GSC General Meeting

November 26, 2003

6-8:45

McManus Conference Room

Meeting called by:

Mark Macias

Note taker:

Kathleen Colvin

Facilitator:

Mark Macias

Timekeeper:

Kathleen Colvin

Officers Present:

Elisa Mann

Attendees:

Jennifer Jared

Mario Paez

Tamer Balci

Cynthia Olivio

Marcie Kaufman

Aris

Vanessa Raney

Arthur

Jonathan Andom

Additional Speakers: Lara Minassian

Agenda topics

6:00

Explanation of Career Services Survey

Mark Macias

Discussion:  Mark passes out the survey packets to the department representatives since Linda is not present to do so.  He explains that the packets include an information sheet for the classes that can be visited to get the required sample numbers.  He explains that we will be collecting them after they are completed, not leaving and having the students return them.  The deans have notified the professors so they are aware that this is happening.  The packet includes the minimum number of surveys that we need for the sample, but other students can complete them.  Also, Mark lets everyone know that there are plenty of departments that are not represented, so the members who are not primary departmental reps can help with other departments.

Conclusions: Surveys have been distributed, so now it's the job of the representatives to get them all completed. 

Action items: Each representative is to pass out the surveys next week and return them ASAP

Person responsible:

Dept. Reps

Deadline:

Next Mtg.

6:15

Presidential Update

Mark Macias

Discussion: Mark shows everyone the letter that was sent to the President for the Travel Awards.  He introduces Jonathan as the new chair for the new committee.  Jonathan introduces himself. 

Travel Awards:  Mark begins to talk about the matching funds and how it's a great opportunity.  Vanessa asks why she didn't see a final draft of the letter, to which Mark replies that we voted to allow the committee to make decisions regarding the travel awards and this was one of those decisions.  

Conclusions:

Action items:

Person responsible:

Deadline:

Time

CGU Issues (Student Involvement)

Mark Macias

Discussion:  Mark explains that this issues came about because the school had this big ground breaking last week for the Descombes Family Gate as an entry point to the CGU campus, but the students were not invited or even notified.  Various administrators were there, as well as faculty, staff, and other beneficiaries.   We need to decide how we're going to address these issues because the administrators continue to not include students as a stakeholder and that's not an acceptable point of view for them.  Whatever the reasons are, we need to think of a solution to get the point across that we need to be involved in activities.  Tamir says that he thinks making a formal complaint would be beneficial as long as it presented tactfully.  They need to know that we are not happy with the way that they treat the students when it comes to events like this.  Elisa states that when writing the letter rather than just saying that students are angry, writing that students noticed the event, and that it is exactly the kind of event that students would like to be involved in, invited to, and given the chance to attend.  Vanessa brings up the point of checking with our students to see if they are even interested in attending a function like this or others since many times these are formal events that students probably aren't going to want to dress for.  Mark asks how many of us would or would not want to attend.  He also asks if we would just want to know.  The first 2 questions got a few hands raised, but the last one everyone agreed on - we would like to have the option of attending.  Mark mentioned that he heard from a DSSA representative that when the administration was talking to stakeholders about changing the name of the school they didn't include students as a stakeholder.  And, that directly affects the students.  Arthur lets everyone know that the DSSA just wrote a letter to CGU addressing some of these same issues among others last week.  He offered to share it with us so that we can also address the issues in a similar manner.  Mark said he'd work on drafting a letter and he'd send it out through email and then everyone can provide their comments.  Elisa adds that it would be good to show him in the letter exactly how we would like to be communicated with, provide examples, so there's no confusion.  Mark's only issue with that is that he doesn't want to tell the President of the University how to do his job.  We'll send it around and figure it all out.  Vanessa points out that solutions are better than just griping.  She also continues the discussion on finding out whether or not the students are even attending CGU events, because from the ones that she's attended there hasn't been much of a student turnout.  She points out that students will only attend certain events, and those events need to be intellectually stimulating, if they aren't the students aren't going to attend.  Cynthia talks about how at the school she works at the students are always invited to major functions and that actions speak louder than words.  So, President Upham needs to know that him not inviting students sends the message that the students are not valued.  There is also some discussion about holding separate events so that the VIP's can have their own private formal event, and students can attend a less formal one.  Mario ends the conversation at 6:40 by saying that the solution here is to build off DSSA's letter and let the administration know that we would like the students to be considered an important stakeholder. 

