I. Meeting called to order at 6:06 P.M.

 

Ryan reminded the Senate that they would need to remain in the room for 10 minutes for further official business and post-meeting analyses.

 

II. Passage of the previous meetings’ minutes

 

The minutes were passed by general consent, pending changes from a change in Santiago’s statements from the word “syllabi” to the “course descriptions”.  In addition, a change from the word “either” to the word “or” on page 3 was requested. 

 

III. Old Business

 

A.     Founder’s Day: Staff Member Appointment

Kenna informed the Senate that she was in dire need of senators to assist in appointing a staff member to be honored during Founder’s day.  Nonda, Xochiltl, and Noel volunteered for the effort.  Kenna wondered aloud why all of the volunteering student leaders were female, and asked if they had a particular staff member in mind. 

IV. New Business

 

A.     Of The Rugby Team And Their Scrumptious Calendar

 

Spencer Jemelka addressed the Senate, first thanking them for passing a series of new laws last semester that allowed the team to purchase a scrum machine, and posited that their pristine 5-0 record was a result of said machine.  To give something back to the community whilst fundraising, the rugby team had created a calendar that the athletic department had deemed unscrupulous.  Since under Article II the Senate was in charge of their fundraising, he was there to secure their endorsement of this endeavor. 

 

Ryan related that he and Abe Cohen had spoken, and agreed that “unscrupulous” was a rather arbitrary term, and added that the athletic department was using their prevention of the tennis team’s calendar fundraising as precedent.  However, tennis was an NCAA regulated sport, while rugby was not.  Kenna identified the Department’s three main concerns as tennis team precedent, nudity (the presence of which in the calendar was promptly denied by Spencer), and students in the background who could be easily identified and had not signed a release.  She stated that the main question in this issue was the role of ASOC when student funded organizations and the athletic department were at odds.  

 

Patrick described the rugby team’s fundraising initiative as nothing short of spectacular.  Kenna pointed out that the administration still has to approve student fundraising.  Ken viewed the censorship on the administration’s part as ridiculous, and asked how this fundraiser could happen.  Spencer replied that they planned to start selling as soon as the background faces were Photoshopped out and Senate endorsed them. 

 

Ryan asked if there could be any legal recourse against ASOC from the administration; Kenna replied that there would not be, but it may be against the rugby team’s long terms interests to risk the administration’s displeasure. 

 

Ken moved to support the rugby team with the stipulation that any administrative recourse would be the rugby team’s to deal with.  The motion was seconded and passed 11-0-1 with Andrew abstaining. 

 

B.     Student Government Status-What To Do When Things Are Calm

 

Ryan noted that although they had a new issue on their hands, Senate should be looking for ways to move forward and publicize themselves now that they were firmly established in the College, pointing to the History Project as an example of projects that could be undertaken.  Kenna advised the Senate to make student government better, punctuating her statement with a vehement “Woo!” 

         

C.    Honor Board Proposal

Nick, a representative of the Honor Board, told the Senate that they would need monies from the ASOC Leadership fund for posters detailing the Community of Differences document and contact information.  Ryan told the Senators that under the rules of the Fund, they would have until the 19^th to ponder this proposal. 

 

D.    GA Update

 

Paolo reported that the first GA of the semester had been a success, but that he was concerned with low senator turnout that had resulted in an inability to meet quorum.  Noel stated that the next GA would be on March 17^th and would feature President Skotheim, who would be discussing his plans for the College.   Ryan reminded the Senators that they were required to attend GA meetings and could not abstain without sufficient prior notice.  He also recommended the Board of Trustees representatives to be guests at a future GA, saying that students could give input on buildings, grounds, budgets, and plans that the representatives could take to their meetings. 

 

Paolo then asked for Senator feedback concerning the GA; Andrew recommended that the Co-Chairs take a more facilitative as opposed to an interrogative role to maintain greater neutrality on their part.  Tilak pointed out that despite the presence of several new ResLife personnel, Kecia spoke for the majority of the meeting.  Dominique recommended seating the guests in front of the students.  The Senators agreed that, overall, the first GA was a job well done. 

