BC Recommendations
CRIC Charter
Resolution on Retention Rates
Senator Updates
Board of Trustees Meeting

Budget Committee

Recommendations
Senate considered the Budget Committee recommendations from last week. For details, see the minutes here https://apps.carleton.edu/orgs/csa/bc/minutes/?item_id=413632

All recommendations under $1,000 were considered as a block. They were unanimously approved. There was one recommendation for $2,125 for Student Musical Theater. It was unanimously approved.

Spring Allocations

There was a Spring Allocations appeal from Robotics committee. Their original request was $1,943, reflecting the cost of 3 robots. Budget Committee recommended $890, and the Robotics Club requested an additional $575. They are working on two robots simultaneously, so require additional funds for the second robot.

Barclay moved to amend the recommendation to the full ammount. The motion was approved unanimously.

The ACT center fund was approved with no discretionary fund but a budget of $10,000.

Barclay again raised the issue of the Lovebus.

Bharucha said she felt many freshmen used the Lovebus for trips to target on the weekend.

Schirmer said that as a former admissions fellow, she felt the Lovebus was an important selling point for the college.

Rasinen confirmed that the largest number of Carleton students were traveling to Target in the early evening. The ridership percentage of Carleton and St. Olaf students is proportional to the populations of the colleges.

Kenney felt that during the coming year, changes could perhaps be made, but during Spring Allocations was not the time to decide against the Lovebus.

Bharucha asked if it could be a referendum.

Antonov suggested decreasing the number of days.

Kenney said that he could contact the St. Olaf Student Government Association but that Fritz and Bartram looked into it last year. He said he felt it would be most appropriate to approve it for this year and look into it in the future.

Ali raised the issues of the New York Times, stating that it is a large waste of paper for information readily available on the web.

Stephens explained that although they are under contract, it would be possible to decrease the number of papers.

Epstein said he felt the demand justified their use.

Smith felt that the papers were taken out of public spaces. Boller added that they were wasted by just being left laying around the dining halls.

Kenney explained that CSA is only charged based on the number taken.

Bharucha said that people would be angry if the newspapers were no longer available.

Ali argued that since all the newspapers are online and students do reuse them, it would be appropriate to decrease the number of papers.

Barclay said that by adding reuse bins, the college could significantly decrease their consumption.

Schirmer is interested in advertising the fact that we only pay for used papers.

Schwarz suggested that by putting them on bars, CSA could seriously encourage people to reuse them.

Kimball felt that reuse bins should accompany a decrease to the minimum level of papers required by the contract.

Epstein pointed out that if the consumption is decreased, so would the price. It is not necessary to decrease the number of papers available.

Spring Allocations were approved unanimously.

Carleton Responsible Investment Committee

CRIC dissolved in the Winter from lack of interest. The charter has been rewritten with more exact language about the responsibilities and duties of the comittee. The charter has been approved by Fred Rogers and the Faculty Affairs committee.

The secretary has been approved as a paid position, and will be hired similar to other committee secretaries.

Some changes made included information about how to write a report, how the website should be updated, how meetings are to be held, and how the committee should submit its work.

The Investment Committee has the final decision power and outsources to investment firm. CRIC encourages Investment Committee to invest in ethical companies. CRIC also advises the college about how to vote on proxy ballots.

The new charter was approved unanimously.

Resolution Concerning Retention Rates

Students put before senate a resolution stating that graduation rates are a great source of concern to the student body. Part of the statement is that there should be some encouragement of diversity appreciation in New Student Week.

Stephens pointed out that the numbers are misleading, the true issue is student dedication to these issues. There are racist sentiments expressed on campus that data cannot truly reflect.

Antonov said he was concerned about calling for blanket training before the causes are fully understood. He wondered if it wouldn't be more prudent to wait until the campus climate

Kenney felt that the Carleton College white-liberal-elites-culture is indeed concerning. He questioned the use of the words "immediately and comprehensive," saying that they created unrealistic expectations.

Barclay said he felt diversity training for New Student Week leaders certainly won't hurt, and that the OIL office could be involved.

Ali informed senate that the New Student Week Taskforce is already working on this kind of initiative.

Schirmer agreed the document should be statisitically precise, but the focus of the document is that students prioritize these issues. She suggested changing the "comprehensive diversity training" to a "white privilege orientation" and asked if such a chang would be appropriate.

Rasinen said he felt comprehensive diversity or white privilege orientation would be difficult to accomplish during the already hectic NSW.

Rae felt that even if it was merely an introduction, such an introduction would be valuable for the campus community.

Smith said she felt strengthening the document by focusing on white privilige would be justified. She encouraged senate to make the document more demanding.

Stephens added that this is not only an OIL issue, but an issue that affects all student across campus. He recommended mandatory training for NSW leaders regarding privilege and specifically white privilege.

Antonov encouraged the expantion of the scope of the document to move beyond strict discussions of race.

