Interim Dean of Students Dr. Teresa McKinney opened this week’s BSG Congress, introducing herself and her position to the assembled Bucknell students. Despite only working at Bucknell for four weeks, McKinney has made quick work of familiarizing herself with the clubs, activities and culture present on campus. In her words, she’s been “attending everything” in an effort to be as “visible” to the student body as possible. 

As she explained her plans and presence to the Congress, McKinney also clarified what a Dean of Students is, and what they do— ultimately, it boils down to a role as the chief student affairs officer, and McKinney personally interprets that as an advocacy role with a duty to serve students first and foremost. She asserted her desire for students to “hold [her] accountable” through feedback and conversation and to ensure she and her staff “stay student-centered.” McKinney emphasized the importance of students to the efficacy of her role, as they are “the most important aspect” of her decision-making process. She even keeps a mini-Bucky the Bison around in her office, as a visual reminder of who, fundamentally, she’s working for. 

Though Dr. McKinney will only be holding the Dean of Students position through June, she encourages students to get to know her, whether over email ([email protected]) or in-person. In the next few weeks, McKinney hopes to establish a monthly “Chat n’ Chew” event, where students are invited to stop by, have some snacks (she’s taking requests!) and engage in a discussion about issues to be solved or things to continue doing on campus. 

After Dr. McKinney’s closing statement, the Congress swept through their remaining updates and motions. BSG President Thandeka Bango ’26 announced an upcoming meeting with Bucknell Dining Services where they will discuss updating B-Eats and food accessibility and potentially begin efforts to institute a food waste initiative. Amira Faden ’26, VP of Operations, plans to meet with the Counseling Center in the hopes of rekindling their relationship with BSG and working on yet-to-be-announced new initiatives. 

Future BSG congressional meetings will see Param Bedi, Bucknell’s COO, presenting the reasoning behind the campus’s use of Moodle on a to-be-decided date. Bucknell’s current co-acting presidents will be speaking at Feb. 25th’s congress.