KALAMAZOO COLLEGE STUDENT COMMISSION

COMMISSION ASSEMBLY AGENDA

Monday, January 20, 2014 – 9:00 PM – HICKS 111 A/B

  1. Call to Order (Darrin Camilleri) Called to order at 9:09 PM
  2. Roll Call (Colin Lennox)
  3. Quote by MLK Jr. read Darrin Camilleri
  4. Adoption of Agenda
  5. Motion by Sam, Seconded byRian
  6. Moved Finance report before public comment
  7. Approval of Minutes
  8. Motion by Anna, Seconded by Jose
  9. Secretary of Finance (Kelly Ohlrich)
  10. Denied: Frelon: ZAD food $500
  11. We don’t fund food and they changed the structure of the ZAD event.
  12. Tabled: KCUF: Pick up fees $1200
  13. They have been having a hard time to find a place to practice.
  14. There is a pick league every Sunday night 8 to 10 and this
  15. Morgan: we are in between a stuorg and team so we don’t get priority for the gym to practice. It has been hard especially since this impacts close to 75 people on campus and we want to make this still open to the entire student body. We have also had a hard time trying to be heard and we want to have a space on this campus and how we can be incorporated more
  16. Kelly: Budget state?
  17. Spend 300 for a bid this winter and then 1000 for the spring break event. And 3000 for the spring quarter
  18. Dylan: How are you going to advertise to the rest of campus for people to know where you will be located now?
  19. We have our emails out there and people should have access in that sense
  20. Ben: has the administration givena rationale
  21. All spring sports have priority over us
  22. Kelly: exec brought this up and we had a hard time getting through to them
  23. EMS has also been overbooking the locations
  24. Emily: I am also attempting to work on this issue and I am happy to talk to you after this
  25. Amanda: Who will be there?
  26. The entire community is welcome
  27. Cam: Is this the only practice time you are going to?
  28. We have time on Monday also but most of us are in class during it
  29. Motion by Ben to adjust the amount to 7 weeks: $1050, Seconded by Lucas
  30. Kari: keep the values we discussed on the retreat
  31. Emily: I don’t like giving money to the group when they have not run out of money.
  32. Rian: they have a budget of 10000 and I feel that to continue giving them money when they haven’t already run out of money.
  33. We need advocate on the gym hours
  34. Lucas: students are coming to us in a serious time of need overall and we are acting in their need and advocating for them through the money.
  35. Kelly: We see this as the consequence of not being able to discuss this with the administration
  36. I agree and I think we can continue to advocate for them throughout the quarter
  37. Tendai: I think that we should work more with administration before funding them
  38. Lucas: I would rather fund it and be sure that they have practice. What would be the impacts of spending your money now and coming to us later?
  39. We are a spring sport and we pay during that time and it would cut into the spring break budget
  40. We have already paid for the house and bids.
  41. Rian: How privileged it is to have a budget upfront and the demographics of these organizations and who gets to have a budget upfront. I am hesitant because I am not sure what students are being served well. And I would love to see more things brought to campus. We need to see the bigger picture and it is more than Frisbee
  42. Emily: would it be an inconvience to come back for money for the bids in the spring?
  43. We are trying to make it so that we don’t have to pay for spring bids
  44. Dylan: KOC and Frisbee have earned those budgets and I think that they are good at managing what they do. We need to support them and support the team as a whole.
  45. Darrin: we should be careful to not say that they deserve something more than others and they have safety concerns that we could not address as a commission. There are other stuorgs that do the same great work.
  46. Kari: I don’t want to see another club sport disappear and it is a good bubble breaker.
  47. Kelly: 300 from this past weekend
  48. Sectionals: 3000
  49. Hightide budget: 5910.65
  50. Total: 9210.65
  51. Motion fails, no money was allocated
  52. TABLED: KCUF: High Tide $3065
  53. RECOMMEND TO APPROVE: BSO: Rolling in the Zoo ZAD $2500
  54. Roller skating rink in the banquet hall and it was a easily accessible
  55. Raven: the skating rink became a community for blacks and it was something to bring to campus
  56. Motion by Graham, Seconded by Emily one abstains
  57. Motion passes
  58. Applications for innovation fund are slowly rolling in and we are working with the students to help them work through the application
  59. Public Comment
  60. Roxy: are we allowed to make comments during any other point in the agenda?
  61. We have a second public comment
  62. Cesar: what is happening with index?
  63. They are moving forward and will have a column for diversity and inclusion
  64. Yesenia: I think that we should push forward with an apology letter so that people can hear that they are apologetic with the articles
  65. Executive Reports
  66. President (Darrin Camilleri)
  67. The Index article and editorial
  68. I was offended by the entire article and it was journalistic malpractice
  69. The editorial was silencing and it was not helpful for any student who has been invested in making a space for all people on campus
  70. The opinion was not signed off on by the staff overall and we need to be sure to hold the print media accountable.
  71. It crosses lines for the government and news media and I think that we will play an intermediary for them.
  72. Lucas: Imay sound silly but I did not read the index (*passed paper from the public*) I will join the conversation after I read.
