MINUTES
ASR General Meeting
December 3, 2007
TOPICS
-CookiesPam: Important things out of the way first, cookies!
Pam proceeds to pass out cookies.
Senator: Is this coming out of the ASR budget?
-USA TodayBrittni: Last week we talked about the USA Today Collegiate reader program. Terence
McMahon is here to give us a presentation. Please watch and pay attention to his
program.
Terence: Please put your name on a piece of paper so we can do drawings for t-shirts.
Cesar: You know the way to persuade us…
Terence MacMahon:
*******Secretary’s Notes********
He says a lot (which you can see below these notes) so here are the key points.
History: The program is 10 years old and has been well received (475 college campuses
across the US)
Reasons to Join: Well-read students are well-educated students. The elections are
coming up. Making informed decisions is important now. For ASR it is nice to leave a
legacy.
Options: The program is extremely flexible and designed to work for the university. You
can pick up to 2 more newspapers or not at all. It depends on your budget.
Cost: Each paper is given the education discount.
USA Today
NY Times
SA Express
Newsstand Price
$0.75
$1.25
$0.50
Discounted Price
$0.40
$0.45
$0.35
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*Papers that are not picked up are taken up and refunded.
How To Get Started: There is a free 4-week pilot program to test it out. They hand out
evaluations before and after the pilot program and present them in front of the
administration to persuade them of the benefits. They ask that we take them seriously if
we do the pilot program and try really hard to find funding.
Resources: Website with Newspaper related things and polls, etc. Guys to help ASR find
funding. People that come a 6am and 6pm to deliver the newspapers and pick them up.
******END NOTES*****Minutes Continue Below******
Terence: This program started at Penn State 10 years ago to get campuses reading more
outside of the college bubble and see what is going on internationally. 475 colleges and
universities across the United States are currently participating. Among them (near
Trinity) are St. Mary’s and OLLU.
Terence: I will go fast and run through the Resources, Cost of the program, and How to
get it Started. The Mission states that the program is designed to expose awareness and
civic engagement. You have a selection of newspapers, not just USA today, you get 2
other papers. Most schools here pick SA Express and the NY times.
Terence: Here are some schools in TX area participating (A huge list is shown). We just
signed Emory to do the program. I know they are one of your peer campuses. One of the
reasons to get started now is the elections are coming up real soon. How can you make a
well-rounded choice if you don’t read? One source is newspapers. If you don’t know, you
are less likely to vote or be engaged. Studies show that students that read newspapers are
more articulate and more civically engaged.
Terence: We have a website, USAcollege.com. There are interesting things to do for
college students. We have a poll that students can answer to see where you stack up with
other students around the world. It’s out there and it’s free. We have some examples of
case studies to help students learn more and get more involved. We have some
programming ideas that we worked with some colleges for. Here, for this contest,
students have 30secs to make a commercial about an issue. It is at Filmyourissue.com.
The winners get to go to the United Nations and present their issue. Terence points to
some things on the website. Opportunities for ASR, this is one is important for you guys.
It provides an education resource; you reach over 90% of the student body. You leave a
legacy for future students. How neat would be to come back 5-10 years from now and see
Newspapers still on campus and know you were a part of bringing it here.
Terence: Lets get to the meat. USA Today provides different displays for putting the
newspapers at no cost. The displays can be designed in anyway. One of our biggest
programs is Nebraska. We worked with them to make a map of where all the newspapers
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are on campus. A quote from a student at Lafayette from (an important person on
campus??) “Within these past few months I have witnessed an information revolution…”
Terence: We provide a free four-week pilot. All newspapers are supplied at no charge.
We will work with the other newspaper you choose. In the first or second day we stand
by the displays to ask students to fill a quick survey. We come back at the end on the four
weeks on Wednesday and Thursday before the program ends because on Fridays most
people are gone. We come back and see if the reading habits change. Then we come back
and present the findings to ASR and different people.
Terence: Fee structure is very flexible. We can design a program to meet Trinity’s needs.
It is based on your budget and what you want to do. USA Today, normal newsstand price
is $0.75. We offer it at educational rate which is $0.40. Any papers left at end of the day
are taken and refunded back to you guys. The NY Times is somewhere between $1.00
and $1.25 so we are offering for $0.45 per issue. The SA Express (normally $0.50) is
offered at $0.35. The typical cost for a full program is $3-5 per students per semester or
$5-10. This is a full-blown program. Some schools build up to bigger programs once they
see the benefit.
Terence: Basically to get started, what we are doing now is we evaluate the potential for
success. The only thing we ask for is that if the pilot is a success you guys will be serious
about this. Just try hard to find sources of funding. We have student unions, Res life or
ASR. See what department can contribute and how much. Do not worry about the
funding now. Just get behind the program and support it. You know if you ask for
funding the first time they will not give it but afterwards they might.
Terence: The best time to do a pilot is when there is 4 weeks of uninterrupted classes.
