7:04 | Council is running late due to some last-minute changes to the agenda. It will begin in five minutes, according to Vice President President for Student Life Samin Shehab ’11. The additions to the agenda are all fund allocations.

7:12 | Council members are still waiting for the meeting to begin. Meanwhile, one of the VSA’s largest audiences of the year has assembled in the back of the room. Though Council meetings are open to the entire student body, they are usually poorly attended by non-Council members.

7:17 | The meeting is beginning. VSA President Mathew Leonard ’11 opens the meeting by jokingly condemning VPrint.

7:19 | The audience is generally made up of the members of organizations who are applying for funds tonight. The Council has moved fund applications up in the agenda so as not to waste the time of the various org members in attendance.

7:20 | Allocation of $1350 to Future Waitstaff of America (FWA): FWA will be putting up a production of “Reefer Madness.” They will be working with Vassar’s Ballroom Dance club to stage the shows large, partner dance number. FWA will also be producing “The Fantasticks” later in the semester. The organization will also be hosting a cabaret show on Saturday, Feb. 19, to raise funds.

Main House President Boyd Gardner ’12 moves to amend the allocation to $1850 due to some unexpected fees to FWA. The motion passes unanimously. The fund allocation passes unanimously.

7:36 | Allocation of $970 to Vassar EMS from the Conference Fund: VCEMS will be attending a national conference for collegiate emergency medical services. President of the Class of 2014 Michael Moore ’14 moves to raise the allocation to $1,170 to account for an increase in the lodging costs. The motion passes unanimously. The allocation passes.

7:47 | Allocation of $8,000 to Hip-Hop 101 from Council Discretionary: Hip-Hop 101 will be hosting their annual Throwback Jam, which welcomes attendees from Vassar and Poughkeepsie. President of the Class of 2013 Eli Berns-Zieve ’13 moves to amend the allocation to $10,000. There are some unknown costs, such as lighting, for the event, which has led Council to consider tabling the motion, though no one has made a formal motion to table it. The amendment to the allocation passes.

President of Town Students Maya Acevedo ’11 moves to postpone the allocation. Some council members are concerned that if the amendment is postponed, Hip Hop 101 will not be able to make an offer to potential performers. As the largest unknown cost is lighting, the Council is attempting to parse the potential costs of lights so that the allocation may be passed tonight. The motion to postpone the allocation fails unanimously.

The fund allocation passes unanimously.

8:18 | Allocation of $5,000 to Asian Students Association (ASA) from the Speakers and Lecturers Fund: This year, ASA’s annual conference will focus on gender and sexuality in Asian Americans. The allocation passes unanimously.

8:30 | Allocation of $5,000 to Vassar Greens from Council Discretionary: The Greens are working on restructuring their organization completely. They have worked on a campaign to reduce the consumption of bottled water in favor of tap water. They are working on reducing waste on campus by opening a “free store,” and have been campaigning against an enlargement of the local incinerator. They are requesting funds to attend the biannual Power Shift conference in Washington, D.C. in April. President of Lathrop House Sam Garcia’13 points out that according to VSA’s bylaws, the governing body is not allowed to send more than 10 students to a conference; the Greens are planning to send 45 students.

Garcia motions to amend the allocation down to $3,800 in light of the VSA’s policy on sending students to conferences. Ferry House President Kate Dolson ’13 voices her support for the amendment, and says that it would be prudent to support it “keeping in mind that the VSA has to support other organizations as well.” VSA Vice President for Activities Tanay Tatum’12 asks the Greens if it is carrying out any amount of fundraising, to which representatives of the organizations report that they are planning to sell free-trade coffee that has been donated to them. The motion for the amendment passes.

The motion to allocate $3,800 to the Vassar Greens passes by vote of 18-3-1.

9:08| The Council has now entered a five-minute recess.

9:14| Council members have begun convening after the recess.

9:17| Executive Board Reports :

Academics Report

VSA Vice President for Academics Laura Riker ’11 informs Council that the application for mini courses has been prepared. She also reports that the Committee on Curricular Policies is reducing its size to six student members in an attempt to increase efficiency.

President’s Report

VSA President Mat Leonard’11 reports that the Vassar Board of Trustees will meet in February to approve the budget.He adds that he and VSA Vice President for Operations Ruby Cramer’12 will be in touch with the Governance Review Steering Committee, and will be representing student opinion on shared governance. He congratulates the Senior Class and Noyes House on the events they hosted this weekend.

