Senate
 

Agenda

 

 

Download WORD document minutes: 02-06-07

Minutes from February 6th, 2007

Associated Students of Occidental College

Senate Meeting

February 6th, 2007

Minutes by Sadia Afolabi

Passed: 02.13.07

 

Attendance:

Matt Kuzio, ASOC President; Alison Dempsey, Campus Wide Senator; Rozell Hodges, Campus Wide Senator; Amy Laslett, Campus Wide Senator; Teddy Zou, Campus Wide Senator; Konstantin Chaykovskiy, 1st year; Andrew DeBlock, 1st year; Patrick McCredie, sophomore; Mike Myers, Sophomore; Jimmy Gillan, Junior; Max Thoman-Tedford, Junior; John Wilson, Senior; Caroline Kim, Senior

             

Ex Oficio: Kenna Cottrill, advisor; Spencer Jemelka, GA Co-Chair; Katie Orme, GA Co-Chair

 

Guests:

 

I.  Matt Kuzio called the meeting to order at 7:33 pm.

 

Matt Kuzio welcomed the new ASOC members Caroline Kim senior class senator and Spencer Jemelka GA Co-Chair.

 

II.  Passage of the previous meeting

 

             a. Minutes of the 01/30/07

          i.  Mike Myers moved to pass the minutes 

         ii.  Seconded by Patrick McCredie

        iii.  Vote: 11-0-0

 

III.  Old Business:

 

       A. Kenna Cottrill’s Update

 

Kenna Cottrill emailed Rebecca regarding the issues of premiums and their increases. She and Matt will talk to Gabriella regarding using the extra money for emergency funds so in case anything like this type of accident happens again the senate will be covered. John asked for more clarifications and Kenna explained that the issue is no longer an insurance issue but how the funding will be disbursed. Amy ask  how the 12 % will be used. Kenna said that she will ask Gabriella. Jimmy asked why the senate should ask Gabriela Niculescu. Kenna said that it is only to get her opinion on the process because she has more knowledge in accounting practices. The senate just needs some guidelines.

 

      B. ASOC  Website:

Amy asked when will Andrew show the senate the new website and whether the calendar issue is being addressed. Andrew replied that the calendar issue is being addressed. Matt also showed the percentage of the students who uses the calendar daily during an academic year to prove that it is a service that students need.

 

IV. New Business

 

  1. GA Update

 

Katie Orme said that her last meeting was successful and that she was very happy to see all the administrators present and ready to answer students questions.

 

She also had a meeting with the Student Abroad Committee and it was very productive. This weeks’s meeting will host  the facilities department. She said that Spencer is working with Honor Board and RHA to campaign in halls for more publicity for the GA.. Jimmy asked why he is working with Honor Board. Katie said that Honor Board because it is a new entity and they need to be more visible. Caroline Kim said that may be the meeting can be outside in the cooler or quad to get more people involved. The senate liked the idea but some senators wanted more information on the workshop and see how feasible the event will be.

 

Amy suggested that if Katie can ask for follow ups from questions at GA meetings because last week a lot of the questions such as the kitchen issue or the cable TV were unanswered. Jimmy suggested giving them the question before hand might be a good idea. Caroline said that Jimmy’s idea is great and she will suggest to get the administrators to answer in writing so students can hold them more accountable.

    

      B.  Honor Board By-Laws

 No discussion

Vote: GC

 

C.   Funding Requests:

 

  1. Latino Graduation 2007: $ 2,500

Two club members were present and explained that the event is organized by the students for the students. Sergio Arteaga one of the representatives is concerned about the food cost which is the main issue. There will be about 500 guests and these are relatives of the graduates.

Amy asked how last year’s funding issue was resolved by the administration. The representative said that the main issue was funding for food and food insurance policy. The only funding that was received was for the stalls. Amy asked if they will be asking the administration for money. He replied that they will be asking faculty members for donations. Patrick was concerned about the number of people that are allowed to come. He explained that they do not cap the number of people that are allowed to be present because some people have bigger families and graduation day is an important day for them so they will like all their family members to be present and some students don’t. His main concern is about the funding. ASOC is giving them 45% but will appreciate if they can get more money.

 

John wanted to know why the budget is higher compare to last year. Christina Franco the second representative replied that last year’s budget was smaller because they were expecting less people but over 200 unexpected guest were present reason why. Mike asked if the ticket can be increased by $1. He said that the committee at first will like not to sell the ticket but they will take this new idea back to the committee meeting tomorrow.

