Wesleyan Student Assembly — Wesleyan University

Minutes: November 7, 2004, No. 7

WSA Officers

President: Emily Polak
Vice President: Jeremy Abrams
Coordinator: Ali Gomer
Treasurer: Pacho Carreno

Meeting Agenda and Business

1. Approval of last week's minutes
2. Presentation of WESU proposal with brief discussion
3. Committee reports
4. Discussion about student space
5. New business and announcements

Opening of Meeting
The meeting is opened at 7:14 PM.

Approval
Minutes approved.

Presentation of WESU Proposal

• Jesse Sommer and Luke Snelling are introduced. Jesse says that WESU is the second oldest college station and oldest non-commercial station in the nation. The administration said that the license had lapsed and that the WESU would lose the station to the Christian Coalition. WESU used to be in the bottom of Clark Hall and now in Atticus, far away from and neglected by the rest of the university. According to Bennet's plan, NPR will control the station from 5 a.m. until 7 p.m. Jesse claims that President Bennet will take away the opportunity for community involvement and make the station financially independent by introducing NPR. What WESU is trying to do is maintain its identity by relying on underwriting-not direct advertisement but support from companies and pledge drives. WESU is hoping to achieve the type of revenue that NPR would achieve, from increased student involvement. Luke says that Bennet came to the WESU board meeting to tell them that WESU would become part of ! NPR and the board asked him to give them one last chance. He has authored a packet 25 pages long with testimonials from alumni. Luke wants the WSA to support a proposal that will help redevelop student opportunities to make WESU one of the best college stations in the nation. Jesse says that we don't know what would happen and that there would be a lot of protest against the administration. We are trying to help the WSA help us make the WESU better. We would restructure the station by creating workshops in which professionals would train students. WESU wants increased economic support from us. Every year the WSA gives us $23,000. Over the next five years, the WESU would ask for less and less. In the future, the money would be solely for educational purposes.
• Rabs Hutchful suggests that WESU find out what the base of the $50,000 base is. Jesse adds that $50,000 is nothing. Our listening body is 2.1 million. If Bennet's changes are made, the programming will be much the same as another NPR station.
• Elaine Garven asks if WESU is asking for money tonight. Jesse says no. He wants WSA to get help through alumni list serves. Elaine asks if they know who the station manager would be. Jesse says unfortunately no. He knows but cannot disclose the name of the manager who the administration has in mind. He says that the general manager should not be superior to the board. He is there to ensure quality and financial support.
• Matt Ball asks if WESU will be willing to give up the WESU if it does not succeed after one year. Luke says no. WESU has the potential to be a completely different animal. Jesse adds that it would be ridiculous if the administration cut us off after a year. WESU is the biggest student organization and everything done with the station has been the responsibility of the station. If the administration gave the station resources, the station would not fail.
• Mike Donnella asks who we would be underwriting. Jesse says that it would be Guisseppe's, Metro or another group. Mike adds that it would be helping Middletown businesses: Jesse and Luke agree.
• Danielle Krudy asks what is Bennet's gain by using NPR. Jesse says that he wants to remove all community members from the station. He says that if we bring in NPR, the students would be learning the industry, which might not be a bad thing. NPR will not bring prestige to WESU, according to Jesse, WESU will create its own prestige if students are given a fair chance to run the program properly.
• Emily Polak clarifies that Bennet thinks it will bring prestige to the university; it will bring in $50,000 a year; it will control FCC regulations.
• Brian Brotman asks what is meant by improving WESU's educational value. Jesse says that there are some reprehensible shows and that with training there would be no problems. Luke adds that Wesleyan is dedicated to emphasizing critical and creative thought. He created a document that says WESU would begin a lecture series broadcast at different times. He adds that WESU needs to at least have some of Wesleyan's educational program.
• Evan Simko-Bednarski asks if the radio station change is Bennet's responsibility. Can we ask other administrators. Jesse says that trustees have not been contacted but are aware of it. He does not know if they know that an alternate proposal has been created. Asks what can the student body do. Jesse says that this cannot turn into a cause for being a cause. We need to write to Bennet, go to his office hours, let him know that they wouldn't be listening to NPR during the day.
• Nathan Victoria asks if there will be ample support for managing. Everyone on WESU is unpaid and puts in 8-10 hours a week. It would require support from the university to create institutional support. Nathan Victoria requests that Jesse and Luke talk to Judith Brown. Jesse says that it is not his responsibility; the administration should be able to set up a tutorial to help people put together shows.
• Brittany Mitchell asks if they know that if they propose a class syllabus. Karen Courtheoux mentions that she could help by setting up a course that would probably be worth a half-credit.
• Annie Fox asks why the Argus can be run so well. Jesse says that the move to Broad Street Books has disoriented them. There are a lot of structural components that need to be improved constantly. The Argus runs on a template. The radio station reaches outside of the community while the Argus does not-it's totally different.
• Jeremy Abrams suggests that Jesse and Luke start a database of alumni separate from the administration's, also suggests that they pay attention to the fines issue whereby they are fined hundreds of dollars each time a curse word is said. Jeremy insists that if WESU owns the transmitter, or if the WSA owns it because they paid for it, they will not have to give it to Bennet. They should find out right away who owns the transmitter.
• Mike Donnella asks if we want a resolution. Karen Courtheoux says that we should offer a statement of support to help the WESU. Brittany says that there is a big file with names of past WESU members.
• Anda Greeney suggests that WESU calls alumni and puts financial pressure on them.
• Karen Courtheoux motions to vote on the issue. Passed unanimously. Motion to write a proposal supporting the WESU's report. Passed unanimously.