Proposed Constitution Committee Meeting: Mark announces the meeting of the constitution committee next week (the week of Dec 1).  Elizabeth and Sean are working on the roles and responsibilities and they will send those out for revisions.  The committee is in the process of evaluating Articles 1-5 right now, and will take it to the council when they finish. 

Ad Hoc Committee:  Mark also motions that the committee would like to change the name of the committee to Special Advisory Committee.  Vanessa Seconds.  12 Aye; 0 Nye - motion passed. 

Conclusions: The students are still not considered stakeholders as illustrated by the DesCombes Dedication Ceremony.

Action items: Letter will be drafted to address the President on student involvement, more information will be found out about the Humanities Course and taking interdepartmental courses.  The constitution committee will meet next week, and the Ad Hoc Committee is now the Special Advisor Committee.

Person responsible:  Mark, then the rest of the council

Deadline:

6:40

CGU Issues (Humanities Course

Mark Macias

Discussion: The previous topic leads directly into discussion about the proposed humanities course.  If the past is any indication, President Upham will just announce this requirement in the spring without giving the students to have a choice in the decision.  Mark thinks we need to be proactive and devise an action plan.  Vanessa says that she's heard that it's not a course, so has Mark thought of getting more clear information on the subject.  Aris agrees that he's heard the same thing so we would definitely need more clarification.  It's also mentioned that Harvey Mudd requires a humanities course so this may become a bigger issue b/c of their interest.  Aris says that he doesn't even know what a humanities course is, so can someone please explain what one would learn in a humanities course.  Vanessa explains that it teaches how thoughts are connected… there was much more than that, but I couldn’t follow the explanation.  Vanessa again brings up the fact that she attended a fireside chat where there were not very many other students in attendance, further emphasizing the idea that students do not attend events.  Elisa acknowledges that there were in fact not many students there, but that it was a great courtesy to have the opportunity to meet with various administrators.  However, sometimes students just can't come at a particular time, so the more venues and time variations the better.  Mark stops this conversation b/c the issue had already been addressed and that discussion was done. 

Conclusions: The humanities course needs to be clarified, then the council needs to decide how it will continue with the issue. 

Action items:  Get clarification on the course

Person responsible: Anyone

Deadline:

6:50

CGU Issues ()Inter-School/Department Classes

Speaker

Discussion:  The next issue is the interdepartmental courses.  As Mark understands it, this issue is an accounting problem.  So, if an SPE students want to take a course at Drucker, SPE gets accounted for it, so it's an inconvenience.  He proposes the question: How do we want to handle this?.  Katie states that if she were to take a course at drucker she would pay drucker money, not SBOS.  Elisa says that it sounds like a fact finding mission at this point.  We need to find out what exactly is going  on and then try to address the issue.  Katie points out that all the schools are decentralized so they all have their own accounting system.  Mario V asks if we want to do this through the representatives or have the new committee work on it.  The questions is not addressed, the discussion ends with a comment on how we'll look more into the current situation.

Conclusions: The issue of taking courses interdepartmentally has been an issue for students, how do we want to handle it?

Action items: Right now, the council needs to find out exactly what the problem is with taking interdepartmental courses and then decide how it can best be addressed. 

Person responsible: Reps, but at a later time.

Deadline:

7:02

VP Report

Elisa Mann

Discussion: Elisa's main topic of discussion is the retreat.  She starts by saying that Dec 13^th has the maximum attendance so far, so it looks like that's the best day.  Vanessa immediately raises the issue that it's outside of Claremont and that it appears to cost a lot of money currently.  Mark says we should talk about it first and then get to the details.  Elisa states that she wants it to be a place for us to socialize, get to know each other, and brainstorm ideas for the next semester.  Vanessa suggests waiting until when everyone is available to meet, later in the spring semester.  Elisa says that waiting that long would be too long.  She asks who can make it on the 13^th.  Since the point of the meeting is for team building and visionary items we would mail out the agenda ahead of time so that people could give their ideas if they cannot attend the meeting.  She states that what we do at the retreat is not binding, we won't be voting on anything.  That raises the question of doing anything productive at the meeting by Mark.  Elisa says that yes we are going to be productive, it'll be a time of idea building and sharing.  Vanessa asks about the $17/per person cost - where are we going to get that money.  Marcie asks if we can move funding from the social since we had some left over from the Fall social.  Mark says we need to first decide if we want to have a retreat on Dec 13^th.  Elisa motions to have the retreat, Katie seconds.  11 aye, 1 nay, motion passed.  Now the discussion moves to how much money will be used.  Can we cut the lunch costs?  Vanessa suggests cutting the supplies costs.  Mario says that he trusts Elisa and if she thinks it will cost this much, then so be it.  Katie suggests a pot luck will cut costs.  Aris suggests having people bring $10 then have GSC cover it if it goes over that much.  Mark proposes that we vote to bring $10 to cover lunch costs.  Vanessa adds that it's an optional $10.  Mark says no, each person will bring $10.  Mark motions, Aris seconds to have everyone bring $10 for the retreat.  7 aye, 1 nay, 4 abstain.   The next item is to decide where the rest of the money is going to come from.  The proposed budget is $121:

$35 for snacks

$56 for lunch from the Meetings Line Item

$20 for Flowers from the General Fund Line Item

$20 for Supplies from the Printing/Supplies line item

Elisa motions to vote on this, Katie seconds.  7 aye, 1 nay, 4 abstain.  Motion passed.  This retreat will be open to anyone wanting to become involved with the GSC all current GSC members including alternate reps.  There is also a brief discussion on the amount of emails that have been sent out.  Elisa comes from the philosophical view that when you have new information you should share it so that it can be acted on.  Mark explains that most people want to have information when it's relevant to them so, only send information to people who need the information.  Elisa agrees.  She also tables the giving thanks issue.

Conclusions: GSC will have a retreat on Dec 13^th from 10-4 that will cost $121.

Action items: Email will be sent out with details

Person responsible: Elisa

Deadline:

7:35

Agendas

Elisa

Discussion: Elisa suggests that agendas be sent out on the Monday before the meeting so that we have the information before the meeting.  Mark questions why Elisa is trying to regulate his job, but does ask everyone if it will make a difference (getting the agendas out earlier).  Jenny says that it would be nice to have the information beforehand, and Cynthia agrees.  Mark says that he will do his best to get them out but it depends on his schedule.  Elisa points out the flip side, of getting issues to mark earlier and proposes having a deadline for agenda item submissions.  Mark comments that if agenda items are not proposed by the deadline he will put the items on the next meeting's agenda.  Vanessa argues that he doesn't do that, or at least hasn't done that for her, but attributes that to Mark having a character flaw and saying that she knows he's a liar.  Elisa says that's not an appropriate comment.  And the conversation is effectively ended.

Conclusions: Elisa asks that agendas be sent out earlier, Mark says that it depends on his schedule as to when they get out.  Elisa asks that agenda items have to be sent to Mark earlier so he can get the agenda out to us before the meeting. 

Action items: Mark will try to get agendas out earlier.

Person responsible: Mark

Deadline:

7:49

Secretary's Report

Speaker

Discussion: Katie asks if the minutes are going out early enough.  She sent them out a week before hand, were they sent out early enough.  Do they need to be printed?  Yes.  We will begin voting on minutes at the next meeting.  Katie also talks about having the GSC voting on the a banner and then sending out a request to all students to design a GSC logo and as a reward the student who's banner is chosen will receive $125.  Vanessa thinks that there should be a grand prize of $50, a runner up that gets $30 and an 2^nd runner up that would receive $20.  Jenny argues that because of the longevity, $00 should be the minimum for first place.  The issue of the it being difficult to determine who the runners up will be, so he suggests leaving it to just choosing the first place.  Mark motions to vote on this, Aris seconds.  10 aye, 1 nay, motion passes.  Elisa again raises the idea of having 2 more tiers of runners up.  Cynthia thinks its' a money issue, that if we choose more we would spend more money.  Mark emphasizes that the deciding would be difficult.  Vanessa suggests maybe just awarding honorable mentions and providing certificates not money.  Discussion is done. 

Conclusions:   Minutes are sent out on Wednesdays, but they need to be printed for the meetings.  The banner is voted on and it is decided that we will also recruit a student to design a GSC logo. 

