CUL House Governance Subcommittee
Notes on Meeting, 11/17
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Last week, members of
the House Governance Subcommittee met with the CUL House-Based Support Systems
Sub-Subcommittee, which explained its plan to designate one student to serve as
an ambassador to a cluster from each of eight areas: 1) Sexual
Assault/Health/Psyc Services; 2) Multicultural Center; 3) Queer Peers/Safe
Space; 4) Career Counseling; 5) Academic Resources; 6) Community Service; 7)
ACE; and 8) Dining Services/Facilities.
Each cluster will then have a total of eight ambassadors. (The selection of these ambassadors
will be handled by each individual organization/office, and coordinated by the
Office of Campus Life. For more
details, see Sub-Subcommittee handout.)
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The House Governance
Subcommittee decided that certain members of the Board should be point people
for these ambassadors, to facilitate communication between governance and
support services. These
responsibilities will be divided as follows:
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Community Liaison: Sexual Assault/Health/Psyc Services, Multicultural
Center, Queer Peers/Safe Space
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Faculty Associates: Career Counseling, Academic Resources
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House Life
Coordinator: Community Services, ACE,
Dining Services/Facilities
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The following changes
were made in response to concerns from College Council and MinCo:
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The Community Liaison is
no longer the Ònoise complaint personÓÑthis responsibility is now that of the
RLCs.
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The Director of the
Multicultural Center has been added to the Williams House System Oversight
Committee, to ensure that all voices are heard at this level of
governance. (One specific concern
raised was what might happen if there was a move to abolish the Community
Liaison position; in this case, a MinCo/Multicultural Center position on this
Committee would be significant.)
There was some discussion about whether the representative on the
Committee should be a MinCo Co-Chair rather than the Director of the
Multicultural Center. The
Subcommittee leaned slightly toward the Director mainly for the sake of
institutional memory, but would be willing to revisit this issue.
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We discussed the
possibility of one Faculty Associate being a Òminority-concerned facultyÓ
(perhaps from Women and Gender Studies, or African-American Studies), but decided
that this would limit the pool of people who would want to/could become Faculty
Associates.
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The importance of MinCo
training, and attending MinCo meetings, has been moved up to be listed second
under the responsibilities of the Community Liaison (it had previously been
listed fourth). (It should be
noted that the ordering of the responsibilities does not as yet reflect a
hierarchy of importance.)
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The responsibility of
maintaining the house website has been given to the Community Liaison.
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The Subcommittee
discussed the idea of requiring one member of the House Governance Board to
spend the summer in Williamstown to be trained by the Office of Campus
Life. It was agreed that this
requirement might discourage students from running for office, especially if
they already have another summer opportunity/commitment.
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Instead of requiring one
member of the Board to spend the entire summer at the College, we recommend
requiring the whole Board to come back to campus early (perhaps around the time
that HCs are currently asked to return) so that they can be trained, begin
working as a team, and start planning for the upcoming year.
New Issue: Elections
¤ The Subcommittee spent a good deal of this meeting discussing how the elections for the House Governing Board should be run. Our ideas are outlined below.
Election Timetable
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Before the Cluster
Draw: Our Committee will prepare a
one-pager outlining the positions for which students can run, as well as the
election process. The one-pagers
will be posted around campus, and will be ready for distribution at the first
event (showcasing cluster rooms) that will be organized by the Office of Campus
Life/CUL Subcommittee on Programming.
We will also make sure to e-mail students abroad with this information.
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After the Cluster Draw
and Before Spring Break, Week of 3/13:
Members of this Subcommittee (likely the non-student members), perhaps
along with Doug or other representatives from the Office of Campus Life, will
hold information sessions on house governance and the election process.
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April 6: Self-nominations (name and a written
statement) will be due.
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Week of April 17:
Elections will be held.
Who Will Run the Election
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In this first year, it
is suggested that this Subcommittee, with support from the whole CUL, run the
elections since we have the most knowledge about the governance structure. This option seems preferable to
organizing an election committee that will have to be trained, and will only
need to exist for this year (i.e. we did not want to create a committee
unnecessarily). Any students on
the Subcommittee or on the CUL who intend to run for an office will obviously
not be permitted to participate in the running of the election.
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We might want to discuss
whether or not the Faculty Affiliates might also be involved in running the
election.
¤ In subsequent years, the CLC and the Faculty Associates will be responsible for running the election. Since members of the House Governing Board might be seeking office, we thought that having the CLC and Faculty Associates run the elections would remove any possibility of students already in a governing role unduly influencing election outcomes.
How the Election Will be Run
¤ The elections will all be held on the same evening in the following locations:
Goodrich: Currier
Cluster
Greylock Dining Hall: Wood
Cluster
Griffin 3: Dodd Cluster
Lasell: Spencer
Cluster
Mission Dining Hall: Tyler
Cluster
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Dining halls will be
closed on these evenings, and special events will be catered by Dining Services
in each of the five locations above.
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We still need to figure
out what to do with the seniors during the election, especially since the
dining halls will be closed. One
option is to let them sit in on an election of their choosing and eat dinner
there, although they would not be allowed to vote.
