Date​
: 11 March 2016 Time​
: 6:19­8:17pm Venue: ​
Saga Anteroom Note­Taker​
: Ross Rauber Speaker​
: Meredith Jett Attendance​
: Aadit (late), Annette, Dee, Izzy, Keith, Meredith, Regina, Ross, Scott Guests:​
Dean Bridges, Andrew McGeehan, Sara Amjad Observers: ​
Adam Goh (Judiciary) Absent​
: Adam (sick), Isaac (dance competition), Joceline (dance competition) Agenda​
: ● Staff Advisor Discussion ● Discussion on internal procedures ● Project/Portfolio updates ● Feedback updates ● Barney Bate Summary​
: In this meeting, the Council voted to include staff in the mascot voting, and set quorum for ratification of mascot choice at 50% of the student body. The Council also met with Dean Bridges, Andrew and Sara from the DoS Office to discuss a possible staff advisor role. The discussion was inconclusive and the President and VP will be meeting them separately to form a staff advisor model to work from. Regina discussed guidelines for internal procedures and the Council also decided to issue a message on Facebook about the unfortunate and untimely passing of Barney Bate. Agenda Staff Advisor Discussion Points Meredith: Dean Bridges and Andrew had brought up the possibility of a staff advisor position to the Student Government. 1 Action President and Vice president set up a meeting with DoS to Dean Bridges: The role of an advisor was a bit of a miscommunication, and he discuss model for wanted to meet us to clarify it and to establish a more personal relationship. advisor. (Introductions by each council member) Dean Bridges: Expresses excitement about working with us and what we can get done. He would like to engage in a discussion with us about having an advisor. From the DoS office perspective, an advisor would help with communications. Also, a productive student government could benefit from a sense of what came before, and an advisor could help with that. The advisor would ​
only​
advise, would not have a vote, would bring an advantageous voice to our discussions. Andrew: According to previous student government members, streamlining communications is very helpful. An advisor would also help with execution and framing of issues when communicating with administration. The advisor would play primarily a guiding role. Would help especially with the many newer members of the government. Mentioned a vote by the constitution review committee in favor of advisor. Regina: Have talked to Tee about this. The CRC did vote yes for an an advisor, but decided not to include the position in the final constitution. Constitution does not encourage or discourage this. Andrew: left the CRC meeting with the understanding that there would be an advisor Bridges: This is for you to decide, but an advisor would be an asset for you. Meredith: what would this position be exactly? 2 Bridges: Your job is to represent students and champion their voices, his is the same. Important to keep communication channels open. It’s up to us if we want a liaison or more of an advisor figure. A clearer definition of the roles of the five people DoS has coming into the office would be helpful. Meredith: Opens the floor to questions, asks about the difference between an advisor and a liaison, what roles he/she would have Regina: Would the liaison be the main point of contact with DoS or with whole admin (eg DoF)? She does not see the role of an advisor in helping us set priorities, given concern about autonomy of Student Govt. Bridges: Q1, depends on what you want. Q2, the advisor would be facilitating priority conversations not directing priorities. But she/he may be able to offer advice. Andrew: Q1, Dos can’t speak on behalf of DoF. Instead the advisor would support us in framing messages. Q2, did not mean setting the priorities, meant assistance in terms of overwork because no one wanted to say no to taking up all the ideas they had. Tried to take on everything, someone’s role could be to make sure we talk about priorities Izzy: On priorities. How does the potential role of an advisor change in light of the introduction of directorships this semester and our individual conversations with Regina about our own priorities? Bridges: Poses the question, why not an advisor? Scott: We derive legitimacy from the students. The presence of an advisor could 3 add to the perception that we are being influenced by the administration. Bridges: so all clubs on campus are instruments of admin? (faculty advisors) Scott: has never seen a faculty advisor for a club actively used Regina: We are different from other student orgs because we work directly with admin and DoS has interests in admin as well. Sara: advising is already happening with 5 different people coming into our office through individual conversations. An advisor would just consolidate these