2011 10 03 Minutes
The New School
University Student Senate Minutes
Monday, October 3 @ 9AM
Mannes Auditorium – 2nd floor
Present (6 Voting): Hajir Sailors, Bronwyn Lewis, Melissa Holmes, Katherine Towell, Santiago Posas, Voltaire Veloso
Absent: Chris Crews, Michael Kaplan, Victoria Lee, Christin Pettibone, Rachel Housle, Kathy Litchfield, Mimi Clitus, Fernanda Ormeño
Guests: Linda Reimer (Senior Vice President for Student Services), George Fisher (Associate Dean of Mannes), Chris Hooks (Free Press), Hamid (ISAB), Asia Tsuda, James Knight (New Light Opera), Alex Bauer (New Light Opera), Avery Amero (New Light Opera), Sophia Munoz (New Light Opera)
AGENDA
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 9:15 AM by co-chair Katherine, who facilitated the meeting.
Introductions
Group shared one thing they were looking forward to this week.
Guest Introductions
Four guests were representing New Light Opera to request funding. One Free Press observer. One Parsons observer. George Fisher introduced himself at the beginning of the meeting as a welcome, Linda Reimer remained to later discuss the Undoing Racism workshops.
Additions to Agenda
Discussion on use of USS internal funds added to agenda.
Approval of past meeting minutes (from 9/22/2011)
Corrections to be made regarding Michael Joy – that meeting has not yet occurred. Bronwyn and Hajir will be collaborating with Tom McDonald on Sepcial Elections, not Bronwyn and Katherine. All members in favor, but there were not enough votes to pass the motion: moved to online vote.
Officer Reports (Co-chairs, Treasurer)
Hajir noted that the issue of Sisters on the Runway misusing allocated funds had been resolved. No funds allocated during the current academic term have been spent yet. Hajir also presented several graphs breaking down where the USS budget is coming from, and how it will be split up. The final amount able to be used this semester was determined to be $65,481. $5,000 has been set aside as a precaution, should any funds allocated last year be spent. It was shared that the New School Free Press contacted Hajir and Melissa regarding the emergency fund and endowment proposed at the last meeting. There were questions over how the endowment funds would be applied. The paper was informed that it is the intention of the USS to invest these funds, however where these investments will be placed is yet to be determined.
Co-chairs informed the group that they, along with Voltaire, had met with Linda Reimer and President Van Zandt the previous Friday, but did not have the notes on their person. These will be sent out via email by Melissa.
Student Funding Proposal/Funding Request (Guests)
New Light Opera presented their schedule of performances, workshops, and master’s classes to be presented this academic year. $4,800 requested. It was noted that they are in possession of $300 remaining from the funds allocated to them by the USS last academic year.
After the presentation a motion was made to approve funding for the listed amount:
New Light Opera: $4,800
Motion approved by Bronwyn, Santiago, Katherine, and Hajir. Voltaire abstained, pending online vote. As there were not enough voting members, motion moved to online vote.
Impeachment (Voltaire)
Several viewpoints were made known. Group clarified that no official motion to impeach had ever been made. It was decided that it would be best to continue the conversation at the October 12 meeting, due to an insufficient number of members being present to create an adequate dialogue. The rest of the USS will be emailed regarding this matter and pressed to attend the October 12 meeting in order to finally put the issue to rest.
Constitution (Voltaire)
Voltaire expressed concern that the constitution, while outlining the duties of the executive board, did not include explicit instructions on what the remaining senators were and were not able to be involved in.
As discussed at the first meeting, Katherine will be chairing the committee to reexamine and suggest changes to the current constitution. Senators are encouraged to give input, though the final draft will be closely examined and and certain sections voted on separately in order to include the opinions of all members. It was discussed that the current constitution lacks formality, and several amendments could be integrated into existing articles or instead assigned as bylaws. The updated constitution may be considered as a second constitution to replace what currently stands, depending on what changes occur.
Revisiting the SafeConnect wireless policy (Chris)
Tabled.
Forum on Death Penalty and Prisons (Chris)
Tabled.
