Home >> Archives >> 10.03.05 Minutes
Attachments
I. Roll Call/Agenda
II. Old Business
A. Gen Judic Update (Catherine Day, Chief Justice)
Lindsey Boylan, CGP: Will the Gen. Judic., Catherine Day, please approach the podium to give an update from last week's report.
Catherine Day, Chief Justice: Last week I came before you and told you the total number of cases is 27, but before the semester started we had nine hearings. To compare years we should take those into account, I'm just going to go over it again to compare this year. So this year there were 38 cases filed. We had 36 cases relative 31 and 28. So we have a moderate increase but this was after some procedural changes. The changes are the same for social cases. Thus the increase is in the academic cases. Also there is an apparent decrease in the number of appeals. And the last point I want to draw your attention to you the fact that there were repeated violations. This is because of the change of procedure, called honor code probation, whenever a student is charged they go on this probation. This was reported in Senate & cases from 2004-2005 Academic Year heard pre-Fall 2005.
A) For the 2004-2005 Academic Year (Resolution of all charges from 2004-2005 Academic Year - Hearings completed Aug. 2005):
38 cases total --2 not to hearing, 36 HC Charges referred to hearing panel (total of 43 students charged)
30 Academic / 6 Social
Outcomes: 1 student not found in violation, second violation for 3 students, 3 cases appealed to judicial review board
There was a moderate increase in number of charges referred to hearing panels - caseload particularly heavy at the end of the semester after the introduction of the rewritten Honor Code:
2001-2002: 27
2002-2003: 23
2003-2004: 31
PROCEDURE CHANGE
2004-2005: 36
B) Was there an increase in the number academic cases? Or an increase in number of social cases?
There was an increase in the number of academic cases, as the number of social HC violations has not changed a lot.
2002-2003: 6 social Honor Code violations
2003-2004: 6 social Honor Code violations
2004-2005: 4 social Honor Code violations
C) There has been an apparent decrease in number of appeals. This could be because of procedure change.
2002-2003: 6 appeals
2003-2004: 3 appeals
PROCEDURE CHANGE
2004-2005: 3 appeals
D) The procedure change that went into effect in 2004. Honor Code probation was given for all students who are found in violation of the Honor Code:
2002-2003: 1 recorded second Honor Code violation
2003-2004: 1 recorded second Honor Code violation
2004-2005: 3 recorded second Honor Code violations
Yamini Jha, Munger Senator: Last time you said there were 27 and one was not found in violation. Is that the same?
Catherine Day, Chief Justice: That's the same
Catherine Day, Chief Justice: Last week I came before you and told you the total number of cases is 27, but before the semester started we had nine hearings. To compare years we should take those into account, I'm just going to go over it again to compare this year. So this year there were 38 cases filed. We had 36 cases relative 31 and 28. So we have a moderate increase but this was after some procedural changes. The changes are the same for social cases. Thus the increase is in the academic cases. Also there is an apparent decrease in the number of appeals. And the last point I want to draw your attention to you the fact that there were repeated violations. This is because of the change of procedure, called honor code probation, whenever a student is charged they go on this probation. This was reported in Senate & cases from 2004-2005 Academic Year heard pre-Fall 2005.
A) For the 2004-2005 Academic Year (Resolution of all charges from 2004-2005 Academic Year - Hearings completed Aug. 2005):
38 cases total --2 not to hearing, 36 HC Charges referred to hearing panel (total of 43 students charged)
30 Academic / 6 Social
Outcomes: 1 student not found in violation, second violation for 3 students, 3 cases appealed to judicial review board
There was a moderate increase in number of charges referred to hearing panels - caseload particularly heavy at the end of the semester after the introduction of the rewritten Honor Code:
2001-2002: 27
2002-2003: 23
2003-2004: 31
PROCEDURE CHANGE
2004-2005: 36
B) Was there an increase in the number academic cases? Or an increase in number of social cases?
There was an increase in the number of academic cases, as the number of social HC violations has not changed a lot.
2002-2003: 6 social Honor Code violations
2003-2004: 6 social Honor Code violations
2004-2005: 4 social Honor Code violations
C) There has been an apparent decrease in number of appeals. This could be because of procedure change.
2002-2003: 6 appeals
2003-2004: 3 appeals
PROCEDURE CHANGE
2004-2005: 3 appeals
D) The procedure change that went into effect in 2004. Honor Code probation was given for all students who are found in violation of the Honor Code:
2002-2003: 1 recorded second Honor Code violation
2003-2004: 1 recorded second Honor Code violation
2004-2005: 3 recorded second Honor Code violations
Yamini Jha, Munger Senator: Last time you said there were 27 and one was not found in violation. Is that the same?
