Minutes 11/25/08

Absent: Joe Schubert, Terence Steinberg
Excused Absence: Jeff Yamashita, Dimitri Da Gama Rose

Meeting called to order - 7:10

• Roll Call and Approval of Minutes
  

SSC

• Will pass out charter next week
  

FAC

• motion to approve Mac DJ Club Cables $325 - motion passed
• motion to approve MacPics Fall Photography Show $170 - motion passed
• motion to approve the purchase of two TVs and a couch in the student lounge (CC) - cap $15,000 - motion passed
  

AAC

• IGC Update:
• IGC planning on coming strong next semester
• initiatives to strengthen membership
• blogal views - new articles out, trying to incorporate people who are studying abroad
  

ERC

• SPO'd half of the newsletters
• working on the retreat: still in the process of deciding what will be done on the retreat (feel free to share ideas)
  

PB

• interviewing and deciding on new additions to the Board
• planning for Welcome Back Week
  

Pres Commission

• Working on textbook scholarship initiative
  
• met with Campus Committee reps
• will be distributing the campus survey results
• met with Chloe - established tangible goals for MCSG to collaborate with her
• motion to adopt amended bylaw changes that were distributed last week - motion failed
  

Meeting Adjourned at 8:05

Minutes 11/18/08

Absent:Tempestt Gilmore

Excused Absence: Adam-Maliq Muro, Sarah Dicks

7:10 - Meeting called to order

• Roll Call and Approval of Minutes
  

Jerry Sanders and Barron Koralesky from ITS

• They have been working on getting the platform working at Mac. Now we have Google, Banner, and Moodle which are working quite well now.
• This year, ITS is working on classroom technology (specifically projectors) and on building security infrastructure
• Jerry expects there to be a gradual improvement in services as we move along, including wireless capabilities, etc.
• Very small staff and they rely on students to work with ITS and maintain the labs, etc.
• ITS is working with students to see where wireless needs to be improved. They gave a background on the way wireless access points are allocated now and explained the process of doing a site survey (they did one of Wallace) and how they will use that to explore the wireless needs of students of campus.
• They are anxiously awaiting the Dupre Hall petition.
• They are currently in the process of installing class specific software on more computers campus wide.
• Computers are replaced every 4 years, and the old computers are donated to mainly schools and non-profits.
  
• Licensing for students is highly dependent on cost. There is more open source software than there was previously, so there is less need to have campus wide programs available. Jerry and Barron are both in favor of open source and hope that the campus continues to move toward open source.
• They would like to make it a possibility for students to keep their Mac email after graduation, but it just hasn’t been worked out by the DOS office and Alumni relations. The technical aspects have not been figured out as yet.
  

SSC

• Motion to approve APA Month Committee (Team Asia) charter - motion passed
• Motion to approve Students for a Free Tibet - motion passed
  

FAC

• Motion to approve $100 Ua Ke New Year’s Banquet - motion passed
• Motion to approve $1200 for WMCN concert - motion passed

AAC

• EPAG Update:
• Gen Ed requirements, more classes have applied, but they still need more.
• Committee on restructuring EPAG is in process
• Textbook meeting with MPRIG and MPJC- SDS and hopefully expanding reserve library

• IGC Update:
• Blogalviews (IGC blogs): encouraging people to keep checking it
  
• IGC received survey feedback
• planning IGC email
• funding student initiatives and working with AAC: students funding student projects
• IGC strategic planning committee gave the IGC student council their long term strategic plan- Ideas involved integrating multiculturalism, internationalism, and civic engagement. Funding transparency discussed.

ERC

• Hot chocolate event was a success
• Newsletter will be SPO’d
• Captive audience updates and Turck board will be updated

Pres Commission

• Student involvement meeting with committee chairs was last week. Alison will be meeting with the student reps this week.
• Textbook proposal discussed with Development and Fin. Aid
• Dec. 4^th Sustainability and MCSG with Justin Lee
• IGC panel is being worked on
• Worked on analyzing the survey, and sending them to the appropriate person. Looking for a forum to have a conversation about the open ended questions and a way for administrators to respond to them.
• Resolution to appoint Orna Karlin, Henrik Hakonsen, Anna Min to the MCSG Judicial Council

Minutes 11/11/08

Absent: Tempestt Gilmore, Jackie Hoong, Rigo Lara, Owen Truesdell
Excused Absence: Rudy Herrera-Marmol

7:06 - Meeting Called to Order

• Roll Call and Approval of Minutes
  

SSC

• APA Month Committee Charter Request distributed
• project with Health and Wellness Center
  

