Minutes: October 22, 2006

WSA Officers

President: Zachary Kolodin

Vice President: Brittany Mitchell

Coordinator: Estrella Lopez

Treasurer: Nicole Ippoliti

Meeting Agenda and Business

1. Open Form for Student Concerns

2. Approval of minutes

3. Presentation by Tim Shiner

4. Discussion about student activities fee

5. Discussion about NYTimes readership program

6. Report on trustees meeting

7. Committee Reports

8. New Business and Announcements

Attached Documents

Zach Kolodin's report on the Trustee's meeting

Committee Reports

Opening of Meeting: 7:06  pm

Open Forum for Student Concerns

Approval of Minutes

Minutes approved

Presentation by Tim Shiner

Director of student activities and leadership development: planning Usdan opening.

Wesleyan currently has a small davenport campus center activities board. Usdan's student-planned programs program will be a whole new beast. Any students have suggestions?

 

 

Stack:

Benedict Bernstein asks if Shiner has spoken with social committee: will speak with social committee in the spring. Will decide whether or not to keep it independent or a part of the Usdan program

 

Sam Ruth asks about specific programs and funding for these programs: Shiner says this program would have their own budget, only for Usdan venues, not other venues. Coffee house series, film series, dances, etc… Will have more complete research in a few weeks. Have contacted all NESCAC schools about their programs.

 

Brittany Mitchell asks where the money will come from: Shiner says it will be from the university, might be supplemented from other places, such as the WSA.

 

Eli Sevcik Timberg asks if there is a benefit to have a paid staff for having a planning board. Shiner says it might be a paid staff, some institutions are elected, volunteers, or whatevs. Eli says that the DAC organizing board only makes sure that the space can be used, acts as guidance… Shiner says that the new board will be a bigger presence on the student-groups-events scene.

 

Zach Kolodin asks why the model is different from the DAC model… why is it necessary for program board to have its own budget? Shiner says maybe it isn't… just has a bigger scope of events and guests, would like to have more money for more programs. Would be easier if they were independent of the SBC.

 

Brittany Mitchell says that the campus center concert series used to have their own budget. Is concerned that this group would become the primary "owner" of the space. Wants all groups to feel like they own the space. Seconds Eli's point that Wesleyan's student events scene is very de-centralized, wants to keep it that way. Shiner says he wants to find a way to tailor the Usdan events board to Wesleyan. Brittany also doesn't want this group to step on the toes of SBC or COCo.

 

Sam Ruth asks if he's heard about the difficulties that social committee has come across in the past about bringing in guests. Would the Usdan committee fold in the social committee and work on those past issues? Shiner says that spring fling will not be a part of the Usdan program. Hasn't talked to social committee. Communication problems are not isolated to social committee in particular.

 

Benedict Bernstein says he sees some benefits to the committee that Shiner is proposing for centralized planning at the Usdan center; might alleviate some problems we've ran into in the past. Benny doesn't see a need for this board to fund smaller events, thinks that large events might be more appropriate for the committee's purview. Shiner: doesn't see this group as planning constant events; just some weekly series and bigger events this semester.

 

You can reach Tim Shiner in the lower level of North College.

Will come back with Dean Rick later to talk about Usdan details.

 

Discussion of SAF

Nicole Ippoliti and the SBC wants to raise the SAF. Budget has not kept up with inflation. We also have some debt. Wants to raise to $115 per student, currently at $107, might increase about 20,000 to 30,000. Also wants to institute a regular SAF raise every few years.

 

Stack:

Brittany Mitchell says the last time the SAF was raised was five years ago. Wants to raise it even more, to compensate for inflation, and raising the SAF takes a big campaign. Must present proposal to administration, must be passed by all-campus vote.

 

Zach Kolodin wants to frame the discussion: wants to raise it around $20 per semester or so.

 

Annie Fox wants to take a straw poll. 20 in favor, 4 opposed, 5 abstentions

 

Benedict Bernstein wants the ballot question be a 5-year radiating increase, or 2 ballot questions: either larger increase, or increasing increases over the next 4 years. Explains that the big campaign must ensure future plans.

