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I. Roll Call/Agenda
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Welcome to Senate! We have a full agenda tonight. We’ll hear from Katie Ellis, President of Students for a Free Tibet, Kimberly Chin, Lindsey Boylan, Catherine Day, Elizabeth Marlow. Two student representatives will present: Nanki Marwah, who sits on the Student Council to the Board of Trustees- Landscape, Building, and Grounds Committee and Paulina Ponce de Leon Barido, who sits on the National Development and Outreach Committee. We’ll hear first from Katie Ellis.
Let me preface because Alex couldn’t be here, SOAC members correct me if I’m wrong, for new organizations to officially be constituted they must be voted in by the student body through Senate. The president of Students for a Free Tibet is here tonight to get fully constituted. The benefits of getting constituted are FirstClass conference privileges, space reservation priority, and, of course, SOFC funding.
In order to be constituted you have to go through a 3 semester process, which is relatively new to CG. The org’s future president should come to Senate and get senate approval. She’s expected to give a 3-5 minute presentation and your constituency will be voting on whether or not the org should be constituted.
Katie Ellis, President of Students for a Free Tibet: Tashi Delek! (that's Tibetan for "hello"): For those of you that don't know me, my name is Katie Ellis and I am this year's President of Students for a Free Tibet. My organization has been working for four semesters to get constituted, and we were recently awarded that privledge, so thank you everyone who was a part of that decision.
We are a primarily political organization, with the goal of helping Tibetans in Tibet and in exile around the world. For those of you who don't know, Tibet was formerly a nation in the heart of Asia, which was invaded by China shortly following the Communist Revolution, and has been the site of some of the world's worst human rights violations ever since.
We go about the goal of helping Tibet in three ways: the first pillar of our organization is to raise awareness, which we do through cultural events, movie showings, lectures, and the like. This year, we are one of the main sponsoring organizations of the Tibetan Mandala project, currently going on in the Davis Museum (if anyone has not yet gone, I highly recommend it- 8 Tibetan nuns from Kathmandu are building a sand mandala, a form of Tibetan religious art. They are the only nuns in the world trained to make Mandalas, a traditionally monastic art). Our organization also fundraises for the Tibetan cause (this year we've sold Tibetan prayer flags and earrings, and hope to host a benefit concert next year). Our third goal is to lobby on behalf of political prisoners, and on this count, we have been successful on many occassions.
This year, our events have included planning a lecture and film series, taking part in the Tibetan Mandala Project, and our fundraisers, and we are about to embark on a major letter writing campaign with the help of many local volunteers. Next year, we hope to bring a Tibetan monk to campus to create a Tibetan butter sculpture, another form of traditional religious art.
When we origionally applied for Constitution, we were asked to exist as a subcommittee of Amnesty International. We discussed this possibility with then-president Dante Costa, and decided together that this solution was not practical for either of our organzations. Amnesty's constitution states that they are a non-political organzation, while we are an expressly political one. We also felt that it was unfair to pull resources and focus from Amnesty to the Tibetan problem specifically, and likewise did not want to focus all of our energies on political prisoners within Tibet. We do, however, hope to cosponsor many events with Amnesty in the future.
Although SFT is adamantly opposed to Chinese policy in Tibet, we have no grudge against the Chinese people as a whole, and especially not against Chinese students at Wellesley. We welcome open discourse about our policies and procedures.
Thank you all for your time, I'll take any questions that you have.
Yang Qiu: You just said that the organization is very successful at freeing Tibetan political prisoners. How did you do that or what program did you go through?
Katie Ellis, President of SFT: SFT is an international organization although we are not technically a chapter. We use many of their materials for inspiration. Some of our successes include getting a political prisoner off of death row. His partner was executed. We got 14 nuns off of death row. An example of the horrible treatment they receive: their sentences were extended for releasing music from prison. Tibetan prisoners are some of the most awfully treated. They endure physical and sexual abuse.
Shelly Anand: If you get constituted would you plan on becoming a part of the national organization?
Katie Ellis, President of SFT: We would investigate that, but I know it’s not usually okay to pay dues to a national organization.
Shelly Anand: Will you be just as effective without the affiliation?
Katie Ellis, President of SFT: I think we’ll be okay and we can do a lot of work without the affiliation.
Motion to extend time to accommodate speakers and close list.
Motion passed.
Fanny Tsang: How many members participate in your events? How have you been paying for events without SOFC?
Katie Ellis, President SFT: We received donations for rights to films and SOFC emergency funding, pending Senate approval. We have about 15 active members, including 6 e-board members. More attend our events.
Yang Qiu, SOAC member: The problem with being a chapter is that your organization would have to pay dues to the national organization and we want to avoid you charging members dues and the Student Activity Fee to fund only campus organizations/
Katie Ellis, President of SFT: Yes, for that reason we’ll remain independent. For the mandala, I’ve seen 30 people around each time I’ve visited. I know that almost 70 people were at the movie showing.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: Bring this back to your constituency and vote to approve Students for a Free Tibet. We’ll have the final vote next Monday in Senate.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Thank you so much for all of your hard work. We’ll have news for you next week! Next we’ll vote on the proposed constitutional changes from last week.