 

E.     Finance and Public Relations Committee

 

a.     Funding Requests

 

Mike prefaced the funding requests by informing the Senate that if they funded per the algorithm’s recommendations, the Senate Discretionary Fund would be in the red.  As such, he recommended that the Senate not allocate the additional funding for which guests would be petitioning.  He also suggested merging Senate Discretionary and Club Allocations into a single fund containing the remaining $1800. 

Club/Org	Event/Program	Funding Amount	Vote
APIA	Pad Thai Fundraiser	$95.09	Mike moved, Andrew seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent
APIA	API Heritage Month	3701.75	Mike moved, Santiago seconded, and the motion was passed 7-3-2 with Ken, Nonda and Xochiltl opposing and Tilak and Monikah abstaining.
Bena Li informed the Senate that this would mark the first year in which API students had been granted a month as opposed to a week, but pointed out that even with collaboration with nine other clubs, the algorithm’s amount would be insufficient for even one event.  Ryan asked which other sources of funding they had explored, to which Laura Knuttenen replied that they had received some funding from PB, which was expecting Senate to fund more, and that they had applied to Remsen Bird but had not yet learned the amount.  Mike said that he would support approving additional funds if they had them.    Ken moved to increase APIA’s funding to $4500, and Rob seconded.  Ken noted that the Senate had a precedent of overriding the algorithm for large events, to which Mike replied that their dire financial circumstances were sufficient cause to deviate from precedent.   The motion failed 3-8-1 with Patrick, Andrew, Xochiltl, Monikah, Dominique, Rozell, Santiago, and Mike opposing and Tilak abstaining   Ken then moved to increase APIA’s funding to $4000, and Nonda seconded.  Patrick informed the Senate that the budget is split at the beginning of the year, with 60% allocated to first semester events and programs and 40% allocated to second semester programs.  He went on to say that the number of large events during the second semester this year was unprecedented, and that it would be imprudent to override the algorithm.    The motion failed 4-6-2, with Andrew, Mike, Patrick, Santiago, Rozell, and Dominique opposing and Tilak and Monikah abstaining.     Rozell encouraged the APIA representatives to submit their request earlier next year; Laura replied that they had submitted in November.  Nonda voiced her opinion that the Senate seemed to be punishing APIA for holding their event later in the year, and added that they had no reason not to override the algorithm.  Patrick noted that this single allocation funded them more than any other single club had been funded this year, and went on to say that he felt terrible, and had he known about the many large events next semester he would have split the budget 30-70.    Kenna asked the Senate to brainstorm other sources from which they could possibly fund this event.
Oxy Engaged	Ethical Investing Seminar	$268.80	Mike moved, Tilak seconded, and the motion passed 10-0-2 with Nonda and Ken abstaining
Ken questioned the attendance figure.  Patrick replied that 3-4 clubs were part of this event.  Kenna asked if Ken was the president of this club, to which Ken replied that he was not organizing this event.
Vagina Monologues	Vagina Monologues	$1008.76	Mike moved, Patrick seconded, and the motion passed 11-0-1 with Nonda abstaining
BSA	Sounds From The Underground	$2118.45	Mike moved, Dominique seconded, and the motion passed by general consent
Julian Mitchell specified that this would be a service event since the profits would be donated to the Downtown Women’s Center.  The concert would feature such notables as Blue Scholars and dead prez.  Tickets would be $5.  Ken stated his belief that fundraising was not the primary purpose of this event, as one could conceivably donate the $19,000 needed to hold the event as opposed to the maximum $4000 profit.   Julian replied that this would be a limited fundraising perspective, to which Ken replied that he was viewing the event from a sustainable fundraising perspective.
MEChA/Alas	Semana de la Raza	$3025.36	Mike moved, Patrick seconded, and the motion passed by general consent.
Rebirth Club	Rebirth Week	568.31	Mike moved, Andrew seconded, and the motion passed 11-0-1 with Andrew abstaining
Emma Keough told the Senate that the club was seeking outside funding, and added that the event would consist of student documentaries, speakers, culminating in a car wash.
White Students For Racial Equality	White Privilege Conference	95.50	Mike moved, Santiago seconded, and the motion passed by general consent
Emma stated that this club was also looking for alternative funding sources, and that she understood that the low algorithm value was a result of the event’s low attendance and high cost.

