Wesleyan Student Assembly — Wesleyan University

Minutes: February 8, 2004, No. 11

WSA Officers

President: Sohana Punithakumar
Vice President: Daniel Rodriguez
Coordinator: Sara Mirsky
Treasurer: Camille Zahniser

Meeting Agenda and Business

1. Meeting Opening
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Committee Reports
4. Approval of Appointment
5. Auxiliary Services
6. SBC Mid-Year Report
7. New Business
8. Constitution Debate
9. Announcements
10. Adjournment

Opening of Meeting

The meeting was opened at 7:05 PM.

Approval of Minutes

January 25, 2004 Minutes approved as corrected.
February 1, 2004 Minutes approved.

Committee Reports

1. Community Outreach Committee (COCo)

   Jeremy Abrams, COCo Chair, reports:
   Tomorrow, the first WSA newsletter will be sent by email. SBC and COCo will meet together. PSAC is also meeting. COCo is initiating an internal review committee.

2. Coordinating Committee (CC)

   Sara Mirsky, Coordinator, reports:
   CC appointed a new COCo member. The Constitution Review Committee met yesterday.

3. Executive Committee (EC)

   Sohana Punithakumar, President, reports:
   EC will meet with President Bennet on Thursday morning.

4. Educational Policy Committee (EPC)

   Karen Coutheoux, EPC Chair, reports:
   Nora Connor is working to improve academic advising. Zach Kolodin is investigating potential student role in the admissions process. Jesse Watson will be working to increase the Arabic class time. Karen will be working to make NSM's for non-science majors better and more accessable. EPC is developing a short form to solicit feedback from the student body, which will be used at Mocon, Summerfields, and the Campus Center in coming weeks. The Intellectual Property Task Force and the Bookstore Committee both met. Dean Lily Milroy of Division I will be forwarding Karen a full report from the Photo instructor as to why it's so hard to get into photo classes.

5. Finances and Facilities Committee (FiFac)

   Nathan Victoria, FiFac Chair, reports:
   There will be a Fauver Field Residency meeting. The Butterfields Basketball Court should be reconstructed over spring break despite the noise reservations. The bookstore doubled its profits with used book sales.

6. Independent Projects Committee (IPC)

   Danny Rodriguez, IPC Chair, reports:
   IPC will meet with the Social Committee this week to discuss communication between the social committee and the WSA, and spring fling safety. Senior Class Officers report that the Thursday Mardi Gras cocktails will not be open to first semester seniors. The E-squid authentication was fixed. The CRC Advisory Committee met and new members are Thong Le Ngoc and Pacho Carreño.

7. Student Affairs Committee (SAC)

   Rebecca Solow, SAC Chair, reports:
   Dining Committee met and made some progress discussing feedback on Summerfield's and the Campus Center. This will likely continue into SAC's next meeting. Pi Cafe is now open on weekends from 11-4 pm and this discussion will continue regarding its hours and options. Josh Bryant, the new EON representative to the Dining Committee, is working with Joe LaChance on providing vegan options; he reports that the Vegan Cafe closed because of negative profits. Vegan entrees will move to Summerfields and Pi.

   The URLC discussed the new approved program houses and where to locate them. ResLife would like to move Turath to a smaller house given its trouble meeting occupancy. Turath will vacate its location on Washington Ave. 316 and 344 Washington will become Science House and Film House. The URLC also discussed a proposal by Dean Mike that was approved by the presidents of WestCo regarding resident selection. It will resemble last year's selection procedure, in which sophomores applied to live in WestCo and were selected by a committee of both ResLife administrators and student staff. The WestCo evaluation process is being revised.

   The director of the Office of Behavior Health is interested in forming an advisory committee.

8. Student Budget Committee (SBC)

   Camille Zahniser, SBC Chair, reports:
   SBC met and allocated funds. Relevant allocations are:
   
   • Undervision: 1000$ for startup costs
   
   Regarding the Student Activities Fee, the Committee made an numerical error. SBC received the appropriate raise based on last year's SAF actual numbers (now $214 per year)

   Stack

   • Karen Courtheoux suggests that the Bookstore Committee discuss the book buyback policy and consider paying students more. She asks how Lawn Ave. was selected for the new Turath location.
   • Becca Solow replies, there are many program houses in that area.
   • Sohana Punithakumar comments that Summerfields advertises closing at 2 am, however it closed at 1:30 am on Saturday night.
   • Ben Evar asks Courtheoux how much influence EPC had on the new Bio-informatics certificate.
   • Courtheoux says that Jesse Watson and she were presented the proposal and submitted comments. The Faculty EPC is composed of two student members and six faculty members.
   • Evar asks what will happen to Color Mart next to the bookstore?
   • Nora Connor replies that the University is considering buying it, even though it will not be safe until asbestos is removed.
   • Emily Polak wonders if the WSA could pass a resolution in favor of first semester seniors attending Senior Cocktails.
   • Punithakumar replies that there is a constant venue problem. There were 595 passes sold this year, and the maximum capacity of this Thursday's venue is 600, but future cocktails will be open to those seniors.
   • Lelani Kupo adds that the Fire Marshals can shut down an event once capacity has been exceeded. Then Wesleyan can be banned from the venue, which has happened in the past.
   • Selina Ellis asks if first semesters could be let in next year.
   • Punithakumar says that these seniors are technically students of the Class of 2005.
   • Solow asks Danny Rodriguez if students publish resumes on-line, will they get real job offers?
   • Rodriguez replies that a person can put it out there, but there is always a potential of receiving junk mail.
   • Solow asks Arijit Sen why EC members are excluded from the internal review meetings?
   • Sen says he will consult his committee chair before responding.
   • Pacho Carreño asks if there is a reason why the new COCo member of did not come today to the meeting.
   • Sara Mirsky says that appointments must be approved by the Assembly, per the Constitution, before they are members.
   • Lisa Schambers asks if the Book Co-op is defunct.
   • Rodriguez says that an auction type web site is being created.
   • Radoslava Petrova says she heard the Registrar is looking into put grades distributions on transcripts.
   • Courtheoux replies that she has not heard about that, but will investigate.
   • Solow asks if department grading scales could be compared for grade inflation in the next Faculty EPC meeting.

