Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College Publications, Special Bryn Mawr College News Collections, Digitized Books 1984 The olC lege News 1984-2-8 Vol. 6 No. 7 Students of Bryn Mawr College Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_collegenews Custom Citation Students of Bryn Mawr College, The College News 1984-2-8 Vol. 6 No. 7. Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr College, 1984. This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_collegenews/1369 For more information, please contact [email protected]. ~\- MCQLLEGE NEWS^ VOLUME VI Number 7 ^1 FEBRUARY 8, 1984 Three candidates vie Angela Davis speaks at forSGA presidency racism, gender conference by Kris Anderson class president and is currently Traditions by Sheryl Statland Three candidates are vying for the posi- Mistress. She was president of her high tion of Self-Government Association (SGA) school's student government and last sum- The second annual feminist sympo- President at Bryn Mawr this year, a fact mer served as a Congressional aide. Brueh- sium, which focused on American femin- which is indicative of the recent increased wiler is also active in athletics at Bryn ism, brought four feminist scholars to Ha- interest in student government here. Last Mawr. verford College to discuss race, class and year Sara Hathaway ran for and garneKed Bruehwiler is running on perhaps the gender within the feminist movement this the presidency unopposed, and several most specific "platform" of any of the three past weekend. other offices drew only one or two can- candidates. She is advocating a complete Angela Davis, currently at California restructuring of SGA into a bi-cameral State University in San Francisco and the didates. This semester, however, atten- Kristen Steiner '85. dance at and interest in Sunday night government with a House and Senate, author of Women, Race and Class, gave the similar to the United States Government. keynote address on Friday, February 3 at She believes that as long as SGA is review- dent would be eliminated. The position of 7:30 p.m. in newly finished Roberts Hall. ing and updating its Constitution already, treasurer would lose the political power it President Robert Stevens introduced Davis now is the time to examine the system and now holds and would instead be a to the near capacity crowd by relating his make major changes in order to render it committee-head position. All committee memories of the 1950s and 60s. more efficient. heads would combine to form the Senate, Davis began her address by thanking the ^ The bi-cameral government would differ while the House would be made up of dorm people who made it possible for her to from the US national system in that there presidents and other representatives. come to Haverford, and told the audience would be two presidents, a "junior" and a Bruehwiler sees the House as dealing that the money made would go to the Na- "senior" president, each elected to two- with "social/people problems" while the tional Alliance Against Racist and Political year terms, and the position of vice presi- Senate would cope with "long-range/ad- Oppression. She then noted that February ministrative problems." Asked if she fears is Black History Month and said that she fragmentation or communication dif- looks forward to the time when America ficulties under this system, Bruehwiler will not need a special month for blacks or said, "No, because the two groups would any other minority people. come together on Sunday nights at The focus of Davis' speech was the rela- Assembly." Bruehwiler said she feels the tionship between black and other racially new system would be "more efficient" and oppressed women and "middle-class" offers more "dorm-based input." white women. She argued against the '•■::■:'■:.■ .:■■'■.'' :■<■■■;■ ■* ■> ':-.'■ ■■.:''■■: i ■ Y:\ ";-■"':!■:: ':*:■:?.■ . /V:.'v'•:■*; Jenny LeSar '86 is co-president of the "American Pie" ideology where a larger sophomore class and has been on the slice for one group necessitates a smaller Maria Bruehwiler '85. budget and constitution committees. She piece for another group. Instead, Davis was also president of her student govern- used a pyramid model which had black wo- Assembly meetings has been high, and ment in high school. LeSar sees her first men on the bottom and theorized that a numerous Mawrtyrs have tossed their hats priority, if elected, as finishing up the work black women's victory moved all women into the ring based on the belief that they currently being done on the constitution. up, whereas a white middle-class women's have something special to offer. success necessarily left all other women The presidential candidates are Maria She likes the idea of a bi-cameral govern- ment that stresses greater dorm represent- behind since they were at the very top. Bruehwiler '85, Jenny LeSar '86, and ation and