We Have Money

College Council Minutes for 11/1/00

[introduction]

Ami Parekh (Co-President) began the meeting by addressing some student complaints about CC representatives sending their own summaries after meetings to their constituents. While it is excellent that reps keep their constituents informed, Ami would like to ensure that the summaries are fair and accurate representations of what happens in the meeting. And remember, you can always read these minutes in dining halls on Thursdays or by email late night Wednesday (to subscribe, email minutes-on@wso.williams.edu). Two other quick notes: Rich Kelley (Student Activities Coordinator) has produced a student activities book which details all of the student groups on campus, and you can pick up your copy outside his office in Baxter Lounge. Also, Dean Roseman will be coming next week to the meeting to discuss group constitutions, strategic planning, and any other concerns. If you have any concerns for her, you can email opinions@wso.williams.edu.

Todd Rogers (Co-President) reminded everyone that CC is still soliciting nominations for student members on the Admissions Director Search Committee and for the Advisory Council on Shareholder Responsibility. Nominations are due to selfnoms@wso.williams.edu by Saturday at 5pm.

[committees/group updates]

Justin Crowe presented council with a CEP update: they have finished soliciting ideas from the campus at large, and are now in the processing of reviewing them. All ideas that were submitted are on the strategic planning website, http://www.williams.edu/go/strategicplanning. Todd asked when CEP plans to solicit student opinion again; there should be public forums discussing CEP’s recommendations during Winter Study and the beginning of second semester. Tracy Cheung (Pratt) wondered if the curriculum reforms would take place by fall of next year. Justin responded that because CEP’s recommendations are going to be ongoing negotiations between the students, faculty, and trustees, they probably wouldn’t be in place for the next academic year. If you have any questions or comments for CEP, you can email 03jec.

Joe Masters (Secretary) outlined some of the changes that WSO is making. The user files are all on the new, larger server; the website will be redesigned at some point this year; the listservers will be moving to another, faster machine that can handle email administration; a backup system will actually be working on a regular basis; and there will be a machine specifically designed for beginning web programmers (in perl/mysql/etc) to play around in.

[recognition]

Jon Wiener requested College Council recognition for the Williams Bike Coalition. The Bike Coalition has two main projects – one is the Purple Bike Project that Jon started last spring to get public bikes around campus for common use (pay a $10 deposit, receive a key that gives access to the program’s bikes). They have 25 bikes currently reserved for the program, and are expecting 20 more from security. The second project is the student bike shop on the first floor of Mark Hopkins. This shop will be a place where students can fix their own bikes, where students can get bikes fixed cheaply by other students, and will be the home base for the Purple Bike Project. CC voted to recognize the Williams Bike Coalition 31-0-0. If you have questions or comments about the group, email 02jaw.

[cc/goodrich liaison]

Turns out Chris Koegel (At-Large) is too busy to handle the duties of being the Goodrich/CC liaison, so Terri O’Brien (Gladden) offered to fill the position.

[opinions]

A student would like coffee available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, like the machine currently in the new science center. Ami commented that that particular machine serves really horrible coffee, but Nishant Nayyar (At-Large) explained that certain professors are working on getting a better one installed. Because Dan Elsea (Mark Hopkins) likes coffee, he will investigate getting one of these installed in Baxter and/or Goodrich.

The removal of posters from dorms is on the minds of several students. One policy that most students aren’t aware of is that posters aren’t allowed on glass surfaces, so if you post one on a door or a public window, the custodians will probably take them down. However, there was a far more nefarious sign-replacing tactic employed this past weekend by Fortun(e) Garden. Essentially, employees at the restaurant waited for students to open doors, and then entered the dorms behind them, ripped down student posters, and put up their own menus. Nishant recently spoke to the manager at the Garden and he has promised not to do it again.

One student called me on my bluff that I would announce how to get the public messages from the CC Listserv in last week’s minutes. (oops). Well, if you want to receive them, just email me (02jtm) and let me know. In addition, I’ll send you the messages sent over the listserver in the past two weeks.

One more opinion arrived in favor of the Thompson parking proposal. These are interesting to receive, but they don’t really accomplish anything. If you want to override council’s decision, you need to hold a public meeting and get the support of 250 students.

Finally, we received an opinion that not only should seniors get the Thompson spaces, but also that golf carts placed on Baxter lawn for seniors to ride around on campus. Mayo worries that this may conflict with the bike program.

[open time]

Todd is concerned that student groups are being cowed by council’s recent money problems. When he speaks to students around campus, it seems that groups don't think money is available for them from College Council. But this isn't true – we have $12,693.95 in the general fund for the fall semester (and there are only 5 or so more meetings of council this semester), and a further $15,091.91 reserved for student groups within subgroups. This is not to say that CC has suddenly turned fiscally irresponsible, but since we’ve received the cash infusion from Senior Staff, no groups have come to CC to ask for funds.

Several members of councils expressed their concern that directly telling groups to come to council and ask for money may create too much stress on our funding. Ami feels that there have already been many announcements that council had more money available (minutes, the Record, emails to treasurers), and that groups simply need to take the initiate to come to council.

Todd presented one example of a group that, in his estimation, council has failed in its mission to fund. The Fencing Team came to CC before the infusion, and had to accept a very reduced amount of equipment that crippled their ability to expand. After the funds came in, the club submitted a proposal for more money out of the $29,000, but wasn’t given any because they are a General Fund group, and are therefore forced to come to council directly for all monies. (FinCom usually only deals with clubs in subgroups with long funding histories). Todd then asked CC members if they would support his sending an email to group treasurers. In a straw poll, council members voted the idea down 14 to 16.

Therefore, these minutes will have to serve as the solicitation: CC has money for student initiatives. If you need money for your group or project, please come to council and present your idea.

Dan is concerned about the ugliness of the new couches in Goodrich (they were free). And the doors still slam.

Catherine Denver (Mills/Thompson) said that a fire in dorm, caused by leaving apple cider on the stove for too long, cost a student a couple hundred dollars in fines. She thinks it’s a weird policy because the action was clearly accidental, and doesn’t happen much. Terri related a story of her own: the bathroom stall door fell off in her suite, and they received a bill for its repair. However, she called Linda Brown (Housing) and she took care of it. So, the lesson is, you don’t have to pay all of the fees for which you are billed.

Terri also announced that Dining Services would be starting a new disposable cups program in the mornings in Mission and Baxter. Apparently, students have been asking for cups to take beverages out of dining hall. Joe voiced his concern at yet another waste of paper product – why can’t dining halls just let us bring our CUPPS cups (or other non-disposable cups) into dining halls? Terri replied that those cups aren’t allowed because you could fill them up with M&Ms or peanut butter, and if you had some kind of disease in your cup, and filled it at the dining hall, and later got sick, you could blame Dining Services for it. Todd doubts this sickness-blame issue could ever be the case, and will talk to the college lawyers about it. Dan would also like to see the policy change to allow CUPPS cups. If you have an opinion about this, email 02tco or opinions@wso – Dining Services does listen to student opinion.

Joe Masters

CC Secretary

wso.williams.edu/cc