Senate Notes April 24th, 2017

I. Attendance

II. Public Comment

III. Swearing in of Senators & Judiciary Council

Jenine Shepherd swore in the Class of 2020 senators, Class of 2019 senators, Class of 2018 senators and Judiciary Council.

IV. Introductions

V. Committees Overview

a. Curriculum Committee

b. Judiciary Committee Election (2 senators seats)

Yannis Kalogiannis, Lauren Knight, and Madeline Bustos were nominated.

Yannis: Please consider me for this spot. I really care about the students and student governments accountability. There needs to be a document to judge people who are accused of something. I think that I am qualified because I am a political science major.

Lauren: I read the AAS Constitution to make sure that I was refreshed on it. I did a lot of work on the honor code in College Council. I can bring that experience to Judiciary Committee.

Madeline Bustos: I think that having fresh eyes is important. I think on my behalf, I am pretty quick learner so I can get up to speed on the AAS Constitution and immerse myself in something new that I think is important.

Cornell Brooks: What is one specific thing that you want to change about the Constitution?

Madeline: I would like to make the Constitution more explicit. It is important to have consistency in a written document.

Lauren: I think it is important to remove the computer clause.

Jenine: How would you propose that we go about making the Constitution more known to the student body?

Yannis: I would like to make it a compact version so it can be circulated. When there is a judiciary conflict, they should know what part of the Constitution we used to resolve it.

Lauren: A compact version is a good idea, and we can encourage people to read it in a school-wide email.

Madeline: A compact version would be helpful. We could put it on the Amherst application, which could be a Senate Project. We need to create dialogue on the issuestake these issues out of the Red Room and into dorms.

Yannis and Lauren get the seats.

c. Budgetary Committee Election (5 senators seats)

Michael Du, Natalia Khoudian, Maya Bhandari, Kristian Sogaard, Joe Schneider, Cornell Brooks, Will Zaubler, Lauren Knight, Sade Green, Madeline Bustos and Yannis Kalogiannis nominated.

Michael: I worked in the BC office this year with Aditi. You get to learn about all the events on campus. I met with a lot of club representatives.

Natalia: I was on the BC this year and feel well equipped to do this next semester. I have met with all of my clubs personally and would like to continue working with them. I want to open up funding to individual students.

Maya: I watched the BC recommendations for the past couple months and got a good feeling about BC works. I noticed that we fund publicity for 15 dollars, but I think that these funds could be spent much better. The only time that I hear about these events are when we approve the events in Senate, so I would work to improve publicity. I want funding guidelines to be more effective.

Kristian: I want to be on BC because I want to provide funding for individuals doing projects on their own as well as events that can bring in people from different parts of campus.

Joe: I want to be more involved in the student body, groups and clubs.

Cornell: On the Dining Services Committee, we manage money to figure out what we can add and take away from the meal plan. Anyone who sees me in Senate knows that I am a proponent of trying to get things funded and figuring out how to make events happen.

Olivia: I served on BC last year and I am really familiar with policy and precedent. I support the policies that Jacob wants to change, such as food guidelines.

Will: I have a strong working relationship with clubs and groups from being in BC. I have good experience working with precedent, but dont want to get caught in precedent always. I plan on coding the budget over the summer, so we can look at similar events from the past with the click of a button. This would make BC more streamline and transparent.

Lauren: I really enjoyed getting to see what the BC is doing by looking at BC recommendations. I would also like to work on the publicity of events and get to know more clubs and events on campus.

Sade: I am part of religious groups and affinity groups. I have worked with the administrationBiddy and the Committee of Six. I can point these clubs to other resources when they do not get the funding that they need.

Madeline: I was on clubs like Purple Pride, who were frustrated with the BC. There is a transparency issue that should be bridged by BC members. I have the interest and motivation to improve relationships between clubs and the BC.