relationships. She sees the liaison/advisor role as one of advice and support primarily. Referred to training and other ways DoS office has helped the student government. Meredith: How would point of contact work? In an effort to streamline communications is there a possibility it just add steps? Bridges: This discussion feels adversarial, not sure why. He doesn’t have an answer to this question and says that we could help define this role. Sees advisor as a way to help the student government be more successful. Says we need a model to answer these questions. Offers possibilities: Faculty member? Sara/Andrew here every week? Bridges here once a month? Something else? Meredith: We thought you had a position in mind, that is why we were asking technical questions. In the interest of time we will summarize then table this discussion. Izzy: We thought they had a model which likely contributed to the tone of this conversation. Wouldn’t it be better to discuss it with them currently to avoid us 4 approaching them with something they find unsatisfactory? Meredith: So should we put forth a plan? Others from the council will work with the DoS to decide the specifications of this role? Aadit: We should discuss it unilaterally. Decide what we think is best, then approach the DoS. Scott: We have a lot of content to get through. Let’s move on. Diamanta: since we already know what we want, should we send our president to discuss with the DoS to decide on a model? Bridges: happy to help us either way. Points out lack of motion on the floor (referencing Robert’s rules of order), says that an advisor would point out procedural things like this to support us. Sara: Echos message of support once again. Meredith: Motion to send VP and P to DoS to discuss model. Motion carries unanimously (8 in favor) Project and Portfolio Updates: Internal procedures. 25 minutes Regina: Feedback from Logistics: Those presenting content during a meeting should prepare the document first and share it on the drive beforehand to ease minute taking. Will now be discussing procedures and operating principles. Feedback collection: 5 Prepare signs for office hours Office hours ­ no one showed up. Keith: We should put up signs Regina: Agrees, it is important to be more in people’s faces. Feedback response procedure: Email 1 ­ acknowledgement and action plan Email 2 ­ This is what we are doing/have done Can take form of organizing focus groups/committee Izzy: What is the role of directorship specific feedback forms? Should we centralize them? Regina: Director specific forms are great! Keep them separate from Ad hoc feedback. For minor things bring it to standing committee. Get details about why students think it is a concern. If you can tell (from facebook eg) that it is already an issue, may not be necessary. Talking with staff/faculty: Could be important in getting a sense for current system when crafting a recommendation. Present a summary of feedback from students and include recommendations. Project updates: Trying to figure out means for accountability. Keep spreadsheet updated with action items before Friday meeting. Join slack channels of other portfolios, participate in discussions for issues that come up during the week. If we see a deadlock (e.g. staff voting in mascot), we’ll bring it to the council meeting or let director make the call. 6 Committees: ● Public representatives serve as a sounding board for and source of student feedback ● They also help with manpower for focus groups and report‐writing ● Given that these Standing Committees (with more public reps than govt members) are new, it will be up to us to set expectations and precedents for their use ● Advice: set expectations high early, keep them involved and engaged. There will be variation in commitment but let them work on the things they care about most/get them to care about things. ● Once every two weeks meet Council meetings attendance: Decide things collectively. There is ownership of council wide decisions. Notify Regina of absences. Cannot miss more than ⅓
without a valid reason. Think about how it affects voting. Meredith: Yeah, don’t let it get close to bare minimum for quorum. Regina: Communications: CC ​
[email protected]​