FAC

• budgeting has already been set up (budget hearing starts Monday the 17th): will be placing the new template on the website
• FIA/STARSA Self Defense Classes $775 - motion to approve - passed
• Art History Club Museum Trip $60 - motion to approve - passed
• Chanter Publication $1337 - motion to approve - passed
• Mac Bike A Free Wheelin' Discussion $570 - motion to approve - passed
• Mac Media Collective Film Screening $130 - motion to table - passed
  

AAC

• EPAG Update: Deliberations on how to go about ranking the criteria for faculty searches across departments
  

ERC

• Senior election went well
  
• planning the MCSG Spring Retreat (overnight)

PB

• extended deadline for open Program Board position by a week: new deadline is Tuesday Nov. 18th
  
• planning Welcome Back Week for Spring semester: some activities include Saint Paul Winter Carnival, comedy show, screening of Dark Knight.

Pres Commission

• Campus Survey: 582 people responded
• co-sponsoring the Post-election Race and Gender dialogue
  
• working with Development : textbook grant proposal
  

Meeting Adjourned at 7:40

Minutes 11/04/08

Absent: Henry Coshnear, Jackie Hoong, Rigo Lara, Samuel Solomon, Karen Maeda, Joe Schubert, Tempestt Gilmore, Sarah Dicks, Oriel Fernandes, Molly Griffard, Krista Yank

7:08 - Meeting called to order

• Roll Call and Approval of Minutes
  

Open Forum

Chloe Mirzayi

• need to improve initiatives addressing the queer community on campus
• how we can be more queer-friendly
• more integration into the campus community
• gender neutral bathrooms
  

• hope to work with MCSG on these issues
• eliciting ideas on specific educational programs that can be implemented to address this problem
• exploring different sides of the queer identity (the plight of the queer community)
  

David Wheaton - How the Budget is Constructed

• begin in September by discussing the broader economic environment
• start by getting a sense of what the revenue stream might be for the upcoming year
• not sure what the economy's effect will be on enrollment and financial aid
• expenses include salaries, programs, campus maintenance, strategic and infrastructure
• need to examine the effect of exchange rates on study abroad costs
• have to make a guess of first year retention rates (retention rates have increased over the past few years)
• hard to predict faculty salaries (these will fluctuate) - tend to have more turnover of staff when the economy is strong
• budget conservatively
• we are doing much better in endowments compared to the rest of the market
  
• Student Involvement in the process:
  
• no students on the budget taskforce
• RPC (Resource and Planning Committee) student reps are linked to this process: reviews and gives directions on the overall budge
• MCSG presents to the budget taskforce twice a year
  

SSC

• Black History Month Committee: motion to approve charter - passed (bylaws changed last year to allow committees to be re-chartered yearly)
• APA Month Committee - will be meeting with them soon regarding their chartering
• exploring the possibilities of implementing a project regarding disseminating information on disabilities (in collaboration with the Health and Wellness Center)
  

FAC

• CHEEBA - Chili Con Cheeba $237 motion to approve - passed
• MPJC-SDS - Meeting $40 motion to reject - passed
• working on getting budget template
  

AAC

• EPAG update:
• President's Initiative for Curricular Renewal (PICR):
• funding to develop courses that meet the US Multiculturalism requirement
  
• funding for courses that encourage new ways of engaging student and faculty collaborative research
• Analysis of the trend in applications for General Education Requirements over the past three semesters:
  
• shortage of courses that fulfill the US Multiculturalism requirement
• high number of courses from the Humanities Division
• variation in courses fulfilling the writing requirement across disciplines: may mean that the writing requirement is too restrictive
  

• IGC Update:
• Blogal views - weekly topics (check every weekend): all writers are welcome, currently working on publicity for the blog (table tents in the CC)
• introduced idea regarding the development of internal funding for student projects
  

ERC

• will send out sign up sheet for next Tuesday's senior rep election

PB

• 2-3 positions on the Board open (After Hours, Concerts & Festivals)

Pres Commission

• due to time constraints, updates will be given next week
  

Announcements

• new set of bike racks in place
• funding for safety program
• Jim Hoppe applauded MCSG for our efforts in the campus election activities
  

Meeting Adjourned at 8:10

Minutes 10/28/08

Absent: Jill Ackerman
Excused Absence: Aaron Brown, Rudy Herrera-Marmol, Jeff Yamashita, Henry Coshnear, Molly Griffard

