2011 04 12 Minutes
The New School
University Student Senate Minutes
Tuesday, April 12 @ 8pm
2 W 13th St, Room 1204
Submitted by Kim Hurley, Secretary of the Senate
Present: Sean Elias, Anna-Karin Loureiro, Chris Crews, Kim Hurley, Melissa Holmes, Rachel Housle, Hajir Sailors
Absent: Nicole Park
Suspended: DeLaleu, Fonzie Cuaycong and Jake Atchoo remain suspended, and Minju Bae, Cordelia Eddy and Alex Cline are now suspended for non-attendance under Constitution XII G.
Special Guests: Jen Terry, Sustainability Organization; Hannah, Bronwyn and Adam Gentil; Vox Populi: NSGS Bachelor’s Program Student Union; Migel, Mannes Light/New Light Opera
1. Sustainability Town Hall Proposal
There will be a sustainability town hall meeting on April 22, Earth Day. The plans are for a composting demo, lunch, distributing a green map of local organizations, and a picnic. The meeting will be in Wollman Hall from 12:00-1:00pm. The Sustainability Organization is working to become an official student organization, with John Clinton as their faculty organizer.
They are asking for funds to print 100 flyers and 100 maps. Jen stated that they didn’t think much about advertising, and that they would just flyer the whole school. Anna-Karin expressed concern with them encouraging participation from the student body. Jen said they are reaching out to professors with related courses, posting the event through listservs, and having the information placed on the Portal.
The USS voted to fund $200 to the Sustainability Organization, which passed as follows:
YES (7)- Crews, Elias, Holmes, Housle, Hurley, Loureiro, Sailors
NO (0)
2. New Light Opera Proposal
Migel presented an update on the New Light Opera. They are having Parsons students doing their marketing, and Sean has been brought on as their director. Their insurance, required by the hall, will be funded directly by The New School. The piano tuning and sound equipment use both need to be funded; both are required by Merkin Hall.
Melissa asked if it was their tuner or an outside tuner. Migel said the hall has their own tuner, which is who they’re paying for. He is not sure what sound equipment they are using, but that they have to pay for it. The total amount they are requesting is $735.
Anna-Karin asked about advertising for the concert. Migel said that at Mannes, all concerts are done through Facebook; some posters are hung around the school; they haven’t talked much about advertising for this concert. Anna-Karin asked for the point person to talk to about advertising, as it is essential for USS that other schools participate. Sean said that the way it was described at this meeting, it seems focused for Mannes, to Mannes; the USS is trying to re-focus it towards the whole university, which was the point behind the initial funding.
3. Elections Update
Kim gave an update on the elections. E-mails have been sent out from Tom McDonald and USS, and the information has also been placed on the Portal. We have finalized numbers for the divisions; NSGS and Milano will be merged based on the university and faculty senate mergers of those divisions. Most buildings have had someone sign up for them, but we still need posters hung at Parsons East, Fashion, and Mannes. Anna-Karin will have her roommate hang them at Fashion, Kim will hang Parsons East, and Hajir will do Mannes.
4. Funding Issues Update
Melissa stated that the meeting with ourselves, Karen Conner-Wilson, Shannon Logan, and Linda Remer will be sometime next week. The meeting is to discuss the funding issues that have been going on this year.
5. Board of Trustees
Anna-Karin brought information about the next Board of Trustees meeting. On May 4, they will be inviting us for the first time. Anna-Karin has been informed that she will get 10 minutes to present on the USS, what we’ve done, and what our and the students’ concerns are. She wanted to bring up the possibility of another senator coming with her. Melissa and Sean expressed interest.
Anna-Karin went on to say that we need to sit down and have a meeting on how our 5 minutes are spent. She felt that the student priorities were accountability and community, and visibility with funding. Sean agreed that we should talk about this over what USS needs and what we’ve done.
Melissa said there are a lot of things we need help with, and maybe a trustee member would offer to match the Provost research fund, for example. Chris said we should not be talking about accomplishments or what we need, we should have two demands: one voting student representative on the Board of Trustees, and open access to all Board of Trustee meetings. We need to make the Board accountable to the students.
After a discussion on those differences, Sean asked about the nature of the event. Anna-Karin said it was two parts: a meeting to discuss issues and the path USS seeks to pursue, and dinner, interacting in a casual atmosphere. Sean expressed the valid points brought up by Melissa and Chris. He said that Melissa was valid about not using a celebratory event to make demands, but that Chris was valid about raising issues during the appropriate time. We should start with brief accomplishments, so that they’ll see that we’re organized and legitimate. That makes a deposit for us to ask for a withdrawal: representation on the Board of Trustees.
A representative from the New School Free Press said that as a student, we should be pushing for transparency every time we can. Where is our money going?
6. New Light Opere Re-Visit
Anna-Karin asked what the advertising scheme for auditions was. Hajir said that they have asked people outside Mannes to put up posters; they have also put up posters in all of the dorms and one of the other buildings. Anna-Karin said that there was something lacking between their initial proposal and today. Sean asked what the sound equipment expense is for. Hajir said that to use any or all of the sound equipment, they must pay $500. The hall seats 459.
The USS voted to fund $735 in addition to previous allocations, which passed as follows:
YES (7)- Crews, Elias, Holmes, Housle, Hurley, Loureiro, Sailors
NO (0)
7. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 10:04pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Kim Hurley
Secretary of the Senate