ASHMC Meeting 11/22/09

Linde Activities Center

4:00 PM

 

Status Updates:

VP- Good. Tabled on Thursday

Atwood- Had snack event and dorm meeting

North- Good. LTG went really well last night. Cleaning up courtyard.

Seniors- Good. Bryan met with President Klawe- trying to get Neil deGrasse Tyson as graduation speaker. It’s the 3^rd time we’re trying, but Bill Nye knows him. Had meeting with senior presidents from other 4 C’s- Want to have seniors only 5C party at the end of the year. On campus, at end of projects week

Sontag- Had dorm potluck on Saturday. Bike racks installed.

Athletics- good

Freshmen- good

Juniors- Good. Hufsa, Elly, and Margaret had lunch with Judy from Career Services. Gave her feedback, i.e. some juniors are dissatisfied. Judy wants to improve these things. Some examples of negative feedback:

Hufsa- student with a low GPA felt bad after going into the career center.

Margaret- People who had not utilized the Career Center before are too intimated/feel bad about going in now.

Marc- Not completely up to date about resumes. Brought in resume to professors and Judy and received completely different feedback.

Hufsa- Is running workshop for people with low GPA’s a good idea?

--No, people would not attend that.

Nick- one on one consultation would be more effective. Set up like advising.

Raffi- for people who are intimidated, ask them to send something out.

--The handbook already addresses this well.

Donald- We should bring Judy in next Sunday.

 

DAC- Good. Rumors about Mudd Vision camera for Muddhole. Trying to set it up. No funding—use long term fund? (Strieter- who paid for it in past? --Don’t know)

CAP- good

Sophomores- good. Met with judy. Sent out email about inviting sophomores to meetings. Have a sophomore here today.

Linde- There was an incident on Friday. West person got taken to hospital. Called ambulance directly instead of camp sec. (Chris- send out email about who to call? Julian- sent out email in West dorm. Maureen- All dorm presidents should do that)

Case- Good. Fire pit back. But pong table is being cleaned. Both were taken to West during Donut Rally.

East- Good. Funball was on Friday

South- Good. Had South East BBQ attempt on Saturday

Treasurer- no updates. A few dorms still don’t have money.

 

Leon Liu- Food Committee Report

-Fill in on what food committee doing this semester. 4-5 major issues this semester

- Copper Chef Competition- well received. Ran out of space. Next year, figure out how to tweak competition and make it shorter (one course). North team won (won chef outfits, pizza and ice cream party for 12). There will be another competition next semester.

- Food salvage program- wanted to figure out what happens to left over food. They do throw away edible food. Now MMAD is volunteering and delivering leftovers to church.

- Reusable to go containers- want to go forth with this. Talking with Treasurer Dorantes and Claremont Card Center. It’s a mess at the other colleges. Considering using credits rather than having to exchange containers each time. The containers would be all the same, exchangeable, and could be used at CMC and Pitzer. (Marc- when do you return containers? Leon- Whenever you want, and you get a credit back.)

- Search for new dining hall manager. Bill Casey left. Gisel is interim manager. Interviewing candidates. Most dropped out of running or else we didn’t like them. Down to one left, Miguel (he was assistant dining hall manager at Pomona a few years ago). He wants to make a lot of changes. It’s been hard to make changes this semester since there is not a permanent manager. (Chris- have you gotten feedback from employees for manager? Leon- need better staff-manager relations. Must be bilingual. Chris- heard that some of current dining hall staff’s family worked for him before)

-Camera in the Muddhole. Suggested by food committee. Two reasons: monitor lines on Friday and Saturday and to capture a bit of Mudd life. Talked to DOS about this. Dean Guy talked to CIS and they said that camera costs $750 to install and takes hours for installation. Right now, no one is willing to fund it. Hoping that ASHMC will fund this thing. One time deal. (Erin- looked at moving the one in the LAC? Don’t need two. Leon- it’s not the cost of the camera, it’s the actual installation that is what costs so much

Maureen- I think ASHMC would be willing to fund it (There is $31,000 in long term fund))

 

Raffi Attarian, Carolina de Freitas, Nicolas Hasegawa, Jennifer Osgood, and Jeff Taylor- Off-Campus Connection presentation

-At beginning of semester, in self designed class with Prof. Mashek. Identified Mudd bubble, came up with this project. Kiosk that has info to encourage students to get off campus (directories, travel info, etc.)

-Project proposal, DOS, Shanahan Fund group. Gotten approval for placement. Prepared charter so it’s like a club and stay with college for a long time.

Marc- how does this fit in with CAP? More than concerts and festivals?

Raffi- There are already resources here that do what we want to do at kiosk, so want to collaborate with them. The kiosk does the preparation itself (as opposed to with self organization like with CAP)

Caro- Doesn’t fund the trips. Provides info.

Nick- More than concerts-- museums, community service. Like hotel kiosk.

Donald- Computer?

Raffi- Yes, CIS taken care of this.