7:10 - Meeting called to order

• Roll Call and Approval of Minutes
  

Q&A with Provost Kathleen Murray

• priority to get to know the Mac community - going around individually, getting feedback on hopes and dreams for Mac
• design development for Janet Wallace:
  
• 70 mil project (most expensive)
• each department will end up with more functional space
• improving the art building, as of Jan 1st; hope to start Spring 2010;
  
• fundraising at least 2/3 of the 55 mil (total 39 mil - 26 will be raised, take rest out in debt- Capital Campaign)
• student involvement in the process (from the Theater department)
  

• sabbatical policy proposal issues
• difference in cost
• difference in national economic context
• contact Resource and Planning student reps to find out more about the progress

• role of the Provost
• collaborate with the faculty: work with them on curricular hiring
• member of the President's senior staff
• Senior administrator on campus
• would like to get to know a wider range of students: students are encouraged to stop by
  
• long-term vision for the college: reducing the tension between internationalism and multiculturalism at Macalester
  

Open Forum: MPIRG

• Volunteer activities on Election Day

FAC

• Art Alliance Drawing Co-op $295 motion to approve - passed
• Mac Dems Campus-Wide Election Night Party $125 motion to approve - passed
• MPJC-SDS Halloween No-Fear Dance $125 motion to approve - passed
• BODACIOUS Break Battle and Halloween Dance $750 motion to approve - passed
• Mac Christin Fellowship Christians and Pancakes $40 motion to approve - passed
• Mac Catholics Advent Dinner $552.25 motion to approve - passed
• Motion to approve bylaw changes - motion passed
• budget processing will be from nov 17th - 26th
  

SSC

• Macalester Australia New Zealand Adoration Club (Mac ANZAC) motion to approve - passed
• Black History Month Committee charter request distributed
  

AAC

• EPAG Update:
• Discussion on whether to approve a course addressing material that would allow students taking it to choose whether to use it to satisfy the internationalism or the multiculturalism requirement (potential interconnectedness of the two realms in academia)
• Amending the Faculty Addendum: to provide additional incentive for professors to register their courses towards the fulfillment of Gen. Ed. requirements
  
• IGC:
  
• furniture for the IGC
• creating a word press blog on global views (Blogal)
  

PB

• PB's Halloween movie: The Exorcist remastered (Oct 29)
• Bodacious Halloween Bash (Oct 31)
• Shelter Speak: Showing of the movie "Land of 10,000 homeless" at Simpson Housing Services Men's Shelter (Nov 1st)
• Planet B-Boy: in conjunction with Bodacious week (Nov 6)
• Vikings vs. Packers game (Nov 9th): tickets will be given away via raffle
  
• Showing of the movies "Under the Same Moon" and the "Lost Boys of Sudan" in JBD (Nov 13): part of Immigrant & Refugees Awareness Week
• A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie (Nov 19)
  

ERC

• Birthday celebration: Birthday Babka to celebrate October birthdays (Owen, Stephanie, Karen)
• Senior election
• Win a lunch date with an exec: every exec member has a lunch date
  

Pres Commission

• Busy with collecting and analyzing the campus survey results
  
• Faculty letter sent out encouraging classes to be canceled on election day
  

Meeting adjourned at 8:30

Minutes 10/21/08

Excused Absence: Dimitri Da Gama Rose, Adam-Maliq Muro, Samuel Solomon

7:10 - Meeting called to order

• Roll call and approval of minutes
  

Student Liaison to the Board of Trustees: Franz Meyer

• Update on the topics discussed in the last Board of Trustees meetings
• the alcohol policy
• student involvement in planning
• infrastructure - building, grounds, technology: IT and how that affects Mac; new Gmail
• Leonard Center now finished;, IGC finished by May
• Academic Affairs - student assessment: ways the administration can assess whether we learn anything at Mac; sabbatical policy - budgetary side, impact on student life
• Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center
• Admissions Committee- slightly fewer first years this year: fewer people accepted their admission decision; college remains committed to access: $42 mil for scholarships via Capital Campaign
• our endowment has dropped about 20%: focus resources on maintaining academic quality, faculty and staff compensation, maintain access

• next Board of Trustees meeting in March - coinciding with Founder's Day

SERF and Sustainability: Justin Lee

• MCSG donated 20,000 to SERF
• 45,000 cash balance: 20,000 invested
• Meetings: 4th Tuesday every month - email Justin for more info
• students come up with projects; 10 sustainability work-study positions across campus
• people need to start talking about sustainability in a serious way
• trying to get as many people who were not previously involved to become included in this process: the issue extends beyond environmentalism to include community engagement and academic integration
• 10 scheduled sustainability days between now and the end of the semester
  

