AAS | Minutes

AAS SENATE MEETING

Monday, October 6, 2003

I. Attendance

SENIOR SENATORS	9
Kay Bradley	X
Geoffrey Brounell	X
Arshia Choudhury	X
Mihailis Diamantis	X
A.J. Korytoski	X
Lincoln Mayer	X
Luke Swarthout	X
JUNIOR SENATORS	6
Ethan Davis	X
Rosalyn Foster	X
Jin-Young Kim	X
Gabriel Mattera	X
Daniel Reiss	X
Christian Sanchez	X
David Scherr	U
Justin Sharaf	U
SOPHOMORE SENATORS	7
Rania Arja	X
Taamiti Bankole	X
Caleb Deats	X
John Lian	X
Molibi Maphanyane	X
Mira Serrill-Robins	X
Ian Shin	X
Matt Vanneman	U
FRESHMEN SENATORS	7
Richa Bhala	X
Avi Das	X
Noah Isserman	X
Marco Locascio	X
Gloria Monfrini	X
Levan Moulton	U
Christina Ryu	X
Jacob Thomas	X
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Andre Deckrow		X
Elan Ghazal		X
Alex Linden		X
Ryan Park		X
Paris Wallace		X

LEGEND:
x = Present
E = Excused Absence
U = Unexcused Absence
/ = Half an Absence

II. Call to order (9:06 PM)

III. Approval of the minutes (9:07 PM)

9/29/03 minutes – Corrections by Mihailis and Elan.

IV. Officer reports (9:12 PM)

A. Introductions – new senators

B. Treasurer Report

Fall 2003 AAS Budget

Line item	Amount	%
Total Fall 2003 Student Activities Fee	$301,744	100%
Master General Fund	$117,254	39%
ACEMS	$4,000	1%
Association of Amherst Students	$8,000	3%
Class Fund	$4,000	1%
Fine Arts	$4,954	2%
MassPIRG	$7,800	3%
Olio (yearbook)	$24,000	8%
Program Board	$20,000	7%
PVTA	$17,000	6%
Settlements	$10,000	3%
Social Council	$10,000	3%
Special Interest	$7,500	2%
Club Budgets		0%
Initial Club Allocation	$67,158	22%
Combined Fund	$ 91,068	30%
Appeals	$ 26,263	9%

Mira: Can you explain what settlements and special interests are?

Paris: Settlements were things left over from last semester. I took care of it when I became treasurer, however, it still exists.

Luke: Special interest was a fund that used to be called Big Ticket Item. Mike Flood motioned to change the name. It’s a pool of money for a big event.

Paris: It is part of the old system that will be taken care of next semester.

C. Secretary Report

Alex: At the E-Board meeting we said that the AAS should have a stationary and I am going to look into it. The second thing is the Honorary Degrees Committee. It hasn’t been filled yet. President Marx’s assistant has asked me to help her fill these positions. Kay has so nicely offered to help out with the new up and coming AAS gear.

D. JC Chair

Andre: I have to give the oath of office to the new senators.

New senators take the oath.

Andre: We are going to start the process of review and recognition soon.

V. Announcements (9:28 PM)

Ryan: I just wanted to welcome everyone. If you have anything that you came here

to do, I would like to talk to you about it. I would like to hear about any plans that

you have. What is amazing about this organization is that you have a lot of

opportunities to do a lot of good if you put the work in. Can the Honor Code

Committee meet again after this meeting? There is going to be a survey that asks

students about their cheating/plagiarizing habits. I want to encourage you to fill it

out.

Mira: I would like to encourage everyone to participate in Themes of Amherst.

Paris: Point of Information – Since we don’t have a meeting next week what do we do

about budgetary recommendations?

Elan: They will be reviewed the next week.

Marika: We just had an open discussion hosted by the ASA about the bus stop

incident that took place a week ago. We feel we got a good turnout and one of our

goals was to take positive action against the comments. We wanted to let you know

that we plan to form an inter-affinity group coalition that addresses issues about

diversity. I was wondering if AAS members wanted to be a part of this. We are also

going to have a banner campaign that says “we reject” and “we embrace” that will go

up soon. We are trying to get feedback tonight so that they can go up tomorrow. If

you are interested in adding anything to these banners please let us know. We are not

trying to impede on free speech, however, we felt it was necessary to respond to

offensive racial slurs.

