At Least We Beat Them in College Bowl…
College
Council Minutes for 2/28/01
[introduction]
Todd Rogers (Co-President) announced that the extended snack bar
hours go into effect this weekend and thanked Chris Koegel (At-Large)
and Joe Masters (Secretary) for their work on the project. He continued by reminding everyone that the
College Council elections will be next Tuesday and Wednesday on JOSE
(jose.Williams.edu). There are two
scheduled debates in the next few days: the Minority Issues Debate will be on
Friday at 5pm in Goodrich, and the College Council-sponsored debate will be on
Sunday, starting at 7pm in Goodrich.
The CC debate starts with speeches from candidates not running for the
presidential seats followed by a presidential debate at 8pm.
Todd also announced a correction to last week’s minutes –
the statistic that minority student satisfaction had declined over the past ten
years was not included in the packet that faculty were given at the last
faculty meeting. Todd wrapped up
by asking representatives to continue the discussion on governance and
structure.
Tim Karpoff (Mark Hopkins), for the story of the week, revealed
that he had just been informed by Harvard Law School that they lost his
application.
[funding - $20,516 left]
Lydia Haile, from College Bowl, came to request money from the
Nationals fund for two College Bowl national tournaments (they participate in
several different tournament formats, and each format has its own
nationals). This year, they beat Yale
at NAQT regionals and won CBI regionals (apparently Harvard “forgot” to show
up; Williams beat them the two previous years). This is only the second College Bowl team in the Northeast region
to be invited to nationals three years in a row (the other one was a Harvard
team in the early 80s).
Anyhow, CBI nationals will
cost $2422.44 total ($1977.50 in airfare, $421.54 for the hotel, and $23.40 for
a trip to the Albany airport) and NAQT nationals will be $1217.40 ($916 in
airfare, $218 for the hotel, $60 entry fee, and $23.40 for a trip to Albany
airport). College Bowl has $350 in
their current account, and the Dean’s Office graciously offered to pick up half
of the remaining tab, so Lydia requested the remaining $1,644.92 from
Council. Darah Schofield
(Bryant/Woodbridge) asked how many Williams clubs had the chance to go to two
nationals. Nishant Nayyar
(At-Large) replied that the Debate team would be eligible for two different
nationals, but they don’t practice for one of the formats (and thus don’t go to
that national tournament). After some
congratulatory comments, CC voted to approve $1,644.92 out of the Nationals
Fund for College Bowl: 25-0-3.
Bill Sacks came to request $200 from the Group Contingency Fund
to bring in a band ($100) and a caller ($100) for a contra dance on April 13th
in Goodrich. Because this contra dance
will be coming a week after another contra dance in the First Congregational
Church, Ari Kessler (Morgan/Lehman) asked if the event could be held on
a different weekend. Bill explained
that Dancing Folk had held back-to-back contra dances before, and they’re
always well attended. Bill also
pointed out that they’re getting this band for a big discount; usually each
member of a band costs $100, but this entire band costs $100 – apparently the
parent of a student plays in the band. Karpoff
felt a bit uneasy paying a parent to visit their kids in school. Ari disagreed, pointing out that any
way a group can get a discount is good.
Although there was a slight concern that the Montreal trip is happening
that same weekend, CC voted to fund the full $200 20-4-3.
Lowell Jacobson requested funding for the Williams Objectivists to
fund a speaker on Earth Day. However,
this would not be a typical Earth Day speaker – Richard Salsman is a noted
authority on banking, capitalism, supply-side economics (…), market price
efficiency and objective methods of financial asset forecasting. His speaker’s fee is $750, but the Ayn Rand
Institute will pay for $300 of that. It
was not the speaker, however, that drew CC criticism. Rather, CC members targeted the $50 request for publicity. Shenil Saya (At-Large) explained that
he is “going nuts looking at posters.”
To which Todd pointed out that Shenil might be the largest
poster offender on campus right now.
