The Geoduck Student Union

Agenda for Tuesday November 17th, 2015
Tacoma Campus Visit
4:30 Introductions (this will be not only for us but also the students who show up) Jeff
4:40 Approve/make changes to the agenda. Approve last week’s minutes
4:41 Public Comments (Past Tacoma trips have been much more of a seminar than an organized meeting. A chair isn’t really necessary for a seminar.)
5:20 Check-ins
5:30 Update on Board of trustees (this could come up sooner during the seminar with students)
5:40 Update on Chairs Meeting with George, Wendy and Andy
5:50 Discuss Next Meeting
5:55 Goals for the year
5:59 Create Agenda
6:00 Adjourn

For more information:

www.facebook.com/tescgsu

Wednesday 11/04/2015

Absent: Anne Belson, Lupe

Chair: Alex

Approve Agenda: Approved

Approve Meeting Minutes: Approved

Public Comments

WashPIRG

• Campaign to pass 122 in Seattle
• Initiative Passed
• Limits spending and contributions to individual candidates

Emily-Dunn Wilder-Student Trustees

• Emily had a board orientation on Monday.
• The administration is interested in more student involvement with committees
• Emily and George Bridges will be meeting with students to get feedback on academics.
• George Bridges is interested in attending a GSU meeting. Alex will contact him.
• Emily Dunn-Wilder will start posting onto Greener Commons in order to connect with students.
• Top priority is to improve communication with students and improving Greener Commons

Check-In’s:

Jeff

• 1366 initiative passed
• Important for the GSU to write a statement to the legislative to specify that the legislative should not get rid of tuition cuts
• Jeff will create a draft
• Send out an email of the WSA agenda
• Alex is interested in holding a vote to approve the 4 voting WSA members
• Jeff will bring a list of candidates on Monday

Rhianna

• Rhianna and Jeff met with Kelly Schrader
• Kelly Schrader is interested in attended a GSU meeting

Alex

• Meeting with Wendy Endres and the President on Tuesday
• Requesting the Bias Response Team to send out a campus email
• Let Alex know before Tuesday if there is anything he should mention during the meetings

Tom

• Retreat is this weekend
• Students will meeting in C parking lot on Thursday

Tacoma Check-In

• Unable to present the budget proposal to the S&A Tacoma board

Election Commissioner Interviews

• The GSU interviewed Ryan
• Motion to interview Ryan today and select candidate on Monday (does not pass)
• Ryan was a previous GSU representative
• Ryan’s schedule could potentially focus on Weekend and Evening Studies
• The GSU further discussed whether or not they should hire Ryan today, or wait until Monday to make a decision.
• Motion to vote for the final Election Commissioner Position on Monday (approved)

Greener Organization Meeting

• The GO is interested in creating connections with the GSU and upper campus
• Collaborating on forums and events
• GO has the ability to get rights of movies before their on Dvd.
• GO meetings are on Wednesdays at 5 PM
• The GO can assist with Civic Engagement Week

“Free the Nipple” Legislation

• Jeff review free the nipple legislative
• City of Olympia: 15% of registered voters to sign a petition
• Thurston County policies dictate the policies of The Evergreen State College
• Passing the “free the nipple” campaign in Thurston County would be very challenging
• However, there can be a campaign to have The Evergreen State College be apart of City of Olympia.
• Tom mentioned to find an advocate in the city council to work with the GSU.

Go over and vote on WLM response

• Motion to approve the GSU response to the WLM posters (approve)

• The GSU can published the letter into the Cooper Point Journal

Faculty Meeting

• Mac will be bringing the official WLM posters to the faculty meeting.
• S&A Decoupling

Would you like to make a difference at The Evergreen State College? Are you looking for leadership opportunities and/or care for the well-being of our Evergreen community? Do you want certain things to change? Your Gʷídəq Student Union is an active body that listens to students, proactively perceives campus concerns, and works to improve the welfare of all students, present and future, creating an Evergreen we can all be proud of. The GSU is looking for passionate individuals to run for elections towards the end of Fall term! For the 2015-2016 academic year, you get to work with other incredible representatives in making a positive change for our school. Click this link for the application.