Elan: If you would like to make an ad-hoc committee you can contact me and I will

put it in new business.

Ryan: I sent a letter to Dean Lieber and the Campus Police stating my Object and

requesting they look into it. I subsequently met with Dean Lieber and President Marx

and they both expressed that they were very concerned and offended by what was

said. They are going to make some sort of public condemnation of what was said on

the Jolt.

Mihailis: When you went to speak to them, did you go as Ryan Park the individual or

as Ryan Park, AAS President?

Ryan: Both.

Mihailis: Point of information – Is the AAS President seen as representing the AAS?

Elan: Yes.

Mihailis: I think it would be better to ask the opinions of the AAS before going to the

campus police.

Elan: He is a representative of the student body and of the AAS so he doesn’t have to

consult the Senate beforehand.

Geoff: Are we going to say something about all hate speech that happens on the Jolt?

Ryan: I wasn’t trying to condemn the Daily Jolt.

VI. Special Orders (9:44 PM)

A. BC Funding Recommendations

Requestor	Request	Recommend	%	Allocated	%
Amherst Crew	$5,900	$5,900	100%	$3,700	63%
Jazz Ensamble	$1,135	$1,135	100%	$1,135	100%
Capoeira Demonstration	$800	$800	100%	$800	100%
ACOC Riding	$200	$100	50%	$100	50%
Dem Registration	$56	$56	100%	$56	100%
Dem Speaker	$1,000	Tabled	#####		0%
AC Riding Team	$1,302	$1,302	100%	$1,302	100%
Fencing	$3,800	$3,800	100%	$3,800	100%
ACOC Fall Break	$814	$714	88%	$714	88%
Men's Project Ads	$198	$50	25%	$50	25%
ACPBS Funding	$3,857	$3,057	79%	$3,057	79%
Total Week 4	$19,061	$16,914	89%	$14,714	77%
Percentages	21%	19%	89%	16%	-12%

Paris: We gave out two weeks ago 20% of our budget. We will have given out 50%

of our budget this semester at the end of this week. There are a lot of other big events

that are going to happen and so fiscal responsibility should be something on

everyone’s mind.

Rania: For the vans alone, how much was it?

Paris: $4400.

Dan: What was the rationale for the Men’s Club, and only funding 50%?

Roz: Tom Chen asked for table-tents for the whole semester. He did that last week

too and there were more table-tents than weeks in the semester and so we thought it

was excessive.

Caleb: I was told the $90 you gave them last week was actually $30.

Paris: That was enough for every week from now on.

Caleb: We don’t just rely on table-tents alone for advertisement.

Paris: $60 of that was funding going to a similar support group in town so they could

see what it was about.

Lincoln: They requested 20 sets of new gear? How many people do they have this

semester?

Paris: 25 members this week.

Paris: The seminar takes place during interterm, money for the professors that come

back and lecture. There is a $25 materials fee.

Molibi: Do we have information about the prior recommendations such as crew?

Paris: Crew got $10,000 in initial budget allocations.

Ethan: Motion to pass BC Funding Recommendations

Arshia: Second

Ethan: I motion to cut BC funding for fencing in half.

Taamiti: Second

Mihailis: I am the coach of the fencing team. This year we should encourage the

increase since it is largely freshmen based. They have been regularly attending

practice and also attending Saturday practices which is unheard of; they have been

showing a lot of commitment. We want to encourage a spirit of community on the

fencing team. It is also unworkable to divide the team for practice. I am the coach of

the fencing team and cannot coach so many practices since I am writing 2 theses. This

gear is protective and essential for practice. They don’t have any gear and are getting

sick of moving backwards and forwards. Without this, the team can’t progress.

Molibi: Forcing any club sport into that sort of hardship should not happen. This is a

one time thing. You have given other clubs things that are essential to the game and

so you should definitely fund this since it is a positive thing for our community.

Ethan: I want to point out something the senate is forgetting. We have a limited

amount of funding. No one seems to get this at all even though it is obvious.

Lincoln: Call the question.

Rania: Object.

Paris: There have been 5 sets of fencing equipment for 15 years. There is one blip

based on a month of participation. I think we should give them half of their request

and if there is still a demand we will give them more stuff next year. You

incrementally collect gear.

