Let me begin this post by saying that I am not calling for the end of CPC Happy Hour in its current format where alcohol is provided. It is an event that is vastly different from most that occur on campus. As an elected representative of Washington University students, I believe that campus events of a unique nature like this one deserve increased scrutiny from time to time. Just because it is different doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t happen, but it is important to examine its place in the Washington University community.
In the upcoming weeks, Student Union Treasury plans to send out a survey dealing with a wide variety of campus issues and allocation of funds. Included in this survey will be a question about how students feel about Happy Hour and the provision of alcohol. I want to gauge students feelings about this issue, and cross reference this with demographic data collected, specifically how students under the legal drinking age feel about it. If the support is there for Happy Hour, I plan to procede no further.
A selfish crusade against Happy Hour is not my goal, but rather a better understanding of the community’s feelings about the event. As many of you have expressed support of Happy Hour in your comments on my previous post, I hope you will respond to the survey being sent out in a few weeks!
Brent Rubin
Treasury Representative
The social scene tends to really pick up around this time of year. It seems like there is so much happening on campus. This past week SHAC (Student Health Advisory Committee) put on Sex Week and NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers) put on NSBE Week. The week ended on Friday and Saturday with a number of great programs including Olinpalooza by the Olin Business Council, the Vagina Monologues, Going Pro by the Amateurs, the Drag Show by Pride Alliance, the Red Light Special Valentines Day Party by ABS (Association of Black Students), and a performance by the Pikers and Mama’s Pot Roast in Ursas.
I was interested in attending all of these programs, but couldn’t because nearly all of them conflicted with each other. Many of the things happening for NSBE Week conflicted with great events that SHAC was putting on for Sex Week. I couldn’t see my friends in the Amateurs perform because I went to Olinpalooza on Friday and the ABS Party on Saturday. It certainly is in no way a school wide concern when I can’t attend all the campus events that I want to attend, but I do think that this weekend is a prime example of how over-programmed our campus is sometimes.
Attending programs and events on campus is an integral part of the WU Experience. SU funds so many student groups(220+) because we feel that quality programs like the ones put on this past weekend greatly enhance the lives of students. I think there is a legitimate concern when a student who has paid her activities fee cannot attend all of the events that the fee covers. Student Union and Student Groups have an obligation to program responsibly so that there aren’t weekends where 10 events are happening in one night, and other weekends where nothing is happening at all.
I don’t think our student groups are to blame for the over-programming on campus. Student Union must guide them and provide the necessary resources to help them program in a cost efficient and responsible way so that our students can get the most bang for their buck. Since Spark died (RIP), its hard for groups to program responsibly because they don’t know when other groups are doing things. Its also hard for students to make the most of their experience by attending as many program as possible because they don’t know what all is happening. Facebook Events have been a decent temporary fix, but SU and the University need to provide a replacement for Spark and a way for groups and students to see when events are happening on campus (wink wink).
Well, its coming! Programming on campus has been great this year, and I hope to see the same level continue in the future. The addition of a new Calendar of Events will improve the accessibility of these great programs in the future. I would like to see SU empower student groups more and work more closely with them on PR and programming. One of our goals is to be more intentional about shaping the everyday lives of students and their experience on campus. I think bringing a new calendar and promoting more responsible programming will set us up to do that.
Peace,
Jeff
Last night, Student Union Treasury heard an appeal on behalf of Pride Alliance, Korean Students Association, and Campus Programming Council (CPC) to bring in comedian Margaret Cho. The total cost of the event would be $35,000. CPC would contribute $5,000, so officially, Pride Alliance was appealing for $30,000. At the beginning of the meeting last night, there was approximately $37,000 in the Treasury appeals account.
Immediately, my concern as a representative of the Treasury was why CPC was contributing so little to the event. It seemed precisely the type of thing their group is supposed to do. I inquired about how much their budget is for the 2007-2008 school year. CPC President Kirby Malk told me they were allocated around $139,000 in the General Budget. She felt that the $5,000 contribution towards this event was appropriate for CPC to make because the group wanted to bring in another big name act this semester. They currently had $25,000 remaining to spend for the year, planning to allocate $20,000 of that to the other big name act.
At the end of the question and answer period, I proposed to give $10,000 of Treasury funds to pay for the Margaret Cho event. I felt that this type of event was right in line with CPC’s purpose and they should spend the remaining $20,000 for entertainment on it. Other Treasury reps balked at this figure, so I mulled over bringing up a controversial point. As it appeared that the majority of Treasury reps were not in favor of this number, I decided it was appropriate to bring up this controversy.
