Let’s see if this ends up meaning anything. 6:34 Open Forum starts. Nothing exciting so far. 6:37 People are speaking on behalf of finance chair. Wiegand supports Chou, Minor supports Fung. 6:38 Jeff Wright let’s people know he’s going to form a constitutional committee in order to move toward a presidential system. Direct election. It’s a start! Hasn’t said anything about whether he’s staying… 6:40 Rep. Olson – What other reforms are you looking at? Wright – other legislation might come up that addresses this tonight…Campus Relations coming back into the fold? Student Council would also write off on all campaigns and initiatives. Same thing we’ve heard before, but thankfully it’s being said at the table. 6:43 Adam Porton – Here’s what I’d love to see ASM take on next year: – Focus on Tuition and textbook costs – Highly complex and requires a nuanced study to see where ASM can fit in. – Meeting with people in the community during the summer -Legislation can be affixed, use the Regent’s report to take action on. -ASM can never do this alone (WISPIRG? No, apparently UC.) -Increase voter turnout – use our positions for leverage with politicians (Um. Yeah, about time.) -Establish Shared Gov. process to oversee GPR dollars -“Frankly, no one cares what it’s called. They only care that it gets done.” 6:48Jess Pavlic – Why should we be involved with United Council when they advocate for freezing tuition? “It’s only the sum of it’s parts…Frankly, I think we should take it over.” “They are, at best, ignored, at worst, laughed at.” Sol: Is there a reason those seats are never filled? Porton basically answers that ASM dropped the ball on it, that’s why. 6:51 Sol: Technically, I’m the presiding officer of every branch of ASM. There is one thing I’d like to do: I’d like to sign a proclamation – to remember “Student Government.” Oh Sol, I love you! Signed into “law.” Ok Sol. 6:55 – btw, Gallagher is right next to me watching along with Adam and Gerald Cox Constitutional Bylaw Ad-Hoc Committee – would allow students to serve (yes! Regular students!) Timeline – Approval of a new constitution in Fall 2008 ASM Election would allow Presidential officer to take office after 2009 Spring Elections 7:00 Rep. Wallach – doesn’t Presidential system put ASM at risk of having an unqualified “chair?” Rep. Wright: “That operates under the assumption that people serving on this committee are necessarily qualified.” Makes a point – maybe having an exciting election will mean SC elections will have to raise the bar. One can only hope. 7:05 Move to close question and answer. Debate. Carter: I am 150, 200 percent in favor of this. To remove the section regarding the presidential section would be absolutely foolish. I’m from an SEC school and we don’t have nearly as proactive of a government as we have here (Ha!) but they have 15-16 percent turnout – and it’s because of a presidential system. Slates are debatable, but it leads to a centralization of discussion. Good. Now what are the detractors? 7:08 Rep. Bembenek – Great idea, we could use a figurehead (STOP USING THAT TERM!) But I’m disappointed I wouldn’t be able to join this committee – closed committee Tackett is concerned that the Grads would have a hard time serving on this committee. 7:11 Wallach: I don’t outright support the Presidential system, but I’ll support this committee. Great. So let’s move on and stop patting ourselves on the back. Gosselin: We need to get into the constitution and fix it. More possibilities. Also, need more non-ASM members – 5. 7:15 Wiegand – not a bad thing is this president doesn’t come from ASM. Composition of committee should be larger – about 15 or 13 people. SSFC operated at it’s height with 13 people. (5 SC, 7 additional members, 3 Chairs) Call the question: Unanimous – 21-0. Alright. We got some progress here. 7:25 Alright, we’re doing cleanup here. I’ll let you know if anything important comes up. Graduate representation has to be there. etc. 7:34 Point of information – in the middle of debate on the composition, Alex Gallagher is debating discussing GPR dollars funding instructional costs, tuition increases and domestic partner benefits with Adam Porton. That sounds far more interesting. 7:43 After approval of the amendment to the amendment and other auxillary points, they’re voting on the actual resolution. Passes. Great. Move on. For the love of god. 7:43 Chair nominations – Wright declines! Tackett says the Chair election should be postponed until June. Wright says it too. Whoa. Come on. This is ridiculous. I’d run for Chair, but I think that’d be a conflict of interest. 