Community Council 1999-2000

1999
Fall of 1999 saw a productive and engaged Council under the leadership of Issac Curtis, and a new influx of motivated members. These Council members were often at odds with Council members of the previous semester and years, who they dismissed as having accomplished nothing, and called "a pathetic joke."

Issac Curtis put together a proposal to transform the office behind the Airport lounge (which was until that time used for "Academic Computing") into a community group conference room, to be open to all groups of students wishing to hold meetings.

EIC Chair Erik Hopp passed a motion of support on behalf of council for those protesting the WTO meeting in Seattle "to be carbon copied to Seattle mayor, police chief, President Clinton, the media, the Five Colleges,and other parties".

Previously, students who could not afford to go home for Christmas were forced to work "eight hour shifts alone in a booth for Public Safety as a condition of their housing." At-large member Mohammad Abbadi proposed that students not be forced to work on condition of housing anymore, or if they were, for it to be work of their choosing and not only Public Safety.

The Public Health and Safety Committee helped install emergency call boxes around campus; the EIC planned 2 very successful All Community Meetings, with around 300 people at the first and over 700 at the second, mainly focused around topics of safety on campus; and COCD drafted plans for a huge overhaul of the Airport lounge, They also began examining student space issues on Campus (mainly what to do with the scattered and disorganized student spaces available on campus).The Totally Radical Action Committee looked deeply into the idea of an all-campus work study program (similar to what Warren Wilson has) in which all students would have a mandatory, un-paid job around campus which could take many forms.

There was some debate over stipends. Many of the new Council members were so enthralled with Issac Curtis' work, that they wished to raise the stipend for CC chair, however older Council member Michelle Beach stood opposed. Motions were also proposed to raise the COCA chair stipend due to its status as a "high stress position".

In November, Community Council hosted a "dinner with the trustees" in which so many people came, they had trouble seating people. The Council also passed a motion to change temporarily Council rules of Order to a "Midwest Academy" form of decision making (more concensus based?) They also held a November 11th meeting on retention problems at Hampshire. Topics brought up were confusion and lack of information ("First years feel like they 'don't know what the hell is going on here'), advisors not understanding how Hampshire works, lack of facilities (specifically art), and financial aid ("people are furious"). Council member Aaron Skoglund drafted a letter on recommendations based on the meeting, such as more honest about aid (apparently there was a problem with Hampshire decreasing aid for each year?), less focus on "fun" during orientation, and more on institutional fluency, remphisizing advising at Hampshire, giving students more outlets to look for money for the school and help with fundraising, focusing the budget more on programs and less on "fancy dinners, etc". Council had a dinner with President Gregory Prince, in which they discussed putting our endowment towards building a community center and retention.

On December 8th, Council Member Molly Kaufman put together a huge formal cocktail party for the whole Hampshire community to "give some closure to the semester".

2000
On February 27, 2000, Timothy Shary, an alum and former Community Council chairperson, gave a lecture about Hampshire history and his compilation, A History of Student Activities and Achievements at Hampshire College, 1969-1990, which was commissioned by Community Council in 1990.

In late February, Community Council meets sent a warning to The Omen, on account of posters which were claimed to violate community norms and The Omen group charter for sexism.

In March, COCA held a service auction in the Dining Commons to raise money and awareness about financial aid.