BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
11/8/2014, 10:00 a.m.
Central Washington University
Ellensburg, Washington
Conference Call: 712-432-0111
Access Code: 561941#
Rai Nauman Mumtaz, WSA President, called the meeting to order at 10:20 a.m
I.
Call to Order
II.
Roll call, Introductions, Welcome
Nauman thanked CWU for hosted and
welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Nauman Mumtaz (UW-S, WSA President)
Jessie Spinney (WSU-V, WSA VP of
Federal Affairs)
JulieAnne Behar (WSA OD)
Garrett Havens (WSA ED)
Robert Lasker (WACTCSA)
Haley Beatty (WSU-V)
Ashlyn Salzman (WSU-V)
Robert Kobza (WSU-P)
Jacob Montano (WSU-P)
Logan Dozier (WSU-P)
Hayley Hohman (WSU-P)
Lakecia Farmer (WSU-P)
Sarah Kohout (WWU)
Annika Wolters (WWU)
Chelsea Ghant (WWU)
Jaleesa Smiley (WWU)
Giselle Alcanter Soto (WWU)
Oscar Aguirre (WWU)
Heather Heffelmire (WWU)
Mayra Guizar (WWU)
Belina Seare (WWU)
Josie Ellison (WWU)
Patrick Eckroth (WWU)
Griffin Crisp (WWU)
Nora Selander (WWU)
Kendra Thomas (WWU)
Emily Merrill (BC)
Teague Crenshaw (BC)
Tai Young (BC)
Mikaila Leyva (EWU)
Jordan Martin (EWU)
Jorge Garcia (EWU)
Brenda Reyes (EWU)
Whitney Mitchell (EWU)
Ayanna Ky Fernandez (EWU)
Emily Johnson (WSU-S)
Jeff Beahlac (Evergreen)
Anne Belson (Evergreen)
Tyler Bieber (Evergreen)
Justin Nygard (UW-B)
James Anderson (UW-B)
Steffani Hedstrom (UW-T)
Jocelyn Patterson (UW-T)
Brian Taubeneck (UW-T)
Alex Bolton (GPSS)
Alice Popejoy (GPSS)
Christina Xiao (UW-S)
Austin Wright-Pettibone (UW-S)
Noelle Symanski (UW-S)
Nick Shuey (CWU)
Alex Mathison (CWU)
Yosef Gamble (CWU)
Matt Pattie (CWU)
Cassie DuBore (CWU)
Vic Savino (CWU)
Spencer Biallas (CWU)
Jansen VanderMeulen (WSU-P, WSA VP
of Legislative Affairs)
Joy Hoang (UW-S, WSA VP of Outreach)
Morgan Burke (WWU, WSA VP of
Finance)
III.
IV.
V.
DJ Jigre (EWU)
Lily Jaquith (WWU, WSA VP of
Tiffany Dao (BC)
Communication)
Paul Bell (BC)
Approval of Agenda
EWU moves to approve the agenda, UW-T seconds.
No objections.
Agenda passes.
Approval of Minutes
A. October 11, 2014 BoD Meeting Minutes
WWU, EWU
No objections
Minutes approved.
Executive Board Reports
A. President
Nauman said the state board of CTCs currently looking at bench marks and
transitions. They also discussed dual credit legislation. The Higher Education
Stakeholders’ Summit was great, it was good to see WSA people there. He gave the
keynote speech. There was great dialog on what higher education will look like
going into the legislative session, UW-T had their Rock the Vote concert.
Candidates running attended. It was a great program and it was great to see different
people in attendance. He attended sub-committee of WSAC. They discussed
residency for veterans. Last item he worked on was the strategic action plan. He got
a call from the senate higher education committee, he has been asked to speak
during committee days on November 20. It might not have as much student
attendance. He’ll be speaking specifically on student debt. He will reach out for
feedback that he can pass along.
B. VP of Legislative Affairs
Jansen said he’s been following elections from Tuesday to find out how they will
effect Washington students. He met with Rep. Fagan (R-9) and they talked about
how higher education will be affected. They’re working on developing a legislative
agenda. He’s also worked with Garrett on the administrative action agenda.
C. VP of Finance
Morgan said she worked on the budget to make sure there’s a comprehensive
document for today. At the last meeting there were some suggestions, so she made
some edits. She’s created a tracker system so it’s up to date on what’s happening.
She’s fixed the budgets. She updated the strategic plan and updated other research
material.
