WestCo is off the hook; Free shuttle to the bus stop

Today the Undergraduate Residential Life Committee (URLC) held its last meeting of the semester. We spent a few minutes setting priorities for the spring, such as finding an alternative to the unpopular Common Area Damage policy. If there's damage to your dorm and nobody owns up to it, then all the residents have to pay up. That's unfair, and the WSA is trying to change it.

But the majority of the meeting was spent discussing the proposal to cut WestCo down to three buildings (from four), which you may have read about on Wesleying. While the committee had some serious issues with some WestCo residents choosing to live there because they see it as an easy way to get on Foss Hill (as opposed to their dedication to community-based living), we ultimately voted against recommending the proposal to the Student Life Committee (a majority-student committee which has the final say in the matter). The vote on the proposal was two in favor, three opposed, and four abstentions, so the discussion isn't over completely. In the spring, the URLC will talk about how WestCo can improve their program's appeal, and is looking forward to seeing their revised mission statement. Nevertheless, I can safely move WestCo off the HITLIST and put it under ACCOMPLISHMENTS!

(A word on the URLC: It's a student-majority committee of RAs, WSA reps, and administrators such as the Directors of Reslife and Physical Plant and the Associate Dean of Student Services. Through the URLC/SLC, students can have the final say in practically any matter relating to Residential Life if they have the right representatives on the committee.)

...

In other news, you may have seen an all campus email today from the WSA outlining a free shuttle service that we set up with help from SAFT. In case you missed it:

The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) has been working this semester with the Student Advocates for Transportation (SAFT) to provide to students more and better options for getting off campus. We are pleased to announce a new service that will make it easier and cheaper for students to get home via New Haven and Hartford this Winter Break.

On the mornings of Monday, December 17 to Thursday, December 20, a FREE shuttle service will be transporting students to the commuter parking lot on Country Club Road, about 10 minutes away from Wesleyan. From there, DATTCO operates a direct service to New Haven and Hartford for $4.35 one-way.

The shuttle departs from in front of Usdan at 8am, in time to arrive for the 8:15 departure to New Haven and the 8:30 departure to Hartford. No reservations are required.

The usual services to Bradley Airport and the New Haven train station will continue to run as scheduled. Please see http://www.wesleyan.edu/transportation/bradley_shuttle.html and http://www.wesleyan.edu/transportation/newhaven_shuttle.html for details.

We hope this service will be of assistances as you get your travel plans in order. If you have any questions, please call Transportation Services at (860) 685-3788. Otherwise, feel free to email any of us with your comments and suggestions for how to improve Wesleyan's transportation services.

The Wesleyan Student Assembly - New Haven Shuttle Committee

Saul Carlin '09
Cesar Medina '09
Andrea Neustein '08
Melgily Valdez '09

We're also closer than ever to lowering the price of the New Haven Shuttle and expanding its hours. Right now they're kind of ridiculous - who wants to wait until 6pm on Friday to leave campus? Even worse, who wants to get up early on Sunday so they can catch the 2pm shuttle back?

Also, ZipCar is moving forward at a steady pace.

More on transportation later...

12/9 Committee Reports!

Prepared by WSA Coordinator Izaak Orlansky '08 and the Committee Chairs.

WSA Committee Reports for the weeks of

Dec 2 – Dec 9 2007

Highlights

1. Community Outreach Committee (COCo) discussed ways to protect students through the new camera policy in the Public Safety Advisory Committee.
2. Educational Policy Committee (EPC) is getting ready to meet with President Roth at the next EPC meeting.
3. Executive Committee (EC) has no highlight.
4. Finance and Facilities Committee (FiFaC) had a delicious dinner at La Boca on Thursday. The Molten Lava Cake was scrumptious.
5. Organization and External Affairs (OEAC) worked really hard on getting competitive elections and preparing to get out the vote.
6. Student Affairs Committee (SAC) is happy to see that funding was approved for a new part-time therapist at the Office of Behavioral Health Services.
7. Student Budget Committee (SBC) again remained under its $13,000 guideline for weekly spending.



Community Outreach Committee (COCo)

1. Meeting with Leadership Development Intern

Inslee met with Rebecca Chavez and brainstormed a lot of great ideas for facilitating communication between groups starting next semester.

2. Wesleyan’s Sexual Assault Policy

Natasha is contacting the Student Health Advisory Committee and the peer health advisors, Darien is contacting the Yale Crisis Center to hear about their procedures. We’ll set up meetings with the Deans when we get back.

