O f f t h e R e c o r d

College Council Minutes for 4/26/00

Todd Rogers (Co-President) kicked off the meeting by thanking students for signing up for the bone marrow drive – over 270 students signed up. He continued with some guidelines for running meetings more smoothly, so hopefully we can follow the agenda without running over 30 minutes.

Ryan Mayhew (Treasurer) announced that, for the first time in a couple weeks, there were no new surprises about the Council’s budget, which is currently at $235 after last week’s allocations.

Nii Koney came to Council to ask for recognition of the Williams College African Students Organization. The goals of the group are to provide a medium for emotional and academic support, to sustain traditions and raise issues about Africa, and to educate the members of the group and community about Africa. The group currently has about 35 interested students. After postponing a vote to wait for quorum, Council voted 20-0-3 to recognize the group.

Duncan Meiklejohn asked council to recognize the Breakdancing group, Sol Ka Fé. The goals of the group are to provide free and open space for learning breakdancing, and also to perform at Williams and other schools, and to bring other performers to Williams. Council voted to recognize 22-0-1.

Nishant Nayyar (Campus At-Large) came from the Garfield Republicans asking for $4000 that was allocated last year and was taken away because of a mistake by CC. Apparently, a vote passed allocating the money to the Republicans last year, but no one (not even the group’s treasurer) realized that the request for money succeeded. Shenil Saya (At-Large) asked about a clause in the funding bylaws that prohibit paying for political candidates, but Jon Foreman explained that Alan Keyes wasn’t a candidate at the time he came to speak. The vote to fund them passed 20-1-3.

Phil Swisher (President of Housing Committee and Bryant Rep) asked Council to endorse a statement concerning some sort of alcohol education for First-Year students. He said that security is willing to work out a shorter program than TIPS, and that Jean Thorndike and the Health Center would be coordinating the program. After a question about whether this would be a mandatory arrangement, both Phil and Ami spoke in favor of a compulsory program, and Ami added that it should be done during First Days, before students stop attending such events. Rob Sica (At-Large) added his approval to having it during First Days, and emphasized its importance in light of the recent incidents involving alcohol on campus. We voted to amend the proposal to reflect the desires to make it mandatory and during First Days. Council then voted to endorse the statement 22-1-1. A full copy of the statement is available on council’s website (wso/cc).

Joe Masters (Secretary) came with a proposal for security to consider seniority in parking spaces. Essentially, every entry received from 7pm to midnight on Monday, May 1, will be ordered first by class, and then by time. So spaces will be given to seniors initially, then to juniors, then to sophomores. After midnight, spaces will be given out on a first-come, first-serve basis. This gives students studying abroad an easier time of registering their cars, and it also means most seniors will be able to park near their houses. This should only affect a couple of lots on campus, most notably Tyler, Garfield, and Weston. Nancy Walworth (Bascom Perry Chadbourne Brooks) voiced her support for the proposal, saying that seniors may use their cars more frequently than other students. Council approved the proposal 21-0-2, and this will take affect next week. If you want to see the full wording of the proposal, visit the cc website (wso/cc).

Goodrich, Log, and SAC passed the proposal for CUSP, the Committee on Undergraduate Social Planning this week, and Carrie Ryan came to Council to ask its support. Laura Almstead (Carter) started the discussion by saying that she had heard from a constituent of hers on Goodrich’s committee who said that Goodrich may have signed onto it expecting a certain change. Carrie replied that every member of Goodrich was given a chance to write it, and that every member of Goodrich voted to support the measure.

Nancy voiced her support for the proposal: CUSP will be able to solve many problems in conflicting events, and CUSP will be looking at long-term issues that affect the various social spaces on campus. For example, the Log’s offerings of free hot drinks hurt Goodrich’s sales.

Phil was concerned about the appeals process in the proposal. Namely, appeals would go to college council, and with this proposal, CC would have veto power over the housing committee. Todd agreed, but feels that there needs to be some sort of appeals process. Carrie and Phil changed the proposal together, replacing the veto power with suggestions that need not be followed. Council voted to endorse the CUSP proposal 19-1-3.

Laddie Peterson (Class of 2002) reported to council about the current status of the Log. Williams Security and the WPD have been receiving complaints about the noise level over the past year, and because of this, the college has been trying to reach a compromise between residents and students. Although Dean Murphy, Tom McEvoy, James Moorhead, and others did reach a settlement, the Log Committee later decided that it would not be feasible. Basically, the agreement mandated that there could be no music at the Log after 10pm on weekdays and midnight on weekends, and required James to be down at the log to monitor noise levels if students wanted the Log to continue past those hours. This proposal would not have approached the normal operation procedures of the Log. Thus, the committee voted to close the Log for the rest of the year, and went to meet with the Record to write an article about the issue. However, while at the Record office, James came to another agreement to keep the Log open on Thursdays, and asked that the details of the compromise be kept out of the article. The Record published the details anyhow, and in the words of Todd, jeopardized the tentative agreement. Ami said that council hopes to work with the Record in the future, but its recent actions had serious consequences on student life – namely, the Log may be closed for the rest of the school year due to the repercussions of the article. However, Dean Murphy, the Log Committee, and College Council are working on long-term solutions to keep the Log open and running normally. To start, Murphy will be taking decibel levels at the Log this Thursday to get some accurate figures on how loud we really are.