 

Mike reported that there was now -$1281.22 left in the Senate Discretionary Fund, and a little over $3000 left in Club Allocations. 

 

Mike moved to merge the two account funds into one and allow all clubs to access this fund.  Santiago seconded. 

 

Ryan asked if they could move the ResLife fund into this fund, but Mike recommended leaving it intact as long as possible.  Santiago suggested speaking to RHA, since he had heard that RAs had not been accessing the fund; if it was unneeded, they should merge it with the other accounts.  Ken expressed his concern that small clubs would be unable to access funds for their events if larger organizations drained the funds for their larger programs first.  Ryan pointed out that the Club Allocations Fund had only been accessed once this semester.  Kenna posited that in her experience, smaller clubs had been doing their own fundraising this year, which was the reason they were not accessing ASOC funding. 

 

The motion passed 10-2-0 with Ken and Rob opposing. 

 

b.     Public Relations-Shirts

Santiago told the Senate that he had worked tirelessly with Alex Wolf to create the new T-shirt design, so that the $250 allocated for ASOC t-shirts could be put to good use. Ryan pointed out the poignant irony in the Castro schematic.  Rob suggested selling the well-designed shirts in order to fundraise.  Kenna asked the Senate how it would look for them to be buying themselves T-Shirts when they were scrambling for funds to be allocated to clubs.  Andrew suggested that everyone buy his or her own T-shirts to show good faith.  Ken refused to wear a shirt with a criminal on it, Dominique noted that she would not wear the shirt either, but would buy it to support the Senate. 

 

The Senate agreed to purchase its own shirts by general consent.   

 

F.     Committee Updates

a.     Multicultural History Updates

Dominique reported that the committee had acquired old Oxy Weeklies from which they could use articles and pictures, while Tilak had drafted a letter to administrative departments who were not providing the committee with its retention information.  Santiago recommended painting a beautiful mural.

b.     Facilities/Staff Issues

Rozell reported that he would meet with Michael from Facilities tomorrow. 

 

c.      Scholastic

Ken told the Senate that there would be newspapers by the Monday after break. 

 

d.     Administrative Relations

Kenna said that she needed a new point person; Santiago volunteered for the task. 

 

e.     Underrepresented Student Group Support

Ken stated that he had dropped a proposal and now needed to determine administrative support.  Patrick said that he had spoken to the committee about fully institutionalizing Cultural Graduation support so that next year, that $7500 could be put to other uses in ASOC funds. 

 

Tilak handed out reports detailing the process he would go through to formulate next year’s budget, and added that his point people would be Gabriela, Kenna, and Rozell.  

 

Andrew reported that Holly Nieto had provided him with the names of students who live off-campus, and that he was drafting a contract that students could sign in order to receive the expanded Campus Ride service.  He had also gotten in touch with Professor Montag, the new chair of the First Year Reading Committee, and would be meeting with him. 

 

G.    President’s Update

Ryan told of his meeting with President Skotheim; he had informed the President that in the past, Eric Peters would fund cultural graduation and retention-based groups from his discretionary budget.  He asked the President to make whoever filled Peter’s post aware of this precedent.  Ryan had also met with SSAP, and had commended and given props to Don Johnson. 

 

Ryan then recommended that the Senate conduct research on how a college is run so that they would be better prepared to answer the queries of curious students, and suggested that each Senator pore over the findings of the MAI report.   He felt that Oxy lacked school pride, which could be connected with the College’s silence concerning its history.  He wished for student government to be a part of the restoration of this pride. 

 

V. Forum

 

Noel informed the Senate of a protest for women’s rights in Los Angeles on March 8.  Dominique recommended looking into what, precisely, constitutes institutionalization, as all manner of additional rules and restrictions had been imposed upon the cultural graduations, such as the barring of non-Campus Dining food.  Ryan recommended going to the GA, while Ken called for a proposal for the next meeting.  Rob notified the Senate that he would be unable to make the next GA meeting. 

 

Patrick commended Mike for his exemplary handling of the various funding crises. 

 

Ken moved to end the meeting at 7:44, and it was closed by general consent.