3. 190 High Update

190 High is ACTUALLY almost ready. We have 2 delinquents who don’t have their keys, but will by the end of next week. Cesar and Inslee met with the UOC: they’ll move in during the spring or summer.


Educational Policy Committee (EPC)

1. President Roth to visit the EPC

President Roth will be attending this Monday’s meeting of the student/faculty EPC. He will be discussing some of his ideas for changes to the Wesleyan academic experience, including a possible “capstone experience” for seniors, a re-evaluation of students’ first year experience, and possible thematic groupings of courses. The student EPC will continue to brainstorm about these changes and plans to take a proactive role in making any changes.

2. Curricular Change

The student EPC continues to assemble a list of possible changes to the Wesleyan curriculum, which so far is primarily focused on enlarging pre-existing or creating new programs of study. This is part of an effort to identify “gaps” in the Wesleyan curriculum.

3. Online Course Evalauations

The possible switch to online course evaluations will be voted on by the full faculty at this Tuesday’s faculty meeting. The student/faculty EPC has recommended the switch, but the final decision lies with the faculty as a whole.

4. Issues for the Spring

Looking forward, the EPC discussed several issues to be addressed in the Spring. Highlights include

• the role of the Committee on International Study, which purportedly provides oversight of the OIS (this is Alex’s pet issue)


• how to better make use of course clusters (Sam's pet issue)


• allowing graduate students to register for undergraduate classes through WesMaps
  
• the creation of both student and faculty advisee/advisor handbooks

Executive Committee (EC)

1. Social Justice Day Planning Committee

Social Justice Day Planning Committee met again this past Tuesday and set an ambitious agenda for the day. Among the items discussed were the scope of the day, the application process, and the need to set clear goals to advertise as much as possible. Subcommittees are being formed and will do work during winter break.

2. Dean of the College Discussion

A meeting is being set up with President Michael Roth to discuss the Dean of the College and a possible search next semester.

Finances and Facilities Committee (FiFaC)

1. Transportation Committee

In the last few weeks President Roth, Vice President and Secretary Peter Patton, and Public Safety director Dave Meyer have shown their support for expanding transportation options at Wes. Unfortunately, Transportation Services Manager Marcello Curridori shot most of the Transportation Committee’s ideas down, claiming that there was not enough funding available. The Transportation Committee is hoping to work out the kinks in the next few weeks and get the funds to make their plans happen.

2. Dining

The Dining Committee had its last meeting of the semester. Bon Appetit treated us to a sample of their catering – yummy fruits and cheeses! Some of the things we discussed:

• Starting next semester, Bon Appetit will be purchasing grab-and-go packaging from Bio Mass, a producer of sustainable, biodegradable, and compostable packaging. Check out the Adobe document attached to the committee report email – it’s got BioMass’ answers to FAQ.


• Union Steward Sue Silvestro told us that the AFC sushi workers submitted papers to join the union.


• Last Sunday’s meager dinner in the Marketplace was caused by the last-minute failure of the pizza oven. Unfortunately Bon Appetit did not have enough time to prepare more food to accomodate the 300+ people who usually eat pizza.


• We pushed Bon Appetit to make Summerfields a better venue, because it’s been lacking lately. We’re hoping to see more creative meal options by next semester.


• It’s what you’ve all been waiting for – plans for Late Night Karaoke are in the works.


• The ice cream machine is broken, but hang in there, they’re working on fixing it. Until then you’ll have to settle for that strawberry frozen yogurt…

3. Business Continuity Committee (BCC)

The BCC met and began the early stages of a plan to compile a comprehensive list of all the student EMTs on campus, in hopes that they will all get them qualified for NIMS (the National Incident Management System, developed by the Department for Homeland Security). They also discussed various emergency preparedness plans. Brian has more details.

4. Upcoming Meetings

• The Molecular and Life Sciences Building Committee will be having their final Schematic Design meeting next Thursday. Following the meeting there will be an open meeting for faculty (3-4:30 in Shanklin 107)


• The Sustainability Committee will be meeting on Monday.


• The Code Compliance Board is still trying to schedule a meeting that everyone can make. Oy.

5. And finally…

Melgily is leaving FiFaC next semester to go abroad. We’re going to miss you!!

