Minutes from April 23, 2008

 ASOC SENATE

Meeting Minutes

April 23, 2008

By Thomas Stringer

Passed: Pending

 

Meeting Chair:  Ryan Bowen                                                                                                                                                                                Meeting Guests:  Spencer Jemelka

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, Jimmy Gillan, Senior Senator; Santiago Mendez, Campus Wide Senator; Rob Calderon, Campus Wide Senator; Rozell Hodges, Campus Wide Senator; Monikah Baltimore, Campus Wide Senator

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 6:06 P.M.

 

II. Passage of the previous meeting’s minutes

 

The minutes were approved by general consent pending the granting of a surname to Senator Gillan.[1]

 

III. Old Business

          A. Capital Improvement Request

Kenna reported that she was unsure whether or not the La Encina request could be processed, but admitted that since there were two more GAs it was a possibility. 

 

          B. Budget Status

Tilak reported that the $200 allocated to Honor Board would be detracted from the general surplus, leaving a surplus of $757.  Andrew reminded the senators that Abe Cohen would probably make a case for the allocation of $500 to Club Sports at the GA, leaving $257.  Mike asked what had happened to the original $2000 surplus; Kenna reported that the surplus had been diminished by the projected salary of the webmaster, though if those duties were absorbed into a senatorial position the surplus could be preserved.  Ryan told the Senate that the next day they would bring the budget to the GA and vote to approve it at the final Senate meeting. 

 

          C. Elections Results

Ryan attempted to congratulate Patrick, Xochiltl, and Kristin Beck on their electoral victories, but was drowned out by the thunderous applause from all quarters. 

 

IV. New Business

 

          A. GA Update

Paolo reported that the next GA would be dealing with the GA bylaw amendment, the Honor Board bylaw amendment, and mentioned that the Student Representatives to the Board of Trustees would be speaking.  Paolo assessed that the Representatives were frustrated, as they felt that their voice was not heard by the board and that they had accomplished little in a year’s time, which reflected poorly upon student government as a whole.  Ryan offered to speak, since he was a Trustee ex officio who was able to attend the general Board meetings as opposed to the committee meetings. 

 

Jimmy stated that the role of Representative was a difficult one, as the Board was not obligated to take their opinions into account.  Citing Spencer Jemelka’s Honor Board case, he recommended greater vertical transmission of information by having the Representatives report back multiple times during the semester instead of appointing them and sending them off. 

 

Paolo said that the other two issues were the GA bylaw amendment and the Honor Board bylaw amendment, both of which required 7 days before they could be voted on.  Ryan offered that since that directive was in the bylaws, which were meant more as guidelines than rules and were not part of the Constitution, they could be bypassed in order that the amendments could be voted on, saying that it would be unlikely for Honor Board to pursue a case involving its own amendment. 

 

Paolo then told the Senate that John Farmer and President Skotheim would be speaking at the April 29^th GA concerning the presidential search, and that students should be asking themselves what they want to see in a president.  Patrick mentioned that he was part of the Presidential Search Committee, but that he had a meeting with Dean Avery that would cause him to miss the beginning of the GA. 

 

          B. Finance and Public Relations Committee

                   a. Funding Requests

Club/Org	Event/Program	Funding Amount (USD)	Vote
Economics Club	Oxy Investment Challenge	$30.00	Mike moved, Santiago seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent.
Mike told the Senate that due to e-mail mix-ups the Econ Club’s wish to request a smaller amount did not reach him in time, and moved to reverse the previous allocation of  3/26 in favor of the new, lower request.
BSA	BSA Banquet	$248.52	Mike moved, Santiago seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent.

Mike reported that they had allocated $280, and were still running at -$3000, although this would most likely be covered by reversals and the surplus, which he could give a report on at the final meeting. 

 

                   b. PR Update

Santiago first updated the Senate on the progress of the DOCSAC, the inefficiency and unruliness of which disturbed him greatly.  During the meeting, he had made the case for an anthropology department.  He noted that the organization of next year’s DOCSAC would be up to next year’s Scholastic Committee members. 

