Senate
 

Agenda

 

 

Download WORD document minutes: 04-10-07

Minutes from April 10, 2007

Associated Students of Occidental College

Senate Meeting

April 10, 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: Three La Encina Yearbook staff members

I.  Matt Kuzio called the meeting to order at 7:17 pm.

 

II.  Passage of the previous meeting

 

             a. Minutes of the 04/03/07

i. Moved by Caroline Kim

ii. Seconded by Patrick McCredie

iii. Vote: 9-0-0

 

III. New Business

 

    A.  GA Update

Spencer Jemelka said that this week will be the renovation dialogue and the following week the dialogue on whether or not the name “Sex on the beach” should be changed.

 

B. SAC Capital Improvement Request

 

This request is through the ASOC Capital Improvement. Alison Dempsey asked how much money is in the Capital Improvement line item. Matt replied that about $20,000.

 

i. Alison Moved to approve the Capital Improvement request at $2300

Seconded by Rozell

Vote: 10-0-0

 

    C. La Encina Yearbook

 

Shannon presented an overview of the La Encina Yearbook proposal and why it is important for the student body. She said that the yearbook is one of the longest serving student services since over a century. The current benefit of the La Encina is that it gives many opportunities to students to learn about publication tasks and opportunities in Journalism because all staff members are required to learn Adobe Photoshop and other Journalism software. They learn real world job skills she added. She also said that the purpose of their senate approach is to know what is the direction that senate wants to take with this service. Also, the yearbook is a great way to create a record for the school. She elaborated on the benefits of actual books for yearbooks versus Vhs or disks.

She explained the benefits and costs of using the current publishing company Lulu.  She said that their goal in the La Encina is to be able to serve all students at Oxy. In the past, all students wanted the book and in recent years due to budget cuts, there was a decline in the purchase and they are working really hard to bring this service back.

 

Patrick and Konstantin went over the proposal and they recommend that the Yearbook’s contract next year should not be renewed. They should use next year to work on other cost alternatives for the book.

 

Amy asked if Lulu Publishing Company has a good print quality. Shannon said that it is and the price is good as well. Konstantin asked what directions do they see this going next year. Next years editor that was also present said that they are willing to talk to people to improve this service and so far they are reinventing the book so they are very optimistic. First year student worker at La Encina said that she will be with the book a little longer and is willing to work hard to bring a good image to the yearbook.

 

Caroline said that it is not that students are just making statements regarding the yearbook on the poll but a lot of students have been disappointed by the book in the past years.

Alison asked if there is a way of having the disk and the physical book so students have an option to choose. Shannon replied that it is a great idea but it will not be cost efficient on this proposal. She said that if senate wants to increase their funding for salaries next year, there will be people who will focus on the disks. Teddy asked what are the plans of turn over. She said that next year they have 2 editors because of study abroad and their staff members will be in Los Angeles over the summer so there will be a head start on next year’s. She also mentioned that they have been building on the book since 2003 and she believes that senate will be very impressed about the quality and the diversity of the coverage for this year’s edition.

 

Amy asked how much will it cost to have CDs if senate wants to  fund this and give it to the students for free. Matt asked whether they work with the media services. Are they sharing costs with the other photographers. She said they hired their own photographers. Andrew asked how much they charge for the books. The prices start at $38 at the beginning of the semester and rise up and currently it is $42. Amy asked how much money do they make on every publication. Matt said they make approximately $5,000. Patrick asked about the total sales last year. The total sale was about over 100 copies.

 

Teddy said that getting both is a great idea and how much will this cost. She said that she could not provide any cost at the moment because she didn’t research what the cost of the audio/video edition will be. Andrew suggested that with the new website, there can be a link that will have an e-file of the book and students can choose to download it.

i.    Amy moved to fund for Lulu Publication and a website resource that will be downloadable in order for students to have an e-copy.

ii.   Seconded by Patrick

iii.  Vote: 10-0-0

 

    D. Funding Request

 

  1. Delta: Doctors and Nurses Dance $500

Vote: 9-0-1 (Amy)

 

b. AMSA Pre-Health BBQ $129.99

Alison asked why they need a Bengal bus for an on campus event. Mike said that it is technically not on campus it’s right up on Eagle Rock.

Vote: 10-0-0

 

c. Project 46: The oxy rock Show$299.78

Vote: 10-0-0

 

d. Hillel Holocaust Remembrance Week $184.86

Caroline asked if the t-shirts on the proposal are for sale. Teddy said that they are for people to wear as an advertisement for the event.

Vote: 10-0-0

 

e. ISO International Week $743.04

Vote: 10-0-0

 

f. BSA Bingo Night $140.84

Alison said that the cost of food is too expensive for 50 people. Rozell said he doesn’t know any thing about the planning of this event.

Vote: 10-0-0

 

g.  Compadres $31.48

Vote: 10-0-0

 

h. Hawaii Club Luau $ 467.23

Caroline was concerned about the attendance of the event.

Vote: 10-0-0

 

* Teddy said that so far they only have $2,007.87 left in the budget. Kenna said that there are only 2 more funding meeting left for the semester so they should be on the safe side.

