General Assembly
Minutes from November 2nd, 2005
Download Word File: Minutes 11/2/05
Download SAC/Student Union Presentation (PowerPoint): Operation Student Lounge
Occidental College
ASOC General Assembly
Forum Minutes
November 2, 2005
Notes by Grace Canby
Kara Abelson, General Assembly Co-Chair, welcomed everyone to the official student forum. The General Assembly is a place for students to bring up issues and policy change. The General Assembly recognizes that the student body is one of many forums that form the community. This is a forum for students to work with other students and administrators.
SAC/Student Union Proposal
Ruben Sanchez (the SAC manager) introduced the project to move the SAC and the Student Union to the Sameulson Pavilion by the beginning of the next school year. He said that the goals of this move were to improve the welfare of student life at Occidental and to provide students with a neutral environment to build community. The move would also create a lounge area and a place of gathering that is comparable to other schools of similar size.
Ruben went on to give figures and statistics to show the importance of a presence of a student lounge on campus. 70% of high school students surveyed said that the presence of a student lounge did factor into their college decision. Another survey showed that students wanted a place to hang out with computers that is open late night.
Ruben emphasized that this project would have two phases. Phase one would occur over this coming Christmas break and phase two would occur over the summer break of 2006. Phase one requires the removal of the benches and tables in the smaller room in Samuelson as well installation of computers, a television, and a speaker system and there would be an introduction of a new student position to maintain the space. Artwork and plant life would create a more welcoming atmosphere that is inviting to all students. Ruben stressed the fact that even if the room has a whole bunch of new additions, students won’t hand out there unless it is inviting.
Phase two (occurring over summer holiday) consists of moving the entire SAC to Samuelson. There would also be the installation of a pool table. Construction would be required to make the space useable. This gives students a place to gather and it will create a central location for information for the entire community.
Ruben then addressed the fact that if there was extended funding the new SAC could operate from 9 AM to 12 PM and could oversee the use of the student lounge. The SAC will maintain a calendar and postings for campus events, community events, campus news and more. It will also be important to work with campus dining to ensure adequate eating space. More importantly, this new area would serve as an information center for visitors. Currently, visitors to the Occidental Campus have no idea where to go for information. This new space would provide that service.
Ruben ended his presentation by saying that this was a plan to improve Occidental and create something that everyone on campus can be proud of. He said that this is our chance to make a difference in the future welfare of our community. Currently we have the support of President Chan but the support of the entire student body and other faculty/staff members is desired. The slogan for this project is “one vision, one voice, one plan”.
At this point the opportunity to ask questions was given to the General Assembly.
Maryann Salvador asked where the money for this project would come from.
Ruben Sanchez answered that the funds would come from several places. First, the capital improvement fund would be the main resource but it wouldn’t be enough. We need donors to the school to give money. President Chan has funds reserved to get the ball rolling. Most importantly, student fees would not increase to fund this.
Ozzy Barron added that with the funds that President Chan had set aside phase one and phase two could get started, but additional money would be needed to finish construction.
Jake Stevens wanted to know how many days a week this new area would be open.
Ruben Sanchez answered that it would ideally be open 7 days a week. This project is supposed to cater to the needs of the students. To fit those needs it might not be open as late on some nights or it might be open later on others.
Benna Gottfried asked if it was in the plans to have printers with the computers.
Ruben Sanchez said that there would be printers and more. Copy machines (color and black and white), fax machines and printers would be available to students.
Ken Smutny asked about what would be the impact on the student fund with the implementation of this project. He wanted to know what the cost of running this space would be in the future.
Ruben Sanchez responded by saying that the impact depends on the availability of funds from the community such as grants and donations. What is important to note is that by moving the SAC revenue from this department would double if not triple. This increase in revenue would also increase the budget of the ASOC.
Amy Laslett wanted to know what else had to be done before the start of phase one.
Ruben Sanchez said that he wanted to gather support from all areas of campus.
Matt Kuzio wanted to know if the plan was to keep the current big screen television or if it would be possible to install a projector.
Ruben Sanchez said that they weren’t set on the current monitor. They might sell it and get a new one that is better for the space that is created. Ruben wanted to highlight the fact that this project should be done right and done right the first time. There shouldn’t be any need to go back and fix and problems.
Honor Board presentation
Matt Kuzio introduced this presentation to the General Assembly. He said that this Honor Board was the third part of the student government. This presentation was to describe what the Honor Board’s role would be on campus. He read the description of the Honor Board from the constitution.
