GSC General Meeting

December 10, 2003

6-8 pm

McManus Conference Room

Meeting called by:

Mark Macias

Facilitator:

Mark Macias

Timekeeper:

Katie Colvin

Note taker:

Katie Colvin

Officers Present

Linda Bandov

Elisa Mann

Attendees:

Marcie Kaufman

Jennifer Jared

Elizabeth Crossland

Theodore Anderson

Vanessa Raney

Arthur Hsu

Jeffery Brown

Aris K.

Daisy White

Ruben Glueck

Eric Lin

Tamer Balci

Cynthia Olivio

Agenda topics

6:05

Budget

Linda Bandov

Discussion: Since our last meeting the 10K was added to the travel award funds. There are social costs still outstanding from the last budget that have not been accounted for.$284.88 was spent since the last meeting. Mostly allocated towards copying expenses for the survey. Total funds spent to date is $3,337.04 and total remaining balance is $28,329.96.

Conclusions: None - just an update.

Action items: None. 

Person responsible: N/A

Deadline:

6:10

Removal of the History Rep

Mark Macias

Discussion: Mark- We’ll move straight into the agenda item.  I want to begin with outlining the reasons for this proposal, I'll outline the issues, the history rep will have a rebuttal, on October 29^th, we voted to remove her from the committee because of conflicting information she sent out, we agreed to remove her so that the lines wouldn't be blurred for her so that she could concentrate solely on being a representative.  We also set out some communication rules at the next meeting.  Since that time none of the rules of communication have been followed, and various other issue have been raised that have caused problems.  Further, at the last meeting the representative had a name calling incident.  Also, numerous messages that were sent out regarding the travel award and other emails that were in conflict with what the GSC had decided.  In particular she stated that the travel award process was not a meritorious process, when in fact it is.  You were not part of the forming of the application, and despite that you were sending out information to the history department that the GSC was basing the travel awards on the application alone.  We were also informed by the history department that you were accepting applications before the window was open, and that is not correct behavior.  There was another message you sent out to the history department regarding…when you did bring up issues of merit.  You spoke with students and released unfounded information.  Also, you repeatedly vote against the GSC, but it seemed to be a personal vote and not one representing the history department.  Also, your conduct within the meeting and your comments has caused undue lengthening of meetings…

We met last week and asked you to be removed from the GSC, we thought that since the history department appointed you, they should remove you.  However, according to the history dept you refused to step down, so we had to bring it to the meeting.

Vanessa - This is a personal vendetta, I was not removed because of conflicting information.  And that was not included as to why I was removed.  On calling you a liar that was in the context of you promising to put information on the agenda, and it was in response to you asking if you were a liar.  And I did not receive any rules on communication, rather a general list of vague outlines…As far as travel award, the history students didn't see it as a merit based process, they saw it as a application and essay not anything that has to do with the actual conference itself. 

As far as collecting the travel awards, I said, naively, that I would collect them and turn them in when appropriate.  I apologized about that and relayed the correct information to them.  I even had a history student email me back to tell me that I needed to be careful because of the conflicting information. 

On the voting, 2 of those last ones had to do with the retreat, because I felt like this was not something that we needed to do.  The funding is an issue for the students; money is an issue with my students, so I didn't feel like they would like us to spend money on ourselves instead of helping the students. 

As far as speaking with Dr. Brodie, it was not the responsibility of the department to appoint me, but no one else had expressed any desire to be part of the council, so they let me represent them.  And what she outlined from the letter she was sent by you, Mark, is not what you are bringing up to me, so that's conflicting information.

Also, I don't appreciate that you all are persecuting me for my mistakes this semester.  I have tried to overcome them, but they have not been forgotten.  And had you at any point during the semester taken me aside to talk to me, if I had been shown any support, I'm sure we wouldn't be here now. 