  73. Rian: we need to look into the accountability of the index and who the index is for
  74. Rasheed: Even with a wrongdoing, it makes me uncomfortable to have an advisory board. You have to have a free press overall
  75. Dylan: I think that it is something to look into and I think that we have to do it with integrity and I would like to hear the reactions to the first article.
  76. Tendai: We need a structure to handle an issue like this on campus. In the real world I think that the person would be fired.
  77. Kelly: if stucomm had done something like this then the student body would hold us accountable. I think that we need to hold them accountable in some form so that there is a check
  78. Casandra: the newspaper is not free and I don’t pay to be slandered and I don’t like to be outlawed by the newspaper
  79. Emma: I like freedom of the press, the editorial is of the newspaper and they did not get to get to vote or say anything on the subject. This a huge problem and it is not what an editorial is. There has to be a process for shit like this to not happen.
  80. Ben: did anyone go to the meeting last night?
  81. Rian: There were conflicting messages and the op ed piece was originally rejected and then I was asked about running it. There was no remorse or mention of the articles. They seemed to want to talk over it and not address.
  82. Kari: I wish I would have been there to back you up and I hope you have this in your back pocket and have it as a teaching tool. It is a hard piece of evidence.
  83. Wendy: This is tangible proof and I was not really surprised by it.
  84. Roxy: the fact that we were called disruptive. We were silent and we left before the exam started. We think that the idea of consequences could be removal of the editor in chief.
  85. Emily: we are here to back you up and advocate for you if we can see the need and want, we will advocate for you.
  86. Dylan: I think that we should approach this as a community and not using our own authority overall.
  87. Mele: I have been sitting back and listening, and Allison is not here for this meeting when she is here for all meetings. She had the invite. The quotes were not related to each other overall and she represented me as a student who was being selfish and I think that it is important to have some sort of control about the way that articles are written. I offered to clear up the confusion and I think that she needs to come to me.
  88. Tendai: I think as a student government we need to make a statement about this.
  89. Index the primary way that most students hear about these issues and it devalues the entire process of social justice and it is devaluing the institution as a whole. This also affects the way that prospective students look at our campus.
  90. Journalism is a way to give voices to the voiceless and the index has made that unsafe and uncomfortable.
  91. Mele: Ogden, I want to ask you about the meeting last night. And how do you see yourself in this situation?
  92. Ogden: it was business as usual and there was no dialogue. I found the editorial was disgusting and I think that an editorial board is necessary and there is definite need for change. I will be more than willing to help in the change with the Index
  93. Mele: can a submission be made to you instead?
  94. Ogden: Yes
  95. And we have a plan of action, we are gathering responses from students and from the commission and we want to have genuine responses to the issue.
  96. Ogden: please talk to me if you have anything
  97. Ben: Task a body with forming a resolution for this situation and find more facts about
  98. Rian: meeting tomorrow 5 PM with Reid Gomez and Wednesday at 8 PM in sev lounge. I think it is important to be representative and we need to step up as an entire commission.
  99. Yesenia: I see a lot of students of color go to Rian only and we are counting on you to also be our voice on campus.
  100. Mele: please do not feel guilty and I do not hate you and please take this as learning experience and figure out how will you, now that you know.
  101. Emily: have you considered a resolution?
  102. Rian: we have talked about it but we are working on a statement first with the ideas and opinions of all students. This has to become a teachable moment.
  103. Wendy: I want to address the comments on the Arcus Center and I was mad and disgusted to see that article on top of all of the other articles.
  104. Emma: The index is volunteer position and I think that is something to take as a teaching moment rather than turning it into witch-hunt for bad journalism.
  105. Bella: I want it to be known that real people were hurt and in teaching it that needs to be known.
  106. Mele: this is institutional racism, and it is about moving forward from this and that they should not play a part in the racism.