“The role of the Honor Board is to review all cases and alleged violation of the honor code and to make recommendations to the dean of students for action.”
The honor code states that:
“No student shall take unfair advantage of another student.”
Caroline Kim stated that the Honor Board has not been set up yet. In the next few weeks an Honor Board advisory committee will be set up. There still needs to be work on what the exact domain of the Honor Board will be. The committee with consist of an administrator, two GA co-chairs, two senators and two selected students.
Katie Orme went on to say that the idea of the Honor Board is vague. The purpose of the advisory committee will be to gain a variety of different perspectives of what the Honor Board should be. Right now the committee should be established to discuss and structure of the future of the Honor Board. Their duties will include establishing the groundwork for the Honor Boars as laid out by the constitution. If the Honor Board ever goes astray, the advisory committee will reconvene and work out the problems.
Teddy Zou said that there is currently an application process to decide who the two student members of the advisory committee should be. The decision will be announced at the next meeting of the GA.
Kara Abelson asked what the timeline for the establishment of the Honor Board is.
Carline Kim said that, as of right now, the elections will run at the end of the semester before the Christmas break.
Jake Stevens asked who is making the selection process for the two student applicants.
Caroline Kim answered that the three senators on the Honor Board committee will make the decision (herself, Katie Orme and Teddy Zou). She stated that they were placed on this committee during senate training and their job was to get the ball rolling on the establishment of the Board.
Sara El-Amine asked if the Honor Board was created during the writing of the constitution or if there had been an Honor Board in the past.
Katie Orme answered by saying that there had been an Honor Board during the 1960s. The senators in charge of the Honor Board have the help of an alum who experienced the Honor Board back then.
Kenna Cottrill said that she had a copy of the history of the Honor Board and it goes over everything, even why it was eventually disbanded.
Benna Gottfried asked if the three senators giving the presentation were going to be on the Honor Board as well.
Teddy Zou said that he and Caroline would be the voting members on the Board and Katie will be a non-voting member. He emphasized that the Honor Board supersedes the senate and the GA. On this committee it will be more of a discussion of how things should be run and the actual members of the Honor Board will decide how it will be run.
Bylaws of the General Assembly
The GA co-chairs gave a PowerPoint presentation on the revisions to the GA bylaws. To get specifics one can email the General Assembly for this presentation or go to the General Assembly website for more information.
Dane Muckler asked if students could be officers as well as student service heads.
Kenna Cottrill said that the bylaw does not state this, but student can not be senators and student service heads.
Carloin Kim said that this rule is also stated in the senate bylaws.
Patrice Hall asked if the GA is working with RHA reps and hall officers.
Kara Abelson said that the GA co-chairs, herself and Matt Kuzio, were thinking of having them attend meetings starting next semester and then send them back to their halls to inform residents about the GA.
Amy Laslett asked if there was any ways to have the hall officers encourage residents to attend GA meetings.
Kara Abelson said that she wanted this as well and it was going to be worked on at a later time.
Amy Laslett went on to ask about open proposals. She wanted to know if a proposal could be changed and changed over weeks so it never gets passed.
Matt Kuzio answered that right now, that could happen. He is working on changing this and this will be presented at another GA meeting.
Max Read wanted to know if there was a process for removing officers from positions when they aren’t fulfilling their duties.
Matt Kuzio said that this was not addressed in the GA bylaws.
Kenna Cottrill jumped back to Dean Meckler’s question about serving on senate and being a student service head. She said that the constitution states that a student can’t hold both positions and that the constitution overrules the GA bylaws.
Ali Raymond asked if there was a way to reach out to student that don’t live on campus. She felt that it was important for them to know about GA meetings as well.
Kara Abelson said that the GA co-chairs have been working on trying to advertise in different ways to get the word out, but that hall spreads are a very efficient way to spread information to the student body.
Matt Kuzio said that they email, stuff boxes, chalk the quad, put up posters and send messages on Facebook.
David Marsh brought up that there were hall lists that went out but there wasn’t a list of off-campus residents.
Patrice Hall said that in the bylaws the GA is supposed to meet biweekly, but it is meeting more frequently than that.
Kara Abelson said that the bylaws says that the GA should meet at least biweekly.
Matt Kuzio then asked for a vote stating that this was an all or nothing vote and that there is an amendment process that can occur after this point.
Vote: 34-0-2
Open Forum
Matt Kuzio asked if anyone had a resolution to propose to the General Assembly.