 

Sam Ruth says that might be problematic. Wants good proposal, not too many options. Benny likes the 5-year plan because students are only here for 4 years.

 

Zach Kolodin wants to write something like "SAF will increase with rate of inflation in addition to increase"

 

Susie Morrison is concerned with Tuition rise. Any increases might be unpopular. Is this covered by financial aid? Brittany says that it's part of the tuition bill, is covered by financial aid.

 

Chris Goy wants to say that Benny's point is really important: a dramatic increase is more effective than smaller increases year by year, because people forget about things. Sam Ruth says that Benny's suggestion is that we won't have to report the increase every 5 years.

 

Mike Pernick suggests activities fee match inflation automatically. Brittany clarifies that the $20 would be more than inflation.

 

Nya Roy says that she's for an increase in the SAF, sometimes wonders where the seat cushions at football games come from, or little stickers that say Wesleyan on them. Where is the money coming from? We don't have the best performers here, definitely due to lack of money. Senior cocktails is taking 1/5 of the SAF, lack of accountability, this budget would alleviate that. Wants to target details of budget increase. I.e "$5 for spring fling, $3 for …."

 

Anda Greeney makes counterpoint: wants student body to make a statement about raising tuitions in general: as in not raise it. Says the SAF isn't being spent well already. Supports Nya's targeted budget.

 

Napat Phichaphop says that it's difficult to ascertain whether or not we're spending money correctly. Also likes the inflation idea. What's the difference between a $45,000 tuition and $45,020 tuition?

 

Iwan Djanli asks if we can get more money from other areas in tuition? Asks Nicole if we could see a file of SAF budgets in the past on the ballot? Nicole says that info should be public.

 

Brittany Mitchell says that $20 is arbitrary number, agrees with Benz. Office budget has gone up, the WSA office coordinator, Lisa Hendrix is new, and lots of office needs haven't been addressed in the past. Sees benefits in the process of campaign: more attention for the WSA from the student body. Would be weary of the 5-year plan, leaving it for the next generation of WSAers. Likes the targeted raise, a little weary.

 

Annie Fox asks if the move to Usdan and keep 190 high would effect our budget. Brittany replies that student groups would be funded by the SBC for office space.

Annie asks if we think students would resist to this proposal. Zach says we must allow for this.

 

Colleen says we should poll the students first, before giving the actual proposal. Nicole says that the best way to do this is would be to present our case to students, so they won't be threatened by tuition increase.

 

Nicole says that we need to ask for more money this year. Also wants to figure out standard fee in future. This year, we definitely need to ask for more money.

 

David Knappenberger wants to know specific debts: Nicole says a lot of it came from change of office coordinators, student groups sometimes don't pay back loans, etc… David wants to know if we had debts, why did we keep giving money, because students might support the raise if they couldn't get funding. Brittany says that students would hate the SBC or WSA if that happened, not think "let's raise the SAF."

 

JZ points out that the inflation thing might not be good in practice because we have more funds for student leaders, new Usdan programs, etc… Doesn't want student groups to get screwed.

 

Benedict says that 4.5% is the Northeast CPI. Repeats what JZ said. With future increases built into the plan, the SBC can plan seriously for future budgets, not have to rely on hypothetical increases.

 

Brittany says the SBC is responsible for bringing in a proposal.

 

Susie Morrison wonders if we could raise SAF without raising tuition necessarily, just gets more money from tuition draw?

 

Brittany says she has explored that route, but the university is still serving students when it spends money. More student activities might mean one less faculty position, or whatever.

 

Eric Spierer: originally voted no on the straw poll, but changed his vote after the conversation. Wants to do MASSIVE PR campaign to explain this process. Hold conferences. "We're helping you do this, so we need more money."

 

Nya Roy wants the SAF to be adjusted for inflation regardless. Also really great opportunity to justify WSA's actions to the student body, wants SBC to show how much money was requested, vs. how much was actually given. Asks if the senior cocktails fee is covered by financial aid? Can we increase the senior cocktails fee only for seniors? Tim Shiner says that the budget is planned to the penny. Financial aid will not cover the senior cocktails pass if it increases. Brittany asks if it's possible to have a separate SAF for seniors.