on all emails to external parties. D: can president send emails on behalf of student council for higher up occasions? Gov board, etc. Regina: okay, can be decided on a case by case basis. Communications continued: 7 Directors should craft messages for facebook, send them to Jocie and she will post. Directors should share posts on college students page so that people associate a name with a portfolio. Posters ­ we can pay designers. Minutes for standing committees o Only summary of points discussed and action items needed for meetings with standing committees o Focus should be on resolutions and action items for follow­up, given time/manpower constraints Meredith: Should there be some way for the student body to access them? Izzy: In terms of transparency it may be good to publish. Regina: Standing committees are less important. We are not constitutionally mandated to do so. Let’s publish a summary of discussion and action items. o Summarised minutes with action items should be taken o Send it back to admin for their own record/agreement o No minutes need to be published externally, but minutes must be shared internally. Subject to exceptional cases. o Important points relevant to the student body and projects will be brought up in the Council meeting (where minutes will be shared) o Focus is on record­keeping and follow­up. Not publishing will allow them to speak more freely with us. ­ General idea: minutes are for accountability, try to share key points during Council meeting. Izzy: Summary and action items would probably be better for this as well. Also, should we send them the minutes we took? 8 Regina: Both are good. Generally, let relevant people know if you have internal feedback on issues (e.g meetings, comms, minutes) and let me know if you have problems with workload/need more support. Goals and principles Regina: We should put out a statement on goals and principles Scott: Disagrees. We should be judged on what we actually do. Regina: Wants to discuss operating principles Meredith: to what end? Regina: Letting people know priorities, telling them what standards to hold us to. Perhaps the value could be in consolidating information D: This should be on our website. We should get people used to navigating it. Regina: Ok, will not put out a statement but work with Jocie on putting out this information on the website. Student Orgs Izzy: Student orgs feedback survey only got 6 responses. With regards to feedback, all pertained to funding. Met with large umbrella groups like sYNCd. Going to go to Andrew to present with him concerns. Meeting on Wednesday from 4­5. Looking to help support an umbrella service organization like the arts group. Also looking for help with easing recognition process. Academics Ross: Academics priorities for this semester: ­ Science for society feedback Ross to talk to CIPE SAG person to see if they can do the survey. 9 ­
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Grading (S/U option for CC courses, transparency in terms of expectations) CIPE feedback Scott: Have you talked to CIPE SAG? Diamanta thinks CIPE SAG is ultimately accountable to CIPE is problematic. Sees value of student government stepping in to collect feedback if feedback not taken into account. Meredith: CIPE SAG should be issuing the survey. Talk to one of them to see why not. Regina: Talk to CIPE SAG first but ok for Student Govt to step in, bring it up to CIPE and even higher up if needed. Mascot Diamanta: Talked to PA about designing the mascot. PA concerned about continuity in process. Dee is willing to stay on next semester as part of a government standing committee for Student Life to keep communication channels open. PA brought up a lot of info about voting, had feedback about including staff in the voting procedure. The current voting practice is exclusionary. Scott: Staff members are not institutionally bound. As students, we attend this school. Faculty are held to certain codes of conduct, which is different from a contract, which differentiates them from staff. D: what about community? By staff we refer to people employed directly by YNC. Not third parties. 10 Regina: Principledly, if we include faculty, we should include staff. Though we should keep in mind that we are selecting a mascot that represents student’s choice. Ross: Should we open nomination to staff? D: Too late. It’s a self selecting process. If people really feel strongly they will take the time to vote. This is about community building, so we should include these people. Regina: The reason we included faculty was because they complained from the last round. No staff talked to us so they weren’t on our radar. D: Once again, this is about community principally. We don’t want to be exclusionary and we can justify it in a statement by saying we made a mistake. Izzy: explains a possible objection scenario. Should we specify whether people are student faculty or staff in the survey? D: Probably not. Meredith: By not including everyone we are making the possibility of staff and faculty putting independently putting forth a mascot more likely. Scott: What about precedent? Now saying anyone who is on the college payroll, even if they are not invested in the community, can have a say in Student Government activities. Diamanta: Is this really a precedent? 11 Scott: Ambassador Chan could be considered a similar case. D: This is different because we are meeting with her in our capacity as representing the student voice. ​
