Agenda
Tuesday January 31, 2012
6:30 p.m. Campbell Dinning Room
Student Life and Technology Center
I. Call to Order
II. Special Business
o Election Results
o Martin:Jeremy Rowe
o Sophomore:Mike Ehrenberg
§ Appointments accepted, no objections orabstentions.
III. Announcements and Constituent Concerns
Outline of the reasoning/decisions, whichprompted the Dean to send out the email on Friday:
o Dean Wiltgen heard about the unsponsoredevent “CEOs & Corporate Hoes Party” Friday morning.
o In the past (ex.“Robots Party” in the fall)the Dean has found out about such unregistered parties in advance, and has metwith Martin Hall Council ahead of time to discuss his worries about thepossibility of Martin Hall holding such an event within the residence hall.Historically, this party has had such a large turnout that it has completelyoverwhelmed the space.
o Initialissues with these discussions (ex. “Robots” Party):
o Becausethese parties are not officially sanctioned, it puts the Dean in an awkwardposition, because he cannot officially say Martin Hall Council can or cannotthrow the party.
o Insteadhe advised Hall Council on measures they could use to take to control of largegatherings, to ensure control over the gathering and safety of the students.
o At“Robots”, Martin did comply with the safety/control measures discussed, however“Robots” attracted a massive amount of people, many of whom were non-students,and the North Side of Martin still became completely overwhelmed by people.
o TheDean understands that Martin is under a lot of pressure as social center oncampus and didn’t want Martin Hall to have to take on more pressure fromstudents who decided to try to go to Martin for a party even if Hall Councilwas not allowed to throw it (ie. if students “Screw Martin and have the partyanyway”).
o StudentLife Committee
o What itdoes: approves all student organizations/all changes to the handbook/advises onpolicies.
o Thiscommittee has some student representation (an email was issued to all CurrentStudents last year, asking for students interested on serving on CampusCommittees, students express interest, and then are appointed by the Committeeon Committees and Senate)
o Duringtheir last meeting, after the last Senate meeting in December, Martin Partiescame up.
§ Students claimed that Martin becomes “sofull of people that one is forced to crawl out of the room through a window”and that the walls “begin to sweat”.
o DeanWiltgen and the Committee was largely unaware of this, and the Student LifeCommittee challenged the Dean to address these issues.
§ The Dean apologizes, but was not able tobring these reports/issues back to Martin Hall or the Senate Exec beforehearing about CEOs, which was what he had planned to do. Unfortunately, theseconcerns put students/the college at risk, and the Dean was forced to addressthe issue.
§ (Although the issue at hand is not about thegender discussion/social injustice issues which occurred earlier in the year).As many students know the Dean has worked with issues of sexual assault, and hasbeen concerned with the naming of the parties. (Another issue brought up byStudent Life Committee).
§ The Dean understands that Martin HallCouncil is trying to change the titles, but that doesn’t change the history ofthe event/the campus’ understanding.
§ The Dean wants to find a way to helpstudents have a decent social life.
§ The Dean reminds students of the Cup Policy(a compromise), which is NOT intended for everyday use, just for major events.However, the College tries to be understanding and generally bases theaddressing of this policy on the behaviors of the students.
§ The Dean/College, is not trying to beauthoritarian, but with these issues, they realize that perhaps the system isoverly permissive.
§ “Don’t want to trample on students, wantthem to make good decisions”
o Martin’sResponsibility/Burden to Throw Parties
o TheDean wanted to make a proactive decision, so he sent two emails, one to CurrentStudents, and the other to Martin Hall, prohibiting the party.
o TheDean intended to continue conversations with Martin in order to try to discussother options for “CEOs” however, given his tight schedule Friday, it wasimpossible to do so.
o TheDean apologizes for the abrupt nature of the email, and reminds everyone thatthis is not a formal change in policy.
o TheDean also reminded Hall Council that he had encouraged them to come to him totalk in the future about larger parties, in order for them to try to continueto work together to find solutions. If he had known in advance he would haveworked with Hall Council to try to find another venue.
o Inregards to the email, and its abrupt nature “Most of you (students) know mywork is to try to help do things for students, not very often that I do that.”
o ResLife Issues
o This isa HUGE struggle for the RAs, who are caught in the middle. The RAs are not outto stop a good time, but they must intervene when it becomes a safety issue.
o Thelevel at which a gathering or party must be shut down becomes unclear. (ie. theamount of people technically allowed in the Martin Hall Lobby according to firecodes is ~36, the amount of people allowed in rooms at once according to firecodes is much smaller)
o “Most of my work is to try to help dothings for students, not very often that I do that.”
o OtherIssues Outside of Martin’s Control
o UninvitedGuests (ie Randos)
§ Social Media/Word of Mouth spreads to Randoswho now have come to expect parties to happen, even when they are not planned(despite Martin’s recent and sincere attempts to discretely publicize, orbarely publicize)
§ Possible solution: sponsored events withwristbands and other security measures
o Size ofMartin Hall
§ The Dean understands that Worsham is notdesirable, that it is too formal, that it is not where students live, but itDOES have the capacity to serve large groups of people.
§ Regrets “try to be open and upfront…
o Questions
§ Jacob Porter
· Q: Isthe Student Life Committee Public?
· A: Ithas student representation and is by no means private, but there have beenissues with communication (see CoC notes below). The chair is Dr. Campolo.
§ Ethan Ake
· Q:Student Life Committee—Martin Rep?
· A:Dean: don’t know that that representation would have kept the Dean fromcanceling the party….
o Even ifwe put forth measures, the larger parties are not always possible.
o Wetried to do it for the bigger party and it didn’t work.
· Q: (What Martin has been doing to try tomake things work/how they have complied), Switched hall Council Meetings toWednesday, talked with Dean/Omolo (have tried) tried to meet concerns, thoughtthat we did because we haven’t heard back since 80s party.
· A: Things were better, more staff, everyoneworked hard to make it feasible, but at some point it is still not feasible.
§ Blake Tierney
· Q: Haveany financial concerns been raised about damages to the school?
o A(Dean): Yes, continuously. Dean talks to Hall Council, they have helped to findthose responsible. Often, it is believed that those who do not go toHendrix/Live in Martin are at fault for damages.
o I hadto start doing walk through because facilities got sick of all of the damage.
§ Cole Johnson
· Q: Friday,people came to Martin, even though the party was canceled. RAs shut “smallgatherings” (really only a couple of people, I listening to music behind closeddoors) down, before quiet hours.
· A (Dean):I gave a pretty clear edict, “If anyone has a party shut it down.” We can talk to/furthercommunicate with the RAs, and we can always improve upon this. Ideally, it isthe behavior of students that drive the actions of the RAs. Having way more peoplein the room than there should be, being so loud you can’t hear, those are theelements that SHOULD drive the response.
§ Ethan Ake
· Q: WindowIncident (Friday night, an RA took priority over shutting down Ethan and asmall group of people, over attending to damages to a window on the other sideof the building)...
· A (Dean):Martin bears a lot of responsibility to carry social weight. We need to sitdown and figure out the markers between all people, so, everyone has a clearunderstanding of what constitutes a gathering/party that will work, and whatwill not.
§ Courtney Johnson
· Q:Would these criteria extend to the other areas on campus? (ie What about FrontStreet Back Yard? Apartments? Will those criteria filter other parts of campus?)
§ A (Dean): This is difficult, and it dependson the space. We try to appease… but when thefts occur, any time it can beidentified that there is an event that exceeds space and becomes a safetyissue, then those are situations in which these gatherings are not feasible.
· Also, sometimesstudents respond well/comply, other times RAs are treated with hostility
· Actcivilly when you are asked to do something.
o Discussion
§ Jeremy Rowe
· Bigconcern: precedent for future interactions. Very abrupt. “unregistered event”à connotation of a “massive” event, manyevents are more of smaller “social gatherings” that turn into larger events…blurrylines
· Saturdaynight, while having friends over, the RAs went by the same policies as Fridaynight. We were shut down, even though we were within fire regulations and thisoccurred before quiet hours… this isn’t fair.
· Slipperyslopeà martin turns into a party
o Dean:“Martin Burden”
o Look atmajor events, and try to move them elsewhere, then we will incur less problemswith smaller gatherings and parties.
§ Dylan Ashcraft
· Thereseems to be a lack of communication, Martin does not publicize things widely outof fear…
o Dean:
o Smallerevents can occur
o Needmarkers
o Once weknow about a party ahead of time, we can help provide safety
o Fairlylenient (cups…hellooo)
o Saferto have alcohol in rooms? (against AR state law)
§ Jack Finney
· Ifspace is the issue, can we extend the area for parties into the brick areabetween Maritn and Hardin?
o Dean:Open to this idea
§ Daniel Williams
· Demeaningparty names, “Robots and Sluts” remains the party name amongst most of theHendrix Community due to the party’s history/etc, even if Hall Council deems it“Robots Party, or RBS” officially.
·
§ Adelia Shiffraw
§ The College is changing (in many ways) butas it is literally growing larger in size, it presents students with anopportune moment to make a legitimate plea for a new space, a space largeenough for everyone, that isn’t as formal as Worsham.
§ The notion that “Hendrix is Dead” is onlytrue if we chose not to be creative and proactive.
§ Senate can act as a platform to start thisconversation, we should include relevant parties (Martin) and any studentsinterested in retaining traditions that make Hendrix, Hendrix.
§ Blake Tierney
· Morethan senate should be involved in pushing for an alternative.
· We arepart of this school to, we have a say in it, we can’t wait for theadministration, we have to be creative.
· Don’tdance around it, it’s a party it’s huge
· Bewilling to communicate these ideas
§ Alyssa Jacksich
· FYI Meetingsare open to anyone, we encourage everyone to be a part of this conversation.
§ Jacob Porter
· Space
· Fire code
· Willmore off campus parties lead to Frats and Greek life??
o RossCrocker
§ Head RA
§ Worked at Martin for 3 years
§ “We are not against the party culture, itserves a good purpose, but in no way are these small gatherings”
§ “parties are not the reasons for the damageand negative aspects, they are the draw” they are the reason the house keepershave such a rough job, reason for upset facilities workers. This is not MartinHall council’s fault, it’s the party goers fault”
§ RA’s are “trying to make sure everyone in Martinhas a positive experience, not just Martin Hall council—remember there are 136residents”
§ If you incur RA hostility it is likely becausethe RAs are trying to keep your safety/health/happiness in mind,
· Couchcan hear/three different floors/not everyone shares the same enthusiasm
o RA’s want to keep the good aspects of theparty culture!
§ Dean: keep the RAs in mind!
o JohnHoward
§ Keeping Martin within Martin
§ Hire a “martin officer”
§ etc
o JeremyRowe
§ Not all parties are extremely large, wasreferring to gatherings of friends.
o Dean
§ Trying to preserve the “Marting Thing”
§ Move bigger events outside of Martin willhelp to preserve smaller events and traditions in general
§ Invites Martin/Anyone to continue opendialoguing with the Dean!
NON-EMAIL/MARTIN RELATED
o Lauren (Senior Senator)
o Q: Whyis juice no longer available in the cafeteria?
o A: Carawill look into it. (Also, there is now a suggestion box in the cafeteria)
o Cara (Off Campus)
o Q: TheGravel parking lot next to White House could use a larger stop sign or moreeasily identifiable crosswalk, what can we do?
o A: TheCity of Conway has recently not responded well to the College’s pleas forbetter signage/etc. on public streets, it may help if Senate goes to themdirectly.
IV. Departmental Liaison Reports
o No report
V. Committee Reports
o AcademicPolicy with LaRonda Mitchell
o Lastmeeting the faculty discussed their survey about the Collegiate Center, whichyielded comprehensive, but not particularly helpful results.
o The APCommittee decided to keep the Add/Drop period as is.
o APmeeting this week, send LaRonda any questions or comments.
o SocialCommittee with Will Phillips
o Formalwill be held 2/25, more info next week.
o Liveperformance from DJ 5 & A Dime.
o FinancialCommittee with Kate Moran
o Unity
§ Requested: $61
§ Recommended: $0 – FinCom was unclear abouthow it would benefit the campus community at large.
