On Wednesday, November 18th Dean Zelesky announced that a joint committee, including three Student Council members, a representative from Students Advocating for Safe Choices (SASC), Mike McKenna, and Mike Killeen (Clark’s business manager), will begin discussion on revising the current alcohol policy. This joint committee will meet twice before the end of the fall semester and will continue to meet until late April drafting, redrafting and implementing newly revised alcohol policies. During CUSC’s meeting on November 18th Dean Zelesky said that any new or revised policy would not be implemented until the 2010-2011 academic year. While the committee has yet to meet this semester, Dean Zelesky’s timeline looks a little like this:
January 25: TIPS Training Workshop – This workshop will train students and staff on responsible beverage service. According to Dead Zelesky, “this is an important key in considering a change in current policy.”
Late – February: First draft of a proposed policy to be reviewed by Senior Leadership and Student Council
March: Finalize the document
April: Identify a possible program/event to institute the new policy as an evaluative tool (i.e. a test run of the new policy)
Late – April: Finalize the policy for inclusion in 2010-2011 Synergy
Any questions or concerns regarding the proposed revisions to the University’s current alcohol policy can be directed to Laura Faulkner ’10 – Off Campus Housing Representative, Ali Canino ’12 – Dana Hall Representative, Haanee Tyebally ’12 – Sophomore Class Representative, and/or Jenni Adams ’12 – Students Advocating for Safe Choices (SASC).
When the Board of Trustees first went looking for input on the priorities for Clark and the direction it should take, they conducted alumni outreach sessions to get the perspective of Clark alums. What they got from those sessions was that student feedback was more important, as students are closer to the problems of the school and can better identify areas to focus on. So, what do students think is important?
Advising, student life, and the Clark education were all discussed as areas where improvement could be made. With advising, students said that career services needed to do a better job connecting students with jobs and alumni, and that there should be a stronger link between academic and career advising. One student said that Clark advising is great if you want to go on to a career in academia, but it needs to do a better job connecting students to the “real world.” Advising also needs to be more of an active process rather than just something you have to do in order to get holds removed, especially in the first year.
As far as student life, the need to maintain a campus community was emphasized. Students said Clark should work on getting upper-class students back on campus, build school spirit, and reach out to non-traditional and transfer students. Also, students tend to find their niche and not venture out of it. Besides Spree Day, there aren’t any events that the whole school does, and the solution of more events with broad appeal was floated. As well as getting upper-class students back on campus, it’s also important to get first years and sophomores off campus and interacting with the surrounding community. Clark is known for its commitment to the community and the board is looking at a streetscaping plan that should improve the surrounding area.
The Clark education was discussed only briefly, but several people said they would like to have a greater emphasis placed on hands-on learning instead of just theory or research. The personal connection with professors was identified as a strong point, as well as the wealth of research opportunities provided you can find a faculty member working in a given area. The PLS requirements were brought up as something that needed reform, as right now it’s seen as more of a checklist than anything.
Some other factors that came up that were important to students were Clark’s commitment to the environment, the condition of facilities and infrastructure, and the need to mediate between the many conflicting student groups on campus. Bill Mosakowsky, the Chair of the Board of Trustees seemed responsive to all suggestions from students, and said that the Board shares many of their concerns.
Right now, the board has identified a strong internal candidate, and will be interviewing him/her using student feedback before going to any kind of national search. There will be student forums to meet with the candidate as well as other constituents, around December 14th or 15th. The single most important role of the board is the appointment of the president, so they're putting a lot of effort and consideration into this. If you have any concerns, email us, because we want someone who will represent everyone well.
It has been brought to the attention of Clark Undergraduate Student Council that an incident occurred on the night of Friday, November 6th between students and the University Police that may have involved violent verbal and physical behavior from CUPD Officers and Worcester Police Officers. A few students observed the incident and reported it to CUSC, after which CUSC facilitated a conversation about the event between those students and the Chief of Police. Chief Stephen Goulet is currently aware of the allegations and is in the process of investigating the incident further. While these allegations have not been confirmed yet, CUSC will continue to work with University Police to ensure proper actions follow.