Approval of Appointment

Johanna Goetzel is approved as COCo's new member.

Auxiliary Services -- Manny Cunard

In order consolidate access cards, the "On-Card" program will be combine laundry, photocopying, dormitory access, dining charge and library borrowing on to one card. The financial plan is in progress now. The plan will be potentially implemented next fall, although old IDs will be phased out later.

Stack

• Cunard says that students will be obligated to buy the board program, but in the future on a declining basis as student get closer to graduation. And, the retail debit-account will be separate from Dining Program.
• Selina Ellis ask how the debit-account will work into financial aid packages.
• Cunard says that it will not be part of financial aid, but there is an idea to increase aid for the Dining Program.
• Nathan Victoria asks if the card might be used to pay for party entrance charges.
• Cunard says yes, and there is an incentive of 5 percent to all money put on the card. He adds that next year Aramark, the bookstore and other downtown merchants will be paying a fee to add their business to the program.
• Jesse Watson asks if this includes liquor stores.
• Cunard replies, no.
• Jose Marantes asks if there are any projections on how this will affect the meal plan.
• Cunard says he hopes that this will decrease the meal plan over a period of time. The board program will eventually include seven meals by the time the New University center opens. He adds that dining operations on campus will grow overall. Labor in the future should be substantially greater than the present level.
• Jesse Watson asks what the minimum buy-in level will be to make this debit-account program profitable.
• Cunard says that there is no manditory buy-in. It will be very profitable downtown, and it will potentially generate a lot of revenue for Wesleyan.
• Danny Rodriguez asks if this will work as a discount card, and will Wesleyan be selling student-consumption information?
• Cunard replies, absolutely not.
• Danny Penrod asks how the card usage will be secure.
• Cunard replies some other campuses require a pin for off-campus purchases, while others require a second photo ID. This is still to be determined for Wesleyan.

SBC Mid-Year Report -- Camille Zahniser

Stack

• Danielle Krudy asks what the SBC funding criteria are.
• Zahniser replies that the criteria will be in the revised constitution. But, the SBC does not currently fund food or drink, and program houses receive limited funding.
• Jeremy Abrams says that he thought fraternities were not funded.
• Zahniser says that they are not, but Psi Upsilon came to a hearing to represent their venue.
• Radoslava Petrova asks why some groups received funding for food, while others did not.
• Zahniser says that the SBC only funds food when it is essential to theme of the event, but the SBC will not fund snacks for meetings.

New Business

No new business.

Constitution Debate

The Constitutional Review Committee is collecting comments for its revision of Article VIII, Section (G) of the By-Laws, which reads:

Article VIII. Section (G) Campaigning is permitted and encouraged. Campaigning, which includes any form of written, oral or electronic communication containing a candidate's name or likeness, is prohibited within fifteen (15) feet of any voting station defined as any campus computer facility.

The topic in question is whether or not e-mail campaigning should be permitted.

Stack

• Camille Zahniser says that now that the majority of students own personal computers, the voting station concept has change. She suggests removing the section completely.
• Lisa Schambers proposes that there be all-school emails advertising platforms for the candidates, and candidates be banded from sending individual emails and spam.
• Jesse Watson says the current sections should be no guide in the rewriting.
• Arijit Sen says email is environmentally sound and a more effective election advertisement than fliers.
• Punithakumar says that there is something to be said for students who do not have computers. It would be a bad idea to remove the restriction in its entirety. Considering list serves, she thinks students should be able to contact group they are members of only.
• Zach Kolodin says this is an issue of private space versus public space.
• Nathan Victoria says that there are many comp labs, and as a constitutional regulation this must be enforced.
• Jeremy Abrams says that course list serves should be used for class business only, there for there should be list use parameter.
• Danielle Krudy says she I thinks the language in the revised constitution should be simple, clear and direct.
• Ben Evar states that postering is futile in a campaign. Emailing should be allowed simply to increase voter turnout.

Straw Poll: Email campaigns should be banned.
4 in favor, 23 opposed.

Annie Heindel that there should be the option for students to view or not view emails from candidates. Danny Penrod says that elections must test constituency support and must be decided by majorities. Karen Courtheoux offers some scenarios of bribery versus platform communication for consideration. José Marantes says that emails can not be as strictly controlled as fliering, for example.

Announcements

Happy Saint Valentine's Day from Georgi Radev.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 9:11 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Juan Sebasti—n Moreno, WSA Secretary