Kimball said that the resolution should remain as open ended as possible, but also pledge CSA's commitment to continue working on it. Not only in relation to NSW but also RAD and Pre-frosh trips. He also brought up the distinction between students of color and black students.

Ali said that perhaps it should be changed to marginalized students.

Alspach felt that the term "white privilege" implies guilt upon the incoming class, and perhaps should be left out.

Kenney commented that the senate should support the section about RAD. He moved to change the wording to "marginalized" because it hopefully more accurately addresses the problems on campus, be they race, economic, or otherwise.

Stephens felt that the focus of the document was race, and so the term marginalized should be defined.

Kenney amendment to "marginalized student, specifically students of color"

Smith felt that the text of the document should not be combative, but issues of white privilege should be addressed.

Walker felt that for the resolution to truly have meaning, it should be applied to CSA as well. He moved to add an additional clause which would include CSA.

Stephens added that part of the issue is being able to speak without imagining where your comments are coming from. He moved to change the document to require mandatory training for NSW leaders but be open ended in regard to NSW itself.

Boller felt that by including talk of white privilege, the document was in some ways implying that white privlege is the cause of low retention rates and didn't feel comfortable supporting that judgement.

Antonov recommended a change to majority privilege, but Stephens did not agree.

Kimball felt that the resolution should be as general as possible.

Ali said that some people in the room did not truly understand white privilege. She felt that NSW could give some introduction but to truly understand will take much longer.

Weinstein pointed out that white privilege training can be very tactful and does not have to be abrasive.

Schirmer said she felt that the RAD should handle these issues, and added that CSA should consider doing white privilege training.

Rae agreed with Ali that white privilege was the key issue being addressed. Majority privilege is a topic felt around the world but in the US white privilege should be the focus.

The document was approved with 17 in favor and 2 abstentions. The full resolution can be found here.

Senator Updates

Career Center
There is a discussion of creating a new email system which would alert students to topics they are interested in. They are also discussing a phone banking to seek internships instead of money.

Wellness Center Review
The Wellness Center Review consists of three parts. There are two external reviewers coming on 22nd and 23rd to carry out a review, Dean Wagner is leading a risk management/insurance review, and the Wellness Center is carrying out a self-study. There are students, staff, and faculty sitting on internal review committee.

Senators Bharucha and Turovsky are also interested in bringing a medical vending machine onto campus.

ECC

The Education and Curriculum Committee has a meeting coming up to discuss the RAD requirement, part of the ongoing curricular review.

College Council
The College Council is reviewing and making changes to the sustainability code of conduct. They have also approved a new college committee which will focus on the geographical layout of college.

Admissions and Financial Aid Committee
AFAC is discussing possibilities for increasing the yield of minority students. Students who visit overwhelmingly come here. How can Carleton get minority students here? Perhaps subsidizing more visits by minority students and conferences with professors will help.

Freshmen Experience
The Freshmen Experience task force has plans to revisit the themes of NSW later in the year, for example through the study breaks.

Campus Activities Director Interviews
There is a new campus activities director candidate, CSA senators will be participating in the interviews.

Sayles Revitalization Project
A group of students is working with interior designer hired by the college to improve Sayles. Changes discussed include: changing the lighting, new carpets, more outlets, new furniture in Upper Sayles, and moving the pool tables to the other side of the room.

They are presenting to the trustees this week, Capital Investments and Priorities committee will be making the final decision.

Board of Trustees Meeting

Student Loans
CSA senators Cole and Barclay will be meeting with the trustees to discuss student loans. Before 1993, admissions were entirely need blind. This system proved too expensive for the college.

Currently, admissions accepts 1000 students. 800 of those are need blind and 200 grouped into buckets ranging from high income to low income. Students from low income buckets can be swapped for high income students. For the class to 2012, no students were swapped.

This system is an economic necessity at the moment. The results of the system are that if you are on the cusp of getting in and a you're a low income student, it is much harder for you to get in than if you are a high income student.

Access Scholarship a response to efforts from other colleges to reduce loans and increase grants. The purpose of the meeting will be to let the trustees know that the student body is fully behind these intitiatives. One initiative would be to ask that the financial aid office subsidize Club Sports fees.

There is currently a downward trend of percentage of students who are applying for financial aid.

Officer Meeting with Trustees
The CSA officers have a meeting with the board of trustees coming up, where they will be asking for a student member on the board of trustees. The student member would give trustees student input on the issues being discussed. CSA will also be requesting a voting member on the Student Affairs committee as well as observers on the following committes: Buildings and Grounds, Enrollment and Admissions, and Academic Affairs.

Trustees vote on a number of sensitive issues which might not be appropriate for students/faculty to witness, so it may not be possible to get a student representative on the general assembly.

Ritter thanked Kenney for putting all the research together regarding student members and trustees in other colleges.

There will also be an update on the business of the CSA senate including the resolution discussed at the meeting tonight.

For questions or corrections to the minutes, contact CSA secretary Robert Martin, martirob@carleton.edu