  107. Debrief meeting with Dean Westfall and President McDonald
  108. Gym hours were discussed and not much got through to them
  109. Kelly: when we asked for more hours, they said we may want to look into work study programs
  110. Raised some issues about student conduct and privacy online
  111. Specifically Facebook and there was the thought that students should not do things illegal on campus
  112. Amnesty for students.
  113. Kalamazoo College selected for National Higher Education Program
  114. Increase the amount of access for low income students and first generation students
  115. I am waiting to see what those steps look like on campus.
  116. E-RAC/CE training next steps
  117. We will look at our constitutional amendments and how we can open up or change so that more students can access the commission.
  118. Kelly: we had mentioned changing the election codes and opening up the election to more people, Making it more rigorous to apply to student commission
  119. Anna: how you identify as a commissioner and what it involves to you.
  120. Rian: I think it speaks volumes about the fact that people didn’t all go
  121. MLK Day of Service
  122. We spent our time with Kalamazoo Land Bank. Rehabbing a commercial space.
  123. Vice President (Cameron Goodall)
  124. Fellows
  125. I am going to draft together my ideas about the fellows program and what we want it to be.
  126. This quarter we had low turnout for the actual election and we need to look at how this program is being implemented
  127. Secretary of Student Affairs (TendaiMudyiwa)
  128. International Student Liaison
  129. I met with Angela gross for five minutes and she seemed open to having a student liaison for international students and their issues.
  130. Secretary of Communications (Kari Paine)
  131. StuComm gives back part I: Coat Drive
  132. Collection bin the security office and the donations are going to be given to the Gospel ministries
  133. Posters
  134. FFT Date
  135. Committee Reports
  136. Athletic Committee (Emily Sklar)
  137. Waiting for a meeting…
  138. Kristen Smith is back and I should have more to report next week
  139. Dylan: is open gym on the weekend?
  140. We were looking at putting together some sort of league for students
  141. I have emailed the weight room coach and I am waiting on the response
  142. Business Committee (Colin Lennox)
  143. No report
  144. Educational Policies Committee (Graham Wojtas)
  145. No report
  146. Experiential Education Committee (Luisa Garnica)
  147. No report
  148. Information Services Committee (Lucas Kushner)
  149. No report
  150. Committee on Student Organizations (Ogden Wright)
  151. We talked about a contact sheet and having stucomm contacts for stuorgs leaders and having a combination of food for thought with a winter K fest for all stuorgs in hicks.
  152. Amanda: we want to address what students need and be able to act when they come to us for help
  153. Constitutional Integrity Committee (Wyatt Smith)
  154. Constitution Forum
  155. To look at our constitution to move us forward as an antiracist body and having it written into our literature, we can have it carry over from year to year and have more institutions change.
  156. Next week Tuesday during common time, Location TBA
  157. All amendments are drafted and ready
  158. Diversity and Multiculturalism Committee (Rian Brown)
  159. We finished drafting our constitution and we had a good turnout at our meeting.
  160. We are having an event 4th Tuesday in Olmsted “call for collaboration”
  161. Reid Gomez meeting tomorrow at 5 PM in leadership lounge
  162. Elections Committee (Colin Lennox)
  163. No
  164. President’s Community Council (Amanda Johnson)
  165. Meeting on Thursday at 11:30 and the student who are on the council are meeting beforehand to be on the same page.
  166. Student Dining Committee (Dylan Polcyn)
  167. We will be having a meeting within the next couple of weeks.
  168. We want stucomm more involved with student dining and we had the idea that we would go in and work for a day. Or a banquet for the staff to appreciate them.
  169. James loves it
  170. Yesenia: the workers don’t have a space for the people that work there and that would be a conversation to have.
  171. Safety and Security Advisory Committee (Ben Baker)
  172. Male self-defense class for study abroad and on campus.
  173. I will talk to people about it
  174. Student Health Advisory Committee (Sam Weaver)
  175. Next week is week of wellness
  176. Blood drive on Thursday
  177. We talked about the free stuff and people had taken the entire bin. So we thought that we may put them near the union desk
  178. They had tried extending the hours by shifting the hours for lunch.
  179. Lucas: maybe list out the stuff that they do have so students know
  180. Unfinished Business
  181. New Business
  182. Canceling hightide budget request for next week
  183. Public Comment
  184. Good of the Order
  185. Swim Meet on Saturday at 1 PM
  186. Adjournment
  187. Motion by Anna, Seconded by Emily;Tendai Opposes
  188. Motion Passes