FiCom October 2009 Retreat

Documentation of a five-hour retreat FiCom held in October 2009.

Summary of Decisions Made

 * A task force will be assembled to to get input from community about the SAF guidelines, and to examine the SAF guidelines and how they inform FiCom decisions
 * starting in the Spring, student groups will be able to self-identify as open or closed groups. All groups will be expected to give a specific plan for how they intend to engage with the greater Hampshire community.
 * Each FiCom member will act as a liaison to a subset of student groups, keeping them accountable and helping them out. Their first duty is to ensure that all student groups have all their information posted to Hampedia, to improve transparency. Since signers were informed that they had to do this during Signer Sem, this is not a new policy.
 * Policy is being put in place to allow student groups to have their own pcard (like a debit card), so that students do not need to front money for purchases. FiCom is looking for a small subset to be a test group this semester. If your group is interested, please email FiCom.
 * Due to past misuse of SAF funds, all Community Council members will be expected to attend an SAF informational meeting and sign a contract similar to the signer contract.

FiCom 10-10 Retreat Schedule
BRING COMPUTERS!

Non-members can't talk. There will be specific times where they can talk. This may include Zilong, Julia, etc. These are open meetings, so people are allowed to observe.


 * quick vote for voting member slot that is presently open
 * quick bylaws OK: Director and Director of Finances, in order to be in line with Council bylaws

OPENING DISCUSSION
(Time: 20 Min)


 * discussion about bylaws, guidelines, and decision-making processes.
 * What do we want to get out of this discussion? What are some questions/topics you feel need to be covered?
 * Questions include:What is our approach to them? What works? What should our approach be to making exceptions?

FIRST SESSION
(Time: 20-40 Min)

This will be a discussion as a large group. Then, they will break into two small groups, who will each come back to the full group with their proposal.

funding closed groups/meetings (mainly in form of meeting food)

 * Expectation: Outline all sides of the argument, bring forward proposal(s) for policy (possibly in form of specific exception(s) that will be written into the guidelines. Identify the key problems/questions and present information concerning them.

Examples: Gin &amp; Tonics, Deathfest planning meetings, CAs

Emails received concerning this topic:

I'm a second year involved with the Counselor Advocates, a signer for HC Swim Club, and I occasionally drop in at LFI.

The CAs are a closed group and they are great, because 1) they're a good resource on campus and 2) the CAs spread CA love all over campus. And by CA love I mean, we've learned to become better listeners, and that doesn't stay in CA meetings or when we're on call. I hope the CAs continue to receive funding because right now, staff funding is not an option with budget cuts. Also, Jessica Gifford is an amazing facilitator and teacher. I hope our student group status is not negated because of our staff leadership, we learn so much from Jessica and she provides amazing support for our programing (sexual assault speak-out, self-love day, t-shirt project).

Open groups are great; I'm constantly spreading the word about Swim Club and new people are always wanted and welcomed. We recently had a water polo kick-off and met an incredibly knowledgeable first year who ended up leading the whole practice because we (the signers), truthfully, had no water polo technique. My experience with this fledgling sports group has provided a helpful contrast with the CAs and LFI. Closed groups, and, I think, identity-based groups, create a space that open groups do not (or rather, cannot).

If students want to be in closed &amp; identity-based groups, are they not using their student group funding as it should be used? As they see fit? So, I'm choosing to be in a more structured student group (we receive 80 hours of training, run regular programs, meet 2 hours a week and take on-call shifts), and not in Cheese Club.

second email:

I'm just writing in response to your recent intranet post soliciting feedback on FiCom funding policies. In particular, I am responding to your request for opinions on the funding of closed events. I am a Div III student who has been a Counselor Advocate since my second year. I was slightly confused by exactly what questions are being raised regarding closed events, but I wanted to let you know that the CAs are an extremely important and valuable campus resource that relies on FiCom funding and that holds weekly closed meetings. It is absolutely essential that these meetings are closed to non-CAs as we operate under a strict confidentiality agreement and we use these meetings to discuss sensitive issues that have been raised in calls. Dinner is served at these meetings, which is paid for from our FiCom budget.

I hope I am not misinterpreting the issue that FiCom is considering, but if our meetings do fall under the category of what is being called into question, then I would be happy to explain further why I think continuing funding for the CAs is essential, either by email or at a FiCom meeting. I and other CAs (as well as other community members) feel very strongly about this issue and hope you understand our perspective.

third email:

As a SOURCE signer, I feel that I need to let you know that I feel that there has to be permanent funding for all SOURCE groups and for the three student resource center: The Cultural Center, The Center for Feminisms and Spiritual Life because theses are all resources that students need. As a student of color, having the cultural center and SOURCE have a closed space to talk to each about support and other matters is something that we need. Please don't take funding away from these imperative student resources. Thank you for your time.

fourth email:

I cannot speak for all students of color. For one thing many of them think differently, as you of course have discovered. But, more importantly, their reality is different from mine. By that time my personality was pretty much set, and it was a personality that had not had to deal with racism and micro-aggressions, or at least not the same type. So I am completely sure their experience of racism is different from mine.

