CSSA Minutes: January 18, 2003

Board of Directors
Artemio Pimentel, Chair
Saturday, January 18, 2003, 9:00 – 11:00 am
Aztec Center, Council Chambers

Call to Order 9:14 am.
Roll Call: Present: Bakersfield, Chico, Dominguez Hills, Long Beach, Monterey Bay, Northridge, Pomona, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, San Marcos, Sonoma, Stanislaus. (Fullerton, Hayward, Humboldt, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San José late).
ACTION ITEM - Approval of the Agenda moved by Dominguez Hills; seconded by Stanislaus. Agenda passed with no changes.
ACTION ITEM - Approval of the Minutes of December 2002 moved by San Diego; seconded by Dominguez Hills. Minutes passed with no changes.
Special Presentation
Janus Norman, Fellow, Assemblymember Darrell Steinberg’s Office, discussed the Center for California Studies and the its four Capitol Fellows Programs. Janus is a graduate of Sacramento State and this year is an Assembly fellow working for the chair of the Appropriations Committee and helping to craft legislation. He urged CSSA representatives to apply for fellowships. The only requirement is a degree. Everything else is a matter of what you bring to the table, and, as students involved with student governance, CSSA representatives bring the negotiation, communication and management skills that legislators are looking for. The more diversity you present, the better. Serving as a fellow opens the door for you, placing you in the midst of a terrific network of influential people. Legislators are eager to hire those with policymaking and legislative staff experience. There are 4 fellowship programs. The one in judicial administration is the only one not located in Sacramento. Judicial fellows work with the California Supreme Court and the Judicial Council. Executive fellows work on the implementation side of legislation. You can be a fellow and work on commissions such as CPEC. With term limits and high turnover a fellow could be very influential in setting up office procedures. CSU applicants have a high likelihood of being accepted. Last year 5 CSU students applied and 3 were accepted. There is the desire to increase that number. As a fellow you can look out for the CSU. You receive 12 units towards a graduate degree; you get paid enough to live on if you’re careful, plus full medical and dental benefits and a start on a retirement plan. You also have the opportunity to create a terrific network. International students can apply, though the program doesn’t qualify them for a normal education visa. In response to a question about how budget cuts will affect the program, Janus stated there could be fewer fellows but the 4 programs will remain. You can apply to more than 1 fellowship program at a time, and Janus recommends that if you’re interested in the Assembly that you apply also to the Senate. You can get the application online; go to http://www.csus.edu/calst/Programs/programs.html. Go to the program in which you are interested, scroll to the bottom of that program description. and you will be able to access the application. Deadline for submission of applications is February 26, 2003.

