Minutes from March 26, 2008

 ASOC SENATE

Meeting Minutes

March 26, 2008

By Thomas Stringer

Passed:4/2

 

Meeting Chair:  Ryan Bowen                                                                                                                                                                                Meeting Guests:  Spencer Jemelka, Bena Li, Laura Knuttenen, Julian Mitchell

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

Senators Absent: Nonda Hanneman, Sophomore Senator

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

 

I. Meeting called to order at 6:11 P.M.

II. Passage of Previous Meeting’s Minutes

 

The minutes were passed by general consent. 

 

III. Old Business

 

A.     President’s Advisory Council Update

Ryan told the Senate that Xochiltl and Monikah had assisted with the Presidential Advisory Council.  Xochiltl formatted the e-mail, whilst Monikah aided with syntax construction and administrative support.  The Council had brought up transparency in the administration, particularly among the Board of Trustees, as a top concern, while lauding the Oxy community and faculty.  They also recommended bringing up registration issues and the College’s commitment to multiculturalism as future GA topics; to this end, Monikah recommended inviting the GA Co-chairs to the next Council. 

 

B.     Newspapers Update

Santiago informed the Senate that the L.A. Times had stopped delivering papers to Oxy, and told them of his plan to increase the influx of New York Times newspapers.  Ryan asked if the project was on budget; Santiago replied that this was dependent on the amount of New York Times he ordered.  Ken advised to order enough to stay on budget through the remainder of the semester. 

 

C.    Budget Planning

Ryan reported that he and Kenna had formulated a budget voting deadline; the first meeting would occur on April 9, and the Senate would vote on the plan April 16^th.  They also planned on inviting Student Services to engage in non-adversarial conversation.  Rob asked if the Senate would see Student Services line items; Kenna replied in the affirmative, saying that she would have many helpful past budgets handy.   

 

IV. New Business

 

A.     GA Update

Ryan recommended contacting Dennis Collins for the next GA. He went on to say that it would be favorable to have an actual Board of Trustees member in the GA, and that it could be presented to them as a method through which to increase transparency.  Kenna asked if there was an administration contact; Ryan named Rosita Farr. 

 

B.     Finance and Public Relations Committee

a.     Funding Requests

Club/Org	Event/Program	Funding Amount	Vote
Relay For Life	Relay For Life	$379.76	Mike moved, and the motion was passed by general consent.
Linguistics Club	Spanish-based Linguistics Talk	$128.21	Mike moved, Rozell seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent.
Mike informed the Senate that this particular request was retroactive due to e-mail mix-ups.
Oxy Engaged	Beach Party	Pending request modifications	Mike moved, Patrick seconded, and the motion passed 11-0-1 with Ken abstaining
Ken told the Senate that there would be no speakers or accompanying gift baskets, and to modify the funding accordingly
Capoeira Club	Intro To Capoeira	$178.51	Mike moved, Rozell seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent.
Vagina Monologues	Vagina Monologues	$161.61	Mike moved, Andrew seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent.
Economics Club	Investment Challenge	$40.00	Mike moved, Dominique seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent.
Mike noted that the algorithm had allocated more to the Econ Club, but since the Senate could not fund prizes, it could only fund the $40 of non-prize items.

 

Mike reported that after this week, the Senate would have roughly $1300 of discretionary funds, and that he would have a proposal concerning alternative sources of funding by next week.

 

Xochiltl asked why the Senate does not fund prizes; Mike replied that it would constitute giving money directly to individuals.  Rob pointed out that Programming Board had prizes for The Getaway, to which Patrick answered that those prizes originated from their own discretionary budget.

 

b.     PR Committee

Santiago moved to pay the T-shirt vendors.  He had not paid beforehand since the vendors gave him an invoice upon delivery.  The motion was seconded, then amended it so that the Senate would withdraw $98.70 to cover those who had not yet paid.  The motion passed by general consent. 

 

Ryan stated his belief that the Senate had been heavily slacking in the area of communicating with the student body.  Santiago replied that once current Senate projects were completed, a large poster could be constructed praising the glories of Senate in a flamboyant font. 