Ryan Mayhew (Treasurer) explained that it’s probably more
fiscally irresponsible to cut the poster funding than to leave it as is;
without publicity, students won’t know about the event. Chris Koegel (At-Large) thought that $20
ought to be enough for publicity with the availability of free advertising in
the DA, Daily Messages, and All-Campus Emails.
An amendment to cut the poster budget by $20 passed 19-7-2. CC then voted to fund the Objectivists $480
out of the General Fund: 25-1-2.
Marsha Lynch, from the Steel Orchestra, came with their spring
semester budget request ($880: $350 for tuning, $150 for chroming a
newly-acquired pan, $100 for shipping another newly acquired pan, $80 for
sticks for new members, $50 for paint, polish, and rags, $50 for a wooden stand
for the bass, and $100 for fax and sheet music). Marsha explained that the Orchestra had eight new members
this semester and had received two pans for free (one is rusty and needs
chroming; the other is in Trinidad and needs to be shipped).
Darah asked if members of the Orchestra paid dues. After Marsha replied that they
didn’t, John Phillips (Prospect) proposed that members should pay for
their own sticks, and proposed that we knock the budget down by $80. Koegel pointed out that he spends at
least $150 in equipment to play lacrosse, and felt that it would be fair to ask
members to pay a small amount to have their own sticks. The amendment passed 28-1-1.
Nishant asked if they had thought of charging for
performances; Marsha would prefer to have free concerts – they’re still
just starting out, and a lot of people didn’t see them last semester, so
charging might hurt attendance. In
response to a question by Drew Newman (Frosh Council), Marsha explained
the $100 for fax charges and sheet music – the Orchestra has to get their
musical arrangements from overseas. Ryan
reminded CC that they had funded the Steel Orchestra $1200 on October 4th. Since they’re a new group, he would
recommend they build things up over time, and proposed that CC remove two items
from their budget – the $100 in shipping and $150 in chroming. Catherine Denver (Mills/Thompson)
felt that this was appropriate, and thought that with sixteen members in the
group the costs could be easily absorbed.
However, Ami disagreed, saying that $10 for sticks is one thing,
but funding general group items out of the group is something else
entirely. The Steel Orchestra fills a
very underrepresented niche on campus right now, and the more CC makes members
pay to support the Orchestra, the less students will want to be involved. Christina Villegas agreed, and urged
members to fund the entire budget. In
spite of this, the amendment passed 17-10-2, and the reduced budget of
$550 passed 30-0-0. The concert
will be on the 21st of April.
[referendum]
Ami and Todd both feel that it is important to
have a ballot initiative this election asking students if change should happen
next year. If the response is YES, then
it will give the leaders a mandate to pursue substantial structural changes in
student life. Todd pointed out
that this has become the central issue of the election, and a statement from
the student body would provide a valuable push. After Todd read out the proposed language of the ballot
initiative, John objected to some of the wording. It began “I ask that campus leaders ensure
that an all-campus referendum take place…” John
disliked the implication that members of College Council were “campus leaders,”
and proposed that the language change to “campus leaders and
representatives.” Todd objected,
saying that he was trying to make it as succinct as possible, and that he does
see members of CC as campus leaders.
However, CC disagreed, and approved the change 18-8-1.
Karpoff objected to the idea in general, saying that it’s
not this council’s place to set the agenda for next year’s government. Todd responded that he agreed; this
ballot initiative makes it the campus’ place to set the agenda. With that, the proposal to put the initiative
on the ballot passed 26-1-2.
The text of Ballot
Initiative 1: I ask that campus leaders
and representatives ensure that an all-campus referendum
take place no later than the end of the second week of February 2002 whereby
the existing current organization of campus life (such as social organization,
campus governance and residential leadership) is either re-structured or
re-affirmed.
[all-campus emails]
Joe explained that after speaking to many students on
campus, he sees no reason to stop the all-campus email service. He would prefer, instead, to continue
working on a consolidated central calendar that is visible by email (Daily
Messages), the web (front page of both WSO and williams.edu), and in Baxter (taped
to the mailroom columns like the ones posted during Winter Study). Laddie, who has been working on this
project with Joe, pointed out that s this system grows in functionality
and popularity, the need for all-campus emails will decline.