What I would say is that many students of color find it positive, and even necessary, to have a place where they can "retreat" with their own, to let their guard down. I don't think that's self-segregation per se, since they continue interacting with the rest of the campus in many other ways. They take classes with everyone else, go eat with everyone else, hang out with everyone else quite often, and, if we had a volleyball team, they would go to their games together. But at a particular time, they go to a place that they can call their own in a special way. They need that space in order to be well. I actually think that if they did not had that space, they might end up interacting with everyone else less, since they would not have the opportunity to recharge. So, if they needed, I am not concerned that they can have it. I look forward to the day that they feel "safe" everywhere, but they are not there yet. By "safe," by the way, I don't mean "not challenged." And I also look to the day when they feel like they want to open up more to other types of more inclusive activities.

Having said all of this, I have never given thought to the question of funding for groups that are not all-inclusive. But I also think inclusiveness is a tricky question. I would love to, for example, having red scare running intramurals so that all of the campus plays for a while, as opposed to those people that have somehow joined the group. I would love for them, and for the EMTs (there's a can of worms I'm getting into!) and for the climbers' collective and for many other groups to do outreach to a broader set of people.

Now, there could be clubs like you mention, that create alliances. Some have been tried, for example with anti-racisms groups. At the end the white students in that group themselves decided they needed to form their own group, so they could work on their own stuff first.

REPORTBACK
(Time: 20 min)

Each group will present their conclusions. If need be, there will be a vote.

BREAK
(Time: 10 min)

Order food, relax, review info for your second session's small group.

SECOND SESSION
(Time: 20-40 min)

Divide into three small groups. Goal is to hash out the details, and bring forward any difficult questions to the large group.

Pcards

 * They can be charged to the student group's account, no need to designate a special new account
 * as a group, you have to request a card, sign a contract, and designate a budget manager? How would that work?
 * Punishment for not turning in receipts? BE CAREFUL- we want accountability without too much bureaucracy. Ideas include:
 * if they dont turn in receipts, the group loses privileges of being a group
 * limits- the money will be transferred to the card, so BO has to specifically put it on the pcard small limits- that way they have to come back and ask for more money. limit the amount on the cards until they turn in the receipts
 * Wendy O'Rourke is not sure, legally, that we can charge individual student accounts as a form of punishment
 * Who should be the initial test group (4-6 groups)?

constructive policing

 * Have a designated member of FiCom that works with assigned groups to overview their spending and even do a financial analysis at the end of the semester to review the performance of a group? have each group member be "in charge" of certain student groups, be aware of how much money they have spent? What responsibilities should this entail?
 * This should NOT be a high-workload thing, so narrow down to most important responsibilities
 * Divvy out student groups to all members (include Zilong and Julia?). Avoid having them in charge of a group they are involved with (conflict of interests).
 * Should they start by reviewing their list of groups and emailing any group without their Hampedia info, warning them that their account may be frozen if they do not update the information?

CC signer contract and info meeting

 * We decided to do this due to last semester's disciplinary situation: "FiCom wants to have all members of Community Council and its subcommittees sign a statement of understanding, after attending an SAF informational meeting run by FiCom, to ensure that they understand the guidelines which dictate SAF use."
 * Model Community Council contract based on signer contract: http://creator.zoho.com/ficom.hampshire/signers-and-groups/#Form:Signer_Contract
 * What information needs to be in the informational session? ie the Signer Sem presentation contains lots of information that is not important, this needs to concentrate on the information Council, as a body, should know, so that when decisions regarding FiCom/SAF use/Endowment/etc come forward to them, they understand the history and guidelines dictating its use
 * Timeline for making this happen

REPORTBACK and BREAK
(Time: 30 min

Groups present their proposals/bring forward difficult questions

END
Unfortunately, the closed group discussion took almost 3 hours, so we were unable to look at the final items on our agenda. Below are the items that had been included on our agenda.

THIRD SESSION
(Time: 20-40 min)

Divide into two small groups. Designate one person to take notes. Discuss, deliberate, and come back to the full group to present.

fundraising/profit-generating

 * Look at Mt Holyoke- they have a system in place where students can generate money, and actually have to pay back part of the amount of money they are given: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/org/sga/funding/budget_proposals.shtml

non student group funding
SAPs (Student Activated Projects): Unrecognized student groups who want to do a project would have to meet with us, show that they are organized, etc, have detailed plan for money use, and we will fund them. Expectation that they will become recognized student groups the next semester. Should we do this? What should the expectations be? When would they need to do risk management? In what format should they submit requests? What information should they provide to us? Should there be a minimum number of students interested in getting involved in the project?


