COCA September 28th, 2010 Minutes

IN ATTENDENCE: Jessica Nora Kalei Sarah Kristina Sam Jeremy Eliana Emily Cierra Martin Cyree

Cierra moves to approve the minutes. Cyree seconds. No blocks. Motion passes: minutes approved.

Cierra: Meeting food for Tuesdays? Josh: Opposed. Unnecessary expenditure. Eliana: What happens if we don’t use it? Cierra: Back into the SAF. Eliana: More for events? Kalei: No… Cyree: We are any other group- let’s go with Ficom’s lowball of $1.50 a head. Kalei: Cooking perhaps, every other week maybe. Martin notes the Hampedia is not updated about new hours. Josh to update Hampedia to the new hours.

Jorge and Paul enter.

Cierra motions to approve meeting food for Tuesday nights. Jessica seconds. Kalei blocks. All in favor – Cierra. All opposed – Josh, Cyree, Jessica, Jeremy. Everyone else – abstains.

Kalei notes that closer to Halloween, lengthier meetings often call for meeting food- suggests week in advance discussion of up-coming meetings as a window to keep open.

Lil’ COCAs Emily: Cyree and I met with In Solidarity With Immigrants today- helped them with ERF form, talked about adverts. They are going to advertise in Holyoke, Amherst. Feels good with their work. Cyree: They appreciated our help.

Band Submissions Lil’ COCA Sam: We can use the shark outfit from IT. Cyree volunteers to wear the shark outfit. We are going to wear the shark suit around to advertise band submissions. Sarah to wear shark outfit Thursday, Cyree on Friday.

Kalei is having trouble with the Daily Digest for Halloween. Josh made the Facebook group. Cierra did not get the Magic Board stuff up.

Emily inquires: how to use the Magic Board. Cyree directs her to the library staff.

Sarah and Cyree to coordinate shark outfit use with Jeremy and Sam- Lil’ Shark COCA.

Kalei- Nina and I were supposed to talk to QIPAC about admission fee… who should we talk to? (to Cyree, a QIPAC member)

Cyree recommends they bring it before the group.

Halloween lil’ COCAs tabled until Halloween is discussed.

COUNCIL REPORT BACK Kalei- FiCom to give COCA a tutorial on the SAF. 5 College Student Board- 2 from each college, meet each week on Fridays, was discussion of second rep (beyond Leanna, the chair of council) who is not on a council. Stipends talk tabled.

Cyree: Mark Spiro and Leanna to rework governance of Hampshire, unaffiliated with Student Governance Taskforce- have standing committees rewrite bylways.

Kalei: Spiro has noticed how unorganized the student government is, helping us and stepping in to streamline process and eliminate excess spending.

Slam Collective enters- Katie and Georgie.

Katie- We have a semester plan for our spending. We have cut down events to 2 a month from 4 and cut our prices by at least $100 a person. Working to reduce costs. Have resubmitted Carlos Williams- highly prioritized- as one of two people in October. For November, bringing in people for early and late in month. Spaced out events. Kalei: December? Katie: December is empy. Cyree: Do we have a copy for email? Katie: no, but we can do that!

EVENT REQUESTS

Urban Word – Nurse has gotten back to us about the efforts they are going into to get Greer Barnes, has begun to itemize costs. Hold in pending to Thursday?

Cierra e-mailed him back that we can do that, but we need stuff real soon.

Cyree points out we will need to present this to community council due to cost, and we are running out of time.

Kalei: they meet oct. 5th, 12th. They need to approve it first, so we’ll need to get them to approve it and then ourselves vote on it.

Cyree: 14 business day policy needs to be kept as a framework, not something to hamstring signers. Only giving Nurse 3 days to get together travel stuff is unfair.

Emily: The date is the issue. It’s supposed to be on the 15th; no matter what happens, we are scrambling. $6,000 for an event in two weeks that might not be feasible is hard to vote on. They should change the date in a perfect world.

Kalei: With an event of this magnitude, it needs proper advertising and presentation- we don’t have the time to do this right.

Cyree: We should deny this- it’s well beyond our own budgeting, it has a shakily arranged budget itself, and it’s too soon to execute with the gravitas it deserves. We should have voted on allowing to keep it in pending, Cierra.

Cierra: Felt like showing him some mercy- it was over the weekend and it was not a long time he was asking for. We have in the past kept things in pending for longer.

Cyree: In my own interest, and as a member of community council, you should have asked us about anything that we normally would have done with voting. Telling Nurse that we would have to wait would have been okay. We probably would have been okay with it.

Cierra: We were going to vote on it today.

Martin: The main issue is if he gets money from other colleges, as opposed to us paying for all of it?

Kalei: This is the most expensive request I’ve ever seen. 5 College student board does pay for some events. Last meeting, someone told Brit or Nurse that they had spoken with Leanna and she said that the board does do that. But their first meeting is this Friday, and their first funding is the week of the event. But it’s not even about that- you can’t get that much funding from one body in two weeks.

Martin: Can they push the date back? Tell them as much?

Josh motions to deny the event; We’ve identified many times how unfeasible this is, should have voted on it a while ago. Cyree seconds. Cierra blocks- we’re not going to e-mail them? Josh: Yes, with the note of denial. In favor- Cyree, Jessica, Josh, Paul, Nora, Kalei, Sarah, Sam, Emily, Jeremy Opposed- Brit (via Jessica) Abstaining- Jorge, Cierra Motion Passes. Event denied.

Latin America Legal Studies Group $690 for Hampshire Alum to speak, with traditional foods + travel. Cyree: This event looks nice- good they found a performer to do it free of charge; advertising looks too high. I can’t see why we would deny. What does the week of the 21st look like? Sarah: Nothing at all; preceding week is the pricey one. Cyree: I’m into it, it’s cheapish and it will attract people. Cierra: They came to my office hours and stressed the significance of the event.

Faustino enters.

Emily recommends cutting food. Cyree suggests advertising gets cut.

Cierra motions for $632- $225 for food, $7 for adverts, $400 for other costs. Emily seconds. Cyree blocks- add addendum about budgeting we’ve discussed. Cierra addendums this. Unanimously approved. Motion passes.

COCA- Leanna Community Council mini-golf. This happened last month. Council already approved funding for it, but we can only spend through our account (601), so it’s been re-submitted. Josh displays a general confusion with this logic. Kalei- CC cannot spend on own events. Must get own money. Voted to approve in spring for orientation activity. Cannot budget out of their account; was assumed our account would cover it (as it has in years past, and apparently this always gets messed up). Cyree: tied up with Council Cares, Pam, etc… goes to get minutes from last spring.

In the meanwhile, we review notes to be sent to Urban Word and Latin America LSG.

CC thing tabled.

Students for Justice In Palestine – Palestine 101 Attendence of 50; student/professor panel. $100 for food, $15 for advertising.

Sarah: On same day of In Solidarity With Immigrants… Group acknowledgement that this overlap would be ill-advised- similar target audiences.

Josh motions to pend- ask them if they know about said overlap and if they can move it. Cierra seconds. No blocks. Motion passes, event pended until Thursday.

SJP- discussion of BDS (conference from last year) 25 attendance screening of documentary about Hampshire from last year by Will Delphia, panels $100 for food $10 for advertising Oct. 26th.

Cierra: cut advertising, cut food to $70 due to attendance math (cyree notes, that would be $75)

Sarah: Blackout week or weekend around Halloween?

Kalei: Just weekend.

Cyree motions to approve for $80- $75 for food, $5 for advertising. Kalei seconds. No blocks. Motion passes for $80 to SJP.

Moving on to Hampshire Halloween.

Cierra introduces Kingdom issue- he didn’t submit paperwork in 30 day window, didn’t get paid as a result. We told him as much, he got pissed, he threatened litigation, Carolyn says “lets pay him and avoid a suit”. Carolyn is unhappy with this/us, and this Halloween, no mix ups. Meeting with Carolyn to go over this theme.

Cyree: How did it go wrong?

Cierra: He didn’t get back to us in time.

Kalei: Spring Jam selection was too close to event last semester, lots of negotiations in a rushed period- we didn’t know if he was going to perform within the week of the event, so he didn’t sign it in time. No one’s fault, and his suit is basically impossible, but still, avoiding this. Fill out contracts, know performer costs well before the event this year. And we are- selection meeting is almost a month before Halloween.

Josh suggests Lil’ Cocas for each artist to prevent this from falling on one person’s shoulders.

Kalei disagrees- need consistency between contracts.

Cyree- Why did we let Kingdom on stage if we knew he hadn’t signed?

Kalei: Gang Gang Dance, being the $6,000 band that COCA approved, also was not going to be playing until 2 days before- that was more of a problem.

Cyree: That overshadowed Kingdom?

Cierra: The DJ had a relationship with a Hampshire College student- friends- and the deal had a tone that made us think it was more genial and plausible than proved to be.

Kalei: He had signed the contract request; Carolyn sent him that, he didn’t send his W2. Those are anonymous tax forms, we don’t see them. We didn’t get that second form back.

Cierra notes implausibility of actually getting all this stuff from him before he steps on stage.

Josh: any more to say?

Cyree: Yeah, how do we explain this to people?

Josh: We have found a way to comfort and satisfy all parties involved without litigation, shafting the performer, or not spending money we budgeted to spend him. We made a mistake, audited it, found out what went wrong, went to the requisite offices, and have found a resolution. Not too worried, won’t do it again.

LIL COCAS- HALLOWEEN

Jessica: glowsticks- $.50-.69 on warehouse website General: didn’t we find better? Josh: didn’t we find a $200 for 5,000 thing? General discussion leads to recommending Jessica and Brit to search for even cheaper glowsticks by Thursday.

Paul and Jorge exit.

