Wesleyan Student Assembly — Wesleyan University

Minutes: March 5, 2006, No. 14

WSA Officers

President: Jesse Watson

Vice President: Monica Arduini

Coordinator: Emily Malkin

Treasurer: Matt Ball

Meeting Agenda and Business

1. Open Forum for Student Concerns
2. Approval of New Member and minutes
3. 190 High Street Proposal
4. Discussion with Jeff Miller, associate director of Physical Plant, and Fran Koerting, Director of ResLife
5. Committee Reports
6. New Business and Announcements

Attached Documents

Student petition against furnishing wood-frames

Opening of Meeting: 7:07 pm

Open Forum for Student Concerns

Opposition to furnishing senior wood frame houses—see attached documents

Issue deferred to agenda #3

Approval of Minutes

Minutes approved unanimously

Approval of New Member

Brittany Mitchell '07, SAC

New member approved unanimously

Discussion with Jeff Miller and Fran Koerting

• Koerting: Physical plant and ResLife work very closely together. Talks about wood frames: wanted to ask the seniors first. They know what it's like to have and live with the furniture. Their answers were what ResLife based their decision on. Overwhelming support for furniture, seniors don't think character is worth the hassle. Most division over couches and beds: discussion on comfort, size, etc...

• Miller: furniture for senior houses is the most problematic every year: lots of complaints from parents and students, especially ones from far away. A lot of stress, not enough storage. Miller is very excited to furnish houses, a little sad at the comments on the petition. Hopes to help students.

• Koerting: Learned a lot of WSA discussion last week: Concern that $200 would not be covered by financial aid. Might change financial aid policy in the future. Gabe Tabak wanted it to reduce it to $100. The remainder of the money left to raise will be spread across all four years, and will be covered by financial aid.

• Miller: Will have funds to replace furniture in the future, no more surge in charges.

• Koerting: Looking into storage possibilities for beds. Flexibility: could add two twin beds together, and someone else can bring their own bed... might not need storage.

• Miller: Probably buying single beds, but definitely looking into storage options. Not allowed to store in basement: mold problems.

• Pets policy: new grandfather clause by the URLC. Old pets can be registered. Drafted a form. Friday's Argus was great, but Koerting says the changes were due to student representative who came to talk to URLC, not the petition.

• Move-out fines: want to better inform students of responsible ways to move out. Gabe Tabak says that vandalism charges have cost the university $450,000 in the past three years. Cleanout cost of wood frames are around 35,000. People are more messy when leaving senior houses. Graffiti costs physical plant a lot. Wants WSA to alleviate this problem.

Stack:

• Sam Ruth says that most people aren't against furnishing wood frames, just afraid that we didn't gather data correctly because no cost was reported on the survey. Koerting says that the seniors were told it would cost $100. Sam Ruth also says that there would never be a perfect solution. Ruth wants to know the real costs for furnishing. Miller says that they are still calculating. Should have them by next week. Says the bids came well under projected costs.

• Jerry Ai says that there would be difficulty selling senior furniture this year. Miller says that he's trying to plan a tag sale, to advertise to the community. Won't be sold to Juniors, but would still have opportunity to recoup investment. Also thinking about donating to people in need. Koerting says they're trying some creative advertising.

• Dave Wiener says he really doesn't like the idea of furnishing beds.

• Sam Ruth is curious about the pet policy: grandfathering pets without health risks? Koerting says that the policy is based on health risks. Some pets eat things like crickets and rats, and some pets run around. Trying to find compromise between health and pets. Rafael Medrano says that if there is a complaint, the pets would have to be moved. Sam Ruth says that this sounds like a good policy forever: Koerting says she doesn't think pets should be here at all. Really wants to minimalize risk. Miller says pets are often a problem for physical plant. 3-year phase out sounds fair.

• Anda Greeny looked over some of the students' comments on the wood-frame surveys: found lots of comments based on the assumption that they would not be paying. Anda also wants to know about the policy of storing in the Attic, instead of the basement. Miller says that many wood-frames don't have attics, but would consider storing in the attic in the houses that have them. Koerting says that cost was included in the senior surveys, not underclassmen.

• Estrella Lopez asks if the $100 would include the bed: yes. Estrella also wants student body to be notified of the exact cost before students make a decision on where to live. Koerting says it will happen this Tuesday.

• Zach Blau says that there's a hole in the wall in Clark, and it hasn't been repaired. The damage has gotten worse. Miller will look into it. Zach asks about timing for move-out day: Miller says one day after last exam, except for seniors, who have until 6pm the day after graduation.

• Zach Kolodin wants to know the deadline for ordering furniture. Miller says in a few weeks. Kolodin asks if the style of the furniture are the same for all bids: yes. Size is pretty uniform. Miller says that they are providing minimal furniture... plenty of room for more couches, etc... in the houses. Personalization isn't a problem.

• Sam Ruth says that having pets is a "Wesleyan" thing to do. Wants Koerting to look into that. Ruth also asks about the $450,000. Is that charged to students? Miller says no. Only, if it's in a dorm.

• Emily Malkin says that she had a roommate who had a turtle: she wasn't allergic, but it was disgusting, and smelly.

• Jerry Ai says his room in his house is the hottest (not because of him, just temperature wise). Wants to know if there could be thermostats, etc... Gabe Tabak says that thermostats and other energy efficiency stuff would be phased in gradually within the next several years.

• Zach Blau asks if there's any possibility of purchasing bigger beds. Koerting wants to be consistent: some bedrooms would not fit a double bed... and some staircases would not allow moving double beds. If they can't do it for all of them, then it's just not fair. Miller says that it's a significant cost increase. Large institutional mattresses aren't cheap. Gabe says that students are pretty creative with the way they use furniture. Miller echoes that sentiment.

• Alex Halpern-Levy buys new sheets every year.

• Benedict Bernstein asks if the graffiti costs for the university has been affected by the ban on Chalking. Koerting says that total cost has gone down after chalking ban.

• Estrella asks how the furniture would affect the phasing-out of wood frames. Miller says that when we phase out the senior houses that are decrepit, the furniture might go to high-rise.

• Anda isn't satisfied with the way the data from the survey is interpreted... doesn't think most students would want diaper-beds from freshman year.

• Brittany Mitchell says that the biggest issue is the small beds—there seems to be inconsistency with the houses in the first place, why can't beds be inconsistent? Koerting says that she feels bad for the students left in the smallest rooms. Also says that the twin beds in the Fauver apartments haven't gotten any complaints.

• Napat Phichaphop asks if there are any standards for complaints about pets: Koerting says that the first step is mediation... hopes to reach a compromise. If they can't, then the pet has to be removed.

• Zach Kolodin wants the price difference—doesn't think we would represent students well if most students want double beds. Miller will get that info.

• Matt Ball says that there's a huge concern for the one student who is left out: understands that, but doesn't like "if one student is left out, everyone should be left out." Also thinks that it's obvious that students don't want small beds. Echoes Anda's sentiment for a better survey. Anda snaps in agreement. Miller asks if we provided the larger bed, would there be general agreement that storage for the bed wouldn't be needed; as in, no one brings their own bed? Matt Ball can't speak for everyone.

• David Wiener says that no one know what the students want—let's just have a well-worded survey... how about using the same survey for every class year? Sam Ruth asks if we would have time for this. Koerting says that the URLC understands what the students want... thinks there's no confusion, will try to work with URLC.

• Max Rose asks how many students have come to reslife, saying they're not able to provide a bed. Koerting says that it's a big issue for students from abroad, and parents. Miller says in the hundreds. Lots of problems.

• Anda Greeny says that when we used to have off-campus housing, options are cool. Gabe Tabak says that the university made the decision 5-10 years ago...

• Matt Ball says that beds are a huge issue for students, students will find a way to get a double bed, and their way around a charge. A lot of these options aren't damage-free. Miller says the inequity issue is a big one.

• Brittany Mitchell says that there's still an inequity issue with students not being able to pay to store their twin bed.

• Estrella Lopez asks if we could have more statistics on how many rooms are too small. Also doesn't know how standard furniture would change vandalism: Koerting says that right now, students don't have guarantee that their stuff would still be there when they come back from the summer. With university furniture, they're guaranteed to have furniture.

• Jerry Ai says if University owns the property... Miller says that when Juniors move their stuff in for next year, some seniors move it out to the porch, or it's messy, and easy for theft. "Institutional" furniture isn't the kind that people want to steal.

• Dave Wiener says that the whole bed discussion is completely irrelevant. He's confused. Koerting says to refer to people on the URLC. Wiener wants more data. Can't hurt, might help. Wants more intelligent dialogue.

• Zach Blau asks about security over the summer. Koerting says that if the furniture is dispersed throughout the house, and not crammed in the common room, it would reduce theft. Zach also says if it's really imperative to resolve this issue this year: wants to make the absolute correct decision, not rush into things without a clear idea of what students want. Wiener also suggests buying everything except the bed first, then decide on beds next year.

• Xiaoxi Tu steers conversation away from houses: Wants to see more creative graffiti on campus, but understands why Physical Plant doesn't. Can we create graffiti zones? Rafael will put that on the next SLC agenda.

• Benedict doesn't understand the obsession with data. No survey, it would seem, would satisfy all the members of the assembly. Furthermore, This isn't a democracy, we act in the best interests of the student body. The twin beds are flexible enough to be used for a variety of situations and allow students room to bring their own beds.

Committee Reports

INDEPENDENT PROJECTS COMMITTEE

1. The next Talking Point MAY be on Tuesday... I'll let you all know for sure.

2. CRC Advisory Cmte met. We saw a draft of a list of the top employers of Wes alum and parents (in the top ten were US Gov't, State of New York, a bunch of banks, maybe Peace Corps, etc).

3. Estrella met with Marcello to discuss getting a shuttle to New Haven. He did not seem very excited, but agreed to a trial run. Estrella and Zach will draw up a proposal for him this week, and if he likes it, we will begin to work on the logistics (scheduling, funding, etc.).

4. IPC will begin to work on advertising classes at Trinity and Conn College. We will figure out how the best way to transport students there and back.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH COMMITTEE

-Nora and Jason met with Cathy Crimmins Lechowicz and Frank Kuan on Wednesday to discuss the creation of a new committee to link COCo and the Office of Community Partnerships. The new committee will include three COCo members, two or three student group leaders, Cathy Crimmins Lechowicz, Frank Kuan, and hopefully Professor Rosenthal (director of the Service Learning office), and eventually will also include a local community member. We will hold two meetings this semester, one right after spring break, and one in the beginning of May. Also, from that meeting came the suggestion that one WSA member sit on the OCS advisory board, which meets three times a year with 25% Wesleyan-associated members, and 75% Middletown-associated members.

-Max, Nora and Jason interviewed two of the three Public Safety director candidates this week and will be submitting our individual thoughts on each to Human Resources, in addition to a combined final recommendation after interviewing all three candidates.

-Jorge has found Clif Thornton a valuable resource in the Admissions office as he looks into how Wesleyan recruits local applicants, and has plans to meet with him soon.

-Naomi met with URLC to discuss the move-out plans, and is investigating the possibility of creating an online website to facilitate the buying and selling of furniture belonging to this year's senior class.

-Jason continues to meet with Nicole Chabot and the Leadership Steering Committee, and is continuing to advocate for Reslife staff and WSA recognized groups to collaborate on programming.

-Max will be attending the basketball clinic at Farm Hill Elementary on March 7th at 3:30pm. We look forward to hearing how it goes!

EDUCATIONAL POLICY COMMITTEE

I've been out of town, so it's been a slow week.

1. Alumni Lecture Program

A meeting with UR and the CRC will occur this friday to plan the implementation of this program.

2. Broad-Street Books

A meeting with the manager of Broad-Street books was supposed to happen this week, but had to be rescheduled.

3. Peer Advising

Nominations are now being taken for next year's 15 peer advisors. Please apply, and encourage your friends to (but only if you want a sweet, high paying job).

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

• We discussed SAC, dining developments, Sam's plan to save the University, and the possibility of WSA Reunion event, the hiring of our Webtech, and SBC's allocations.

• Jesse met with Deans Cruz-Saco and Culliton and further discussed the readership program. We are looking into the possibility of a reduced scale program focused more directly on students. In addition we discussed the DDAA Advisory Committee. The tentative plan is to have the new DDAA chair the committee with the DOC as an ex-officio member of the committee. There will be 5 WSA representatives. Dean Cruz-Saco expressed her hope that the committee would improve student-administration communication.

• The EC will be meeting with Pres. Bennet this Wednesday.

• Discussed possibility of putting emails in html form: will be able to read html documents in emails. Students would still have the option to change it back to text. Html would be the default.

COORDINATING COMMITTEE

1) We did appointments on Saturday.

2) We officially hired a webtech to work on the WSA site. He's in the process of getting access to the WSA site, organizing and reformatting things. I'll have a better sense of what exactly the site's going to look like and how long the whole process will take in a couple of weeks.

3) Constitutional Review met

4) Xiaoxi and Toni are working on organizing the information on the computers in the WSA office

FINANCE AND FACILITIES

1. Dining:  The dining committee met on Monday, and evaluated the trips to Boston University (Aramark), Emmanuel College (Bon Appetit), and MIT (Bon Appetit).  Eric Rosenblum's notes are included below.  Zelda and Max's concept of dining is close to final.

2. Financial Aid:  Katie Kalafus is still looking for volunteers to serve on a Work-Study Advisory Committee to help improve the work-study process for students.

3. Woodframe furnishing:  The preferred option on the underclassman survey was to furnish beds, with the option of removing them and replacing with your own.  Also, the URLC's current recommendation is to only increase woodframe rates by $100 instead of $200 to pay for furnishing, with the remainder being added to the basic (1-room double) housing rate in future years.  See SAC notes for more details.

4. Code Compliance Board:  There was a Code Compliance meeting last week.  The minutes are attached below.

5. Endowment Advisory Committee:  The EAC met on Friday to discuss our philosophy and procedures for the semester.  We are meeting with Tom Kannam and Brett Salafia from the Office of Investments on Tuesday to work out our schedule for proxy season, which is upon us now.

Project SAVE:  Eric and Benz are the WSA reps to Project SAVE, which met last week to evaluate the first batch of suggestions

Boston University

- focus on cooking in front of the student; open buffet

- more flexibility, but all plans have some meals- base is about 6

- can change the plan in the middle of the semester!

- behind the times on environmental issues

- good focus on nutritional food involving students in the School of Nutrition

Student says: good variety and flexibility, both in food and types of locations

- one change would be lower costs- too expensive for off campus students

- freshman from Warren loves the food here

- feeling that apartment, off-campus aren't connected enough to dining program

- likes fresh food, and seeing it prepared

- the "Sargent Choice" plan is quite popular

- those living in the dorms like lots of meals, those who aren't like points and waste meals

- very health focused; students want to get rid of Burger King!

- have convenience stores, which sound more competitive than ours

- have a rotating made-on-the spot special, similar to MoCon

- long lines, but they move quickly, and are worth the wait

Café in management school:

- well designed to be a comfortable place to both study and grab-and-go

- pre-packaged food didn't look especially appealing, especially salads

- acceptable prices (sandwich for $5.29, breakfast food for ~ $3)

- they have hummus!

- well marked prices

Emmanuel College

- a little smaller than Wesleyan University

- on-campus students are on either a 15-meal or 19-meal plan

- off-campus students pay a la carte price

- their experience: new facility=less complaints

- admin says Bon App. Is very responsive to student needs

- fresh food, cooking to order, evident in the lack of freezers

- they will cater student events and use meal equivalencies for it

- food is good and getting better

- no real demand for vegan at this school

- good salad bar

- late night also has the fried food problem, but not as bad as us

- good variety

- new facility is real key

- good prices!!

- student says the people there are great

- student gov't prez is very pleased w/ food

- big complaint is a lack of a good commuter plan

- people enjoy the food so few complaints about being forced onto the plan

Code Compliance Board, March 3, 2006

Discussed Webpage design

- I (Eric) have put together a preliminary design for a website. The group liked the design and made a few suggestions about things to add, including a section referring to the responsibilities of the administration, and some relevant links. We also resolved to consider what sort of questions would be addressed in an FAQ section, especially tricky questions concerning who the code covers

Living Wage Standards

- Alan researched living wage issues, and found a very informative website, www.universallivingwage.org

This website had information on appropriate levels of wages and rents all counties and metro areas in Connecticut. We came to the conclusion that the current Wesleyan standard is considerably below what it should be, and we agreed that we need to press the administration to raise the standard.

Flyers

- Acacia has created flyers to alert workers to the Code Compliance Board and their subsequent rights, and she has been working to get this flyer translated into Portuguese.

We also informally discussed dining issues. Alan is a member of USLAC and expressed concerns about any shift in contractor. He noted that during the Dining Committee trip to Boston, Sue (VP of Local 217) could not get Bon Appetit workers to talk to her about her about her conditions, and he also noted that Oberlin and Stanford have had labor problems with Bon Appetit. We resolved to both research the issue further, and I invited Alan to attend the next Dining Committee meeting

Save project: Eric and Benz had a meeting with Project $AVE committee chaired by the Director of Administrative Applications Edwin Below. 120 suggestions received so far, 1/3 being directed to Physical Plant. 60% submitted by students, 30% by faculty, and 10% by staff. A lot of them are very specific and could easily be directed to relevant personnel/offices (e.g. reports of defective equipment) while some of them are very general or require major initiatives to implement (e.g. overspending in printing publications). We discussed about workflow, how to respond to each suggestion effectively, the idea of creating a report of the estimated and the actual amount saved and present to students so they know the progress.

Also, we were looking for ways to create incentive to save, because since 48 hours after the opening of the website, the submission rate has gone down significantly. And the link to the website, currently being an icon on Wesleyan homepage, will be taken out after 2 weeks due to limited space. So we will probably include our articles into the Wesleyan newsletter and the Argus. We will also have more expensive prizes (e.g. Ipod, Wesleyan sweatshirt) for those who come up with ideas that are big hits later on.

The money we can save would be used to create flow and flexibility for initial budgets, so the University won't need to find and allocate, with difficulty, extra money for whatever projects they are working on. If we hit any ideas that would save significant amount of the money, which by the way hasn't happened yet, it will probably result in a decrease in tuition fees and other costs incurred on students. We are currently working on increasing students' participation in the project (e.g. help save energy, recycling).

6.   ions.  Benz' notes are attached below.

7. University Center:  There will be a university center design meeting on Wednesday.

8. Foss renovations:  There will be a Foss renovation meeting on Thursday at 9 AM.  We still need volunteers very badly – right now, NO ONE has committed to being there.  Current or future Foss residents would be most useful, but any WSA or other student reps are welcome.  Contact Gabe for details.

STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

Undergraduate Residential Life Committee—2/28

Non-senior bed survey results came as follow:

• Beds should be included in the furniture provided by the university.

• 232/486

• Beds should be included in the furniture provided by the university AND Beds should be provided, with the option for students to bring their own bed and store the university bed (the student would be charged for removal and storage).

• 126/486

• Beds should be provided, with the option for students to bring their own bed and store the university bed (the student would be charged for removal and storage).

• 205/486

• Beds should be provided, with the option for students to bring their own bed and store the university bed (the student would be charged for removal and storage) AND All students should have to provide their own bed, and remove it at the end of the academic year. 10/486

• All students should have to provide their own bed, and remove it at the end of the academic year. 49/486

• Some URLC members expressed disapproval with the wording of the above statements, specifically the fourth option. Also, attached you will find the bed survey comments.

• Considering both the comments and the numbers we came to the decision that the majority of students want beds to be provided but with the option to remove the institutional beds for a cheap fee.

• Gabe proposed to move the furnishing decision for next year as a solution to for the $200 furnishing fee rate to the woodframe room charge. His idea was not well receive due to the number of non-seniors who are expecting furniture for next year and accountability from Reslife and the WSA to follow through with the furnishing plan. The URLC instead will recommend that the furnishing fee be set to $100 and the other $100 be included in the base rate for the following year that way financial aid students are not overburden with the extra housing fees not covered under the financial aid package. The exact details will be finalized at the March 7, 2006 URLC meeting when we receive the exact estimates for the total cost to furnish woodframes and the fee to remove and store institutional beds. (SAC chair advice: Future URLC committees remember to move this increase as a base rate fee and not for woodframes only).

• Fran Koerting suggested that students can do something creatively to store the beds in their houses, such as converting them into couches etc. The University would not agree to give students the option to move the bed out by themselves, without the backing of an institutional program.

• Things for next week:

• Proposal: Fee decrease

• Cost of furnishing with or without bed (even though it looks like there will be beds)

• Storage fee: what kind is available and how much.

Furniture disposal initiatives

Naomi Takahashi updated the URLC on the projects concerning the disposal of old furniture. She proposed the creation of a tag sale (on Fountain Avenue) and asked for advice as to when it is a good time during senior week to have the event. Another idea is to place collection bins around campus and invite members of the Middletown community to come by and take what they want.

Use Weslist.org to encourage students to post descriptions and pictures of their furniture and advertise to Middletown high school student moving going to college to buy staple college items.

FYI: Last year all the furniture that was salvage was stored in the chapel at long lane (which no longer exists) and Frank Kwan contacted charities interested in obtaining the furniture.

Pet Policy Grandfather clause

This clause applies only to students who currently own a pet. The pet registration procedure will take place sometime soon. Under this addendum to the grandfather clause exemption, if pets pose any health risk (allergies etc.), the pet owner will need to remove the caged-pet from the residential community. In addition, if students file complaints regarding hygiene issues such as cleaning pets in showers, or strong smell of feces and urine, the pet will need to be removed. In cases dealing with physical plant's cleaning after a pets waste the pet owner is responsible for the cleaning charge and any other damages cause by the pet.

Meeting with Dean Maria Cruz-Saco

I met with Dean Maria on Wednesday and we extensively discussed the racist graffiti remarks in Clark Hall. We talked about asking reslife staff to update their student staff on the protocol to handle bias incidents. We set the agenda for the SLC meeting placing emphasis on the DDAA advisory committee.

SLC 3/3

DDAA

The SLC decided to have the Dean of Diversity and Academic Advancement chair the DDAA advisory committee. This would create a support network for the new Dean and the advisory committee is not directly advising the Dean of the College. Rafael Medrano asked the SLC to consider increasing the number of students in the Advisory committee. The other members favor the idea of raising the number of students by one. We also mentioned reducing the number of faculty and staff. (Since this committee does not have voting power, the student:staff:faculty ration is not relevant).

Addendum to the charge: Dean Cruz-Saco friendly suggested adding student life in the charge. The current charge mentions only the DDAA advisory committee's impact on our educational mission.

The motion to change the title from "Diversity and Academic Advisory Committee" to "Diversity Advisory Committee" because omission of academic advancement leaves out educational issues (pedagogy and classroom dynamics) that are important for the committee to address.

Dean Cruz-Saco well meet with Michael Roberts, faculty chair, and discuss the faculty nominations for the Advisory committee. She will report on march 31^st and inform the SLC which faculty members suggested.

Student nominations and faculty/staff invitations are due on April 7^th

The SLC agreed that the Rafael Medrano (and the rest of the SAC) is in charge of sending out the information about the Advisory committee to faculty, staff and students. The SAC Chair will also collect the student nominations. Nominations will be submitted to the WSA email account, but directed to the SAC chair.

Clark Hall Incident

We discussed:

-Bias incidents in general

- What is a the proper response and protocol dealing with these types of incidents

- The role of RAs

On March 8^th, Lashawn Springer is coordinating a panel with faculty and other speakers.

Topics for discussion: Oppressions and who is a student of color on campus?

Fran and Jeff will be joining us at our next WSA meeting

Beam me up Scotty,

Rafael Medrano

RESULTS OF BED SURVEY

Some students live extremely far away (hawaii) and return to campus alone, without parents or relatives to go furniture shopping with them. Please keep them in mind. Thank you.

As an international student, I find it very inconvenient to plan to acquire furniture for senior housing. As I understand it, if I choose a senior woodframe house next year, I will most probably purchase the existing furniture in the house from the previous occupants. I will not know who or what has been on my bed / couch; what liquids might have splattered it during its history of indeterminate length. Short of buying a whole new mattress that I would only use for a year, this situation gives me a large disincentive to choose senior housing, instead going to Fauver or Hi-Rise and displacing room intended for Juniors. I am sure that this may be the case for native students who live more than three or four states away.

I am a rising senior and am very glad to hear that the university is making steps to furnish wood-frame houses next year. I was dreading having to look for, transport, and pay for furniture, especially when housing is already more expensive.

Students should not be charged for the removal and storage of their bed, should they choose to bring their own.

It seems to me that beds are at least as difficult to deal with as any other piece of furniture if not more so. I guess there's no reason not to let people bring their own bed and pay for storage of the university one if they really want to, though, as long as this wouldn't result in increased costs overall.

bigger dining table.

Since I absolutely want university to provide bed, I like the first idea "Beds should be included in the furniture provided by the university." However, if some students want to bring their own, then they should notify university first so that university can use extra beds for any occasion more usefully.

A lot of people live in the city and it is very difficult for them to bring their own beds, but the option of bringing their own for others is a good compromise.

Thanks for the extra effort to make senior housing more convenient for us. This is really good stuff! Keep it up.

The desks look awefully small in those pictures. Large enough to hold a computer monitor and keyboard, or text and notebook, but not both.

With the room we are paying at Wesleyan, there is absolutely no reason that we should have to pay for our own bed.

The bed featured in that picture is really nice. The ones we have in Film House (large headboard and heavy frame) are horrible. Please just stick with the wood-frame beds featured in that photo.

I live in tennessee and have no idea how or where i would get a bed if not provided

Students strongly prefer beds larger than the beds provided in the dorms and apartments.

Double beds should be included by the university in senior housing.

The couch should be a sofa; it shouldn't just have hard wooden sides with cushions.

I think providing furniture is a very good idea! It seems extremely impractical for students to buy furniture for only one year, so I think providing it is very smart. I only hope that having the furniture provided by Wesleyan doesn't mean that the cost of living in a house will rise. It's pretty high already.

double beds would be a lot nicer than twins. i would rather have no twin and not be charged for storing one, than having a twin at all. but if there were to be a bed, it should be a double.

For students from far away (a plane ride) and who dont have cars on campus, it's very difficult to purchase and transport furniture. Beds should be provided.

I actually think that it should be an option for the students to bring their own beds- however this should be decided before students leave (right after they find out about housing) so that they can inform the university and also so that students do not get charged. If a system could be created so that the university would know how many beds they needed to provide, then there would be no need to remove and store the extra beds and thus there would be no reason to charge for those services.

I think furnishing the woodframe houses this summer is an excellent idea! As a junior, picking senior housing, this would make my life a whole lot easier because buying furniture for one year simply doesn't make sense.

Full sized beds should be provided, and storage space should be made available for University-owned funiture in the attics of the woodframes. [not having lived in a woodframe I'm not 100% certain they all have attics, but I am under the impression they do.]

could there be a certain number of university beds available per year that students could use if desired, but could bring their own if need be? basically, is there any way to alleviate the cost of removal and storage of beds?

get bigger beds!

woodframed housing is not fair to sudents from low SES. I think it would be fair to have everyone have the same things, providing at least the bare minimums of a house. (bed, dresser, desk, chair, dining table, chairs, ect)

If the students living in the house were able to meet a certain deadline for letting reslife know whether or not they needed beds- could we then not have to pay to have beds be stored during the year?

Each room should be equipped with two locations to plug an ethernet cord in because some rooms in wood furnushed housing isn't.

How much does a bed cost to store? I think students should have the option of bringing their own bed and not having to pay the university to remove the one provided. Just ask students if they plan on providing their own bed, and if so, the university should simply not give them one. That way students won't have to pay to have it removed or stored. Besides just look in the tunnels in the Butterfields, tons of free storage.

Beds should definitly be included, becuase it is so cumbersome to transport beds. Also, beds are included in other student housing so it is awkward to have seniors in houses have to provide their own. It is also a financial barrier for lower-income students to have to provide their own beds.

If there is enough clearance, the beds that can be raised to fit the desk underneath would be greatly appreciated in order to maximize room.

furniture should be of good quality, and should be replaced once in four years or so. even if not replaced, they should be cleaned (cushions should be cleaned and steamed) and should come in good colors.

The furniture is one thing. Lawn chairs work. The benefits of having a house are "a roof over your head and a bed to sleep on." So yes to beds! I don't need chairs or a bookshelf, just a place to sleep

I think this is absolutely great. As a rising junior (class '08), I didn't even give woodframe housing a chance as an option for me to live in senior year (because of monetary costs and having to haul furniture back and forth) - this new initiative to furnish all the houses is making me rethink that, and perhaps even want to live in a senior house when the time comes...YAY!!!

Please do everything in your power to keep wood fram houses available as an option for students. It would __really__ mean a lot to me to be able to live in one next year!

Beds are great! Chairs are nice too! Desks are useful! Bookshevles are the best!

considering the cost of university housing, i think there should at least be beds provided, as well as a desk, bureau, etc. and in terms of the other household stuff, a couch and dining room table would be great.

This is an excellent proposal. Furniture purchase and moving is costly and wasteful.

why would someone pay to have the university bed removed from their room when they could just remove it themselves and store it elsewhere? also, beds arent the only thing that should be included. Doing homework usually requires a desk and a chair too. tack on some money onto Tuition for the furniture, atleast kids wont have to scrounge for time, looking for junkie tag-sales, buying shitty furniture...dorms are furnished, why isnt my house?

the couches look a little institutional, but the other furniture looks really nice. also, this is probably impossible, but is there any way that the beds that are bought for senior houses can be bigger than twins? that's the reason why most people probably want to bring their own.

I'm an international student. I just cannot provide my own bed for each year. Thank you.

Ideally I would prefer to be given a bed and the option to store it without cost. Where would the cost come from? If we can transport them to the storage place would that eliminate cost? What if we just don't use the bed and store it in part of our room? The rest of the furniture sounds great, but I'd like to finally have the option of a bigger bed.

Provide furniture because we already pay a great deal of money to attend the univeristy. I think its an insult to students and parents to make them pay for furniture in addition to tuition.

I strongly support the middle option. Realizing, though, that bed storage might not be feasible, I would rather everyone provide a bed than the univeristy provide all beds if the choice were only between those two options.

I am between options, as I think the option of providing beds and then storing them is the best way to deal with both interests. However, I think it would be ridiculous to charge a high price for removal/storage and if there is possibly a cheaper way around it, us financial aid kids would really appreciate it. I do not have money, I am not paying $40,000 a year to go to this school and so an extra few hundred dollars isn't easy to come by.

It would be ideal if double beds could be provided, or if the removal fee wouldn't be more than the bed itself. I live far away, but even so would like to have a bigger bed my senior year even if I have to provide it. But I don't want to have to pay hundreds of dollars to have the twin removed in addition to buying a new bed. I would really prefer to just supply my own bed- I don't think it would be that hard to find a bed, even if you're not from the Northeast.

This is ridiculous. I have a bed, and do not want to be punished for it. It is absurd that Reslife/Physical Plant will not take away the beds/furniture for free. Why can't we have a choice over what we want? Just send out a survey: IF YOU WANT A BED, CHECK THIS BOX. It would save everyone a lot of time and money. I would not want to pay for the bed to be removed so I would have to put it somewhere. It just proves that nothing is done for free here (how much is tuition again?). Sometimes I am disgusted by how this all seems like a business and not an institution that allows the students to live their lives with any sense of agency.

people definitely shouldn't be penalized for wanting to get their own bed.

As long as the fee for removal and storage is kept at cost I think this is a very fair arrangement.

I agree that due to cost, difficulty in transportation, and other logistical problems, students in wood-frame houses should have the option of having a bed provided by the university.

How much would the charge for removal and storage be? Hopefully, this charge will be reasonable. I think this is a wonderful idea. Thank you.

I think that there should be beds available if students need them but I think that if a student doesn't want the bed provided, the University should be able to store it without charging the student. If the University wants to charge students, I think that there will just be a lot of beds thrown in places to store them, damaging the beds, because students won't want to pay for storage.

I think it is a great idea and it's about time!

Supply queen or double beds for the upperclassmen! We all know how uncomfortable it is trying to share one of those teensy twin beds with our significant others.

there should be a way for seniors to store furniture in the houses over the summer without the risk of them being removed - the university acknowledges that it is difficult for students who live far away from campus to move furniture in and out of the houses, and while furnishing the houses, physical plant SHOULD NOT remove furniture that is already in the houses.

Perhaps instead of storage of the beds, the basements could be used for this purpose. I understand that the university does not typically allow basement access, but if it was done by university workers and available at only one time during the year perhaps it would not cause a problem.

Some students don't have as much money.

The university should have a finite number of extra beds avalaible, I know in Upperclassman Fauver right now there are extra beds in the bike room, I see no reason these extra beds can't be made avalaible to those residing in houses who feel that obtaining a bed is too difficult for them to undertake. Many students will, however, favor a larger bed and so decline university offered beds.

Furniture should be proportional to the number of residents in the house; i.e. a kitchen table should have as many chairs as there are residents in the house (not just four, if there are more people in the house).

I think the beds should be loftable, like the ones in the Butts, NOT like the ones in Fauver. They should be able to connect to a dresser/bookshelf to be way up in the air to create more space underneath. Also, the coffee tables in the picture are really flimsy (all the Fauver Frosh main lounge ones are broken already, and it's NOT just because drunk boys jumped on them...). I suggest something sturdier, like the tables in the Fauver study lounges.

the storage fee should be very low

University beds are way too tiny and should not be forced on anybody.

Save money for the University. Most kids will want big beds and not use the little ones.

i believe that the second option is the best option but that students shouldn't be charged for the removal and storage

The reason many students don't want to use University beds may be that they would prefer a double to a single bed. You could offer the option of a double bed, for a fee.

I don't think the student should be charged for removal and storage.

I understand the charge for removal and storage of the provided bed, but it should not be outrageous. $50 or less would seem fair.

It would be better if students who want to store the university bed could so so at less expense.

OR just have an option of getting a bigger bed from the school for extra $

I do not think that students should be charged for the removal of the bed because afterall, by not choosing to use the university beds, students are, in effect, saving the university money. The storage units that the school has (I believe) are pre-existing and most likely do not cost the school a great deal more money if the student chooses to store it. I believe that the maintenance of the bed is most likely not more costly than the money that the university is being saved when a student chooses to use his/her own bed. If the expense of the bed being stored is costing the university more, then I would propose that a fee of no more than $25 be asked of a student wishing to use his/her own bed. In reference to all of the other furniture, I completely support the furnishing of wood frame houses because (after having a sibling graduate who lived in a wood frame) I know how costly it is to attempt to furnish an entire house, not to mention how difficult it is to find locations for the items (either for storage or simply due to the student's home location). Thank you.