 

Santiago then asked for suggestions for his newspaper proposal, remarking that he would like the administration to absorb the cost, as they had already run the program before and his proposal would cut the costs to less than half of what they had been in years previous.  Ryan asked if Santiago was proposing a closed-action resolution; Santiago replied that he wanted the approval of Senate before he went to the GA to get it approved, lest he be required to go before GA again after further modification from Senate.  Allie asked if it fit under Capital Improvement Request Guidelines; Kenna replied in the negative. 

 

Jimmy stated that the administration had already cut the program; Santiago rebutted, saying that this had occurred under the auspices of a lack of readership; his Cooler trial period would invalidate those claims.  Ryan recommended cleaning up the proposal and adding a section detailing how it would be in the student’s best interests for the administration to fund the program, while Jimmy suggested presenting it to the administration as a trial period.  Ryan asked if the T-shirt fundraisers were being scrapped, to which Santiago replied in the affirmative. 

 

          C. Multicultural History

Ryan told the Senate that since the Project would not be printed by a date during which it would be feasible to hold a reception, he recommended holding a study break-type event for three consecutive nights wherein students could pass through the Johnson Student Center, eat food that would not necessarily have to be prepared by Campus Dining, and bask in the glory of the Project. 

 

Tilak recommended shortening it, as people would be unlikely to gaze at the wonders of the Project for multiple nights.  Ryan suggested holding a two-day event, as it would be a good PR opportunity for Senate.  Rob recommended running Spencer’s presentation on a computer, and Allie suggested having future officers attend the event.  Ryan reported that the document would be about 45 pages long. 

 

          D. Underrepresented Students

Allie shared her views on the Constitution, saying that the Senate was losing a valuable subset of people, and that much pressure would be placed on Patrick to provide a clear system of checks and balances, and that a balance needed to be struck in the Constitution between concrete detail and the ability to go back and question. 

 

          E. Andrew Committee

                   a. First Year Reading

Ryan started off by telling the Senate of his feelings of emasculation thanks to Allie.  Andrew reported that Dean Frank had decided to help form the First Year Reading Committee next year from students and faculty, and as such his work on that issue had been completed. 

 

Andrew concluded by telling the Senate that he had made no progress with Hollis Nieto, and that he would like to meet with the other members of the 3-5 year Planning Committee. 

 

          F. Future ASOC Plans

Andrew said that the committee had discussed a more concrete attendance accountability system, as well as a Kickoff Committee to increase awareness of student government and asking for input from the major players on campus such as clubs and Greek organizations. 

 

          G. President’s Update

Ryan reported that he had had a nice chat with President Skotheim, and that the Senate had been invited to dinner with the President the next Thursday at 6 P.M. 

 

                    a. Board Of Trustees Meeting

Ryan told the Senate that he had attended the Educational Affairs meeting, during which Dennis Collins had expressed his frustration at the lack of action of that particular committee.  The President had spoken concerning periods of normalcy and periods of leadership, and that Occidental needed to assume more of a leadership role.  Bill Tingley had also noted the necessity of  increasing Oxy’s endowment.  Ryan also mentioned that the Board of Trustees was uploading their minutes onto the internet. 

                   b. Honor Board Update

Ryan alluded to the Honor Board case concerning Jimmy’s appointment, saying that he had met with Dean Avery and Honor Board, who had told him that Jimmy should be voted in under the requirements of the new amendment to legitimize his position. 

 

Ryan moved to vote in Jimmy, and the motion passed 10-0-2 with Jimmy and Allie abstaining. 

 

Ryan the noted that they had another upcoming Honor Board case, and that he would like Patrick and Xochiltl to take the lead, as they would be officers nebxt year. 

 

V. Forum

 

          A. General Comments

Jimmy, believing that Honor Board’s case holding student government accountable should be made public, and able to do so under Honor Board bylaws, asked Allie if she believed that the formation of specialized Senate committees constituted Senate overreaching. 

 

Allie replied that Oxy was a very different place in terms of student engagement than when the Constitution had been written, and that much of the student fervor of that period had been lost, having been replaced by a general apathy.  In light of this, she said, Senate committees were necessary and not unconstitutional given the lack of student interest.  She went on to say that it would be the duty of next year’s ASOC to re-invigorate enthusiasm for student government. 

 

Mike moved to close the meeting, and the meeting was closed at 7:26.