Proceedings of the June 4th, 2008 GSC meeting
Agenda
1) 5:45 FOOD (thanks Sean!)
2) 6:00 Welcome with introductions (Polina)
3) 6:05 Announcements (Polina)
i. Please be aware that all meetings are audio recorded and will be made available on the GSC website.
ii. Approve minutes from the last meeting (5/28/08) with the following changes:
- Correct the time of New Business beginning to 6:17pm.
- Add the following note to the “Review Friday Grad Night” agenda item: *Edited to add that Melahn reported afterwards via email that the keg was finished by the end of the night.
4) 6:10 Funding (Lan)
i. Stanford India Association
5) 6:15 Programming (Justin and Adam S.)
6) 6:20 ASSU Update (Jonny and Fagan)
7) 6:25 Review Friday Grad Night (Melahn)
8) 6:30 Banner Stands Purchase Proposal (Etosha)
9) 6:50 Elections Commissioner Approval (Ryan)
10) 7:00 Summer Calendar (George)
11) 7:10 New Business (George)
Attendance
Voting members present:
At large 2: Addy Satija
At large 3: Aleksandra Korolova
At large 4: Adam Beberg (proxy Maria Spletter present)
At large 5: Nanna Notthoff
Earth Sciences: Justin Brown (proxy Adam Sciambi present)
Education: Michelle Brown (proxy Elise Paradis present)
Engineering 1: Polina Segalova
Engineering 2: Melahn Parker
Humanities: George Bloom
Law: Andrew Park (proxy Etosha Cave present)
Medicine: Sean Young
Natural Sciences: Fen Zhao
Social Sciences: Hanna Muenke
Voting members not present:
At large 1: Karan Chaudlory
Business: Rick Thielke
Other people present: Zeng Fan, Lan Wei, Kristina Keating, Jonny Dorsey, Ryan Woessner, Alex Ene, Euan Robertson, Donna Winston, Maxim Afanasyev, Briana Tatum, Matt McLaughlin, Shohini Baneyee
Minutes
1) 5:45 FOOD (thanks Sean!)
2) 6:01 Welcome with introductions (George)
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3) 6:03 Announcements (George)
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i. Please be aware that all meetings are audio recorded and will be made available on the GSC website.
ii. Approved minutes from the last meeting (5/28/08) with the following changes by consensus:
- Correct the time of New Business beginning to 6:17pm.
- Add the following note to the “Review Friday Grad Night” agenda item: *Edited to add that Melahn reported afterwards via email that the keg was finished by the end of the night.
4) 6:04 Funding (Addy)
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i. Stanford India Association – Holding a dinner as a farewell for their senior class. Formal sit-down dinner, ticketed event ($25 each). Requesting $2450. Recommendation is slightly lower, $750 for food, $400 for decorations, etc and $1035 for Oak Lounge rental. This brings the organization up to their $8000 cap. Melahn says that he has successfully negotiated lower rates for use of the Oak room, so could consider that tactic for future events (have already signed the contract for this event).
5) 6:07 Programming (Adam S.)-
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Planning for July 4th event chugging along, more updates soon.
6) 6:08 ASSU Update (Jonny)
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Did get a bylaw change from undergrads so can fund the airport shuttle for the end of the quarter. Will be $10 undergrad, $15 grad.
7) 6:08 Review Friday Grad Night (Melahn)
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Melahn was not there at the most recent event, but heard it was poorly attended (30 people total at any given time) and that the keg did not get finished. Thinks the Block Party overlapping may have played a roll in that lower attendance. Wants us to help advertise soon for the last event of the three-part series.
8) 6:10 Elections Commissioner Approval (Ryan)
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Brianna Tatum will be elections commissioner, Etosha Cave will be graduate assistant. Still looking for Media person and Undergrad assistant, because were not impressed with the applications that they received this quarter, and will therefore wait until the fall and try again.
Brianna has been working with ASSU this past year, and looking forward to working with them again. Her main goals are as follows: 1) Increase voter turnout, reflecting the decrease in Undergrads voting this year. 2) More get-out-the-vote events focused on why students should vote and when it’s happening. 3) Be responsive to candidates or others with questions, and run transparent campaign system.
Etosha excited to be part of the committee, wants to get started advertising GSC and ASSU from the very start, so that the reason for the elections is clearer by the time that comes around.