It's not my choice to be here, I chose to continue to be involved to give my students a voice here, despite personal problems that have continued throughout the semester.  I am not going to apologize for anything I have done or said.  I have done what I felt were appropriate for my students.  I have asked several times to have more guidance about my role and if you had taken the time to do that, we wouldn’t be here. 

Mark- I'll open it up, but first let me say some things.  This is not a personal vendetta. And I have told you several times how it would be better for you to approach the GSC.  I have spoken to you 3 times on how to be more appropriate to the GSC. 

Vanessa – That's not true. I'm getting persecuting for things that I'm doing.  I'm a scapegoat, Katie does the same things and no one cares.

Mark- Also, the GSC voted to remove you by majority vote.  This is not something any one person  thinks, we as a council agreed that there were problems. 

Vanessa– And I wasn't giving wrong information.

Mark- That wasn't the only issue. 

Vanessa - You used things from this summer as well

Mark – Regarding the conflicting information between the letter to your department and now, these issues are in addition to the letter.  You mentioned about your contrary votes, you said you can't expect me to vote for everything, because of the treatment we have given you.

Vanessa- I go along with the votes that I agree with.  I will vote for things I believe represent the history students and the whole GSC.

Mark- We're concerned that you're not representing your students.

Elisa- Factually… at the last meeting when you gave personal attacks, it's in the rules that we do not attack anyone's character, but rather information that is factual.  It goes beyond that.  The rules were developed for you, because you wanted them written down.  And we went over them, and we verbally told you, showed you, and you had them in writing. 

Elisa - As far as Katie's email, we voted to give a hundred dollars to give to a student so she was letting students know about the opportunity.  That was with the GSC's will.  Where as the information that you had given to the history department was in direct conflict with what the GSC agreed upon. 

Vanessa - Yes and if you had asked me, I would have told you that I apologized.  I was trying to do something that I thought was beneficial.  But you put it in a list of complaints despite that.

Linda – You mentioned that no one pulled you aside to help you, but that's not true.  I had talked to you for 2 hours, about how you had made mistakes, and that it was important that you build bridges.  I tried to make that effort and give you suggestions because building relationships is important.  We had 3 meetings with you as an officer group, and you were directly talking down to someone and insulting them twice.  Ex you told a new member that her comments were not welcome because she was new and didn't know what was going on.  And, on your votes, you refused tell your students about the social committee

Vanessa - I was angry.  That was the day you kicked me off the committees, and it was a political statement. 

Linda- Well, I could say many things, but let me end with this, I think it's very important that people be able to admit their mistakes.  We have tried to …

Vanessa- You used my question, on having GSC oversight, to President Upham at a forum where students were brought together to ask questions, against me.  You also used my comments about the travel awards to the President, where we were able to use that time to express our opinions, against me.  As far as our talk, it wasn't solely about building bridges, rather mostly about the housing committee.  I said that I would move forward and let the past go, but no one else was willing to move on.

I don’t regret anything that I've done.  I learn from my mistakes, but you don’t have an environment that allows people to move one.  I have tried so much this semester to move on, despite everyone else's condemnation, I have tried.  I came to the GSC to provide a voice to the history department, I tried and I tried, and yes I made a lot of stupid choices, and I have taken responsibility for them.  All you did though was use them against me, attack me for every little thing, other people have seen it.  Yet, I remained to continue to provide the history department a representative.  I have tried at each meeting; I have listened to what others have said.  If you want to place the blame on me for the length of the meeting, despite my effort to try to bring up the fact that there were too many issues on each agenda, fine.  I have been attacked, but you choose to use my attacks as blame.  I even asked Dean Whittaker to intervene, but due to conflicting schedules we couldn't meet. 

Linda – This is not a personal attack.  I have tried… you have done things well and I have pointed those out.  But this is a democratic organization, and we vote by majority, that's how we move forward.  And you have not understood that that’s the basis- that you go over the organization to do what you want done, and you have not let the organization vote on it.

Vanessa– Because you ignored me!

Linda – One example is the travel awards, because you did went to the president even though we have voted to let the travel award committee make decisions.