Catherine Day, Chief Justice: That's the same
III. New Business
A. SOAC Update (Michel Ballard and Penny Mesen, CGVP and DOOCA)
Michel Ballard, CG VP: I just want to announce the positions that you guys can apply for. The MLK Committee and Tanner Conference Committee applications are due tomorrow. Those are sent to fall 2005 apps. The applications for the other committees are due October 5. This is the list of committees:
Cabinet Committees:
General Judiciary
Requires: 1 student from the class of 2006, to be 2006 representative for one-year term
Student Council to the Board of Trustees Committees:
Proxy Voting
Academic Council Committees:
Academic Review Board (ARB)
Requires: 1 student from the class of 2008, for three-year term
Board of Overseers to the Wellesley Centre for Women (WCW)
Committee on Educational Research and Development (CERD)
Committee Against Racism and Discrimination (CARD)
Committee for Lectures and Cultural Events (CLCE)
Financial Aid Committee
Requires: 1 student from the class of 2008, for a three-year term
President's Advisory Committee (PAC)
Other committees:
Sustainability Committee
Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC)
Transportation Liaison
Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)
Campus Centre Advisory Committee (CCAC)
Penny Mesen, DOOCA: I have some exciting news for everyone who is part of an organization. One of the things for the campus center opening that you can look forward to is that you can sell your paraphernalia. From 8-11 that night we are encouraging orgs and dorms to sell those goods. Be as creative as possible with the things you want to sell. If you want to sell, its first come, first serve. At 12 we will close it down and show a movie. There will also be a party going on at that time.
Yang Qiu, Severance Senator: Do orgs or dorms have to RSVP for this?
Penny Mesen, DOOCA: Its first come first serve, it's very fluid. It's a party.
Yang Qiu, Severance Senator: When can you set up?
Penny Mesen, DOOCA: 8 o'clock
Kristen Liu, Davis Scholars Senator: Where will be setting up?
Penny Mesen, DOOCA: The elbow where the housing offices are.
Dean Kim Goff-Crews, Dean of Students: Proxy voting subcommittee for the board reads all our investments that create the one million dollar thing we have here. We have a group of students who help with this decision. If you are interested in working on Wall Street or getting your MBA this is a great committee to work on. This is great training. I strongly encourage you and your friends to apply.
Michel Ballard, CG VP: If someone wants to talk to someone who has sat on the committee in the past I can put them in contact with someone.
Clara Peterson, Bates Senator: Can you give the dates again?
Michel Ballard, CGVP: MLK and Tanner are due tomorrow on the 4th and the rest are due on the 5th. Please encourage people to apply.
Cabinet Committees:
General Judiciary
Requires: 1 student from the class of 2006, to be 2006 representative for one-year term
Student Council to the Board of Trustees Committees:
Proxy Voting
Academic Council Committees:
Academic Review Board (ARB)
Requires: 1 student from the class of 2008, for three-year term
Board of Overseers to the Wellesley Centre for Women (WCW)
Committee on Educational Research and Development (CERD)
Committee Against Racism and Discrimination (CARD)
Committee for Lectures and Cultural Events (CLCE)
Financial Aid Committee
Requires: 1 student from the class of 2008, for a three-year term
President's Advisory Committee (PAC)
Other committees:
Sustainability Committee
Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC)
Transportation Liaison
Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)
Campus Centre Advisory Committee (CCAC)
Penny Mesen, DOOCA: I have some exciting news for everyone who is part of an organization. One of the things for the campus center opening that you can look forward to is that you can sell your paraphernalia. From 8-11 that night we are encouraging orgs and dorms to sell those goods. Be as creative as possible with the things you want to sell. If you want to sell, its first come, first serve. At 12 we will close it down and show a movie. There will also be a party going on at that time.
Yang Qiu, Severance Senator: Do orgs or dorms have to RSVP for this?
Penny Mesen, DOOCA: Its first come first serve, it's very fluid. It's a party.
Yang Qiu, Severance Senator: When can you set up?
Penny Mesen, DOOCA: 8 o'clock
Kristen Liu, Davis Scholars Senator: Where will be setting up?
Penny Mesen, DOOCA: The elbow where the housing offices are.
Dean Kim Goff-Crews, Dean of Students: Proxy voting subcommittee for the board reads all our investments that create the one million dollar thing we have here. We have a group of students who help with this decision. If you are interested in working on Wall Street or getting your MBA this is a great committee to work on. This is great training. I strongly encourage you and your friends to apply.
Michel Ballard, CG VP: If someone wants to talk to someone who has sat on the committee in the past I can put them in contact with someone.
Clara Peterson, Bates Senator: Can you give the dates again?