Nishant argued that the Record shouldn’t be criticized, because they get too much flack for not investigating and reporting issues like this. Mayo Shattuck (Class of 2003) said that if people have opinions about how the record handled this issue, then they should write to opinions at the Record.

Ash Bradly (Sage) asked if this issue just concerned Thursday nights, or whether the noise complaints are registered all week long. There are probably more complaints on Thursdays, simply because there are more people, but the complaints cover all loud noises late at night coming from the Log.

Finny (Off-Campus) believes that it is ridiculous that a couple of complaints could shut down a major student social space. He would like people to realize where they are living. Todd said that unfortunately, in the lease, faculty members are not informed as to the noise levels of where they are living. In the future, this will be mentioned in the lease agreements. It is also imperative that this not become a student vs. faculty issue, because it will cause far more harm than good.

Goodrich, in their last meeting, approved CUSP (more on that later), and voted to rehire both coffee bar managers along with two new managers. Rich Kelley has requested a separate budget for Goodrich, so that it doesn’t just have a deficit spending budget. Goodrich is in debt again this year, but much less than last year (only 11% of last year’s debt). Finally, the committee is working on numerous building upgrades: new lighting, fixed walls, and maybe a new/improved sound system.

The Lecture Committee has decided on the topic for next year’s lecture series: TRASH. The committee has decided, with much debate, to have a single large speaker with several moderately priced speakers. One orator the committee will be bringing is Mike Davis, who studies class and race issues in the development of urban areas and their ecological implications. Other speakers may include a visual artist and an anthropologist who studies garbage.

Shenil Saya announced that the Committee for Diversity and Community will be releasing a report based on a survey to the new president next fall about the Williams College Community.

Mayo brought us 30 opinions from the campus at large:

1 comment on JA selection committee spending a lot of money on their final dinner

8 anti-Napster opinions

2 on the social responsibility project (one pro, one against)

3 on service learning at Williams

7 wanting more recycling available for the New York Times

1 critique of the health center, for giving out water-based lubricated condoms without spermicide

1 student having a problem with class registrations

1 request for more parking away from campus, as per the ENVI class’s proposal

1 supporting funding the Garfield republicans club

2 complaints about too many all-campus emails in the past weeks

Todd mentioned that Napster will be on the agenda next week.

Finny came to report about the sailing team. Students dealing with this issue will be meeting with Cappy Hill, Deans Murphy and Smith, and although the sailing team is trying hard to get this to work, they don’t seem to be getting anywhere with the college. Ami said that the senior staff are waiting for the new Athletic Director to make such decisions.

David Thal triumphantly announced that finally, Dining Services will be installing a huge sandwich bar, and improving Baxter a little bit over the summer.

Craig Tamamoto, one of next year’s JAs, came to voice a common worry among the newly-chosen JAs – police walk-thoughts. Ami replied that Jean Thorndyke has written an update about the situation, which includes a statement from the police department. Susan Levin (Armstrong) will forward this message to the JA listserver, and if there are any more concerns, anyone will be welcome back to discuss problems with it.

Susan believes that in addition to the alcohol education for freshman, it is clear from the events of a few weekends ago that it is not just frosh that need the help. She would like to see open times for upperclassmen to go and take a similar program. Phil responded that hopefully there will be more and more training next year because of increased demand.

Finny would like to see peer monitors paid. Phil replied that except for special weekends like Winter Carnival and Spring Fling, where payment is guaranteed, it is up to each house to determine how they will finance each party.

Ben Angarita asked about school size issues, and about what Williams is doing this year to make changes. Ryan, who has worked on this project for a while, said that they were targeting lower, but we won’t know until the numbers come in.

Terri O’Brien (Mills, Thompson) met with some faculty on a weight room committee, and they are going to make definite changes next year to the facility. Mainly because of the willingness of President Vogt ("Do it, we’ll give you money"), we should have some substantial changes, which may include new equipment, knocking down walls, putting a door into the multi-purpose room, and putting some windows in the front. In addition, and also due to Vogt, a new weight room is now on the long-term development track for the school.

Ami spoke for Medha an annouced that the MCC Advisory Board is being created right now, and that all students are encouraged to run for positions on it.

Ami and Todd ended with their "Final Thoughts."

School Size: Finny and Ben will be working with Ryan on the school size issue. (03bna)

Service Learning: Ash will be following up on the emailed opinions. (03ajb)

Napster will be a main topic of next week’s council meeting.

Sailing Team: Finny continues to push and shove. (00bsf)

Class Size: David will continue to think about Max’s concerns. (03dwt)

I would like to thank Brad Geddes for writing up notes on the meeting while I attended the housing draw. And speaking of the draw, I think that WSO should be applauded for keeping the online plans updated every 5 minutes with a steady stream of information that can keep even the most nervous student busy. Finally, please visit the CC web site and feel free to comment on any topic. If you have any comments/suggestions/questions/complaints, email me at 02jtm.

Joe Masters

Council Secretary

http://wso.williams.edu/cc