Let me preface because Alex couldn’t be here, SOAC members correct me if I’m wrong, for new organizations to officially be constituted they must be voted in by the student body through Senate. The president of Students for a Free Tibet is here tonight to get fully constituted. The benefits of getting constituted are FirstClass conference privileges, space reservation priority, and, of course, SOFC funding.
In order to be constituted you have to go through a 3 semester process, which is relatively new to CG. The org’s future president should come to Senate and get senate approval. She’s expected to give a 3-5 minute presentation and your constituency will be voting on whether or not the org should be constituted.
Katie Ellis, President of Students for a Free Tibet: Tashi Delek! (that's Tibetan for "hello"): For those of you that don't know me, my name is Katie Ellis and I am this year's President of Students for a Free Tibet. My organization has been working for four semesters to get constituted, and we were recently awarded that privledge, so thank you everyone who was a part of that decision.
We are a primarily political organization, with the goal of helping Tibetans in Tibet and in exile around the world. For those of you who don't know, Tibet was formerly a nation in the heart of Asia, which was invaded by China shortly following the Communist Revolution, and has been the site of some of the world's worst human rights violations ever since.
We go about the goal of helping Tibet in three ways: the first pillar of our organization is to raise awareness, which we do through cultural events, movie showings, lectures, and the like. This year, we are one of the main sponsoring organizations of the Tibetan Mandala project, currently going on in the Davis Museum (if anyone has not yet gone, I highly recommend it- 8 Tibetan nuns from Kathmandu are building a sand mandala, a form of Tibetan religious art. They are the only nuns in the world trained to make Mandalas, a traditionally monastic art). Our organization also fundraises for the Tibetan cause (this year we've sold Tibetan prayer flags and earrings, and hope to host a benefit concert next year). Our third goal is to lobby on behalf of political prisoners, and on this count, we have been successful on many occassions.
This year, our events have included planning a lecture and film series, taking part in the Tibetan Mandala Project, and our fundraisers, and we are about to embark on a major letter writing campaign with the help of many local volunteers. Next year, we hope to bring a Tibetan monk to campus to create a Tibetan butter sculpture, another form of traditional religious art.
When we origionally applied for Constitution, we were asked to exist as a subcommittee of Amnesty International. We discussed this possibility with then-president Dante Costa, and decided together that this solution was not practical for either of our organzations. Amnesty's constitution states that they are a non-political organzation, while we are an expressly political one. We also felt that it was unfair to pull resources and focus from Amnesty to the Tibetan problem specifically, and likewise did not want to focus all of our energies on political prisoners within Tibet. We do, however, hope to cosponsor many events with Amnesty in the future.
Although SFT is adamantly opposed to Chinese policy in Tibet, we have no grudge against the Chinese people as a whole, and especially not against Chinese students at Wellesley. We welcome open discourse about our policies and procedures.
Thank you all for your time, I'll take any questions that you have.
Yang Qiu: You just said that the organization is very successful at freeing Tibetan political prisoners. How did you do that or what program did you go through?
Katie Ellis, President of SFT: SFT is an international organization although we are not technically a chapter. We use many of their materials for inspiration. Some of our successes include getting a political prisoner off of death row. His partner was executed. We got 14 nuns off of death row. An example of the horrible treatment they receive: their sentences were extended for releasing music from prison. Tibetan prisoners are some of the most awfully treated. They endure physical and sexual abuse.
Shelly Anand: If you get constituted would you plan on becoming a part of the national organization?
Katie Ellis, President of SFT: We would investigate that, but I know it’s not usually okay to pay dues to a national organization.
Shelly Anand: Will you be just as effective without the affiliation?
Katie Ellis, President of SFT: I think we’ll be okay and we can do a lot of work without the affiliation.
Motion to extend time to accommodate speakers and close list.
Motion passed.
Fanny Tsang: How many members participate in your events? How have you been paying for events without SOFC?
Katie Ellis, President SFT: We received donations for rights to films and SOFC emergency funding, pending Senate approval. We have about 15 active members, including 6 e-board members. More attend our events.
Yang Qiu, SOAC member: The problem with being a chapter is that your organization would have to pay dues to the national organization and we want to avoid you charging members dues and the Student Activity Fee to fund only campus organizations/
Katie Ellis, President of SFT: Yes, for that reason we’ll remain independent. For the mandala, I’ve seen 30 people around each time I’ve visited. I know that almost 70 people were at the movie showing.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: Bring this back to your constituency and vote to approve Students for a Free Tibet. We’ll have the final vote next Monday in Senate.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Thank you so much for all of your hard work. We’ll have news for you next week! Next we’ll vote on the proposed constitutional changes from last week.
II. Old Business
Kim Chin, CPLA Chair: I don’t have any new business, are there any questions?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: These were the changes to article 9 about the logistics of College Government Elections.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: Are there any questions before we vote en bloc?
Motion to approve constitutional changes.
Motion carries.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: These were the changes to article 9 about the logistics of College Government Elections.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: Are there any questions before we vote en bloc?
Motion to approve constitutional changes.
Motion carries.