Vanessa– I went over because I was not able to express my opinions in the meeting. 

Elisa – For the record, I don't think that because any person votes against the GSC…there's no reason to take action for removal, rather its because of your reasoning behind your opposing votes. 

Dean Whittaker-I tend to be here as an observer.  But institutionally, I need to make sure the spirit and the letter of the law are followed.  I need to ask that you need to make 2 votes.  You need to vote on whether or not to amend your constitution, and then to remove her.  So you need to do both.

Mark-  Okay, there are two votes on the table.  Do we want to amend the constitution to include recall of representatives? 

Vanessa - I think there needs to be a discussion on this.  I think the recall that applies to the representatives should include that if they are not representing their depts… (She gives some examples, but I cannot get them down fast enough.)

Mark- Well, all we're going to vote on is the ability to recall members.  Mark motions, Linda seconds. 

Mark -So, we're going to vote on amending the constitution to include the ability to recall representatives.  9 aye, 3 nay, 2 abstain.  That's not two thirds vote. 

Jennifer - Did you see Marcie's hand?

Elisa- No.  I'm sorry. 

Mark- Okay, we need to vote again.  We're going to once again vote on expanding the constitution to include the ability to recall a representative.  3 nay, 10 aye, 2 abstain; Motion passed. 

Mark- We've expanded the recall clause to include representatives.

Ruben – I think it should be Vanessa's choice to step down. 

Mark- In general we feel the same way, but there are some things that crossed the line.

We've given her the option.  And the concern is the continued disruption to the council.

Tamer- Since this hasn’t happened before, I think it should be added to the constitution in case it does happen in the future.  One thing to remember is to leave it up to the students.  We have many new students, so I think we need to add something in the constitution that says we will accept new students as members but with certain restrictions.  I think kicking people off will lower our status, we won't look diplomatic.

Cynthia- I think the GSC has made a good faith effort, to help Vanessa understand, and unfortunately she has not worked within those guidelines.  It's difficult, because she has tried, but I think we have to look at the situation, and weigh things equally.

Mark makes other comments that I didn't get…

Arthur – I want to say something about the process.  I mean, we just did that for a specific case.  And when you amend a constitution you should probably do it objectively.  This was made under stressful circumstances.  It seems like groupthink.

Linda – This is one of the things that the Constitution Committee has thought about adding and it will be included.  I know it appears that this is a specific case, but it's really not, its something we've been talking about for a while.

Elisa-  I agree with Arthur that its hasty to make this decision like this.  I think it should be in the committee, and it should be something that we think about. 

Jennifer- I just want to say that I think if something is present it will be used in the future.  That spurious reasoning is not correct. 

Mark – I do want to say that there is a recall for the officers and that hasn’t been used.

Elisa – I just want you all to remember that we have talked about this before; we voted as a GSC that if there was a change in behavior we would reinstate her to her full rights and responsibilities.  But we removed her so she could spend time as a representative.  The flip side was that if she did not improve we would remove her, so we are here.

Vanessa- Let me point out.  A lot of these are coming out of personal issues from people who have a history of bad blood.  But I did make the effort to bring in a mediator, to improve the situation. I planned to go to the retreat this weekend to build support, create a vision.  I thought that was a place I could build bridges.  I know I have not made any contact with you outside of these meetings, but I needed to deal with this.  I would have preferred rather than making me a scapegoat, had other members that were willing to move forward… If that was the case you wouldn’t see this.  Instead I became more alienated, and isolated from the members of this group.  And, I've been trying to deal with that along with other things that have been going on in my life.

Mark- I will vote that because of the progressively deteriorating relationship, to move to remove her.   Katie seconds.

Ruben- You guys seem very adamant, you have certain grievances and you seem very strong in your position.  But do you really want to make this serious of a move.  I think it's very easy to transfer your problem elsewhere, but have you really tried.  I think an effort to work all this out would be much better. 

