SGA = Self-Governance Association

So, just some logistics. My BMC Culture series is going to run until the end of April and I am going to try to cover every vaguely BMC-particular thing I can think of with all the irreverence you’ve come to expect. I’ve decided to arrange the series in order of revelance to current semester events. With Hell Week just next week and Plenary that Sunday, I’ve decided to discuss SGA (next week’s post will likely be devoted to Hell Week).

Now let’s talk about this bastion of Bryn Mawr culture, so despised and useful all at once. Bryn Mawr’s SGA is fancy: by which I mean that they do a relative lot. According to SGA’s FB page, “[i]n 1892, Bryn Mawr became the first institution of higher education in the US to give students responsibility to govern themselves, it was considered a radical experiment at the time.” (Sidenote: I like the “at the time” addend). SGA is responsible for student group budgets, amenities like the Lusty Cup in the basement of Canaday Library (a coffee/snack bar in operation late at night when few food places are), and Plenary.

Plenary is hosted in the second month of each semester (October for Fall semester and February for Spring). Resolutions, crafted by students, are proposed and voted on at Plenary. The whole idea is that, when a resolution is passed it has the support of the student body. 1/3 of the enrolled student body must be present, ~400 students, for Quorum–which is the only time we (those at Plenary) can actually vote on a resolution. There has been a lot of grumbling in recent years about Plenary. Quorum wasn’t reached/maintained my first semester at Bryn Mawr so that Plenary was unproductive. Since then, there have also been issues reaching/maintaining Quorum. Some say students should be allowed to vote via the internet, others that Plenary should be abolished, etc. I think Plenary is good to have–not least because it’s currently my main venue for selling Butter Pear (imported Liberian accessories). Yes, it is tedious to just sit there. BUT it is also nice to have a say in things that affect me and be able to promote and provide campus-wide suggestions/policies.

If Plenary vanished then people would know what they were missing. Then the complaints would really spike.