involvement, but she sees pro- Moreover, Davis connected the women's Kristen Steiner '85. Although they all bring blems inherent in the two-president struc- movement to both the nineteenth century high levels of involvement in student ture. LeSar would revise Bruehwiler's plan abolitionist and the twentieth century civil government to their candidacies, each of- rights movements. Clearly white women fers different visions of the future of SGA to eliminate the need for two presidents who are both in office for two years. became conscious of their oppression .and different solutions to its problems. from the fight for equality of black people, Maria Bruehwiler has been sophomore Jenny LeSar '86. (Continued on page 5) but the 'women's movement' has not been free from racism. Indeed, Davis noted that black women were forced to form their own suffrage movements. She parallelled Assembly debates SGA constitution the long struggle for the suffrage amend- ment with the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in terms of the need for an ap- by Laura Greene out" to the general public more effectively Further doubt was expressed that the new peal to a multi-racial, working-class base. The current SGA Constitution works than the current Assembly. structure would fragment the elements of Further, she recited the famous question of Sojoumer Truth, "Ain't IA Woman?" to il- quite well, despite its advanced age and a The Senate would be a slightly extended Assembly, causing severe problems of lustrate the point that black women's expe- few technical flaws. Nevertheless, there are version of the present Steering Committee, communication between the two bodies. elements in SGA Assembly which seek to as the heads of all the major committees Much confusing and detailed discussion rience incorporates sexism arid racism, restructure the Constitution, and have on campus would meet to discuss the pro- ensued, culminating in two votes, after and enables black women to speak for all sought the same for about seven years blems and issues specific to their commit- nearly two hours of discussion. Before con- women. now. tees. This body would be under the senior sidering the bicameral structure in detail, From this historical perspective, Davis In a rather dramatic presentation during president. Assembly voted to institutionalize some then moved onto the plight of women to- the Feb. 5 Assembly meeting, a new, if not Though this structure seems rather forum for the specific concerns of the Hall day. She gave some statistics of the Reagan administration's effect on women, who are original, structure for Assembly was radical, it is essentially the same structure, presidents in the Constituion. A "flexible" unveiled. This structure, a bicameral for- with more attention given to the concerns sense of the meeting vote was then taken, the worst hit of the poor. Davis mentioned mation, would designate a "House" and a of the dormitories. in which Assembly voted (ten to eight with the Reagan crusade against abortion, and the fact that the only woman on the Su- "Senate" under the body of an Assembly Several people at Assembly had ques- two abstentions) to work on implementing headed by a junior and senior president. tions about the feasibility of the junior and the proposed bicameral structure in a con- preme Court voted against the decision fa- This would require new constitutional defi- senior presidents structure, however. In stitution. With this, Assembly adjorned in vorable to abortion. She said, "women nitions of several key positions on the proposed structure, an elected junior various states of jubilation, despair, and don't represent women, especially those who represent Ronald Reagan," which Assembly. president would almost automatically frustration. Hopefully, a thoughtful The House would consist of hall become the senior president the following Assembly will convene again next week, to brought forth applause from the crowd. presidents, class presidents, the Haverford year. Doubts were expressed that any per- further discuss the manifold issues concer- Finally, Davis asked, "How many of you and off-campus reps, four members at- son could bear the stress and commitment ning our not-yet-late, great Constitution. (Continued on page 4) large . and the junior rep to the Board of of two years in the presidential office. Trustees, and the junior president would In addition, the structure would give the preside over this body. This assembly which would go against the avowed pur- would give these representatives a forum in pose of the revised structure to "break up which to discuss the issues specific to their the hierarchical concentration of power." constituents, and would desireably "reach "real" power in SGA to the two presidents, PAGE 2 D THE COLLEGE NEWS FEBRUARY 8,1984 Tocqueville, Tyranny & SGA TOC and me: notes from Cyprus Dear Mr.