Senate
 

Agenda

 

 

Download WORD document minutes: 03-27-07

Minutes from March 27, 2007

Associated Students of Occidental College

Senate Meeting

March 27, 2007

Minutes by Sadia Afolabi

 

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 Gillian, Junior
Max Thoman-Tedford, Junior               John Wilson, Senior
Caroline Kim, Senior

* Excused absence 

                       

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

 

Guests: Randi Akasaki

I.  Matt Kuzio called the meeting to order at 7:16 pm.

 

II.  Passage of the previous meeting

 

             a. Minutes of the 03/20/07

 

 Mike Myers said that he wasn’t opposed to the consensus in the by-laws but was just concerned about the logistics.

 

i.   Mike moved approve with the changes

ii.  Seconded by Patrick McCredie

iii. Vote :11-0-0

 

Matt quickly congratulated senate members that performed in Dance Production over the week-end (Max, Teddy and Sadia)

 

III. Old Business:

 

Honor Board By-Laws

 

i. John moved to put the honor board bylaws on the elections ballots.

     ii. Seconded by Rozell

iii. Vote: 11-0-0

 

IV.  New Business: 

 

A. GA Update:

 

Spencer Jemelka said that the next GA meeting is very important because of senate updates and ITS that will be discussing whether to take the phone lines out of rooms or not.

 

B. Referendum to create a Renewable Energy and sustainability Fund.

 

Students in the environment class have been collecting signatures to get a funding proposal on sustainable and renewable energy on the upcoming election ballot. They are currently working with professor Hightower. Allison asked about the outcome of this project if this bill passes. Kenna said that there is a document that Matt has that will be helpful. Matt said that he will bring the document that details the steps of such an initiative at the next senate meeting. The students talked to President Prager who agreed that the school hasn’t been taking the lead in renewable energy initiatives but she agreed to match funds for the proposal.

 

Jimmy is concerned about the referendum that is giving students the ability to spend $36,000 because these type of expenses require a lot of analysis and even though students are taking classes on this topic, it’s still a long and hard process. One of the representatives said that it will not be only students but there will be administrators and professors involved. Caroline said that she was approached by several students and she is in support for this. She also said that the fee increase suggested in this proposal doesn’t have any cap and there are students who can not pay the extra fees so this needs to be taken into consideration.

 

John is reminding the senate that signing this is only putting it on the ballot and it’s up to the student body to take any actions. Jimmy said that environment policy are highly inefficient and senate needs to be very cautious and if they need to do it they need to do it right. Another representative said that they are getting students’ support because it’s shows that students are behind this initiative and then they can proceed to  matching  funds from the administration. Matt said that $36,000 is a lot of money but they can always continue with their signatures and put it on the ballot.

 

 Andrew said that he spoke to Mr. Marc and he believes that there are still specific details that are missing on this project. One of the representatives said that this is just a first step action and they haven’t gotten all the project fixed yet however they just wanted to include the senate in this. Matt said that because it’s a class it’s takes away the student initiatives so it will be better to separate this from the class. The second representative thanked every senator for  their concerns and feedback.

 

C. Funding Request

 

ALPHA: alpha male $311.26 @ 62%

Vote : GC

 

APIA: Heritage week $$1500

 

Randi Akasaki presented the event Heritage week and all the clubs that will cosponsor the event. She also broke down the cost of the event. Teddy reminded the board that Semana de la Raza was funded at about 50% and this event is only at 35% . He added that it is just an arbitrary number. Amy asked how many cultural week long event the school had this year and what was the percentage. Matt said that all the cultural events were funded at 50%. Jimmy asked about Remsen bird. Randi said that they are out of money. Kenna added that she updated the senate on Remsen Bird’s lack of fund last week. Mike asked how much money is left in the senate budget if this even is funded 50% . Amy  asked Teddy if the senate can fully operate with the increase. Teddy said that the budget will be safe.

 

i.   Rozell moved to pass at 50%

ii.  Seconded by John

iii.  Vote: 12-0-0

 

Money Transfers

 

*  Gender equity transfers $156 form north country to League of their own.

* Intervarsity  transfers $75.00 from publicity to Canopy cost.

 

i.   Rozell moved

ii.  Max Seconded

iii.  Vote: GC

 

D. Finance and Public Relations Updates:

 

Rozell said that he met with the safe environment and with Jay Stevens to buy a full page in the newspaper for $360 ad. He will add financial support from the administration  and get student clubs to support for this campaign

 

Konstantin and Patrick met with Shannon Watters La Encina chief editor. He passed out his report. Matt said that because there will be a discussion next week, it is best not to get into any debate tonight. Andrew asked to know  in which direction they are heading to. Patrick replied that he doesn’t want to talk without her presence but the best decision is not to renew the contract.

 

E. Campus Culture Update

 

Amy met with the person who works with the cooler food after hours. It didn’t really work but they are thinking about having vending machines that will have actual food such as soups etc… and may be fund it through capital improvement.

 

Caroline is meeting with Dean Avery regarding the graduations and also meeting with Farmer regarding the gym being opened longer for students.

 

Amy said that there is a proposal for a bigger screen and projector for the cooler for events such as super bowl that they are working on.

