Veterans Memorial Taskforce
March 9th, 2016
SURC 236 6:00pm
Call to Order
Rene calls the meeting to order at 6:04pm.
Present
 Co-Chair: Rene Mahnke, VP for Student Life and Facilities
 Co-Chair: Hauke Harfst, VP for Academic Affairs
 Army ROTC: Christina Black
 Alumni Association: Robert Ford, Director, Alumni and Constituent Relations
 CWU Veterans Center: Ruben Cardenas, Interim Director.
 Art Representative: Gregg Schlanger, Chair, Art Department
 Facilities: William Yarwood, Director, Facilities Planning & Construction Services
 KVA: Linda Huber
 CWU Student Veteran: David Sturgell
 Kittitas Valley Veterans Association: Ed Barry, President
 Facilities Management Department: Jyoti Naik, Capital Planning Architect
 Facilities Maintenance and Operations: Mike Moon, Director
 ASCWU Student Government: John DeHan, Executive VP, Brittany Kinsella, VP for
Clubs and Organizations
Updates
Hauke Harfst: We started our project proposal and got it submitted this morning
William Yarwood: We just have to identify the budget and the location
Huake Harfst: The EFC meeting is on the 21 of March.
William Yarwood: and if there is a location we can push it there. They wanted us to come back
with an alternate location.
Hauke Harfst: Which site was the next in line?
Thomas Harms: The primary location is McConnell Hall followed by the heat plant and the flag
plaza as secondary locations.
Hauke Harfst: Rene and I will be working with bill to make sure everything is ready for the
EFC meeting. Is that at 2pm?
William Yarwood: Yes.
Gregg Schlanger: I had a conversation with Linda Schactler. And this project kind of came up. I
tried to correspond with her. I don’t know if she wants to use her name here. I think it is more on
the dark side, not enough information that there isn’t much out there. There was a large concern
about a 100 year old oak being torn out for this. We need to identify the process of what we are
doing. She had a lot of concern about it, what it was and what it would look like, a long list. We
talked about what we have done and our progress. She almost seemed interested in my
presentation. I will be willing to give my presentation for any entity. For that level of concern
from the administration, this will be a big battle in trying to get this done. There is a
misconception of a large list of CWU alumni that would be on the list of veterans. I think there is
a lack of knowledge and looking at alternative sites would be a good direction in this.
My sense of these other two sites, the Central Green, it is pretty isolated and there are utilities
under the ground. Above the “ice rink” is another large area, it is very crowded up there. Above
the flag plaza,
William Yarwood: That is where the Vietnam memorial was set up.
Gregg Schlanger: There looks like there are utilities up there as well though. Maybe the way to
present it also, for the flag plaza, it will be a memorial plaza. There could be multiple memorial
in that area and have them already defined. I like McConnell, and the visibility, I think this has
more potential, there is more parking, activity, more accessibility, and it is more open for
ceremonies. This one will be an easier one to sell.
Hauke Harfst: have this one as the primary contingency after McConnell.
David Sturgell: I hear now, is there any reason why we can’t switch the primary location.
Ruben Cardenas: I think we should go until we are told ‘no.’
David Sturgell: We stick with McConnell, the flag plaza will be our first alternate and the South
Park as the second alternate.
Hauke Harfst: We will talk to Linda and inform them. My concern is that all the meetings with
the advisors, Linda is the one that came into our internal affairs, I hope that our affairs don’t
conflict with what Linda is saying.
Gregg Schlanger: Linda is professional and don’t think this will be a conflict. She is aware of
other proposals that are out there. Around Lind seem to be one as well. I think it is a lack of her
not knowing.
Rene Mahnke: I would like to hear what has been brought up in the past and get meeting with
here as soon as possible.
Ed Barry: Are there any other proposals?
William Yarwood: No, there has been a lot of discussion for the need for memorials. There was
a sense that the memorials around campus need to be brought up in a single location.
Hauke Harfst: We will meet with her and answer any questions to the best of our abilities.
Gregg Schlanger; I would be happy to go with you guys to talk with her as well
Rene Mahnke: The president did come by one day and did have some questions.
Hauke Harfst: I walked him through it and what has been done so far.
Jyoti Naik: Should we show the pros and cons for the other locations, utilities, and such?
William Yarwood: We will have to look at stuff below ground, and we would be happy to
develop those pros and cons. They are very interested in the sites, and also with the budget. We
are working our way up and they will be asking those questions. That will give the
administration to come in on it and voice their concerns.
Hauke Harfst: We can say then that we will allocate this amount from ASCWU, but then for
other funding, like the alumni, we have to have one for the other and vice versa.
Gregg Schlanger: I don’t know how quickly we can identify the amount of utilities and other
aspects of the two main sites, I will try to get something ready for EFC.
Jyoti Naik: If you send me these, I need dimensions.
Gregg Schlanger: If you can say that if there is major utilities that would help very much with
the placement for memorial. Just utilities, heat tunnels, and such.
Jyoti Naik: I will do all three sites for you.
Gregg Schlanger: I will then take those in.
Hauke Harfst entertains a motion to keep McConnell Hall as primary location and the flag plaza
as the preferred second location
Ed Barry so moves
Ruben Cardenas seconds
Motion PASSED 6-0-0
Rene Mahnke: I went over the minutes and made an important mistake. When we voted on the
concept, the approval of using Washington state post 9/11, I said that the motion passed 4-2-2
which is not majority. I was supposed to vote to break the tie.
