MINUTES
Student Activity Fee Board Meeting
Friday, October 30, 2009
404 Old Main
Attendance:
Board Members:
Jack Rayman, Senior Director, Career Services; Chair, Student Activity Fee Board
Nick Borsuk, CCSG President
Mark Calore, CCSG Representative
Mark Donovan, UPAC Chair
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
MaeAnna Hassell, CCSG Representative, Abington
Michael Kenney, CCSG Representative, Altoona
Ken Miller, Director of Student Affairs, Penn State Behrend
Justin Weiner, UPUA Representative
Substitutes:
Michelle Matzko for Alfonso Mendoza
Mark Cannon for Gavin Keirans
Jay Arcuri for Mary Edgington
Galen Chelko for Heide Port
Staff:
Jay Arcuri, Assistant Director, Central Office for Commonwealth Student Activities
Welcome and Roll Call
Roll call was taken.
Adoption of the Agenda
A motion to accept the agenda was made by Nick Borsuk and a 2nd by Maenna Hassell. All
were in favor.
Adoption of the Minutes
A motion to accept the minutes from the 5/1 meeting was made by Jay Arcuri and a 2nd by Nick
Borsuk. All were in favor.
A motion to accept the minutes from the 10/2 meeting was made by Mark Donovan and a 2nd by
Nick Borsuk. All were in favor.
Announcements by the Chair
Jack Rayman was disappointed no one showed up in costume!
Maenna Hassell has agreed to serve as parliamentarian
The letter from Vice President Sims directing Dr. Burlingame to head the CCSG Taskforce was
discussed (Attachment 1). This letter was provided to show that things are progressing with the
resolution of the discussion on SGA’s and the CCCSAO groups. The group has until January 4th
to bring back their recommendations to Damon.
The topic of the Subcommittee meeting on Monday, November 2nd will be the composition of
campus allocation committees brought up by Nick Borsuk. It was discussed at the last meeting
to move this to a subcommittee meeting. Discussion ensued that this was a tabled topic from the
spring and should have been one of the first discussion topics at the subcommittee meetings. We
will work to make sure that this happens properly in the future.
Public Comments (10 – 15 minutes)
No comments from the Gallery.
Discussion Items
Item 1 - Proposed Handbook Revision (philanthropy definition) (Attachment 2)
Mark Donovan discussed the proposal as attached to the minutes.
(Proposed sentence) All proceeds from the fundraiser must go towards a charity or
philanthropy as defined by the IRS, and in the case of a US based organization, has 501c3
status or a recognized student organization at the Penn State University.
It was unclear how to define what a philanthropy is. The addition of this sentence will clear up
that question. A question was posed, “will international philanthropies be accepted?” And the
answer is yes.
Mark Cannon stated that all 501c3 status means is that the organizations are tax exempt. Mark
was fine with the definition as it reads.
Motion to adopt.
Nick Borsuk asked to clarify the first sentence and more. The first sentence was there prior to
this discussion. He asked “What is a fundraising event and what can students do?” Nick would
like to add additional verbiage to include:
A student who attends the event must be able to gain the same experience from said event
as someone who donates to the fundraiser and attends said event.
This clears up any ambiguities.
Mark Calore stated that the policy already states that the main purpose could not be fund raising.
Roger Egolf asked how do you define the main purpose if there is more than one purpose.
Nick Borsuk stated that if a student can attend the event and get the same experience as the
person who donates to the event then it is not the primary purpose. He is good with the addition
of verbiage.
Kathy Flanagan-Hertsek has no issues with this except that it is important to try and remember
that topics are to be discussed at subcommittee prior to the full board meeting and everyone
should attend the subcommittee meetings to add their input.
Jack Rayman affirmed Kathy’s point that if you have input about a topic that you need to be
coming to the subcommittee meetings to discuss. That is where discussions happen; not in the
Board meetings.
Ken Miller stated that he didn’t want to throw a monkey wrench in things but he is not sure what
the necessity of this statement is. The point of the event is to open it to the campus community.
He didn’t get the point of someone receiving a better experience than another just because of
donations. His mindset is – 10 words are better than 20.
Nick Borsuk agreed but doesn’t think that people understood the sentence. The point of this
sentence is to clarify things so that there are not any ambiguities in the handbook. Putting this
statement in the beginning will clarify the position for people using fees in this manner.
Roger Egolf asked what will happen if a student organization wants to raise funds for their own
organization?
Nick Borsuk said this is a good question because some campuses do fund raise for themselves at
events.
Jay Arcuri stated that they should not be using the event to do that.
Nick Borsuk said that a donation is by individual preference and can be done by passing the can.
Not according to this.
Mark Donovan wanted to make sure we are not using the SAF to support a cause or organization
by showing support. If a secondary student organization wanted to raise funds at an event that
would be okay but to use the Activity Fee money to fundraise for themselves is not an
appropriate use of the funds.
Jay Arcuri referred to item 15 in the handbook referring to a “primary” purpose.
Nick Borsuk clarified that we are not talking about “primary” but in this case we are talking
about a secondary organization.
A motion was made by Mark Donovan to approve the amended statement with the new additions
submitted at the meeting by Nick Borsuk and was seconded by Mark Cannon.
A vote was taken and this was passed by a 8 – 4 vote.