Michel Ballard, CGVP: MLK and Tanner are due tomorrow on the 4th and the rest are due on the 5th. Please encourage people to apply.
B. Emergency Funding Allocations (Cortni Jones, Student Bursar)
Lindsey Boylan, CGP: Next will the Student Bursar, Cortni Jones please approach the podium to discuss this year's Emergency Funding Allocations.
Cortni Jones, Student Bursar: I reviewed the constitution and only the orgs that were SOAC constituted were eligible to receive funds. We actually reviewed what the SOFC constitution said in dictating what we had to do for this procedure. There are three types of organizations: Tier One: New organizations with no money. Tier Two: Old organizations with no money. Tier Three: Old organizations that have money and are applying for more.
The total SAF for 05-06 is $443,390.00. The total amount to give for lecture is 5% of the total pool of SAF, which was $22,169.50. There were two deadlines, one on September 25th, 2005 and one on February 12th, 2006.
On September 25th, 2005, the Fall Emergency funding constituted 3% of SAF which equaled $13,301.70. Only organizations that were SOAC constituted as of 9/25/05 were funded.
(See attachment for allocations)
Kristen Jochems, Stone Senator: We want to make the policy more transparent to senators. If there are any questions contact Cortni Jones at Student Bursar.
Melanie Carter: Keep in mind that we are not subjective, if the organization followed procedure we allocated correctly.
Cortni Jones, Student Bursar: So you are voting on this but not on the amounts given but on the process and whether or not we did this in an objective manner.
Daria Axelrod, Claflin: You said you weren't subjective but what do you mean by inadequate justification?
Melanie Carter: They have to justify why they need the funds.
Cortni Jones: Some organizations only put down what they needed and not why they needed it. They didn't justify their need.
Amita Parashar, MAC: Were all the organizations that received funding Tier One?
Cortni Jones, Student Bursar: Most of them, yes.
Lindsey Boylan, College Government President: Since we won't have senate next week, we will be voting electronically.
Cortni Jones, Student Bursar: I reviewed the constitution and only the orgs that were SOAC constituted were eligible to receive funds. We actually reviewed what the SOFC constitution said in dictating what we had to do for this procedure. There are three types of organizations: Tier One: New organizations with no money. Tier Two: Old organizations with no money. Tier Three: Old organizations that have money and are applying for more.
The total SAF for 05-06 is $443,390.00. The total amount to give for lecture is 5% of the total pool of SAF, which was $22,169.50. There were two deadlines, one on September 25th, 2005 and one on February 12th, 2006.
On September 25th, 2005, the Fall Emergency funding constituted 3% of SAF which equaled $13,301.70. Only organizations that were SOAC constituted as of 9/25/05 were funded.
(See attachment for allocations)
Kristen Jochems, Stone Senator: We want to make the policy more transparent to senators. If there are any questions contact Cortni Jones at Student Bursar.
Melanie Carter: Keep in mind that we are not subjective, if the organization followed procedure we allocated correctly.
Cortni Jones, Student Bursar: So you are voting on this but not on the amounts given but on the process and whether or not we did this in an objective manner.
Daria Axelrod, Claflin: You said you weren't subjective but what do you mean by inadequate justification?
Melanie Carter: They have to justify why they need the funds.
Cortni Jones: Some organizations only put down what they needed and not why they needed it. They didn't justify their need.
Amita Parashar, MAC: Were all the organizations that received funding Tier One?
Cortni Jones, Student Bursar: Most of them, yes.
Lindsey Boylan, College Government President: Since we won't have senate next week, we will be voting electronically.
IV. Open Discussion
A. Financial Aid Representatives (Michelle Tufau and Kathy Osmond)
Lindsey Boylan, CGP: Next we have from the Office of Finance, we have Michelle Tufau and Kathryn Osmond. They have a PowerPoint presentation.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: We are really happy to have this opportunity to speak to you. The last time I was here was five years ago. Some of the issues being discussed on campus are very important, so this is great to present to you.
Just to review our policy, all our aid is need-based, not merit-based. We have need-blind admission for United States Citizens and Permanent Residents. We don't have need blind for international students. In the last five years, we got a generous donation so we could double the amount of aid to international students.
Sometimes your package doesn't mesh with what you and your parents think you need. We have to keep our basic policies in mind. We do encourage discussions with our students and parents.
I think it's important to show the incredible commitment Wellesley has to financial aid. Our average grant has increased by about 34%. As expensive as we are, our increase in tuition has only gone up only 23%. My current grant budget exceeds 30 million dollars. Only 2 million of that is federal aid. That record is absolutely incredible. We feel that we are really fortunate to work with a school that helps its students so much.