FAC

• Art Alliance request for $295 - motion to table passed
• distributed proposed changes to bylaws
  

AAC

• open-access textbook day: advocating that all the electronic journals should be free
• we need to sit down and have some serious conversations about textbook related issues
• EPAG update:
• handbook revision
  
• academic emphasis versus a tract
• student involvement in department reviews: may be some institutional opposition

• IGC Update:
• internet dialogue space: inviting everyone to talk about different issues of global concern
• Event: debating for democracy
  

ERC

• win a lunch date with an Exec: working on publicity
• new tradition of birthdays: celebrate the birthdays at the end of the month
• senior election coming up very soon:
  
• publicity starting tomorrow
  
• filing period ends Oct 31st
• election is on Nov 11th
• new senior will be on the ERC

• the MCSG website - please submit anything you would like to be on the website to Owen
  

PB

• Surround Sound is on Saturday - a couple spaces left for volunteers

Pres Commission

• Resolution 001 on student involvement in college decision making - made a minor amendment and motion to approve was passed
• Campus survey - impressive response so far; analyze these results on friday
• working to facilitate communication across campus via Campus Committee Reps
• Mac voter coalition - encouraging students to volunteer on election day
• working with BLAC et al: how race and gender affected the election (will be held on election day)
  

Meeting adjourned at 8:07

Minutes 10/14/08

Absent: Henry Coshnear,Joe Schubert, Oriel Fernandes
Excused Absence: Terence Steinberg, Sarah Dicks, Krista Yank

7:05 - Meeting called to order

• Roll Call and Approval of Minutes
  

Open Forum: Q&A with President Brian Rosenberg

• Discussed the effects of the current economic crisis on the school:
• Tuition increase will be significantly smaller than most years in the recent past. Financial aid budget will go up.
• Endowment lost $125 million dollars in one year.
• Fundraising-obviously a difficult climate in which to raise funds. Annual fund will feel the effects immediately.
• Capital campaign: $24 million for financial aid.
• Three main budget priorities: maintain strength of academic program, taking care of faculty and staff (pay and benefits), maintaining college affordability and increasing financial aid budget.
• Liquidity of the college is not a problem.
• Janet Wallace total project cost approx. 39-40 million: $26 million raised
  
• Tuition increase of approx 5% is considered reasonable.
• Sabbatical policy change on hold for two reasons: financial interests and impact on students.
• Fine Arts Center- most donations will come from alumni, some from foundations and non-alum donors. Now we have a concept for the building that is in line with the budget for the building. Typically academic departments are in charge of getting student input. Schematic design phase should begin in spring 2009.
• Potential idea for more housing would be to take down the cottages and building a bookstore with apartments above.

FAC

Old Business:

• Afrika! Fall dance $363- motion to approve passed
• Mac Media Collective Publication $180-motion to approve passed

New Business:

• Art history club: Movie event. $50 - motion to approve passed
• Mac Martial arts club: Equipment $674.00 (capital) - motion to approve passed
• Ua Ke: Children’s Museum Trip $71.55 - motion to approve passed
• Geology Club: Science Museum Trip $212.00 - motion to approve passed
• Introduced motion to change by-laws to allow the FAC to approve any additional allocation request under $1000 without bringing it before the LB for approval: motion failed
  

SSC

• Active Minds student org charter passed

AAC

• No new business
  

ERC

• MCSG Birthday list

PB

• Bodacious concert movie event.
• Volunteers needed for Surround Sound (battle of the bands)
  

Presidential Commission

• Resolution for increasing student involvement in college decision-making was distributed

Meeting Adjourned at 8:58

Minutes 10/07/08

Excused Absence: Adam-Maliq Muro, Sarah Dicks

7:08 - Meeting called to order

• Roll Call and Approval of minutes
  

Open Forum

• MacCARES Sustainability plan for the school - mid October (direct participatory facilitation exercises): how to be a sustainability Scot
• They are opposing the administration's $7 1/2 million decision to expand campus cooling facilities via 3 new chillers:
  
• environmental issue - run off fossil fuels constitutes 50% or more of the carbon emissions on campus
  
• issue with the long-term cost (up front cost + continuous energy costs)
• possible alternative: geo-thermal
  
• welcoming MCSG support: decision to introduce a resolution for this cause at next week's LB meeting
  

