AAS Meeting Minutes
2/21/2005
I. Attendance
II. Call to Order at 9:14 pm
III. Approval of the minutes: Minutes approved.
IV. Officer Reports:
- Ryan: College Council will review language on fraternities in Student Handbook. Members of the Council are very open to changing the language. 30 spots were gathered in the Alumni lot.
- Dave: Elan resigned. Senior class needs a new chair. Avi for Parliamentarian. Senators do not have to complete projects before the end of the semester, because the JC has ruled that it would be unfair.
- Ian: 2 clubs were allocated $200 because BC has ruled on it.
- New Senators are sworn in.
V. Announcements:
- Marco: $3 Burrito Wednesdays
- Dan: Committee to change Rania’s bill meet with Dan after Senate meeting.
VI. Special Orders:
BC Recommendations
· Around $12000 have been given WAMH
· Motion is made to separate Spring Formal recommendation separate from rest of other BC recommendations.
· Motion passes.
· Ian: A lot of downsizing has been down to cut the costs of the formal, yet the quality of the formal will go up.
· This recommendation will go to referendum.
· Recommendation passes for Spring Formal.
· Motion to pass rest of BC recs.
· Motion to deny band Deer Hoof event to zero.
Pros
- Matt: A band that is so unknown is not worth the money they will be charging
- Rania: WAMH only attracts 50-100 students; over $3000 is not proportional to this amount of people
- Viet: ACPB has hosted previous concerts that attract as few as 50 people
Cons
- Avi: Concert of this price will probably be well attended
- Jake: Should trust the judgment of WAMH to bring good sound-quality bands
- Avi: Senate should fund the event if it thinks that the event would be worthwhile to the campus, not how many people will attend
- Noah: WAMH deserves a chance to host a concert of this scale
Motion Fails
BC recommendations pass.
· $415 for honorarium for Woodsy club.
· The workshop will meet in Red Room, and then workshop will go outside to look at nature will focus on wilderness skills and nature awareness.
· Motion to fund in full.
· Motion passes.
VII. New Business:
- Gabe: The student representatives of CPR want feedback on the TYPO program. Last year, Dean of Faculty paid for all of freshman TYPO, and AAS paid for the bulk of upperclassmen TYPO. The proposal that was drafted by the student representatives asks for Dean of Students to pay for 70%, and 30% paid by the Senate. The Dean of Students proposed to pay half and ask for the AAS to pay for the other half of TYPO for all students.
- Josh: Should write an editorial to the Student and make this a confrontation to the school; this is a program that makes Amherst College unique.
- Dan: The CPR should ask the Office of Public Affairs, because they love to give out money to promote the college.
- Marco: TYPO is more valuable to freshmen, if we can’t afford TYPO anymore, at least the freshmen will still be benefited.
- Charge Committee on Admissions and Financial aid to write a letter to the CPR.
- The issue is whether or not Senate wants to fund the 50% of the total TYPO bill.
- Pros-academically useful and class oriented
- Mike’s proposal: There has been a lot of argument in the BC over petty amounts of money, and that student activities should be fully funded. Proposal is to ask different administrative departments whether they can supplement the money allocated to the BC from the student activities fee.
- Motion for proposal to become a motion.
- Pros:
- Clubs have been denied money or de-funded as a result of lack of funds.
- Student clubs would only have to go to one-stop (BC) to ask for funding, instead of going to different interdepartmental funds
- Ian will address problem of making ACPB and SOCO to have line-item budgets, instead of granting them large chunks of money
- Main issue should be to streamline what options students have for funding (should find a clear way for students to go about asking for funding)
- Cons:
- Money is probably tight for other departments
- For now, one of the solutions is to be a little more liberal with club funding; last semester there was a surplus of over $10000.
- Senate should work with the administration.
Motion to table discussion on proposal.
Mike withdraws resolution.
Committee should be formed to discuss issue with Tony Marx.
Rob makes motion: Whereas, the Dean of the Faculty does not agree to fund more than 50% of Amherst College’s TYPO and TYPO-X programs,
Whereas, the Dean of the Faculty has traditionally funded 100% of TYPO money,
Wehreas, TYPO-X is a valuable academic and social experience for upperclassmen and women, intimately tied to the classroom and the Amherst education,
Resolved, AAS shall not fund more than 50% of the TYPO-X program, nor will it fund any money for TYPO, and
Resolved, until such a time as DoF will provide 100% of TYPO funding + 50% of TYPO-X funding, AAS shall provide $3000 for an alternative program, entitled Make Your Prof a Home Cooked meal, which money shall be used by students to purchase grocieries for meals to be made at their professors’ houses.
Resolved, the Dining Services shall be charged with developing a system whereby this money shall be distributed
Resolved, participants in the MYPAHM program shall be allocated no more than $9 per student.
Pros:
- Could always cook in Newport
Cons:
- College will co-opt this program
- Professor might not open up own home
- Wording with charging Dining Services; they are not the best idea
Motion to table.
Pros:
- If this is tabled, then CPR will feel more pressured to follow a quick course of action to fund TYPO
- Will look really bad for the Dean of Faculty if students have to cook and buy their own food
- Letters from other committees will have more leverage than Rob’s motion to pressure the CPR
Cons:
- There hasn’t been TYPO for upperclassmen this past semester, if motion is not tabled, students could immediately take out professors
Motion to end debate passes.
Motion to table Rob’s motion.
Justin is nominated to be the Elections chair.
Matt and Emily met with President Marx; he wanted them to address 2 things: 1) how curriculum of Amherst can be extended outside the classroom, 2) core fundamental values about Amherst (e.g. financial aid). Now they need volunteers to host focus groups Ali K., Josh, Erika, Viet, Will, Richa, Ryan P., Techo, Mike S.
Editorial in Student: Music department refuses to fund a lot of music-related activitiesą someone should take this up.
VII. Adjournment (10:53 pm)