Applications are due on November 9th, at 5:00 PM, in Student Activities office located in the CAB, or submit an electronic copy to elections@evergreen.edu. 

GSU Rep Application 2016 (1)

Wednesday 10/28/2015

Chair: Anne Belson

Public Comments:

Tyler Bieber

• announced that he will be running for GSU position

Emily Dunn-Wilder

• New Student Trustee
• Interested in speaking with GSU reps

Tom

• SLARS are due today
• Bus will arrive at 2:15 PM at Parking lot C on Thursday
• Reminded the GSU that they have a Code of Conduct and that personal attacks are not allowed. Representatives should critique the issues and not the person
• Tom will hire an off-campus facilitator (Thurston County Dispute Resolution)
• Anne volunteered to type up the Code of Conduct

Approve Agenda:

• Added a discussion topic of conflict resolution to the agenda (approved).

Approve Minutes: Approved

Check-ins

Alex met with George Bridges

• George Bridges will not lower the acceptance rate
• interested in increasing retention rate
• more activity on Red Square
• George Bridges will meet with the GSU once every quarter
• Monday, December 7th (Week 10)
• Alex will meet with George every month
• Wendy posted the #whitelivesmatter fliers response from the bias response team early this morning

Mac

• went to faculty meeting
• He mentioned the #whitelivesmatter fliers, professors holding class during governance hours
• Faculty asked when the GSU make the response to the #whitelivesmatter fliers to bring a copy to the faculty. They are interested in signing the GSU response.
• Last 8 years, Evergreen has lost 40 full time faculty
• Debriefing on the teach in

Tacoma Check-ins

• A few people are interested in running as the Tacoma GSU reps
• Will be attending the Tacoma S&A board

Discussion and Voting on Emails

• create .edu emails for certain GSU positions (President, Vice-President, Budget, Governmental Liaison)
• Everyone would have access to these emails, but would be unable to send out emails unless you are that specific position.
• The GSU will set up guidelines for the use of these emails

1. Anyone who is not in the listed position will only be able to view the email accounts.
2. If an email is not specifically geared for that position, then it will be forwarded to GSUrep@gmail.com.
3. Violations will be discussed at the following meeting
4. Active only during term of office

Names for .edu addresses

GSUchair@

GSUvicechair@

GSUGOVliaison@

GSUbudget@

Motioned to approve email names (not approved).

Election Commissioners (scheduling interviews)

• Schedule 3 applicants to interview at Monday’s meeting

Robert Lasker interview for WSA position

• Transfer student in the business program
• Applied for the WSA liaison position and GSU rep
• President at pierce college
• Appointed to the delegate for the Washington Community and Technical College
• In-depth experience with the legislative and advocating for students

Move to appoint Robert Lasker as the WSA liaison (approved).

Parking Passes for Veterans

• The VA does not pay for parking

• Alex will speak with Andy to determine how many veterans are paying for parking passes.
• The GSU agrees that Veterans should receive parking passes.
• Student groups could potentially be against this motion.

Bias Related Incident Response Team Appointment

• Alex is technically not the elected student rep for the Bias Related Incident Response Team
• Motion to approve Alex as one of the representatives to the Bias Related Incident Response Team (approved).
• Move to approve Mac as the second representative to the Bias Related Incident Response Team (approved).

The GSU will need to do more outreach to fill empty GSU representatives positions.

Response to Fliers

Mac will email Naima Lowe to confirm the White Lives Matter fliers around downtown.

The GSU did not finished the response to the fliers, as there was not a general agreement on the message of the fliers.

⅔ requirement for all votes to be valid. AKA. if a vote was not ⅔ it would not be valid

Jeff reviewed his own written notes from a GSU meeting on October 6th.

Jeff’s notes showed that both Lupe and Mac were voted onto their positions. However, Alex was not technically voted as chair, as the vote was 3 to 2, and not 2/3rds vote.

A few members pointed out that no one was officially taking notes, and meeting minutes were not approved at the following meeting. There was also a debate on whether there should be a revote.

For three weeks, Alex has been presented as the Chair to the President and other groups on campus.