FAC

• MPJC-SDS (Halloween No Fear Dance) $335 - motion to approve passed
• MASECA (Diwali Dance) $650 - motion to approve passed
• Queer Union (Gay Student Athlete Summit) $1450 - motion to approve passed
• BODACIOUS (Bodacious Showcase and Week) $2210 - motion to approve passed
• Afrika (Fall dance) $463 -motion to table passed
• Mac Media Collective (Zine Publication) $180 - motion to table passed
• Art History Club (Walker Museum Trip) $50 - motion to reject passed
• MACYarn (trip to sheep farm) - motion to re-allocate budget passed
• MacVeggies (honorarium) - motion to re-allocate budget passed
  

SSC

• Students for a Free Tibet - motion to table charter for one month passed

AAC

• EPAG Update:
• culminating course (INTD 411) in the Community and Global Health concentration was approved
• ways to increase the number of courses that satisfy the Gen Ed requirements (particularly Multiculturalism) were discussed
  
• EPAG strongly advises against the Russian Studies Department's request to create two tracks (Language and Area Studies) within the major at this time
  
• IGC Update:
  
• 100 projects for peace - $1 mil in donations for student projects (10,000 per project)
• Civic Forum happening next year March 24th-25th: Religion and Public Life in America
• the IGC building will be finished next semester (formal opening will be in the Fall)
  

ERC

• publicity for VP elections

PB

• the planning of Surround Sound is coming along successfully
  

Presidential Commission

• can work on the sustainability initiative
• Brian Rosenberg will be coming in to the next LB meeting
  

Meeting Adjourned at 8:55

Minutes 9/30/08

Absent: Jackie Hoong

Excused Absence: Rudy Herrera Marmol

7:10 - Meeting called to order

• Roll Call and Approval of Minutes

Alcohol Policy Q & A with Peg Olson and Jake Levy-Pollans

• The new approach to the alcohol policy arose from an in-depth exploration into ways to apply the law we have, and to effectively commit to these issues.
• The result is a more liberal alcohol policy.
  
• First charge is a warning, and it is not until the second or third charge that it gets more serious
• Community agreements instead of over-arching policy: cultivating responsibility within the community, taking circumstance into account
  
• Focus on resolving situations before the need for the involvement of an RA arises. As a result, RA role is currently much more about facilitating.
• There seems to be a consensus amongst Residential Life that this new approach to the policy has been successful thus far, and that it possesses a great deal of potential.
  

FAC

• Approved Additional Allocation request for ASA Asiantation Dinner ($364.21)
• Funding of newly chartered orgs - the semester after they are chartered they get flexi dollars ($80)
• Desire to update the FAC section of the MCSG bylaws, in order to make it more consistent and specific
  

SSC

• New student org charter request: Students for a Free Tibet; they are scheduled to come and talk to us next week
• Minnesota Student Org:
• big miscommunication: there was no intended mockery
  
• end result: the org has decided not to go through with the charter
  

AAC

• Study abroad meeting scheduled - facilitate inquiry into how these programs are conducted
• Terrence announced that he will be unable to serve as one of the EPAG reps this year, due to severe time constraints. Aaron Brown will take his place this semester.
  
• Stephanie expounded on some of the points discussed at the last EPAG meeting:
  
• the structure and funding of Concentrations (the Mellon-funded framework)
  
• explorations into the feasibility of team-teaching, in order to increase the diversity of teaching perspectives in the classroom.
  
• evaluation of the Geography Department conducted by an external board: one recommendation was to promote the program's appeal to underrepresented populations. Geography department has begun a serious collaboration with the American Studies Department on this matter.
  

ERC

• The VP elections will be conducted on October 9th: the publicity for it has been taken care of.
  

PB

• Showing of the movie Land of a thousand homeless
  
• Nov 19th Christmas Carol at the Guthrie (75 tickets)
• Still working on Battle of the Bands (Surround Sound) - partnering with MPIRG for Get Out the Vote (GOTV) activities
  

Presidential Commission

• MPIRG meeting tomorrow - 8pm (collaboration of orgs on voter engagement)
• Working with the ERC on VP elections. Also, elections for a new senior rep will get rolling once VP elections are over with.
  

Announcements

• Waste Awareness Campaign (headed by Abe Levine): to reduce waste in Cafe Mac. Anyone interested should feel free to jump on board!
  
• Next meeting of the Climate Committee is next Thursday. This is intended to serve as a point of contact for any student body member to voice concerns and/or questions to the administration.
• Macalester obtained a grant for election education activities (debate watching parties, etc) - a portion of it goes towards funding student-led initiatives, so students may be able to apply and obtain some of this grant money!
• Next group training for the Allies Project (October 24th) - program geared towards creating a community of tolerance, and increasing the number of 'safe spaces' on campus.
• Karen suggests that we put bike racks on the student survey. There seems to be an increasing demand for them.
  

