Schedule
Budget Committee
Governance Committee
Pre-Frosh Trips
Issue Area Updates
Election Schedule

The meeting was called to order at 7:03.

Budget Committee
The first order of business was the budget committee recommendations. For full details, see the minutes from last week:
https://apps.carleton.edu/orgs/csa/bc/minutes/?item_id=377684

All recommendations less than $1000 dollars were approved unanimously with one abstention.

The collective for women's issues requested $1960 to bring a show featuring sex workers from throughout the industry to Carleton. Budget committee recommended the full amount. The recommendation was approved unanimously with one abstention.

Charters
There were two charters which had been approved by budget committee presented to the senate. The Carleton Microfinance Club will be an unfunded CSA club for those interested in Microfinancing. The Carleton Gaming Club is an umbrella organization for gaming including video-games, tabletop games and role-playing games. The clubs were approved with separate unanimous votes.

Robert Carlton of the class of 2010 was nominated to serve on the Academic Standing Committee. His nomination was approved unanimously.

Pre-Frosh Trips
Dean Joe Baggot spoke to the senate about the recent debate concerning pre-frosh trips. He is interested in starting a discussion about how the trips my be altered or improved in the future.

The most pressing concern is that only students who can afford to go on the trips are part of the bonding experience they provide. Other students who were unable to attend the trips are forced to simply cope with the 500 other freshmen during the hectic New Student Week.

Baggot stressed that increasing participation should be a goal when reforming the current system. Incoming students should have a common starting point. Ideas for reform might include extending New Student Week but including trips in it. A trip for all incoming students to somewhere away from campus would be cost prohibitive.

Some senators felt that the vast majority of incoming students were prepared to handle the college atmosphere. Baggot and other senators responded that if any students felt excluded from the college atmosphere as a result of the seminar programs, then reform should be considered.

Marquita Davis said that from her experience as a New Student Week Leader, the pre-frosh trips were clearly divisive in the social organizations of the freshmen class.

Becca Bartram pointed out that other groups such as sports and international students are already on campus and would also distort the uniform experience of being a freshmen.

Bessie Schwartz stated that she felt New Student Week was already very programmed and condensed, and that perhaps a broader time distribution would be more effective.

The senate will continue to be involved in the pre-frosh trips and any reforms made to them.

Issue Area Updates
The senators gave updates addressing their specific issue areas.

Peter Fritz said that Budget Committee had been holding meetings regarding the joint ventures between campus activities and the CSA.

Sadaf Sultan said that Career Center has two positions which have been approved by the trustees. The goal during the meetings with trustees will be to emphasize that students are still concerned with current state of the Career Center.

Alex Popper reported that in regards to Club Sports, there will be special sports medicine hours at the Rec for anyone interested, 4 hours every week. In regard to the PE credits for Club Sports members, the Recreation Department is also considering credit for students who will not be affected by the upcoming curricular review.

The website review board is combing through the CSA website and identifying which pages need reworking or updating.

Robert Stephens raised the issue of students of color on campus, and said that he would submit a memo to Tim Singer for submission to the Board of Trustees.

Alec Roman met with Fred Rogers and Wayne Eisenhuth to discuss the issue of parking. The college has hired an outside analyst to look at the current parking situation at Carleton.

Roman has also met with the IT people on campus. There are plans to have every indoor location wireless accessible within one year.

Eleni Schirmer reported that the Curriculum Review Board is still discussing the RAD requirement, and is also considering the possibility of an Environmental Science Major.

Election Schedule
The final item of business was the election schedule. The elections will start on Wednesday, February 20th and end at midnight on Sunday February 24th. There are seven senate seats and 3 officers up for election. Platforms are due on the February 17th.

There will be a debate on February 20th, and the senate is seeking suggestions about how to make the debates interesting.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:10.

For any corrections to the minutes, contact CSA secretary Robert Martin (martirob@carleton.edu).