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.