Linda- This didn't happen just last week, it's progressed since this summer.  The GSC wants to move forward, but if you have a member that really influences the GSC and the whole organization, the question becomes how do you continue to move forward.  This is not personal.  Anyone else would have gotten the same reaction.  We voted to remove you from committees, and we tried to continue to keep your membership.  My question to you is what changes have you made to get you reinstated?  I don’t want to be in this position; I don’t want this council to be in this position.  But I need an answer to that question.

Vanessa- The only false information I gave, because I didn't understand the history, was the travel awards. None of the information I gave to housing students or history students were false.  Given the history students concerns, I answered them based on the information I had.

Mark – I'm going to have to stop you and move the conversation forward.  We've been here before.  I agree with you 100 percent, I remember a year an a half ago how there was just 5 of us here.  We've worked hard to make this an organization for the students, and 1 student shouldn’t get in the way of organization.  I have no problems with people who are in disagreement with the majority; I have been in the minority, that’s not the issue.  It's whether a persons conduct disrupts the organization.

Vanessa.- Linda, you asked how I have made changes… I started a ---- with history students.  I have also not communicated with people outside of the history departments..  a couple of the history students have talked about starting a mentor program…  but I think what you have to realize is that people have to deal with things differently.  I needed someone outside the GSC to come talk with us.  I needed to hear a commitment from other members. 

Aris – You had a statement earlier on, that you've moved past your earlier mistakes.  But you keep talking about talking about how I attacked you.  Ruben, I'm not going to tell you about how Vanessa called for the recall of the secretary.  I'm also not going to tell you about her calling the Vice President a coward in an email that went out to the entire council.  I'm not going to tell you about how she sent an email out to SBOS, to my students, asking for a GSC representative for our students.  And, as far as people offering you help… just last meeting when you said you couldn't afford to print the agendas, I offered to print agendas for you.  I have tried to tip toe around your feelings, but you didn’t notice. 

Vanessa- Your last email was nice, and I said thank you.  I didn't realize you were being serious about printing the agendas.  I'm sorry.  But, then my advisor calls me in to tell me GSC wants me off GSC.  I have apologized for things I did this summer.  Yes I did all those things, but I haven’t done anything like that since.  But it kept coming up.  My mistakes were always brought up. 

Aris- You gave wrong information… You didn’t know what was going to happen with the travel awards. 

Elisa – I sense that this is turning into a shouting match, and I don't want that to happen. 

Ruben – Just think about what your doing.  If you go forward, it could be construed as ganging up, and it may not reflect the council very well. 

Elisa- Okay, we're going to vote. 

Mark – Were going to do this by secret ballot. 

Vanessa- No, I want to know.  And, I will use who votes which way. 

Mark- No we will vote privately.

Dean Whittaker- I would say that parliamentary procedures say that you can vote on how you vote.

Lets vote on whether this should be an open vote vs a secret vote. 

Comment by a new student on how its ridicules to keep voting ….its her right to know who voted for and against her.  It's irrational.

Mark- I don’t see any reason why we cannot vote on how we vote

Tamer – Is it according to the constitution?

Mark – Its not spelled out in the constitution.  If that’s the case we bring it to a vote in the meeting. 

Vanessa– You asked for a change, I did try to include GSC on an email that I sent out about the humanities course and a newsletter that I put together. 

Cynthia – From my perspective, I look at this PowerPoint, this was designed because of your actions.  Separate meetings have been called to discuss this with you.  I look at the energy that has been expended into helping you, that could have been otherwise used.  At the last meeting, I was completely taken aback; I just don’t experience people personally attacking each other in meetings.  I'm sorry for you, but I'm not surprised that we are now here. 

Vanessa- The power point did not address my question.  If I had gotten clarification we wouldn’t be here.

Cynthia – Also, the president of the university is taking out time to talk about something your brought up.  Even he is taking time out to deal with this issue.

