Wesleyan Student Assembly — Wesleyan University

Minutes: October 6, 2002, No. 3

WSA Officers

President: Joey Wender
Vice President: Yaw Agyenim-Boateng
Coordinator:George Briggs
Treasurer: Adam Lachman

Meeting Agenda and Business

Meeting Opening
Approval of Minutes
Committee Reports
Strategy for Enhanced Representation
Subcommittees of Student Life Committee
New Business and Announcements
Adjournment

Opening of Meeting

The meeting was opened at 8:04 pm.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes were approved by a majority.

Committee Reports

President Wender begins by introducing and welcoming the newly appointed WSA members: Azti Nezia Azmi, Francisco Carreno, and Tina Huang.
Community Outreach Committee (COCo)
Nathan Victoria, COCo Member, reports:
Rafael Medrano and Mr. Victoria were appointed as the Middletown-Wesleyan representatives. The remaining COCo members will specialize in student groups relations. They have split all of the students groups into separate contact people.
Anay Shah and Mr. Medrano have been placed on the Middletown police subcommittee.
Student Affairs Committee (SAC)
Emily Polak, SAC Chair, defers the SAC report until later in the meeting (see Subcommittee of Student Life Committee Reports).
Finances and Facilities (FiFac)
Ali Gomer, FiFac Chair, reports:
Ms. Gomer met with Jeff Miller and discussed laundry issues. Mr. Miller informed Ms. Gomer that they are not considered a high concern by his office. They are, however, opening a laundry center on Washington Avenue for residents there.
FiFac is trying to get a student on the Resident Maintenance Fund Committee, which currently does not have any student representation. The Committee allots money for the University.
Ms. Gomer also met with Marcia Bromberg. Ms. Bromberg expressed interest in taking walks around campus with students in order to see what needs facilities need improvement on campus.
Student Budget Committee (SBC)
Adam Lachman, WSA Treasurer and SBC Chair, reports:
The SBC met and allocated funds.
Mr. Lachman met with the editors of The Wesleyan Argus to discuss their overspending last year. A monthly communication plan is now in place so that the SBC can help the Argus plan their spending and set their goals for advertisements. The SBC will continue working with the Argus throughout the year.
Mr. Lachman met with David Vance, head of finance at North College, to devise a system in which the SBC can maintain monthly statements of student groups so that it can monitor their spending. A list of contact groups will be assigned to each member of the SBC.
Independent Projects Committee (IPC)
Yaw Agyenim-Boateng, IPC Chair, reports:
The IPC is currently in the process of working with ITS to construct an email list for the senior class. Members of the IPC will place weekly WSA reports in the Argus.
The Committee is trying to reinstate Esquid, an online webboard posting in which students can evaluate different courses.
Coordinating Committee (CC)
George Briggs, WSA Coordinator, reports:
The CC met last Thursday and conducted appointments.
Educational Policy Committee (EPC)
Karen Courtheoux, EPC Voting Member, reports:
The EPC met with film studies professors and questioned them as to why they want to have their own department. Voting on the issue will occur later this week.

Executive Committee (EC)
Joey Wender, WSA President, reports:
Last April, President Bennet started a committee to review the standards of the Board of Non-Academic Conduct. Mr. Salzer is the head of it; he will come in to speak to the Assembly in the near future.
A WSA Position on Chalking was created by President Wender, Ms. Polak, and Mr. Lachman. It reads:

We, the Wesleyan Student Assembly, support the free exchange of ideas on campus. We furthermore understand with this right to speech comes an implicit responsibility to respect its limitations. It is precisely these limitations that the WSA hopes to define and clarify with all members of the Wesleyan community. Given this, we support the right for an individual to express their views in the form of chalking. We hope to work with both the administration and faculty to quickly end this moratorium and restore the confidence that all members of the community have the ability to have their views heard. Members of this campus must to have the right to chalk while at the same time be part of an intellectual community founded on the interplay of ideas.

To give a brief background, President Wender reports to the WSA that on Thursday, October 3, President Bennet placed a moratorium on chalkings in response to concern from Wesleyan staff that chalkings were harassing. President Bennet has never liked chalkings. In place of chalkings, the administration has erected a chalkboard where students can write messages. Bennet met with concerned students on Friday and will be officially interviewed by the Argus tomorrow. Bennet explicitly said that the WSA and Student Life Committees should solve this issue. President Wender informs the Assembly that we need to have a position. It is an issue of free speech, but it needs limitations.

Stacks

Matt Lerner states that students are totally against chalkings. We need to represent the student body, but we also need to work with the administration. He would like to see the statement more strongly worded, but considering the situation, he will approve of only slightly stronger wording.
Karen Courtheoux informs the Assembly that many of her peers have been voicing complaints about the moratorium. She asks what were the administrators' feelings about the chalkboard.
President Wender tells her that professors suggested the chalkboard outside of the campus center so that people can express their views. The moratorium and chalkboard, however, were done without consultation to students.
Colleen Galbraith encourages the Assembly to be more representative of the students.
Adam Poswolsky feels that the statement is kind of vague, which hurts our positions more than it helps it.
Emily Polak gives some background: the Student Life Committee developed a resolution last year that stated if a team of reasonable people found a chalking to be offensive or unsafe, then it would be erased. The Committee will be reexamining the resolution this week, so it is open to suggestions.
Mr. Lerner points out that students fund the university and that we must work to prevent student disenfranchisement.
Jade Mills asks if there are any consequences for violating the moratorium.
President Wender informs her that that has not been made clear.
Ms. Polak states her concern for physical plant workers, who must wash away the chalkings with old insecticide sprayers. The workers get the butt of the moratorium; Bennet is unaffected.

Amendments

A series of friendly amendments are made, with the final outcome being the "WSA Position on Chalking Moratorium":

We insist on being active partners in decision-making at Wesleyan. We will work with the student body, administration, and faculty to promptly end the moratorium on chalking and restore the confidence of all members of the community that Wesleyan welcomes the expression of diverse views. Members of this campus must have the right to chalk while at the same time to create an intellectual and social community that has its base in the free exchange of ideas.

Voting

The statement passed unanimously.

Strategy for Enhanced Representation

(See Appendix 2A)
President Wender presents this document stating that students at Wesleyan are not allowed to participate in many administrative actions and policies. The goal of the strategy is to give the WSA a greater voice in offices at the University. This will hopefully be accomplished in a couple of weeks. The document goes from committee to committee, increasing our voice in each (for example, creating a public safety advisory committee). Committees should discuss their parts of the document at their meetings this week.

Subcommittees of Student Life Committee
Emily Polak speaks of the Undergraduate Reslife Committee (URLC), the services committee of the SLC. She met with Jeff Ederer and created a preliminary agenda for the SLC. They plan on creating a continuous dialogue with Reslife and Physical Plant. They are also working to create better laundry services. Reslife has many plans for the year (building a new residential building, rebuilding intown, renovating Eclectic, creating a better sound and use of space in Westco) in which the WSA should try to push for more student representation. The program house status is currently being evaluated. If members know of anything else that needs to be brought to the attention of Reslife, they should contact Ms. Polak.
Adam Poswolsky reports on the Dining Advisory Committee. They met and set the agenda for the year. A new position was created, which is to be filled by a union worker; it will be a rotating position representing different campus dining places. The committee will meet once every other week. There are three categories of improvements: quick fixes, bigger scale projects, and urgent needs. The quick fixes that are being worked on are: healthier grab-and-go options in the Campus Center, the posting of what is included as a meal and prices in Davenport, freshmen meals at Davenport if they missed Mocon hours (freshmen representatives should inform their constituents of this), and the opening of the sandwich bar for dinner. The bigger scale projects being worked on include: late night dining on weekends (perhaps Summerfield's), a social place for students to eat, the improvement of Summerfield's (Tim Reiss would like to make it a smaller version of Mocon) and the enhancement of its income, a possible coffee bar, the improvement of Kosher Kitchen, a sandwich cart at the Science Center, and food access in the CFA (including vending machines and a sandwich cart). The urgent needs being worked on are: the freshman buying equivalency from meals to points at the Campus Center, longer hours for Mocon, shorter lines at Mocon, decreased stealing from Mocon, the enablement of students to check points on their student portfolios. The WSA will survey students at each meal place to learn of any further improvements that need to be made. If there are any concerns, people should email the dining committee. An email account will also be set up for the dining committee.

New Business and Announcements

President Wender reminds the Assembly that there will not be a meeting next week.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 9:41 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Monica Arduini, WSA Secretary