2011 10 20 Minutes
The New School
University Student Senate Minutes
Thursday, October 20, 2011 – 8PM
Location: E 16th Street #1103
Present (10 Voting): Hajir Sailors, Bronwyn Lewis, Melissa Holmes, Katherine Towell, Santiago Posas, Voltaire Veloso, Mimi Clitus, Christin Pettibone, Kathy Litchfield, Chris Crews, Michael Kaplan.
Absent: Fernanda Ormeño, Divya Khandelwal, Michael Kaplan, Rachel Housle.
Guests: President David Van Zandt, Matthew Andrews (Facilities Mgmt.), Paul Gottlieb (Design and Construction), James Dillon (Facilities Mgmt.), Katherine Perkins (Facilities Mgmt.), Pasquale D’Abbraccio (Facilities Mgmt.), Tim Sheldon (Facilities Mgmt.), Gwen Kilvert (Office of Sustainability), Catie Joy (Lang student), P. Michael Moss (New School basketball), Alex Knapp (New School basketball).
AGENDA
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 8:10 PM by co-chair Melissa Holmes, who facilitated the meeting.
Introductions
Group shared how they identify with a preferred gender pronoun.
Additions to Agenda
Discussion on use of USS internal funds added to agenda.
Approval of past meeting minutes (from 10/12/2011)
Spelling corrections and status updates to be corrected. Motion to approve by Melissa. Bronwyn second. Kathy abstain, all others in favor. Motion passed.
Officer Reports (Co-chairs, Treasurer)
Treasurer
Hajir reported that we have spent about 40% of our budget so far this semester, and we have $44,000 left in our fund after having awarded approximately $30,000 in funds to groups so far. Because of this Melissa suggested we should consider placing a $5000 cap on awards to ensure enough groups get funding. Hajir mentioned that some of the money we approved for the Brazilian cultural event did not get approved by OSDA. Chris mentioned that he had sent out a “SAC” funding proposal and asked people to review it, as it covers everything we are already talking about in much more depth. Bronwyn felt having a cap to encourage more people to apply would be good. Santiago and Hajir will be going to events the USS funds to see how they go, encouraged us to do the same, but to let them know if we are going so they can take a break. Michael also suggested we put a funded events calendar on our site. Finally, Hajir said the endowment plan won’t work, as it would cost too much to go through the process of setting up and managing our investment, so the idea was scrapped.
Hajir motions to set a $5000 cap on future funding for student activities. Seconded by Melissa. All members in favor. Motion passed.
Secretary
Chris explained that apparently the letter about Troy Davis got lost in cyberland, and that is why it was never sent out by CEA. People suggested it’s pretty late to send it out now, and that perhaps we could combine it with the Occupy Wall Street letter we drafted, as well as a more general mid-semester monthly update—so it would be an all-in-one email. He also forwarded the feedback we have received so far from the Dinner and Discussion events. Only one comment on the draft letter we circulated. Everyone agreed that sending out more regular e-mail communication like this would be good.
Co-chairs
Melissa gave a brief update on their meeting with DVZ recently. She also had a copy of the Demonstration Policy which was given to her by Linda Reimer. (see notes from Melissa for details on meeting.)
Old Business
USS letter on OWS
(see report from Secretary above)
New Business
Office of Sustainability
Report from Facilities and the Office of Sustainability about green projects on campus. TNS has a new Environmental Health and Safety website, and was awarded the STARS “Silver” rating for our campus efforts. They are currently looking into recycling issues, and possibly going to a single stream recycling system to save money and get a higher rate of recycling on campus. They are currently working on an RFP for that process. Right now office recycling is working pretty well, but dorms are still as problem. Battery recycling has been a success, and recently added hazardous sharps containers to all buildlings.
Santiago asked if we could get recycling bins in the Lang Courtyard. Tim Sheldon said sure, we could do that. Bronwyn said the idea of single stream seems like a good idea. The Office of Sustainability is working on Earth Day planning right now for the spring, and they hope to do a whole week of events. Melissa asked about linking more class projects to what Facilities does to get more student participation.
Student Funding Proposal/Funding Request
Alex and Michael from the TNS basketball team seeking funding to rent practice space for the basketball team. No spaces available anywhere around town except Chelsea Piers. Cost is $200 per hour to rent. They want to have at least 2-3 practices a week to seriously compete. Right now they practice from 6-9 in Washington Irvine HS. Asking for a total of $4000 to cover rental costs for the rest of the Fall 2011 season.
Melissa motions to approve $4000 to cover court rentals for rest of semester. Seconded by Katherine. Mimi abstained, all other members in favor. Motion passed.
Occupy Wall Street teach-in and events at TNS – Oct. 22nd (Chris and Bronwyn)
Chris and Bronwyn gave an update on he teach-in planning this weekend (Sat. Oct 22nd). Plans are underway for a day-long teach-in. Many people at all levels of the university are helping with planning, and there are a number of workshops already confirmed. Everyone is encouraged to come. The schedule is posted on the USS website under events.
It also came up that one of the problems around outreach for this and other events is that people are overwhelmed with their emails, and maybe it is less effective? How else to reach people? Discussion about how individual departments do that. What works best? Do some people already have networks in place to distribute and communication information?
Dinner and Discussion Debrief and Next Topics
Good feedback from everyone so far that was there. The event went well, and there were close to 50 people there during the course of the event. Melissa mentioned that Liz Freidrich—a Milano grad, is interested in doing something on campus around OWS and economics. After some discussion, it was proposed that the next D&D be dedicated to economics and finance. The title will be “Is Your Money Funny?”on Oct. 24th from 6-8pm in the Lang Cafe.
Improving orientation materials (Kathy)
Tabled
Possible Halloween Party (Bronwyn)
Things are too rushed, so the idea for a Halloween party were nixed.
Future USS Parties (Bronwyn)
We discussed a possible end of semester party on December 3rd, so it avoids finals but gives people a chance to unwind closer to the end of the year. We also have the Lang Cafe reserved for November 28th which could be used for something like this is nothing else is available.
Discussion of proposal process (Bronwyn)
It was suggested that we need more time to review proposals before we vote on them, and so others not in the meetings can have a say. It was suggested that we have a 48 hour proposal deadline so that we have time to review proposals before we vote on them. Proposals should be limited to 5 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes of discussion, otherwise we will spend 2 hours on proposals like happened a few weeks ago. Funding page also needs to be updated with new information, revised proposal pdf that Melissa is working on, $5000 cap and 48 hour notice.
Melissa motioned to adjourn. Seconded by Kathy. Meeting officially adjourned at 11:07 PM.
Respectfully submitted by chris crews, Secretary of the USS.
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