 * Expectation: Outline policies, address questions, bring forward any difficult questions

REPORTBACK and BREAK
(Time: 20 min)


 * Outline structural plans, bring to a vote

FOURTH SESSION
This will be space to bring up a variety of topics.


 * VOTE re disciplinary issue

Possible topics include:


 * CLA, delineation of roles and responsibilities vs ours
 * food funding. what are the criteria for giving money for meeting food? ethics, having students understand that the money must be spent responsibly
 * Permanent funding

Permanent funding items: PVTA Fare Free Bus Fee ($14,000) FiCom Office Assistant - 2009's Salary &amp; Benefits ($34,678) Half of these amounts are paid at the start of each semester.. UMass Fine Arts Center Performing Arts Fee ($8,600) Student Activities Program Subsidy @ 3.5% of SAF ($16,000) Residential Life Programs ($36,000) AAP – Social Advocacy Centers ($24,000) (1/4 each goes to Cultural Center, QCA, Center for Feminisms, and Spiritual Life Center)

Minutes

 * DeeDee is now a voting member
 * future idea: think about voting privilege and co-chairs
 * bylaws change: financial co-chair is now Financial Director, directing co-chair is now Director, to stay in line with CC bylaws
 * Following Bylaws and Guidelines:
 * bylaws do not mention SAF Guidelines
 * approach to exceptions: culture of the exception is the rule
 * if there are exceptions we are doing over and over again, revise guidelines?
 * what do the guidelines mean to us?
 * should we extend the ticket purchasing date for travel expenses to save money?
 * should we embrace value judgments when making funding decisions?
 * should there be a cap on funding for small groups?
 * think in terms of how many students are being served, and type of students affecting?
 * look at how many times groups come in to ficom/cla, whether they collaborate?
 * looking at #s disadvantages new groups, and those who serve small populations
 * guidelines are as much for groups themselves as for ficom, so that they know how to do things
 * value of meeting as a group is so that we can be open to having these constructive discussions about how to change and improve things. it's an experiment for us to learn how to operate a body like this
 * should there be a moratorium on value judgments? should we put in language about how to make decisions about exceptions?
 * making new blanket statements is bad, it is difficult to know what you're excluding
 * role of advisor, in SAF guidelines?
 * if going to put something into guidelines about value judgments, have to be careful about how those are going to be interpreted
 * we should focus on areas where we have problems, and be aware that new exceptions may arise
 * consider our formal relation to the guidelines for the rest of the semester. continue gathering information about what we are thinking.
 * should we make a bylaws/guidelines taskforce, to get input from community about the guidelines, and to examine the SAF guidelines and how they inform ficom decisions
 * Motion to create guidelines taskforce
 * Dillon, James, DeeDee, Wills, Madeleine -report back in 2 weeks or less
 * Food: approved dinner money for delivery express Chinese food

Closed Group Funding:


 * group 105:
 * make a guideline for amount of fundid meetings: e.. will only fund on e meeting per week
 * create an application process for groups that wish to be xlosed with an “open” level
 * service: open application process
 * performance: open audition process
 * identity: define group of students covered
 * Group 106:
 * groups self designate as closed (have closed meetings)
 * strengthening criteria for trips (clear selection process) and open event upon return

At this point, the two groups came back together, and had an extensive discussion about closed groups. Brief notes from that discussion:


 * define what a closed group is. but there will always be exceptions
 * open groups that have closed activities
 * effect of constantly questioning closed groups ON those groups
 * understanding of meeting food, but also other things they do
 * closed meetings vs closed groups
 * what funding is closed?
 * don't want the question of funding meeting food to play a part in the decision
 * closed groups with open activities
 * should groups self-designate as open/closed/or some midway categorization, and have them understand upfront what that will mean for them. allow groups to IDENTIFY as being a certain way.
 * should hold closed groups to much greater scrutiny (you are who you say you are, you are doing what you say you are doing - don't want this to become about value judgments), to ensure that they are doing what they are doing, but STILL fund them.
 * de facto closed groups- THAT is an issue, how do we deal with that? Say you have to advertise on daily digest?
 * the money is there for people who take initiative, who are motivated and organized enough
 * the question should be, are they benefitting the community? also, can anybody join at the beginning, is there an open aspect at the outset?
 * excessive and inappropriate funding is the real issue. should there be a guideline like, ficom will only fund one meeting per week.
 * emphasize process for getting permission to have a closed meeting
 * continuing burden of proof is an issue- needs to be done in a way that ensures that closed groups don't feel threatened that they may lose recognition from one semester to the next
 * good that there is safe space for that community to grow, but want them to share with the greater community
 * many groups are closed bc they have problems with the rest of the community, so that they can deal with those issues
 * decide what constitutes misuse of funds
 * we ask every student group to engage with the entire student body in some way, why should we not ask that of closed groups?
 * we need safe space, we shouldn't have to prove that we need that space
 * every group is expected to be open to the entire community, we hold ALL groups to that standard.
 * ISSUE: de facto closed groups. need to clearly publish guidelines for closed groups, so that we can pinpoint groups who are de facto closed,
 * for open groups, students have the right to go to ANY meeting, and submit complaint if they are turned away.