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: Financial aid is in fact a partnership. We examine you separately from your parents. Students have there own things they need to do. Your parents are looked up separately. Wellesley comes in to take up the rest. The first thing is ability to pay. Ability, not willingness. If you do not want to pay that is another issue all together. We expect students to work and borrow. Wellesley supplements the family contribution. It's like a barrel. You the student, your money goes in first, your parents second, and Wellesley third.
So how do we determine need? You and your parents are always thinking cash flow. We always look at family circumstances as strength. You got to look at it over time, time anywhere between 10 and 15 years. The first thing is cost of attendance, personal expenses, travel books, etc. that number is bigger than you originally get. We run a need analysis on your family. The difference between what it costs to come here and what you need is what you get.
We look at your cost of living. We make allowances; we look at cost of living in different places; the number of people in college. Once you hit grad school, we expect students to pay for themselves. The reason for this is that students in grad school have more resources open to them. We take the number of undergraduate students into consideration. If you have a sibling who you are two years behind, once they graduate we will expect more.
Private school tuition: it is a significant allowance. For the most part if you don't have your own business, what you made last year is what you made this year. When we look at your aid package we will see if there is a problem. It has to be a BIG change. Lost your job, flood, we are willing to do an estimate of how long its going to be and what your income is going to be and adjust your aid the minute it happens. That's not what most schools do. That's sort of basic.
Catherine Lee, College Republicans: A constituent asked me if you ever considered freezing the tuition for four years.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: We are actually not involved with the policy. None of the schools that are competitive with us have done that.
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: You could borrow, and you could have paid at the rate at which you came in of you had the cash up front. We would allow you to pre-pay.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: I forget that it freezes if you pay upfront. That's so unusual for people do that.
Cortni Jones, Student Bursar: What about outside scholarships? How is that factored in?
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: The student brings the scholarship, and it allows the student to diminish some of their own responsibility. If you want to cut back on your work study, you can. We allow you to reduce the self-help section with the federal regulations in mind. But generally, we will talk to you about the best benefit.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: We are one of the first colleges to think about these outside sources. We are always the first in our policies but we don't get a lot of press for it. We frequently are first or among the first.
Shayla Adams, Ethos: Can you explain the questionnaire that is given out at the end of the year? Also, is the 30 million to give out to students?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: Our donor questionnaire is given out to returning students. Part of the package is a one-page questionnaire for our restricted fund. Our college database does not tell us what you are interested and the office you help while in school. It's mostly manual. If we have a fund that is limited to students who are English majors, and very specific descriptive qualifications, it lets the donor know who you are. It lets us know who you are. We also ask the students to write the donor also. I also want to make the point that most of the money that we spend for financial aid is from donor funds. We usually don't have to go through the process of assigning specific funds. Students on funds usually decide to donate later.
Mea Lewis, CCBC: About the things that you take into account: what about different living arrangements, like single parents, divorced parents, etc.?
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: We check the numbers in the family and we ask about how many people are in the family.
Maria Dela Cruz: What advice would you give for people who are dissatisfied?
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: Come and talk to someone, you tend to be less dissatisfied if you understand your own situation. Having said that, in order to get more money, it's really tough; all the local scholarship people only want you when you first start. It dries up when you're in school. Short of a loan, it's really tough. It's our job to explain it and show you how to do it.
Samira Vachani, Pomeroy: When you make your financial aid awards, do you keep in mind the budget?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: Over the years we developed a pretty great process. The college is really committed to fulfilling the full need of student. The college would expect to fund students who need the aid. The process is not that hard; it's not that hard to predict cost from year to year. The new class is sometimes a wild card, but it's not really rocket science. I also want to remind you that the students who are not happy, if it's a policy issue, we do have student representation on the committee.
Sandy Naing, Dower: Does anything happen to financial aid if someone's situation improves?
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: If there was a large change, than we would change it; if you tell us then we would be happy to change it.
Yang Qiu, Severance: Last year some of the students sent a letter on President Bush's offer to roll back some federal funding?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: We sent that email to eliminate the Perkins Loan Program. There has been an "assault", if you will, on the federal aid program. It might not seem as important to us since we do have a lot of institutional money. We want to see our students benefit from that money though. I am happy to report that the push to do away with that program did not work. Right now there is an ideological debate for student financial aid programs. At a national level, it's absolutely crucial to expand those programs. I really appreciated all the students who participated.
Sophie Kim, CPLA: Can either of you address financial aid for Wintersession programs?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: Neither of us specializes in Wintersession.
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: That money comes from the Deans Office, not from Wellesley College Financial Aid. Andy Shennan's office disseminates money for Wintersession. If you are an aid student you pay the same percentage or ratio. They try to get as close to that number as the pocket allows, based on the number of students participating.