 

Ryan asked Dominique about the status of the quad-sits.  Dominique replied that she was not “here”, but gave no indication as to whether “Tony” was present.  Ryan asked Dominique to check in for two minutes.  She reported that students did not seem responsive to quad-sit related stimuli, and would be more likely to respond to e-mails.  Ryan forecasted a positive reception for this strategy among the germophobe community.  Xochiltl suggested a mixer as opposed to quad-sits to publicize Senate.  Ryan supported this, saying it could be done with Advisory Council funds.  Santiago asked if Ryan was insinuating the possibility of an ice cream social. 

 

Ryan then opened up the possibility of fundraising through the ASOC T-shirts, as the student body at large had coveted them.  He asked Santiago to contact the T-shirt printer to determine prices.  Ken asked if this would ultimately be worth the Senate’s time, given that they would buy the shirts for $14 and sell for $20.  Santiago replied that the shirts would most likely be cheaper as the design template now existed.  Ryan and Santiago pledged to move forward on the issue. 

 

C.    Committee Updates

a.     Multicultural History

Dominique reported that she was waiting for other members to collect their various materials while she worked on an introduction for the book itself.  Santiago asked when the event accompanying the book would be; Ryan replied that it would be on Founder’s Eve before the Presidential or Alumni dinner.  Rob suggested informing the retention groups of this event. 

b.     Facilities Staff Issues

Rozell had nothing new to report. 

                   c. Scholastic

Santiago and Ken had nothing new to report. 

d.     Administrative Relations

Santiago told the Senate that he would be holding a meeting with Dean Salisbury and past GA Co-chairs to determine how GA can be more effectively used, and asked Rob to coordinate a list of topics and questions.  Possible questions floated were the role of administration in the context of the GA and how they managed GA input.  He wished to receive funds from the ASOC Leadership Fund to pay for pizzas, but had no proposal.  Kenna said that she would be able to attend. 

e.     Underrepresented Student Groups

Patrick expressed his wish to either overhaul or discard the proposal concerning underrepresented student groups in the GA.  Ryan noted that the next GA was coming up, and advised preparation. 

f.       Andrew Committee (or: Chillin’ On DeBlock)

Andrew reported that he had been forwarding Holly Nieto all relevant e-mails concerning the Campus Ride expansion, and that he had been in contact with Professor Montag concerning First-Year Reading; Montag replied that he had narrowed the field to four books to be reviewed by a student committee. 

 

D.    President’s Update

a.     Follow-up from meeting with Dean Avery

Ryan told the Senate that he had spoken with Dean Avery concerning the cultural graduation proposals.  Dean Avery had stated that the institutionalization of these events involved significant amounts of risk management. 

 

Ken told the Senate that he was resigning from his post, and that though he would prefer his post remain vacant, the Senate would need a replacement; they could find one in either one or two weeks depending on methodology.  Ryan said that if there are less than ten weeks remaining in the semester, the president has the power to appoint a replacement and the Senate can vote to confirm.  Ken said that he had submitted his letter of resignation and would be sending a proxy to be his appointee apparent. 

 

b.     Assistant Dean Of Students Search Update

Ryan related that Rob and Tilak had made it to the meeting.  Xochiltl and Dominique volunteered to attend the meeting on the 3^rd.  Ryan said that the meeting would be in Fowler 111, and Kenna added that it would be an open forum from 8-9 PM. 

 

c.      1:1 Signups

Ryan told the Senate that he would be available from 10-12 the following morning, and from 11:30 on Friday.  He would also write President Skotheim to determine if he would have dinner with the Senate. 

 

V. Forum

                  A, General Comments

Kenna mentioned the April 4 deadline for Leadership awards, urging the senators to nominate a person or organization.  She also mentioned that she would be meeting with Daniel Lawler concerning elections. 

 

                   B. The Farewell Address Of Senator Kenneth Smutny

 

Ken addressed the Senate, telling them that he felt as if he had learned a lot about how bureaucracy does or does not work, and that he would do it again given the chance.  He exhorted the other senators to stay out of meetings, since the school would more or less run itself, and to instead do what gave them life.

 

Thunderous applause ensued. 

 

Ken moved to close the meeting at 7:32 Pm, and the meeting was closed by general consent.