III. New Business
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: President Jamie Bernthal will now present proposed changes to the SOAC constitution delineating the Vice President’s role on that committee and the roles of the two coordinators.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: This is interesting. SOAC is a vital CG committee. SOAC is responsible for appointing student representatives and also in charge of constituting organizations. We’ve found that there are signs that there is a lot of responsibility on the Vice President. The position as it is now is really a 3 person job. Since the job is so important and very taxing because you can’t please everyone. We want to give the VP more aid so she can better serve in other Cabinet roles, especially with the president. As it is now, the Vice President has so much of her own work that it would be unrealistic to expect her to be able to fill in for the President if the need arose. This isn’t a problem with Alex specifically, but with VPs in the past.
We’ve also talked to the Associate Dean of Students who has seen this happen with many cabinets. I brought this up in College Government President’s Council and Meri helped a lot since she knows so much about Constitutions. We didn’t want to dramatically change SOAC. Now there are 2 coordinators and then the senators. We like the structure but thought there needed to be more delineation of the coordinator’s powers and duties. We’ve also come up with a new process of selecting the new coordinators.
First, Meri and I sat down and came up with ideas of how the position should be changed. We then went to Michel Ballard and Elizabeth Liu who are the two coordinators now. We also presented at SOAC 2 weeks ago. We presented also to SPEC and they have made some suggestions to clear up the language and wording.
I’m proposing that I go through the changes briefly, I want you to read through it again…I’ve posted it on the Student Senate conference for you to read. If there are ideas we get tonight we’ll add them in and post it tonight. Take that final version from the conference tonight to your constituency and vote on that.
I’m assuming that you’ve read this already. Just to give you a general overview, the VP’s role consists of constituting organizations, leading student representative interviews and many other duties.
We’ve added more explicit things like ‘2. She’ll serve as the liaison between SOAC and Senate.” These are things she currently does, but we just wanted to clarify it constitutionally.
Under the appointments and organizations coordinators, we asked them what they do and wrote it down. The appointment coordinator will take on a larger role, chairing ¾ of the interviews instead of 1/2. Also, the 2 positions are paid and will continue to be paid. They are campus jobs.
On page 5, we changed the wording to the “Office of Spiritual and Religious Office” from “Chaplaincy Office”
On page 7, we handled the issue with videotaping which was changed previously.
If you could, go to page 11 and let’s talk about the selection process. It’s the largest change.
After turnover is a large portion of the interview process. Sometimes the coordinator positions lead into the VP role. Alex served as a coordinator position last year. After turnover she had both the VP and coordinator roles. What that does is make only 2 people and not the 3 people you need responsible; this is a problem, especially during the interview process. We’re proposing that the coordinators come on board when the new VP is elected. They will be on the same schedule and will be a team throughout the whole year. SOAC thought this was favorable. Applications for these positions would come to the CG President the day before CG elections, anyone with a past SOAC experience will be eligible, but there is an emergency clause in case no one with SOAC experience applies.
The new and old VP will review applications with the past CG president, who will serve as the tie-breaker. They will choose the coordinators. We would then announce the coordinators by the Senate following the election, turnover senate. If there is a problem with applications it will be up to the VP to decide what to do. We didn’t add the requirement that the coordinator be a senator.
Andrea Swartz: You mentioned the VP should fill in if the President needed help. Where is that listed?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: That is in the CG constitution, but not in the SOAC constitution.
Andrea Swartz, Shafer: Could you give the history and any information on how the positions are paid?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: It’s parallel to the Bursar’s bookkeepers, the people who help with accounting SOFC funds. They are paid like any other on-campus job.
Lindsey Boylan, Student Bursar: Both Alex and I have staff members who are paid. The history: these positions have been around for sometime, it’s different than an appointed position. You have office hours and more regular responsibilities.
Ashira Greene: Would this change eligibility for elections like senate, house council, or cabinet? I’m asking because if they are a special interest senator and an organizations senator? Would that color their judgment?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Currently, the people who fill these positions are contact senators. After talking with students, we really are comfortable with the decisions we’ve made here and not worried about that.
Chailee Mann-Stadt: Are prospective VP candidates eligible to apply for the coordinator positions?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Yes. After elections, whoever won VP would work with the old VP to select the coordinators. A student could withdraw her application from the coordinator pool if she won the VP election.
Nanki Marwah: Did you consider opening up the position to previous senators before opening it up to the entire student body in the case that no one with previous SOAC experience applies?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: We can clarify that in number 7.
Clara Peterson: Just as far as the ¾ vs. ½…what does the chair in interviews do?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: She runs the interview and doesn’t vote. The chair lays out the rules and the procedure. She is the point person if a student feels that there is a problem.
Yang Qiu: I’m concerned in response to Nanki. I’m concerned that if you add that extra tier system it will knock off the turnover schedule. Personally, I think it would be more effective to just have a preference, but allow anyone to apply originally.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: My fear is that people with no chance would apply and they would have wasted their time. That’s my only concern, but do see that timing is a real factor.
Motion to extend time by 5 minutes.
Motion carries.
Katie Landise: With the same turnover time, wouldn’t you leave students without a job at the end of the year?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Yes, you’re right but that’s part of accepting the job. There is also the training process and overlap where they will all be paid.