Committee Reports

CC

• Met with Nik Gavelis, the web site creator. We suggested to have Bob the Cat's inspirational quote of the week, profiles, a web board and other communication issues.
• Created Robert's Rules of Order sheet to help us. We have to ask the original speaker, not second or third speaker, to yield.
• Our member of the week is Erik Gonzalez for creating the translation.

COCo

• Thursday November 18 we will go on the campus walk, meeting in front of the Public Safety building.
• Working on revising the student packet.
• We will start attending the Middletown City Council meetings on the first Saturday of the month.
• Jacob Mirsky mentions that the committee has been asking shop owners of Middletown. Javapalooza will be offering 30 percent discounts next Saturday, November 13.
• Erik Gonzalez is looking into increasing publicity at high schools for Wesleyan events.

EPC

• Advisor evaluation proposal is being worked out.
• The committee is interviewing faculty members.

FiFac

• Spoke with Marcia about Ziggy, the supervisor, and will be starting an investigation soon.

IPC

• ITS advisory subgroup will be meeting this week.
• Student space information will be presented soon.

SAC

• URLC met on Friday to discuss student space on campus.
• New harassment policy was discussed.

SBC

• Working on revamping the WSA building by having workers do tasks during their work hours. We will move Carrie's office. We will have better labeled files and make the office more easily accessible. This will be done by the first day of the second semester.

 

Stack

• Arijit Sen asks if we could have events where students could be meeting the Middletown residents at such events as roller skating events.
• Zach Kolodin comments that EC should not be able to pass resolutions before they come to the Assembly. Emily Polak replies that EC will not be passing resolutions but making wording changes and making it better formatted. Evan Simko-Bednarski says that because EC is a minority of the members and that the Assembly should be the arbiters. Arijit Sen asks if the EC will be making big changes or just grammatical things. Karen Courtheoux says that the group bringing forth the resolution would have to give permission for the EC to make changes.
• Ali Gomer suggests that we could think about student space off campus.
• Emily Polak suggests that we explore the use of WEScard to get discounts and pay for things in downtown Wesleyan.
• Nora Connor asks if ITS deals with viruses is the best. Asks if CRC could reconsider sending out emails every week. Nora asks Elaine Garven what the PSAC meeting with Marianne Wiggins was about: it was about violence. Gender-neutral housing: goal is to negotiate policy objectives for next year; it will be on the agenda next year.
• Nathan Victoria suggests that IPC look into ITS training. Elaine Garven says that they are working on the issue.
• Anda Greeney says that CC efforts are good; suggests that we pep up the WSA emails; suggests that Coco look into being able to use points downtown; asks what EC accountability of student groups is: Emily Polak replies that they need to create something that will tell the administration about how money is being spent.
• Zach Kolodin suggests that CRC should have more expertise in matters other than resume building.
• Elaine Garven says that there will be a representative to the medical center from the WSA soon.
• Karen Courtheoux says that the resolution process with the EC looking at them before is going to be more efficient.
• Emily Polak says that this is really how the resolution process has been done and that it will just be improving the situation. Arijit Sen requests that there is a representative who works on the issue. Karen Courtheoux says that the resolutions are often sent to point people on other committees.
• Adit Shah mentions that he wants cable in the Hewitt lounge. Ali Gomer says that it is expensive. Jeremy Abrams and Nathan Victoria suggest that the problem can be fixed easily.
• Arijit Sen mentions that we should be willing to spend time because we represent so many people. Danielle Krudy replies that we can have both commitment and efficiency.  