D. VP of Communication
Lily said she has disconnected the Twitter account and Facebook, so she will be
updating the Twitter account now. She asked the group to send her anything
happening on campuses for her to update the account with. She’s spoke with a
reporter and editor at a campus paper after a Facebook post was understood as WSA
officially supporting something. She asked that members please keep what WSA
does and doesn’t support in mind before posting to social media. She’s also looking
VI.
at media tactic for the legislative session to up the WSA’s media presence. She’s
edited the October BoD meeting minutes. The BoD meeting minutes from today will
come out as usual, but the GA meeting minute will be done by the end of WWU’s
winter break. She’s also worked on the strategic plan with the rest of the executive
board.
E. VP of Outreach
Joy said she worked on the strategic plan with the suggestions provided. She’s
preparing to work on lobby days.
F. VP of Federal Affairs
Jessie said she has been facilitating the USSA feedback committee. WSA left USSA
in the beginning of October, so this is for future boards to look at what it would take
for WSA to rejoin. She’s working with campus representatives to get such a
document created. She will be speaking more on that later. She’s been doing a lot of
federal legislation research and paying close attention to the election on Tuesday.
She does staff check-ins. Jessie is getting updated with USSA with what’s
happening on the federal level. She checked with JulieAnne as well. She worked on
the strategic plan. On notable federal news, Senator Harkin will be dropping the
higher education affordability act. That will be the reauthorization of the higher
education act. Republicans took control of the senate, so the documents she sent out
will look different because of that, specifically in terms of grants. This is an
incredibly long process. It could take up to a year or so. Please contact her with any
questions.
Jansen asked with Harkin’s retirement who will be heading this up.
Jessie said it hasn’t been disclosed yet.
Staff Reports
A. Executive Director
Garrett said he has made a couple of campus visits. He tries to make it to each
campus once a year. He’s participated in a couple events. The Higher Education
Stakeholders’ Summit went well. They had important discussions. He’s looking
forward to have more targeted discussions with specific individuals. Everyone can
start working together as a whole higher education system. Hopefully from there
they can create a strategic coalition. He had the opportunity to give a presentation at
a LEAP conference. WSA worked with them on the DREAM act. He’s hoping to
bring students with them to Olympia during the session. He’s optimistic about this
particular relationship. He attended a conference on sexual assault. It’s good to see
schools back a strong statement about stopping sexual assault on campuses. All of
the schools in the state are taking it very seriously. For those who are doing work
around this, he encourages reaching out to administrations. From what he saw
they’re all doing work on it. Just to make sure WSA isn’t duplicating or combating
efforts. He got third quarter taxes filed and paid. They had an elections
administration meeting, mostly consisting of folks with the youth vote coalition.
Mostly the outlook this group has is that they want to focus on the deadline bill. It
sounds like the focus for those fighting for greater access will be this bill. They’re
working about getting a campaign plan around this. He’ll share more as this
VII.
campaign plan gets worked. Committee assembly day are coming up on Nov. 20 and
21. A couple committee meetings and then new legislators will get committee
assignments. It’s a great opportunity to get students down there. If student are going
to be a legislative liaison, they should try to get down there. It’s a great opportunity
to get some experience. He encourages people going to down contact him so he’s
aware of what’s happening.
B. Organizing Director
JulieAnne said since the last meetings she’s done campus visits to many campuses.
It’s been exciting to hop around to different campuses during GOTV. They had a
youth vote collation meeting several weeks ago to coordinate for GOTV. They
hosted a GOTV webinar training so people. She attended a sexual assault prevention
conference. She was disappointed at the lack of student presence. It seemed like
there was a willingness to work with students. It was a good conference. She’s
working with the ending sexual violence taskforce and representatives from each
campus. LaKecia will give more of an update on that.
Action Items
A. Sexual Assault Awareness Taskforce
LaKecia gave a presentation on the work of the Sexual Assault Awareness
Taskforce.
Alice asked if this is in alignment with the It’s On Us campaign or if this is on
WSA’s own.
Lakesha said yes. They will be doing stuff in November but for some schools it is
easier to do it a week earlier than the official It’s On Us day of action.
UW-S moves to make November a month of action for sexual assault
prevention/awareness, WWU seconds.
No objections.
Motion approved.
B. Draft of USSA Evaluation Document
Jessie presented the draft of the USSA Evaluation Document.
GPSS asked how are they’re framing this.
JulieAnne said this is meant to be part of the strategic plan. It’s meant to provide
context and institutional memory about the concerns at the time the decision to pull
out what made.
Jessie said this is by no means binding.
GPSS said they want to make sure it’s not misleading future members.
