MEETING START TIME: 6:30 PM
ATTENDANCE:
Committee: Buck, Donnelly, Percy, Wilding, Taylor, Temple, Tate, St. Amand, Bertel,
King, Cordova, Howard Absent: None Non-Committee:
COMMITTEE DISCUSSION:
- President
- Invitation from Sailing to sail. o Distinguished Alumni Award is happening soon.
- Working on updating Zach’s contract, we will discuss his performance at yearly reviews.
- Updating accounting office. o Electronic Voting, card swipes
- Vice President o New Senator Orientation, thanks for exec representation o Wilding getting ads out o Dan and Alfred good job for clean-up
o Committee Times, it was noted during the orientation that committee times are concentrated. If you are willing, you may want to change the times before new senators arrive.
- Treasurer o I am buying new binders for the new senators.
o Boo is happening.
- Chief Information Officer o Later Bylaws Quiz to December
- Directors of Communications:
- I got harassed by RAMs about representing Senate at Clubs, Caramel, and Cider in Weldin Hall. If you can make it, please do. I will be there for the last 30 minutes. I am inviting everyone in Senate to attend.
- We are bringing three styles of shirts this year. o The Cigar report was short and simple.
- The press release submitted to the Cigar was not put in the paper.
- Finance Committee
- No Finance next week, there will be a Finance Training in its place. o I am going to post again on Gavel Gang about the Finance Training.
- If you know a group who needs a contingency grant, tell them to come to the Committee.
- SOARC/Elections
- ReRec starts next week. The forms were due last week. 30 groups did not submit anything. We will begin going through forms that were submitted this upcoming week.
- For elections: I will put the elections bill on the floor this week.
- Academic Affairs Committee o The Committee is going to start a survey about OER. We want to get the student and faculty perspective. We want to know how much is spent.
- NEASC is visiting Monday and Tuesday the 23rd and 24th. Matt Bodah does not think we need to serve as escorts but I have offered our help if it is necessary. He does want 4 or 5 to attend a lunch on Monday. You get free lunch and you will be expected to simply discuss the Senate. He wants to meet with exec committee and having us talk to accreditation people.
- Student employment is something the Committee is passionate about. We used to have a student employment office and we are interested in bringing that back. There are numerous policies among other problems not being fulfilled on providing resources.
- Campus Affairs Committee o The Safety and Lighting walk will be soon. I am sending out information about it to faculty and will be advertising it to the Senate with a focus towards the new senators.
- Cultural Affairs Committee o Last week and today, I was talking with the President of Slow Foods to begin planning for Fall Fest. She will let me know how many pumpkins we will have. We are thinking about October 18th. Clubs will get tables.
- I have not heard back from Disability Services about the event.
- External Affairs Committee o We had the clean-up this weekend. We did not get an enormous turn out but it was also a holiday weekend and we experienced weather. We got much positive press and photos and we would like to make a PowerPoint presentation at the Public Forum at the next Narragansett Town Hall.
- Rhody Outpost is next week. We have a good number of sign-ups for that event.
- I reached out to Joana, the director on Library Hours in Providence. Their hours seem pretty bad. We were talking in committee about how to approach this, we thought about starting with a survey to see if it is worth looking into.
- I plan on talking with the Academic Committee about planning for such a survey.
- I met with Sam the Lawyer to talk about the extent to which our Committee can do. He talked about a Renter’s Guide which was twice submitted as an Op-Ed piece to the Cigar and twice rejected. I want to take a closer look at this Op-Ed to see if it is worth reprinting.
- I plan on changing the Committee time.
- New Business
Collins: “Thank you for meeting with us. I thank you for everything you have been doing. We support you in terms of moving things forward. We wanted to talk to you about the age of buildings on campus. One of the things we need to think about is how we go about replacing these buildings. We are a state institution. 8% of our budget comes from the state. And we give $100,000,000 in financial aid. One of the facilities we want to talk to you about is Mead Stadium. I’d like to use it more for various events other than football. We have run out of room for clubs sports. We lost $1.5 million since a camp left us due to the condition of our field. We want to know what we can do with Mead Stadium.” Thorr: “Some of you have seen this proposal. We are trying to approach this issue. Three years ago, I got the OK to ask the Senate if we could create a new student fee with specific parameters to pay for the new facility. This is one of those things we are in need of. We are looking for donors. If it were a donor, it is likely they will restrict its use. However, by using a student fee, access will be much more open. We are the only school in the state without turf and lights.