Kellye Steindel, Shafer: Could you elaborate on the donor questionnaire?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: It's for returning students and the returning student's aid application has that.
Clara Peterson, Bates: I know a lot of students had trouble with work study this year and I was wondering if you were doing any thing for that.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: We are keeping a list and working with students who are working for the first time. They are trying to figure out how to interview and present themselves. If we find a student who needs that help we are trying. Food service on campus is not a campus job in terms of being a campus job. There are some first years who are new to working.
Jerilyn Libby, Cazenove: Is there a policy for the division of financial aid that your aid decreases as you progress?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: The loan increases as you progress. It follows the federal government limit. In general you start with 200,635. We do publish our loan expectations and what our current loans are.
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: We expect you to work harder as you progress.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: The work study increases a bit as well.
Lindsey Boylan, CGP: The student representatives to the BAC will be presenting later on this year. Nadine Abraham and Suilin Yap are great individuals to contact to get info for a specific plan.
Kim Goff-Crews: Just a point of clarification, the BAC makes recommendations, and the President approves.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: We are really happy to have this opportunity to speak to you. The last time I was here was five years ago. Some of the issues being discussed on campus are very important, so this is great to present to you.
Just to review our policy, all our aid is need-based, not merit-based. We have need-blind admission for United States Citizens and Permanent Residents. We don't have need blind for international students. In the last five years, we got a generous donation so we could double the amount of aid to international students.
Sometimes your package doesn't mesh with what you and your parents think you need. We have to keep our basic policies in mind. We do encourage discussions with our students and parents.
I think it's important to show the incredible commitment Wellesley has to financial aid. Our average grant has increased by about 34%. As expensive as we are, our increase in tuition has only gone up only 23%. My current grant budget exceeds 30 million dollars. Only 2 million of that is federal aid. That record is absolutely incredible. We feel that we are really fortunate to work with a school that helps its students so much.
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: Financial aid is in fact a partnership. We examine you separately from your parents. Students have there own things they need to do. Your parents are looked up separately. Wellesley comes in to take up the rest. The first thing is ability to pay. Ability, not willingness. If you do not want to pay that is another issue all together. We expect students to work and borrow. Wellesley supplements the family contribution. It's like a barrel. You the student, your money goes in first, your parents second, and Wellesley third.
So how do we determine need? You and your parents are always thinking cash flow. We always look at family circumstances as strength. You got to look at it over time, time anywhere between 10 and 15 years. The first thing is cost of attendance, personal expenses, travel books, etc. that number is bigger than you originally get. We run a need analysis on your family. The difference between what it costs to come here and what you need is what you get.
We look at your cost of living. We make allowances; we look at cost of living in different places; the number of people in college. Once you hit grad school, we expect students to pay for themselves. The reason for this is that students in grad school have more resources open to them. We take the number of undergraduate students into consideration. If you have a sibling who you are two years behind, once they graduate we will expect more.
Private school tuition: it is a significant allowance. For the most part if you don't have your own business, what you made last year is what you made this year. When we look at your aid package we will see if there is a problem. It has to be a BIG change. Lost your job, flood, we are willing to do an estimate of how long its going to be and what your income is going to be and adjust your aid the minute it happens. That's not what most schools do. That's sort of basic.
Catherine Lee, College Republicans: A constituent asked me if you ever considered freezing the tuition for four years.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: We are actually not involved with the policy. None of the schools that are competitive with us have done that.
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: You could borrow, and you could have paid at the rate at which you came in of you had the cash up front. We would allow you to pre-pay.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: I forget that it freezes if you pay upfront. That's so unusual for people do that.
Cortni Jones, Student Bursar: What about outside scholarships? How is that factored in?
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: The student brings the scholarship, and it allows the student to diminish some of their own responsibility. If you want to cut back on your work study, you can. We allow you to reduce the self-help section with the federal regulations in mind. But generally, we will talk to you about the best benefit.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: We are one of the first colleges to think about these outside sources. We are always the first in our policies but we don't get a lot of press for it. We frequently are first or among the first.
Shayla Adams, Ethos: Can you explain the questionnaire that is given out at the end of the year? Also, is the 30 million to give out to students?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: Our donor questionnaire is given out to returning students. Part of the package is a one-page questionnaire for our restricted fund. Our college database does not tell us what you are interested and the office you help while in school. It's mostly manual. If we have a fund that is limited to students who are English majors, and very specific descriptive qualifications, it lets the donor know who you are. It lets us know who you are. We also ask the students to write the donor also. I also want to make the point that most of the money that we spend for financial aid is from donor funds. We usually don't have to go through the process of assigning specific funds. Students on funds usually decide to donate later.
