On behalf of the Office of Multicultural Student Programs, Nylea Bivins '12 submitted a proposal to Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) on Wednesday seeking $12,500 to fund a multicultural event planned for the week after winter break.
The event, developed by Bivins over the summer, would bring renowned speakers such as Mahzarin Banaji, a prestigious social psychology professor at Harvard, and Tim Wise, an essayist, author and educator, to campus to engage students in discussions about multiculturalism.
"You'll see speakers, artwork, online interactive activities—a whole combination of things so that the whole campus and Brunswick community will feel safe in engaging in conversation about diversity and the acceptance of others," said Bivins.
The Committee on Student Affairs recommended that the BSG allocate no more than $4,000 for the event, on the grounds that a poll to gauge potential student interest has yet to be conducted, that the request was significantly more than was asked of other administrative offices, and that the speakers were not yet completely confirmed.
Vice President of BSG Affairs Anirudh Sreekrishnan '12 noted that if BSG were to fund this program, it would use up nearly all of BSG's programming budget for the year, the majority of which is typically used to subsidize food and drinks during Ivies Weekend.
BSG representatives will speak with students this week and reconvene at the next BSG meeting to vote on the proposal.
Katy Longley, senior vice president for finance and administration, then discussed the upcoming acquisition of the Longfellow School behind Thorne Hall
"We had a real busy summer," said Longley. "We've been working with the town of Brunswick to acquire the Longfellow School. We will own the property later this month or [in] early December."
Once Bowdoin's Board of Trustees approves the transaction, deliberations about how to use the building will commence.
"We're going to take our time and figure out what we're going to do with the school. The idea is to use it for visual arts. If we can pay for it, it'd be really neat to bring all the visual arts spaces together. As of now, they're spread throughout campus," said Longley.