Wesleyan Student Assembly — Wesleyan University

Minutes: February 13, 2005, No. 16

WSA Officers

President: Emily Polak
Vice President: Jeremy Abrams
Treasurer: Brittany Mitchell
Coordinator: Ali Gomer

Meeting Agenda and Business

1. Approval of minutes
2. Approval of appointments
3. Makaela Steinberg and alumni listserv presentation
4. Social Committee update
5. Dining discussion continued
6. Committee reports
7. New business and announcements

Opening of Meeting
The meeting is opened.

Approval of Minutes

Minutes approved.

Approval of Appointments
Appointments approved.

Makaela Steinberg and Alumni Listserv Presentation

Steinberg says she wants to get a chance to hear from the Assembly. She graduated from Wes in 1998 and came back in 2000. Alumni and parent relations is a part of university relations. Its purpose is to engage alumni and parents in career networking, social activities and program creating. Part of what the office does is to connect with students while still at school so that they will want to stay connected. One thing they try to do is get connection information, which sounds simple but provides great benefits to the office. Trying to get in touch with the student body is very difficult. Going to snacks, setting up information centers at Wes conventions and giving little gifts to seniors are examples of ways they use to get in touch. They have also done study breaks during reading weeks in the past. Steinberg wants to know what the Assembly thinks about how to better connect with students.

Stack

• Nathan Victoria says he does not know how to get into contact with alumni in other places where he is applying for grad schools.
• Jacob Mirsky suggests that freshman talking with alumni at the beginning of the school year would be very beneficial. Victoria adds that alumni talking with seniors would be helpful as well.
• Jeremy Abrams suggests that the office of alumni relations should work with the CRC. Connecting job searches with alumni introductions would be helpful.
• Karen Courtheoux suggests that if professors could type in the name of thesis students whose interests are compatible with students.
• Steinberg responds that WESSCAN is a good way to surf through alumni names. This is a helpful way to look for jobs, internships, grad schools.
• Emily Polak says that none of the people she emailed responded to her emails. Karen Courtheoux says that four of five people wrote her back on the next day.
• Steinberg likes the idea of bringing in alumni to pay for alumni to come to orientation. Networking events on campus are ideal, but they are costly and hard to manage. The office throws events every chance they get. Weekend-long events are also very good ways of making contacts. The next one will be on March 4 and 5. Summer sendoffs has worked exceptionally well. To get seniors thinking about jobs from day one of their senior year is very difficult.
• Elaine Garven suggests that when alumni come during homecoming weekend, the seminars should be more student friendly.
• Steinberg suggests that using the professors to connect students to alumni is very helpful. Deparmental assistants are going to be the most helpful, though, because they have large name databases. Karen Courtheoux asks how much the WESSCAN is being used. About 10 percent of the alumni are using the database. If a professor offers a name and does not look up that person, the best idea is to come to the office of alumni and parent relations.
• The best way to connect people to the entire institution is to tap into the student group affiliation. The office can then contact people and catch their attention.
• Steinberg begins talking about the listserves. She knows it’s easy to use these. It is a passive and low maintenance way of getting engaged. The office could create any number of listserves and see if people subscribe. The listserves could be about baseball or economics or WSA or any other topic. Students would be able to subscribe whenever they want.
• Annie Fox asks what is the Red & Black Society. They are student phone callers who ask alumni for donations, mostly for financial aid. The alumni are so much more willing to donate to students than administrators. Nathan Victoria asks if there are students outside of the Society. In many of the offices there are certain student office workers. The students who work in the office of alumni and parents relations are more able to connect with alumni.
• Jacob Mirsky says that the listserves is a great idea. He thinks it would also be helpful to learn how the organizations worked in the past. Evan Simko-Bednarski reiterates that institutional memory can be enhanced if the listserves are created, as exemplified by WESU’s listserve.
• Karen Courtheoux says that giving responsibility of maintenance to students would help ensure that they maintain connection to the alumni, etc.
• Emily Polak suggests that regional listserves would be very beneficial.
• Annie Fox suggests that a discussion board-type listserve would be helpful.
• Nora Connor says she could be in charge of getting student groups to participate.
• Ben Evar suggests that bringing in more alumni to talk about what they do would pique student interest. The CRC could administer surveys that would allow students to tell their interests and get the kinds of alumni with the most favored careers.
• Please feel free to email Makaela at mjsteinberg@wesleyan.edu.

Social Committee Update

Janine Criscuolo and Anda Greeney explain the social committee’s progress in finding an artist for the Spring Fling. The Social Committee has picked two acts. SBC has funded two acts. There will be a poll trying to find who the largest act should be. Another question will be whether or not to have the Winter Carnival. One band is booked, and one is funded. They are looking for a third, medium act.

