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Final Field Project: SGA Inclusivity
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Something that I personally had been grappling with since I became a Dorm President in my sophomore year (officially becoming a part of the sga assembly), is how SGA promotes itself as an inclusive group on campus to focus on democratical partcipation within the college. SGA has always had a tension between allowing students to explore what self governance mean to them (for example, getting students to want to come to plenary) vs pushing the idea of self governance on to the students (for example, closing the dining halls and library during plenary).
Personally, I've found that the majority of people who become involved with SGA are consistent, meaning the same people run for different SGA positions and the same people become elected, every year. Something that we talk about in our group today was the fact that SGA meeting and the assembly (who are supposed to come to the SGA meetings) are not representative of the campus (ethnicially, socio-economically, etc.) to the point where any people from particular affinity groups or other area of campus feel they are not welcomed to SGA meeting and that they are forced to come to plenary out of guilt.
Our idea for this project would be to have some outlet to practice multicultural education with students on campus to dscuss the following (but not limited to) questions:
- Considering the latest campaign efforts ("I am SGA. I am Empowered"), what aspects of our identity (individually and as a group within/outside of SGA) contribute to ourselves feeling "empowered"?
- How do we acknowledge difference between people (within SGA and outside of SGA) and how do we unite in this difference?
- How can we make SGA more inclusive to people of diverse backgrounds (eg. Sisterhood, BaCaSo, Interenational Students)?
- How do we make this space a safe space for people to express their opinions?
We've run into the issue of who would participate in this; who would be willing to talk about this and who we'd like to ask to talk about this. How would we present these ideas? What format would this take? Here are some ideas.
Regarding getting the SGA assembly to become involved in the project:
- SGA Meeting Take-Over: Asking for about 20 (preferably more) minutes in the agenda for one of the meetings on Sundays to dicuss these questions. Possibly breaking the assembly into group, starting a dialogue, etc.
Regarding getting students or group who feel uncomfortable at SGA to become involved in the project:
- Sending a survey through Res-co (through the Dorms): What format would the survey take and what questions would also be something to think about...
- Going to affinity group meetings: For example, going to a Sisterhood meeting and dicussing. This would be very tedious andthere are many groups on campus so it would be hard.
- Hosting workshops to invite students to discuss: Might run into the issue of population representation.
Any feed back would be great. If you are interested in participating in this, please comment!
Comments
Hey guys! So I had a meeting
Hey guys!
So I had a meeting with the Sisterhood Affinity group today. The group had representatives from each class year present at the meeting. Here are their thoughts…
First, I had them write down their initial thoughts on SGA. Here are some responses:
“SGA is a relatively small group of students that are elected by a relatively small part of the student body. SGA addresses issues that these students feel are important.”
“I think SGA is put in a difficult position on campus and people don’t participate enough.”
“I think the idea of SGA is nice, but its not very effective if you don’t hold a position or aren’t heavily involved. Particularly for clubs/groups, aside from providing funding, they’re very off-putting.”
“SGA picks who they want to help and excludes who they don’t want.”
“Needs more representation of minorities.”
“The way I feel about SGA in relation to Sisterhood is the same way Kanye felt about George Bush.”
“SGA seems distant to me, mainly because I don’t attend any meetings, but also in relation to how they seem to treat Sisterhood.”
“Not enough information given upon entering Bryn Mawr.”
“SGA- not truly representative; a source of power for some people.”
“SGA has like no power. They also aren’t equal in funding (by group)”
“Be more sensitive about budgeting needs.”
SGA makes it difficult for Sisterhood to get funding because there is a misunderstanding of what an open v. closed group is.”
Below are the questions asked, and the responses of various students (all black students):
Do you feel SGA acknowledges difference between people and do they unite in this difference?
Do you feel like SGA acknowledges the people of color & do they unite to make sure people of color feel included in SGA?
What does it mean to participate in SGA?
Who do you think doesn’t participate in SGA and why not?
Is there enough transparency in SGA? Do you feel like you are “in the know” about SGA? Do you know what’s going on with SGA? Do you know the point of it?