Mea Lewis, CCBC: About the things that you take into account: what about different living arrangements, like single parents, divorced parents, etc.?
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: We check the numbers in the family and we ask about how many people are in the family.
Maria Dela Cruz: What advice would you give for people who are dissatisfied?
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: Come and talk to someone, you tend to be less dissatisfied if you understand your own situation. Having said that, in order to get more money, it's really tough; all the local scholarship people only want you when you first start. It dries up when you're in school. Short of a loan, it's really tough. It's our job to explain it and show you how to do it.
Samira Vachani, Pomeroy: When you make your financial aid awards, do you keep in mind the budget?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: Over the years we developed a pretty great process. The college is really committed to fulfilling the full need of student. The college would expect to fund students who need the aid. The process is not that hard; it's not that hard to predict cost from year to year. The new class is sometimes a wild card, but it's not really rocket science. I also want to remind you that the students who are not happy, if it's a policy issue, we do have student representation on the committee.
Sandy Naing, Dower: Does anything happen to financial aid if someone's situation improves?
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: If there was a large change, than we would change it; if you tell us then we would be happy to change it.
Yang Qiu, Severance: Last year some of the students sent a letter on President Bush's offer to roll back some federal funding?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: We sent that email to eliminate the Perkins Loan Program. There has been an "assault", if you will, on the federal aid program. It might not seem as important to us since we do have a lot of institutional money. We want to see our students benefit from that money though. I am happy to report that the push to do away with that program did not work. Right now there is an ideological debate for student financial aid programs. At a national level, it's absolutely crucial to expand those programs. I really appreciated all the students who participated.
Sophie Kim, CPLA: Can either of you address financial aid for Wintersession programs?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: Neither of us specializes in Wintersession.
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: That money comes from the Deans Office, not from Wellesley College Financial Aid. Andy Shennan's office disseminates money for Wintersession. If you are an aid student you pay the same percentage or ratio. They try to get as close to that number as the pocket allows, based on the number of students participating.
Kellye Steindel, Shafer: Could you elaborate on the donor questionnaire?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: It's for returning students and the returning student's aid application has that.
Clara Peterson, Bates: I know a lot of students had trouble with work study this year and I was wondering if you were doing any thing for that.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: We are keeping a list and working with students who are working for the first time. They are trying to figure out how to interview and present themselves. If we find a student who needs that help we are trying. Food service on campus is not a campus job in terms of being a campus job. There are some first years who are new to working.
Jerilyn Libby, Cazenove: Is there a policy for the division of financial aid that your aid decreases as you progress?
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: The loan increases as you progress. It follows the federal government limit. In general you start with 200,635. We do publish our loan expectations and what our current loans are.
Michelle Tufau, Office of Finance: We expect you to work harder as you progress.
Kathryn Osmond, Office of Finance: The work study increases a bit as well.
Lindsey Boylan, CGP: The student representatives to the BAC will be presenting later on this year. Nadine Abraham and Suilin Yap are great individuals to contact to get info for a specific plan.
Kim Goff-Crews: Just a point of clarification, the BAC makes recommendations, and the President approves.
B. OMHA presentation (Rebecca Kapler)
Lindsey Boylan, CGP: Will OMHA presenters come forward.
Laura Case, OMHA President: Our main goals are awareness and education. We are not a group for the stone center; we are our own organization. We are doing ribbon and silver bracelet campaigns. We also have talk panel series. We have a safe space for students with mental illness experiences. Our first talk panel is next week in Munger. We will also have discussions in the dorms. We have booklets that have gone to all first years in the dorms. We are also trying to do our film week. Look for those on Wednesdays, when there will be screenings. We are starting fact campaigns. We have improved feedback from the stone center. You can email Robin Cook Nobles. We also maintain an OMHA safe space. We are looking for other ways to reach out and support students so let us know. We will also have an open meeting tomorrow in Freeman living room.
Elanna Levine, Mental Health Educators: We did training with the RA's. We have been given information to be another peer resource and we want to help really badly. We will have flyers up next week.
Rebecca Kapler, Mental Health Educators: The RA's are not trained as therapists. They are trained for information.
Shayla Adams, Ethos Senator: Last year we had a program with OMHA in the stone center and we want to organize another one. I know some people might not know a lot about the stone center. Could you clarify about the center?
Elanna Levine, Mental Health Educators: The center is free but it's time limited. They do some long term services but that's case by case basis. If you have any questions then you can come to us.
Laura Case, OMHA President: if anyone wants to be on the list email Elanna or myself. You can also email robin directly. We would also like to have talk panels.
Catherine Day, Chief Justice: You mentioned the online screening process, can you access this anywhere?