Stack

• Brittany Mitchell says that Social Committee has been doing a much better job of keeping SBC in the loop. She suggests to do the poll after Spring Fling because the main issue will be the winter carnival. The poll should be carefully worded and should be focused on what kind of music is selected.
• Jeremy Abrams suggests that there should not be a poll. It would lead to complaints.
• Ali Gomer suggests that the poll results would be completely public and would lead to complaints. The Social Committee says that the information would be helpful for next year. It should stay pretty general.
• Ali Gomer suggests that it would be easy to attach the Spring Fling issue to the WSA election would make it easier. The Social Committee agrees.
• Nathan Victoria asks if this poll could be done through RA’s or other group leaders.
• Karen Courtheoux supports the idea of waiting. It is hard for the Social Committee to make commitments to bands.
• Matt Ball suggests that the purpose of Social Committee should be to get student input. It should not be dependent on a poll.
• Elaine Garven asks about the security and logistics of the concert. Social Committee says that there will be some extra costs for portapotties and gates around the Van Vlieck Observatory. The SC has reserved the sound system and the stage. They have tried to cut down on clean-up committees by hiring students.
• Jacob Mirsky suggests that a paper poll would help to avoid the public nature of an online poll. He says that a poll is important.
• Brittany Mitchell says that the best way to administer the poll would be to do it next year during the fall election. She says that it would be good to have a feedback link but that we should hold off on that until the next week.
• Annie Fox suggests that we could possibly have events other than concerts.
• Thomas Coen says that we could easily have the poll next year.
• Emily Polak says that we would be eliminating the voices of seniors by the
• Battle of the Bands audition tapes will be due after Spring Break and the Battle will take place on April 15.
• Please contact the chairs of the SC at aescamilla@wesleyan.edu, mdayson@wesleyan.edu.

Dining Discussion Continued

Anda Greeney reads his statement, which he claims is very general and does not commit to his dining problems. And Greeney says that the statement would be affirming the Assembly’s support for dining improvement.

Stack

• Janine Criscuolo suggests that the last sentence of the statement is throwing support behind Greeney’s personal plan.
• Karen Courtheoux suggests that it is too early to say that a sole contractor instead of Aramark would do a better job.
• Nora Connor suggests that we should give the administration a chance to see and discuss the issues so that the statement is not too confrontational.
• Elaine Garven asks if Greeney has shown to any of the main dining administrators. No. Garven reiterates Connor’s point that we should cultivate a relationship of support and trust with the administration. It would be disrespectful to pass this statement.
• Zach Kolodin says that the statement implies that we endorse Greeney’s proposal. Kolodin says we should maybe say that the administration “might consider” creative solutions.
• Ali Gomer asks if the reps to the Dining Committee would find this statement helpful. Mike Donnella thinks that if Greeney’s proposal would be supported it would be dangerous for workers. He thinks that we should not just give a new proposal to the Dining Committee when the administration already knows about the problem and are trying to solve the problem.
• Brittany Mitchell suggests that we might undercut the Dining Committee’s role by working against them.
• Evan Simko-Bednarski breaks with Connor and Garven’s opinions by saying that we are not entitled to giving the administration a heads up.
• Jeremy Abrams objects to the last sentence of the statement. He suggests that we list a general outline of the problems in Greeney’s report instead of supporting Greeney’s proposal at all.
• Nathan Victoria suggests that finances should be a bigger issue. Manny Cunard wants to bid out Aramark. It would be possible to have three contractors.
• Jacob Mirsky suggests that we should bring some of the Dining Committee members to a WSA meeting. Manny or Marsha would be the ones to come but they would express concern about finances.
• Emily Polak says that we should find a way to incorporate Greeney’s ideas into the statement.
• Gabe Tabak suggests that we should encourage the dining committee to look into finding someone other than Aramark.
• Brian Brotman suggests that we should enumerate some of the problems within the statements.
• Motion to vote on passing the resolution. Motion is passed.
• Nathan Victoria says that passing a broad statement right now would inhibit progress.
• Greeney suggests that we should respect his effort and respect our obligation to the students by discussing the issue.
• Emily Polak says she respects the work that Greeney has done. She suggests that it would be more beneficial to issue a statement when the dining committee is looking into new contractors.
• Sarah Meier-Zimbler asks what would the statement get done. It would allow the administration to understand the students’ position.
• Brittany Mitchell asks why it is necessary to pass a written statement instead of going through the proper channels.
• Evan Simko-Bednarski suggests that if bids go out during the new contractor search it would be very helpful to issue a statement but that now it would be “jumping the gun.” When the time comes, we should enumerate our problems and needs.
• Nathan Victoria says that Marsha will probably not want to set up new bids.
• The statement does not pass. Five abstentions. Two in favor and the rest against.

Committee Reports

CC

• Met with Nik Gavelis, web tech. We would like to get pictures of committees to post online.
• Arie Eernisse will work on the WSA history for the past four years.
• Monica Arduini will be working on updating member profiles.
• CC, IPC and whoever else is interested will begin meeting to talk about the constitutional review committee. She thinks it could be really important this year.
• We are meeting with Argus on Wednesday to get a bi-weekly column set up on the Argus.
• Monica Arduini will be emailing about absences.
• Member of the week is Emily Malkin who worked hard to put together the COCo Yellow Pages.