 

Amy asked if this funding (45%)  was the most reasonable and if the board is comfortable with the funding. John was concerned about the funding because last year they got more funding for a smaller budget. Caroline said that this is her constituency and she is willing to help them with the budget and all the administrative work because it is bad to just give them some money and send them to the administration and in case it doesn’t work to come back. Jimmy disagreed with the idea of funding and funding again. (multiple requests) Matt said that the senators should be careful regarding the proposal with this funding for 30 students. Amy said that senate should set a date to approve the proposal because of what happened last year. Mike said that the senate should analyze this proposal even though he agrees with the purpose of the event. Caroline asked the senate to give her a week to help them to go over the proposal.

i.  Caroline moved to postpone this proposal till next week so she can help them and the board resolve this issue.

ii. Seconded by John

iii. Vote 11-0-1 (Caroline)

 

  1. BSA: Roller-skating trip $50.80

John asked why the event  is not being funded as cultural? Teddy replied that it is stated on the        proposal as non cultural.

Vote: 11-0-1 Rozell

 

  1. BSA Black Dialogue:

 Vote: 11-0-1 (Rozell)

 

  1. BSA: Crenshaw  Marching Band 2/2 $ 401.83

 Patrick asked if the event was last week and if yes, then it is a retroactive funding. Jimmy said that exceptions can be made because of the fact that school just started and he will update the website regarding funding requests.

Vote: 10-0-2 Rozell and Patrick

 

  1. Gender equity:

 Vote: GC

 

  1. Ballet Folklorico Sonrisa: Cinqo the Mayo performance: $843.60

Caroline asked if members do not pay dues. Teddy replied that they do. Amy asked if the money if for costumes. Teddy answered that it was only for dance lessons

 

  1. AMSA: Conference in Washington D.C. $100

 Vote: GC

 

  1. Student Labor Action Coalition: Employee appreciation week

 Tabled till next week.

Motion to bring back to the table

Konstantin ask whether allowing them time to get more clubs to support the event will result in higher funding. Amy asked if the clubs that will support the event can be named. Caroline said that this is important because it shows students appreciation to the college’s staff.

 

  1. Andrew moved to approve at $ 819.77

ii. Seconded by Konstantin

      iii. Vote: 7- 3 (Amy Alison and Patrick), 1- Konstantin abstained

 

  1. Women’s Center

RHA should fund this.

 

  1. BSA: Apollo Night

       No funding because ASOC doesn’t fund giveaways.

 

  1. Student EMT

Matt said that so far the senate has about $5000 that hasn’t been allocated because of budget implications and it’s the beginning of the semester. Alison asked what will keep this event going, whether it will become a student services. Jimmy said that Teddy will be left to criticism because it is  currently a club and the money is coming out of senate money. Kenna Cottrill said that the reason why it is a club instead of student services is because of administrative paper work. Matt said that Teddy should start the process for student services by the end of this semester.

i.    Amy moved to use $1000 out of the operations salary funds

ii.   Seconded by Patrick

iii.   Vote: GC

 

 C. Finance and Public Relations Update

Patrick said that the club Mixer was a success and the students enjoyed it. Amy and Teddy will be in the quad tomorrow.

 

D.  Campus Culture Update

 

Mike said that another great event will be campus service day on march 3rd. Food will be provided for volunteers and he has more activities slots open and will take any suggestions from senators. He  has also contacted Christine Spencer from Bengal bus to reserve the vans for the event. John said with the agenda, there has already been things such as the clean up and the senior citizen project so there shouldn’t be any need for more activities. Caroline suggested that Mike should just concentrate on a few projects.

 

E.  Scholastic Committee.

 

 Amy said that regarding the cooler, the computers will be up sometimes this week or next but everything will be done by the 12th . Alison met with Kenna regarding the student advisory committee to the president and more info should come later. Matt ask if the ASOC webpage can be put up as well.

    John will be meeting with Emily Weinberg because the library project is a pilot program and the space is not being taken care of so the project might be discontinued. Matt said that more advertising should be done so students can be more careful about the place.

 

V. Senate/GA Forum

 

Mike said that as far as communication is concerned, senators should make the update more efficient for example via email before meetings. Amy suggested that senators should switch committee persons so every senator has an idea of what any project being developed or that others are working on.

 

c. General Comments

Matt stressed the question of communication with the board.

Matt said that he put a little sign next to the door regarding the light, chairs and food to be put away.

Matt said that senators shouldn’t be late for meetings.

 

VI. Adjournment

 

i.       Patrick moved to adjourn the meeting at 9: 03pm

ii.      Seconded by Jimmy

iii.     Vote: GC