Laura Case, OMHA President: The stone center will be running the screening for National Depression screening day.
Laura Case, OMHA President: Our main goals are awareness and education. We are not a group for the stone center; we are our own organization. We are doing ribbon and silver bracelet campaigns. We also have talk panel series. We have a safe space for students with mental illness experiences. Our first talk panel is next week in Munger. We will also have discussions in the dorms. We have booklets that have gone to all first years in the dorms. We are also trying to do our film week. Look for those on Wednesdays, when there will be screenings. We are starting fact campaigns. We have improved feedback from the stone center. You can email Robin Cook Nobles. We also maintain an OMHA safe space. We are looking for other ways to reach out and support students so let us know. We will also have an open meeting tomorrow in Freeman living room.
Elanna Levine, Mental Health Educators: We did training with the RA's. We have been given information to be another peer resource and we want to help really badly. We will have flyers up next week.
Rebecca Kapler, Mental Health Educators: The RA's are not trained as therapists. They are trained for information.
Shayla Adams, Ethos Senator: Last year we had a program with OMHA in the stone center and we want to organize another one. I know some people might not know a lot about the stone center. Could you clarify about the center?
Elanna Levine, Mental Health Educators: The center is free but it's time limited. They do some long term services but that's case by case basis. If you have any questions then you can come to us.
Laura Case, OMHA President: if anyone wants to be on the list email Elanna or myself. You can also email robin directly. We would also like to have talk panels.
Catherine Day, Chief Justice: You mentioned the online screening process, can you access this anywhere?
Laura Case, OMHA President: The stone center will be running the screening for National Depression screening day.
V. Dean of Students' Corner
A. Deans Kim Goff-Crews and Michelle Lepore
Dean Kim: Some brief announcements: beyond the bubble but for student life. There were two articles that came out last week. One was on student mothers and it was interesting to see that students were concerned about this. The second article is on Facebook, which is obviously something that all of you know about. It talked about all the dangers entailed and a lot of colleges are having reports about "how to be in facebook". Some students have been tracked, so that presents some security issues. We will be talking about that. There are some real issues.
Michelle Lepore, Dean: We had a great reps training last week. I met with four students on the alcohol committee to address the drinking issue on campus. I'll read you the charge that the students got: The things we asked them to look at: the data on Wellesley college student alcohol behavior, campus culture on other campuses, review information by national organizations, talk to our student body, and develop strategies for shifting campus culture. It's not something that this committee will complete this month, it will be a year long project.
We also did a report on alcohol numbers for this year. These are numbers updated as of today:
11 students acutely intoxicated this year
6 turned in by friends
3 from administration
2 non-Wellesley members
So, that's thirteen people on our campus. We think that number is high. It was similar last year. This is of great concern to us.
I had a meeting with Kris Niendorf. We met to talk about the board plan. One of them is that we are concerned that the dining halls will be closed for special events. But after this it won't happen again. We also want to talk about students who want to eat healthier. They have moved to a seasonal board menu so that the food is fresher. The food is in season. They want some feedback on that. The vegan and veggie area seems to working really well. Food reps will be asking about what kind of things they should have in the convenience store.
Two notes on the campus center: five dollar items + theft issue
Whenever that happens the whole committee suffers.
Cortni Jones, Student Bursar: Are you on the facebook Dean Kim and can I friend you?
Dean Kim: As soon as I sign up
Rebecca Kapler, OMHA: Do you think Wellesley emphasizes too much on scholarly achievements and not on motherhood with the women who will posters?
Dean Kim: We promote a balanced life. I think we need to have a conversation about the reality of our lives and this partly is why we need to discuss what it means to be balanced. It's a complicated message.
Corrina Morris, Student at Large: The dining hall hours of stone, although beneficial, are not open on the weekends and there are restrictions. Are there any decisions to change this for students on the east side?
Michelle Lepore, Dean: Talk to your food rep, but we did talk about over crowding at lunch. Food service has a site for recommending recipes.
Brooke Maurer, Freeman Senator: Are the food service reps the right people to talk about running out of food?
Michelle Lepore, Dean: yes
Clara Peterson, Bates Senator: are there any repercussions for the theft?
Dean Kim: A reality of any business is that it will increase the costs.
Catherine Day, Chief Justice: Also keep in mind that we do have an honor code.
Shayla Adams, Ethos Senator: The way that the set up is in the dining services is conducive to theft. Most places you pay first and then you eat.
Michelle Lepore, Dean: We had a great reps training last week. I met with four students on the alcohol committee to address the drinking issue on campus. I'll read you the charge that the students got: The things we asked them to look at: the data on Wellesley college student alcohol behavior, campus culture on other campuses, review information by national organizations, talk to our student body, and develop strategies for shifting campus culture. It's not something that this committee will complete this month, it will be a year long project.