After this discussion, we worked to craft a motion.


 * Motions made and approved after extensive discussion (4 in favor, 2 abstaining):

The student recognition form will be changed so that it asks for:


 * detailed mission statement
 * self-designation as open/closed and explanation of why
 * statement concerning specific plan about how to engage with the community.(Note that groups are welcome to modify these plans, which must be approved by ficom.)

This means:


 * at the end of each semester, FiCom will review all recognition apps, and those who lack a clear plan about how they intend to engage with the community will be asked to meet with FiCom/submit new plan (system similar to how we review funding requests)
 * this is mainly so that our rules are applicable, to get rid of more exceptions, and so that there is accountability for closed groups

Small Groups


 * Constructive Policing:

Every FiCom member will be given a subset of student groups to keep track of (they must not have any conflicts of interest, whenever possible). Each member's responsibilities include:


 * knowing how much money your groups have been given by FiCom and COCA
 * they should add up the totals, and check events, during the meeting, on Hampedia
 * check if Hampedia is up to date (including inventory). at end of semester, follow up re inventory, to ensure that it is staying with the group/FiCom, and not going home with someone
 * review group recognition for your groups at end of semester
 * New page: Frozen Student Group Accounts
 * All members must contact all student groups from their subset who have not filled out their Hampedia page, by Wednesday. Form email to send to contacted groups:

I am your FiCom liaison. I will be working with you on behalf of FiCom, to make your experience as easy and painless as possible.

Your Hampedia page is not up to date. Please ensure that it lists correct signers, meeting time and location, mission statement, and full inventory (if you have no inventory, please indicate this). If you are having any problems updating your Hampedia page, please let me know. There is a tutorial here: https://hampedia.org/wiki/Simple_Hampedia_Tutorial_for_Students

To edit the box on the right-hand side, please click "wikitext."

Unfortunately, your account will be frozen until your Hampedia page is up to date. Please write back letting me know, as soon as your Hampedia page has been updated, so that I can unfreeze your account.

P-Cards:


 * Groups must apply for pcard
 * All groups with PCard need a budget manager
 * New signers (new to signing overall, not just this group) can't be budget managers if veteran signer exists


 * Contract for card
 * use allowance
 * will turn in receipts within 10 business days
 * will not purchase non-ficom approved purchases on the card
 * Budget manager personally liable for unapproved expenses
 * must report lost or stolen cards immediately

A student can only budget manage for 2 groups concurrently


 * IF BUDGET MANAGER DOES NOT TURN IN RECEIPTS:
 * 1st offense: Warning
 * 2nd offense: You lose budget manager status for all groups in perpetuity
 * Warnings cleared every semester. If you receive warnings multiple semesters in a row, your pcard rights may be subject to review.
 * Repeated offenses for a particular group will result in that group losing pcard privelges until FiCom accepts their re-application.

Default limit on the card is $1000. An increase or reduction is permitted at FiComs discretion to allow for individualized spending patterns.

FiCom reserves the right to rescind signer, PCard, or group priveleges for any reason related to use of the pcard in regards to SAF funds.


 * Test groups to receive PCard this semester:
 * FiCom
 * COCA
 * COCD
 * Up to 7 student groups who will apply to serve as test groups for the new PCard system


 * Council/SAF Presentation:
 * Point: To instill a responsibility among Community Council and its sub-committees given their close contact with the Student Activity Fee in both making policy and spending.
 * Include: Structure of Council bodies
 * Contract between COCA and FICOM (when the accounts were frozen)
 * Diagram of structure that Sam Light made
 * SAF Guidelines
 * Repercussions of SAF misuse
 * loss of signer privileges
 * loss of access to the SAF (refunds, stipends)
 * Contracts written for signers and members
 * Confidentiality regarding Sam Lights misuse of SAF
 * we will post our summary on Hampedia

Attendance:

Mida, DeeDee, Stephanie, Julia P., John, Jackie, Julia M., Dan, Ananda, Luke, Dillon, Madeleine Late: Wills