ASOC SENATE

Meeting Minutes

Febuary 6, 2008

By Thomas Stringer

Passed: 2/13/07

 

Meeting Chair:  Ryan Bowen                                          

Meeting Guests:

Senators Present: Tilak Gupta, First Year Senator; Xochiltl Ramos, First Year Senator; Andrew DeBlock, Sophomore Senator; Nonda Hanneman, Sophomore Senator; Patrick McCredie, Junior Senator; Mike Myers, Junior Senator; Dominique Kirkwood, Senior Senator; Ken Smutny, Senior Senator; Rob Calderon, Campus Wide Senator; Santiago Mendez, Campus Wide Senator
Rozell Hodges, Campus Wide Senator; Monikah Baltimore, Campus Wide Senator
 

Ex Officio: Kenna Cottrill; Noel Hollowell, GA Co-Chair; Paolo LeCosulich-Schwartz, GA Co-Chair
 

I. Meeting called to order at 6:04 P.M.

 

II. Passage of the previous meetings’ minutes

 

The minutes were passed by general consent, pending changes to clarify the motion to make the guest forum open. 

 

III. Old Business

 

A.     Presidential Advisory Committee Proposal

Ryan asked for input concerning the proposal he had introduced the week previous; it would allocate $500 for the purpose of forming and maintaining a Presidential Advisory Committee.  

 

Patrick moved to approve the proposal, Andrew seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent. 

 

IV. New Business

 

A.     Welcoming New GA Co-Chairs

Paolo and Noel, the new GA Co-Chairs, introduced themselves and were welcomed with a round of thunderous applause.  Ryan asked the senators to give them a refresher as to what had gone wrong and what had not during last semester’s General Assemblies. 

 

Tilak noted that GAs were always very effective for dealing with topical and controversial issues such as ResLife policies and the RIAA suits.  Ken added that if the topic were not hot, the GA would be comprised mostly of the Senate.  Andrew re-introduced the possibility of a different venue for GAs, preferably Johnson 200.  Rob recommended strengthening publicity efforts, while Kenna said that oversight over Senate was also an area that needed work.  Xochiltl stated that follow through in the realm of committee formation was unsatisfactory. 

 

B.     Finance and Public Relations Committee

a.     Funding Requests

 

Club/Org	Event/Program	Funds Allocated	Vote
Colleges Against Cancer	Great American Health Check and Smokeout	$452.01	Mike moved, Pat seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent
Phi Kappa Psi	BBQ	$133.07	Mike moved, Ken seconded, and the motion was passed 10-0-2 with Mike and Andrew abstaining
Ryan asked how the barbeque could be considered educational.  Mike replied that its purpose was to educate students in the area of Greek life.
J@Oxy	Movie Night: Letters From Iwo Jima	$47.62	Mike moved, Rozell seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent
J@Oxy	Valentine’s CandyGrams	$57.55	Mike moved, Tilak seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent
Chinese Culture Club	Celebration Of The Lunar New Year	$792.07	Mike moved, Monikah seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent.
KASA	Korean BBQ	$260.42	Mike moved, Patrick seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent.
Ken asked how this barbeque qualified as a cultural event.  Patrick replied that KASA pledged to provide a form of literature that edified the culihistorically challenged as to the origins of the food.  Rozell asked why Ken reacted with laughter to this explanation, as Korean food had a history stretching back millennia.  Ken stated that both KASA and Phi Psi’s requests were of equivalent merit.
APIA	Remembrance: Japanese Experiences	$466.24	Mike moved, and the motion was seconded and passed by general consent
APIA	Phad Thai In The Quad	$77.32	Mike moved, Andrew seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent
Newman Catholic Community	Welcome Back Dinner	$62.69	Mike moved, Santiago seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent
PUSO	CrushGrams	$165.24	Mike moved, Rozell seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent
Ken inquired as to the cultural aspects of CrushGrams.  Tension reigned.
QSA	ASA Apparel Fundraiser	$248.36	Mike moved, Andrew seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent.
Greek Council	Recruitment BBQ	$641.37	Mike moved, Patrick seconded, motion passed 10-1-1 with Ken opposing and Mike abstaining
Greek Council	Spring Recruitment	$905.48	Mike moved, Ken seconded, passed 11-0-1 with Mike abstaining
Hillel	Shabbat	$53.57	Mike moved, Andrew seconded, passed by general consent.
BSA	Black History Month	$2559.59	Mike moved, Dominique seconded, passed by general consent.
Ken asked whether algorithm factors applied to several events rolled into one, as in this case.  Mike replied that this had been the precedent.  Rozell submitted that the argument was irrelevant, as all the funds were being put toward events that were promotional and educational.  Ken replied that it was not, and that other clubs could exploit this precedent to receive more funding.  Kenna stated that as an administrator, she viewed Black History Month as an event series, and that applying all of these factors to the series was valid.