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When students arrive at
the election site, their ID will be checked against a list of eligible voters,
and they will be handed a ballot.
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Before the day of the
election, all students who are currently off-campus will be e-mailed an
absentee ballot, which they will have to return by a certain date (before the
actual day of the election).
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At the election event,
any students who did not submit a self-nomination will be able to announce
their candidacy as a write-in candidate; these students should be aware that
they will have lost the opportunity to garner any absentee votes.
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All of the candidates,
including those who did not submit self-nominations, will give a speech.
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Do we want to specify a
time limit?
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All ballots will be
collected and counted.
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The results will be
announced that same night, at the event.
¤ How will the day-to-day functioning of the Board/governance work?
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What exactly should the
training of the Board entail?
(Note that MinCo would like to see all members of the Board receive some
form of training on minority issues.)
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Should RLCs continue to
be paid positions, concerning that all members of the Board will now be
expected to undergo training?
Should they continue to be selected rather than elected?
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Should the CLC be a
member of the Board? And should
s/he have a vote on the Board?
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It was generally agreed
that the voting power of the CLC and the Faculty Associate should be the same
(i.e. either they both have, or do not have, the power to vote).
--
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Eiko will talk to Doug
Bazuin regarding:
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Selection vs. election
of the Residential Life Coordinators, and whether or not they should be paid
positions.
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When will the RLCs be
selected, and how?
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Eiko will talk to Dining
Services regarding the feasibility of closing the dining halls for the
elections, and catering five separate events.
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Will is talking with
Dean Kohut re: selection of Faculty Associates for the 2006-2007 year. In subsequent years, Faculty Associates
will be chosen by the Faculty Steering Committee, which can solicit both
statements of interest and recommendations from the faculty and various
organizations/offices on campus.
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College Council plans to
draft a new constitution in January, to reflect revisions to its structure
under the new House System.
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We might want to think
of a different name for the Williams House System Oversight Committee.
Proposed Governance Structure
WILLIAMS HOUSE SYSTEM OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
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Composed of: House
Presidents (5), President of College Council (1), Director of Campus Life (1),
Faculty Representative from the CUL (1), Director of the Multicultural Center
(1).
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One of our main concerns
in thinking about composition was to ensure that students have the strongest
voice on this committee, and that there also be input from the Office of Campus
Life and the CUL.
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The Committee has two
main purposes: 1) to evaluate the functioning of the Williams House System, and
suggest changes as necessary; 2) to mediate any interhouse issues that may
arise.
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The Committee will only
meet when an issue arises, and a meeting can be called by any member of the
Committee.
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All issues discussed by
the Committee will be written up in a report that must be reviewed by the Dean
of the College. In cases where a
specific recommendation has been put forward, the Dean of the College will make
the final decision regarding its implementation.
House
Life Coordinator (1) Historian
(1) Treasurer (1) Community Liaison (1)
Faculty Associates (3)
RESPONSIBILITIES
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Serve as house liaison
to College administration, faculty, trustees, and house alumni.
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Represent the house on
College Council.
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Facilitate interhouse
communications.
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Oversee the House
Governing Board.
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Run Board meetings.
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Selected from among, and
by, the Residential Life Coordinators.
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Coordinate the event
planning initiatives of the Residential Life Coordinators.
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Communicate event ideas
and suggestions to the rest of the Board for input.
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Serve as point person
for the support services ambassadors from: Community Service; ACE; Dining
Services/Facilities.
¤ Selected by Office of Campus Life, as HCs are now.
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Organize house events,
as well as functions for individual residences.
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Play roles of current
HCs. Deal with any issues that may
arise in their individual residences (from noise complaints to more serious
tensions).
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Supported by Campus Life
Coordinators.
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Take notes at Board meetings.
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Take photographs at, and
keep written records of, house events.
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Create and update
official house bulletin board.
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Display house
objects/memorabilia.
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Maintain house archives.
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Maintain financial
records.
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Set house budget.
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Execute all house financial
transactions.
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Publicize events to
everyone in the house.
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Attend MinCo training,
general meetings, and governing board meetings. Integrate MinCo initiatives and concerns into house
programming.
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Maintain house website.
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Deal with issues of
intrahouse community.
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Ensure that house
programming reflects the diversity of interests within the house.
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Serve as liaison to
first-year entries.
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Serve as point person
for the support services ambassadors from: Sexual Assault/Health/Psyc Services;
Multicultural Center; and Queer Peers/Safe Space.
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Integrate faculty into
house life.
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Hold weekly Òoffice
hoursÓ in the house great room.
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Serve as member of the
House Governing Board. At least
one faculty associate should be present at a House Governing Board meeting.
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Plan one event a
semester.
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Attend as many house
events as possible.
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Serve as point people
for the support services ambassadors from: Career Counseling; Academic
Resources.
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Will count as committee
service. Perhaps stipend as well?
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Every attempt should be
made to have the three faculty associates selected from the three different
academic divisions (Divisions I, II, and III).