Meeting adjourned at 8:27

Minutes 9/23/08

Excused Absence: Molly Griffard

7:05 - Meeting called to order

• Approval of Minutes

FAC

• Motion passed for BLAC request ($117.69 additional allocations for an open reception after the Colored Museum – discussion groups with food and drinks).
  

SSC

• Minnesota Student Organization charter request possessed some unforeseen issues, and thus a motion was passed to reject it.
  

AAC

• Collaboration with Presidential Commission to discuss textbook issues.
• Exploration on who gets priority to study abroad discovered that ‘year’ and ‘major requirement’ are important variables.
  
• Rudy is still waiting to attend IGC meetings.
  

PB

• Formally helping to sponsor ‘Taste of Macalester’ (October 4th-headed by Amia Jackson, Linda Nguyen etc.: will sell food and raise funds to donate to Heifer international).
• October 7th, all Surround Sound meeting.
• Spoke with Emma Sheppard of SPEAK about future collaborations.
  
• Oct 12th to 19th (Packer’s @ $35 and Lion’s game @ $35: Vikings are playing the aforementioned teams).
  

Presidential Commission

• October 14th: President Rosenberg will attend LB meeting.
• October 28th: Provost Katherine Marie will attend LB meeting.
• Abe Levine, along with MPIRG, will be collaborating with us to sort out textbook prices.
• Peg Olson from Residential Life and Jake Levy-Pollans will attend next week's LB meeting to talk about the college's alcohol policy.

Announcements

• Monday 29th: New staff luncheon in Weyerhauser.
• Terrence will be on the air every Sunday evening on Macalester Radio with MCSG updates.
• Bodacious will be performing a number of shows and recommends that we all spread the word and support.
• Chuck Green fellowship applications due soon.
  

Meeting adjourned at 7:35

Minutes 9/16/08

Absent: Rudy Herrera Marmol, Chloe Mirzayi

7:03 - Meeting called to order

• Roll Call and Approval of Minutes
  

MPIRG Taskforce

• State-wide student organization: non-partisan voter recruitment activities
• No Youth Vote Left Behind: MPIRG along with 2 other non-profit orgs formed this coalition
• Goals of MPIRG: General Registration, Voter Education, Get Out the Vote (GOTV)
• State goal of registering 10,000 people to vote: already half way there
• They would like to establish a partnership with MCSG, particularly as it relates to communication efforts
• Movement to get President Rosenberg to sign the Presidential Commitment to Civic Engagement
  
• Emphasized that there are ways for individuals too young to vote and international students to get involved in election activities: such as tabling at events, becoming dorm captains, etc.
• MPIRG will be available to have a presence at campus-wide events
  

FAC

• Motion to approve current FAC members passed

SSC

• Art History Club approved

AAC

• Discussed the need to locate and explore channels on campus through which students are unable to acquire funding.
• EPAG Update (Terence Steinberg and Stephanie Ewbank): EPAG (Educational Policy and Governance) constitutes a board of department chairs, faculty and staff members, and two student representatives, who meet weekly to discuss and evaluate Macalester's educational policies. It was noted that a large proportion of the topics discussed at EPAG are in line with the vision of the AAC. Also, Terence and Stephanie are making an effort to make the LB and the rest of the student body aware of important EPAG topics and to further involve them in the decision-making process.

ERC

• The lollipop initiative is being successfully completed
• There will be future updates on publicity endeavors

PB

• Collaborating with Vera Sidlova on a human rights festival
• Collaborating with Bodacious on Halloween week dance
  
• Will be selling subsidized tickets to the November 17th Atmosphere Concert
• Showing the Exorcist movie during Halloween week
  
• Need people to sign up to help out with Surround Sound (battle of the bands)

Presidential Commission

• Obtained the contact information of MCSG members

Meeting adjourned at 8:08

Minutes 9/09/08

Absent: Tempestt Gilmore

7:05 - Meeting called to order

• Roll Call and Approval of Minutes

Student Liaison to Board of Trustees (Franz Meyer)

• Board of Trustees comprises almost all Macalester alumni
• Serve on a Trustee Committee in order to become a student liaison
• Capital Campaign - current framework of the college's fundraising efforts; goal to raise 150 mil: approximately half of which has been raised so far; money goes towards campus infrastructure, scholarships and programs.

