~ never do today what you can put off until tomorrow ~

college council minutes, 10/17/01

~ opening ~

joe (co-pres) began by announcing that office hours for the amendment supervisory committee (ASC) will be tomorrow night at 7:30 pm in baxter lounge. he also urged students to remember that until october 31^st, the ASC is accepting suggestions, proposals, and comments on the current structure of student governance at williams.

recently you may have seen signs advertising a vote of no confidence in college council. sarah (co-pres) refreshed our memories by reviewing how this came about. last spring, over 300 people signed a petition to have an official vote of no confidence in CC. our constitution requires two full weeks of advertising through "all available channels". there is some debate as to whether or not this occurred, and it will come up later, under new business.

no one showed up to bring issues before CC. movin’ right along…

steve floyd (all-campus), the representative in charge of the reporting of committees and groups to CC, led this portion of the meeting. he began by saying that the campus environmental advisory committee (CEAC) would be coming next week to deliver their report.

sarah iams ‘04, of the calendar and scheduling committee announced that her committee would like to find two more student representatives and that they would "really, really appreciate it if they were ‘non-athletes’ who had some knowledge of either Division I or II classes". she also reported that they are currently in the process of re-evaluating the "division-of-the-day" — for example, chem labs that last until 5:00 pm or the addition of other class blocks.

rory kramer (minco co-chair) brought to the attention of CC the apparent debate on whether minco groups are CC-recognized groups, as well. hopefully we will be able to discuss this in the future. he also announced that currently it is native american students at williams (NASAW) week, and that latino heritage month is coming up soon.

representing SAC, josh burns (SAC president) made a few announcements before opening the floor up to questions. the first RUBY LOUNGE is being held this friday and saturday night in tyler house. tickets are $5 each and can be purchased in baxter mailroom during lunch on thursday and friday and in baxter lounge thursday night from 8-10 pm.

burns then entertained questions from CC regarding SAC’s role on campus, since there seems to be a lot of differing views on this topic that need to be sorted out. federico sosa (class of ‘04) asked if SAC receives money from the deans’ office. burns replied that they need a very specific plan for what they will do with that money, but that yes, the deans’ office was receptive to funding requests from SAC. he went on to say that in his eyes, SAC is the social funding body of CC. if a person or group wants to put on an event, they would like to be able to help out with that and ensure that event’s success. craig tamamoto (secretary) rebutted, arguing that at this point, CC is not in a position to provide money to SAC to be used at their discretion. we need to keep a close eye on our budget, just as they do.

~ council business ~

rory kramer (now representing sol ka fe; yeah, multi-faceted williams students) introduced this request by giving some background on the actual event. it would be an underground hip-hop concert put on with the cooperation of some students at MCLA. there would be four acts, making it a kind of "festival night" rather than just one concert featuring one group. he attested that it would be "really cool" and further advanced his cause by cutting his request from the initial $2,500 to $1,000. floyd moved to fund sol ka fe the $1,000. his motion passed 24-2-1 (2).

~ unfinished business ~

scott grinsell (armstrong) expressed that it seems unnecessary to revise the bylaws to provide for specific limitations on CC’s ability to remove a group from a sub-group. shouldn’t we just have the prerogative to do that where we see fit? JP defended, saying that the decision made last spring on the mad cow was rash, and that the implementation of this bylaw would prevent a similar impulsiveness from happening again.

michael henry (mills/thompson) argues that he doesn’t think that a group should be automatically punished for not "request[ing] or receiv[ing] funding" during one year. as such, he moved to add that 2/3 of CC must vote to remove the group from its respective subgroup. this vote did not pass, 5-22-1 (3). CC then voted to pass the bylaw changes, 24-1-4 (4).

~ new business ~

i told you this would come back up. zach kung (currier/fitch), arguing that two weeks of publicity has taken place, moved to allow the vote of dissolution to take place on JOSE. several CC members thought that it wouldn’t be serious, accurate, or legitimate in the absence of the "two weeks of advertising through all available channels". floyd asserted that there is "no question" that the requirements prescribed in the constitution have not been met. the motion to host the vote on JOSE beginning on friday failed, 2-23-0 (7).

fede moved to postpone for two weeks or indefinitely the vote of no-confidence scheduled to begin friday on the basis that the vote was not adequately advertised by those who petitioned for it as determined by our CC constitution. he further moved to send an all-campus e-mail explaining the reasoning behind pushing the vote back. noah coburn (bryant/woodbridge)moved to amend the proposal to strike the words "or indefinitely". this passed, 23-1-1 (8).

will allen (all-campus) then moved to amend the proposal further to strike out the entire first portion, leaving only the proposal to write an all-campus e-mail explaining that a vote WILL take place, but that it will not happen this weekend. this amendment passed 23-3-0 (9). then, CC voted on the overall motion, which had been reduced to writing an all-campus e-mail containing information on the vote and an explanation for why it is not happening this weekend. this passed, 24-1-1 (10).

nick kerr (minco) revisited the bylaw changes we made concerning the funding/recognition of CC groups. citing that CC groups must be expected to fulfill their mission statements, he moved to add a third section in the "recognition guidelines" bylaw, under section IV. maintaining CC recognition, which states that an organization must act in accordance with its mission statement. at this time, most items were postponed until next meeting, as it was already getting late. the motion to postpone this item passed, 24-1-1 (11).

floyd moved to have the officers of CC investigate the possibility of SAC’s existence outside of the CC funding structure in the future. this passed, 22-3-1 (12).

fede moved to create a ring committee composed of the four all-campus reps and three class reps. this motion was postponed, 24-0-0 (13).

nick moved to censure the mad cow for its past actions. scott moved to postpone, which passed, 20-4-0 (14).

~ and that’s a wrap! ~

respectfully submitted,

craig tamamoto, CC secretary

02cat@williams.edu

~ absences ~

caroline messmer (class of ‘02), hall o’donnell (tyler/annex), shehryar qureshi (dodd complex), charlie davidson (dennett), jenny veraldi(co-op), mayo shattuck (gladden), david brenninkmeyer (mark hopkins)