Approving Brianna Tatum as elections commissioner and Etosha Cave as graduate assistant passes by consensus.
9) 6:13 Summer Calendar (George)
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Grad Announce is going out soon, need to get any info for that to George. Nanna will coordinate a summer calendar of events, so if you know of something going on over the summer, email her soon to put it on that list.
10) 6:14 Banner Stands Purchase Proposal (Etosha)
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Etosha proposes purchasing some banner stands.
- Thinks banners would be good for welcoming students during NGSO. Could also put them around for elections. Also could be useful for events at GCC, like comedy nights, music events, tax seminars, or other groups’ large events who could borrow the stands.
- A 4x10 ft banner for $99 was the cheapest Etosha found. Also found a company that will make vinyl stickers that could be put onto generic banners to advertise events, which would be cheaper.
- Also questions about how many stands are necessary. Though advertising might not need many banners, for NGSO and elections, might be good to have a couple of them to put around.
- Another concern might be storage, but they apparently fold up pretty well into a provided storage case. Also concern about theft, but could do things like put a bike chain around it, or take it in at night when possible.
- Nanna wonders about needing to get banners to fit the specific size, wonders whether there are other ways to display banners, which would make the stand unnecessary. Etosha responds that the banners would likely need to be the matching size, because the stands are backless and so the banners get tied on.
- Alex suggests that given the proposed uses of banners for NGSO and elections, maybe GLO or Elections Commission could contribute. Polina responds that NGSO runs on shoestring budget, and VSOs money comes from us anyway, so those aren’t good sources for money, but could still ask Elections Commission perhaps.
- Euan feels that the expense is not that little, wonders whether we’d get sufficient value out of them. Adam thinks he could make use of the banner stands, though he has not tried to use banners for advertising in the past. When they do bring banners to events and they do just tie them up to trees or tables. Polina thinks this is a worthwhile use, though perhaps not that many needed.
- Around the GCC and around White Plaza, banner stands could be useful for displaying banners because this would allow more prominent display, because areas with potential for tying banners up are off to the side.
- Clarification that the banner printing would be on vinyl, and that we could also consider vinyl stickers for specific events.
- Representative from Stanford India Association brings up the fact that they have a banner with their name and logo (serves a permanent need), but that the idea of vinyl stickers is more about advertising particular temporary events and could be useful for that.
- Sean asks about what the expense would end up being with us and other groups needing banners for particular events. Fen estimates that if there are 100 events, with vinyl stickers costing $25 each, it wouldn’t end up being too terrible. Melahn feels it is more important to budget funds to get people banners, even if that means getting fewer banner stands.
- Aleksandra wonders about electronic solution. Etosha did find one with 2 inch letters, about 2 feet long, but didn’t feel this was as useful for advertising on a broader scale, because it would mostly be for indoor only use. For indoor advertising, we could instead consider using the electronic screens already installed in various locations.
- Donna feels that it’d be worth purchasing the big banners fitting the stands for each of our big events, perhaps more cost effective than printing fliers that we don’t end of giving out for advertising.
- Elise says she already feels that students are overwhelmed by information on campus already, would not want to contribute to more of that.
- George reports that other groups, such as Elections Commission are considering going electronic only in future.
- Melahn suggests that once we have the background canvas, could print off cheaper paper ones for temporary displays.
- Had been consideration of changing the logo, spearheaded by Addy, so need to clarify the direction of that before purchasing banners.
There is an objection to consensus, so roll call vote on the purchase of one stand and two banners, plus shipping and handling, to try this out for a year, at a total cost of $425.
9 for, 2 opposed, 0 abstaining. Passes.
11) 6:39 New Business (Polina)
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i. The Persian Student Association would like to have an end of the year event, however, they are above their $8,000 group cap for funding for the year. Gran Fiesta Latina was recently in a similar situation of needing us to vote on an exception on their funding, but it was about a line item, rather than being over their cap. In that case, we approved more money from reserves to give more towards the line item for honorarium, because having bands there was an important part of the event.
- The Financial Officer, Hetty, is here today to make the request. The dinner will be June 20th as a wrap-up. Will have two speakers, both of whom are PSA Alumni, one is now VP at Google, and the other is Professor of EE at San Jose State. Will also recognize people who are graduating, and will also have other guests from industry and academia. Expect about 150 attendees, primarily graduate students.