Ari and Drew both felt that CC should fund the
position of all-campus email moderator so that CC would have some control over
the way it is run. Joe replied
that he doesn’t see the need to have Council spend an additional couple
thousand dollars a year to run the service, when there is already a volunteer moderator
(Fritz Stabenau), and the college-run Daily Messages service. Peter Walke (Dennett) agreed, saying
that we should move to this centralized system. Sarah Barger (JA Rep) suggested that WSO include a message
about the centralized calendar at the bottom of every all-campus email.
[opinions]
-One support for the
all-campus email policy
-One request for a more
centralized calendar facility.
-One voice against the
proposal to change position names to Class Presidents, because that name does
not adequately represent the role of Class Reps.
-One support for the ballot
initiative.
-One request for a web
interface to check how many meals you have left on your card – sent to Joe.
-Three cheers for extended
gym hours
-One request for the email
version of the DA to start up again; Joe replied that it had been fixed
Wednesday afternoon.
-And one concern about
energy deregulation, apparently sent to the wrong email address.
[open time]
Nishant raised some concerns he had about procedure on
council – we don’t abide by it. He
cited two recent violations – this meeting, Ami and Todd brought
a proposal to CC (the Ballot Initiative), and a bylaw instructing CC to inform
its new members about council in one of the first three meetings of their terms
(which has not been done for the representatives elected at the end of Winter
Study).
Todd replied that he wrote the latter bylaw, and
explained that it had been carried out for the house and freshman reps in the
fall. Ami added that sometimes
CC gets really bogged down with procedure, like the way we handle amendments
(basically every time an amendment is proposed, CC gets stuck talking about the
amendment, runs out of time, and then is forced to vote on the amendment and
the full budget back-to-back). Ami
recommended that the new leaders of CC change the way amendments are handled,
and perhaps take a cue from MinCo, which has “Yes/No/Lower” votes.
Meg Cooley (West/Spencer) reported that her attempt to keep
West open over break had failed; Tom McEvoy, Dean Roseman, and
Jean Thorndike met and decided that keeping co-ops, Mission, and Greylock
open would be enough. If students who
want to stay over break don’t know other students who live in those dorms,
there are five or six empty rooms that are available.
Catherine met with Gary Guerin to discuss changes in
the weight room, and announced that there are magazine racks and holder, and
they’re thinking about getting subscriptions to five or six magazines and
getting a collection of old magazines.
Although they haven’t worked in the past, Guerin is considering
sign-up sheets for equipment. There
will also be a new treadmill and another elliptical machine in the next couple
of weeks, and the weight room may stay open late on Monday nights as well.
Terri O’Brien (Gladden) told CC that the Dining
Services Committee had met, and they’ve found that students have given them low
marks for variety again. Apparently
they’ve been trying to improve the variety of food in Dining Halls, but nothing
is working. So if you have any suggestions
about how Dining Services could achieve greater variety of food, email 02tco.
Sarah announced that, in response to an opinion last week,
Goodrich would be dropping their price for coffee for those students with CUPPs
cups. The price will be at most $1.31,
and perhaps $1.00 for a large.
Laddie explained that in order for a candidate to win a
position outright in the March 6-7 elections, they have to receive 50% (+1) of
the vote. If there are run-offs, they
happen a week later. Laddie
proposed that the run-off elections be moved closer to the original voting
date, like the Friday after elections. Chris,
a member of the Elections Supervisory Committee, agreed, but thought that the
ESC must talk about it first. Todd
cautioned them that if the bylaws state an exact date for the election, then it
has to take place on that date. (It
turns out that the bylaws actually do specify a run-off election a week later).
Finally, Todd brought
council up to speed with the latest news about the Sailing team. Last year several administrators tried to
disband the club, but Benjamin Finholt got involved, and they survived
for another year. However, they need to
find funding for a coach, since the college will only pay for half of the
coach’s salary. With an expanded team
this year (around 75 members), they’ll probably be coming to CC to request
funding for the coach.
Joe
Masters
CC
Secretary
wso.williams.edu/cc