 

Halim asks about how much debt we're in, and the interest rate. Nicole says it fluctuates, actually not as bad as we thought this year. Last year, we were in debt by $50,000. There's no interest.

 

Discussion of NY Times readership program

Zach Kolodin: last year, the dean's office began making cuts, this year, wants to cut $12000 to the NY Times readership program, which means the SBC has to fund all of the readership program. Wants to know philosophical implications and support behind having the readership program.

Anda says there has been discussion about cutting number of papers. We've been getting the papers 10 cents cheaper, on the provision that we DO NOT reduce the program. Big incentive to not reduce the number of papers. Looking into the possibility of endowing the program.

 

Eli asks if other schools are paying 40 cents. Anda says yes. Zach Kolodin says that the left-over NY Times are taken back… 850 is exactly the number of papers that we read.

 

Stack:

Brittany Mitchell wants to look into endowment thing, can we just push off the dean's office cutting it by one year?

 

Chris Goy says no one will debate the merit of having people read the NY times. It would be very hypocritical for us if we chastise the university for spending more if we don't tighten our own belt. Wants to know if there's anything else we can cut. Zach Kolodin says that Dean Maria doesn't want the budget and the cuts to be made public.

 

Halim asks if we could straw poll how many people actually read the hard copy of the NY Times on a fairly regular basis on the WSA: 22 who read, 5 who don't, 3 who do not wish to divulge.

 

Nick Turner asks how the online program factors into the budget. TimeSelect is part of the program, if we cut papers, we get less TimeSelect. Annie Fox says that it doesn't matter because the library gets the times online anyway.

 

Ester B. says that the NYTimes program is great.

 

Susie agrees. Doesn't thing the online version is a good substitute, having it there in front of your face is much better. Says that no one reads the library papers online. Isn't there something else in the budget that could be cut?

 

Nishita Roy asks about current funding: $15,000 from SBC, $12,000 from dean's office. Can we reduce the number of papers on campus, more in the library, where people could reuse them? The environmental issue is a valid one.

 

Zach Blau wants to point out 1) having the NYT available is a large selling point for perspective students 2) thinks it's dean's cut is hypocritical if the 5-year plan is entitled "engage with the world."

 

Colleen says that we need to improve recycling if we're going to continue to have hard copies. Why does the dean want to cut the budget? Brittany Mitchell says that the board of trustees has required the whole university to cut the budget to limit endowment draw. Zach says that the total budget for the dean's office is around 3 mil, will cut 250 000 eventually. Colleen asks if you could read the paper, and then put it back on the rack and have it taken away at the end of the day. Brittany says that's morally wrong since we won't be paying for the copy, let's just share, like on trains. Colleen asks if we could get students to share papers.

 

Sam Ruth says that money spent on the readership program is much more effective than programs like "first year matters," and "sophomore savvy" which are also funded by the dean's office. Says that faculty and deans hate the ideas to have students learn everything online via google and the like.

 

Brittany Mitchell says we might look into co-pay program. Also look into other departments on campus for funding.

 

Annie Fox says 1) a ton of papers are wasted just for the crosswords 2) wants us to compare programs

 

Benny says that the NYTimes is one of the most environmentally friendly papers. Also the most important paper in the world, though the international herald tribune is also good.

 

Brittany asks if we could separate sections, so people can just grab what they want…? Maybe.

 

Anda Greeney wants to encourage people to recycle. Reports that he sometimes takes things out of the trash to put into the recycling bin.

 

Napat Pichaphop agrees, suggests putting it back on the rack after you've finished reading it.

 

Susie Morrison says that a small fee might help the number of papers taken.

 

Napat doesn't like the idea of being charged.

 

Nick Turner says we should frame this discussion in the SAF raise.

 

JZ Golden says that if we raise the SAF, and keep the NYTimes, then we would be out of a lot of money.