- This is a planned big event, to be held in the Tressider Oak Room, and the first time they’ve done this, but would hope to make it an annual event. Given the currently proposed budget for the event ($7200), it would take up the vast majority of their budget from the GSC for next year, so in current form, it would not be very sustainable, especially if they work by themselves (could benefit from the plans in the next budget year to have some money set aside for groups putting on events together).
- Kristina is concerned that this event is focused on one particular student group, unlike the Gran Fiesta Latina (our other exception this year with the line-item change), which is a larger event and general dance party which brings a more varied population that this PSA event would seem to.
- The total event cost is $7200 (Event Food for $4000, Equipment rental of dinner ware and such for $2000, events and services for $700, gifts for the speakers for $500). They currently have some money from other sources, $500 from Speaker’s Bureau, $2000 from Iranian Studies, $500 from Abbasi Program, $200 from I-center, for a sum of $3200 from other sources, so would need $4000 from us. However, they’ve already reached their cap from us.
- Alex reminds us that for Stanford India Association earlier in the meeting, we gave them less money than requested because they had reached their cap, so it would be bad precedent to fund the Persian Student Association now above their cap. There are reasons for cap, originally meant to make sure that the GSC and Senate didn’t run out of money, and it also encourages students to find sources for funding other than from GSC.
- Did purposely want to have their event after graduation, an informal poll suggests that people would still be around to attend.
- Donna would want to make sure that groups aren’t penalized for doing many good events. Though groups with budgets about $8000 can apply for Special Fees, groups like PSA would likely have a hard time getting special fees, so it would be hard for them to find other funding. Fen disagrees somewhat with Donna, would like groups to take responsibility for being in their budget, and this also allows for more equality between groups in terms of all being able to host some events and have funding for them.
- Maria wonders about the cost of food listed, as it’s estimated at $25 per person, not including the cutlery rental, which is well more than the caps of the GSC. Hetty response that would also be a part of cocktail hour.
- General concern about the precedent funding this request would set. Matt McLaughlin would find it important that if there is an exception made, then we need to have specific situations and guidelines as to how to deal with exceptions and when we would or would not consider an exception. Euan agrees that there’s no particular reason that this event would stand out as separate and deserving as exception, so it seems a lot like just increasing their cap, without a clear reason for why they should get more money than other groups. Representative from SIA is still present, and does agree that if the Persian Student Association is granted an increase, than SIA would also request more money for their end of the year dinner, for which they are currently charging $25 per ticket to cover costs.
- Aleksandra asks about how PSA would fare without us passing money, which seems like it would be a challenge. They have begun inviting the guests of honor, and would not be able to cancel it. They might consider having it be a ticketed event. George wonders about whether they could make it less expensive and asks for a lower quote.
- George is ultimately not comfortable with bringing the issue to a vote, given the concerns of precedent and a lack of clear reason for why to increase the cap for this particular group.
- There are no objections to not bringing the issue to a vote. The group will not receive money from the GSC for this event.
ii. Melahn got an email from a peer who is part of a group taking some EPA students to Alaska to do work there. Thought they had money for flights, gas, park fees, etc, but flights got more expensive before they booked, so now $2000 over budget. Trip is in a couple of weeks, and wonders if GSC could help in any way. George uncomfortable with the last-minute nature of the request, though Melahn only learned about the request shortly before the meeting and could not do otherwise. The request is not considered further.
iii. Sean went to Gran Fiesta Latino, and discovered that food was being kept in a “VIP room” and not open to the community. Fen and Nanna were also there, reported that there was only chips and salsa available to the crowd. Sean made an effort to straighten out the situation, explaining to an organizer that given the goal of the funding, it was inappropriate for the food to be kept separate and only for select people. Addy will follow up on this.
iv. SIA student wants to pass along the tables they purchased on behalf of the GSC, and needs to do so before June 14th. Has receipt to be reimbursed. Polina will follow up on this.
v. Suggestion to have a meeting next week (6/11), given the many issues that came up in New Business, such as when we might consider exceptions from the Funding Committee guidelines and how to follow up on VSOs that may not use funding responsibly. It seems some people would be around for this meeting. However, would not be official meeting since we’ve already set the summer schedule and planned not to hold a meeting next week due to finals. Therefore, we wouldn’t be able to pass anything official, nor is there a budget for food, but we could potentially meet for a conversation. Will send out emails about this.
Adjourned 7:06
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