MINUTES
Student Activity Fee Board Meeting
Friday, May 1, 2009
404 Old Main
Attendance:
Board Members:
Jack Rayman, Senior Director, Career Services; Chair, Student Activity Fee Board
Kendra Carr, UPAC Chair
Ralph Crivello, UPUA Representative
Mary Edgington, Senior Director, Union & Student Activities
Roger Egolf, Faculty Senate Committee on Student Life, Penn State Lehigh Valley
Kathie Flanagan-Hertsek, Director of Student & Enrollment, Penn State Wilkes-Barre
Ben Gilson, CCSG Representative, Penn State Erie (Behrend)
Gavin Keirans, UPUA President
Erin Kennedy, CCSG Representative, Penn State Erie (Behrend)
George Khoury, CCSG President
Alfonso Mendoza, GSA President
Present via PolyCom:
Chris Rizzo, Director of Student Affairs, Penn State Beaver Representative
Substitutes:
Nick Borsuk for Christopher Cycak
Staff:
Jay Arcuri, Assistant Director, Central Office for Commonwealth Student Activities
Heide Port, Administrative Support Assistant, Union & Student Activities
Welcome and Roll Call
Roll call was taken.
Adoption of the Agenda
A motion to accept the agenda was made by Ralph Crivello and a 2nd by George Khoury.
All were in favor.
Adoption of the Minutes
A motion to accept the minutes was made by Ralph Crivello and a 2nd by Mary
Edgington. All were in favor.
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Announcements by the Chair
Jack Rayman started with a riddle for the group. He stated that many changes have
happened this year and they all have been positive. The board has made changes to some
processes, approved lump sum funding, and reaffirmed that this board is not an allocating
body and that no salaries can be paid from SAF money. Many changes have been made
to the handbook for the purposes of clarification and the elimination of ambiguity.
Another thanks was extended to all involved.
Public Comments (10 – 15 minutes)
Kendra Carr asked to introduce the new UPAC Chair to the board. Mark Donovan will
be filling this seat.
Discussion Items
Item 1 – Damon Sims took the floor and thanked the members of the board for all the
very good work that had been done this year. He thanked Jack Rayman for stepping into
the role of Chair of the Board and doing a fine job. He was confident that Jack would
represent the administration well and invest the appropriate time and attention to the
Board. He commended the board for making the statement that they wanted this board to
be open, transparent and democratic and then sticking to it.
He referred to the recommendations given to him from the last meeting and expressed his
general approval of the recommendations. He began discussing the recommendations
individually. (Attachment 1)
Recommendation #1 and #2 – These can be combined into one recommendation and he is
very comfortable and happy with these recommendations and the accountability built into
them.
Recommendation #3 – CCSG is relatively comfortable with this but there are still some
campuses that are not. He will be meeting with the campuses to discuss this further on
May 20th. He is confident that a positive outcome can be negotiated.
Recommendation #4 – Good provision being suggested.
Recommendation #5 – Again good accountability.
Recommendation #6 - $2 increase is appropriate and modest. This is a good beginning
for Legal Services. He has talked with the Law School and this could be a good model of
partnership that brings students, academicians, and Student Activities together.
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Recommendation #7 – Sometimes this is not always wise because it sends the wrong
message with tuition continuing to increase.
Recommendation #8 – This is a very slippery slope and this board needs to protect this
section and be supportive of this language.
Recommendation #9 – Damon spoke with Jack about the amendments to the Handbook
and is generally supportive.
Recommendation #10 – He is okay with this recommendation and understands the
intention of this recommendation. He stated that this potentially may not benefit the
board. The flexibility to choose someone with more experience to serve on the board
rather than the Vice President could potentially work as an advantage to the board. The
vote of the VP serving on the board could be diluted and could end up working against
the board. The VP’s influence on the final decision with the President could be diluted.
The floor was opened up to questions. Ralph Crivello asked Jack Rayman to clarify Item
#4 on the double dipping of funds. He wanted to clarify that this applied to UPUA going
to UPAC and not for other groups. Jack Rayman stated that that was a correct
interpretation of the recommendation.
Item 2 – Handbook Revisions – These were discussed page by page and some minor
wordsmith edits were recommended.
A motion to accept the revisions to the handbook (including the minor wordsmith edits
cited above) was made by Nick Borsuk and seconded by Kendra Carr. All were in favor.
Item 3 – Rizzo addition. No formal action was taken on this item but it was brought to
the floor for discussion.
Chris Rizzo explained that he felt some codified time frames in the SAF Handbook
would help this board tremendously. The item introduced was reviewed and supported
by the council of chief student affairs officers. There are issues that need to be circulated
to people and organizations across the University as policies and changes can have far
reaching impacts and implications. It is important to gather information before they can
be discussed appropriately at SAFB. When complete committee involvement doesn’t
happen, then all opinions are not discussed. Kendra Carr suggested that the working
committee meeting changes should be brought forward with less time. Jack reminded the
group that it was agreed earlier in the year that things were to be to Jack/Heide one week
prior to the meetings and that did not happen consistently. Chris clarified that it is
important to have enough time to have dialogue across the campuses.
Kendra Carr stated that she felt three weeks was a bit long but two weeks was doable.
Chris agreed with Kendra, noting that at least two weeks could be an acceptable
minimum standard. Ralph Crivello wanted to know if this would be for just current
policy or for new policy as well. Chris recognized Ralph’s clarification as a very good
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one and that new policies should also be included in the proposed addition to the SAF
Handbook.
George Khoury stated that at his last CCSG meeting he stressed to the constituents that it
was imperative that they share the information at their campuses and to discuss these
things and give feedback to the Board.
This topic is being held for more discussion at the next meeting in the fall.
Item 4 – A CCSG Resolution was presented for discussion only. Nick Borsuk clarified
that Line 31 will be taken out. He further clarified that this stipulation should be decided
by the campuses individually, suggesting that sometimes they have difficulty finding
other students to serve.
Ben Gilson stated that part of the problem is pulling other students in to help with the
decision making. Chris Rizzo felt that there needs to be more dialogue at campuses to
get students to serve on SAF committees. If there are problems at individual locations
they need to be addressed. Many campuses have good models that work and these should
be explored rather than changing central policy. The DSAs and DSESs from the
campuses will be here for a meeting on May 20th and they are hoping to get more of a
consensus on this issue. Ben stated that the overall goal of this resolution is to remove
bias.
This will be discussed more at the next meeting in the fall.
A motion was made by Mary Edgington to adjourn at 5:02 p.m. and seconded by Kendra
Carr.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Heide Port.
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