Minutes from April 30, 2008

 ASOC SENATE

Meeting Minutes

April 30, 2008

By Thomas Stringer

Passed: Pending

 

Meeting Chair:  Ryan Bowen                                                                                                                                                                                Meeting Guests:  Kristin Beck, Sally Runyan, Renoa Batista

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;Nonda Hanneman, Sophomore Senator;  Monikah Baltimore, Campus Wide Senator

Absent: Rozell Hodges, Campus Wide Senator;

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

I. Meeting called to order at 6:34 P.M.

 

II. Passage of the previous meeting’s minutes

 

The minutes were passed by general consent.

 

III. Old Business

 

          A. Capital Improvement Request

                   a. La Encina

Ryan told the Senate that La Encina’s $3400 request for two iMac computers passed through the GA.  Andrew moved to pass the request, Santiago seconded, and the request was approved by general consent save for the abstention of Mike. 

 

                   b. SAC

The SAC had requested $3577.50 for an electronic ticker board to be used as a visual aid.  Mike warned that the request could dip into the reserve funds; in the worst case scenario, the funding for the board would come from savings, which would mean that less than $12000 would be available for capital improvement requests next year. 

 

Ryan entertained a motion to pass the request on the condition that it did not exceed the 10% of savings for CIRs. 

 

Rob moved to approve the request on this condition, Tilak seconded, and the motions passed by general consent save for Santiago’s abstention. 

 

          B. The Budget: Official Vote

Ryan told the Senate that the only remaining issue was the allocation of the remaining $750 surplus.  Kenna stated that Club Sports had a definite need for the funds, to which Patrick replied that he had seen no formal proposal from Abe Cohen.  Kenna noted that she may have been the sole recipient of the proposal. 

 

In light of this new information, Patrick moved to allocate $500 to Club Sports and $257 to Club Allocations, and Tilak seconded. 

 

Arguing that Club Sports had a definite need for any remaining funds, Mike moved to amend to allocate the entire surplus to Club Sports, and Andrew seconded.  The motion was passed by general consent. 

 

 Tilak moved to pass the 2008-2009 budget, Patrick seconded, and Santiago offered his third.  The budget was passed by general consent, and Ryan congratulated Tilak, Patrick, Kenna, and Gabriella for the work they put into it. 

 

IV. New Business

          A. Funding Request

 

Club/Org	Event/Program	Funding	Vote
Sigma Lambda Gamma	National Convention	$174.21	Mike moved, Andrew seconded, and the motion was passed by general consent
Mike stated that this event was legitimate due to the peripheral attendance and the teaching of the history of the sorority and its values that would take place at the convention.

 

Mike updated the Senate, saying that this funding request would put Senate $3200 into the red, which would most likely be offset by an estimated $4600 of unspent allocations that would be recouped. 

 

          B. GA Wrap-Up

Paolo reported that during the final GA, John Farmer and President Skotheim spoke to the makeup of the Presidential Search Committee, and that Patrick and Monica Espinosa would both be committee members.  He added that he felt that the questions directed at Farmer and Skotheim were not clearly focused, and that in light of the Honor Board cases against Senate he did not think it prudent to vote on the resolutions or amendments on the table, since resolutions can only be voted on 7 days after their introduction and emergency meetings must be conducted with five day’s notice.  Ryan pointed out that this would give GA work to do at the beginning of the next semester, and asked what direction the GA should take next year.

 

Rob recommended adhering to the amendment on the table, which would reduce the required number of GA meetings, which would allow the CO-Chairs to schedule meetings for important events as well as increased planning time.  Mike strongly recommended finding positive ways to increase involvement over the student government, since the fervor stoked by the controversies of yesteryear had clearly subsided.  Jimmy encouraged the integration of the GA into the governmental process, and also advocated for the creation of a historian-type position to bring new representatives up to speed on the recent history of Occidental student government.  Ryan congratulated both Paolo and Noel for doing an excellent job. 

 

          C. Committee Results

                   a. Scholastic Committee

Santiago reported that the DOCSAC, the principal arm of the Scholastic Committee, was horribly inefficient and could use some direction and organization.  He strongly recommended decreasing its autonomy next semester to achieve these ends. 

 

                   b. Newspapers

Santiago told the Senate that even though he had made some errors with regards to the proposal procedure, he had obtained more than 200 signatures for the proposals and had created a popular Facebook group, and would soon submit it to Dean Avery as a clear indicator of student interest. 

 

                   c. Andrew Committee

Andrew reported that he had sent a scathing e-mail to Hollis Nieto, and that he and the 3-5 Year Planning Committee were devising suggestions for next semester to send to Senate. 

 

                   d. Environmental Fund

Nonda reported that an Energy Initiative Committee had been selected, and that she and Ken were working on ways to acquire resources from the Fund.  She added that there would be a senator involved in the Committee.  She and Ken had discussed sending out an e-mail notifying students of the Fund in July, advertising throughout the summer, and forming a Facebook group.  Mike asked how one would opt in to the Fund, to which Nonda replied that it could be done online or through a form in the quad that would be provided. 

 

Ryan stated that he had often brought up this amendment in his conversations with the Board of Trustees as an example of students putting their monies where their mouths are.  This had been recognized by the Board, since during discussion of the renovation of the athletic facilities, they had put much thought into the types of sustainable building techniques that would be used.  Kenna told the Senate that the opt-in window was until the end of September/beginning of October, and also proclaimed that the College would match 50 cents for every dollar donated for the first year of the Fund. 

 

                   e. Jimmy Committee

Jimmy said that his two main projects would be the creation of a manual for the Algorithm as well as the discovery of a way to obtain realistic funding recommendations for larger events.  This would most likely involve modifying the ideal funding per person. 

 

                   f. Multicultural History Project

Ryan assigned each of the Senators a page of the Multicultural History Document to edit, and hoped to finish it Friday so that it would be ready by the middle of next week for the Senate Study Break.  He urged future Senates to investigate the history of multiculturalism at Occidental, as it clearly fell within the purview of the Mission Statement. 

 

          D. The Questionnaire

The Senate filled out a brief questionnaire, crafted by Ryan, concerning their Senate experiences. 

 

          E. President’s Update

Ryan thanked the Senate for doing an excellent job this year.  He also expressed his appreciation of Ken’s service, particularly his dissenting opinions that stimulated dialogue.  He then shared an anecdote that revealed Ken as the impetus of Ryan’s presidential run, showing that we are all connected in the great circle of life. 

 

Dominique wished heaps of good luck upon all present, and advised them to have fun, party it up, and speak to their professors during office hours.  Jimmy echoed these sentiments. 

 

The Senate showed its vast and unremitting appreciation for Kenna through causing thunderous applause to ensue. 

 

Monikah moved to close the meeting at 8:07 PM, and the meeting was closed by general consent.