Erin- In Hoch, open during meal times?

Raffi- Yes. Where TV is. Dean Chris will supervise. 4-5 other staff. 1 student manager. We will train underclassmen to take our places.

Caro- Working there would involve sitting at kiosk, talking to students and working at home to organize info. (i.e. off campus digest in calendar form)

Emma- Not enough time taken into account (60 hours) on budget for salary?

Raffi- We’ll do work over break to figure this out. They can do it as they sit at the kiosk too. Some of the hours would involve meetings.

Nick- We will figure out how many hours will be needed to devote to the job.

Donald- Dean Chris has talked to LAC supervisors. They will always be there. How fixed is the $5000? How have you prepared your budget to be flexible if it goes over what you are asking for? Is DOS funding the program or are they giving you $5000 to pay the students?

Nick- The budget is already an overestimate.

Caro- Met with financial aid and Dean Chris-- funding the program

Nick- We will be the staff at first. We will see and can reassess.

Raffi- The first semester is a trial period. We’re prepared to absorb those additional hours.

Donald- Planning on getting paid for work already done?

Caro- no.

Nick- The class is 1.5 credit but ends this semester

Julian- It seems like you would be googling something for me that I could google myself.

Jenn/Nick- More than that… Easier, faster, centralized.

Donald- Have cheap movie tickets?

Raffi- Yes.

Emma- 8 hours not enough. Can you incorporate into LAC?

Elly- They will address this later and figure it out this break.

Donald- You can tell the LAC people.

Nick- Possible collaborations.

Shawn- Conflict with people who aren’t at the dining hall? Conflict with other things?

Raffi- Maybe permanent table next to ours

Jenn- Not taking up all space.

Donald- Another election? Should go to student vote. (Don’t want an another TV in the Hoch criticism)

Maureen- Yes, for the freshmen honor board members. Are you doing a student survey?

Nick- Yes. Find out if need for this.

Donald- Should Mashek be club advisor? Keep it going.

Bryan- Should be DC’s role.

Maureen- When is survey?

Raffi- 2 weeks after Thanksgiving.

Maureen- Want to wait until after survey results?

Raffi- Need to do it now to make sure it happens next semester.

Hufsa- Hard to explain to us. The survey might not be that reliable

Nick- No, that’s not that point of the survey. We do the survey now and then after the kiosk and compare the results (questions about satisfaction of going off campus, etc.)

Julian- So the survey could not give you results that would say that the kiosk is not a good idea.

 

Discussion and Action

 

OCC Kiosk

Erin- I don’t see this as a way to solve the Mudd bubble.

Donald- Maybe we should conduct a small survey. Dorm presidents gage if dorm will use it. How many of us would use it? à About third of ASHMC members would, then it’d be a success if a third of all students would.

Erin- But ASHMC members are typically more involved than other students.

Hufsa- It was hard to explain to us. Wouldn’t a student vote be hard?

Erin- Need summary of some sort.

Maureen- Up to them to advertise it.

Donald- It’s a good idea. Collaboration with deans and students. Use the TV. Would be continual funding.

Bryan- More student jobs, more work study

Maureen- Student vote? Make freshman honor board member vote earlier

Chris- Could give them $750 now and then put other money to long term fund vote.

Bryan/Donald- need more then half of it.

Donald- let students decide

Margaret- Don’t need to make club to make it long term. Already associated with LAC, etc

Donald- Attach club to kiosk. Not just club with paid members.

 

Hufsa motions to reject charter due to stipulation of paid club members

Margaret seconds

Motion approved

(12, 1, 0)

 

Julian- think we need more time. Think long term funds should go through student election.

Donald- Want student feedback? Does that conflict with us passing this with student election?

Julian- Thinking about having a time to sit in the lounge and answer questions about elections.

Maureen- Student election supposed to happen in a couple of weeks. Talk to Dean Maggie about moving it forward.

Audrey- Need to know about getting money from us to get Shanahan fund.

Chris- Make online survey?

Maureen- I don’t think there will be a problem with moving it forward. Start the week after Thanksgiving. Before ASHMC meets again.

Bryan- Too complicated to pass as student vote. Don’t think it will pass.

Maureen- They could advertise.

Julian- Student votes tends to pass items

Shawn- They’ll have enough time to table.

Donald- Do we tell them it’s from long-term fund?

Maureen- Yes. And we will explain what that means.

Erin- We could talk about it at dorm meetings.

Maureen- It is the left over money that is accumulated over the year. Use it for things that will last a long time.

Donald- Who would write the statements?

Maureen- VP’s.

Emma- I could write it. And they would write their own blurb for it.

 

Donald motions for $1750 budget with stipulation that they need to table and write own blurb to explain to students the concept for the student vote

Chris seconds

Motion approved

(12, 1, 0)

 

Shawn motions to approve minutes from 11-15 with correction that South East dorm BBQ had not happened yet

Bryan seconds

Motion approved

(12, 1, 0)