 

JZ also suggests that in order to cut the costs, we'd have to cut a lot more than just 50-100 papers, because the 10 cent increase. Suggests photocopying the crossword puzzle and leaving a stack of just crosswords by the stack of real papers.

 

 

Report on Trustees meeting

Zach Kolodin wants questions about the Trustees meeting/report.

Stack:

Susie Morrison says that it's problematic that the school thinks of itself in terms of rankings. Wants to know about the future of woodframe houses.

Zach says that the woodframes costs a lot, and must be renovated regularly.

 

Sam Ruth says that the ranking conversations are mainly about how silly rankings are.

 

Brittany Mitchell says that there was a period where Wesleyan suffered from not taking the rankings seriously. The US takes those rankings seriously.

 

Anda Greeney says that if the country read the NY Times it would realize that the US news and world report is stupid. When students lived off-campus, it was much cheaper. Suggests privatizing housing. "There's some fiscal effectiveness for ya'"

 

Benedict Agrees. Goes into details about how the ranking works. A lot of the issues we've been talking about has to do with the rankings. Wants to know the tone of discussion about faculty compensation. Zach says that it was discussed seriously, no promises. Brittany Mitchell says that Jim Dresser (sp?) feels very confident about the solution to this problem.

 

Eli Sevcik Timberg wants to know about capital improvements, is it really as important as faculty salaries, etc…? : Zach Kolodin says that there's a recognized need to replace Hall-Atwater, university museum, some pet projects, davenport (we can't just let it go!)… most capital improvements are necessary, student reps did bring up this issue.

 

Eli also says that the woodframe $250,000 renovation costs are absurd. Is the mafia renovating these houses?

Annie Fox says that the mafia controls a large part of Middletown government.

Zach Kolodin says that woodframes could be sold for less than the renovation costs, but it must be renovated to university standards, which are higher than usual standards.

 

Chris Goy apologizes for being a douche-bag. Noticed that there's some profanity on top of one of the urinals in PAC. Hasn't been any emails about that. A little pissed.

 

Brittany Mitchell says that Wesleyan went through a long period of ignoring capital investments, that's why we have to do all of this modernization stuff all at once.

 

Committee Reports

 

FIFAC

-Usdan Committee is making dates to go visit other dining sites. Should be fun.
-EAC appointed two members, Sam Astor and Alana Miller, confirmation by the assembly pending.  Next steps are to meet and e-mail Tom Kannam with our goals for the year.
-Buisness continuity committee is chugging along.
-Major maintenance is chugging along.  Some maintenance projects are directed at keeping students out of the tunnels, and removing the limited access that currently exists. This is something we should be aware of.
-Work Advisory Committee is working on getting student input into changes.  The highest priority is improving work study job finder website and improving the "money matters" workshops during orientation.
-Chris is going to look into trying to find a way to get student review of/ input into the work order lists  for physical plant. Will bring it up in URLC

 

SAC  

We are continuing all of our efforts from last week:

1. Continuing to find a time for us to meet with the Patrol Commander of the MPD about the issues stemming from the September 16^th incidents

2. Mike Pernick is continuing to work on resolving the Speaker Policy

3. Nick Turner and Susie Morrison are working diligently on getting this student website up and running. Also, if anyone has any suggestions or ideas that they would like to see on this website, let Susie, Nick or Whitney know.

Something new:

1. Jacob Milstein will be meeting with the Associate Director of CFA Facilities about having 24 hour music studios on Friday and has asked for someone from the SAC to be there.

 

URLC 

The URLC met on Friday and discussed:

1.          Damage Charges and Fines. Barbara Spalding came in and discussed some of the logic for the housing fines in regards to Fire Safety. Jeff Miller discussed the justification for Physical Plant room charges.

2.          Adjustments to rank for extreme housing situations. We are currently looking into a plan of action for this. One idea was that the people who got the bottom 20% of the housing lottery for their year would be guaranteed to be in the top 50% for the following year. Fran is going to meet with ITS to discuss the feasibility of this plan of action.