How can we make SGA more inclusive to people of diverse backgrounds (eg. Sisterhood, BaCaSo, International Students)? How do we make this space a safe space for people to express their opinions?
Common themes:
Budgeting
Not diverse
Popularity contest
If you have any questions on anything, just ask. I can further explain the notes that I gathered from this intense conversation!!
Response
I really enjoyed the discussion last Thursday. I believe the importance of SGA and I have also noticed myself that the majority of people who become involved with SGA are consistent.
I mentioned the other day how I do not appreicate when SGA is trying to market and promote themself hopelessly. In some ways, there are times that SGA reminds me of a multinational cooperation based on their marketing and punitive actions. Perhaps the best thing to do is question how and why are students not partipating? iInstead of marketing and talking about the benefits of SGA, I believe that SGA should view this on an individual basis. That is to say, could it be that students coming from different backgrounds and cultures have different priorities and therefore SGA is not one of them? Perhaps a student do not value any type of governing system coming from a highly corrupted country? I don't mean to defend any students. I just think that it is time for students who feel marginalized to be allowed to speak. Blaming people for not going to plenary only creates enemies and grudge.
I think what's very important
I think what's very important to question is not how SGA can become inclusive, but why is it exclusive in the first place. I definitely feel this should be another question added to the dicussion questions.
I also understand that a lot of people have very heated feelings about this topic and I appreciate you opening up and sharing. Thanks.
Thoughts on Promotion
Hi Laik012,
I have been thinking about alot about what you said, epsecially in terms of the way students may see government. Would the fact that students see government as corrupt be a reason to remove self-governance? Is participating in self-governance feeling like participating in the corruption or is it possible that if we reached out effectively, we could think about how participating in government on campus can be a forum to think about changing the system and learning to be empowered to speak one's voice in other settings. I am not sure if Bryn Mawr is providing this forum to all students who may want it and how we can. I guess I am looking for action, but lost about how.
Additionally, at the Big Cheese forum yesterday, the director of admission talked about a question relating to the honor code and self-governance on the 2019 application. I am wondering what peoples' thoughts are about this, especially given that the ideas of government may look different to different people.
who is SGA
FrigginSushi and others connected with this group,
Great idea to do an action connected with democratic participation on campus - that could certainly be seen as an aspect of "multicultural education," and you're also construing it to highlight intersections of identities and participation.
In terms of who to bring into these dialogues and how: Taking some time during an SGA meeting seems like an important move symbolically and actually, and I wonder - if you knew ahead of time when this would happen - whether in itself it might seem intriguing, an "event" that folks would come out for.
A couple of other thoughts: How about focusing some of your energy on engaging freshwomen in your dialogues? One way to do this might be to connect with a couple of folks in the first-year Posse (and/or their mentors), or maybe you all know a few freshwomen who would get engaged with this. For a few reasons this could be an effective strategy... And another thought would be to ask Marissa Golden in Poly Sci if you might have a few minutes of a class for a dialogue or maybe just invite one of her classes to participate outside class... (and you can tell her I suggested that you talk with her), since I know she teaches about related issues (on a beyond campus scale).
I think this is doable if you stay focused, strategize in a couple of directions, split the labor... and feel free to get back to me about ways I can support your group!
On the topic of first year focus
I talked a bit to Emma about this and it might be that focusing on first years could give us a skewed outlook. I know that first years have only experienced SGA failing (two incomplete plenaries in a row), so maybe they'd have like... extreme opinions? Not saying that this is necessarily wrong to have, but it could affect what our finding would be. They also have a bit less experience with SGA as a whole. I don't want to exclude their voices obviously. I'm just not sure about paying specific attention to them over other groups.
I wouldn't mind contacting Marissa Golden to start a dialogue with her as well.
Here's more things that I've thought of:
Regarding getting the SGA assembly to become involved in the project:
Regarding getting students or group who feel uncomfortable at SGA to become involved in the project:
yes, i see your point
about first years. And I like the directions you're heading here... Let me know if you'd like to discuss this further as you move forward. Ultimately I think it's a promising and important direction for the campus.