Meeting Minutes
Associated Students | San Diego State University

Monday, February 23, 2015

Monday, February 23, 2015 – 4:00 PM

Council Chambers • Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union

I. CALL TO ORDER

A.S. President, J. Cole called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM at the Council Chambers at the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union.

II. ROLL CALL

A. Voting Members Present: J. Cole, Kevin Hancock, Jacqueline Karczewski, Alex Padua, Corey Polant, Maneet Deol, Marc Hess, Alexandria Johnstone, Marilyn Martinez, Kyle Murphy, Christy Samarkos.

B. Voting Members Absent: Keagan Casey, Jessica Rentto.

C. Non-Voting Members Present: Clarice Mendoza, Christina Brown.

D. Non-Voting Members Absent: None.

E. Visitors: None.

III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

It was moved and seconded to approve the agenda for today’s meeting.

MURPHY/JOHNSTONE CARRIED

IV. APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES

It was moved and seconded to approve the Board of Directors meeting minutes of 2/9/15, as attached.

DEOL/HANCOCK CARRIED

V. PUBLIC COMMENT:

None.

VI. UNIVERSITY REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS:

A. Business and Financial Affairs Designee: None.

B. University President’s Designee: Interim Associate Vice President for Campus Life Christy Samarkos reported on the following:

  1. The 2015 Leadership Summit was a great success! Congrats to all the individuals involved with planning this event.
  2. Renovations to the Zura Residence Hall are on schedule to be completed by fall 2015.
  3. The South Campus Plaza project is scheduled to be completed by fall 2016. Student focus groups will be formed to determine what students want to see filling the retail spaces in this new shopping center.

VII. ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION:

A. General Consent Agenda (Action): It was moved and seconded to approve the General Consent Agenda, as attached.

POLANT/KARCZEWSKI CARRIED

B. General Consent Report (Information): The General Consent Report was reviewed via electronic copy. For further reference please request a full agenda copy from the Government Secretary.

  1. Judicial Affairs Committee Minutes & Update:
  •  
    • Signatures were collected on a petition in support of the university divesting from companies that allegedly contribute to the violation of human rights in Palestine. The Judicial Affairs Council will be reviewing and verifying the collected signatures.
    • This year’s election has the best candidate turnout A.S. has ever seen. Congrats to all who helped make this happen!

VIII. CLOSED SESSION (Closed to Non-Members):

None.

IX. EXECUTIVE REPORTS:

A. President: J. Cole reported on the following:

  1. A follow-up e-mail will be sent out soon with updates on the university’s efforts and support against sexual violence at SDSU. A list of events will be included, inviting the university to participate.
  2. J. Cole will start having open office hours.
  3. Plaques commemorating the hard work put into erecting the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union will be going up on April 1st.

B. Executive Vice President: Kevin Hancock reported on the following:

  1. Kevin welcomed the Board of Directors to provide feedback on the ASBOD binder that was given to them when their started their position last summer.
  2. The Be Beautiful SDSU Campaign had their first meeting.
  3. The search for the new Dean of the College of Arts and Letters is in its final stages.
  4. The Triple A’s will be held on the evening of Thursday, 4/23. Doors will open on 4:30 PM and the program will run from 5-6:30 PM. The Board of Directors has been challenged to nominate at least two people for the many awards available. Nominations can be made at http://as.sdsu.edu/aaa/ and are originally due by March 2nd, but may be extended due to a recent hacking of the A.S. website.
  5. GreenFest is next week! Buy your concert tickets to see Chance the Rapper. Don’t forget that GreenFest is more than a concert—it’s a week-long celebration of living a sustainable lifestyle, diversity and Aztec Pride.

C. Vice President of External Relations: Jacqueline Karczewski reported on the following:

  1. CHESS is the weekend after Jacqueline visited Washington D.C. She will be learning about effective lobbying with other student representatives from the CSU system.
  2. ERB’s campaign against sexual violence begins in two weeks. Members will be tabling in the Union, asking SDSU students to sign a poster. These students will be offered a wristband to show their support against sexual violence.
  3. Maneet, Paige, and Jacqueline met with Kimberly Calderon, Communications Director in Student Affairs about their ideas on a potential SDSU application for smart phones. The development of the application is now in their hands and will be ready by next fall.

D. Vice President of Financial Affairs: Alex Padua reported on the following:

1. The Financial Affairs Committee reviewed the Quarter 2 Financial Report.

2. Alex will be meeting with underrepresented and cultural groups about their budget allocations.

E. Vice President of University Affairs: Corey Polant reported on the following:

1. Renovations to the library have passed and will begin construction this summer.

2. The university is still working on a resolution concerning sexual violence prevention. This collaborative effort involving several other groups on campus exemplifies the shared governance practiced at SDSU.

3. Provost Emwemeka suggested increasing academically-stimulating programming in the Union, promoting good study habits and provoking thought.

F. Executive Director: Christina Brown reported on the following:

1. Congratulations to A.S. for having 75 total candidates for this spring’s upcoming elections. This turnout proves the effectiveness of the restructure A.S. had two years ago and has increased the involvement current leaders have in inspiring A.S. prospective leaders.

2. Christina and her staff are looking over the budgets of all the A.S. departments at this time of year.

3. Robin Judd, the current Children’s Center Director, will be retiring at the end of this year. Christina met with her to discuss the prospective timeline to fill her place.

4. The CSU’s Auxiliary Organization Association met two weeks ago. Attendees were able to see Chancellor White and meet his two Vice Chancellors, Fram Virjee and Larry Mandell. This new, fresh, open approach to leadership in the CSU has made room for more collaboration.

5. Christina provided the Board of Directors with the language A.S. has in their bylaws about the referendum process. We will run this process as transparent and fair as A.S. can. After the collection of 5% of the student body’s signatures, two-thirds of the total votes cast must be in favor of the referendum, given that at least 10% of the student body votes.

X. REPORTS OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

A. Maneet Deol reported on the following:

  1. Maneet attended the FLI meeting last week to speak on the A.S. Mentorship Program. A.J., Marc, and Alex will be going back this week to provide the potential mentees with more information and gathered their suggestions for the program as well. Encourage any freshmen you know to get involved in the FLI program.

B. Marc Hess reported on the following:

  1. Thank you to everyone who participated in the Join Us programming! A debriefing meeting will be happening next week to discuss given feedback to improve future programming, including the Take Back the Week campaign hosted by the Sexual Violence Task Force.
  2. The A.S. Mentorship Program will be having a kick-off event with collaborative and interactive elements. This pilot program will hopefully gain enough momentum to start next semester strong.

C. Alexandria Johnstone reported on the following:

  1. Several Campus Life Council commissions have already contacted Alex concerning their bylaw revisions.

D. Kyle Murphy reported on the following:

  1. Representatives from the California State Legislature visited our university last week and inquired about the student perspective on the Student Success Fee. 
  2. Congrats to Marc Hess for all the hard work that went into the Join Us programming last week, featuring events that highlighted the prevention of sexual violence at SDSU.

XI. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 5:03 PM.

MURPHY/KARCZEWSKI