A student who attends said event and does not donate to the event must be able to gain the
same experience from said event as someone who donates to the fundraiser and attends
said event. All proceeds from the fundraiser must go towards a charity or philanthropy as
defined by the IRS, and in the case of a US based organization, has 501c3 status or a
recognized student organization at Penn State University.
Item 2 - Proposed Handbook Addition (UPAC Funding)
Mark Donovan requested that this addition be made to the handbook to allow UPAC to utilize up
to $5,000.00 per academic year towards related expenses for committee training.
A discussion ensued as to where to place this statement in the handbook. It was agreed to place
it on page 11 after Legal Services, item 8. It would become item 9.
Nick Borsuk reminded the group that UPAC does not exist at each location, only at University
Park main campus.
Mark Donovan agreed and stated that he would like to discuss adding a new section to the book.
Legal services only exists at UP, so it would be appropriate to move that to a new section “C”
and then add this item to that section.
Nick Borsuk said to just do it and have it be called “Areas Eligible for Funding at Only
University Park”.
A motion was made by Nick Borsuk to establish Section C and then move Legal Service at UP
under this new heading. All sections will be renumbered and relettered to accommodate this
change. A second was made by Mark Donovan.
The board voted unanimously in favor of this change.
AREAS ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING AT ONLY UNIVERSITY PARK
The University Park Allocation Committee can utilize up to $5,000.00 per academic year of UPAC’s current
Student Activity Fee allocation towards receipted expenses for UPAC retreats and/or training. (Adopted 10/30/09)
LEGAL SERVICES AT UNIVERSITY PARK
1. Legal Services will be a joint venture between the Office of Student Affairs and
the Dickinson School of Law, in consultation with the University Park
Undergraduate Association and the Graduate Student Association.
2. The Full Time attorney who will direct the Legal Services Office will be hired on
the recommendation of a search team composed of the parties described in item
#1 above. In addition the attorney will be able to hire appropriate staff support
(i.e. a staff assistant) within the constraints of the budget.
3. All legal fees associated with actual representation in court, such as court fees,
will be covered by the student using the service and will not be supported by
student activity fee resources.
4. The legal interns will be provided by the Dickinson School of Law, with the
College covering the tuition cost associated with their internship credit.
5. The scope of services that this Legal Service Office will be allowed to provide will
be limited to: Tenant-Landlord Issues, Credit-Consumer Issues and Contract Law
Issues (i.e. leases or job agreements).
6. This SAFB recommendation will allow for a three year trial period which it will
fund. The SAFB will receive yearly updates/reports during that time including
presentations by the attorney for the service, the Office of Student Affairs, and
the Dickinson School of Law.
7. It is understood that the rationale for the three year trial period is based on the
precedent set with recreational sports, which the handbook clearly describes as
follows: “Varsity Sport teams … may be given start-up funding and then limited
support for up to three (3) years.” Based on this precedent, funding of legal
services beyond the 1011-12 academic year will require SAF Board approval.
8. At the end of three years, the SAFB will decide whether to continue funding the
program, based on annual reports, utilization statistics, and user feedback.
9. All advising, consultations, attorney-client meetings, third party interventions and
phone calls/meetings on the client’s behalf will be free to students, and only in
instances where the case actually goes to court or to provide services beyond
those outlined in #5 above, will students be charged a fee for legal services.
10. A $2 per semester fee increase to the Activity Fee will be levied to fund this three
year trial period, and this $2 levy will be designated as a separate and distinct
line item for “Legal Services” in 2009-10 and each subsequent year.
11. The Office of Student Affairs will be responsible for the location and housing of
the legal services unit, as well as for routine overhead costs.
12. The $2 per semester fee will only be assessed in 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 at
the University Park campus for three years.
A motion was made by Nick Borsuk to approve this proposal as amended and seconded by Mark
Cannon.
The board voted unanimously in favor of this proposal.
Item #3 – Preliminary discussion of Activity Fee Level
It is time we start to think about the activity fee level for next year. Figures show that the cost of
living has gone down this year by 1.3%. If the board agrees that the activity fee should be
raised, we will have to have the student organizations vote on it. Since there was NOT an
increase in the cost of living this past year, the student organizations must make an active
decision; it can not be automatic since there was not an increase in the CPI.
Mark Donovan asked how the student organizations would vote on this.
Nick Borsuk stated that this would be discussed with the respective governing bodies, UPUA,
CCSG and GSA, and a piece of legislation could be brought back to the SAF board that they
would support or not support an increase. The board will need to watch the economy (CPI)
during the next ½ year to see what the trend is. If it continues to be low, it would be difficult to
increase the fee.
This is just a general discussion to get people to start thinking about it. A decision does not need
to be made today but we need to keep it on our minds for the future. Jack Rayman referred to
page 3, item 6 in the handbook that explains the increase in the fee.
Ken Miller discussed not seeing a decrease in food and refreshments. He would like to take this
back to each area for further discussion and bring it back to the table next month.
Mark Donovan stated that they will watch the trend and see how the funds are being allocated
now and how fast they are being used this year.
Recommendations to the Vice President
There were none.
Nick Borsuk moved that the meeting be adjourned and Mark Calore seconded at 4:23 p.m.