Christian: I think we should pass Paris’ budget. In comparison to last year we are in a

great economic shape this year. Call the question.

Rania: Object.

Dan: This does not seem like the place where you take the money away from.

Marco: I was wondering if the fencing team had dues.

Mihailis: The fencing team is funded by the AAS. The gear the fencing team buys is

owned by the AAS so it is inappropriate to ask the members to pay for it. We are

asking for gear for practices, not tournaments.

Rania: We are being fiscally irresponsible and so I agree with Ethan that we should

only allocate half of the request now.

Molibi: Call the question

SEE VOTE 15 BELOW. Remove funding for Outing Club Fall Break – MOTION

FAILS: 8-17-2.

Elan: We are voting on amending the allocation of the fencing team, subtracting it by

half.

MOTION FAILS.

Dan: Of these 50 members, can we find out how many people have cars on the Crew

Team?

Paris: We don’t know.

Roz: The people that have cars are upperclassmen who have other commitments and

need to leave practice early.

Mihailis: Given the precedent we took for SKAmherst last week I move to take away

funding to Outdoor Club.

Mihailis: (Explains the precedent to the new senators). The Outdoor Club is asking

for funds to send people on a private excursion on fall break that correlates with the

SKAmherst requests.

Christian: We charge the budgetary committee to do this. I don’t know why we are

picking on random clubs to take away money from. We need to pass the

recommendations.

Luke: The BC puts an immense amount of time on this and it is a difficult decision. I

feel it is a hard job and I think we should respect the BC. Call the question.

Mihailis: Object

Paris: We rejected to fund SKAmherst because we didn’t want to set the precedent of

funding concerts. Also, the mission statement of ACOC is to go out on outdoor trips.

Ryan: Although I acknowledge it is important to have consistency with budgeting I

think it is equally important to leave some discretion to the BC.

Lincoln: I just wanted to make it clear to the new senators that the BC used to make

decisions by themselves and now they make recommendations and we are supposed to

decide on it. Call the question.

Mihailis: Object.

Andre: I wanted to yield to Mike who came from ACOC.

Mike: This is something that people wouldn’t be able to do on their own since we are

supplying gear, transportation, etc.

Mihailis: My sense is that the BC is trapped in inconsistency with its policies.

Applying the same reasoning to funding this outdoors club on a fall break trip, it is a

weekend excursion. I think the BC should be funding all off campus events. The

BC’s unwillingness to do so was its justification for not funding SKAmherst.

Luke: The best place to have these discussions is during the BC meetings. I am not

saying we shouldn’t question them but there are a lot of other things we can do in the

senate. Call the question.

Kay: Point of information – What was the vote on BC for ACOC?

Paris: 4/7

Dan: Call the question.

Ethan: Object.

Ethan: A concert is something that people can do off campus while not being in a

club.

Mihailis: the BC is not to make value judgments between clubs. They cannot say a

concert is a more valuable or less valuable than an outing trip.

Elan: Let me go through the purpose of the Budgetary Committee since we have new

senators.

Elan reads the committee description.

Geoff: The issue is whether we should fund $800 for 8 people to go rock climbing over

vacation.

Mike: There are at least 18 people going and the reason it is happening over vacation is

because of the distance involved.

Lincoln: I move the question

Elan: Moving the question – voting on the question.

If you vote in favor of it you will remove funding to the outing club fall break.

Motion fails.

Roz: Call the question to pass the BC Funding Recommendations of the week

Molibi: Object.

Molibi: Motion to increase the budgetary allocation to the crew team by $2200.

Arshia: Second

Luke: What is the story?

Paris: The crew team has a $130,000 budget a year. $110,000 comes from other

sources. They have all 4 vans already but want us to pay for it.

AJ: They want us to fund the budgetary cap.

Ryan: It was discussed in the meeting that they were able to pay for the vans from other

sources but wanted to use that money for other things later in the semester.

Mira: I don’t think that is right. There are things they need to spend the money on.

They will have a deficit. Call the question.

Luke: Object.

Luke: They have other sources of funding and I was wondering if they paid for other

things through their endowment. Where do they get the other money from?

Paris: We tabled this last week so we could get the financial information from them. It

wasn’t coming from the endowment. They weren’t clear about where the money comes

from.

Andre: Can someone on the BC who voted in favor of the allocation explain this?

Lincoln: Call the question.

