college council minutes, 4/25/01

tonight's CC meeting began inauspiciously when we were unexpectedly relocated from our cozy baxter lounge locale to the underground express. joe (co-pres) said that he wanted to preserve the dignity and respect of izzy's display (which is awesome - everyone should check it out in baxter lounge).

sarah (co-pres) announced that the second campus restructuring forum on funding was held last night (also in the infamous grab-'n-go basement). the minutes for that can be found attached to these CC minutes. there will be another restructuring forum next tuesday night, may 1, in the goodrich living room, to discuss the social scene at williams. i've heard many of you complain time and time again that there isn't enough to do socially on this campus. if you're frustrated, take an active step to improve campus social life by attending this forum.

the final announcement regarded the passing of the first constitutional amendment last week. thanks to all of you who voted on the amendment! as per the amendment, the two minco reps, nick and christina served on the appointments committee (more on that later).

greensense returned to CC to request funds for an earth week speaker. this time they were represented by the man himself, carlos silva, who began by immediately reducing the request from $450 to $250 (apparently, they found more funding elsewhere). he also emphasized that he was in no way trying to tie CC's proverbial hands behind its proverbial back by requesting this retroactively. he did not receive the funding he was originally promised by other groups, and he was also not aware of the bylaw requiring two-week advance notice, as he is only a freshman.

two camps developed amongst CC members. on one hand, members were worried about the bad precedent that this would set since it is retroactive funding. on the other hand, many members of CC worried that carlos would be stuck with the bill at the end and also that earth week is a legitimate way to spend our money.

ari kessler (morgan/lehman) made a motion to amend the proposal to fund greensense and to advise next year's fincom to deduct this $250 out of greensense's original budget. nishant (prospect sub) informed CC that this has been done before, and that if greensense is willing to take the hit, CC should allow them to deduct this from their budget for next year.

at this point, time ran out, and a vote was forced. the amendment to the proposal passed, by a vote of 17-6-3. CC then voted on the amended request, which was to fund greensense $250, with the stipulation that it will probably be docked from their budget in the fall. CC voted to fund $250 for the speaker for earth week.

CC next entertained a funding request from sol ka fe. rory kramer said that they need more money to put on a successful jurassic 5 concert. due to unforeseen costs, they are significantly short on funds, and would need to charge $5 per ticket to cover their expenses. they would like to receive additional funding so that they can provide the concert at a cheaper price and really pack the house. rory added that if the $3,250 request is too much, then $1,850 would at least allow them to charge only $2 per ticket.

since we only have $2,539.21 left in our general fund, terri (gladden) moved that we pay for the amount of $1850 so that the concert can be cheap. CC agreed to amend the funding request from $3250 to $1850 by a vote of 20-1-7. CC then passed the funding request of $1850. tickets will be $2, on sale in baxter mailroom from 11-1 between now and next thursday (may 3).

sarah, as the ex-officio member of the appointments committee, served as its spokeswoman. the appointments committee met from 10 am - 7 pm this past sunday to compile its list of recommendations to CC for next years' student-faculty committees.

CC reviewed the suggestions made by the appointments committee during a 10-minute recess and then reconvened for discussion.

nishant (prospect sub) asked why only seven fincom reps were appointed when the constitution demands eight? sarah responded that the final position will be filled either this spring or at the very beginning of next fall.

royce smith (co-op) expressed some concern that there was only one person of color on the finance committee. especially considering that fincom will become even more powerful than it has been previously, this is worrisome. in response, caroline messmer (class of '02) assured royce that the appointments committee considered this and decided that instead of making decisions based on superficial characteristics, it would be more helpful to appoint individuals who addressed minority concerns in their self-nominations.

with this assurance in mind, CC voted to approve the recommendations made by the appointments committee, 18-0-8.

CC decided, a few weeks ago, to include up to four of its own reps on the finance committee. the election of those reps took place tonight. these reps just look at requests from the general fund, and are not involved in the original allocation of subgroups and group budgets. four CC members nominated themselves – ari kessler (morgan/lehman), caleb fassett (off-campus), ellen bognar (currier), and federico sosa (class of '04) – and all were elected successfully. they will serve for the next two weeks, until the end of the school year.

steve floyd (campus at-large) admitted to being a lazy, delinquent bum and apologized for not emailing anyone until noon the day before the meeting. given that short time from, the lecture committee responded that it is trying to bring a series of lectures next year featuring a comedy theme. also, the calendar and scheduling committee has been busy working on a variety or projects, including the division of the day (more night classes, fewer 8 am's?) and moving mountain day so that it wouldn't disrupt professors' syllabi.

federico reported that his long odyssey to obtain the semi-attachable laundry baskets has drawn to a close - the baskets were recently installed in the williams hall laundry room.

ching ho (campus at-large) and willis allen (campus at-large) gave a short report on monthly dinners. the goal of the monthly dinners is to increase student-faculty interaction. upon arrival, students would receive a ticket with assigned seating. they hope to start next year with a bang - a really nice, catered dinner - but this year, since there isn't a lot of time left to plan, they want to do just an informal, party-sub meal while still inducing the same kind of faculty-student interaction.

brendan docherty (williams), continuing in the strong tradition of project-oriented williams-hall-reps, reported that he is working on getting a coffee machine in the basement of williams, hopefully in time for finals. sophie hood (sage), not to outdone by her frosh-quad rival, promised that she would get something for sage, as well.

it has basically been decided that the gym hours will be extended until 11 pm beginning in the fall, but it remains to be seen what nights are the best for extended hours. craig tamamoto (secretary) wants to know, would you rather see an every-other-day schedule (so that you could work in a training schedule) or three consecutive nights (easier to remember). email opinions@wso.williams.edu

regarding the extended library hours, floyd needs to get a sense of what the level of interest is for later library hours (past 8 pm) on weekend nights. laddie peterson (JA) reminded people that sawyer is open until 2 am, in case you didn't already know that.

sarah also announced that CC (old and new) will be having a joint softball game with minco (mixed teams!) on friday, may 4 at 2 pm.

ellen announced that the BGLTU is asking anyone who supports queer rights to wear red on thursday, 4/26. also, queer bash is this saturday, tickets are $5 in baxter mailroom, and the theme is "a fairy tale".

mark rosenthal (class of '03) presented a funding request on behalf of WCFM. they are trying to secure funding for musicfest, which will be held on may 5 in the greylock swamp. they are requesting $400 from CC to cover their remaining costs, which include multiple bands, b&g costs, sound, and much more. tom cubeta returned from the housing draw and picked up where mark left off, informing CC that the ficklepimps, matt mccullough, and godling will all be performing. they moved it from the berkshire quad to greylock swamp this year in an attempt to 'jack it up'.

after sarah requested that WCFM coordinate this event with the cinco de mayo festivities that are already being planned, CC voted to fund WCFM $400, 24-1-1.

royce asked if CC was going to respond in any way to all the complaints regarding the minco amendment? joe said that it will be placed on the meeting for next week.

very briefly, joe and sarah once again thanked the appointments committee for all its hard work and adjourned the meeting, as it was late and we were in damn basement, for goodness sake.

craig tamamoto

cc secretary

fulton breen* (armstrong), peter walke* (dennett), darlene forde* (dodd complex), tim karpoff (mark hopkins), catherine denver* (mills/thompson)

*please note that many sophomores may not have been able to attend due to the housing draw almost directly conflicting with our meeting.