CPC is the only SU group on campus that can use its operating funds (those allocated to it from the General Budget) to purchase alcohol. All other groups must use money that they have independently fundraised. For about ten Thursdays each semester, CPC puts on Happy Hour in the Gargoyle at 4PM. They provide free pizza, wings, and beer for the students of Washington University. Unfortunately, over half of the student body cannot drink that beer because they are under the legal drinking age of twenty-one.
After bringing this up, I was called out of order by Speaker of the Treasury Neha Tibrewala because CPC’s expenditures on alcohol did not relate directly to the appeal for Margaret Cho. Momentarily, I accepted this, but the more I considered it, the more I felt it factored into our consideration of how much to fund for Margaret Cho. I was called on to speak again, and posed the question to CPC of how much they spent each semester on alcohol, and was again called out of order. I motioned to overturn Neha’s ruling calling me out of order so I could get the information I considered necessary to making a decision on funding this event. After approximately five minutes of deliberation, my motion was voted down by a majority of Treasury. Effectively, I was told by my fellow Treasury Representatives that I could not take into account CPC’s expenditures on alcohol. The appeal proceeded, and we ended up funding the event at $15,000.
Under CPC’s operating expenses for the school year, there are three line items for alcohol:
| 1/24/2008 | 10956D | Bobs Liquor | Spring Semester Happy Hour | kegs, ice, CO2 tank, bartenders, and 12 oz cups for spring semester happy hours (blanket order for 10 weeks) | ($5,955.60) |
| 9/12/2007 | 10899D | Bobs Liquor | fall semester happy hours | 9 weeks of: 4 kegs, 8 bags of ice, 2 bartenders for 4 hours, 400 cups, CO2 tank | ($5,360.04) |
| 9/5/2007 | 51375A | Bobs Liquor | Fall Semester Happy Hours | 4 kegs per week, 8 bags of ice per week, 2 bartenders per week | ($595.56) |
This totals to $11951.20 spent on alcohol. This is nearly $12,000 of the Student Activities Fee being spent on alcohol a majority of students cannot legally consume. At Senate a few weeks ago, Tamara King, University Judicial Officer, told Senators that the University is stepping up penalties for possessing a fake ID. I have no problem with alcohol at campus functions when it is paid for through fundraising. However, when CPC gets money from the Student Activities Fee, to which every student pays $345 at the beginning of each school year, I expect it to be dedicated to programming that is completely open and available to the entire undergraduate student population. Therefore, when looking at the appeal for Margaret Cho last night, I feel that this is something members of Treasury should have considered.
There are 19 Treasury Reps and about 6,000 undergrads on campus. I would love to hear how other people outside the body feel about this. Please comment!
-Brent Rubin
Representative of the Treasury
We’ve got a Treasury meeting tomorrow at 9:15PM in the Business School. Look for the room that is full of people with colored name placards. Should be Simon 110. The big item tomorrow will be a $30,000 appeal for Margaret Cho, who is a comedian and political activist. Come by to voice your opinions on this appeal and many others. After all, it’s your student activity fee at work.
Hi! This blog idea should be fun…I tried keeping a blog once last summer and when I realized that I only ended up writing when I was feeling extra “emo” or just bored out of my mind and my posts were rambles about nothing that anyone would ever care about, I decided to stop and spend my time doing something more productive.
I will try to contribute to this blog more often and write about more interesting and important things than the weather or if I found a pair of shoes I wanted to buy and things like that. Hopefully I can help keep those of you who will read it updated on my life in SU and the things going on around us on campus. If you have any questions or comments at anytime, please feel free to email me at vp@su.wustl.edu, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
For my first post…drum roll please…I’ll update you on the progressive movements being made by students and the campus Police regarding security. A few students from Student Union, Kayla Brinkley, Aaron Robinson and I along with some CS40 representatives met with Dean Carroll and Chief Strom a couple weeks ago to discuss some action steps and possibilities. The meeting was more about brainstorming what measures should be taken, and taking down suggestions for different levels of security. I have included the notes from the different aspects of security we discussed, please be aware that these are just suggestions we discussed and some may or may not be followed through. We are meeting again this Tuesday to formulate an action plan and prioritize these efforts. We are also open to more suggestions if you have any. Please look over the follwoing and send me feedback. Thanks!
Physical Security
Staffing Considerations
CCTV Considerations
Lighting
Miscellaneous
I will send you more information about the action plan after Tuesday’s meeting.