The spring time would be the best time. Maybe during the month of February, after you
are settled in and ready to promote it. When you come back from Spring break, we would
have survey results and you can do it. Some schools go from pilot straight to pilot. That is
pretty much the program in a nutshell. Questions?
Rob: You don’t have to pay for the extra newspapers. So does that mean someone from
USA Today would do it?
Terence: Yes, from 6am-6pm.
Cesar: Can we have some of our own questions in that survey?
Terence: I will definitely look into that. It has never been done before.
Pam: No more questions?
Terence: Ok. Can you guys put your names in a cup so we can draw for shirts?
Pam gathers names.
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Pam: We also have his contact information so if you guys have questions we can send
them.
-Drawing for PrizesTerence: First winner, Shockey!
Booo!
Terence: Next, Cesar…. gets the shirt which was on the floor….
Pam: That was on the floor for a reason…
Terence: Next up, Nicole!
Yay!
Terence: Amy!! Amy wins a jacket.
Terence: Next up, Peter!
Terence: Got a sweatshirt for…. Patrick! Patrick Nuttall!
Terence: Next laundry bags! Adam Cason! And….Milana!
Terence: Thank you all for having me!
Pam: Thank you very much!
Pam: Everyone eat more cookies!
-NewsletterPam: newsletter out on Wednesday. Have ideas e-mail Andi.
-Faculty SenatePam: I visited them couple weeks ago. They are also doing a districting thing like us.
Patrick F: Copiers
Pam: Yes. The faculty always look to us for inspiration.
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Cesar: Exactly, except for evaluation forms
Pam: So when I told them about it they wanted to pair up with us. There are like 18
members. We can make it work. You just meet every once in awhile and have coffee.
Patrick F: Another recommendation (letter) for me.
Pam: So, besides personal ambitions, real quick. If you are in favor, can you raise your
hand
Majority raise hands
-Office HoursBrittni: We don’t have to have office hours this week because we have finals and it is the
end of the year. I can be nice sometimes.
Pam: And I know we all have different schedules next semester so Brittni will deal with
that when it comes.
VOTING AND DICUSSION
-SweatshopPam: Is there a motion/ discussion? The idea is we just support them and help them get
their process going.
Cesar: Just to answer the price thing, the live free stuff is sweatshop free and the same
price-ish.
Pam: I will be on the committee
Senators: Oh well, that changes things.
Cesar: Can we require this committee to be often?
Pam goes into a hysterical fit…again.
Senators: Oh no..its over. We got her. She’s out. Someone motion to adjourn.
Pam: This better not go on MTV.
Pam regains composure.
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Pam: Everyone, the point is the ASR committee has to have someone on it. I was just
putting it out there. Who wants to work on it?
Adam Tutor and Milana raise their hands
Patrick F: I move that we pass and start the sweatshop ad hoc committee?
-MotionAll in “flavor”-14
All Opposed: 0 (Cesar: Looks around “Who loves sweatshops?”
All abstaining: 1
Motion passes
Allison: I wanted to give a balance update. Pam, do you know if we get the allocation for
the Spring?
Pam: Last time I talked to Windham, she said we would get another allocation but I don’t
believe her.
Allison: The balance now is $8044-ish but I have a balance of $9000-ish so about $1000
of receipts never got to me
Pam: Did that have to do with Found?
Allison: Is that a check we wrote?
Pam: You would have to give them the money.
Allison: Who is the contact? I will e-mail them and as if they got the money.
Pam (to the senators): Make sure you guys know to do the receipts and stuff. If not, ask
me or Allison.
WHAT’S UP
Cesar: we found a way for the Found guys to pay us back for financial support .Nick and
I have got e-mails from people about rights and stuff ignoring the bill of rights we wrote
for them. Now that Found has all this video equipment, we can make a crappy like sex-ed
type video to promote it. There are lot of people would love a lot of less bitching.
Nick: Have you talked to the cardinal cash people at St. Mary’s?
Nicole: Incarnate word is Cardinal Cash.
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Nicole: We have a partnership with them
Travis: Matt and I talked to John in Coates about getting a wine based margarita machine
in Tiger’s den. It would not change anything with the contract with the University. It
would be more expensive to get a liquor license
Chantal: My suitemate, Molly Merot (?) wanted me to bring up recycling glass.
Pam: Is she on the sustainability committee? One of things they are looking into is
recycling. She can talk to Alex or Sharon Curry from physical plant.
Pam: There is a reason why we don’t do glass but I’m not sure what.
Travis: I ran the recycling program last year and it requires so much sorting. It is way too
much stuff.
Nat: we can give more service hours.
Patrick N: I was just going to comment, I think the recycling program would be more
effective if people put them in places where people use them
Pam: If anyone is interested in this recycling committee it would be good. E-mail Brian
Haney.
Pam: One more thing, we do have a “Making of” feature from Found to update us. It is
amusing. It is like 7 minutes if you guys want to see it. Excuse me. Terence, would it be
all right if we use your laptop to play this?
-END OF MEETING9:56pm, Monday, December 3, 2007
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