Yannis: I have organized funding for the APU and used funding from club soccer. I know the importance of the BC and I have seen what doesnt work, such as huge events for three people. I want to help clubs use money more efficiently. I think that I am qualified because I have represented various parts of the student body.

Jacob Silverman: How do you see yourself functioning on BC as a liaison between the AAS and clubs?

Yannis: Each of us should have personal relationships with clubs, and clubs should talk to their BC representatives before coming to Discretionary.

Madeline: We should educate the clubs and point them to funding opportunities.

Sade: We already have office hours, but we should advertise them more. We could create a mentorship program that pairs senators in a partnership with these clubs.

Lauren: We should encourage people to seek funding from Pauls office and various other places when we are unable to fund their clubs.

Will: I have represented clubs in the past thtat have not been able to get full funding.

At times, my whimsical attitude has made people feel less awkward about not receiving funding.

Olivia: I know a lot of people on campus at this point. Having good relationships and open channels of communication are really important.

Cornell: We should create a regulations checklist for funding. We can increase outreach to improve transparency between the BC and clubs.

Joe: It is important that everyone knows the rules before they come to Discretionary.

Kristian: We should increase transparency for office hours. A checklist or guide for students that explains the process would maximize potential for funding.

Maya: Improving awareness of the current members of BC will help. We should provide clubs with places to look for funding if we cannot fund them.

Natalia: We should send email reminders for when our meetings are. Having a BC member present with the clubs coming to present in Discretionary could help.

Michael: I think that mentorship is importantwe can walk clubs through process.

Aditi: How much of a time commitment can you make to BC?

Michael: This is nothing out of the ordinary of my current schedule in my position. Meeting with club representatives would only take 15-20 minutes anyway.

Natalia: This semester, I have told club representatives to meet me in Frost and we talked for 15 minutes. It is not hard to take two hours out of my week to meet with clubs.

Maya: I am pretty flexible with my schedule. I am willing to meet with clubs in Frost for 15 minutes.

Kristian: I am able to dedicate my time because I wouldnt have joined Senate if I couldnt commit.

Joe: I dont have classes Tuesdays or Thursdays next semester. I like the office hour idea.

Cornell: Developing a checklist is a simple way to minimize questions asked during a meeting.

Olivia: I do this a lot in Marsh to discuss funding.

Will: I have good organizational skills. I keep a detailed calendar on my phone and I might also take three classes next semester.

Lauren: Senate is a priority in my schedule so I can allocate time.

Sade: I am already involved in a lot of these clubs, so I wouldnt have to make a lot of extra time to meet with them.

Madeline: I would be very transparent about when I am available to meet. You can always find me in Frost, Schwemms or the CCM booth next semester.

Yannis: I will have no class Wednesday or Friday. I will go to the students to talk about their problems.

Natalia, Cornell, Will, Sade and Yannis get the seats.

d. At-Large Committee Member Approvals

Vote to approve the at-large candidates appointed to Curriculum Committee and College Council.

Result: Passes

VI. BC Recs

Jacob Silverman presented the BC Recommendations for the week.

Chinese Student Association requested funding for their cultural dinnerfood, decorations and publicity.

GlobeMed requested funding for their dodgeball event. The BC zeroed their funding request for integral food because food is not necessary for dodgeball.

The BC tabled the Amherst Students funding request for printing and stamps because they are in debt.

KDSAP and other pre-health groups requested funding for a pre-health dinner.

Paul Gramieri requested funding for senior-week events.

There was a motion to fund the BC Recommendations for the week.

Motion to fund the BC Recommendations for the week by role-call vote.

Result: Passes

VII. Officer Reports

VIII. New Business

Natalia: Maya and I put games in common rooms for our Senate Project.

Olivia requested 1,300 dollars from the Senate Fund for storage boxes.

There was a motion to fund Olivias Senate Fund request.

Motion to fund Olivias Senate Fund request.

Result: Passes

IX. Approve the Minutes

There was a motion to approve the minutes from April 17th.

Motion to approve the minutes from April 17th.

Result: Passes