Jansen said the way he sees it is as the opposite of GPSS’s concerns. Rejoining
USSA is always going to be in the conversation, this says that before an action is
taken these conditions should be met. It merely says this conversation will occur and
these are conditions that need to be met before it becomes a serious conversation.
UW-S said they would be more comfortable if it wasn’t a part of the strategic plan,
but added it as a side document. Leave it out of that formal discussion.
GPSS asked where the motivation this document is. Is it because it’s convenient for
federal issues? Why are we continuing to talk about this?
Jessie said it always is going to be a conversation because it is the only student
organization at the federal level. It is important for WSA to have ties federally.
Because WSA has worked with them in the past and there are strong feelings from
people on the board.
GPSS asked who on the board.
Garrett said the way the vote took place, when WSA voted to leave USSA it was
made for financial reasons and it was indicated that if it was not for that financial
factor they wouldn’t vote in favor. So in light of this, this will be a conversation that
will continue. It would be valuable to have a document that provides context and
direction for USSA in terms of marking decisions on this.
GPSS said the finances were not the driving force. They don’t feel like that should
be the only thing discussed.
Evergreen asked if it would be effective to even join up again.
UW-S said once this document was approved would the board continue to discuss
this on a monthly basis.
Jessie said it’s difficult to say. The only time she brings up USSA is if she’s gotten
information from them.
GPSS said they know of other avenues where she can get information. They’ve
already determined this is not effective.
Morgan said in the minutes it is noted that the reasoning was purely financial. It’s
important to have assessments on this, but she think the board should move on.
Nauman said they should hold future boards responsible for whether or not WSA
rejoins WSA. This board can only provide context. There’s no harm in thinking
about that as WSA navigates through this meeting. It’s ultimately up to future boards
to make that decision.
GPSS said as far as the conversations, there were illusions to them being ineffective.
The context the board creates today will send them in a direction. They’re concerned
about how this board is telling the story of what happened in May. They’re steering
more than they should.
Nauman said he would recommend they have representative in the group coming up
with this.
UW-S moves that WSA keep the USSA draft out of the strategic plan. Evergreen
seconds.
8-3 vote.
Motion approved.
Affordability Model Comparison
Garrett gave a presentation on affordability models.
UW-T asked if this include graduates.
Garrett said no.
BC asked if WSA can work to include them.
GPSS said this is difficult because each college and department sets their own
tuition. It’s a high variable across universities. It would be nice to see more on
graduate students.
Another GPSS student said they’ll play around with it and see what they can do.
EWU said they’re starting to grasp the differences. They know UW has had success
in talking about this with their administration. They’re wondering about the
confidence level on this program. Is it feasible statewide? Or is it something they
want to get to after some wins?
Garrett said meet us in the middle isn’t an extreme proposal. It’s what a lot of
legislators would read as a reasonable proposal. That’s part of the reason why
they’ve had a lot of success. It seems like a reasonable first step and why they’ve
been excited about considering this as a minimum standard.
UW-S said they can flesh it out in their upcoming presentation too.
GPSS said this report says students can’t work your way through college. That’s a
pretty straight forward message. It says students are trying to work, but they can’t.
They can’t deny it.
VIII. Discussion Items
A. Defining afforablilty,
UW-S said a year ago a group of students did some reasearh and found that meet us
in the middle is the best. No student’s contribution should be more than 40 hours a
week during the summer and 20 hours during the school year at minimum wage.
Their finding is that students are working more just to keep up with costs.
“WHEREAS: Universities across the state have seen an alarming decline in state
investment since the economic recession in 20081, and
WHEREAS: Students have taken on increasing levels of work and debt to maintain
our public institutions in light of state disinvestment2, and
WHEREAS: Washington state higher education policy does not have a standardized
definition for “college affordability,” and
WHEREAS: The Washington State Legislature has endorsed the use of metrics for
evaluating success in higher education policy; and
WHEREAS, the Washington State Legislature should clarify the ideal balance
between state and local support for higher education; and
WHEREAS: “Workability” as defined in the ASUW report titled Meet us in the
Middle states that a student should not be expected to contribute more than wages
earned through working 40 hours a week during the summer months and 20 hours a
week during the academic year at Washington state minimum wage. A student
would currently have to work 54 hours a week at minimum wage to cover the full
cost of attendance estimated at $27,000 for a University of Washington student, and
WHEREAS: Workability is a student centered definition of affordability and centers
around how the individual student experiences tuition increases and funding
decreases.
THEREFORE LET IT BE RESOLVED
THAT: The Washington Student Association support efforts to pursue a clearly
defined definition of college affordability for undergraduate students of Washington
State, and
THAT: The Washington Student Association endorse “workability” as a measure of
affordability as defined in the above clauses.