Ashira Greene: Can a student apply for both coordinator positions?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: We discussed that in the SOAC meeting and we decided that that’s fine and we’ll take whoever’s best.
Ashira Greene: Also, why is the time issue so important? What if the applications were due earlier than the day before elections to allow for the pool to widen in time for turnover?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: That could work. No one can be selected until the new VP is selected, but we could have the applications due earlier. There are 2 things here, the dates and a possible tier system.
Catherine Day: My one concern with Ashira’s plan is that you have the coordinator before the new VP.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: We wouldn’t do that. We’ll only select coordinators after elections for Cabinet.
If you have any questions, please contact me. SOAC members felt that these are positive and needed changes.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: We’re moving onto elections committee business.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: We need 2 senators for the elections committee, so I extended the deadline and made it first come first serve. The 2 senators who expressed interest are Yang Qiu and Beth Ryder-Kenna. I posted their statements of intent, I trust that your read them.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: Amita and Ashleigh will pass out notecards to everyone. Write yes or no if you approve Beth and Yang. Pass the ballots back to me.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: Alex couldn’t be here tonight, so Jamie’s filling in for Alex for the SOAC update.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Any rising sophomore, junior, and senior can apply for the Drug and Alcohol Hearing Board. Applications are due this Friday to “SOAC Applications.”
The new members of the CG elections committee are Anna Basevich, Meri Smith, and Christina Seibold. Vote on those committee members en bloc in your constituency.
Alex will post the SOAC meeting time for later in the week.
Sara Monro Bryan ’05 is the GenJudic rep on the elections committee.
Lauren Nelson: Are the positions for the Drug and Alcohol Hearing Board for senators or everyone?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: EVERYONE. Encourage everyone you know to apply!
Now, we’ll hear the SOFC update from the Student Bursar.
Lindsey Boylan, Student Bursar: For emergency funding, we followed a somewhat different procedure because we allocated before we had Senate. SFT was eligible on assumption they would be approved by Senate next week. Alex and I talked about that and assuming everything goes well they’ll get their money.
The final lectures funding deadline-- 25 of 27 applications were granted funding. We had a limited amount of money to give out and followed a cap where we had to cut across the board.
One exciting thing is that we’re going on a SOFC spy mission to Harvard. Harvard has a large grant proposal meeting on Tuesday and we’ll have information for you next week.
Emily Oxford: By what percentage did you make cuts?
Lindsey Boylan, Student Bursar: I’m not sure off the top of my head, but it was substantial because we had so many applications.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Thank you Lindsey. Now we’re hear from Catherine Day, SPEC Chair.
Catherine Day, SPEC Chair: Elizabeth Marlow is interested in serving as an Olin liaison. We’ll vote online. Vote to the “Senate Votes” conference.
Elizabeth Marlow: I was excited to hear about this opportunity because I want to extend my CG work off campus. I have experience on the Communications Committee programming and fundraising and feel that is a good background for this position.
Suilin Yap, Japan Club: What kind of things do you want to work on?
Elizabeth Marlow: I’d love to have programs together, maybe fundraising and just generally sharing funding for events.
Ashira Greene: Are you going to try to bring Olin students to Wellesley?
Elizabeth Marlow: I’d love to talk to Olin students about that and to answer questions they may have.
Michelle Lepore, Associate Dean of Students: I just wanted to clarify that this is more a committee about academic relations between the schools. If you want to do more student life things you can do that in addition to your role on the academic committee.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: I’m very excited about the potential for this. Talk to Chailee about this, she’s very interested in Olin.
Suilin Yap, Japan Club: Why don’t we have liaisons to other schools?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Because Olin asked us specificially.
Michelle Lepore, Associate Dean of Students: Because our relationship with Olin is new we needed to have a committee but since our relationship with MIT is older, the committee isn’t necessary.
Chailee Mann-Stadt: I think this is an important position and I hope you can smooth out some logistical issues, specifically with course registration.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: So, by tomorrow at noon e-mail your vote whether or not to approve Elizabeth to the Senate Votes conference.
Jamie Bernthal: Thank you Catherine and Elizabeth. We’ll now move into Open Discussion with Nanki Marwah.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: This is interesting. SOAC is a vital CG committee. SOAC is responsible for appointing student representatives and also in charge of constituting organizations. We’ve found that there are signs that there is a lot of responsibility on the Vice President. The position as it is now is really a 3 person job. Since the job is so important and very taxing because you can’t please everyone. We want to give the VP more aid so she can better serve in other Cabinet roles, especially with the president. As it is now, the Vice President has so much of her own work that it would be unrealistic to expect her to be able to fill in for the President if the need arose. This isn’t a problem with Alex specifically, but with VPs in the past.
We’ve also talked to the Associate Dean of Students who has seen this happen with many cabinets. I brought this up in College Government President’s Council and Meri helped a lot since she knows so much about Constitutions. We didn’t want to dramatically change SOAC. Now there are 2 coordinators and then the senators. We like the structure but thought there needed to be more delineation of the coordinator’s powers and duties. We’ve also come up with a new process of selecting the new coordinators.