Percy: “Can you explain the cost of surface replacements?”
Thorr: “The shelf life of these facilities is 8-10 years. We want to make its life 20 years by adding the cost for surface replacement in 10 years. I think this is a reasonable time. Many groups of students would be using the new facility.
St. Amand: “If this does get approved, how long until it will be completed.”
Thorr: “Once approved, we would begin bidding for an architect and engineer that will be a 6-month process. We will then bid a construction company which may take a few years once they are selected. King: “I am concerned about the distribution of time allotted to groups. I would much prefer more time be allotted for Club Sports since the people paying for this update, the students, should have the most access to those organizations who will have access to it.”
Thorr: “We can make changes to the blocks suggested in the pamphlet.” Temple: “If there is a committee or board determining the time period that this gets completed, can we add a student position on that committee?” Collins: “I can find out if Campus Recreation can add a student position.”
Temple: “You have brought this to us a few times, how has it changed?”
Thorr: “It has not changed.”
Donnelly: “Does this go through a student fee?”
Thorr: “Yes.”
Donnelly: “Why a student fee and not other funds like donors or investing?”
Thorr: “We have tried those options but have not gotten much out of them.”
Donnelly: “What research have you done that shows other ways other schools have approached this same problem?”
Thorr: “Through donors, student fees, game-guarantee money.”
Collins: “We want to do something for the institution as a whole.”
Donnelly: “Where are we in terms of budgeting for the field?”
Thorr: “$0.00.”
Donnelly: “What are the numbers of students participating in club sports?”
Collins: “I don’t know the number participating in intramurals, but there is close to 600 participating in club sports.”
Donnelly: “I am in favor of a bigger better plan, but what are students getting out of it?”
Thorr: “Access if they wanted to join club sports and participate in events.”
Collins: “Some club sports have not been able to compete because of the condition of our fields. Safety has also been a big issue.”
Temple: “You mentioned the new turf field, do you have evidence that
supports the idea that clubs will use the fields?”
Thorr: “No, since it was donor funded.”
Temple: “Why not get initial costs covered in the first five years?” Thorr: “We could do that if it was the will of the group, but because we do not know what is going to happen in the next five years, so if we pay
for it sooner than later will make a lasting investment.” Bailey: “What material, or source of material, would we use?”
Thorr: “State of the art work. I can share if you would like.”
Bailey: “I ask because of environmental concerns.”
St. Amand: “If this gets done, do you foresee charging the clubs rent?” Thorr: “No.”
St. Amand: “Have you thought about letting club sports using varsity fields?”
Thorr: “We limit them due to their easy wear-and-tear.”
Buck: “Have you thought about extending the 10-year pay-back?” Thorr: “We have thought about that. But it would make the project cost more.”
Temple: “Would this reduce the yearly estimate fee?”
Thorr: “Yes but it would not be significant.”
Donnelly: “How long would the project take to be completed?”
Thorr: “Roughly a total of 2 years if we push this initiative aggressively.
This would be the case even if we had a donor.”
Temple: “I know bleachers have been brought up before.”
Thorr: “That may cost $8 – $10 million dollars. I plan on bringing up lines on the field proactively. Here is what I propose. That we sew in the lines and designs to the turf. However, this limits which other groups can use a field painted for football.”
St. Amand: “If specific groups need specific lines, can they request for new lines?”
Thorr: “If they budget for it, it is very doable.”
Collins: “Moving to turf means we will not have to keep watering the fields. And we cannot water the fields since it affects the aquifer.”
Thorr: “Thank you for your questions.”
Collins: “Thank you.”
MEETING ADJOURNMENT TIME: 8:45 PM