reginald: “We specialize in it because that is the bulk of the cases. Mediation works across the spectrum. We handle all matters of meditation, and the underlying practices are the same. I think this process is part of it. Someone had to come and invite us into this space. This process here is how we’re doing it. We’re in the space of the people who are representatives of the student body, and as neutral, independent mediators, we will bring what is discussed to the administration.”

Question: What steps are you taking to make sure marginalized and underrepresented voices are heard? How can SGA help?

Reginald: “We’ve met with certain groups who probably are in the minority, but we don’t disclose who we’re speaking to. More help from the student body in steering us toward groups in the minority.”

Question: How are you choosing the groups you’re meeting with? Why haven’t you met with the faculty?

Reginald: “We want to meet with as many stakeholders in the community. We meet with senior admin to tell them we want to meet with a certain group of people. This is similar to asking SGA to facilitate meetings. As we meet with people, there are themes emerging.”

Question: Can you share who reached out to you and what you’re being paid? What did you mean by disintegrate?

Jed: “We are being paid by Barnard. I’m not sure who exactly… whoever pays the bills at Barnard. All I can tell you is that on a regular basis, one party pays more, and one party has the money. We have made a career serving as neutrals. We have a very good reputation for being neutrals, for being fiercely fair, no matter who is paying the bills. We have been careful in how we’re billing this. We’re trying to be as constructive and as fair as possible. Frankly, their aim were they wanted to help us with the dialogue on campus. Full stop. Period. They didn’t give us an agenda, other than helping the campus as a whole. We made it crystal clear that we would not be here to operate someone’s agenda.” 

Jed: “I was referring to the bomb threat, the arrests.”

Question: How did your time in education inform your process?

Reginald: “On Jed’s team, we all have different specialities. As an administrator, I understand competing interests. I understand students. At one point, we got an email from a senior admin asking why we are here. That gives some kind of indication.”

Question: What is the timeline of this mediation process? Which element of the administration reached out to you?

Reginald: “It was senior leadership, I believe, Kelli, including Dean Grinage. We will be here as long as you will have us. I think finals are kind of the cutoff. We are going through this process iteratively. We want to leave something behind that improves communication in the future.”

April 14

• The Earth Day Fair is on April 22.
• SGA Elections are underway.
• Confirmation of candidacy emails will be coming out on Wednesday, April 16, at 3 pm.
• A professional writing workshop is happening with the writing center.
• The Junior Class Dinner will be on May 2.
• The SGA Leadership Awards will be on April 29. 
• Safety and wellness kit tabling on April 21 from 11 am to 3 pm in the Diana lobby.
• Spirit Week starts on April 21.
• If a club or organization has been contacted by SGA, please keep on the look out for more emails from SGA.

April 21

• Voting for SGA begins on April 25.
• The Earth Day Festival is on April 22.
• Spirit Week is April 21 to 25.
• The biweekly writers group with the Writing Center begins on Friday from 1 pm to 2:30 pm in Barnard Hall 217. 
• Barnard Bridges is on April 22. 
• The SGA Leadership Awards are on April 29.
• The Activist Research Salon is pushed to Wednesday, April 30. 

April 28

• You can vote in the SGA elections until May 2 at noon. 
• News about ratifying the new SGA constitution is coming into inboxes.
• Boba giveaway on May 8.
• Report any broken/yellow water fountains you see on campus.
• Pay It Forward meal swipes can be requested.

Barnard via Bwarchives