FAC

• Come to the Student Org Summit on Thursday, 6:30-8:30 in Old Main: more info on how to spend your org's budget; info on how to complete Additional Allocations

SSC

• Charters for 2 new Student Orgs: will be voted on next week
• Some criteria for establishing new student orgs: Membership (min 10 people); reasons for request to be chartered (eg. reservations, financial backing)
• We perform checks on the currently chartered student orgs: if they do not meet requirements at any point, they are brought in and questioned

AAC

• First Educational Policy and Governance (EPAG) meeting will be held tomorrow. The two 2008-2009 EPAG Student Representatives are Terence Steinberg and Stephanie Ewbank.

ERC

• People should encourage seniors to run for the current open position in the LB
• Working on MCSG T-Shirts: need to develop new design
• MCSG Lollipops will be SPO'd to the student body

PB

• Subsidized tickets for Twins game: 44 already sold
• Halloween Week: approved a trip to the Trailer of Terror; movies; dance (collaboration with Bodacious)
• Approved Battle of the Bands: October 25th in the gym; First place prize - Chance to play at First Ave and contract to perform at Macalester's Spring Fest

Presidential Commission

• All-campus survey on campus issues: Each commission must formulate 5 - 10 questions; prize is an Ipod Shuffle
• MPIRG coming to talk about voter rules and regulations next week
• Committee Applications distributed: Due Friday, September 12th; New Campus Committee - Sustainability
  
• Interest in MCSG endorsing MPIRG's Youth Power Summit (mobilizing the youth for the upcoming election and beyond)

Update from Dean of Students, Jim Hoppe

• MCSG Judicial Council nominees - Anna Minn, Henrik Hakonsen, Owen Truesdell (voting will be at next LB meeting)
• Campus Climate committee deals with inter-group relations on campus. The meeting is every third Thursday, 11-1pm in Weyerhaeuser Boardroom.
  

Meeting Adjourned at 8:20

Minutes 9/02/08

MCSG

LB Minutes: 09/02/2008

Absent: Joe Schubert, Jeff Yamashita, Dimitri Da Gama Rose, Molly Griffard, Krista Yank

Excused Absence: Rudy Herrera Marmol

7:10 Meeting called to order

• Roll Call
• Announcement: Dan Truchan (Class of 2009) is no longer a part of LB
• Short discussion on the events surrounding the RNC and related campus programming. Everything seems to be more or less running smoothly.

Financial Affairs Commission (FAC) Business

• FAC Commission applications now available. There are 2 openings for current LB members and 6 openings for the student body. Application due date: Wednesday, September 10^th

Student Services Commission (SSC) Business

• Observed that a significant number of first years picked up applications for campus committees at the Org fair.

Academic Affairs Commission (AAC) Update

• Need representatives for the Educational Policy and Governance (EPAG) Committee, one of which must come from the LB. The meetings for EPAG are 4:00 - 5:30 pm on Wednesdays.

External Relations Commission (ERC) Update

• First year elections on Friday, September 5^th: received 12 applicants for 5 positions (best in recent years). It was also noted that majority of applicants were Turck and Dupre residents, with hardly any applicants from Doty.
• Short Discussion of the MCSG Awareness Campaign: the initiative is geared towards making a larger proportion of the student body aware of the role of MCSG and its pertinence to campus life. One step that has been taken so far is the implementation of a new user-friendly MCSG website, which was largely designed by Chloe: it can be accessed at www.macalester.edu/mcsg

Program Board (PB) Update

• Fall Fest - Battle of the bands. Bands from all over Minneapolis and Saint Paul will come to compete at Macalester, and the first place band will receive an opportunity to play at First Ave.
• Offering of subsidized Twins tickets to the student body - coming up very soon.

Presidential Commission

• Giving out lollipops in SPOs once per semester with a note containing 5 or 6 points of what we would like to accomplish this year.
• Posed the question of whether it is beneficial or not to meet as classes or commissions. A few LB members expressed their preference for meeting as commissions.
• Invited President Rosenberg and possibly the Provost to a future LB meeting (probably within October).

Update from Dean of Students, Jim Hoppe

• Police on campus yesterday: 6 police officers were situated at the flag pole, providing security for marchers. They didn't react with anyone once College staff arrived on the scene. It was re-iterated that there is no guarantee that College staff will be informed prior to all events that occur on campus.
• First Year Orientation Information: A record number of first years completed the sexual education and alcohol modules; approximately 370 first years showed up to Faces of Macalester; 5 incidents reported involving first years during this first week, compared with 26 incidents reported last year during the same period.
• Campus Climate meetings: every third Thursday, 11 -1pm in the Weyerhaeuser Boardroom (with Jim Hoppe, Keith Edwards, Tommy Woon, and a representative from the Exec). The first meeting will be held on September 11^th.
• Distributed Off-Campus Student Brochures: initiative to connect with Macalester off-campus students, and educate them on their rights and responsibilities as members of the Saint Paul neighborhood community.