Organization and External Affairs Committee (OEAC)

1. Winter Elections

The Elections Committee and OEAC ran a great elections week. Here are the participation numbers:

Election # voting % Last equiv. election % Record (year) %
FROSH 208 28.4% 308 42.0% 328 (Fall ‘06) 44.7%
AT-LARGE 745 37.3% 418 24.4% 2007 record!
SBC 895 33.1% 660 24.4% 938 34.7%
SURVEY 721 26.7% 521 19.3% 2007 record!

* OEAC will present a report on the survey results at one of the first few WSA meetings in the spring.

2. Camera policy in WSA meetings

After last week’s meeting, OEAC and any other interested WSA members will be crafting a policy on using cameras in assembly meetings that will both address the open nature of the meeting space and respect guests’ wishes.

3. Thank yous

An official-ish thank you for all the hard work done by those WSA members who will not be with us next semester:

• Alec Coquin ‘08


• JZ Golden ’08


• Morgan McCray ‘10


• Jayvan Mitchell ‘11


• Vignatha Reddy ‘11


• Miriam Rosenau ‘11


• Jessie Schiewe ‘10


• Melgily Valdez ‘09

Student Affairs Committee (SAC)

1. Undergraduate Residential Life Committee (URLC)

• The URLC voted to approve Program House evaluations as recommended by Residential Life.


• Two WestCo Presidents came to the URLC to discuss the issue of Foss Hill distribution. The WestCo Presidents discussed the importance of maintaining WestCo in its current form. The Committee will vote on the issue on Tuesday.

2. Student Life Committee (SLC)

• Some of the new money requests have come in – the part time therapist at the Office of Behavioral Health Servces will be funded. The new money request for First Year Matters and Orientation is still pending. The SLC will try to set funding priorities on Thursday.


• Dave Winakor (University counsel) offered a counter-proposal for the Political Speakers Policy. The SLC will discuss, and hopefully resolve, the issue on Thursday.


• The SLC will also discuss any recommendations made by the URLC.

3. Fire Safeety

Mike sat in on both Fire Safety seminars on Tuesday and Wednesday (Fludie joined him on Wednesday). Students were thrilled to have an opportunity to get $100 of their fine for one hour of their time. Twenty-three students came in total.

4. Other SAC stuff

Preliminary meetings are being set up and taking place regarding the EMT program.

Student Budget Committee (SBC)

1. Argus accounting

Gianna spoke with the Argus's business manager, Andrea Mak, about presenting an end of the semester spending report sometime during reading week

2. SBC paperwork

SBC paperwork was slowed, as Lisa Hendrix was out sick for the week.

3. SBC privileges

Gianna enjoyed one of her first SBC-affiliated perks as she got into Orquestre Fiebre for free on Friday night. (The person taking money at the door recognized her as having allocated funds for the event.)

12/9 General Assembly Liveblog!

7:14 Delmar is proposing switching to all-you-care-to-eat at lunchtime. He recognizes that students have had trouble getting balanced meals for the a-la-carte prices. Bon Appetit will be able to do more cooking and provide a greater variety if they switch to a full board operation.

7:15 Stations will have to change.

7:16 The change would necessitate an expansion of the downstairs cafe grab-and-go options. Moving upstairs coolers to provide more retail space and installing a heated pizza case, soups, chili.

7:18 The discussion has been opened to the assembly.

7:19 Sami Pop '11 asked about pricing - is it going to be cheaper than dinner, and flat all across the board? Delmar says the price will be $7.50 for entry, regardless of whether you're getting Vegan, Mongolian, etc.

7:20 Jen Liebschutz '11 asked about grab-and-go packaging. In the long term, it will all be sustainable packaging. Delmar says it takes time to get set up with the vendor.

7:22 Allison Quantz '10 suggested making plates available for sandwiches downstairs to prevent packaging waste, since people might be sitting down for their meals in the cafe.

7:22 Candace Buckner '09 asked if there will be to-go packaging upstairs. Delmar said most likely not, but they are considering a system where you leave your ID at the door for 10 minutes t fill up your plate.

7:24 Julien Burns '10 stressed the need to make sure that diners can really take all they care to eat. Delmar said there's a huge amount of food waste and they're trying to control for that.

7:25 AJ Chan '11 asked if options would be changed. Delmar said you will have the same options but more rotation.

7:26 Karl Grindal '09 asked Delmar to address the concern that lines would be longer. Delmar said they are looking at setting up a kiosk to help with this.