Ruben – It seems like this is going so quickly, I would like to back track a little.  Can we redo the vote for the constitution?  Because what if someone else is in this position?

Tamer – I suggest that in order to remove someone from the GSC a two thirds vote should be required.

Rubin – Also, energy expended is not energy wasted because she is still a person. 

Cultural Studies Alternate Representative - Vanessa, you suggested that Edward and I get involved, so I applaud you for that.  But when there's a conflict, if you cannot proceed past that, then in order to make things run much more smoothly then the person causing the conflict needs to be removed. 

Mark – You bring up a good point, and were in a position, where were darned if we do and were darned if we don’t.  I would rather not deal with this, but because of the issues we may at some point ostracize people.

Elizabeth – It seems to me that we have two points of view.  The objective point of view that she's been causing problems and others believe that she we need to give her more time to change.

Ruben- I think we would all know who voted which way anyway, so why vote separately. 

Vanessa- I want it to be said that not everything has been tried.

Mark – The fact that Dean Whittaker is here.. you know, when I had a petition on financial aide, I had to go through a secret committee, and this process is much more open than that.  So were still making this process an open democratic process, even if we vote secretly.

Ruben – I motion to vote on how we vote.  Cynthia seconds.

Mark – Do we vote secretly or openly?

Katie – I move to vote secretly, Linda seconds.

Tamer- Why do we need a secret vote

Katie – She has already made personal attacks against members of this committee and voting openly may further those attacks.  I think a secret ballot will help to alleviate that concern. 

Mark - Exactly, to prevent further personal attacks against those who vote against her.  

Ruben – But were dealing with a human, it needs to be open.

Mark- Point taken, there is a motion on the floor.  Please vote aye for a secret vote, nay if you do not want a secret vote.    8 aye, 6 nay, 1 abstain, motion passed 

Mark- Okay, so now we need to vote to remove the history representative. 

Elisa- The votes will be counted by both dean Whittaker and the Vice President.  The motion on the floor is to recall the history representative.  Aye is to recall, nay is to not recall.  [People vote secretly and hand it to Elisa.  Elisa and Dean Whittaker step outside to count the votes.]

Vanessa- I would like to have it on the record that not all measures were exhausted. 

Katie- yes ma’am I have included that.

Elisa- The results are 11 aye, 3 nay, 1 abstain.  Motion has passed. 

Vanessa- thank you for giving me a course of action that I now intend to pursue. 

Mark – Lets take a break, well reconvene at 7:50

Conclusions:  Constitution is amended to include the recall of representatives.  By secret ballot the History Department Representative, Vanessa Raney, is removed from office. 

Action items: Tamer Balci is the representative until he can find a replacement. 

Person responsible:

Deadline:

7:50

Interim Presidency

Discussion:  Mark – I do want to say, that we will never be in complete agreement.

The next issue is an interim presidency.  I have been in talks with Drucker on getting a dual degree, but there are new issues so I will probably not be doing that.  In the event that I do not continue, I think its my responsibility to make sure there is a transition.  The way I see it is, since this is my second term, normally this organization has elections in May when we open it up to the university, and whoever comes forward, we vote on the officers for the upcoming year.  But what are we going to do in the meanwhile.  I feel it's my responsibility to help with the transition.  I could just let you all handle it next semester, but I don’t think that's fair, I want there to be a smooth transition.  These are the options I'm going to throw out for discussion.  It's based on seniority.

I've talked to 3 people that have been part of this organization in the past, and 1 new one.

Mario V has been in the organization since fall of last year.  He's been here second longest since me an Aris.  He has a good relationship with the president, he's in the dissertation phase of his studies so he has some time, but his objective is that he will only do it for one semester to facilitate.  But he's not dying for the position. 

The other person is Aris, he has been here as long as I have.   He's passionate about this organization, but he has said that the only thing better than being president is going to the dentist, so he's not all that excited. 

Another person who is quite capable is Linda.  But Linda works full time, is a full time student, and we talked about what she's involved in next semester that will take more time away.  I feel that it should be a full time student, and not a full time employee.