Action items: An email will be sent out for to get banner submissions

Person responsible: Mark

Deadline:

7:55

Appeal of Art Funding

Lara Minassian

Discussion: Lara appealed the amount of funding the GSC offered her at the last meeting.  This is her final thesis show that's coming up next week.  She begins to re-explain that she will have 8 days to accomplish this wall painting and 4 days later it will be painted over.  She points out that the adjunct professor show will also be held during the same time.  Mark interrupts and asks her why she's not comfortable with the money GSC has already offered.  Lara replies that she is grateful for the funding but that it doesn’t even come close to what she's already spent herself.  She also proposes having a designer make the logo for the GSC as an added bonus.  The issue of this is allowing an increase of students requesting funding is raised as a potential problem.  Lara describes how she will provide advertising for the GSC support, but Vanessa emphasizes that the advertising will further increase the risk of more students asking for funding.   Mark points out that this flood of students hasn't happened yet, but several other members agree that it is a very real possibility and that would just cause problems with turning people down.  Mario does tell Lara that she will be able to apply for a travel award if she doesn't get increased funding.  After she leaves the GSC continues the discussion of whether or not to provide her with more funding. At the last meeting the GSC approved funding her $50 and now she is asking for $250.  Marcie says that she told her this was not a normal funding situation, that this is an exception for her.  Marcie apologizes for Lara's appeal.  Marcie has drafter a policy for not funding individuals.  She proposes that we fund group shows where GSC ca be more of an active host rather than just helping individuals pay for their projects.  Mark states that he's a publicity hound and that he thinks it'd be good to have advertising there.  Besides, we funded Doug's show, how is this different.  Katie asks if the art show is the same as research dissertations.  Marcie says they are.  Katie then points out that students don't get funding to do their research for their dissertations, so why would this be any different?  Also, Doug was funded b/c he wanted to make it an annual party in order to bring Art and the rest of the departments together and to use 1 students show as a way to do that.  Elisa thinks it's great that Marcie has started the ground work for the policy and that we can continue to work on it.  Elisa motions to vote to provide additional funding to Lara, Mark seconds.  Arthur asks about what the likelihood of getting a travel award would be if she gets this additional funding, Aris says her likelihood would decrease.  Everyone votes, 2 ayes, 8 nays, 1 abstain, motion not passed.  Marcie asks if we want to having advertising since we are giving her some funding, but that issue is not addressed officially.  This issue is raised if we want to vote on the proposal and purpose statements or do we want to wait.  Marcie asks what she says to art students now b/c it has been an issue.  Elisa suggests that we vote on these statements at the next meeting b/c they do have real impacts and real effects.  Vanessa proposes that we vote on this policy on GSC funding now, Marcie seconds.  Marks says that we do not need to rush this.  3 aye, 3 nay, 5 abstain, motion not passed.  Aris proposes that we all read the policies and it'll be on the agenda to discuss at the next meeting.

Conclusions: Lara is not provided additional funding

Action items:  We will read Marcie's proposals for the next meeting

Person responsible: Council

Deadline:

8:22

Travel Awards

Aris K

Discussion: Aris says that Jenny has been working on the application and it will go out soon.  Arthur asks about the deadline.  Aris says this will be available to go up on the webpage on Monday.  Vanessa suggests waiting until next year for the deadline.  Aris says he doesn’t wan to do that.  Jenny expresses that the committee will need help reading all the applications.  Vanessa argues that even though the council didn't get to have any say in the final proposal now we are being asked for help, that doesn't make sense.  Jenny says that she's misunderstanding deliberately, I'm saying that we can't do this on our own so we would like help.  Cynthia emphasizes that we had already talked about this and people can volunteer to help if they want. 

Conclusions: Travel award application will be available soon.

Action items: Jenny will get the application the Mark who will it to the website committee to put it up on the website.

Person responsible: Jenny

Deadline:

8:28

Departmental Updates

Representatives

Discussion: Jenny has met with her dean a couple of times, she still has monthly lunch meetings with her.  The students now have mailboxes and the bulletin board is coming.  Everything's great. 

Cynthia will be around to help with the survey - other than that, not much.  Mark points out that she will need help b/c the school of education is so large.

Aris says that all is well and that the students are all eagerly awaiting the travel awards. 

Arthur talks about the DSSA elections.  Mark asks about who the GSC liaison will be, but the elections aren't over yet, so we aren't sure.  Their term will being in January, so Mark suggests brining them to a meeting before Arthur's term ends and Marcie suggests bringing them to the retreat. 

Marcie says that everything's good, the art department had their annual thanksgiving dinner last night.  Next week come to Lara's show.

Vanessa says that she's going to write to President Upham about travel awards b/c they are very worried about getting funding for research. 

Ruben doesn't have anything to say.

Mario says he'll be around and willing to help with the survey.  He emailed his dean to get more information about the humanities course, but he still needs more clarity.  Elisa asks if anything else needs to be covered, everyone says no… Elisa motions for adjournment, Katie seconds. 

Conclusions:

Action items:

Person responsible:

Deadline:

Meeting is adjourned. 

Observers:

Resource persons:

Special notes: