Senate
 

Agenda

 

 

Download WORD document minutes: 02-27-07

Minutes from February 27th, 2007

Associated Students of Occidental College

Senate Meeting

February 27th, 2007

Minutes by Sadia Afolabi

Passed: 3.6.07

 

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: Maya Tatsuno, Cesar Serrano

 

I.  Matt Kuzio called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm.

 

II.  Passage of the previous meeting

 

             a. Minutes of the 02/13/07

 

Matt Kuzio suggested to change access fund to other Operating expenses funds and also Amy moved to approve to “Operating expenses” instead.

 

       i. Patrick McCredie moved to approve with new changes.

      ii. 2nd  by Jimmy

     iii. Vote: 11-0-0

 

III. New Business

 

  1. GA update

 

Katie once again apologized for Spencer not being able to make it to the Senate meeting. He tutors off campus on Tuesday evenings. She said that this Thursday  meeting will host President Prager and hope student will come. She asked every senator to invite their friends and spread the word. The GA will also be approving a new bylaw.

 

  1. Funding Request

 

  1. Dance Production $ 2,032.00

 

Maya Tatsuno club rep. explained the Dance Production event and the costs of the event. She said that the main cost is the rental of Thorne Hall. She also said that they often rely on the ticket sale to put on the following year’s show and complained about the fact that Oxy students have  to pay to use the facilities of the school. Amy asked why they have to pay for Thorne Hall. Kenna Cottrill said that the cost might be for staffing. Maya said that the cost is for facilities. Kenna said that she doesn’t really have an answer but will work on this. Amy asked that from records, the dance production  didn’t ask money from the senate last year. Maya replied that this year they are working on a different system that required more money.

 

 Rozell said that he asked Tahanee Fischer who is the treasurer and she said that one of the reasons also was that this year there are more dancers than the previous year. Maya added that last year there were 115 dancers and this year there are 180 dancers. Caroline Kim asked about the fact that some of the dancers are buying their own costumes. Maya replied that this year a lot of the choreographers are asking their dancers to buy some of the stuffs and they are also making their own costumes to cut down the cost. Caroline asked whether the Dance Production e-board is using a system such as the algorithmic system to fund their choreographers. She said so far the e-board doesn’t have a specific program but they get together and decide by $ 10 per dancer.

 

John asked why they will be paying for publicity. Kenna said that they might have run out of budget. Caroline asked whether the staffing is from outside or the college students. Maya said that the staffing is from the college but dance pro is paying for the students. Allison asked what will the e-board do if they don’t get enough money. Maya said that they were thinking about not hiring a  videographer and get students to volunteer.

 

Rozell asked if the theater department is contributing. Maya said that things are complicated with the theater department right now. They used to get credit for Dance Production but this year they are not. They are not getting funding from them at all . Jimmy ask if they will be willing to increase the ticket  fees by a dollar. Currently they are $4 for students, $5 for faculty and staff and $ 8 for outsiders. She said that they might loose on the attendance with this strategy. Caroline said that President Prager is aware of the high costs of these sorts of events and because she will be at the GA meeting on Thursday, they should go and address them. This is the same issue with Latino Grad she added.

 

Alison asked that Black Grad is closer to Dance Production  in the amount proposed but Black Grad is getting more funding than dance Production and why. Caroline replied that the grads don’t charge people.

 

Amy said that this event’s attendance is about the entire school (1600). Caroline said that she agrees with this but it is not fair for students who do not have money in their accounts where as Dance production has money. Andrew said that not  funding club that have money is like penalizing them for saving. Jimmy said that this event is one of the biggest and has more students attendance than the grads but senate this year is doing too much exceptions.

 

Jimmy also suggested that this should be funded at a higher rate. Caroline said that she is not penalizing them for having money in their account but if a club has a $2000.00 in emergency fund, she has an issue with it.

 

i.    Mike Meyers moved to fund at $3200.00

ii.   Seconded by Andrew

iii.   Vote 8-0-4 Max, Teddy, Konstantin and Jimmy

 

  1. Mecha /Alas: $ 1,700

 

Cesar Serrano said that because it is almost the end of the semester, he is sure that Remsen Bird funds are depleted and is not sure how much money they will get from them. Caroline asked where they are in planning to bring the key note speaker. The club reps said that $6000.00 is the standard for keynote speakers and they are not even accounting for the other expenses such as hotels and transportation. Serrano said that the event is in early march and the speaker  will also be speaking in the name of  women history month. Caroline also asked if they talk to President Prager about this. They said no. Caroline said they should and they should go to the GA meeting on Thursday and address this.