The only other person who talked to me about it is Sean, he's got his MBA from Pepperdine, but no one really knows him.  Those are the people who have talked to me.

Jenny – My question is, is this just for an appointment until May?

Mark - Yes.

Marcie – I think all four people would be great, but in the constitution doesn’t it say that the Vice President takes the place of the president. 

Mark – No it doesn’t.

Elisa- Yes it does.  And I think it was a great discourtesy that I have not been made aware of this before.  It does say that we can take a vote, so that if we all feel that the others would be better, then okay, but it does say that the Vice President will step in when the president is not present. 

Mark – the people I've mentioned have been here for a while.  And not to be disrespectful to you, but you have only been here for 4-6 weeks.  I am trying to provide a transition and not dump it on someone who hasn’t been here for very long.  I've been in this organization, and I want to mitigate the vying for positions.

Aris – Were just talking about the process of the transition, it wasn’t a slight on you or anyone else, its an open discussion.

Tamer- When will we know for sure your status.

Mark – No later than the end of the year, Dec 31.

Jenny – I would like to suggest that we should really only pull from the people who are here because these are the people who have been elected to be here.  And since it isn't in the constitution, I would be more comfortable having an officer step in because the familiarity is very important.

Elizabeth – I'm wondering if its decided that the interim president must step down at the end of the term

Aris – We have a few good suggestions, it should remain in this room.  The next question is should it be any council member or an officer. 

Mark – Whatever you all feel most comfortable with it. 

Elisa – We might be doing a disservice to outside people… and if you do want to decided to keep it in the room, I think it should be carefully thought through so that when its presented to the students its logical.

Aris - If the goal is to achieve the smoothest possible position, I don’t think that’s the way to go.

Katie - Reading of the Vice Presidents role

Tamer – Can we push this to the next meeting, and discuss through email.

Mark – That becomes problematic because then the GSC doesn’t to anything for a month and

You won't hit the ground running.  We're trying to avoid it.

Linda – I agree. There will be people here who can get work done.  I want to also say that regardless of who we vote in, we have to look at what the organization has done; we've got the administration at least listening to us, so what happens if we lose that time by having someone come in that has to get his feet wet and build relationships… we just need to build on the momentum we have already started.

Tamer – So should we talk about who wants to become candidate?

Elizabeth – I just wanted to clarify that this is still going to just be through the end of the next semester.

Mark- Yes.  So, I don’t know Aris, how you feel about it.  Since he's been here the longest, he's kind of the elder.  I like to pay people the respect he's due since he's been here.

Aris – When it comes out of left field, it’s the same response many of you would give.  But the more you think about it, it’s a huge responsibility, he outlined why I would be a good president  so, I'm seriously considering it.  But first we need to decide what the procedure is going to be. 

Elizabeth – Procedurally, I think that it would look better and be more fair, for the Vice President to stand in, and I think the it would look better to the outside if we do that.

Arthur – That can be defended through the constitution, because the president is elected for a year, and if he's not there the finish his role then the Vice President stands in. 

Mark – Yes that can easily be argued.  This is no surprise, when I ran for a second term I said this would be a possibility.  I do think it should be from within.

Katie- If we elect to have the VP move in, what do we do about the VP position?

Jenny – I'm comfortable with everything, is there a way to replace the Vice President if they step up?

Elizabeth – I just want the rationale to be clear.

Mark – Yes, it will be spelled out in the minutes and we will provide clarification.

Linda- This constitution is very vague, and I think this is one of those cases where we have to do that. 

Aris – Can we vote to see if the Vice President should just move in, rather than continue this discussion? 

Jenny- I think every candidate is totally worthy, but I think before we can say the Vice President can move in, we have to decide the repercussions of that. 

Mark – Yes there are many issues.  Do we want to do succession or vote in a new person?  And then what do we do after that. 

Cynthia- Now would Elisa step in to be president and then we look to find a new president?