Jeff forwarded his notes from that meeting to the GSUrep@gmail.com and mentioned that he would notify Wendy Endress and George Bridges about the mis-vote. However, GSU members and Tom Mercado encouraged Jeff to wait until after the next GSU meeting.

Wednesday 10/21/2015

Absent: Lupe, Rhianna, Anne

Tom

November 9th-GSU elections application date

S&A/GSU retreat: dietary needs

Leave Thursday at 2:00 PM

Quorum was not met in today’s meeting

Public Comments

Mac received a proposal for student and faculty forum from David Sears

The proposal will be on next Wednesday’s agenda for discussion.

Frank-WashPIRG will be tabeling out in the CAB tomorrow

Changes to Agenda

add discussion of what the faculty liaison should say at the faculty meeting

Check ins

Jeff will present the copy of the legislative ballot at next Monday’s meeting.

The ballot consists of:

• Citizen’s Bill of Rights
• Allowing prisoners to transfer credit from prison to college programs
• Allow student votes on Trustees
• Restrict community laws (negatively impact the homeless community)
• Push to decrease tuition cuts

Talk to Jeff by Sunday if anyone would like to add to the legislative ballot

Alex met with Wendy yesterday. The white lies matter will not be a part of the bias instance response team. Wendy decided that if place more attention onto the fliers.

A few GSU reps mentioned that many students are complaining and feel that there should be a definitive response. And that, the GSU can also write a statement regarding the White Lives Matter fliers.

Mac will draft a letter and present it to the GSU on Monday. If approved, the letter can be posted on facebook and Greener Commons. The entire GSU can also meet with Wendy Endress.

Mac, the faculty liaison will mention the fliers at the faculty meeting.

Alex also discussed with Wendy that the T REX and Trans bike shop banners were removed from the library lobby. The bias response team will send out an email regarding the situation. Wendy also mentioned the GSU needs to do active recruiting for the fall elections and committees.

Alex will meet with the president next week. George Zimmerman is interested in meeting with the GSU once a month.

Discussion for Veterans

Parking services will not longer hand out free parking passes to the veterans. Alex will be discussing with Randy on how to handle this service. It is also possible to write a proposal and present it to the S&A board. Alex will go to the VA office and determine how many veterans will need parking passes.

Discussion on Geoduck Crawl

Molly, Jeff and Mac are interested in organizing the Geoduck Crawl. They will met outside of the formal GSU meetings. The Geoduck Crawl could happen by week 8. If not, the crawl will happen in winter quarter.

Discussion on Decoupling

Propose to legislative to decouple S&A fees from tuition. The proposal indicated that if the tuition changes than the S&A fees will be decoupled. This is an issue the WSA will lobby for.  The S&A is vulnerable to a 25% cut to their funding this year. Jeff will send a copy to Elyssa Goss and then officially submit it on Thursday.

Working with GO and Groups on Campus

Molly spoke with an officer from GO and obtained contact information. Alex is also in discussion with GO. The GSU can meet with the officers from GO once a month. The GSU can also potentially create a liaison spot for a GO member. GO and GSU can co-sponsor events. Molly will email GO.

Emails for Positions

The GSU will need to decide which positions will have emails and how to label these email addresses. There was concern that every year positions within the GSU have changed. Tom mentioned that the emails can be easily deactivated if that position is no longer exists. Today, the GSU will create the alias address and then put them up to a vote.

Positions that will have personal emails:

Chair (GSU.Chair@evergreen.edu)

Vice-Chair (GSU.Vice-Chair@evergreen.edu)

Liaison (GSU.Lobbyist@evergreen.edu)

Chief Budget Officer (GSU.Chief Budget Officer@evergreen.edu)

Endorsements by the GSU

Molly mentioned that a student wanted the GSU to host a U.S Sen. Bernie Sanders National Student Town Hall event. The GSU cannot endorse a candidate that is on the ballot. This could possibly alienate other students on campus.

Faculty Meeting

At the faculty meeting, Mac will mention the White Lives Matter fliers, TREX banners being removed from the library lobby, Governance hours

Jeff will contact Robert for a WSA interview next Wednesday.