Don Hammond proposed his leadership laboratory resolution (the full text of this resolution can be seen on the General Assembly website). He determined that this resolution was to be an open resolution.
Matt Kuzio said that this was a time for students to present resolutions but they would be discussed and voted on during the next General Assembly meeting.
Dane Muckler presented a resolution concerning the creation of AD-HOC committee to investigate elimination of the National Awards Office (the full text of this resolution can be seen on the General Assembly website). He determined that this resolution would be a closed resolution.
Benna Gottfried proposed a resolution that concerns the forming of a committee to review the budgetary guidelines of the Student Services (the full text of this resolution can be seen on the General Assembly website). This was deemed an open resolution.
At this time the General Assembly discussed and voted on a resolution proposed the previous week by Ken Smutny.
The resolution was written as:
Student Services are authorized to spend any revenue that exceeds their initial budgetary guidelines for income. At the discretion of the respective student managers, this money can be returned to the ASOC general account, or use to pay for expanded operation and capital improvements.
Matt Kuzio said that he had met with Earic Peters and discussed this resolution. Matt said that Earic would not pass this resolution because the wording is too vague and it leaves a large gray area.
Ken Smutny gave the reasoning behind this resolution in order to clarify the vague wording. He said that he was the business manager for the newspaper last year and that there was no incentive for Student Services to go out and make extra money. He said that if a service, such as the newspaper, made money they could re-invest it back into the newspaper itself. As it stands right now, Student Services have incredibly tight budgets. Currently, the newspaper has to make 9 000 dollars this year but there is no reason for anyone on the newspaper to go and make more than that 9 000. If they made 10 000 we could give them back that extra 1 000 to help them out. Ken emphasized that he knew the wording was vague but he hoped that explanation would clear up any questions.
Matt Kuzio went back to his original point stated at the beginning of this discussion. He said that Earic Peters like the concept and he’s excited about the idea. The problem with this idea is that the wording means that the ASOC has the potential to bankrupt itself. There is no mandate about how Student Services would spen the extra money. These are details that need to be worked out. Its not that Earic is saying no, but the money needs to be accounted for.
Caroline Kim said that if each Service makes a profit it could be used for that specific department. When the money goes back into the pool, it is used for club funding and the discretionary fund. Those groups won’t see the benefit from Student Services getting their money back. What if there is a need to increase club funding or the discretionary fund? There would be a serious funding problem.
Sara El_Amine gave some of her thoughts on the resolution. She said that she worked in the SAC this year and they were forced to raise prices to increase income. She understands the usefulness of this resolution in terms of the newspaper, but when the income is coming from the students themselves that incentive to make more money has negative repercussions. This resolution encourages the SAC and Bengal Bus to charge for student services that might have been free. Maybe in the long term it might help, but it hurts the students in the short term.
Benna Gottfried said that it would hurt the SAC to raise prices because no one would buy anything.
Caroline Kim said that she believed it was ok to change things that were/are free into items that can be charged. She proposed that a percentage of the revenue from Student Service departments can go back into that department, but not all of it.
Max Read asked if there was a way around this to mandate that services that were free can not be changed into things that can be charged. He said that he didn’t know of any way to do this because the media services (like newspaper and KOXY) didn’t have to deal with this issue.
Matt Kuzio asked if there needed to be a committee to work with the administration concerning this issue.
Don Hammond agreed that departments need an incentive to make money. He brought up the issue that when the ASOC breaks even it maintains the non-profit status. If Student Services make money, the non-profit status is jeopardized.
Benna Gottfried said that what the newspaper is doing by selling ads is not really revenue. The newspaper is making money that has to be made as part of their budget. They aren’t making extra money.
Ken Smutny agreed that he did not want to lose non-profit status but he said that there is not way that there will be an accounting profit.
Max Read brought up the fact that besides newspaper, KOXY, and the SAC he didn’t see any other departments that could make money. He didn’t see anyway that Bengal Bus or PB could begin to charge for their services.
Matt Kuzio called for the discussion to be closed. He urged people to consider what the actual wording of the proposal was, not what the meaning behind the words meant.
Ken wanted to close the discussion but wanted to nail down a percentage of profits that can be returned to make this work.
Carolin Kim said that we wait until the committee dealing with this issue makes a statement.
Matt Kuzio asked everyone to consider everything they had heard tonight. He called for a vote to pass/not pass this resolution.
Vote:
5-9-20
Matt Kuzio declared that at this time the resolution had not been passed. He reminded everyone to look at the General Assembly website to view the resolutions from tonight.