Mark- That’s what we're doing, we vote in May.  I think that would be too many elections from the student body. 

Cynthia- I only state that because the constitution isn’t clear.

Tamer- I make a motion to choose the interim within the GSC.  Mark seconds

Confused comments…

Elizabeth  - Can I amend that to include that if its within the GSC it should come from the officers. 

Arthur seconds

Mark-Okay, first, do we keep the process to choose the elected to come from within the present council. 

Aye 12, nay 0, abstain 2.  Motion passed.

Mark – now the question is…

Jenny- This is a suggestion, we stay with the constitution let the Vice President be the president then vote for the Vice President position.

Aris- We would motion to interpret the constitution to say the Vice President moves in.

Mark – In this body, in my opinion, there should be a continuity to the person who presides here.  That’s why I feel that it should be someone who has had the experience with the GSC.  It's not to say that others cannot do it, but who has the time and the experience, because this is different from being a GSC member or other officer.  There are a lot of things, and we know the condition of the school, that there does need to be a body where students come together to help further the student agenda so the admin can hear and include the students instead of thinking of us as an after thought.  And we have that power to do that.  And my concern is that we continue that progress, and that we try to maintain the momentum so the administration continues to listen to us.  And people like Mario, who has a good relationship with the president, has that experience.  And people like Aris who has sat on the IT steering committee…

Cynthia- I think Linda needs to be given the chance to say her side.

Linda - I think it's important to move forward, Mark pointed out some observations that are true.  I am open to it, but I'm open to what you want.  Do I have the skills and abilities?  Yes.  But do I think it's a lot?  Yes.  And just to tell you my schedule, I will be on campus 2 days a week and working 3.  But its up to all of you. 

Tamer- Did Mario want to say something?

Mark- I talked to him, and he said he would be willing to dedicate the time necessary and do all he can to further the agenda.  He said he would do it. 

Elisa needs a chance to be state her position. 

Elisa- This is quick, I'm not thinking as quickly I should at this point.  I would be honored to take over as the interim or for just a few weeks.  But just as Mark said, we will have a general election in May, so to have someone stand in for that time.  Seniority is important; you can see what they have done.  The flip side, I don’t think I should be discounted for lack of experience. 

Aris- I fully support you and do not discount you.  We need to decide if you are going to transfer over.

Linda- I do want to say a few things about Mario.  I think he's in a great position to take over; he's been very involved, most recently in the career services survey.  But even last year, with the travel awards.  The interesting position is, he has a very good relationship with the president and there's a lot of strong respect there for him.  The question is can he leverage that respect to help the GSC and is he willing to do that.  I think if he is active in that role that will really move the GSC forward.

Elisa- Okay, I see you have to fight here, and I would like to fight… I will take 3 classes next semester so I will have the time.  I want to say that you have an extremely dedicated officer group, we are in constant communication with each other and I would want to continue that.  I want to say that I would welcome the opportunity.  I respect the people who are running, but if you don’t fight for yourself who will.

Mark- It's not a fight, I just want to continue to path we've been on.  And bringing in new leadership will divert that path.  I believe that experience is important.  I've learned that experience is important.  I've been told experience is important, so I like to build on experience so that the person who is new can use that experience.  That’s why I talked to people like Aris and Mario about he position because they have the experience. 

Aris- Any new position will have a learning curve.  This is no slight on anyone, but experience will help with the learning curve, and provide a smooth transition.  I had to step out during your presentation, but when I left I heard you say something about this being a fight.  But there is no fight here.

Elisa – I didn’t mean fight…

Elizabeth- I want to motion that the Vice President moves into the position or we bring in someone new.

Jenny- wording needs to be clear

Elizabeth- Okay then I vote that the Vice President move.  Jenny seconds.

Mark- All in favor of the Vice President's succession into the President position?

8 aye, 4 oppose, 2 abstain, motion passed.

Elizabeth- so now what about the Vice President spot.

