2011 11 28 Minutes
The New School
University Student Senate Minutes
Wednesday, November 28, 2011 – 10AM
Location: 80 5th Ave #529
Present (10 Voting): Hajir Sailors, Bronwyn Lewis, Katherine Towell, Melissa Holmes, Santiago Posas, Voltaire Veloso, and Chris Crews.
Absent: Fernanda Ormeño, Divya Khandelwal, Christin Pettibone, Mimi Clitus, Kathy Litchfield, Michael Kaplan, and Rachel Housle.
Guests: Amy Minter (Office of the Provost), Jeff Bailey (student), Hammad Sheikh (student/ISU), Ted Kerr (student), Lila Selin (student), Eulalia Brooks (student), Max Kaufman (student), Ashlee Tuttleman (student).
AGENDA
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 10:05 AM by co-chair Melissa Holmes, who facilitated the meeting.
Introductions
Additions to Agenda
No additions.
Approval of past meeting minutes (from 11/09/2011)
Motion to approve by Melissa. Bronwyn second. All others in favor. Motion passed.
Officer Reports (Co-chairs, Treasurer)
Treasurer
No updates or new budget reports.
Secretary
No updates to report.
Co-chairs
New Business
Funding Proposals
1) Social Innovation Initiative “New Challenge 2012″
This proposal has support from the President and Provost, and has established a web site to support its project: www.tnsnewchallenge.com. The project aims to support students who are committed to working on social and environmental challenges at a local and global scale. It will accept student proposals and work to support them, with a final student contest winning a $2,500 seed grant to support their project. They are requesting $5,000 from the USS.
Members are overall supportive of the idea, and hope it will encourage creative and collaborative student ideas here at TNS. Melissa motioned to approve $5,000 for the proposal. Motion seconded by Katherine. All members in favor. Motion passed.
2) Arab Film Festival and Educational Event
Currently the Arabic Studies program in Foreign Languages is having trouble due to limited course offerings and no advanced Arabic classes, which limits students’ ability to advance beyond intermediate Arabic. Ashlee and other students are working to raise awareness of this issue and larger issues facing Arab students her and abroad. She is proposing to host a series of films about Arab history, culture and politics, with the first event scheduled for December 6th. Will also be doing more events in the Spring, assuming the event goes well and there is more support. She is requesting $620 to cover the cost of food, advertising and misc expenses for the event. Melissa suggested to increase the amount to $700 to cover estimated numbers of attendees, and Ashlee was fine with that. Bronwyn motioned to approve $700 for the proposal. Seconded by Santiago. All in favor. Motion passed.
3) Empowerhouse
Students from the Empowerhouse, which were involved in building a house as part of the DOE’s Solar Decathalon in Washington DC this year, are asking for additional funds to help cover the final build and instillation of the prototype house into a real occupied house in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity. Proposal is for $2,600 for building supplies, t-shirts and food. As no one was present, and there were concerns about funding building materials, the proposal was tabled.
Discussion of Noon Open Forum on the Occupation in Kellen Gallery
The issue is complex, and there are competing narratives and differing views as to what did or did not happen, what was ok and what was not, and how things ended. It was further complicated as this was not just a New School event, but a citywide student occupation. Motives and reason for choosing 90 5th were unclear. It is clear there were internal division within the students that also caused more confusion. Discussion about how to distinguish a political action that people support from very real legal concerns about the space? Many students complained about an unwelcoming environment, and this is part of what people felt might have lost it support. There was also concern about the possibility of losing 90 5th due to the landlord’s actions against us.
The main point that came out of discussion is if there should be a larger discussion and organizing space for students–some sort of autonomous space–and if so, how or what would the relationship of the USS be to this space? Perhaps this can be addressed in the campus forum this afternoon (noon in the Kellen Gallery). It was also suggested that people could share their personal stories and experiences about the space, so others can hear how students reacted–good or bad–to the events of the past week. Is there a need to have some sort of basic student guidelines of respect and disagreement to prevent things like this from happening again. Someone mentioned we already have this in the Student Code of Conduct. Also, some people thought that those involved in the Kellen “vandalism” should be punished, while others did not agree.
Amy Minter mentioned that Health Services provides trauma and crisis counseling if any students feel they need it. Many questions, but few answers.
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Melissa motioned to adjourn. Seconded by Katherine. Meeting officially adjourned at 10:54 AM.
Notes respectfully submitted by chris crews, Secretary of the USS.
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