The GSU started by reviewing and updating business from last week, namely that liaison to the faculty was not approved; Douglas and Natalie went to the capitol on Thursday and handed out petitions to senators; and Wash-PIRG achieved their goal of obtaining signatures from 40% of the student body to allow them to be placed on the ballot in the upcoming election.
During public comments, Toni from Wash-PIRG spoke on the student initiative to ban the bottle and implications for this year’s graduation. In order to make sure bottled water is not necessary, Toni and others are working to get a grant from the CEC to provide water stations and compostable cups at graduation. Toni also asked for volunteers from the GSU to help with the water stations pending the approval of the grant and several representatives voiced interest. Forest of Wash-PIRG also had some clarifying questions on election policy, most notably that Wash-PIRG is not permitted to set up their own polling station but they are welcome to walk around laptops and encourage students to vote; the GSU also encouraged Wash-PIRG to impose a spending limit on their campaign to put themselves on the same level as candidates who are running.
The GSU considered several proposals to put items on the ballot such as amendments the constitution and bylaws.
First, the GSU considered a measure opposing the Citizen’s United decision by the supreme court. Of concern was the possibility of alienating students (current and potential) by asking the student body to take a position on the issue, and by extension the college (a similar resolution is currently working its way through the faculty, Forest said). Several representatives argued that corporate personhood is a less politically charged issue and that putting it on the ballot would do more to educate students then to alienate those leaning to a particular political side. The GSU passed a motion to put such a measure on the ballot with more precise and bipartisan wording along with significant historical context so that students know what they are endorsing.
Second, the GSU approved an amendment to election policy, specifically Article V, addressing the issue of maintaining a high number of representatives throughout the year and giving all potential candidates access and education to pursue election.
Amendment to Article V of the GSU Bylaws
For: The occupation of vacant seats within the Geoduck Student Union
Currently, when a seat in the GSU becomes vacant, it is filled by students who applied for the position and were not elected in the most recent election. With a string of resignations and an inability to contact applicants, the GSU has in the past lacked adequate representation. This amendment would allow Evergreen students to petition for a seat on the GSU if the student union is unable to make contact with those who applied during the election or if they are unwilling to commit to the responsibilities of a student union representative.
If the GSU cannot reach any of the applicants after having sent at least one email to their Evergreen Webmail account and one call to their cellphone with voicemail, any student of the Evergreen State College may fill a vacant seat upon the presentation of a petition bearing a number of signatures in support of their candidacy equal to or greater than the number of votes cast for the candidate with the least votes in the prior election. A grace period of one week shall be granted to election applicants after having attempted to contact them through the aforementioned mediums. Vacant positions will be listed immediately following the one week grace period on TESCcrier.
The GSU also considered a suggestion to amend Article VIII of the bylaws to change regulations on decision making from requiring a 2/3 majority to a simple majority. Considering the fact that this year’s GSU has only failed to conduct business via 2/3 majority—which was in the appointment of Liaison to Board of Trustees (7/15 to 6/15, 2 abstentions) and Liaison to Faculty Agenda Committee (6/15 to 4/15, with 4 abstentions) at the first GSU meeting, 9/26/12—the GSU decided to uphold the current version of Article VIII.
The GSU addressed a plethora of ongoing projects:
1. Donald, Ryan, Sebastiano, Natalie, and Paige volunteered to sit on the Student Trustee hiring committee to review applications, conduct interviews with applicants, and present the top three preferences to the governor. The candidates will be notified in the next two days and interviews will be scheduled between 5pm and 7pm on Friday.
2. The Idea Paint has arrived and putting it up in the HCC will be affected within a week or two as soon as the GSU has heard back from Julia Rose on the state of the HCC walls and whether they require sanding. Most GSU representatives agreed to help with the process either this weekend or the next.
3. Stefan, Brendan, Doug, Tyler, and Donald volunteered to sit on the CEC hiring committee along with Scott Morgan who will be advising. The committee is charged with narrowing down the list of applicants to two per position and then conducting interviews and selecting the new members for the 2013-2014 year.
4. The GSU approved the idea of amending the election timeline for new student fees—specifically an amendment to Section 3 of New Election & Voting Policy (this does not need to be put on the ballot)—to push it forward from weeks 8 and 9 of spring to the same time in winter quarter so as to give Steve Trotter enough time to draw up a report and bring the new fees to the board of trustees for approval in June. The only cost of making the change would be paying for two additional election commissioner positions to serve during winter quarter. This policy change will not affect current fees (Wash-PIRG) on the ballot but would likely affect their renewal in two years’ time.
5. Sebastiano, Jasmine, Paige, Stefan, and Hesham volunteered to help move the gender-neutral bathrooms initiative forward by meeting with John Hurly (and Paul Smith) and working with RAD services on the possible RCWs and building codes at play.
6. On setting up a review committee for the fee process at Evergreen, efforts have moved forward with John Carmichael and Art Cosentino. John Carmichael and Tyler will be chairing the committee, and we will know more next week and bring it back for GSU to volunteer greater assistance moving forward.
7. Douglas and Sebastiano volunteered to help with advancement (of the college) by way of expanding fundraising and other avenues; working with Lee Holman and Amanda Walker on this issue.
8. Douglas, Sebastiano, Brendan, Stefan volunteered to work on matters surrounding the CEC’s goals and especially focusing on figuring out a long-term solution to the bus pass program. As it stands there are two choices: with raise the bus pass fee which would create a significant buffer to further increases, or get the CEC to supplement the program and do more with it by merging the two entities together.
9. After speaking to the management of California Taco Truck and administrators on campus such as Sharon Goodman and Collin Orr, the GSU is ready to move forward with the plan to bring the taco truck on to campus one or more times within the next month. The work now is to figure out times and manage advertising and additional logistics. The GSU will also be putting together a way to survey the people who turn out to use the taco truck as well as statistics for revenue projection and gauging student input and suggestions for the future. Tyler, Douglas, Hesham, and Stefan volunteered to help on this initiative.
10. The GSU plans to continue a lecture series. Ryan Bresentes found 5 more interested faculty and other representatives are looking into getting local politicians from both sides of isle in to talk as well.
11. All representatives were urged to work on outreach/recruitment for GSU representatives, WSA liaison, S&A board, and CEC members for 2013-2014 year.
12. Finally, the GSU passed a motion to create and place on the ballot a survey of student opinion on smoking and tobacco policy to advise the Health and Safety Committee.