We would like the student body to know that the incident has been noted by the Chief of Police and upper level administrators and that these allegations have not gone ignored. Students at Clark are strongly encouraged to reach out to Clark Undergraduate Student Council at cusc@clarku.edu if similar incidents are observed in the future.
Last Wednesday afternoon, Clark community got fresh insight into Dining Services. At the Meet 'n Greet Stu Gerhardt, Heather Vaillette, and Denis Gagne explained to us the process and the extreme effort that is put into creating our breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Dining Services tries to buy as much as they can from local Worcester vendors, and when they are unable to they purchase from as close to the area as possible. We learned that earlier in the week the kitchen passed its inspection with flying colors (and the inspector was even willing to buy lunch after). Dining Services told us how they create menus and try to provide us with as much variation as possible. They search through magazines, go to local restaurants, and ask advice from students for great innovative recipes.
A big concern raised by a student was extending the time you are allowed to use a meal swap in the Bistro from 8 to 9pm. Stu said he would talk to his supervisors, but would love to get e-mails from students explaining why this is a good idea so he can better advocate for us. Stu, Heather, and Denis were great to meet with and really to value student input so don't be afraid to give them any suggestions or comments you might have!
Last Monday, November 9th, the Student Council sponsored a Conversation with Chief of Police Steven Goulet and Vice President Jack Foley to discuss the timeliness of timely warnings. This meeting was held in reaction to a concern that some of the timely warnings were not sent to students in an expedient fashion after the incidents occurred.
In the discussion of this issue, we learned some valuable information about the dissemination of timely warnings. Specifically, Chief Goulet explained the difference between an incident that would be considered an imminent threat like an active shooter (and thus would warrant a Clark Alert) and a lower-level incident (such as a purse snatching) that would only require a timely warning email. Although our tendency may be to conflate these two categories, it is important to understand their innate differences. Typically, when a lower level threat occurs, the perpetrator flees the scene seconds after the crime is committed. Therefore, although we as students want to be informed about this incident, it is usually not necessary to have this information immediately. This is what Chief Goulet emphasized during the meeting. However, he also sympathized with students’ trepidation concerning the relay of information about these incidents.
Therefore, CUSC requested that his office look into issuing an immediate email notification to students that an incident has occurred in addition to a regular Timely Warning. Although this email would probably only include a minimum of information regarding the incident (because of the time that it takes to collect more detailed information) it would give students a general idea of the situation. Chief Goulet and Vice President Foley were amenable to our request but need to talk to the rest of the office to make sure that this would be a step in the right direction due to the complicated laws that govern Timely Warnings.
All in all, this was a productive and informative conversation about these issues. For more information about Timely Warnings please visit the University Police’s website at http://www.clarku.edu/offices/police/.
Clark Undergraduate Student Council invites you to attend “The Future of Clark University” - a campus community conversation with Clark University’s Chairman of the Board, Bill Mosakowski ’76 - about the future leadership priorities facing our next President. During the month of November, similar discussions will take place across the country to solicit feedback from alumni, parents and friends. “The Future of Clark University” is the discussion designed for our own community here. Please see the attached flyer.
As the meeting approaches, please take some time to think about Clark University’s past and your hopes for its future. President John Bassett’s leadership has strengthened the University considerably during the past nine years, and the Board of Trustees is seeking your advice on how to continue this momentum by focusing on key leadership priorities. Some questions we will attempt to answer are:
1. What are the most important challenges and opportunities facing Clark University now and over the next five years?See you at “The Future of Clark University” this Tuesday, November 17th, at 3:00pm in Jefferson 320.
In early October, Pennie Turgeon - Chief Information Officer of Clark University – sent an email to David LeBoeuf (CUSC Treasurer) and myself about an impending printing quota for students. At that time, we had a lot more questions than answers. How was it going to be enforced? How would students be expected to pay for extra sheets of printing? Do I need to get my own printer?