Operations Report

Cramer and VSA Vice President for Student Life Samin Shehab’12 will create two new committees: one on Elections, and one on revising the VSA’s “internal structure.” The Operations Committee has been working on reviewing the VSA’s governing documents; “we have wholly-modified our constitution,” said Cramer. The Committee also aims to purge inconsistencies within the documents. Cramer and the President’s student assistants are working on a set of panels that President of the College Catharine Bond Hill will host in place of Town Halls; the topics will include financial aid, capital projects, campus dinning, academics and the relationship between Vassar and the economy. The date and times are not fixed, and are dependent on the panelists’ schedule. She announces that Mind the Gap is on Thursday, Feb. 17.

She has now asked the Class of 2011 President Moe Byrne’11 to talk about the 2011 All-School Gift. “Development and the senior class are very interested in developing a sense of philanthropy among the student body,” she added. “Our goal is to send the message that the Class of 2011 really believes in sustainability,” she said.

9:36| Open Discussion: There are 98 days left to graduation.

Garcia: “I’m a little uncomfortable with what happened with the greens. If it’s a conference, we should only send 10 people.” Riker disagrees: “It’s more than a conference; it’s also a rally.” Shehab agrees with Riker, and says the event that the Vassar Greens wanted to attend was not technically defined as a “conference.”

Noyes House President Jenna Konstantine ’13 congratulates the organizers of her event Day-Glo Today, and reports that there were no Emergency Medical Services calls to the event. Konstantine says that her House Team brought up redundancies in Council’s discussions, and Leonard responds by saying that he may impose a rule that allows students to speak only twice on issues. Finally Konstantine brings up last Sunday’s council: “I feel like the way people conducted the meeting was a little bit obnoxious. Things just didn’t happen. If getting out of the meeting is so important that you have to physically prompt people to leave, send a proxy. I appreciate the Superbowl was happening…but we didn’t talk about anything.” Leonard: “The meeting was not held as it was supposed to.”

Byrne says that the “Senior Class has had a crazy, crazy weekend.” The class hosted the Faculty-Student Basketball Game, a night at Mahoney’s and the annual 100-Nights celebration. She reports that Saftey and Security refused entry to students into the Villard Room as Aramark was late to the event. “I controlled the crowd,” which she found inappropriate as “security just sat at the door and did absolutely nothing.”

Edwards makes a motion to move $500 from the Council Discretionary Fund to the Student Seminar fund, a pilot program that allows for student-taught mini courses. The fund will roughly provide for $5 per student. The motion passes unanimously.

Class of 2012 Pamela Vogel’12 commends everybody on the lengthy budget allocations and believes that “it’s important that [organizations] see that we treat all of our constituents with equal scrutiny.”

10:08| Davison House President Michael Thottam’12 moves to adjourn the meeting. The motion passes.

8:00 p.m.| The Vassar Student Association (VSA) Executive Board is still waiting for all the candidates to arrive before starting the debate.

8: 10| The candidates have taken their seats on stage. Adrienne Kurtz and Thomas Rafferty are not present. VSA President Mat Leonard ’11 is welcoming Turpin as moderator.

8:12:| Turpin asks all the candidates how tthey will represent their constituency, and how they will bring their constituents’ opinions to VSA Council. Thompson: “I will communicate through e-mail and Facebook.” Moore: “I will try and go dorm-to-dorm to increase face-to-face communication with my constituents.” Lester: “I will not send out too many e-mails. Not everyone has Facebook, and that’s why I would set up events outside the [All Campus Dining Center] to increase face-to-face communication as well.” Parlak: “Throughout the year, I will try to make myself available. I want to spend my time to get to know everyone in the Class of 2014.”

8:18| Turpin asks Lester how he plans to add to the already-existing student organizations on campus, as he mentioned in his statement. Lester: “There should be an easier way for students to do what they like to do, even if they don’t get into the groups they wanted to; there are a lot of people who deserve to get into groups but didn’t make it. That’s why, there should be more than 120 student organizations already present.”

8:20| Turpin asks Moore how he plans to improve Vassar-Pougheepsie relations. Moore: “I would work with organizations like Hunger Action…and make sure freshmen have access to these organizations” that provide opportunities for students to go out into the Poughkeepsie community.

8:24| Turpin asks Periera how she plans to foster community spirit. Periera: “I think getting the houses to interact more and making people comfortable venturing into other dorms is something I can do.” Periera also focussed on improving campus programming to appeal to all students and not just a limited few.

8:26| Turpin asks Petrarca how she will overcome the fact that she – as mentioned in her statement – isn’t very well acquainted with Vassar. Petrarca: “I think if I showed up at a VSA meeting, I would have no idea how to change things.” Petrarca hoped to “learn from her elders” at Vassar and absorb as much as she can.

8:30| Turpin asks all candidates how they will help their classmates celebrate the College’s Sesquicentennial.Thompson: “I think that we should do some big freshmen event like a carnival and a fair, where there would be a lot going on.” Moore: The freshmen presence must be strongly felt in the celebrations. Lester proposes a “Welcome-Back” carnival in January. Parlak: “To be honest, I have no idea, but I’m open to suggestions. I am glad that the freshmen class is here for the celebration, though.”