First, Meri and I sat down and came up with ideas of how the position should be changed. We then went to Michel Ballard and Elizabeth Liu who are the two coordinators now. We also presented at SOAC 2 weeks ago. We presented also to SPEC and they have made some suggestions to clear up the language and wording.
I’m proposing that I go through the changes briefly, I want you to read through it again…I’ve posted it on the Student Senate conference for you to read. If there are ideas we get tonight we’ll add them in and post it tonight. Take that final version from the conference tonight to your constituency and vote on that.
I’m assuming that you’ve read this already. Just to give you a general overview, the VP’s role consists of constituting organizations, leading student representative interviews and many other duties.
We’ve added more explicit things like ‘2. She’ll serve as the liaison between SOAC and Senate.” These are things she currently does, but we just wanted to clarify it constitutionally.
Under the appointments and organizations coordinators, we asked them what they do and wrote it down. The appointment coordinator will take on a larger role, chairing ¾ of the interviews instead of 1/2. Also, the 2 positions are paid and will continue to be paid. They are campus jobs.
On page 5, we changed the wording to the “Office of Spiritual and Religious Office” from “Chaplaincy Office”
On page 7, we handled the issue with videotaping which was changed previously.
If you could, go to page 11 and let’s talk about the selection process. It’s the largest change.
After turnover is a large portion of the interview process. Sometimes the coordinator positions lead into the VP role. Alex served as a coordinator position last year. After turnover she had both the VP and coordinator roles. What that does is make only 2 people and not the 3 people you need responsible; this is a problem, especially during the interview process. We’re proposing that the coordinators come on board when the new VP is elected. They will be on the same schedule and will be a team throughout the whole year. SOAC thought this was favorable. Applications for these positions would come to the CG President the day before CG elections, anyone with a past SOAC experience will be eligible, but there is an emergency clause in case no one with SOAC experience applies.
The new and old VP will review applications with the past CG president, who will serve as the tie-breaker. They will choose the coordinators. We would then announce the coordinators by the Senate following the election, turnover senate. If there is a problem with applications it will be up to the VP to decide what to do. We didn’t add the requirement that the coordinator be a senator.
Andrea Swartz: You mentioned the VP should fill in if the President needed help. Where is that listed?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: That is in the CG constitution, but not in the SOAC constitution.
Andrea Swartz, Shafer: Could you give the history and any information on how the positions are paid?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: It’s parallel to the Bursar’s bookkeepers, the people who help with accounting SOFC funds. They are paid like any other on-campus job.
Lindsey Boylan, Student Bursar: Both Alex and I have staff members who are paid. The history: these positions have been around for sometime, it’s different than an appointed position. You have office hours and more regular responsibilities.
Ashira Greene: Would this change eligibility for elections like senate, house council, or cabinet? I’m asking because if they are a special interest senator and an organizations senator? Would that color their judgment?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Currently, the people who fill these positions are contact senators. After talking with students, we really are comfortable with the decisions we’ve made here and not worried about that.
Chailee Mann-Stadt: Are prospective VP candidates eligible to apply for the coordinator positions?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Yes. After elections, whoever won VP would work with the old VP to select the coordinators. A student could withdraw her application from the coordinator pool if she won the VP election.
Nanki Marwah: Did you consider opening up the position to previous senators before opening it up to the entire student body in the case that no one with previous SOAC experience applies?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: We can clarify that in number 7.
Clara Peterson: Just as far as the ¾ vs. ½…what does the chair in interviews do?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: She runs the interview and doesn’t vote. The chair lays out the rules and the procedure. She is the point person if a student feels that there is a problem.
Yang Qiu: I’m concerned in response to Nanki. I’m concerned that if you add that extra tier system it will knock off the turnover schedule. Personally, I think it would be more effective to just have a preference, but allow anyone to apply originally.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: My fear is that people with no chance would apply and they would have wasted their time. That’s my only concern, but do see that timing is a real factor.
Motion to extend time by 5 minutes.
Motion carries.
Katie Landise: With the same turnover time, wouldn’t you leave students without a job at the end of the year?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Yes, you’re right but that’s part of accepting the job. There is also the training process and overlap where they will all be paid.
Ashira Greene: Can a student apply for both coordinator positions?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: We discussed that in the SOAC meeting and we decided that that’s fine and we’ll take whoever’s best.
Ashira Greene: Also, why is the time issue so important? What if the applications were due earlier than the day before elections to allow for the pool to widen in time for turnover?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: That could work. No one can be selected until the new VP is selected, but we could have the applications due earlier. There are 2 things here, the dates and a possible tier system.
Catherine Day: My one concern with Ashira’s plan is that you have the coordinator before the new VP.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: We wouldn’t do that. We’ll only select coordinators after elections for Cabinet.
If you have any questions, please contact me. SOAC members felt that these are positive and needed changes.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: We’re moving onto elections committee business.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: We need 2 senators for the elections committee, so I extended the deadline and made it first come first serve. The 2 senators who expressed interest are Yang Qiu and Beth Ryder-Kenna. I posted their statements of intent, I trust that your read them.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: Amita and Ashleigh will pass out notecards to everyone. Write yes or no if you approve Beth and Yang. Pass the ballots back to me.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: Alex couldn’t be here tonight, so Jamie’s filling in for Alex for the SOAC update.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Any rising sophomore, junior, and senior can apply for the Drug and Alcohol Hearing Board. Applications are due this Friday to “SOAC Applications.”