 

b.     Budgeting Next Year: Finalize May 1^st

The Senate was informed that the budgeting proposal was tentative.  A representative from the Scholastic or Campus Culture Committees was requested to give a short speech.  Andrew stated that he was willing.  Ryan noted that planning had to begin immediately, and that Rozell had worked on it last year.  Rozell assented to participating, as he worked under Gabriella already.  Rob, Santiago, and Monikah also expressed interest. 

 

c.      Quad-Sitting Sign-Up

Dominique told the Senate that she had brought a sign-up sheet with her and recommended that the GA Co-Chairs pull the first shift.  Ryan suggested pairing a senator with a Co-Chair on a rotating basis during the following weeks.  Kenna reminded the senators not to sign up for February 18, which would be President’s day.  Adopting a faux-British accent, Nonda recommended a party; Ryan said that he would be far too occupied celebrating with other presidents. 

 

C.    Committee Updates

 

a.     Multicultural History

Dominique and Monikah reported that they were still in the process of getting things off the ground, and that next week the committee would be on the ball.  Ryan admonished the non-senior members of the committee to contribute more, and reminded them that the project had to be completed by Oxy History Week in April.  

 

b.     Facilities/Staff Issues

Rozell told the Senate that he would speak with and get opinions from Facilities.  The greatest problem facing them currently, he said, was that there were only two Housekeeping staff members and 6 R.A.s to supervise 344 occupants in Rangeview. 

 

c.      Administrative Relations

Rob reported that they had been working on a Student Bill of Rights and working toward greater disclosure of policy-making processes to students from the administration.  Kenna admitted that she was disappointed in how and when students were involved in said processes. 

 

d.     Leadership Relations

Andrew stated that the committee would send out an e-mail to RHA in order to broaden relations with them.  He added that he had not received a reply to his Bengal bus e-mail, but would work with Holly Nieto so that students could register their residences with Campus Safety and then Campus Safety could use their discretion to decide whether or not to transport said student.  Ken replied that this was a personal responsibility issue for students, and that this plan would draw campus safety officers.  Andrew rebutted that it would be responsible for the students to call Campus Safety.  Ryan said that these questions should be asked, as Holly would likely pose identical queries. 

 

Santiago then presented his Newspaper Proposal, in which newspapers for the Cooler would cost a maximum of $720.  He told the Senate that they would have one week to review the proposal. 

 

D.    Scholastic Committee

 

a.     New Capital Improvement Request Forms

Ken stated that one of the changes in the forms lay in the final paragraph, which changed the locales to which the forms would be sent.  Other changes included the minimum request requirement, which had been made more flexible, the cleaning up of the renewal process by allowing the requests to be sent to the GA at the same time it is sent to other places, and clearing expectations for student managers as regards purchase dates.

 

Ken moved to approve, Rob seconded, and the new forms were adopted by general consent. 

 

Ken’s Environmental Fund Proposal was then displayed; it requested $300 for publicity money in order to attract students to the committee. 

 

b.     DOCSAC

Ken said that he had called together the committee members who were left, and told them to fill in the gaps in the committees with particular majors or years.  Madison Murphy had been selected to coordinate this. 

 

E.     President’s Update

 

Ryan told of his meeting with President Skotheim, and attested to his fine character and other qualities.  Ryan noted that President Skotheim had warned the board that they were not paying enough attention to the student life aspects of running the College, but at the same time he was working on the financial aspect of being the president. 

 

V. Forum

 

Rozell noted that the BSA skating event, the only off-campus Black History Month program, was in actuality not being funded for anything off-campus, as they were no longer renting vans. 

 

Kenna told the Senators to be sure and vote for honor board juror.  Ken extended an open invitation to the environmental group at lunch the next Wednesday.

 

Santiago moved to close the meeting at 7:29, and it was closed by general consent.