7:29 Izaak Orlansky '08 expressed the concern that some seniors have with being forced to pay $7.50 for lunch. He suggested charging by weight to address waste. Delmar said that would probably not go over well.

7:30 Matthew Ball '08 asked if the change would affect staffing. Delmar said with less cashiers, you can have more people cooking.

7:31 Mike Pernick '10 asked Delmar to confirm that sushi will move upstairs. Delmar clarified that it's being prepared in a new location, but still sold downstairs. He also asked if all the changes could be put in place by the end of January. Delmar is confident that it can.

7:32 Melgily Valdez '09 asked Delmar to elaborate on why Bon Appetit is proposing this change, in light of possible criticism. Delmar said that it was set up the way it is because students had asked for more point-based options, but it just hasn't worked - people have been struggling financially.

7:35 Jen Liebschutz '11 proposed putting a menu downstairs so that students would know ahead of time where they should eat.

7:35 Cesar Medina '09 pointed out that 3 meals per day will still cost about $20, which is much more than we have available. Delmar said that with all-you-care-to-eat, you can get more bang for your buck. Cesar suggested looking at options like at Case Western that mix a la carte and all-you-care-to-eat.

7:37 Alex Halpern-Levy '08 said there is a noticeable difference in quality between lunch and dinner. How can we be assured that lunch won't get worse the way dinner is? Delmar said since it's all cheaper, the savings will lead to quality improvements in both meals.

7:39 Becky Weiss '10 suggested making dinner cheaper, but Delmar said that instead you'll see more meats and better options. Becky reminded Delmar not to forget about vegans and vegetarians.

7:40 Izaak Orlansky '08 asked if Delmar has run the numbers on students savings. He has, and will provide them to the WSA.

7:42 Natasha Newman '09 expressed concern that all-you-care-to-eat will increase food waste. Delmar said that students need to be disciplined, but if they are satisfied with lunch they will be less hungry at dinner.

7:43 Matthew Ball '08 asked what will be upstairs that you won't be able to get without paying $7.50, i.e. what won't be available downstairs. You'd miss out on Classics, Mongolian, etc but it can be packaged if it's popular. There is lots of flexibility for expanding the cafe.

7:46 Dean Rick commented on the dining survey from earlier in the semester, which indicated that students were happier with Bon Appetit than Aramark. There were still some issues with pricing in particular, which could be addressed by moving to all-you-care-to-eat by providing more options for spending meals, limiting the cost of lunch (no more $14 lunch).

7:46 Candace Buckner '09 repeated the concern with the lack of to-go options for upstairs food. Delmar wants to be able to provide that but is concerned that there's no acceptable solution from a security standpoint.

7:49 Mike Pernick '10 asked if Delmar had figures on the amount of people who request to-go containers at lunch. It's very small. Mike also asked what difference between dinner and lunch justifies the $1.75 price difference. It's based on meat availability - solid meats are more traditional for dinner than lunch. Also, that price difference supports monotony breakers and prime nights which Bon Appetit wants to work in.

7:51 Dean Rick pointed out that the prices are based off of Aramark's prices at Mocon.

7:52 Karl Grindal '09 asked if the $1.75 could also be applied to improving vegetarian options at dinner as well. He also expressed concern that vegans are being pushed into Kosher and using plastic disposable plates.

7:53 Gianna Palmer '10 asked Delmar to compare Wesleyan's food waste to other schools. Delmar said we just got scales in to measure that, so we don't know yet. They'll be set up in the spring. Gianna is looking forward to having those numbers because people don't realize how much they're wasting.

7:54 Melgily Valdez '09 asked why lunch has to be all-you-care-to-eat for people who are on all points and can't choose to pay with meals. Delmar said he is just responding to the students. Matt Ball '09 added that the downstairs cafe would provide an option like Davenport.

7:57 Joanna asked if the vegetables and fruits in the display cases were thrown out afterwards, and whether that would be rethought. Delmar said a few cases of fruit were over ordered for Homecoming, but otherwise fruit and vegetables haven't been going to waste.

7:59 Cesar Medina '09 asked if the times would be changed. Delmar said since nobody comes in at 11, maybe they will change it to start at 11:30. Cesar asked if Delmar thought that the points were adequate. He does.

8:00 Sami Pop '11 asked when students could change their meal plans. Dean Rick said it coincides with Drop/Add.

8:01 Darien Combs '11 asked if this would be instituted as a trial period or for the entire semester. Delmar said it will be a semester long trial.

8:01 Julien Burns '10 asked why Bon Appetit has such a focus on limiting what's available to students. Are they not given enough money? Delmar responded by saying that the change would essentially allow students to get more food. "I'm here to feed you. Then we make money maybe down the road."

8:03 The discussion was closed, and a motion has been made for a straw poll.

8:04 17 in favor, 7 opposed, 7 abstaining. The Ayes have it.

12/9 General Assembly Agenda - Delmar Crim!

Want to talk to Delmar about dining? Come on down, Usdan 108 at 7pm. This is your chance to get involved in the decision whether to change lunch at the Marketplace from a-la-carte to all-you-care-to-eat.

Agenda courtesy of the Coordinator, Izaak Orlansky '08:

I. Roll Call
II. Fight Song
III. Approval of Minutes from Last Week
IV. Open Forum
V. Agenda Item 1: Dining concerns and a discussion on all-you-care-to-eat
lunch at Usdan? (presentation and Q&A by Bon Appetit Manager Delmar Crim)
VI. Committee Reports
VII. New Business and Announcements

P.S. Check out BioMass, the new Earth-friendly plates and utensils that will be coming in for next semester.

Election and Survey Results

In case you didn't see Justin's post on Wesleying, here are the winners of the 2008 Winter Elections:

Student Budget Committee:
Gianna Palmer, Jared Keller, Charles Kurose, Anna Chang, Johanne Lin

At-Large Reps:
Allison Quantz, Karl Grindal, Benedict Bernstein, Kathy Stavis, Robert Chris Goy

Frosh Reps:
Jen Liebschutz, Elise Rosenthal, Fludiona Naka

Of course, there was a strong showing for Giant Joint in all three races.

Some immediate reactions:

-Gianna Palmer '10's decisive reelection is a clear thumbs-up for her "kinder, gentler" SBC. Kudos to Gianna for using the internets to win over the student body with her popular online funding request system.

-Chris Goy '09's victory validates his interesting decision to eschew the 150-word candidate statement, which he said in the Argus "is anything but an indication of how somebody will perform". But it would be interesting to see if someone less prolific would have the same success with a "No BS" campaign.

-Props to the Frosh for filling all their seats.

-Turnout was ENORMOUS! See what competitive elections can do? Ok, winning candidates, now let's see if you can keep your supporters engaged with campus politics next semester. Don't worry, you'll have my help.

Comments on the perhaps more interesting survey results to come.

2008 Winter Elections - 2 days left to VOTE!

If you haven't yet voted in the Winter 2008 WSA Elections, there's still time. The polls close at 11:59 PM on Friday night, so make sure to visit the WSA homepage before it's too late. Don't put it off until Friday night - you don't want to get disenfranchised by your drunken stupor...

It seems this time around that Wesleyan students might actually care who gets elected to the WSA. Thanks to OEAC (the Organization and External Affairs Committee)'s publicity drive, not only do people know there's an election going on, but they even know who's running in it.

Does that mean more people are going to vote? One thing that might get in the way is some confusion surrounding the three different elections. A few people have mentioned that they don't feel comfortable voting to fill a position they have no idea about. One person was so perplexed by the SBC election that he just threw his vote away on a random write-in. So, without further ado, here's your

Handy-Dandy 2008 Winter Election Guide!

There are 13 open seats this election:

• 3 Frosh reps
  
• 5 At-large reps (upper classes)
• 5 SBC members
  

Frosh and At-Large are pretty self-explanatory. Class reps get to run in internal elections for an open seat on one of the WSA's all-powerful standing committees. Once in the WSA, it doesn't matter whether you're a Frosh Rep or an At-Large Rep - anybody is eligible to run for a committee seat. The distinction is only during elections to guarantee that Frosh are represented.

The SBC election is different, which is a potential source of confusion. The Student Budget Committee opens up a majority of its seats to direct election by the student body every winter to ensure that its members are held accountable. This extra layer of accountability is critical because the SBC allocates the Student Activities Fee to recognized student groups on campus; since everybody pays this fee, there needs to be a way for students outside of the WSA to take control of it midway through the year if they feel like it's being abused or mismanaged. We're talking about the well over $700,000 which Spring Fling, the Argus, WESU, Second Stage and pretty much every other student group/activity depend on.

Now that you know why the election's run the way it is, go out and vote!