Make it clear in the minutes that the next government should not consider this a precedent. Scott: We ourselves looked to the previous government for operating principles, the precedent does matter. Aadit: so it’s fine, we can just say that this is an extenuating circumstance. Meredith: Motion to include staff in both rounds of voting but not ratification. 7 in favor. 1 abstention. We now move on to deciding quorum (% of student body needed to vote) for ratification of the mascot. Scott: ⅔
or ¾ for quorum? Meredith: What was it last time? Several people: ⅔
Meredith: is quorum set for the other rounds of voting? Scott: We should include in the form if the person is staff/faculty/student. Meredith: Setting a quorum for students or for each category? Regina: ratification is the only stage for which quorum is important. 12 Adam Goh: What voting method are we using? First past the post? Kemeny Young? Keith: yes/no, top three. Meredith: Motion only quorum for ratification: 7 in favor one abstention Meredith: what do want to set quorum at? Scott: simple majority, 50% Meredith: motion to set quorum at 50% for ratification, motion carries (unanimous 8 vote) Scott: suggests simple majority of ‘yes’ votes needed for mascot choice to be ratified. Regina: Constitution has no recommendation for % of yes votes or quorum for something like mascot voting, have checked with Avery. It only has numbers for petitions. If ⅔
of students petition for something we have to pass it. Worried about whether ⅔
is possible. To stay in line with spirit of constitution, ⅔
? Meredith: Motion to set ratification quorum at ⅔
. 2 in favor, 1 opposed, 5 abstentions. D: we have one week to discuss this. Meredith: everyone go talk to people, think about what is best. Motion to table discussion: unanimously passes (8 in favor). 13 Action item​
: Dee finds out number of students in student body to set number for quorum Deputy Director of student life priorities Aadit’s priorities for the term: IT policy: ­ Changing policy students have to sign in order to get their accounts. ­ Changing link to ISP, faster speeds, more freedom awarded. Institutional policy for people with disabilities. Progress: ­ No portal on campus that allows for unthrottled internet access. ­ Meeting with Ken Panko at end of next week ­ Disabilities: Wants to speak to dean bridges about it again to make sure he understands what student life wants. Regina: Changing policy will take a lot of resources. Make sure students agree that this is a good use of them. Izzy: Talk to Alex Meyer and Roshan about students with disabilities project since they worked on it last semester Events: Annette: has reached out to her committee. Will get together with G Spot and Sara from DoS about the Ambassador Chan dialogue. Other logistics have not yet been confirmed. Will come up with details later. Venue is Tan Chin Tuan lecture theater. Will have details sent out to Ambassador Chan by the 21st. Budget Keith: Budget due on the 31st March. Copied the format of previous government. Send Keith any requirements by next week. Briefly explain rationale. Meeting with SORB for info transfer mid April, the SORB decided that this govt will not have a seat at SORB. VP updates: elections and housing comm Regina: Elections committee in April. Nominations open all of summer. Close in mid august. Elections end­August, thereafter we step down. 14 Scott: Housing committee. We will be balloting people and getting a group together to discuss concerns about housing. Will start happening in April. Will draw from portfolios other than student life. Send feedback, eg pets, to Scott. Izzy: Are spare room issues something to be included in this portfolio? Scott: Stuff like that is valid but issues such as gender neutral housing is a bigger deal. Put feedback on the Slack channel. Barney Bate Statement? Diamanta: Should we mention the usual community support options? Meredith: are there any pressing reasons not to issue a statement? Regina: Are we speaking on behalf of students or student council? Scott: Student council. Bate did a lot for the community. Meredith: motion to publish a statement signed on behalf of stugov. Carries unanimously (8). Meredith: Is there other stuff to be added to the message? Keith/D: More information about support available (DFs, Faculty, Wellness center, etc.) Meredith: Concludes meeting. Agenda for our next meeting​
: ● Advisor role (from Regina) ● % of yes votes needed for mascot ratification 15 Reminders/ Updates​
: ● Meeting with DoS about a student government advisor ● Mascot Quorum decided at 50% ● Staff will be included in the mascot vote 16