Mira: Second

Motion passes.

Lincoln: Motion to increase horseback trip.

Marco: Second.

Paris: We gave the Amherst College Riding Team that goes horseback riding off

campus with a select amount of people. The ACOC opened it up to everyone and we

didn’t give them nearly as much money.

Lincoln: Move to question

Elan: Voting on an increase $100 for the Amherst outing club riding trip

Motion fails.

Lincoln: Call the question.

Gabriel: I don’t think we should take each BC recommendation and see if it is fiscically

responsible or not. That is the BC’s job.

Elan: We will have special meetings on the role of the BC if we can’t decide on this.

Paris: Academic departments are asking for money and I was wondering if that is

something we should pay for?

Mira: The jazz ensemble is not being put on by the Music Department. They are

including some faculty who are not regular employees.

Roz: Call the question

Elan: Moving to vote on the BC funding recommendations for the week with the 2200

decrease for crew.

SEE VOTE 16 BELOW. Decrease Crew Funding by $2,200 (Van Cost) –

MOTION PASSES: 16-9-2.

SEE VOTE 17 BELOW. BC Funding Recommendations – MOTION PASSES:

25-1-1

B. BC Report on Spring Formal funds.

Ethan: I am not ready to give a report.

Elan: Email me when you are ready.

VII. Special Orders (10:47 PM)

A. Committee Appointments

Elan: The maximum limit has been changed to 4 committees.

Luke: It would make the most sense to run an election second semester. Seniors are

strongly against the idea of appointing someone if there are spots on the committees.

Elan: The class council is considered a committee under the constitution.

Christian: We don’t know the freshmen senators enough to nominate them. I move

we postpone it for next week

Elan: We have a responsibility to the student body. If you want to postpone this it is

up to you.

Mira: Motion to postpone JC to end.

Lincoln: Second

Elan: BC

Roz: I nominate Noah.

Caleb: I motion to postpone all committee appointments except for those that meet

this week.

Arshia: Second

Motion passes

Elan: Library Committee

Roz: I nominate Mira

Mira: I accept. There is a meeting tomorrow afternoon they sent me an email about.

We had to fill a disciplinary position and so I had to be taken off of this committee but

now I want to be on it again.

Jacob: I nominate myself. I work at the library now and think I can offer a different

perspective.

Elan: Mira, you have been elected to the committee. Information Tech Policy

Committee.

Marco: I nominate myself.

Jacob: I nominate myself.

Elan: If there is no Object we will accept them onto the committee by unanimous

consent.

Elan: Committee on Honorary Degrees. Lincoln will be appointed by unanimous

consent. Roz and Jin-Young are elected by unanimous consent.

Ryan: The Trustee Advisory Committee on Student Life. Marco and Avi are

appointed by unanimous consent.

Elan: BC. Jin-Young, Gloria, and Molibi are nominated. Molibi is

appointed.

Elan: JC. Richa is appointed by unanimous consent.

Elan: College council is next. Avi, Gloria, and Noah are nominated. Gloria is

appointed to the college council.

VIII. New business (11:02 PM)

A. Bradley ad hoc shuttle

Rania: We will take people for Thankgiving Break and Winter Break. Vans to

Boston are up in the air.

B TYPO

Mira passes out sheets.

Lincoln: TYPO pays for a group of 4-7 students to take a professor out to dinner

in town. Our goal is to have TYPO available to the entire school.

Mihailis: Why are we restricting it to 7 students?

Lincoln: Because the idea was for it to be an intimate group.

Mira: We can’t send out a mailing with any power behind it until the vote.

Lincoln: I don’t think students are going to take their professors to dinner out of

pocket. The professor and the students wouldn’t feel comfortable.

Ryan: Are we willing to commit such a large part of our funding?

John: Will this be available to only Amherst students?

Lincoln: Yes.

Molibi: When will this take place?

Mira: As soon as possible.

Paris: Did you take advertising costs into account?

Lincoln: We will motion to make it $13,750.

Alex: Within the advertisement will you assure that the AAS aligns itself with

this project?

Paris: We have an extra $17,500 in our budget this semester and I think this is

something that benefits the whole campus. It makes sense to use this money to

fund this now and next semester decide whether to put this in the master general

fund. There is not much better use for it.

Luke: Is there any reason why we couldn’t spend that money on clubs or

anything else?