The new members of the CG elections committee are Anna Basevich, Meri Smith, and Christina Seibold. Vote on those committee members en bloc in your constituency.
Alex will post the SOAC meeting time for later in the week.
Sara Monro Bryan ’05 is the GenJudic rep on the elections committee.
Lauren Nelson: Are the positions for the Drug and Alcohol Hearing Board for senators or everyone?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: EVERYONE. Encourage everyone you know to apply!
Now, we’ll hear the SOFC update from the Student Bursar.
Lindsey Boylan, Student Bursar: For emergency funding, we followed a somewhat different procedure because we allocated before we had Senate. SFT was eligible on assumption they would be approved by Senate next week. Alex and I talked about that and assuming everything goes well they’ll get their money.
The final lectures funding deadline-- 25 of 27 applications were granted funding. We had a limited amount of money to give out and followed a cap where we had to cut across the board.
One exciting thing is that we’re going on a SOFC spy mission to Harvard. Harvard has a large grant proposal meeting on Tuesday and we’ll have information for you next week.
Emily Oxford: By what percentage did you make cuts?
Lindsey Boylan, Student Bursar: I’m not sure off the top of my head, but it was substantial because we had so many applications.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Thank you Lindsey. Now we’re hear from Catherine Day, SPEC Chair.
Catherine Day, SPEC Chair: Elizabeth Marlow is interested in serving as an Olin liaison. We’ll vote online. Vote to the “Senate Votes” conference.
Elizabeth Marlow: I was excited to hear about this opportunity because I want to extend my CG work off campus. I have experience on the Communications Committee programming and fundraising and feel that is a good background for this position.
Suilin Yap, Japan Club: What kind of things do you want to work on?
Elizabeth Marlow: I’d love to have programs together, maybe fundraising and just generally sharing funding for events.
Ashira Greene: Are you going to try to bring Olin students to Wellesley?
Elizabeth Marlow: I’d love to talk to Olin students about that and to answer questions they may have.
Michelle Lepore, Associate Dean of Students: I just wanted to clarify that this is more a committee about academic relations between the schools. If you want to do more student life things you can do that in addition to your role on the academic committee.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: I’m very excited about the potential for this. Talk to Chailee about this, she’s very interested in Olin.
Suilin Yap, Japan Club: Why don’t we have liaisons to other schools?
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Because Olin asked us specificially.
Michelle Lepore, Associate Dean of Students: Because our relationship with Olin is new we needed to have a committee but since our relationship with MIT is older, the committee isn’t necessary.
Chailee Mann-Stadt: I think this is an important position and I hope you can smooth out some logistical issues, specifically with course registration.
Meri Smith, Parliamentarian: So, by tomorrow at noon e-mail your vote whether or not to approve Elizabeth to the Senate Votes conference.
Jamie Bernthal: Thank you Catherine and Elizabeth. We’ll now move into Open Discussion with Nanki Marwah.
IV. Open Discussion
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: I’m here to talk about the Landscape, Building and Grounds Committee, a Student Council to the Board of Trustees position. I feel it’s so fun and some of the trustees agree. President Walsh and Susan Newhouse and Lulu Wang are on this committee.
We approve any building, plaque, tree…anything physical here must be approved by this committee.
This is to improve the atmosphere for current and future students. Oakwoods is being worked on now behind Stone Davis for the admissions office.
Patricia Byrne in the President’s office is the liaison with this committee. She has been so helpful to me. My committee is unique because I feel like I’m really in touch and connected because I get mailings often.
We’ve been working a lot on the Campus Center. I’ve seen Powerpoints with the inside and am so excited!
I brought some examples of the materials of what we get. We do fun and serious stuff. I’ve gotten timelines about current and future projects.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Do you get questions about student perspective in the meetings?
Nanki Marwah, SCBT-Landscape, Buildings, and Grounds: It depends on the topic. But if I do have a question, they are very willing to answer. At the beginning of the year, I learned about the money sources. The 3 main ones are bonds, campaign gifts, and the maintenance budget. An example of the campaign gift would be the Newhouse Center for the Humanities.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Are they worried about the Tower Court Construction?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: Definitely, they’re concerned with everything.
Clara Peterson: If someone gives money for a specific purpose that we don’t need or want can we ask them to donate for another cause?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: I don’t know of a case like that, but usually alums donate because we do need someone.
Jessica Van Houten: Have you heard anything about a new residence hall?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: It’s definitely not something that is being developed now but they are thinking about if we need one in a future.
Jessica Van Houten: Could students request a meeting with the committee?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: You could contact me and I’ll represent you.
Kim Goff-Crews, Dean of Students: If an alum suggests a project we don’t need, we subtlety redirect them to a need.
Melanie Carter, Ethos: Do you have a time estimate for the Tower Courtyard?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: No, I don’t have a date right now. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of the year. Send feedback and concerns to Nanki Marwah.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Contact her so she can communicate with the big guns who can do something about this. Thank you Nanki.