COCo

• Emily Malkin talks about the Yellow Pages. About 65 groups wrote back, and now their information is compiled in a compendium.
• COCo and SBC will be meeting to discuss what kinds of events are being attended.
• Izzi Greenberg says she is working on making the business directory current.
• Dave Woo says that COCo members will be visiting all three Middletown high schools. They would like to start a mentoring program.
• Ashley Martin is trying to see how students could take classes at Green Streets Arts Center.
• Jacob Mirsky is “sprucing up” the Argus and NY Times distribution packets so that students can find out what’s going on a lot more easily.

EC

• Emily Polak says that on Tuesday there was a closed discussion about the Forum. There were comments made about making paper information sources and not just email sources. President Bennet wanted to make it clear that he met with the EC and Students of Color.
• At 4 p.m. on Sunday Feb. 26, there will be a diversity training meeting for WSA.

EPC

• At the next EPC meeting there will be discussion about the eportfolio.

FiFac

• There are discussions about a gender-neutral bathrooms in the campus center. The best place would be on the third floor behind the men’s bathroom. It would cost about $25,000.
• Cafsac will meet tomorrow.
• The RIDE will not be functional during spring break because of cost issues.
• The new campus center mailboxes will be 2.5” x 11”
• The request for a proposal would need to happen in the next two weeks and this would be decided by the end of April.
• Using Mocon as a new space for Wesshop was discussed.
• There will be a new cap on student loans instead of $20,000. It will be 11.5% of the tuition, which was the equivalent of $20,000 at the time the change was made.
• Gabe Tabak says that financial aid put in a calculator on their website to help families determine their financial aid.

IPC

• Jeremy Abrams suggests that students should fill out MyCRC online.
• Joyce Jacobsen, chair of the faculty, will be creating discussions about university issues. We could try to work these issues into our constitution.
• Anda Greeney met with Social Committee twice last week and emailed them.
• Annie Fox shows her new Splash pages. It will allow groups to have discussion boards, calendars of events, mission statements and room for the organizations to save documents in an archive. The discussion board would work as an email list. Links would help clubs give access to their website. The splash pages would be posted at the WSA website. Emily Polak asks when this could get put up. Once an interface is made, they will start putting up the splash pages.

SAC

• Sarah Meier-Zimbler is the new Student Health Advisory Committee liaison.
• 200 Church Street will become more like the Westco model of community living. Once issue is that because there are no sophomores living in the house this year, RA’s in the house would be the best people to select candidates for living in the house.
• Psi Upsilon fraternity will not be a program house any more. Tim Radcliff clarifies that it was Psi-U’s choice to eliminate its program service and not forced upon them.
• Student of Color Planning and Action Committee, SoCPAC, will be meeting and discussing a dean of multiculturalism.
• Queer Task Force will be meeting with URLC to discuss the Gender-neutral housing option.

SBC

• Had allocations on Friday.
• Will work on personal projects this week.
• SBC office hours will be held this Tuesday from noon to 2 p.m. in the WSA office.

Stack:

• Karen Courtheoux says that in 1967 there was a cool debate about co-education among professors. She asks if there will be a WSA service activity this semester. Ali Gomer says that it would be best to have this after Spring Break.
• Nathan Victoria says that Dan Rubin, former WSA member, emailed Manny about putting a rack outside of the mail office to avoid getting unnecessary mail.
• Brittany Mitchell says that there already are student groups that work as tutors with local students. Fifac could look into special services van for spring break, she suggests. Are RA positions at 200 Church only open to sophomores: yes.
• Jeremy Abrams says that we should be careful not to step on student groups’ toes for Dave’s mentoring idea.
• Ali Gomer is happy about the increased lighting in Pi Café. She also suggests that Jacob Mirsky could work in the woodshop on stacks.
• Zach Kolodin suggests that we could increase student representation on committees such as the Master Plan Committee. Kolodin suggests the loans will be increasing.
• Elaine Garven asks if Nathan knows why Red & Black had to put in new lounge chairs. Nathan will follow up on it.
• Mike Donnella suggests that one of the male bathrooms could be changed into a gender-neutral bathroom.
• Jacob Mirsky asks if dining menus are going to be posted online. Albert Hill is working on this. He suggests that the WSA should be able to speak at orientation.
• Emily Polak asks if it would be helpful to pass a resolution saying that we support giving new bids for dining. Nathan Victoria will ask Manny more about the process.
• Anda Greeney suggests that $25,000 could be better spent on facilities for gender-neutral students that would last longer than two years.
• Annie Fox asks why the Science Center is being worked on. Nathan Victoria says that there are plans to completely renovate the Science Center in three phases.
• Brittany Mitchell asks if the mailboxes will be shared. Nathan Victoria says that they will be single person.

New Business and Announcements

• We will take pictures after the meeting is adjourned.

Adjournment
The meeting is adjourned at 9:41 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Arie Eernisse, WSA Secretary