We also did a report on alcohol numbers for this year. These are numbers updated as of today:
11 students acutely intoxicated this year
6 turned in by friends
3 from administration
2 non-Wellesley members
So, that's thirteen people on our campus. We think that number is high. It was similar last year. This is of great concern to us.
I had a meeting with Kris Niendorf. We met to talk about the board plan. One of them is that we are concerned that the dining halls will be closed for special events. But after this it won't happen again. We also want to talk about students who want to eat healthier. They have moved to a seasonal board menu so that the food is fresher. The food is in season. They want some feedback on that. The vegan and veggie area seems to working really well. Food reps will be asking about what kind of things they should have in the convenience store.
Two notes on the campus center: five dollar items + theft issue
Whenever that happens the whole committee suffers.
Cortni Jones, Student Bursar: Are you on the facebook Dean Kim and can I friend you?
Dean Kim: As soon as I sign up
Rebecca Kapler, OMHA: Do you think Wellesley emphasizes too much on scholarly achievements and not on motherhood with the women who will posters?
Dean Kim: We promote a balanced life. I think we need to have a conversation about the reality of our lives and this partly is why we need to discuss what it means to be balanced. It's a complicated message.
Corrina Morris, Student at Large: The dining hall hours of stone, although beneficial, are not open on the weekends and there are restrictions. Are there any decisions to change this for students on the east side?
Michelle Lepore, Dean: Talk to your food rep, but we did talk about over crowding at lunch. Food service has a site for recommending recipes.
Brooke Maurer, Freeman Senator: Are the food service reps the right people to talk about running out of food?
Michelle Lepore, Dean: yes
Clara Peterson, Bates Senator: are there any repercussions for the theft?
Dean Kim: A reality of any business is that it will increase the costs.
Catherine Day, Chief Justice: Also keep in mind that we do have an honor code.
Shayla Adams, Ethos Senator: The way that the set up is in the dining services is conducive to theft. Most places you pay first and then you eat.
VI. Beyond the Bubble (Sophie Kim, CPLA Chair)
A. US Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court began its new term today, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts presiding as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States.
The first two cases of the term were technical, involving gasoline taxes and worker pay. The cases to be argued on Wednesday include a Bush administration appeal over Oregon's physician assisted-suicide law and the question of how parents of disabled children can contest education services. Other controversial issues this term involve the death penalty, abortion and a protest of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays.
President Bush named White House Counsel Harriet Miers, 60, to be associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court today.
The announcement came just two hours before Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. formally took his seat as chief justice of the United States on the high court's opening day of the 2005 term.
Miers would replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first female justice on the Supreme Court.
The first two cases of the term were technical, involving gasoline taxes and worker pay. The cases to be argued on Wednesday include a Bush administration appeal over Oregon's physician assisted-suicide law and the question of how parents of disabled children can contest education services. Other controversial issues this term involve the death penalty, abortion and a protest of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays.
President Bush named White House Counsel Harriet Miers, 60, to be associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court today.
The announcement came just two hours before Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. formally took his seat as chief justice of the United States on the high court's opening day of the 2005 term.
Miers would replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first female justice on the Supreme Court.
B. Turkish-EU relations
The Turkish government has accepted the terms set by the European Union for membership negotiations to begin. Members agreed on the terms of entry talks, after Austria withdrew a demand that Turkey should be offered an option short of full membership. There is deep popular opposition in Austria and other European countries to Turkey's accession to the EU, with skeptics citing Turkey's size, poverty, and main religion - Islam - as reasons to keep it at a distance. Negotiations on Turkey's EU membership are expected to last 10 years.
C. 2005 Nobel Prize
The 2005 Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to Australians Barry J. Marshall and Robin Warren today. They received the prize for their research on the cause of stomach and intestinal ulcers, which is bacterial infection, not stress. The announcement was the first of what will be followed by physics, chemistry, literature, peace, & economics.
D. On this day: October 3
1995: Verdict reached in the O.J. Simpson case
The criminal trial was one of the lengthiest in US legal history. The official court transcript was more than 50,000 pages long. The jury took less than four hours to reach a unanimous decision in a trial that has gripped America for an entire year. The jury found O.J. Simpson "not guilty" of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman.
The criminal trial was one of the lengthiest in US legal history. The official court transcript was more than 50,000 pages long. The jury took less than four hours to reach a unanimous decision in a trial that has gripped America for an entire year. The jury found O.J. Simpson "not guilty" of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman.
VII. Cabinet Announcements
VIII. Adjourn