Linda- I would like to vote that succession be for an interim period and that there be a parliamentary procedure to elect a new president.  Because normally the succession is only effective for a few weeks.  I think it's fair to have an election.  Standard procedure calls for a limited time succession and then a vote for an interim president position. 

Elizabeth – I would be comfortable with that, but I would like to allow it to be open to the general public. 

Linda- I think its important that given what we've done that we have to have the most qualified and experienced person so that we don’t lose the momentum we have.  I think the organization as a whole should vote on this.

Cynthia- From someone who works in higher education, being established with the administration… the organization benefits from that.  I think it would be good to pull from our own resources to get the in with the administration, and Mario has that pull.  It's not easy to do that. 

Tamer- Keeping this newly elected president within or outside of the org?

Linda- I would think it should stay in.

Mark- I'll try to summarize- we voted that the Vice President would take succession but Linda thinks we should have an election within the organization to elect the interim president.

Elisa- We just voted to have the Vice President step in, and now were discussing having a second election…

Jenny- This is an idea, if when people vote for a Vice President isn’t part of what is taken into consideration that he Vice President will step in for the president if the situation arises.  It troubles me that, we should open it up to the student body.

Elizabeth- I think if we do elect a president after succession, why don’t we just have the one election…

Mark- I think we need to just say that the Vice President moves in and then at some point she moves to have an election.

Jenny…

Mark- So we need to motion that after Elisa takes over the presidency she will call for a special election at which time the interim president will be elected.  Then if that passes well have to talk about the time.

Arthur- Can I ask that the Vice President give her opinion

Elisa- Leadership should reflect the will of those being led, so if there are the majority of people here who would rather have another step up to take a hypothetical position, then okay.  That said, when Linda said that we don’t want to loose momentum, I will put forth all the power we have to move the organization forward.  I am comfortable with being here until May.  If you vote to cap it, its something I would not stand in the way of, though personally I think we're moving back by saying that.  Also, you mentioned that I don’t have clout with the president, I'm in no way pals with them, but we do talk and we do have a courteous relationship. 

Mark- I'm sure everyone thinks you're capable.  The issue here is that doing everything within in your power, will that come close to what relationships will do.  But that’s just my weighting experience.

Elisa- Yes and I do want to say that I want to use every ones talents in order to do so.

Linda- I just believe in a strong democracy, and that those who are going to assume a position should put out there their qualifications and agendas and we don’t know that from you.  Also, when Mark calls the President he sits up and listens, he knows something will happen.  And, I feel that when there is an unknown quantity entered into the equation the president will relax and it won't be as easy to get things done.  I just think we need to have a fair democratic process.

Ruben- I think Elisa will do a fine job. 

Mark- Okay, lets vote.  The vote is after the succession period are we going to have open GSC election.

In favor of a GSC interim election after the succession aye 6 nay, 7 abstain, 1 abstention. Motion passed.

How will we deal with the Vice President position?  Do we need to deal with that?

Nooooo, not tonight…

Conclusions:  GSC votes to have the Vice President take succession and become the President.  The issue of how long is also raised, but the motion of holding a second election for an interim President is not passed. 

Action items: Elisa Mann will take the President Position. 

Person responsible:  Elisa Mann

Deadline:

8:50

Retreat

Elisa Mann

Discussion:  Mark- What else do we need to deal with?  The retreat….

Elisa- You all probably got this retreat agenda for those of you who don’t have it.  And you’ve heard Sean's name, he will be presenting information as will Katie.

Katie - Explains information needed for an activity, but it's agreed that an email will go about with more details. 

Tamer- I would like emails about the agenda even though I cannot go. 

Mark- Tamer will you be the new history representative?

Tamer- Only for a short time, I am looking for a replacement. 

Mark motions adjournment, ?? seconds…

Conclusions: None - update/discussion only. 

Action items: None. 

Person responsible: NA

Deadline:

Observers:

Resource persons:

Special notes: