Senate Notes – April 17th, 2017
- Attendance
- Public Comment
- Swearing in of President
Jenine Shepherd swore in Aditi Krishnamurthy as AAS President.
- Committee Reports
Paul Gramieri said that College Council met and looked over the minutes from when they met with the Committee of Six. He added that at-large applications for College Council are due on Friday.
Aditi said that the Committee on Priorities and Resources met and discussed FTE requests.
Maeve said that the Committee on Educational Policy met. She said that two mathematics professors came to discuss students taking courses through the liberal arts college consortium. She said that the Committee would be meeting with Professor Hansen this week to talk about extra credits for the intensive section of science courses, as well as extra credits for lab courses.
Alejandro Quintero said that the Orientation Committee met. They placed emphasis on having a bigger welcome for international students and other students arriving at college early. He said that the Committee wants to give students more short free periods throughout orientation week.
Kyndall Ashe said that Presidential Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion met with an external advisory committee to read their report. She said that the report may be released sometime this year and she hopes to have more student representatives on the Task Force in the future.
Lauren Knight said that the Powerhouse Committee met and discussed their last event for the semester.
- BC Recs
Jacob Silverman presented the BC Recommendations for the week.
Jacob said that Amherst College Crossfit Club did not come to Discretionary. He said that the Harvard Kennedy Conference requested funding for additional LatAm tickets. He said that Film Society asked for intro meeting food, intro meeting publicity, and discussion food.
Alejandro motioned to fund the BC Recommendations for the week.
Motion to fund BC Recommendations for the week by role-call vote.
Result: Passes
Paul Gramieri requested publicity funding for elections from the Senate Fund.
Yannis Kalogiannis motioned to fund Paul’s Senate Fund request.
Motion to fund Paul’s Senate Fund request.
Result: Passes
Jacob Silverman presented the Club Budgets for Fall 2017.
Jacob said that the BC recommended to fund speakers Jim McGovern and Tom Vilsack and to zero funding requests for the other two speakers. They can reallocate the funding depending on the speakers that the club can get to come.
He said that the Roosevelt Institute Club was approved for a budget.
He said that Random Acts of Kindness surpassed food policy. He added that the BC would try to change the way food funding works for larger clubs and clubs centered around food for next semester.
He said that KDSAP was approved for a budget.
He said that the BC recommended to half Pride Alliance’s honorarium request for speaker Janaya Khan.
He said that Amherst Democrat’s integral food request was lowered due to food policy.
He said that Splash!’s food request was zeroed because it is not integral food.
He said that the BC recommended to zero Transfer Students Association’s honorarium request for Derek Walker, because he recently graduated.
He said that BC recommended to lower La Causa’s honorarium request for seven poets, because they can get additional funding from somewhere else.
He said that the BC zeroed Black Students Union’s funding request for supplies for the BWG request.
Paul Gramieri asked why the BC was funding the Black Solidarity Conference in February.
Jacob said that the Black Solidarity Conference must be booked in advance. He added that they do the same thing for club sport registration.
He said that the BC zeroed Internal Students Association’s funding request for a crowd manager.
He said that the BC zeroed African Caribbean Student Union’s funding request for ACSU dance costumes, because they can borrow these costumes from Amherst Dance or the theater department.
He said that the Amherst Electronics Club was approved for a budget.
He said that the BC recommended to fund various Outing Club events. They can reallocate the funding during the semester.
He said that Amherst Dance requested funding for costumes.
Maeve McNamara asked why Amherst Dance got funding for costumes, while ACSU did not.
Jacob said that Amherst Dance already figured out what they need.
He said that the Argentine Tango Club’s funding requests were zeroed because the club is small and mainly made up of students from other colleges. He said that the BC is happy to work with this club in the future.
He said that the BC zeroed Film Society’s funding request for the NBC Boston Studio Tour Trip because they did not have information about it.
He said that the BC zeroed HEMAC’s funding request for new equipment because they do not need new equipment yet.
He said that the BC lowered Swing, Salsa, and Ballroom Club’s funding request for instructor fees.
He said that the BC zeroed Hip Hop Club’s honorarium request for an Alumni Show, because they do not know who is going to come yet.
He said that the BC zeroed Remnant’s funding request for Worship Night.
He said that the Fencing Club should request funding for a score box through Discretionary.
He said that the BC zeroed Club Soccer’s funding request for a coach because they do not have a coach yet.
He said that the BC recommended to cut Frisbee’s Spring Break trip funding in half, because they have made an exception for Frisbee for awhile. It is outside the BC’s funding guidelines to fund events over Spring Break.
He said that the BC zeroed the Amherst Student’s request for a budget because they have a significant amount of debt.
He said that the BC lowered the Amherst Circus’ and the Indicator’s funding request for printing.
There was a motion to fund the Fall 2017 Budget.
Motion to fund the Fall 2017 Budget by role-call vote.
Result: Passes
- Senate Project Updates
Paul said that he met with Paul Gallegos to discuss planning an on-campus senior week.
Billy Jang said that he was working on organizing practice events for mathematics competitions.
Maya Bhandari said that she and Natalia Khoudian were working on getting games in common rooms. They are waiting for Corry Colonna to approve their funding request for games.
Maya: Natalia and I working on getting games in common rooms. Waiting for corry to approve funding for games.
Lauren said that Summer Bash is on Friday.
Alejandro said that he helped Rate Our Courses launch and he wants to follow up with them. He also wants to work on improving Safe Rides.
- Officer Reports
- New Business
- Approve the Minutes
There was a motion to approve the minutes from April 10th.
Motion to approve the minutes from April 10th.
Result: Passes
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