Ohio Union Council
September 26, 2013
Attendees:
Undergraduate Student Government
Rachel Cohen (Ohio Union Council Vice-Chair)
Moriah Locklear
Evan Sieradzki (Ohio Union Council Chair)
Cody Vermillion
Council of Graduate Students
Adithya Jayakumar
Beth Miller
Russell Stech
Inter-Professional Council
Brittani Jones
Colleen Miller
Ohio Union Student Employees
Sarah Mangia
Adnane Rhazzal (Events Subcommittee Chair)
Ohio Union Activites Board
MacGregor Obergfell(ex-officio)
Council on Student Affairs
Joe Mancinotti (Policy Subcommittee Chair)
Faculty
Scott Jones
USAC
Richard Wofford
Alumni
Chuck Claibourne
At-Large
Brad Myers– substitute
Ohio Union Events/Student Activities
Matt Couch (ex-officio)
Eve Esch (ex-officio)
Dan Huffman (ex-officio)
Nick Stefanik(ex-officio - Ohio Union Council Secretary)
I. Welcome
II. Introductions
III. Director Updates
1. OUAB Updates – MacGregor Obergfell
a. OUAB held 47 events in September
b. Highlights:
i. largest Flicks for Free of all time – Monsters U – 550 students
ii. Tickets for Truth tour – a concert at the Schottenstein Center featuring One Republic – almost out of tickets
iii. 3 ballroom events – all sellouts – featuring Josh Radnor, members of the cast of Whose Line is it Anyway?, and a panel of three Olympians
c. Milestone of 10,000 Twitter followers
d. Welcoming new OUAB members – 360 applicants, only 47 were offered membership
i. Retreat this Sunday afternoon (9/29) for all new members
e. Hali Buck – advisor – celebrating 1 year “work”iversary with OUAB
2. Eve Esch, Director
a. August 2013 only a difference of 8 events from 2012
b. September 2013 busier than September 2012 – 2399 vs. 2266 events
i. 74% student organization, 21% Univ. user, 4% non-University
c. Highlights of the month:
i. Monday 9/23 – President of Somalia – co sponsored between John Glenn School and Somali Student Association – Secret service, security presence
ii. Career Fairs – a dozen different sized career fairs
d. Upcoming events – October is historically one of busiest months
i. October 1 – 1200 high school students (OHSAA)
ii. PFW 10/4-10/6 – anticipating 3600 family members with activity centered on the Ohio Union (game watch, activities, etc)
iii. 10/6 – Presidents’ Cup watch party at Woody’s
iv. 10/9 – Boys and Girls Club event with Shaquille O’Neal as the featured speaker
v. Starting 10/11 – Columbus Symphony Orchestra, School of Music will collaborate to provide “pop up music” in the building
vi. Homecoming next month – many activities culminating with parade and pep rally
vii. End of October – Fisher and GE – Middle Market Summit. Main speaking event will be held at Mershon Auditorium (George W. Bush), but the rest of event will occur at the Ohio Union
e. Staff is working to revamp event assessment process and evaluation forms. The new form is going out now and we have received some good feedback.
i. Goal in this process is timeliness of assessment and a more statistically significant amount of responses
f. Grand opening for new bookstore this week – The Ohio State University Bookstore at The Ohio Union
g. Dan Huffman and Eve Esch will represent OSU at Big Ten Union Directors Conference
i. Opportunity to network with other B1G Union directors, share ideas and learning opportunities
3. Matt Couch, Director
a. Buck-i-Serv was given new goals for their selection process
i. Goal is 1000 participants
ii. 800 applied for Winter Trips – 370 were accommodated (23 trips)
iii. Hope to add more for Spring/Summer to meet goal
iv. 36 applications for 25 spots for advisors – much better than normal
v. New hire – Assistant Director for Leadership Programs – Matt Van Jura
1. OSU Alum, previous work experience at University of Michigan
b. Homecoming updates:
i. October 18 parade – 101st parade.
ii. 5 Grandstands along route from Ohio Stadium to Ohio Union
1. Woodruff Ave. to High St. to 12th Ave.
iii. Great Hall of Ohio Union after parade – Pep Rally
4. Dan Huffman, Business Manager
a. Passed around budget overview
i. Year to date - ~$968,000 in revenue, ~$894,000 expenses
ii. Higher number in future months due to catering transition
b. Slight decrease in general fund support from University
i. Cut around $40,000 from annual budget
c. Due to the Catering transition, Ohio Union is going going from earning revenue on catered events to receiving rent, which plateaus earning possibility
d. Sharing some salaries with Campus Dining
e. Increase in usage, specifically food/dining options due to South Campus dorm expansion
f. Expecting more traffic next year after Smith-Steeb is completed
g. Centralization of housekeeping and maintenance within SL
h. Less control over those budgets
i. Going from roughly breaking even with S88 to commission based rent with B&N
j. Terrazzo repair – schedule will work around event schedule/class schedule as much as possible but may still impact business
k. Evan asked questions about expectation after dust settles with catering
i. A rent model was set up this year that will be revisited next year.
l. Goal is to find efficiencies and favorable outcomes for both departments as both are a part of Student Life
IV. Subcommittee Reports
1. Events: Adnane Rhazzal, Subcommittee Chairman
a. Subcommittee meeting last week, heard from homecoming parade
i. New additions this year – residence hall and office decoration competition
ii. More outreach to community, goal is 4000 attendees
b. Another signature event programming report – Block O is hosting a watch party for Purdue Game with the expectation of 150 attendees
c. D-Tix Policy Adjustments
i. Ohio Union Council received a memorandum from CSA, urging OUC to review D-Tix policies in wake of September 3rd Ticket Release for USA-Mexico Soccer Match tickets
ii. A larger than expected crowd (200+) arrived before release time for a limited number (approximately 140) of tickets
iii. With no way to determine who had arrived earliest, the decision was made to adopt a lottery system for this particular release. Students swiped their Buck-IDs and received notification the next day.
iv. Crowd was generally well behaved, but was not responding to the direction of Ohio Union staff. Public Safety was called to assist.
v. Adnane Rhazzal/Matt Couch sought suggestions from OUC for future D-Tix releases, especially those where demand will exceed supply.
1. Recommendation was made that D-Tix adopt a lottery system for all events where demand is expected to exceed supply, as determined by D-Tix administrators.
vi. D-Tix is also looking at staggering release dates from always Tuesday/Thursday at 5:00. This would allow students with class conflicts to have the opportunity to acquire tickets in high demand.
1. Decision on this was tabled due to time constraints.
2. Policy: Joe Mancinotti, Subcommittee Chairman
1. Policy: Joe Mancinotti, Subcommittee Chairman
a. Met recently, spoke about 3 amendments –
i. No show policy. Changes highlighted (last third of term, forfeit next term)
1. Applies to both University User/Student Org – means they would lose discounted rate. Could still book but at full price.
2. Amendment approved
ii. Taxes – instead of including percentages, use word “current” in reference to Sales Tax.
1. Amendment approved
iii. Service charge – 18% to 20%
1. Amendment approved
V. Future Meetings & Topics
a. Dates
i. October 24th, 5:30pm - Ohio Staters Traditions Room
ii. November 14th, 5:30pm - Hays Cape Room
b. Topics
VI. Announcements