Next, we’ll hear from Paulina Ponce de Leon Barido, a student on NDOC.
Paulina Ponce de Leon Barido: I’m the student rep for NDOC, the committee that is basically in charge of fundraising. This year is the 5th and final year of the Wellesley Campaign. We have surpassed our original goal of $100,000,000. The money for the Wang Center and the Newhouse Center came through this money.
My role is to express opinions of students to the Young Alum Trustee, Heather Long ’04. We work with the Durant Society and want to reduce the amount of money required for young alums to get into the Durant Society. Heather and I think that personal thank you notes from students would be great.
We’re also trying to figure out how to get young alums to donate money. If you have any suggestions about how to get recent grads to donate let me know.
This has given me the opportunity to see how things run behind closed doors.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Thank you so much for your work, Paulina. Senators, please contact her with questions or suggestions. Now we’ll hear from the Deans.
We approve any building, plaque, tree…anything physical here must be approved by this committee.
This is to improve the atmosphere for current and future students. Oakwoods is being worked on now behind Stone Davis for the admissions office.
Patricia Byrne in the President’s office is the liaison with this committee. She has been so helpful to me. My committee is unique because I feel like I’m really in touch and connected because I get mailings often.
We’ve been working a lot on the Campus Center. I’ve seen Powerpoints with the inside and am so excited!
I brought some examples of the materials of what we get. We do fun and serious stuff. I’ve gotten timelines about current and future projects.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Do you get questions about student perspective in the meetings?
Nanki Marwah, SCBT-Landscape, Buildings, and Grounds: It depends on the topic. But if I do have a question, they are very willing to answer. At the beginning of the year, I learned about the money sources. The 3 main ones are bonds, campaign gifts, and the maintenance budget. An example of the campaign gift would be the Newhouse Center for the Humanities.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Are they worried about the Tower Court Construction?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: Definitely, they’re concerned with everything.
Clara Peterson: If someone gives money for a specific purpose that we don’t need or want can we ask them to donate for another cause?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: I don’t know of a case like that, but usually alums donate because we do need someone.
Jessica Van Houten: Have you heard anything about a new residence hall?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: It’s definitely not something that is being developed now but they are thinking about if we need one in a future.
Jessica Van Houten: Could students request a meeting with the committee?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: You could contact me and I’ll represent you.
Kim Goff-Crews, Dean of Students: If an alum suggests a project we don’t need, we subtlety redirect them to a need.
Melanie Carter, Ethos: Do you have a time estimate for the Tower Courtyard?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: No, I don’t have a date right now. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of the year. Send feedback and concerns to Nanki Marwah.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Contact her so she can communicate with the big guns who can do something about this. Thank you Nanki.
Next, we’ll hear from Paulina Ponce de Leon Barido, a student on NDOC.
Paulina Ponce de Leon Barido: I’m the student rep for NDOC, the committee that is basically in charge of fundraising. This year is the 5th and final year of the Wellesley Campaign. We have surpassed our original goal of $100,000,000. The money for the Wang Center and the Newhouse Center came through this money.
My role is to express opinions of students to the Young Alum Trustee, Heather Long ’04. We work with the Durant Society and want to reduce the amount of money required for young alums to get into the Durant Society. Heather and I think that personal thank you notes from students would be great.
We’re also trying to figure out how to get young alums to donate money. If you have any suggestions about how to get recent grads to donate let me know.
This has given me the opportunity to see how things run behind closed doors.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Thank you so much for your work, Paulina. Senators, please contact her with questions or suggestions. Now we’ll hear from the Deans.
V. Dean’s Corner
Kim Goff-Crews, Dean of Students: Last week there was a lot going on. We had Sister Souljah, Betty Friedan, the Alumnae Achievement Awards and much more! I couldn’t go to everything I wanted to.
Three alums were honored Carole Beebe Tarantello ’64, former member of Italian parliament, woman’s rights advocate…
Ellen Jacobson Levine ’64, first woman editor of Good Housekeeping.
Luis Juliber ’71 Vice Chairperson of Colgate Palmolive.
One thing they said was that they weren’t that good of students while they were here.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: When Ellen interviewed for the Wellesley News she was interviewed by Nora Ephron and Lynn Sherr!
Kim Goff-Crews, Dean of Students: The dinner was fun too.
We also had a review of the office of the class deans on Friday. It went well and they came away with many ideas and will give me a report in 2 weeks. We’ll report out in a month or so with ideas.
We’re about to finalize work for tomorrow’s Honor Code Convention. Chailee’s done a tremendous amount of work for this.
Michelle Lepore, Associate Dean of Students: I want to thank Jamie, Meri, and Alex for your work on the VP role. I’ve seen students struggle for years in that role. The amount of work for SOAC grows every year. I was just wondering if you’ll ever consider capping the amount of students you interview for each position?
Tomorrow the mandala will be dissolved and put into Lake Waban. Come for the Honor Code convention and then the Slater celebration after the convention. The nuns will be staying here and doing more programs with Wellesley students.
This coming weekend is Dyke Ball. We hope you go and stay safe. Last year we sent many, many students to the hospital with alcohol problems. Promote either safe or no drinking as a student leader and please help students and ask for help if someone needs it. Remember the good samaritan clause in the alcohol policy.