Agenda on Monday

• Approve Meeting Minutes
• Vote on emails
• Vote on email to GO
• Vote on response letter of White Lives Matter
• Legislative Poll
• Meeting with the President

Monday 10/26/2015

Chair: Mac

Public Comments

Evergreen State Forum is student driven

Student designs the program, aided by faculty and guided by alumni

Each project would have an unlimited budget, each participate will get paid

Forming a student activities group and would like to receive input from the GSU and other students

GSU reps will receive applications for Election Commissioners and vote at next Monday’s meeting

Approve Minutes: Approved

Approve Agenda: Approved

Clean Energy Committee Appointments

Steven-MAsters of Environmental Studies Student

Anna-Second year in Masters of Environmental Studies

Interested in Outreach Coordinator

Move to appoint them to the Clean Energy Committee (appointed).

Rhianna will send the GSU email updates after every Clean Energy Committee.

Discussion on #whitelivesmatter

Last week, the GSU agreed that Mac will draft a letter responding to the #whitelivesmatter fliers and present it at Monday’s meeting.

A few GSU members mentioned that the letter can be workshopped. Everyone can edit the letter on a google doc.

The bias related response team have also drafted a response letter, which Wendy will address later in the meeting. The administration will send out this letter to the student body. The GSU debated on whether to also send out a separate response letter. Belson mentioned the idea of collaborating with the BSU to send out a response letter. The bias response team have reached out to both the BSU and First People’s. However, they were unable to collaborate due to scheduling.

Meeting with Wendy

Wendy visited the GSU to discuss the letter drafted by the bias response team. Wendy received fliers from Tom on October 8th. Wendy was cognitive of the impact that the fliers had on the community and spoke with several other people. She came to a decision that it may be better to not bring more attention to the fliers. After the push back from the GSU, the bias response team decided to draft a letter in response to the #whitelivematter fliers.

The GSU has not made a uniform decision on whether the group will draft a separate response letter.

A few GSU members expressed the idea of hosting a town hall meeting.

Molly moved to have the GSU draft a 3-4 sentence quote to add to the administration bias response team letter (approved).

The GSU will email the statement to Wendy. She also expressed that there is great value in drafting a separate response as well.

Molly motioned to remove everything from the agenda except the discussion on Legislative pole and use this time to draft a response statement (approved).

Final version of the GSU statement:

We look forward to collaborating with the Gʷídəq Student Union to provide a town hall meeting about the impact of the “white lives matter” or “all lives matter” response to the BLACK LIVES MATTER movement,

The Gʷídəq Student Union statement is as follows:

“We as the  Gʷídəq Student Union have worked diligently to bring this to the administration’s attention. We have recognized the impact the fliers have had on the campus community and look forward to holding a town hall meeting on with the community at large. An official Gʷídəq Student Union response will be forthcoming.”

Alex motion to approve the statement that will be quoted in the administration’s bias team letter (approved).

A GSU rep motioned to host a townhall meeting addressing the #whitelivesmatter townhall meeting (approved).

Mac, Jeff, and Risaki will organize the town hall meeting.

Molly motioned to have a separate response to the #whitelivesmatter fliers (approved).

Legislative Polls

List an environment issue on Legislative Polls. The GSU reps also discussed in listing contact information under each poll item.

Lobby the Legislature to ban plastic water bottles.

Guarantee grad school student to have jobs with or without work study.

Motion to have an impromptu voting meeting for the GSU emails on Wednesday meeting (approved).

GSU_Fall_Meeting2

GSUMeeting10142015

The real food percentages are calculated by students (the RAD and Aramark paid interns) based on strict criteria determined a national team of student researchers and experts. The RFC leverages student power to pressure the three largest food service providers (1. Compass Group, 2. Sodexo, 3. Aramark) to improve their purchasing practices and transparency, thereby having a cascading effect on all aspects of the food chain, from pesticide use to farmworkers rights. It’s not going to solve the giant problems facing our society, but it adds to the growing demand for change and tangibly re-directs corporate money from factory farms to local farms. It is a commitment that Evergreen is making, not Aramark, and will hold regardless of the future of our campus dining. The Real Food Challenge at Evergreen was started years ago by Sarah Rocker (former Flaming Eggplant advisor) and we are proud to be paving the way for our fellow campaigners at Western Washington University and UW to get their administration to sign! Continue reading