Undoing Racism Workshops (Melissa)
Milano has been experiencing a perceived disconnect between its minority students and the administration. Melissa has been working with Linda Reimer, as well as student social justice organizations, to determine what should be done to fix that issue. Several options were discussed, including separate student/faculty workshops, a weekend conference, and integrating preventing racism seminars into orientation activities. The People’s Institute was contacted about helping to facilitate these groups. Linda Reimer noted that President Van Zandt is supportive of these measures to encourage diversity acceptance. SafeZone was also presented as a possible organization to lend their support. Melissa noted that several students have already expressed interest in spearheading this campaign, and that she will update the USS as plans progress.
Purchases (Melissa)
Melissa would like to create folders for each senator to use for conducting USS business. It was proposed that these folders will include a copy of the constitution, the opening school reference guide (per Linda Reimer’s suggestion), as well as senate contact information and other useful aids. It was also suggested that it would be a good idea for each senator to have a 1gb memory drive containing USS forms, so as to expedite getting information to students when asked.
A Live Scribe was also proposed to be purchased for the Secretary, as well as the possibility of recording meetings and making the audio available to students.
It was determined that $500 of internal funds be allotted for this project.
Motion approved by Bronwyn, Santiago, Katherine, Melissa, and Hajir. Voltaire abstained, pending online vote. As there were not enough voting members, motion moved to online vote.
Special Election Timeline and Process (Bronwyn)
This committee is being overseen by Bronwyn and Hajir in order to coordinate the special elections to fill the vacant Parsons and Drama senate seats. Ten days will be allocated for tabling and outreach to the schools, with nominations for candidacy being accepted concurrently. There will be one week between the closing of nominations and voting, so as to give students a chance to campaign. It has not yet been determined how many days voting will last, but voting will be done via paper ballot and hand-count. A spreadsheet will keep track of what students have and have not voted. Katherine will be contacting the current Parsons senators regarding outreach to potential candidates, as well as whether those now suspended from voting would like to excuse themselves from the USS and open up more chairs.
Immediately following the close of special elections, work on the spring election process will begin.
Funding Process (Melissa)
The USS website includes a PDF document which incorrectly guides students through senate procedure for funding approval. It was suggested that this be quickly updated to coincide with the release of a Free Press article regarding how to attain USS funding.
Discussed changes include allowing funding proposals at only those meetings not occurring on Mondays, so as to benefit as much as possible from the presence of administration officials. A time limit on speeches, as well as how much of the agenda is actually spent hearing proposals, was also brought up.
E-Readers (Melissa)
Several students have emailed regarding print credit and laptop usage. The contradictory nature of being an institution with a green-initiative while still poorly organizing distribution of texts and credits was pointed out. A preliminary plan to undertake a move towards the Nook and a restructuring of print credit was agreed as something to work on. More information, as well as collaboration with the faculty, Office of Sustainability, and print committee must first be established.
Dinner and a Discussion (Melissa)
After seeing the Free Press article about a fellow student struggling with paying for her education and still being able to eat, Melissa was spurred to establish a forum for food and conversation between students. Coupled with the recent discussions of the death penalty perpetuating racism, it was decided that these discussion groups would occur semi-regularly and tackle current events.
All members in favor, but there were not enough votes to pass the motion: moved to online vote.
The first forum will still be held next week, regarding the Occupy Wall Street protests. $250 of internal funds was allocated for this event. It was decided that the concept of a series will still need to be voted on, but this event is able to proceed as an internal decision.
Political Role of the USS (Santiago)
Concern was expressed over whether the USS was an appropriate organization to take political stands on controversial issues. The student guests agreed that they would prefer the USS gauge the opinions of the students before making statements that appear to represent them. It was pointed out that the USS already funds political groups, and should leave it to them to handle delicate subject matters. Melissa expressed that the USS needs to work on establishing a common vision.
Motion to adjust the Troy Davis letter posted on the USS website: renaming the letter to “Statement in Response to the Execution of Troy Davis,” removing the line “The University Student Senate (USS)” which precedes “This statement is signed on behalf…”, and adding a comment section to the entry.
All members in favor, but there were not enough votes to pass the motion: moved to online vote.
Final Amount Allocated
$4,800 from student fund. $750 from internal budget.
Motion to adjourn by Melissa at 11:32 AM. All in favor. Motion passed.
The meeting was officially adjourned at 11:32 AM.
Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by USS co-chair Katherine Towell.
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