Jasmine Minhas ‘22 says that the Sikh principles of seva (selfless service) and action against injustice have been a large part of her time at Bucknell. The senior hailing from Newark, Delaware and majoring in History, French, and Political Science has certainly had a large impact on the Bucknell community during her four years at the University. Taking part in a wide range of activities including being the Undergraduate Executive Intern for the Dean of Students; the Chair of BSG Diversity Committee; on the Student Advisory Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; a co-founder of the Support APIDA movement; the founder of the Public Safety Advisory Council; and a Trout Scholar.

Her wide range of experience has been impactful on the Bucknell community and is, “guided by a passion of creating a Bucknell where every student feels valued, seen, and supported.” This same passion was deeply influential in her work as a co-founder of the Support APIDA movement, which was created in 2020. “Last year, I worked closely with Ruby Lee to help create the Support APIDA movement that exists on campus today. Under the umbrella of the ongoing movement, I worked closely with the Samek over the summer 2021 to successfully plan and implement a two day symposium regarding the Asian identity at Bucknell and in Lewisburg in September,” she said. 

Beyond her work in the APIDA movement, Jasmine worked to reform Public Safety on campus as a member of the Public Safety Advisory Council, which she founded in 2020, in order to allow for more student input in Public Safety on campus, especially from the Black and Brown communities. “One of the most challenging and rewarding projects that I have worked on has to be Public Safety reform. My journey with this particular project started in 2020 when the  Bucknell Student Government, alongside administrators, received a letter from the Bucknell Coalition stating demands related to Public Safety reform which centered the concerns of Black and Brown communities on campus.” She continued, “While having meetings with administrators and then chief of public safety, Steve Barliar, to advocate for the demands listed in the letter, it became clear just how taxing and exhausting this process would be, given how much opposition was expressed. I remember thinking that this issue would be the hill that I’d die on before I graduated.” 

Jasmine’s work was well-rewarded in this regard and she successfully pitched the idea for the Advisory Council, which now operates as the only committee to oversee a campus-wide department is entirely student-led. 

“Bucknell must move to a place where students like myself are not the only ones tasked with initiating these important conversations, actions, and programs. I believe that each student is deserving of identity specific care and resources, even if they are the only ones representing a specific identity. The institution needs to make a more concerted effort to provide students who already feel and are on the margins with the appropriate cultural resources so they too are able to fully engage in all that the University has to offer,” she offered.

Jasmine also wishes to thank Ke’ Sims, Dean Brown, Professor Enyeart, Liz Stolte, Bems James, Meredith Sullivan, Ruby Lee, Soni Madnani, John Davidian, and Kip Halligan for helping create the experience that she had at Bucknell and inspire the work that she has done while here.