B.
UW-S said they are thinking it will be revisited at the December meeting after
review.
WWU said thanks for putting it together. They have two suggestions, giving thought
to the range of people that would be able to balance those 20 hours, perhaps instead
of using disinvestment, they would use the word divestment.
UW-S said they will keep those things in mind.
EWU asked if they have thought about the minimum wage increase in Seattle.
UW-S said they used Washington minimum wage, because even at UW-S there are
students working outside of the area. They prefer sticking to the WA state minimum
wage.
Evergreen asked if they have thoughts on future raises in the state minimum wage.
UW-S said they haven’t fully considered that. The state could see it as an increase in
all over investment in higher education.
WWU asked how it’ll it affect out of state students.
UW-S said this is just thinking about in state student, but any support for institutions
would support all students.
WSU-P said they’re wondering what the specific ask is for the legislature.
UW-S said how they’re approaching it is for the state to set a metric for
affordability, they want it to be based on workability. It would measure the
effectiveness of their investment. It forces the state to define this as success in the
universities.
WSA Strategic Plan
GPSS asked if under working relationships, it would be right to take out USSA.
JulieAnne said the groups included are organizations that individual campuses are a
part of. So that was her logic in the development.
GPSS moves to strike working relationships portion from the strategic plan,
seconded.
WWU said they’re hesitant to completely strike it. As they’ve discussed earlier that
this is for contextual references. If they strike working relationships it gives future
boards less context.
WSU-P said this gives a list of potential areas for people to look into. It’s just giving
context for future boards to know that organizations that can reach out to if they so
choose.
BC said those interconnected relationships are vital to keep individual schools
functioning,
JulieAnne said this is a working title.
GPSS withdraws motion.
WWU said they’d like more explanation under the auxiliary title.
Garrett said he did send out an updated version with that language.
GPSS moves to removes the revaluating USSA membership section under
memberships and coalitions, WSU-P seconds.
IX.
X.
WWU said they’re hesitant to strike it as it simply states re-evaluating. It’s not
binding at all. It’s not even implying that they need to lean one way or the other.
Morgan said this particular section also stimulated the need to assess. So that’s
where they decided to have the taskforce to do that reassessment. This would negate
that taskforce. It can be tweaked if people are uncomfortable with the language, but
she is uncomfortable leaving it out.
UW-S said this is in reference to that explicitly. They’re in support of this because
it’s what they intended with the motion passed earlier.
GPSS said they feel misled and that there are certain constituencies that feel
supportive of this. If future boards find a reason worth rejoining then that’s one
thing, but then to hide it in different sections of the strategic plan is misleading.
Nauman said he’s all about moving conversations forward. A member’s vote is their
voice, they should move to a vote.
UW-T said reevaluation is throughout a couple of pages. They asked if they can
make it one big movement that they strike it from the entire plan. They move to
amend to strike USSA entirely, except for the auxiliary section.
EWU said that striking any mention of them is not good. As long as they have a VP
of Federal Affair it will continue to come up. They discourage striking this entirely.
Evergreen said in response to EWU, they have made a vote that says essentially they
want to strike this from the strategic plan. If they were strike one section, then they
should strike all sections. It’s going to come up whether it’s in the strategic plan or
not. It’s important for them.
WWU said they understand the motion made earlier, but as they have seen this time
and time again, they’re afraid that the vote today might discount previous votes in
the past. By removing it complete or in this one instance. The impact hides USSA
and impacts whether or not other boards reconsider membership.
Vote 8-3.
Amendment approved.
WSU-V calls to question, seconded.
Vote 8-3.
Motion passes.
WSU-V said they mentioned this at the last board meeting, the role of the board of
directors and the GA in the budget, was there anything changed in there.
JulieAnne said it’s not in the finance section. But before personnel they included
what leadership and governing entities do.
Garrett said that doesn’t include specifically finance. He wants to edit the bylaws to
state the monthly tax report instead of including it in the strategic plan.
Action Items
New Business
A.
UW-S said they want everyone to know that they’re engaging in conversations with
Garrett, JulieAnne and Nauman about fee structures. They would encourage others to
have a similar discussion.
XI.
B.
GPSS said UW having discussions with admin about childcare services on campus.
They’re wondering if they could talk out of the meeting about what kind of childcare
services are available on each campus.
Adjournment
UW-S move to adjourn, UW-T seconds.
No objections.
Motion passes.
Meeting adjourned at 12:30 p.m.