Minutes 10/02/07

MCSG Legislative Body meeting Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Absent: Wes Alcenat

Excused Absence: Laura Bartolomei-Hill, Andrew Mirzayi

Quorum? Yes

Proceedings:

Macalester College Student Government Legislative Body information distributed.

7:10 – Meeting called to order

FAC:

• Macalester Protestants’ request for $300 dollars taken off the table.
• The Mac Protestants focus on discussion, dialogue, and community building.
• The three hundred dollar request by Mac protestants passes
• Proposal to appoint five new members appointed to FAC heard
• Arguments that more then five people to FAC burdens commission, makes meetings unfeasible
• Proposal defended: more people allows for more connections with Mac programs, eight people not burdensome
• Soham questions why the FAC gets more people than the SSC
• The criteria from which these people are appointed was to diversify the FAC
• Suggestion that the FAC limit the body to five people with diverse views
• Food policy: will approve $80 dollars in snacks, encourages cooking within event to create bonding, disapproves of funding organizations
• FAC member (Rudy) argues that the meeting allows for more discussion, consensus is still possible
• Movement to table bill on the in order to provide a written out description of meetings with the eight-person body.
• A request that the appointments attend the next LB meeting
• Vote to table to appointment proposal passes

SSC:

• Provided an outline of committee, no proposals

AAC:

• Explanation of committee: Focuses to deal with faculty and community
• In association with department, ACC members are trying to create a new humanities major focusing on humanitarianism as well as a new Math/Comp Sci major
• Working to respond to a Mac weekly article focusing on potential elitism in the global citizenship program
• Trying to create a new text book program (information distributed)

ERC:

• Working on ways to publicize board of trustees meeting, ERC encourages attendance
• Attempting to create a plastic slip bathroom stall information distribution program
• Idea of placing suggestion boxes in the dorms has been received positively
• Correction of contact information for Tom

Program Board:

• Program Board has an upcoming dance
• PB is subsidizing ticket purchases for a play in the cities

Presidential Task Force:

• Drafting and sending out a survey to students to gather information to aid with budget proceedings

Student Conduct Hearing Board:

• Picking students for a panel to hear conduct board cases in front of a board
• Motion to approve the appointments to the Conduct Hearing Board pases unanimously
• A request is made to have the new appointees attend the meeting

Announcements:

• Franz attended a conference at Augsberg
• Franz will attend the Board of Trustees meeting
• A request to have Franz talk about the Lily Grant to the Trustees is made
• The rooming situation at Mac is good, 16 open beds
• Suggest that we ask ITS to present potential new email systems to the body

Programs Board:

Meeting Adjourns at 7:52

Minutes 9/25/07

Absent: None
Excused Absence: Soham Banerji
Quorum? Yes

Proceedings:

Macalester College Student Government Legislative Body information distributed.

7:22 – Meeting called to order

• Roll Call
• Announcement: Amy Knulls is no longer a part of LB
• Commission Assignments announced
• Explanation of information outlined in binders
• Attendance policy explained: 2 meeting absences allowed, 24 hours advance email notice required for excused absences.

FAC:
• Outline of Mac Dems, Mac GOP upcoming debate event. Political Science paying for entirety of advertising. FAC recommends payment for Hotel, airline tickets, meals and hotel for speakers. $4,330 is estimated cost.
• The motion to allocate $4,330 of funding is approved.
• The Model UN asks for additional $50 dollars in order to cover cost increase from last year’s commitment fee.
• Motion to approve $50 dollars of additional funding for Model UN passes.
• Mac Protestants request $300 dollars to fund dinner discussions.
• The body voted to table the request until the following meeting.
• MASECA request $94 dollars to allow them to meet their new budget for their mega-[?] occurring on Sept. 29, 2007.
• The $94 dollar request was approved unanimously by the body.
• $200 dollar request for Thistle literary magazine. Budget covers 200 issues with 25 pages each and a small advertising budget.
• The $200 dollar request is approved.

ERC:
• Student representatives for the trustee committee have been approved. They are having an informational training session for those students on Saturday Sept. 29, 2007.
• Student representatives’ names will be released to the Mac Weekly.

Programs Board:
• Planning new thing for the semester to build off the success of the lawn party
• Committees begin meeting separately

Meeting Adjourns at 7:53