 

Andrew said that it will not be fair to fund them on this low percentage. Allison asked if they can try some figures because the event doesn’t fit into the algorithmic system. They decided that if they want to fund them at 50%, it will be $ 2,565.00. Caroline asked if this proposal is final and whether there will no be any room to move around. Amy asked how they are planning to fund the rest of the event. The representatives said they will try around campus, check with President Prager,  Earic Peters and Dean Avery. Allison said that funding them at 50% is very high.

 

  i.   Andrew moved to approve at $ 2,565.00

 ii.   Seconded by  Rozell

iii.   9-1-Patrick- 1 Konstantin

 

  1. The Oxy Architecture Fellows: Imagining LA $ 368.57

      Vote: 11-0-0

 

  1. History society: Dr. Padraic Kenney $ 136.02

      Vote: GC

 

  1. KASA Korean BBQ $87.16

     Vote: GC

 

  1. KASA: General meeting $ 36.10

      Vote: GC

 

  1. Vagina Monologues: Stop Violence week $ 605.29

      Vote: GC

 

  1. ISO: Gingergrass Vietnamese restaurant: $ 85.09

      Vote: GC

 

Teddy had an idea regarding clubs fundraising. He said that senate should fund fundraising ingredients at 100% so the senate cost will be cut down. Amy said that it is a very good idea but senate should also think about how to cap the amount requested because some clubs can request about $ 1,000 for their funding ingredients.

 

C.  Finance Committee

 

Rozell said that the shirts will be in tomorrow and every senator gets 2 shirts and it will be free there are two colors, navy and orange.

 

Konstantin is working on the Year book review. They want to have a resolution regarding the contract of the year book because the contract is expiring this year and they are trying to reduce the cost. He will be working with student services regarding this project.

 

Patrick said that there are students complaining regarding condiments in the market place and the cooler and believes that it is an issue that needs to be addressed even though it sounds very petty.

 

Patrick reminded every senator to meet with their clubs. He admitted that he hasn’t been doing it as well but it is a great opportunity to keep information flowing. Caroline said that she wasn’t aware of such a project and will be glad to get a list of her clubs.

 

D. Campus Culture Update:

 

Amy said that the cooler will not have the grand opening as planned this Thursday because the computer just arrived and there are still a couple of things that needs to be done. They are working with the student management services and the sport clubs for decorations and student calendar.

 

Mike Meyers talked about his Community service day which is Saturday the 3rd at 10:00 am. He said that he got the orange wrist bands today and everything is planned right. He had an idea for getting senators involved by leading their groups in discussions so senate can get some feedbacks from students on the event and student government in general.

 

 

E. Scholastic Committee:

 

Andrew said he is glad Kenna is back from her conference and they can start working on the Reading days.

 

John said that he is writing an article regarding the scholastic committee, reading days and library hours to the student body.

 

IV. Senate/GA Forum

 

    1. General Comment

 

  Teddy said that he wanted to update the senate with the EMT program. He said that he wrote the guidelines himself and so far the program is going well with baby steps. He also said that students want the program to run during the week-ends when Emmons is closed but he has worked toward this goal yet.

 

Amy said that there was a discussion in her class about student government and students feel that the student government. has not done anything for them so she thinks senate should have a massive campaign and get the public relation committee involved.

 

Caroline met with Prager regarding the grads and there should be policy changes because the facilities rental is very high in this school compared to other schools. Amy asked why she didn’t get Dean Avery to form a committee regarding this issue. Kenna explained that President Prager is just figuring out what to do. She needs to do it in an appropriate manner instead of forcing people into projects.

 

Caroline and Earic Peters are drafting a report to set aside $ 20,000.00 for graduations because next year there will be one more cultural graduation and the Native American will be added.

 

Katie said that regarding senate publicity, senators can come discuss this at a GA meeting. Caroline said that the meeting can be held in the Cooler. Katie said that meetings cannot  be done in the cooler because programming starts after 8 pm. Unless they want to change the meeting time.

 

Matt reminded the board that there are some events that can’t be funded. Senate needs to be more organized regarding funding. Caroline said that senate should be careful regarding the big request and not compare percentage with other events.

 

Amy said that for next year every funding that is over 1,000.00 should submit proposal in the first 3 weeks of the semester. Patrick said he agrees with this idea.  Andrew said that having people not to submit big event after 3 weeks is not the best idea because it will decrease the number of events on campus and restrict student involvement. Kenna Cottrill said that she can help with information that will be on the club registration packet.

 

Rozell asked Kenna Cottrill if she can go to the GA meeting and explain her new ideas. She said that she wanted to get her ideas clear and grounded then she will be able to do this.

 

Matt clarify the use of ASOC accounts. What to use for inside accounts and outside accounts.

 

V. Adjournment @ 8: 42pm

 

i.    Moved by Patrick

ii.   Seconded by Andrew

iii.  Vote GC