David Sturgell: I think we would say that the motion failed due to irregularities in the process.
To clarify that I think we should have a new motion.
Rene Mahnke: I will take the blame for that mistake.
Hauke Harfst: The original motion is on page 8 and goes onto page 9.
Ed Barry: There are two MOH Hugh Clawson. He is from Kittitas.
Rene Mahnke: Did he attend CWU?
Ed Barry: I couldn’t not tell you.
Rene Mahnke: We cannot search just for veteran status.
David Sturgell: I have some question on that for after the meeting.
Ed Barry: I think we need to have a conversation about the names and go through the procedure
of clarification.
Gregg Schlanger so moves to use Washington post 9/11 fallen veterans and identify the CWU
Alumni
Ed Barry seconds
Discussion:
David Sturgell: I don’t agree with this. I think it should be for alumni’s. It should be for 1891
and from there on. Like the Vietnam memorial, there needs to be a way to add names on to it.
We need to account for that the school has been going over 100 years to the Spanish American
war, we need to address that.
Rene Mahnke: We have the database of almost all alumni’s. There could be a way to send out a
mass email asking for details of CWU fallen veterans to verify that people attended the school.
David Sturgell: Any memorial that has names, you have to always have to add names. There
needs to be a way to verify that the students attended CWU
Gregg Schlanger: I always come back to that since 9/11, it has a focus, and it makes it unique. It
sometimes makes it easier to talk about and has a specific definition. I have been traveling a lot
around the state giving scholarships, the state really represents who we are. We are in the Central
location in the state and it give it that more importance for it.
John DeHan: I know a few meetings ago, having the sign on I-90, if we limited it to just central,
why not to bridge the gap, why not have it the whole state?
Ed Barry: About the sign on the interstate, I use to be on DOT. You are not going to get it. Due
to duplication. You can only have so much content on the sign as well.
John DeHan: I say what you are saying but there has got to be a way.
Ed Barry: I don’t totally agree, but I do agree with the state wide names. This is a central project
for alumni’s. To bring all the other KIA names in from across the state. I agree with Gregg,
CWU has students from across the state. I don’t have anything against the 9/11 names due to the
ROTC involvement. Blanchard was prior service and he was in Iraq.
Gregg Schlanger: The last two pillars are blank. It is to symbolize that we don’t need to put
more names on but if we have to that is why they are there. There is unfortunately room for the
memorial
Ruben Cardenas: My two cents, if we had a solid way to identify back to 1891, I would want
that, but I don’t think we would do a service because we won’t have enough confidence for that.
Yes we did have one KIA that was a CWU student and a way to identify them
John DeHan: I feel that your goal in starting this was to have a memorial. Why can’t we have
additions down the road? If we don’t get this done it’ll be up to the next year board, then what
are the chances of this happening?
Hauke Harfst: I like the idea for the statewide, but I also want this to be Central specific. That is
why I think there could be place to highlight the CWU alumni on it.
Gregg Schlanger: And it goes back to design. There could be a respectful and dedicated way to
identify those names. For hose those names are laid out is up to those graphic designers. Whether
the way to acknowledge the CWU alumni, there does need to be a way to do that.
John DeHan: That is a way to establish that
Rene Mahnke: What if we had some extra plaque to recognize all CWU veterans that were KIA
and to have a recognition, even past 9/11 for all Alumni.
Gregg Schlanger: There could be a way to incorporate another stone just for CWU alumni.
Ruben Cardenas: That would be awesome to have that as the center pillar.
Rene Mahnke: I would like to do what Ruben said, to have only wildcats back to 1891 but it
isn’t reliable.
Gregg Schlanger: There could be something to acknowledge the unknown and the known.
Hauke Harfst: What if the statewide is post 9/11 and to have all CWU fallen Alumni?
Rene Mahnke: That is what I was saying to have no names.
Gregg Schlanger so moves to adopt a friendly amendment to develop an additional concept that
works with the overall design that recognizes and acknowledges all CWU students from all wars
with the design approval.
Ed Barry seconds
Amendment PASSED 6-0-0
Motion PASSED 6-0-0
Funding
Rene Mahnke: John and I met with Scott Wade, Director for the CWU Foundations and didn’t
know much about the process. We went to ask him if we can move the money into a foundation
account, we cannot. We asked to have a give to CWU for the Memorial. There will be a Veterans
memorial Foundation account for the private money that then can be allocated into the overall
costs. Hauke and I met with Andy Sullivan and asked him if we can create an account for the
money. The answer was no as well. It is very hard to create an account for this specific of a
process. We would have to gather I-owe-you’s for this.
Hauke Harfst: For alumni funding we can get that into the foundation account. From the
President we would get a written statement that promises this amount of money. For the Give to
CWU, there will be a drop down for the veterans memorial project fund.
Rene Mahnke: During spring time the alumni board will be meeting on the Westside. We would
be able to present to them again. They seemed very interested.
Hauke Harfst: They wanted to know where to send their money. CWU’s alumni are very
interested in this project. We are also getting a lot of feedback from the ROTC alumni as well.
Gregg Schlanger: It is possible, if maybe, if this is far enough along, that money goes to
facilities for the site work. That could get into trouble but that would be an option. The stone
company will want a down payment.
Rene Mahnke: Our board has committed to put $60,000-70,000 for this project. We anticipated
spending a lot of money on this project.
Hauke Harfst entertains a motion to adjourn
Ed Barry so moves
Gregg Schlanger seconds
Motion PASSED