We ran our first depression workshop last week. The second one is this week and then another one next week. You can come learn more about depression.
The ellipticals have been installed everywhere except Stone-Davis, but we’re still working on that. I hope you’re enjoying the machines.
Natalie Archibald: I have a question about the Campus Center. Is it true that the people from Schneider won’t get jobs at the new center?
Michelle Lepore, Associate Dean of Students: Those people work for Sodexho.
Ashleigh Georgia: Only the managers are, the workers are Wellesley Union employees.
Yang Qiu: The employees will lose their current jobs, but will be encouraged to apply to the Campus Center with priority.
Nanki Marwah, Dining Services Advisory Board member: The staff at Schneider has been going to a lot of training to get ready for the campus center, so that they are competitors for the new jobs. They will apply for the positions and everybody will be equally competitive. However, nobody who works in Schneider will be out of work. It’s more of a reshifting of staff. Sodexho will do all that even though they are Wellesley Union employees.
Natalie Archibald: Everyone is guaranteed a job?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: Yes, they do have to apply though.
Natalie Archibald: I don’t think it’s fair for people with a lot of experience to be thrown into a competitive pool with younger applicants.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Who should you talk to with concerns?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: Voice your concerns with any DSAB member. E-mail the DSAB conference and Linda Davey or Phil Harty will answer.
Yang Qiu: How will the nuns dissolve the mandala into the lake since it’s frozen?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: You know where the bridge, marshy part is? I think they will cut a hole tomorrow.
Three alums were honored Carole Beebe Tarantello ’64, former member of Italian parliament, woman’s rights advocate…
Ellen Jacobson Levine ’64, first woman editor of Good Housekeeping.
Luis Juliber ’71 Vice Chairperson of Colgate Palmolive.
One thing they said was that they weren’t that good of students while they were here.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: When Ellen interviewed for the Wellesley News she was interviewed by Nora Ephron and Lynn Sherr!
Kim Goff-Crews, Dean of Students: The dinner was fun too.
We also had a review of the office of the class deans on Friday. It went well and they came away with many ideas and will give me a report in 2 weeks. We’ll report out in a month or so with ideas.
We’re about to finalize work for tomorrow’s Honor Code Convention. Chailee’s done a tremendous amount of work for this.
Michelle Lepore, Associate Dean of Students: I want to thank Jamie, Meri, and Alex for your work on the VP role. I’ve seen students struggle for years in that role. The amount of work for SOAC grows every year. I was just wondering if you’ll ever consider capping the amount of students you interview for each position?
Tomorrow the mandala will be dissolved and put into Lake Waban. Come for the Honor Code convention and then the Slater celebration after the convention. The nuns will be staying here and doing more programs with Wellesley students.
This coming weekend is Dyke Ball. We hope you go and stay safe. Last year we sent many, many students to the hospital with alcohol problems. Promote either safe or no drinking as a student leader and please help students and ask for help if someone needs it. Remember the good samaritan clause in the alcohol policy.
We ran our first depression workshop last week. The second one is this week and then another one next week. You can come learn more about depression.
The ellipticals have been installed everywhere except Stone-Davis, but we’re still working on that. I hope you’re enjoying the machines.
Natalie Archibald: I have a question about the Campus Center. Is it true that the people from Schneider won’t get jobs at the new center?
Michelle Lepore, Associate Dean of Students: Those people work for Sodexho.
Ashleigh Georgia: Only the managers are, the workers are Wellesley Union employees.
Yang Qiu: The employees will lose their current jobs, but will be encouraged to apply to the Campus Center with priority.
Nanki Marwah, Dining Services Advisory Board member: The staff at Schneider has been going to a lot of training to get ready for the campus center, so that they are competitors for the new jobs. They will apply for the positions and everybody will be equally competitive. However, nobody who works in Schneider will be out of work. It’s more of a reshifting of staff. Sodexho will do all that even though they are Wellesley Union employees.
Natalie Archibald: Everyone is guaranteed a job?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: Yes, they do have to apply though.
Natalie Archibald: I don’t think it’s fair for people with a lot of experience to be thrown into a competitive pool with younger applicants.
Jamie Bernthal, CG President: Who should you talk to with concerns?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: Voice your concerns with any DSAB member. E-mail the DSAB conference and Linda Davey or Phil Harty will answer.
Yang Qiu: How will the nuns dissolve the mandala into the lake since it’s frozen?
Nanki Marwah, Freeman: You know where the bridge, marshy part is? I think they will cut a hole tomorrow.
VI. Announcements/Adjourn
See attachments.
Senators on the CG Election Committee: Yang Qiu and Beth Ryder-Kenna
Olin Liaison: Elizabeth Marlow
Star Senator: Yamini Jha
CONGRATULATIONS!
Senators on the CG Election Committee: Yang Qiu and Beth Ryder-Kenna
Olin Liaison: Elizabeth Marlow
Star Senator: Yamini Jha
CONGRATULATIONS!
cgmail (at) wellesley.edu
Created: July 2004
Last Modified: 18 October 2004
Expires: June 2005
Wellesley College