 

QTF  

The QTF met on Tuesday and discussed:  

The purpose of the QTF and who should be on the committee and why

·                                     How does timing and who gets the recruitment e-mails show our value of student voices?  Ensuring that everyone has the opportunity.  (Discussing meeting time)

Things to discuss

·                                     Queer Retreat- needing to find people who will work on this to make it happen

·                                     Finding someone to work on the Queer Website—perhaps both the QRCI and a student worker

·                                     Gender neutral housing and bathrooms

·                                     Raising awareness amongst professors with gender issues including the usage of gender pronouns

·                                     Reporting anti-queer, homophobic acts on campus, e.g. writings

·                                     Looking to the Queer faculty and staff group for support—plan an event between these folks and students—some sort of interactions for all folks within community who identify with Queer

·                                     Queer Pre-frosh Program—queer hosting

·                                     Large issue of how to get things done on campus—avoiding burnout out and groups not working together

·                                     Articulating the value of the QTF and queer issues to freshmen and other communities who perhaps view themselves as outsiders—recruiting allies—reaching out to straight folks

·                                     The queer community's voice in the presidential search committee process

·                                     Role that the QTF can play in reviewing university publications and documents

·                                     Certain possibility of Dean Danny Teraguchi's involvement with this committee

 

SHAC 

1.          Sara Hoffman and Lisa discussed the idea of creating a Sexual Health Alliance for all groups on campus that have a mission to provide information on sexual health.  It is estimated that at least a dozen groups exist. 

 

2.          Joyce asked for clerical help during the flu clinics on October 30 from 12-4 and October 31 from 4-7 in meeting rooms 1 & 2 of the Campus Center.

 

3.          Joyce reported that the idea to email a random selection of students after visits to the Health Center asking them to complete the online patient satisfaction survey has been successful.  She will compile results monthly and share with SHAC.

 

EPC

 

1. Mark and Esther have been assembling some data on our current classes
and professors who might relate to either a Cognitive Science or Middle
Eastern Studies program.

2. We've brought forward the resolution on Academic Review to the full
EPC, and will continue to discuss it with faculty and administrators this
week.

3. We're brainstorming ways to help ameliorate the carrel shortage.

4. After meeting with some SARN peer advisors, we're compiling some
suggestions and comments for the program.

5. We brought up the subject of the New York Times Readership program with
the faculty EPC, and they're interested in making sure that the program
can continue.

 

COCO

*CoCo is doing really well communicating with groups and we are going to
begin visiting groups this week to offer them further support and make
sure that they are aware of the resources available to them.
*The Lighting Tour is scheduled for this Wed, Nov. 1st (weather
permitting). We will start the tour in front of PSAFE at 6:30 pm. Please
join us! We welcome your suggestions for locations to check out on the
tour.
*Dave & Kora will be meeting with Nicole Chabot and Tim Shiner this week
to begin revisions of the leadeship packet.
*We are in the process of setting up a meeting with the MPD Patrol
Commander to talk about Wes-MPD relations; we are waiting to hear back
from people who have been involved in the Ujaama-sponsored and
PSAC-sponsored talks.

 

IPC

The first CRC advisory committee meeting will be this Wednesday, e-mail Anda if you suddenly have become inspired to participate.
Brittany and Colleen wil be going to the SBC on monday to seek funding for the Student Leadership Scholarship
Brittany will be meeting with Maria and Barbara and Ravi from ITS this week regarding the Tree of Power, UR, as well as ITS advisory and the specialization of computer labs (please get on stack to talk about this)
Eric is continuing to work on the Athletic Center Advisory committee, he is currently waiting to hear back from the Student Athlete COmmittee
CHAIRS: you should have already sent Eric your committees questions for the WSA survey, you probably haven't though. DO IT
Colleen will be contacting/ has contacted the Dean of the Divisions regarding potential empty office space for thesis writers, I will also talk to ITS about put lockers in a designated quiet computer lab (maybe even cubicles like pac lab used to have)

Thats all i can think of right now, committee members, please add in anything i forgot

 