Paris: It is kind of sketchy constitutionally. This money wasn’t in the clubs’

budgets. It is already going to the master general fund.

Jake: I thought one of the aspects was that you can only take the professor out

once a semester.

Lincoln: That will Dean Call’s decision. The college is funding the faculty

portion of this. We are paying for the students. Whatever restrictions put on

faculty will be put by Dean Call.

Lincoln: Motion $150 for advertising expenses and $136,00 of settlements that

were not used last year. We would like to deplete settlements and take the rest

out of special interest.

AJ: Didn’t we just pass that any changes to the master general fund needs to be

submitted to the BC?

Elan: There are no changes being made.

Paris: Now we can have a discussion about it. We can’t change the constitution

based on what the budget already is.

Luke: The special interest was originally something that was supposed to fund one

big ticket item – you could call this the big ticket. The idea that this is something

that is not accessible is not true. I will vote for this once it goes through the BC. If

it is not in the constitution we can roll it back to the student clubs. Motion to

commit the motion to the BC.

Lincoln: Mira and I have put a great amount of time into this. By the time it gets

back here we will be way into the semester and the restaurants will not have heard

from us and we will have Dean Leiber wondering what happened. It is a time

sensitive program.

Mira: The BC doesn’t have power any more over the master general funds in the

constitution the AAS does.

Elan: Someone can commit anything they want to.

Rania: second

Roz: We are already halfway through the semester as it is. It doesn’t give it

enough time to run through the semester.

Mira: You don’t have to commit it because it is unconstitutional. Call the question

Lincoln: Object. We do stand to lose credit with the restaurants.

Gabriel: Can we have an emergency BC meeting to unify both of these concerns?

Elan: That can be called with the treasurer.

Paris: the BC is in the room round now.

Elan: Not being committed to the BC – vote

Elan: Motion to allocate $13750 on the floor

Ethan: Move to question

Lincoln: Second

SEE VOTE 18 BELOW. $13,750 for TYPO (Deplete Settlements and then take

the rest out of Special Interest – MOTION PASSES: 20-4-2.

Elan: We have a duty and a responsibility to the student body. Tonight, we went

against the bylaws, we have committees that are still open, and we are halfway

through the semester.

IX. Adjournment (11:24 PM)

ROLL CALL VOTES

Vote Description

15 Remove Funding for Outing Club Fall Break

16 Decrease Crew Funding by $2,200 (Van Cost)

17 10/6/03 BC Funding Recs (-$2,200 from Crew)

18 $13,750 for TYPO(Deplete Settlements and then take the rest out of Special Interest)

SENIOR SENATORS	15	16	17	18
Kay Bradley	Y	N	Y	Y
Geoffrey Brounell	Y	Y	N	Y
Arshia Choudhury	N	Y	Y	Y
Miahilis Diamantis	Y	N	Y	Y
A.J. Korytoski	N	Y	Y	A
Lincoln Mayer	N	Y	Y	Y
Luke Swarthout	N	A	Y	N

JUNIOR SENATORS
Ethan Davis	N	Y	Y	Y
Rosalyn Foster	Y	N	Y	N
Jin-Young Kim	Y	N	Y	Y
Gabriel Mattera	Y	A	Y	N
Daniel Reiss	N	Y	Y	Y
Christian Sanchez	N	N	Y	/
David Scherr	/	/	/	/
Justin Sharaf	/	/	/	/

SOPHOMORE SENATORS
Rania Arja	N	Y	Y	Y
Taamiti Bankole	N	N	Y	Y
Caleb Deats	N	N	Y	Y
John Lian	N	N	Y	Y
Molibi Maphanyane	N	Y	Y	Y
Mira Serrill-Robins	Y	Y	Y	Y
Ian Shin	Y	N	Y	Y
Matt Vanneman	/	/	/	/

FRESHMEN SENATORS
Richa Bhala	N	Y	Y	Y
Avi Das	A	Y	A	A
Noah Isserman	A	Y	Y	Y
Marco Locascio	N	Y	Y	Y
Gloria Monfrini	N	Y	Y	Y
Levan Moulton	/	/	/	/
Christina Ryu	N	Y	Y	Y
Jacob Thomas	N	Y	Y	N

Y = Yes
N = No
A = Abstention
/ = Not Present for Vote

Amherst Assosciation of Students