7:53 Try to elect an interim-chair. Brilliant! 7:58 Carter: Lots of transitions and not a lot of working. Let’s just go with Vice-Chair holding it down for awhile. 8:06 Wright asks for a show of hands as to how many people will be here during the summer. I counted around 10 or so. 8:08 They just discussed the possibility of appointing a chair, who would then resign and Hannah Karns would take over. Wallach raised and hand and said, “Well I’ll run for chair!” Chair has been tabled. Sol will continue to run SC into the summer. He doesn’t look happy about it. Apparently, Karns will take on some of the Chair duties, but she made it clear she can’t do it all. Nice start, Karns. —- 8:27 After a break, I’ve come back and they’re discussing a Press Office. Some updates: -Would not handle setting up events -Director of Press Office would be paid, 5 hourlies would be hired (don’t worry, there is money allocated for it.) -Would deal with website updates, looks like the hourlies would be split up. 8:38 Rep. Carter strikes again. -Nervous about having one voice speaking for all of us -budgetary issues – that money could be rolled into other issues -Most pressing concern – with the constitutional committee, I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. Executive branch lends itself much better to press – press secretary much more needed for that. Would be much more lukewarm about it if we appointed press secretary and web director. Bam. Tackett – press secretary for executive branch might not be congruent with Council. Gosselin – Discussion shouldn’t focus on presidential spokesperson when we don’t have one yet. Also, ASM should have the ability to fire these individuals, they should work at the pleasure of council. Chou- I agree, but let’s not use the word “pleasure” as it might mean different things…*giggle* She asks to strike that from the minutes. Nope. 8:46 Doesn’t want to support Gosselin’s amendment so to avoid any division from the “smaller majority.” Too bad. Approved. 8:49 Pavlic challenges Carter’s assertion that the press office idea is “creating a committee to fix a committee.” Carter: With the Council, the point was made that you have the checks and balances, voices could be different. However, the minorty vote within Council could be different. We need to respect that. “I’m still at a loss as to why we can’t do this person-to-person” 8:54 Charapata – We only have 2 volunteers and 4 interns and they weren’t experienced. Even having 2 people who are experienced would be more than we have now. Maybe the people under the director don’t have to be paid. Tackett: I think there would be people who would take on the responsibilities without pay. Believe me – for some budding J-school students, this is a perfect opportunity. But for experienced students? Pfft. Harder nut to crack. 8:58 Wright: Support Director and Ass. Director being paid and not paying other three positions, but we need help determining the newsworthiness of our projects – what are our biggest projects? You mean you don’t know? I’d say it went like this from our end: -Grocery Store -Anything with Segregated Fees – Your current implosion How could you spin it? -Reform -Shared Governance (more important than is reported.) -Anything Segregated Fees Related 9:01 Gosselin – this is not a committee. It’s a press office with a definite purpose. 9:04 Karns – we need to pass this today. Start making amendments. sidenote: Shout out to Fearless Sifting (who I didn’t immediately recognize) and Sam Clegg. Side-sidenote: Gallagher has an Op-ed for tomorrow. Look for it. 9:10 Gosselin has been told to keep his comments germane due to his discussion of stipends. Tackett – amendment – make press office SOLEY repsonsible for media relations. Good. Might have missed that. Wright – whoops. Might preclude ASM members from writing their own press releases or Opinion pieces. Gosselin amends. Close that dead end! Amendment passes. 9:21 This looks to be approaching some resolution. Point of information – Press Office would replace Campus Relations. Motion to call all previous questions. Here we go. Press Office bylaw change is approved – 18-1-2 Alright. They got something done. 9:26 Fung – embarasses himself by asking for a 2 minute bathroom break. fails. Recess for 10 minutes. I don’t know. Don’t ask.
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Student Council Meeting: Live blog
May 5, 2008
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