Britt
Election day for Washington University students overall seemed to have gone smoothly. This year we had a polling station on the South 40 which meant students had nearly instant access to vote if they were registered in Missouri. I think this is a great step by the University to promote voting on campus. Another great step would be to allow political speakers access to our campus, but more on that in a later post. I did get a call about a group of students who were unable to vote due to city / county issues and I will be following up with that. Student Union has been using its listserv to send out voting announcements to the student body. In addition, with funding from our Campus Enrichment Fund, we paid about $1200 for voter shuttles so that students could get rides to polling places off campus. Thanks to the help of SU Senator Jordan Aibel and Matt Adler, many students experienced an easier voting process.Let us know if you had any voting issues yesterday. I think the University and students made a huge effort to make sure students had accurate information so that their votes would count. Let’s keep it up for the general election.
Last Wednesday (1/30), the Student Union Senate hosted aforum for members of EnCouncil and other students from the School ofEngineering and Applied Sciences who are concerned with the lack ofcommunication between the students and the school’s administration. Thestudents discussed a recent EnCouncil resolution addressing abrupt changes inthe schools curriculum, structure and faculty.
Hearing the engineering students speak eloquently andcandidly about how the lack of communication has impacted their experience atWash. U. moved me in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever been moved at a Senatemeeting. It surprised me that all types of engineering students, from freshmento seniors, from computer scientists to biomedical engineers, have been equallyaffected.
I am a member of Student Union primarily because I want toimprove the everyday lives of undergraduate students at the University. It isgreat that we can bring great programs and exciting speakers to campus, but Iam more interested in drastically improving the aspects of campus that studentsuse and experience every day. The lack of communication and collaboration thathas occurred during the implementation of changes in the Engineering School hasimpacted the lives of students more than just academically. Engineeringstudents at the meeting stressed that their experiences in the residentialcolleges and co-curricular activities have been directly affected as well.
It is important to note that there are no bad guys in thissituation. This is a matter of communication between students and theadministration that needs to be approached differently. The administration andstudents both have priorities, and those priorities don’t always perfectlyalign. The power of students on this campus is that we can use our collectivevoice to make the administration address our priorities.
This is notjust an issue for the Engineering School. Anytime a communication lapse occurs,and any student feels that her voice is not being heard, it affects us all. Iapplaud EnCouncil and the group of Concerned Engineering Students for takingthe lead on this issue. Writing and passing the resolution was only first step.Follow through from Student Union Senators and individual students is what willultimately make this issue a priority for the administration to address. Itdoesn’t matter if you’re a student in Engineering or in Art, Architecture,Business or Arts and Sciences. If you have any affiliation with this greatinstitution and want to see it remain a place where all undergraduates flourishthen I encourage YOU to get involved. Read the resolution that was passed andthe stories from engineering students. Send an email to the administration, andlet them know that YOU are concerned. When we show that this issue affects morethan just engineering students, then the administration will make it a priorityto address.
To view the resolution that EnCouncil passed two weeks ago,please go to:
http://encouncil.wustl.edu/downloads/Resolution20080124.pdf
To read stories from engineering students about how recentchanges have affected them and their undergraduate experience at WashU, pleasego to:
http://groups.google.com/group/engineers-speak-out
I’ve heard many words of wisdom that said amounted to the following conclusion: about 90% of our time is wasted in meetings. From experience, I have discovered that usually, meetings get very little accomplished. Aside from sharing information and trying to cover up how we’ve all procrastinated, most of the real work gets done individually outside of the conference room. This is why I find it even more unique that a lot of substantial work gets done in Student Union’s weekly Treasury and Senate meetings, both of which are open to the entire student body. They occur each Tuesday and Wednesday in the Business School at 9:15PM. Look for the room with the people and the bright colored name placards. Last night, the SU Treasury and SU Executive allocated about $40,000 to a group of engineers wanting to put together a formula race car, piece by piece. The Society of Automotive Engineers has been doing this for years and has been very successful with the resources they have received. The College Democrats were also granted funding to protest the crimes of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He will be speaking at the 560 Music Center on February 19th. Outside the center, you’re sure to find many WU students protesting the acts of Gonzales - from his disregard of Geneva Conventions to his “I do not recall” statements while under oath. The College Dems are taking huge steps to raise the level of dialogue on this campus - a primary reason Treasury allocated them funding. And finally, be sure to check out today’s Student Life to keep current on the debate to bring Obama to campus. I think it’s important that students voice their opinions, whatever they may be. My ultimate vision is for the University to have the capabilities and the willingness to bring every active presidential candidate to campus. At the end of the day, that is what would benefit students the most. Neil
Welcome to the Student Union Blog courtesy of Student Life. We hope to provide you with informal and necessary information about things happening in SU. I hope to be frank and clear with my words and keep you entertained with the wonderful world of student government.If you have some interest in SU, hopefully this satisfies your need. More than that, our ultimate goal with this blog is to pique your interest and get you more involved in the community around you. We’ll talk to you soon. Neil
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