Pennie, David and I had a long discussion about the quota. We went over some data about the usage of printers at the school, and while the average student printed just about 700 pages, there were some staggering outliers. One student printed 31,000 pages throughout the year at the Academic Commons. Pennie pointed out that despite the current requirement to swipe one’s ID Card in order to print, the giant recycling bin next to the printers is always full to the brim at the end of the day. That’s a lot of paper waste. Thankfully, however, we are fortunate enough to have an efficient recycling program at Clark.
I have to say that both David and I were vehemently against enforcing an unpopular student printing quota initially, and although I do not necessarily speak for the entire Student Council, it is safe to say that the data made us think twice. Three years ago, Clark University signed on to the Campus Sustainability Initiative – a prestigious network of schools that I am personally proud to be a part of. A commitment to this initiative certainly warrants some sort of examination and restructuring of our current printing habits.
Of course, the environment is not the only reason that the printing quota is being considered. Cost is a large part of it. Cost comes in many different forms, including the life of the printers at the Academic Commons (a new industrial printer can only print a certain amount of sheets), the cost of paper, the cost of recycling, the cost of maintaining the equipment associated with printing, the cost of printer ink, and finally, the opportunity cost – what exactly are students giving up in order to have access to unlimited printing on campus? In other words, implementing a printing quota might free up funds (currently being used to meet printing needs) for other resources. While Pennie cannot guarantee a quid pro quo solution, these alternative resources includes a color printer, small computer labs in residence halls, and more.
If you have questions in your mind as you read this, chances are that Student Council discussed it already. At the Student Council meeting on October 28th, we were joined by Pennie Turgeon and Cheryl Turner-Elwell (Director of Academic Technology Services) to gain some insight into representatives’ opinions on the matter. What came out of the meeting were several opinions expressed by Student Council representatives. Essentially, Student Council represents your voice, so you have the right to know about this. All the comments below were sent to ITS, and it is my duty now to ensure that they are being taken into consideration as the printing quota is implemented next semester. And I know for a fact that they are. Before moving on to the CUSC response, it is useful to note that while Pennie is working with her student constituents to gain opinions about the printing quota, Cheryl is working with her faculty constituents to make them aware of the impending quota and receive suggestions as well.
On October 29th, all CUSC representatives were asked to fill out a survey regarding the upcoming printing quota. The questions asked are laid out below, along with the main points made in the answers that were received.
What steps do you think ITS needs to take this semester to make students aware of the upcoming printing quota?
What do you think is a fair printing quota? What do you think is a fair price to charge per sheet for every sheet printed after an individual's printing quota has been exhausted? The average amount printed by each student as of now is 722 sheets per year.
What special considerations do you think ITS must take into account while implementing this quota? This may include certain groups of students or specific printing needs.
Do you have any other comments or suggestions for ITS in terms of the printing quota?
The Grants Committee has recently been noticing trends in increasing numbers of special budget requests coming from groups that have been supported by other University entities in the past. Due to the economic climate, many university offices that have financially bolstered major group activities and events are unable to support these groups at this time. This has somewhat shifted the burden of financial support from the University to the students. Because the special budget allocations come out of the yearly SAF fees, the students ultimately end up paying for large events and activities that are typically supported by other University entities. This has put undue pressure on the Grants Committee to make recommendations that both support student activities and balance the budget. Our committee members have been working hard to make adequate and fair recommendations to student council, and this has become increasingly challenging as requests for over $5,000 have been heard in the past few weeks. If you have any questions regarding special budget requests or the Grants Committee process, please review our internal procedures or email Grants Committee Chair Laura Faulkner at lfaulkner@clarku.edu.
The Communications Committee is creating a movie for Clarkies called “How Clark Works”. It will be an informational video about the organizational structure of Clark University and give viewers the understanding of who to approach with questions about academics, housing, health services, financing and almost any other topic which comes to mind. It will primarily be interviews with deans or their assistants and will therefore be information straight from the horse’s mouth! What can be better?