Discussion about Student Space

Jeremy Abrams shows excel document of parties from the last three years. He asks where can we have parties that will not be broken up? There is money for lounges to be rearranged. He proposes that unit councils have meetings to decide how money will be spent on renovating lounges; recommends that each lounge has a purpose or theme, such as a New York cafŽ. Some people think that these lounges should be more versatile. Jeremy also brings up the issue of creating more laundry and cooking facilities. He also wants to look at Wesleyan's alcohol policy. He says that seniors and the university are responsible for any accidents. He wants to allow students over 21 to be able to drink at parties with registered bartenders.

Stack

• Evan Simko-Bednarski raises the issue of how to deal with Area Coordinators' demands for organizing the lounges.
• Brittany Mitchell suggests that we create designated dance studios. Elaine Garven mentions that there are three different kinds of student spaces and that we need to create more of each kind. Brittany responds that it is starry-eyed to think all student groups could use the student center.
• Elaine Garven recommends that Jeremy break down the different kinds of parties on his spreadsheet.
• Jacob Mirsky suggests that Jeremy looks into the issue of stealing lounge equipment.
• Annie Fox questions if Jeremy has looked into the usage of lounges at the moment. Are students finding lounges in which to rehearse. Elaine Garven suggests that we push for more lounge space.
• Arijit Sen says that the Clark Hall is nice and should be used as a model.
• Jerry Ai wants to know if we can put in foosball tables to draw people. Jeremy responds that that type of equipment is easily "trashed."
• Rabs Hutchful asks about the one-block rule. Jeremy responds that the administration doesn't want Eclectic, Alpha Delt and 200 Church to have parties at the same time. He will be changing the rule to make sure that certain parties don't have over a certain amount of people.
• Anda Greeney suggests that lounge areas have wireless internet and are more homey like the Pi Cafe.
• Danielle Krudy suggests that in the future we should rank our priorities about how to use lounge space and perhaps not use money to pay for cable TV.
• Brittany Mitchell says that Psi U owns its own house and that that is the reason why they host so many parties; she also mentions that the lounge areas are going to be under major maintenance; requests that Nathan Victoria assess the major maintenance agenda. Nathan says that recently they decided to add renovations to their plans. They have funds for different purposes.
• Nathan Victoria says that there is a charge for all residents. Area Coordinators have the final say about what to do with the money. In the next three years they will revamp one lounge every year. Currently, Reslife is planning to add a kitchen to Westco. Nic will be next, and then Hewitt. SAC and FiFac went on a tour with Reslife to discover what should be done.
• Elaine Garven suggests that we help student groups learn how to throw parties. Students often want to be host trained but they do not have the opportunity. Nora Connor maintains that Coco should be able to help the groups host events. Brittany Mitchell suggests that forums be held.
• Jeremy calls for a straw poll: how many want the lounges to be theme-based? Majority is opposed with nine abstentions.

New Business and Announcements

• Zach Kolodin asks how the agenda is formulated: EC sets it at their weekly meeting. Zach asks if the agenda could be sooner. Karen Courtheoux suggests that it would be possible.
• Erik Gonzalez asks if we could arrange transportation to New Haven and Meriden. People will look into it.

Adjournment
The meeting is adjourned at 9:32 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Arie Eernisse, WSA Secretary