· Unityhas prepared a PowerPoint to provide more information.
· Hunter(Front/Mills), motion to ammend FinCom’s reccomendation and fund in full.
o Kate(Huntington) objects
o Lauren(Senior) and Mike (Sophomore) abstain
o Motionpasses
o Profile
§ Requested: $250
§ Recommended: $250 (fund in full)
· To helpmove their publication online, including 2 hours of tech support/subscriptionto HostCo’s WordPress
o Anvesh(Village) motion to fund in full, Blake (Hardin) second
o Motionpasses, no objections or abstentions.
o AsianCulture Club
§ Requested: $520
§ Recommended: $520 (fund in full)
· Trip toa Japanese Internment Camp in AR, for 25 students
· ***Inthe future funding should be requested AT LEAST two weeks in advance,organizations should not assume full funding.
o CampusKitty
§ Requested: $298.63
§ Recommended: Clarification of bylaws needed
· T-shirtsfor event staff, so they are readily identifiable during CK events. Shirts willalso be used in the weeks leading up to CK for promotional purposes.
· FinCom:the bylaw provision for these kinds of shirts states that 75% of the shirtsshould be allocated, and 25% be paid for by the members of the committee.
· Megan(Junior): CK is a charity organization, shouldn’t we fund in full?
· Adelia(Secretary): The resulting 25% would likely amount to a couple of dollars,which seems reasonable.
o Blake(Hardin) Motion fund as per FinComs bylaws at 75% funding, Mike (Sophomore)second.
o KateMoran opposes, no abstentions, Motion passes.
o Committeeon Everything Awesome with VP/Dean JimWiltgen
o (seeConstituent Concerns…)
o MediaCommittee with Courtney Johnson
o Troubadour
§ If you were abroad last semester you can nowpick up your copy of the 2010-2011 Troubadour. To get yours, please come by theour office (SLTC, room 155) from 5-8 on Sunday nights. If these times areinconvenient for you, you are welcome to email us at Troubadour@hendrix.edu toset up a separate time to meet. Please bring documentation showing that youwere abroad (a transcript, for example). If you were abroad last semester, weask that you pick up your book by Sunday, February 26. After that date, we willoffer any additional books we have to students who did not get one earlier inthe year.
§ If you were not able to get a yearbookearlier in the year and still want one, please email us atTroubadour@hendrix.edu so that we can place you on a waiting list. If there areany books left over which were reserved for study abroad students, we willdistribute these extras according to the order of our waiting list, so firstcome, first served. If a book doesbecome available for you, we will email you to let you know.
o Aonian
§ LAST Deadline is February 3.
§ Writing, visual art, sculpture. If itsartistic, submit it!
§ Thereare cash prizes!
o EnvironmentalConcerns Committee with Emily Canon
o Noreport
o (Checkout the new posters on the trash cans.)
o MulticulturalDevelopment Committee with Anna Roane(interim)
o Firstmeeting of the semester will be held this Thursday
o CampusKitty with Malena Outhay
o Moreinfo about this year’s charities will be announced next week!
o VolunteerAction Committee with Rachel Robbins
o VACwill be helping the Interfaith Clinic, setting up for a cooking class fundraiser, meet at the bell at 11:15am Saturday.
o CommunicationsCommittee with Adelia Shiffraw
o Meetingthis week
o T-Shirtson the way—SENATE: I NEED YOUR TSHIRTSIZES!
o Studentand Academic Concerns Committee withDaniel Williams and LaRonda Mitchell
Noreport
o Committeeon Committees with Gabe Breshears
o Filing for Welcome Week and ShirttailsChairs are Now
o CampusCommittees (ie Student Life Committee)
§ Historically, the VP position has had a hard time handling the studentcommittees, particularly because they are appointed (not elected) committees,and are spread about campus, each with different advisors and meeting times.
§ Gabe recently worked with the provost to getmore information about not only the students on the committees, but also thechairs, and is trying to create a better system in which we can moreeffectively receive reports from these committees.
o ExecutiveCommittee with Desh Deepak
o Noreport
VII. New Business
VIII. Adjournment