General Meeting #3 (and Recap from Last Semester's Goals)

As-Salaamu Alaykum lovely community,                                       

General Meeting will be this Wednesday 2/11/14 at 6-8 P.M!  Location will be announced shortly.

Here's the link to the event to get live updates from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/402841333218093/

It is at this time, we would also like to publish our collective review of the community from last general meeting, our three programming focus areas for 2015, and our new shortened mission statement.

The most common positives identified about the community were:

1)      Contains a diverse group of members, experiences, and programs that provide new experiences for everyone

2)      Offers balanced programming that allows for different levels of knowledge, backgrounds, and intentions to be fulfilled through growing experiences

3)      Members are proactive and open to addressing internal concerns

4)      Board is becoming more transparent and offering space for healthy dialogue (i.e. Open Board Meetings, Feedback Forums, etc.) 

5)      Actions are substantiated by religious knowledge that is presented in a way all people can understand

The most common deltas (suggested we change or improve) identified by the community were:

1)      Increase usage of Berkeley mosque as a community- both with programming and daily prayer

2)      Create Training/Mentorship programs and Systems of Accountability for both Committee Heads and Board Members

3)      Respond properly to current events and be more active allies in different communities inhabited by our members

4)      Eliminate barriers of ethnicity apparent in the space that are the root cause of larger problems

5)      Improve sensitivity, empathy, and collaboration among members

The top 3 programming goals voted on by the MSA democratically were:

1)      Improve Cultural Competency and Eliminate Structural Social Barriers (i.e. ethnicity, language)

2)      Improve Gender Allyship and Understanding between Brothers and Sisters

3)      Improve Da’wah efforts (internally and externally) and Seek Out More Opportunities to Collaborate or Help those in Need

After careful consideration of community input, our simplified Mission Statement to be uttered at all MSA endorsed is:

Through worship the of Allah and cultivation of a space rooted in Islam, the Muslim Student Association seeks to facilitate interaction and growing experiences for those identifying as Muslim and people of other belief systems.

Insha’Allah (God willing), we will do our best to retain what is good, change what needs to be changed, substantiate our actions/intentions with Islamic knowledge, and commit to fulfilling our goals and mission statement.

Love and always love,

MSA Board 2014-2015