 

 

    E. Capital Improvement Discussion.

The rugby team has requested a scrum machine but the machine cost about $5,000. The discussion tonight is whether the rugby team can be funded through senate in the Capital Improvement fund.

 

Andrew said that he believes that as long as the club will be around for 3 years and there will be able to benefit students even though this is exclusive to only one club, he supports the funding. Amy asked why can’t they get money from athletics? Kenna said that athletics doesn’t pay for any thing that club sports need except allow them to use there fields. Amy said that this is a great investment but she thinks that it might set precedents for other club sports. Matt said that senate does have an oversight over this.

 

 Caroline said that yes senate has the oversight but other students can bring other strong cases and this might just drained the fund. Matt reminded senators that the discussion is not about the purchase of the machine, this is the role of the GA but the discussion is about the definition of the Capital Improvement funds. Amy said that this is not an issue of clubs but club sports because they all need capital improvements and this is very dangerous. Jemelka said that club sports are not funded through the athletics but under the ASOC so they don’t have any means of funding.

 

 Mike Meyers suggested to open this to club sports but lay out conditions on funding procedures such as the longest serving clubs get priorities etc… Max asked about the number of club sports established for the semester. Kenna said that there are currently 9 of them. Konstantin said that he rather investigate at this point to get more information. Andrew said that senate should make a one time exception because of the need of this machine. Patrick said that making favoritism is not the best thing for senate. Max asked if this is an emergency. Spencer said that it is an emergency and that they will be getting it $3000 cheaper reason due to mistakes in delivery from the seller reason why they need to act really fast.

 

i. Konstantin moved to postpone this proposal until next week

ii. Seconded by Patrick

iii. Vote: 10-0-0

 

F. Finance and Public Relations Committee

 

 Patrick updated the senate on his stand regarding La Encina yearbook. He believes that there should be a period of trial before any renewal of contract.

 

Rozell said that his meeting with the safe campaign went really  well and he is currently working on flyers that will be posted in dorms and there is a full page add in the newspaper this week. He also added that there will be a male dialogue tomorrow in Johnson at 9pm and invite all male senators to attend..

 

Matt thanked Patrick and Konstantin on the La Encina Yearbook project.

 

G. Campus Culture Update

Alison said that they had a meeting regarding the printer in the cooler and they realized how difficult this can be but the will do all their best to make this project happen. Amy said that at the GA meeting they will address this issue as well.

 

Amy passed out a memorandum regarding the multi-media system in the Cooler. She said that Earic Peters said that they can use up to $10,000 out of the total budget of $22,500. Matt asked if they will be  putting a proposal through the GA. Amy said it is the next step in their activities. Amy and Alison said that this won’t happen for the next 2 weeks but they will do it as soon as they have the commitment from the administration.

 

H. Scholastic Committee Update

 

Max is still working on the reading days. He is also working on the list of comparative schools. Mike asked what is the next step of making this happen. Max said that he will be meeting with Jim Whitney and take his list to the Registrar and to Dean Franck.

 

Senate Meeting Review


How were the meetings?

 

Caroline said that the meetings were very structured. Teddy said that the fact that the agenda was being sent a day before really helped everyone to prepare for the discussions.

 

Recommendation for next year?

 

Amy said that not letting people to talk on their own was very helpful and also visitors. Alison said that there is too much pressure to vote and make motions.

 

Matt asked if these senate meetings were a safe space for senators to speak on issues. Mike said that he felt very safe but thinks that the environment was not very  welcoming for visitors. Konstantin said that there should be public opinion section for students.  Patrick said that regulating too much the debate can be counterproductive.

 

Recommendation for next board.

Mike said that people should come prepared. Max said listening to concerns. Rozell said that senators should speak their mind in a respectful manner. Amy added that senators should stand out even if they  are contradicting the majority.

 

What would you have like to know at the beginning of the year?

Konstantin wish he knew the budget functions and who are the key people to deal with. Amy said that having a contact with the past senators to carry on projects. Teddy said that he knew more about the funding system and there are certain things that are not going to be done anyways such as Dance Production so if next year some one is interested in fighting for the Dance Production proposal, they should be advised not to waist their time because the department refuses to pay for any extra fees that this will occur.  Amy added that she wished she knew about the cooler’s construction that will not happen until 10 years from now.

 

What does senate do?

Teddy said funding. Caroline said that while she was in the quad recruiting with John she had a lot of this question especially the difference between senate and GA.. She believes that senate is very proactive and advocates for students. Rozell said that senate should show more unity within the group.

 

How does senate make transition faster for first year senators?

 

Kenna suggested to have a mixer for old senators and the newly elected ones to discuss all the issues.

 

IV. Senate/GA Forum

  1. Comments

Matt said that he will be going to a conference next week so the new meeting was decided to be on Monday the 16th during lunch hour.

 

Amy talked about the club sports project that was left out last year.

 

V. Adjournment @ 8:49 pm

 

i. Moved by Max

ii. Seconded by Amy

iii. Vote: 10-0-0