As November rolls around, as does the auditing process. The Finance Committee has begun the auditing process, checking the budgets of student groups on campus to make sure they are not in violation of Money Matters. The criteria we will be judging on is as follows:
The Elections committee has appointed 3 people to 3 positions and they are as follows: Alexandra Carter, College Board; Samantha Jacobson, The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning; Chatura Jayakody, Senior Week Chair. The committee has been focusing on finding a late night, free transportation solution to be known as the ‘CUSC Worcester Shuttle’. This new option will be one night a week, most weeks we are in session, from 10PM to 2AM. It will go, depending on what the student body says they want (via the poll sent out this week) either on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday nights. The most likely route drop off points will include:
The most recent newsletter can be found on the Documents page.
Clark Undergraduate Student Council is concerned with the safety of the student body at Clark University and therefore, I am extremely apprehensive about the manner in which Timely Warnings have been sent out throughout this semester. Timely Warnings are “timely notification of crimes that present an ongoing threat to the community and heighten safety awareness.” In other words, Timely Warnings are meant to be useful messages that students can then use to make better decisions about moving around and about our campus. Over the past couple of months, I have noticed two instances where these warnings were issued much later than they should have, and strongly recommend that the University Police drastically improve the timeliness of these notifications in the future.
On Wednesday, September 9th, a Timely Warning about an attempted robbery involving three perpetrators was issued approximately twelve hours after the incident occurred. While this timeline is acceptable according to CUPD policies, I believe that disseminating this sort of information immediately after an incident will greatly benefit members of the student body, who will then be aware of the circumstances while moving around campus at that time.
On Monday, October 26th, a Timely Warning about a robbery involving an armed perpetrator was issued approximately twelve hours after the incident occurred. It was noted in the email that the same perpetrator could have been involved in another crime that same evening. If a notification was sent out to the student body immediately after the first incident, then perhaps students would have been more careful while moving around campus that evening. I believe that these untimely notifications are intolerable because they are failing to make students aware of imminent threats, as per the intended function of Timely Warnings.
I do understand that the release of Timely Warnings is subject to the availability of accurate facts concerning an incident. I sincerely hope that the delays in the aforementioned notifications were caused by valid reasons, and also encourage the University Police to work hard to ensure that facts are gathered as soon as possible so that a Timely Warning is released in a timely fashion. If accurate facts cannot be gathered, I also strongly encourage the University Police to send out an objective, partial notification about an incident immediately after occurrence (so that students are aware of the circumstances) and then follow it up with details later on, when the facts have been gathered.
University Police has been extremely responsive to student opinions in the past, and I appreciate the efforts of the Chief of Police and our Police Officers to continue to work with CUSC to improve campus-wide safety.
Whereas the Clark Undergraduate Student Council strives to foster an environment of inclusive, safe, and welcoming campus wide programming for all of our students, and
Whereas the Clark Undergraduate Student Council has found that a revision of the current alcohol policy (that would allow 18-21 year old students to attend events where alcohol is present) reflects the interest of the student body,
Be it enacted by the Clark Undergraduate Student Council make the following recommendations be made to the Dean of Students office in terms of revising the University’s current alcohol policy.
Sec 1: That the vending of alcohol be limited to malt beverages and wine. Furthermore, no event can promote drinking games, binge drinking or other dangerous and unhealthy practices.
Sec 2: That the revision should include the ability for 18-21 year old students to attend campus events where alcohol is present.
Sec 3: That Student groups must strictly uphold federal, state and local laws concerning the use, and selling of alcohol at campus events. If such laws are broken then the student group will risk losing their privilege of organizing events where alcohol is present.
Sec 4: That the administration drafts a plan to safeguard against students who are under 21 from being able to attain alcohol at such events. Furthermore, the administration should also ensure that alcohol-free events are available for students.
On November 10th, please come to Grace Conference Room to speak with the President of Clark University, John Bassett. Questions, comments or suggestions are all welcome. John Bassett and Clark Undergraduate Student Council always look forward to this event, where students get the opportunity to interact directly with the Man behind the Plan. Be reminded that this may be the last opportunity for students to talk to John Bassett about his plans and vision for Clark, since he will be leaving the institution next year. The event starts at 7:00pm and will last an hour. And of course, there will be tons of free pizza for all!