EC

-EC met and discussed several issues, including the Student Activities Fee, the management of the WSA Office, and the Academic Review resolution. We also set the agenda for Sunday's meeting
-Faculty/Student Leadership Cooperation: Bill Stowe, the chair of the faculty set out 3 upcoming steps: 1. The WSA President and VP are invited to upcoming faculty meetings; 2. We will be incorporating Dean Maria Cruz-Saco on this issue; 3. Brittany and I will meet with him this coming Friday to discuss further action
-Friday's Argus column was postponed until today
-Questions about other initiatives are welcomed

 

SBC

 

This week the SBC had yet another crazed and busy week. We met with over 25 student groups, most notably, the identity groups that were planning to receive funding for the annual International Foods Fair. Due to the SBC's two-week policy, we were forced to reject funding to those identity groups who came in for funding on Monday when the international food fair was on that Friday.  It appeared that some student groups were under the impression that due to the fact that the SBC did not meet over fall break, the SBC would discount that lost time and accept all late requests. This obviously was not the case. Needless to say, the International Food Fair did take place, and turned out to be a huge success. That is all.

 

CC

 

What we're up to:

-Investigating ideas as to how to improve the WSA's visibility on campus.

-Working on the website.

-Planning our PARTY.

-Anyone who has ideas about any of these subjects is encouraged to contact Estrella.

 

Google "WesUnity"

 

Stack:

Brittany says she will be headlining the proposal to keep 190 high as student space: wants help. Also, organizing some sort of NESCAC student gov. conference. Xiaoxi Tu will forward information about the NESCAC student government forum that was active last year.

 

Zach Kolodin says that Matt Lesser wants to change the way we bring in political speakers on campus. Does not feel that a resolution is the best way to go about this.

 

Benedict Bernstein asks about major maintenance: wants to crown the sidewalks in front of Olin, too many puddles. Concerned that EC is mostly seniors, regarding the meeting with the presidential search committee. Brittany Mitchell says that EC is appropriate because they have a lot of experience with the university, and meets with the president a lot, and represents all the different committees.

 

Benny suggests that 190 High would be great for the CRC. Brittany Mitchell says that the CRC has other places they rather be.

 

Zach Kolodin wants to look into how to use 190 High efficiently and the new Usdan space. Also supports the change of the speakers policy, though resolutions would cost too much time.

 

Benedict Bernstein talks about voting on campus…

Brittany Mitchell says that the voting website is currently free and designed by a student.

 

New Business and Announcements

Benedict Bernstein requests that a discussion of chalking be on next week's agenda.

David Knappenberger suggests writing a wespeak instead.

 

Anda Greeney just checked out the urinal graffiti that Chris was talking about. Will email Dean Maria.

 

Asks about painting the butt tunnels: did anyone talk to the administration? Whitney Matthews says that a summer program was housed in the Butts, Jeff Miller…?

 

Jorge Soto says that the Butt work order came at a bad time?

 

Jen says she's working on the work study advisory committee. Benedict Bernstein suggests talking to Katie Kalafus.

 

Annie Fox suggests that WSA members (especially CC) should be more sensitive about the meeting being a safe-space.

 

Jorge says that they decided to paint over the butt tunnels because the high school students over the summer went through the tunnels to do laundry.

 

Anda wants the WSA to work on a permanent solution to painting the tunnels over.

 

Benedict finds that limiting discussion is very upsetting: Expounds his ideology about self-government.

 

Brittany Mitchell says that it's not true that people only take as much time as they need. Discussions can become very redundant.

 

Mike Pernick says that Jeff Miller specified that he didn't want the graffiti for the summer programs, and didn't take back the work order once the summer programs were over.

 

Brittany suggests bringing Jeff Miller into a WSA meeting.

 

Sam Ruth requests that work orders be made available to WSA in time to intercede.

 

Whitney Matthews says that there was just a lack of communication within physical plant; didn't know they were re-painting until it happened.

 

Anda says that Jeff Miller is a pretty sensitive guy: denounced students last year for streaking. Is this indicative of a larger trend? Brittany Mitchell says that he doesn't think this is the case. Susie Morrison says Jeff Miller is nice.

 

Adjournment: 9:39 pm

 

Respectfully submitted,

Xiaoxi Tu, WSA Assistant Coordinator