Sarah: Candy deals- Kalei: Fun Dip, 48 for $8, air head minis 180 for $11, etc. Sarah: ask for $200, prioritize most popular candies. Kalei: last years, $400-$500. This year, start with $200, order online, approve amount this meeting.

Kalei motions to spend $200 on candy so that it is here by next week and we can better figure out our spending from there, in response to student call for less spending. Jeremy seconds. Martin expresses concern about kinds of candy. No blocks. Motion passes.

We go around and give out a favorite candy to provide a diverse selection.

Haunted House report backs Emily- met on Friday, FPH basement suggested. Went to basement site, went to special programs Monday morning, in turn was sent to risk management and pub safety, pam wants us to collab with house offices. Martin- spoke with interns, housing offices always try to do stuff in the housing office, interns will be focused there (i.e., not able to help out much). Housing folk will help, but not if it’s not sub free. Kalei- is this happening on Halloween? Unknown. Kalei- if the event requires most of coca to be in FPH, this is not great for the rest of Halloween. Emily: Better not on Halloween. Martin: Circus folk not interested in drug scene; would be receptive to Halloween work, though not guaranteed. Kalei: pub safety would prefer “not” Halloween. Emily: perhaps Thursday.

Halloween ads due today. Jeremy does not have his ads; told to bring in Thursday. Discussion of slogans. To be voted on Thursday. Only Nora has submitted.

5:30 Sodexho meeting Thurs. Josh calls for phone tree.

Emily: Dance Safe has moved to West Coast… not accountable. But they sell drug testing kits! Kalei: not with the SAF. Ciera: Talked to Pub Safety, Dawn, etc., supportive of safe drug testing. Pam is deciding factor- might say no. Nora: Asks for clarification. Emily: They test for dirty drugs. We could use their website’s information or imitate their stuff- they sell business cards with drug facts on them that tell people what to do if someone ODs and such. Kalei: We did not approve wanting to do this- shouldn’t be going to offices and having these conversations without voting. Cierra: Was trying to see if these things could even be possible, gauge reception from pertinent offices. Did extensive research, many colleges have/do this via student organized groups. Emily: This group hasn’t been good about getting back to us, we should examine other options.

Sarah: Phone tree! Lets pass around a piece of paper, type it up, e-mail it around.

Cierra motions to approve tents: they quoted the same as last year, $6,012.86. Josh clarifies- 2 tents, front/back of library? Cierra: yes. Bus circle, pub safety tents, heat pagodas too. – Kalei. Cierra: No different from last year; tells us all how to reach the company. Emily seconds. Kalei blocks- do we all have enough information to feel comfortable doing this? Eliana: Are there any other companies around? Cierra: not for an event of this magnitude in the area. Kalei: SP usually does Tents and such. We use this company for basically everything (Creedon and Co). to buy a tent, we’d need to store it and such. IN FAVOR: unanimous approval of tents (except Jorge, who abstains in proxy)

Cierra: lighting folk on vacation. Josh: notes that printer is out of ink; minutes will be physically filed Thursday.

EMTs enter: Rjl09 Ajf08 Rck07

RCK07- our budget is $3,000 for wages and equipment for 12 hours. 6-8 are off-peak hours (2 teams). 8pm-4am (4 teams) (3 last year, was overwhelmed). 4am-6am (3 teams) after 6am 2 teams. RCC lobby walk-ins, dispatch. Sweep at 6am.

Kalei: Can you talk about what it’s like to be an EMT at Hampshire Halloween? (refer to tumblr video for response)

Asking Jacob about drug legality questions around Dance Safe proposition. Jacob: “Harm Reduction”. It’s a legal minefield, in that it enables drug use; however, people do use drugs, and enabling safe drug use is important- allowing people to unsafely use drugs is no good! Reduce harm! Meet people half way! RCK07- 3 or 4 calls about people who took drugs thinking it was something differet. Cyree: Prepare a document that says all this? Riley: paperwork very loose, testimony often hearsay.

Kristina: What if we test the drug and it indeed comes up dirty? Do we take it? Cierra: We can’t TAKE it, but we can inform them. Kalei: we want offices to bond together for a safe Halloween. Cierra: Can you accompany me to any meetings to pitch this to Pam and Dawn and such? Point to other colleges precedent. Jacob says “let’s do it!” Cierra: A “Don’t Do Drugs” campaign will make people do drugs more privately and thus likely more dangerously.

Kalei suggests a “Halloween Safety” Lil’ COCA meeting with EMTs.

ECK07- can you send us $ spent on event monitors over last two years? Kalei- we approve lump sums, making that very hard to get exactly. But we can show you what events applied for event monitors. Ask public safety for specific numbers.

Voting in of members: Kristina Cyree motions to approve. Jessica seconds. Jeremy blocks. Unanimous approval.

Eliana Cierra motions to approve. Sarah seconds. No blocks. Motion passes.

Martin Cyree motions. Nora seconds. No blocks. Motion passes.

Kalei motions to adjourn; Josh seconds. No blocks. Meeting adjourns.