 

E. Scholastic Committee Update

 

John showed the posters of the big news regarding the library hours. He said that with the new hours the vending machines are being emptied quickly so it will be a very good idea to join Amy and Allison’s cooler’s project for the library as well.

 

Max is still working on reading days. He met with the director of the Undergraduate Research Center and it was very productive. The good news is that there will be more funding available so every qualified student will be funded for their summer research.

 

Matt announced that reading days will not be introduced next year but during the 08-09 academic year . They will have 3 reading days per semester. It can’t be done this year because the calendar has already been set up.

 

 Jimmy said that having the card system to enter dorms will work better with all the thefts on campus. John added that none of the thefts occurred during the new hours in the library.

 

Matt went to the board of trustees meeting and showed them ASOC accomplishments.

 

Senate made a few correction on the list of their accomplishments. Andrew suggested to correct the last sentence in the EMT category. Caroline said to add Meeting with administration regarding the institutional  graduation.

 

Sex  Assault campaign: Kenna suggested to add the student groups that are working on the project. Jimmy added “heighten” to the second sentences.

 

GA:  include all the resolution that the GA worked on this year. Honor Board’s accomplishments and project in-progress. Amy asked if the Trustees gave any feedback. Matt said that they were great and strong.

 

F. Finance and Public Relations Review

 

What did the FPRC do well this year?

 

John asked what is the public relations committee is,  whether it is a club liaison  or a communication device because he thinks the two( public relations and finance) don’t go together.

Patrick said that it was a consensus at the beginning of the year to join these two committees.  Matt asked if the senate wants to work on this.

 

 Jimmy said that the funding committee doesn’t really need a lot of people. Max said that he has been working with John this year and it’s been working smoothly why not split the committees into two. Caroline said that Finance is certainly a strong committee but honestly Public relations is the job of every senator may be appointing a public relations person in every committee might be another idea to consider.

 

Patrick added that it’s easier in theory to share the burden but it doesn’t really work that way but  having one person to do it, is a lot easier and quicker.  Amy said that having three committees and 2 people on them makes things difficult. Finance and Public Relations don’t really match but it doesn’t really matter. Mike said that it is important to have a public relations that serve as a liaison for the senate because for example during the community service day, Patrick was very helpful answering all the questions and concerns of students. Jimmy said adding committees adds bureaucracy and senate should appoint a person to be in charge.

 

Rozell said that campus culture is certainly the biggest but having only person for the public relations might be too much. Patrick said that he did it all alone this semester so it shouldn’t be a big problem.

 

What project should the committee focus on the most?

 

Teddy suggested to plan the club mixer earlier. Mike said to give funding guidelines to students so the funding committee doesn’t have to deal with tedious issues.

 

Jimmy said that even though all the guidelines are there people still don’t know so there should be a training required for them. Kenna said that OSL will be able to do that.

 

Matt asked about the success of the Club Mixer. Teddy suggested to make it bigger. Patrick is willing to do this. Caroline is concerned about handling big events.

 

Andrew is concerned about quad sitting he thinks there should be a better way to do this because students don’t really care. Patrick said that it’s just to eliminate all the issues of complain for example if something happens later, students won’t say that nobody informed them. Amy said there should be a complain or suggestion box permanently or have administrators sit with the senators like last year. Kenyon Chan and Avery where present at quad sitting.

 

Max said that there should be a poster every month being updated so students know what is going on at all time. He also said that there should be something regarding ASOC in Oxy weekly every week.  Matt added oxy digest for updates. Jimmy said that they can put updates in the bathrooms in dorms because often there is not interesting in them. Public relations should work more with RHA. Amy added to use chalk writing in the quad for updates.

 

Konstantin is concerned about club events. Oxy digest has too much events and people don’t really pay attention. Amy said that all posters should have ASOC logo if they are funded by ASOC.

 

Senate Weaknesses

 

Andrew said cohesion is a problem in the senate. Matt said that they will go over this comment when they will be evaluating senate structure.

 

Mike said that the catering policy  wasn’t good for student events.

 

Caroline said that senate should listening more to students concerns because at the open dialogue, she felt like she wasn’t really aware of all the issues happening on campus.

 

Jimmy said that the student government should have a direct involvement on the administrative body that is involved with students and hold them accountable to students. Because student government have more contact with the administration but at the same time they are only in office for one year.

 

Rozell said to have more visibility and hopefully in group to event e.g. wearing senate t-shirts to events etc….

 

Amy said GA attendance/on time is very important.

 

Andrew said that senate should increase its interaction with ICC, PA and other student leaders on campus.  Caroline added that a stronger relations with the ICC will be very beneficial. Amy added to have a meeting twice a semester with all the other leaders on campus.

 

John added transparency, having K-Oxy broadcast one of the senate meeting.  Andrew said that senate should get to know administration earlier or even during orientation let people meet them earlier.

 

Rozell added an administrative mixer for students.

 

Amy said to meet administrators earlier, during the semester for help on projects that are in progress.

 

V. Senate/GA Forum

 

a General Comments

 

Kenna said that the event take back the night is moved to Lower Herrick due to the weather.

Matt said that people should promote senate accomplishments and add the posters in their dorms.

 

VI. Adjournment

 

i.   Andrew moved to adjourn @ 8:57 pm

ii.  Seconded by Max

iii. Vote GC