For some, a twin-size bed can be quite uncomfortable, therefore, students should have the option of bringing their own beds if that is what is desired.

If beds are provided then they should be removable. However I would prefer to see this money spent on renovating the kitchens in these houses.

It would be nice if there could be double beds...I think most wesleyan students want a double bed their senior year.

Beds in senior houses should be wider than the beds in dormitories.

Option two allows the most flexibility for everyone. Those who cannot afford a bed can count on a bed being made available and those who already have/need a different bed can easily have the bed removed.

a bed bigger than an xl twin should be provided!

I choose this option, but i think for one to have to pay for their small, unfavorable university bed to be stored is rediculous. it is not costing the school anything to keep these easily stored bed units in one of the many storage expanses located on campus. I think that many of the complaints surrounding furniture deal with couches as well. Couches, for senior woodframe houses, could also be provided as they are expensive and perhaps more difficult to get into a house than a bed.

I'm really glad you all are doing this. Furnishing the woodframes, combined with the new all-student summer storage at Long Lane, is a MUST. However, many of us have tired of the twin beds that the university supplies (especially if we're in a relationship), and have brought our own mattresses or beds. This, of course, makes life difficult insofar as we then must find a place to put the university bed and frame which is both out of everyone's way and not somewhere where it will be taken back by p-plant with a resulting heavy fine. SO... I think the option of providing beds with the choice of bringing one's own instead is by FAR the best option. Thanks a ton. HOWEVER, how much would the charge for removal and storage be? If it's reasonable (under $75 or so), then it's no problem at all.

QUEEN-SIZED BEDS FOR SENIORS, PLEASE.

I don't think students should be charged for removal and storage!!! If they don't want to use the bed, they can be responsible for moving the bed to wherever Reslife/Physical Plant stores such furniture. But charging is silly.

If you end up providing beds, could you please give us the dark blue mattresses rather than those awful light green ones? The blue ones are much softer.

I think this is a great idea - thanks for finally doing it.

I think that it's wrong for Wesleyan to charge for storage of their own property. Plus, housing is expensive enough, excessive fees are really unnecessary.

If the university is going to provide seniors with beds, it should be a larger bed. Other universities are opting for this idea and I think it a smart option. All upper class dorms at Emory University have queen size beds. It is only nice to reward (even just seniors) with a large bed. No one likes sleeping in a twin size bed, especially if they are often going to have someone sharing it with them, as is the nature of a college student's life at some point in their career.

instead of a bed coming standard with the room. students who need a bed should perhaps be able to rent a bed from the university. the student would in this case pay to have the bed brought as well as for its use during the year. this way, students who bring a bed or want to buy one can do so without having to pay extra money to be able to store the one the university provided. also, this way, the university can buy less beds becuase undoubtably a percentage of students will want to bring thier own bed.

Students could be allowed the option to not have a bed in a furnished house, a decision that could be made during the room selection process or over the summer. This would reduce the cost of removal and storage, because the University would know ahead of time not to place a bed in that student's room. Housing is expensive enough without the added cost of dealing with an unwanted bed. If it is school property, would it not already be in university storage if not in use? Why would a student have to pay NOT to use a bed?

I wanted a bigger bed this year and it was difficult to find some where to put the provided bed . . .if reslife gives us shitty housing which it usually does we should be able to have a comfortable bed if we want.

I think beds, in particular, SHOULD be provided. Of all the items of furniture mentioned above, beds are the most vital and used by all students. Beds are also the largest and most difficult to transport.

This survey should be done separately for each class years, so that we can see how the preferences vary year by year. The 3rd paragraph ("The URLC...") first sentence should be in bold, or find some way to put an emphasis on it. Thanks!

My understanding is that the university would supply twin-XL beds and many students prefer full or queen size beds. Why couldn't students choose between the twin-xl and a larger bed (which they would supply) without getting charged?

Or, all students should be able to indicate whether they would like beds, and the University should only provide beds for those students -- an "opt-in" not "opt-out". Thanks for letting us give our opinion on this matter.

We are tired of having tiny beds!!

University beds are way too tiny and should not be forced on anybody.

maybe there should be some furnished and some unfurnished houses so students have the option to choose. addionally, while furnishing houses might make them somewhat more convenient, i feel very strongly that the priority for reslife money and resources should be to provide ENOUGH class appropriate housing for all students, which is clearly not the case right now.

I think it would be a big help if furniture was provided. However, the dorm style beds are really pretty awful and small, so I think it would make the most sense for students to bring their own beds, as I can't see anyone choosing to have one of those beds.

When people are seniors they dont want those single extra long beds--those are awful. It would be wonderful if you could provide seniors with just a double mattress. But, if you cant do that, I think no beds at all is better.

why not provide campus beds for a small more reasonable cost to students who request them?

everything looks fine and it's a good idea. i don't like the coach though. people should at least have the option to provide their own coaches.

Furnish senior houses with everything but the bed!!!!!!!

As a junior living in a woodframe house, having already bought/brought furniture for this year, it is extremely inconvenient for me to move into a furnished house next year. As it seems that I am stuck with this, I ask you please to not provide beds as well. I know many juniors who have improvised storage of their university beds and purchased their own since sophomore year, and will not be using the university bed even if it is provided. I strongly feel that beds should not be included in the woodframe housing furniture.

Would graduating seniors be allowed to sell their beds to juniors and let them leave it in the house over the summer? And if the old furniture wasn't "safe" over the summer, would the new furniture also not be guaranteed security?

Already this is too much. I understand a few things, but the woodframes have character and that's why we love them. I dislike this proposal. We wont be taken care of and babied forever!