On November 11th, please come to Grace Conference Room to interact with the three bigwigs from Dining Services – Stu Gerhardt (General Manager), Heather Vaillette (Director of Operations) and Denis Gagne (Executive Chef). Do you have complaints about the quality of food? Suggestions for improvement? Comments on the structure of the meal plan? Bring all your ideas and opinions to this Meet n Greet program designed to bring students and Dining Services staff together. The event starts at 3:00pm and lasts an hour.
The elections committee has recently appointed 4 people to 5 positions. These appointments are as follows: Ali Canino for both Academic Affairs and Faculty Steering Committee; Tamanna Patel for Administrative Liaison; Christina Geller for Academic Affairs; Daniel Moynihan for Grants committee. From here, the committee is working to draft a referendum for the security camera debate (or rather, whether the student body supports the UP implementing such a change to campus), as well as assisting with a possible referendum for the Millennium Leadership Conference to insure their future funding. Lastly, the committee is trying very hard to come up with a solution to the problem of late night transportation to be provided (for free) by the school.
Fall 2009 Elections went extremely smoothly. CUSC received the highest voter turnout, at least in the past four years (885 students in total). Election results were ratified on Wednesday, September 30th. All positions except for the following have been filled: Clark Houses Representative, Blackstone Hall Representative, Dodd Hall Representative and Minority Students Representative, although it is likely at this point that a couple of write-in candidates may end up clinching some of these positions.
What does this mean for you? We have new students who are representing YOUR voice in the Clark Undergraduate Student Council. And hence, you should get to know them! Click on the Contact page on this website to find out who they are, so you know exactly who to approach if you ever need to use our services. Remember: your representatives’ roles are clearly laid out in the CUSC Handbooks (available at many public locations, including residence halls), and you can hold them accountable for these duties Please let us know if you have any questions about how to use CUSC as a channel to address issues with student life by emailing cusc@clarku.edu.
The Clark Undergraduate Student Council on Wednesday passed Bylaw 196, the Financial Ethics Bylaw, creating new regulations for the Student Activities Fee and further defining the role of the Treasurer.
Sponsored by CUSC Secretary Laura Hansen and supported by CUSC Treasurer David LeBoeuf the bylaw does the following; it provides the Treasurer with the authority to refuse to sign any financial document that violates the constitution, bylaws, committee decisions, and legislation of the CUSC. The bylaw also gives the Treasurer to refuse to sign any document that is an abuse of Student Activities Fee. An abuse is defined as an exclusionary, excessive, or extraneous expense. The bylaw requires the Treasurer to submit in writing to the Finance Committee a justification why the expense was not authorized. The Treasurer's determination may be appealed to a Joint Committee of the Finance and Grants Committees and an administrator of PCF.
This bylaw was passed as a way to guarantee that the SAF is being spent in accordance with existing legislation. "Student organizations are the ones who benefit the most from this Bylaw," said David LeBoeuf, CUSC Treasurer, "It provides protections and clearly defines the role of the Treasurer, forcing the position to be more accountable for the decisions made. Now the Treasurer is going to have to explain reasons for the refusal, and it provides the right to a fair hearing. Before the Treasurer's word was the final and unless the action explicitly violated the constitution or bylaws, there was no recourse for students." When asked about the SAF abuse provision, LeBoeuf said "this was necessary and long overdue. It provides fairness for those organizations who are working on programs with limited funds by limiting waste and making sure your SAF dollars are spent exclusively on the welfare of the students."
The most recent Student Council newsletter can be found on the Documents page.
In collaboration with the campus media organizations, the Clark Undergraduate Student Council (CUSC) will be hosting a candidate debate for prospective members on Wednesday September 23rd in Tilton Hall from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM. The positions that are open this election are one representative for each class, one representative for each residence hall, one Minority representative, one International Student representative, three off campus student representatives, and two Clark houses representatives. The candidates will be asked a variety of questions regarding student life, for instance, campus security and dining services.
The debate will give the student body an opportunity to evaluate the candidates based on their responses to questions posed and their ideas for the future of the Clark student body. Since CUSC plays an intricate role in the organizational functions of the student body, the results of this election will play a pivotal role in shaping student life this year. The executive board and the entire council hopes that you will come to the debate and listen to the different candidates platforms and empower yourself to be an engaged and active citizen in our community.
Over the last week, Clark U students have mobilized in opposition to a pending City of Worcester ordinance that imposed severe penalties for "nuisance gatherings" and underage drinking in Worcester. The ordinance, if passed in its entirety would give the police more discretion in deciding what constitutes a nuisance gathering, and would be able to impose $300 civil penalty fines on any attendees at a gathering of 5 or more people in which 1 of 11 broadly defined criteria (including cars parked illegally outside a residence, littering on private property, or hooting/whistling/hollering loudly) happened to be met. The ordinance would also penalize landlords after "nuisance gatherings" occur on their premises, and force landlords to include clauses in their private lease agreements with tenants spelling out the consequences of nuisance gatherings (possible eviction).
Over a matter of days, Clark students organized themselves into a unified opposition to the proposed ordinance. With a Facebook group of over 165 students and a lot of "buzz" on campus surrounding the issue, it became clear that this ordinance imposed serious penalties that many Clark students were unwilling to accept. In the true spirit of free speech and democracy, Clark students went to City Hall on Thursday evening to speak out against the ordinance at a Public Safety Meeting. Several Clark students boldly spoke before the council members and public. Max Wexler, Sam Morse (ACLU club members), Julie Mitchell, David LeBeouf, Billy Adams, Ifrad Islam, and Laura Hanson articulated their opinions on the ordinance in a constructive and tactful manner. One of the points reiterated by the Clark students was that although most social gatherings do not cause problems within the community, the ones that do should be dealt with appropriately.
Students suggested community service involvement as an alternative to the fines, and medical amnesty be granted to students who choose to call law enforcement in social situations that become dangerous (i.e. someone bringing a weapon to a social gathering). Excellent points about why the ordinance would be unjust and ineffective were raised by the Clark students including income disparity, the right to privacy, tenants rights, and how the ordinance may prevent people from calling the police if a dangerous situation occurred within their residence.
City Solicitor David Moore called for a revision of the ordinance (including a re-examination of the civil penalty fine aspect). Council Member Mike Germain, who initially proposed this ordinance was also dissatisfied with some of the wording within the ordinance. The ordinance has been postponed until further notice, but will be on the agenda again after the revisions have been made. This was a great demonstration of how a small group of motivated, articulate young people can make an impact on the political process. Holy Cross and WPI students were also present at the Public Safety Meeting.
The Fall 2009 Elections timeline looks something like this:
Petitions for potential candidates will be available on the very first day of classes (August 31st) so that students looking to join CUSC can begin acquiring signatures. An information session will be held in the Clark Undergraduate Student Council Office (in the University Center) on September 4th at 7:30pm, right after the Activities Fair. Petitions are due on the 14th of September, and on that same night, we will organize a meeting for all election candidates where we will lay out the policies and procedures of elections. All candidates will participate in a debate that will be held on September 23rd, and the elections will then take place on the 28th and 29th. Campaigning will then take place between September 15th and September 27th.
Public Comments Pushed Up – April 7, 2009The weekly CUSC meeting agenda is going through some changes. In the past, you probably remember a section called “Public Comments” being at the very end of the meeting. This typically is a part of the meeting where CUSC representatives announce miscellaneous events, and perhaps their opinion about a certain component of the meeting that just preceded.
Now, Public Comments is being pushed up. President Islam’s plan is to have Public Comments when the public is present. All members of the student body are strongly encouraged to attend CUSC meetings to bring forth any issues about student life that are on their minds. Because of the way Clark Undergraduate Student Council meetings are structured right now, students cannot arbitrarily raise issues or concerns about student life at any point of the meeting, unless they wait until Public Comments. It is simply because of the parliamentary procedures we follow, and in order to make the meetings as efficient as possible.
However, now that Public Comments is being pushed up, students don’t have to wait till the very end of meetings (that may last up to five hours). From now on, students will have the opportunity to raise issues or concerns within 10 minutes from the start of the meeting.
On a different note, the time of the meeting itself has been changed. Whereas CUSC meetings used to start at 9:00PM (and as a result would sometimes go till 1:00AM), CUSC representatives voted on the 1st of April to change the meeting time to 8:00PM instead.
CUSC Plans To Adopt New CUSC Handbook – April 6, 2009The new Executive Board of the Clark Undergraduate Student Council has already started taking steps towards better communication, improved transparency and greater accountability of CUSC representatives. On Wednesday April 1st – the first meeting conducted by the newly elected Executive Board – Ifrad Islam, Billy Adams, Laura Hansen and David LeBoeuf presented a comprehensive plan for restructuring CUSC operations to better suit the needs of the undergraduate student body.
The initiatives presented by the Executive Board include revisiting the roles of all CUSC representatives and adding to their current responsibilities to ensure that the interests of the various constituencies represented in CUSC are maintained and advocated. New roles will include the consistent use of the available email list servers facilitated by ITS, being available for question-answer sessions once a month for all members of respective constituencies, regularly attending meetings of various student organizations on campus, carrying out the responsibilities of the CUSC Standing Committees and meeting with various staff members to enhance the communication between CUSC and the Administration at large.
Clark Undergraduate Student Council plans to emphasize professional development by mandating representatives to attend leadership conferences held on campus – including the Gryphon and Pleiades Conference, the Millennium Leadership Conference and the Intercultural Retreat. This will ensure that representatives are fully prepared to carry out their roles and representatives and facilitate better visibility and familiarization of CUSC representatives as a source of support. The emphasis on professional development also involves a comprehensive training schedule that Vice President Adams will be designing over the summer for newly elected representatives in the Fall.
President Islam plans to restructure weekly meeting agendas to suit the needs of non-elected students who come to CUSC meetings to have their voices heard. There will be greater opportunity to voice concerns and ask questions to CUSC representatives and this opportunity will be provided early on at the meeting so members of the student body do not have to wait for all CUSC operations to be over.
The presentation also consisted of a detailed plan on improving communication through innovative modes that have not been tapped into in the past. More information will be provided on this later, but in general, these communication plans involve heavy use of technology and advertising through e-mail and social networks.
Most, if not all, of these newly restructured operations will be compiled into a Clark Undergraduate Student Council Handbook, which is going to be mailed to all students on campus as a reference for students to be aware of the student support that is available to campus through the representatives in CUSC. The overarching goal of the newly elected Executive Board is to advertise the availability of CUSC representatives and give students the knowledge and opportunity to make use of these representatives as resources.
CUSC Finance Committee: Done With Annual Budgets? – April 6, 2009The Finance Committee of the Clark Undergraduate Student Council has finally completed the Annual Budget Process for the academic year 2009-2010. This involved a month of exhaustive research, strategizing a plan for distribution of monies in an optimal manner and meeting with student groups to hear appeals during the week following the committee’s initial recommendations.
Overall, the Finance Committee had considerably less funds to work with this year, and a large portion of the funds are trimmed at the beginning of the process, as per CUSC legislation. A large percentage automatically flows to the Campus Programming Board (an umbrella organization that consists of PEC, SAB, CUFS, Speakers Forum, Major Event Committee, Senior Week Committee and Spree Day Committee) and other yearly expenditures like transportation (to facilitate the weekend shuttles to Blackstone and Solomon Pond malls, and the bimonthly bus to Boston) and Newspaper Readership (to buy the newspapers that are available daily in the University Center).
With slightly lower funding, an increase in the number of student groups, and the secured allocations that are trimmed right off the top, almost all student groups received a cut of some extent to their budgets. Several student groups were quite unhappy with the committee’s initial requests and signed up for appeals the following week. During this week, members of the Finance Committee listened to rationales provided by all student groups and revisited their initial allocations. Most groups who were heard during the appeals process received an increase of some extent to their initial allocations.
The final annual budget meeting (the CUSC meeting where all allocations for 2009-2010 are approved) is going to be held on Wednesday, April 15th in Grace Conference Room. All student groups have the opportunity to attend this meeting and (if still unsatisfied with allocations) address CUSC representatives during the approval process to present their cases.
The Annual Budget Process is complex and time-consuming. The Finance Committee of CUSC has done an excellent job this year of meeting deadlines, giving students ample opportunity to appeal, and distribute funds as fairly as possible. If you have any questions about your finances, please email the Treasurer David LeBoeuf at dleboeuf@clarku.edu or the Chair of the Finance Committee Reuben Kurs at rkurs@clarku.edu.
The Annual Student Groups Awards Night – April 6, 2009As the end of the year looms upon us, the Clark Undergraduate Student Council is getting excited – the annual Student Groups Awards Night is fast approaching!
The Organizational Committee within Clark Undergraduate Student Council prepares this popular event every year, in order to recognize exceptional student groups and individuals who have contributed positively to the culture of student programming at Clark University. Last week, the CUSC tabled in the University Center every day to get nominations from the student body at large. With a box full of nominations and a couple of weeks left to the event, the CUSC Organizational Committee is finalizing the list of students and student groups nominated for each category, getting awards together and preparing for the big event on April 20th at 7:00PM in Tilton Hall.
This year’s Awards Night will feature one award each for eighteen categories, including Best Event of the Year and Most Active Student. The event will also feature raffle draws, where the Organizational Committee will give away gift certificates. The main attractions at the Awards Night, however, are going to be some performance groups who will entertain the crowd in between the presentation of awards.
The CUSC Organizational Committee encourages the entire student body to attend this event, since it is designed to recognize students for the excellent work they do on campus. Very soon, there will be a survey sent out to the student body with the final nominations so that students can choose the winners of the various awards.
CUSC will provide delicious pastries, tea and coffee at this event. Please come and support your fellow students!
New E-Board Sworn In - April 1st, 2009Wednesday, April 1st, the E-board for the 197th session of council will be sworn in. Presiding over the new session will be Ifrad Islam, '09. Vice-President William Adams '10, Secretary Laura Hansen '12 and Treasurer David LeBouef '12 will be joining him. The new E-Board enters at a time when the role of Clark Undergraduate Student Council is being re-defined. They are determined to reach out to every student on campus and increase the resources available to the student body.
A New and Improved Avenue for Cosponsorship - February 2nd, 2009UCAB is a familiar acronym. The University Center Activities Board was installed some years ago with the purpose of facilitating late night programming in the University Center. However, UCAB faced many problems in the past few semesters. The two biggest problems were its small membership and its accessibility. Accessibility is a major requirement since its primary mission was to provide co‐sponsorship opportunities. Student Council, keeping in mind the necessity for a group like UCAB, has dissolved UCAB to create a new avenue for cosponsorship–the Programming Co‐sponsorship Fund (PCF).
The new fund has a budget of $20,000 and is overseen by a committee within Student Council, the Organizational Committee. The process for seeking co‐sponsorship is simple: fill out a survey (the URL for this is available at the Office of Student Leadership and Programming) with the name and date of the event, the organization's budget and some other details. The Committee then discusses the proposal. By Thursday morning of that week, an email will be sent with how much PCF will cosponsor. A student group can receive a maximum $300, and an initiative not led by a student group can receive a maximum $250. This is to ensure that PCF is able to cosponsor throughout the programming year.
PCF is also responsible for September and emergency programming. Not all student organizations are ready to plan events during that first month. It is also when programming is especially important to provide incoming students with fun late night and weekend options. PCF is dedicated to September programming. There are also nights and weekends when there’s not much programming on campus. Assisted by the Office of Student Leadership and Programming PCF will organize programs for these nights and weekends to keep students engaged and entertained.
Student Council's goal is to facilitate programming. We are sorry to see UCAB gone, but the
Programming Co‐sponsorship Fund has been put in place for the greater good, and the
increased accessibility will surely help student organizations out.