Artemio pointed out past CSSA chair Shaun Lamachi’s presence at the Board meeting.
Public Forum: Casey Hanson, San Diego, stated that the vote of no confidence resolution in the agenda packet will make more enemies than friends, take CSSA out of the process and back several steps. It could result in destabilizing stable funding. Guido Piotti, Long Beach, agreed with Casey. He also said that order to be taken seriously by legislators ASIs have to attract more student voters to their elections. Cindi Newbold, Hayward, distributed her campus newspaper, which featured a front-page story covering the Hayward students’ trip to the December 16th Board of Trustees meeting.
Special Reports
1. CSSA Special Officer Reports
  1. Peter Ucovich, Academic Senate Liaison - Peter will have a report after attending the next Statewide Academic Senate meeting January 23 – 24.
  2. Cindi Newbold, Alumni Council Liaison – Cindi will likewise report after the next Alumni Council meeting, which is January 24 – 25.
  3. David Riesenfeld, Environmental Affairs Officer – Dave has resigned.
  4. Caitlin Gill, Financial Aid Officer – Caitlin has been working on Pell grants; CPEC’s draft is forthcoming. Her committee has been very responsive to student input. Caitlin will be able to describe key points of the final report at CSSA’s next conference.
  5. Carrie Drouin, Lobby Corps Officer – Tab 8 is actually last month’s report. Carrie/Lobby Corps will have a workshop at CHESS, which will include discussion of strategies to oppose student fees. Carrie is also working on Lobby Corps visits to the Capitol.
  6. Eric Guerra, Technology Officer – Not present to report.
2. Student Trustee Reports
  1. Erene Thomas- Erene thanked San Diego for the conference. She told students that while they might think their presence made no difference on December 16th, it actually did. She will participate in a CHESS workshop and encourages campuses to bring as many students as they can.
  2. Alex Lopez – not present to report.
3. Liaison Reports
  1. Christy Zamani, Student Relations Liaison- Christy said the rally was great even though the results were not what CSSA wanted. The talk was how eloquent students were, how respectful. It was probably the best rally CSSA has ever had. No one is happy about the budget—CSU students will pay almost $400 in additional fees, with UC students facing a more than a $700 increase and community college units costing $11 instead of $10. Students need to unite to address the fees issue.
  2. Alan Liebrecht, Chancellor’s Office Liaison – Alan thanked Priscilla Ocen and Tommy Ishida, San Diego, for the retention conference. The workshops were good and lunch was a great opportunity. He appreciated the chance to discuss outreach during his workshop. CSU is in a tremendous budget crisis that will probably continue for the next couple years. With such an enormous deficit, everybody is going to feel the pinch, not only through big cuts but also in increased taxes and fees. Some areas of state government are more vulnerable to cuts than others. At the CSU everyone wants to blunt the blow to students. The Governor’s budget proposes a 50% decrease in outreach and tremendous program decreases in other areas.
4. Systemwide Committee Reports – None were given.
Executive Officer Reports
1. Artemio Pimentel, Chair – Nothing to report.
2. Marivic Tolentino, Vice Chair of Internal Affairs – Marivic submitted a written report. The Ad Hoc Committee on Policies and Procedures is not yet ready to report but hopes to have policies and procedures ready for review at CHESS. Marivic will go over the budget summary tomorrow—overall, it looks good. A concern, however, is that some accounts haven’t been touched; we need to be spending that money to benefit students. Our elections code needs to be overhauled so that elections will be conducted in an organized fashion and in coordination with campus elections. Hopefully the code will be ready for review by the March conference. The funding application will be presented in committee for approval today. The idea is to ensure that finances don’t prevent equal representation by campuses at these conferences. Marivic thanked everyone who traveled to the Board of Trustees meeting December 16th.
3. José Solache, Vice Chair of External Affairs—José commented that the December 16th rally kept everyone really busy and was a wild card. He thanked everyone who came—the large student presence did make an impact. Plans for the student trustee search are going smoothly; the application is on the web (www.csustudents.org). The poster is ready for distribution tomorrow. The Long Beach office has received new pins.
4. Bruce Wolfe, Chair, Legislative Affairs – Not present to report.
5. Danny Vivian, Chair, University Affairs – Danny asked everyone to try to stay flexible; University Affairs and Legislative Affairs are trying to react to budget proposal while staying on track with existing commitments. The two committees may meet together this afternoon.
6. Fay Roepcke, Multicultural Caucus – Fay is trying to increase attendance; today MCC will vote on a CRENO resolution. Fay noted that CSSA’s March conference in Long Beach is the same time as the campus’ powwow. Danny hopes to arrange to have MCC invited into the drumming circle.
  
  Artemio closed out this section of the meeting by saying that the rally wasn’t last step and that we need to what’s next. Laura will be reviewing upcoming bills and we may have to suspend some procedures to sign on to some of those. The rally on the 16th was excellent. Artemio recommends a huge rally at the Capitol steps on the 24th of February, the last day of CHESS, hopefully in coalition.
Executive Director’s Report
In September Chico requested budget vs. actuals for last year, and that information appears in Susana’s report on p. 6. The largest savings are from salaries, because positions weren’t filled for the whole year. Susana is working with the Policies and Procedures Subcommittee and with the Internal Affairs Committee. Susana reminded everyone that January 21st is the CHESS hotel deadline; the hotel will not give us an extension and is almost totally booked. MaryLee McGough, Fresno, would like to come needs a place to stay, a roommate. If you’re willing, let Laura know. Please bring your checks to CHESS. The Retention Conference was great; Susana congratulates Priscilla, Tommy and Joan. Let Susana know if you think of anyone who deserves a thank-you card for the rally. Susana has been meeting with Marivic on the budget and will be revisiting strategic planning. She has been working with José on banners. Each campus will get 2 polo shirts—please let Susana know what students will get them and their size. A statewide student alliance has been developed to focus on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Artemio, José and SG will participate—Bruce may, also. Susana attended the Auxiliary Organizations Association conference last weekend, which was great. She learned about a surveying system using Palm Pilots—the creators of the system will be at CHESS.
Closing Remarks
Jimmy Reed, Chico, asked if there will be a Board meeting during CHESS; Susana said there would be. Jimmy recognized and thanked Susana and Joan for their work on the rally. Artemio distributed a progress report from Richard West on information technology. Priscilla thanked everyone who worked on the Retention Conference.
Adjournment, 10:14 am.