I also think that the only house furniture supplied by the school should be the big items, such as a dining room table, and possibly a couch. That furniture is so stale and sterile looking, and the whole draw of woodframe housing is feeling like you're at home.

students should have the option of renting a bed from the university, but it would only be neccesarry to have about 20-50 beds available. if you arent one of the first 20-50 to request a bed, you have to get your own

The furniture you buy is cheap and uncomfortable. While I understand your concerns, I would prefer that the houses remain unfurnished, or that Reslife invest money in better furniture.

I attended the WSA meeting, and I was under the impression that we would also be surveyed asking whether or nto we would prefer providing all of our own furniture, not just beds. I know the current seniors have already been surveyed on this question, but since they will not be affected by the changes, I think that we are the ones that should be questioned about the issue. I know that the budget overall is only going to shift something like $75 up in the next few years, but it would still be much more economically feasable for me if, when given the option, I am able to provide all of my own furniture. I have family that lives nearby, and they have extra furniture they would not mind giving to me, which I may add is probably much more comfortable that some of the furnuture, such as couches, provided by the school. Perhaps the feedback will be the same, but please give the class of '08 the chance to give input on this issue. Thank you.

No one wants a tiny twin bed senior year. It would suck to have to pay to store a bed you don't want AND pay to buy a bed you do want.

Beds are the hardest item to procure and move, so the University should provide them, but I don't see any reason for the University to provide furniture other than beds. It seems to me that students who enjoy dorm furniture ought to live in Fauver. Why isn't this option included in the survey?

Beds should be provided ONLY on the condition that they be wider than beds currently provided in underclass dorms and apartments. One of the single greatest perks of living in a woodframe house is the opportunity to sleep in a bed that is not as narrow as those currently provided by the University. If wider beds cannot be provided, students should at least have the option of opting out of the narrow bed free of charge.

beds should be available to rent from the university for a fee. this would solve the problem for both groups. if students needed a bed, they could rent one, and if they did not they wouldnt have to pay for a new bed as well as to store a bed they did not ask for or want in the first place. that seems to be the best option for students if you think about it.

STUDENT BUDGETARY COMMITTEE

This week, the SBC met as usual and allocated some more money. Because we had allocated nearly $10,000 last week, we tried to cut down on our total allocated. Most of the money we saved came from groups who requested money for Spring Break. Our policy is that we strongly discourage and rarely fund events that take place over Spring Break, and we've turned away many groups because of this.

Among the groups we funded were the Muslim Students Association and the World Music Collective. We're starting to get more requests from after Spring Break - late April into May. Hopefully, the requests will start to phase out as we approach the end of the year.

Stack:

• No opposition to defaulting to html in email. Will bring that to ITS Monday.

• Jerry Ai asks that the limit we have is 50MB in our emails: can we increase the limit? Ai would also want to continue using their email account after he graduates. Forever... will have to pay for it after a certain number of years, probably. ITS advisory will look into it.

• Sam Ruth says wording is misleading in the academic advisory committee: Whitney Matthews says Diversity and Academic Advancement Committee is the correct title.

• Xiaoxi Tu is really glad that we're taking tabling suggestions and actually doing something with them. Can we let the whole campus know? Matt Diblasi, editor of Argus, will try.

• Anda Greeny asks... ? Matt Ball replies...? Cut spending, doesn't want to cut stuff dealing with on-campus stuff. Brittany Mitchell says that SBC doesn't want to fund over break, because not many people would be here...

• Zach Blau asks why we're adding another dean, when we're trying so hard to cut budget. Dean Maria says that the decision to bring a Multicultural affairs dean is a commitment of the University to address a situation that isn't just particular to Wesleyan, but particular higher education in the US. This commitment precluded the budget cut plan.

• Emily Malkin presents the TimeSelect cards. Will distribute to student body... EC split up the list of suggestions from tabling: Encourages Jesse to get it done before spring break.

• Jerry Ai says that he thought it would be natural to promote the associate director... doesn't make sense to bring in someone from outside campus. Jason Harris says that the associate doesn't want the job.

• Online classifieds for Wesleyan: weslist.org—tell your friends!

• Napat Phichaphop says that we should encourage people to use this website to sell furniture: easier than big huge tag sale. Let's promote it.

• Jerry Ai says that the website sounds ineffective, because most people who will be buying the senior furniture would be Middletown residents.

• Matt Ball is wondering how peer advisors are being advertised, and how much would they get paid: Sam says $10 an hour... and sent emails already.

• Zach Kolodin says that they tried a Weslist thing last year... what happened? Emily Malkin says WesClassifieds...

• David Wiener says that he just checked: alum will keep email forever, doesn't seem like there are any charges.

New Business and Announcements

• FiFac stick around.

• Sam Ruth:

• Beds are ultimately up to URLC, let's advocate double beds... In the future, when we have speakers, let's have three minutes rather than two minutes: motion approved. Also wants a student volunteer graffiti cleaning squad.

• Matt Ball likes Xiaoxi's graffiti idea. Also wants everyone to have a happy spring break.

• Zach Kolodin motions for straw poll for beds: Jesse Watson says we should find out exact cost differences and the number of rooms that won't fit double beds.

• Benedict Bernstein says that having a double bed is far less flexible. Max Rose asks if it's comfortable. David Wiener says no.

• Napat Phichaphop asks how people decide which students get the smallest rooms. What about a cost difference in housing costs? Gabe Tabak says that seniors are free to switch rooms... it would be impossible to set up a differential room system. Brittany Mitchell says that they just made the billing system simpler last year.

• Dean Maria wants to encourage students to come up with ways to go around the equity issue.

• Zach Kolodin says financial inequity that Brittany brought up is a lot more compelling than Fran's.

• Naomi Takahashi says that our housing system is already inequitable. Zach Blau agrees.

• Jesse Watson wants friendly amendment about reasonable cost.

• Gabe says that we can't micromanage every committee. Reminds everyone that the $100 would not be covered by financial aid.

• Straw poll for double/single beds. Double: 12 Single: 6 Abstain: 3

Adjournment: 9:09 pm

Respectfully submitted,
Xiaoxi Tu, WSA Secretary