8:36| Turpin asks the candidates what the freshman class should know about the candidates. Thompson: “I love the color black. I always wanted to ride a lama. I’ve always been a person who’s open to meeting other people.” Thomspson says she’s a good listener and would love to hear other people and what they need. Moore: “Lion King is my favorite movie ever.” Moore explains “Servant Leadership” — a concept that implies that leaders work “at the same level” at its constituents, and one he has been exposed to and wished to implement in he tenure. Moore also adds that he “has the ability to listen.” Periera: “I am very friendly and I love talking to people.” Petrarca: “I am obsessed with student government; I will work really really hard if I’m elected. I hate when people make jokes about [student government.]” Lester: “I like Harry Potter things.” Lester adds that as president, he doesn’t want to be “the guy that leads people,” adding that he can “help [the class of 2014] to get to their goals and be there for them.” Parlak:”I’m half Turkish and half Greek, and I think this is the reason I thrive so well here and this is what makes me diverse.” As a leader, Parlak says “she’s objective and a hard worker,” and that she is “willing to sacrifice her free time” to work on her duties as President

8:46| Leonard asks the candidates what they would do if an issue of personal importance comes to VSA Council. Thomson: “I would do what’s best for my class and not myself.” Moore: “You represent your class’s voice, and that is the priority. But I wouldn’t say you have to be necessarily separated.” Periara: “Within a government, you have to separate yourself from an issue emotionally and look at it logically.” Petrarca: “It comes down to the president to decide what [he or she] thinks is right” by interpreting and processing various opinions.” Lester: “I would abstain to vote if I feel strongly about the issue.” Parlak: “I will make sure that the voice of my class is heard, and not mine.”

8:51| VSA Vice President for Student Life Samin Shehab ’11 asks candidates what they feel is the biggest issue at Vassar. Petrarca: “Food.” Moore: “I will increase involvement and dedication.” Thompson would “help student balance their activities and reduce stress.” Periera: “I think we need to get everyone to be united and everyone needs to be a part of what Vassar does.” Lester: “I concur, food.” Parlak would focus on solving the problem of alcohol abuse.

8:59| An audience member asks the candidates what they feel would be their biggest weakness. Thompson mentions that balancing her time would be a weakness for her, but she would try her best to work on it. Moore says the biggest problem for him would be “removing himself emotionally from an issue.” Periera says that “taking on a lot of things at once” would be her biggest weakness. Petrarca says that she feels she will face a problem with delegation of duties. Lester says that his weakness would be to acquainted with Robert’s Rule of Order, and that he would feel “out of place” — initially — at VSA Council meetings. Parlak thinks that, were she elected, she “would have no social life.”

9:01| Turpin thanks everyone for attending the debate.

Campus Dining

Senior Director of Campus Dining Maureen King updated the student leaders present on plans for Campus Dining this year. Beginning on Aug. 30, the All Campus Dining Center (ACDC) will close from 3:30-5:00 p.m. on weekdays only. According to King, Campus Dining made the decision based on low use of ACDC during that period of time—an average of 30 students per day. After several questions, King added that though the servery will close, no student who is already in the Dining Center will be forced to leave.

She also added that the change will give the custodial staff a chance to clean ACDC thoroughly before the daily dinner rush.

This year ACDC will have an all-vegetarian grill in response to criticism and concern about cross-contamination between vegetarian dishes and those containing meat. King also said that ACDC will be trying “Meatless Mondays” in which vegetarian dishes will be highlighted, though meat will still be available.

Among other changes in Campus Dining will be added nutritional transparency in the ACDC, where menus with nutritional information will be printed. The Campus Dining website will also include an “Ask the Dietitian” feature.

King along with Director for Marketing and Sustainability Ken Oldehoff provided an update on the status of composting in the Retreat. According to Oldehoff, the composting system has been a great success. In 2009, he noted, the College composted 125,000 lbs. of organic waste, and in the first six months of 2010 alone the College has composted 190,000 lbs.

One caveat to the success of the system, however, is the price of compostable disposables. For example, compostable cutlery costs about twice as much as the regular plastic variety. King estimated that the College spends about $18,000 per year on cups for water alone. Therefore, to combat costs, King announced that using the compostable cups for previously free drinks such as water or seltzer will now cost $0.10. Campus Dining will provide free cups with water just outside of the Retreat for students, though King hopes that students will increase the habit of bringing in reusable bottles.

Health Services

After a question from a student, Dean of the College Chris Roellke confirmed that the hours of Vassar College Health Services has change to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and to 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Last year, hours were reduced from 24-hour service to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

Like the change in ACDC’s hours, he said that the decision was based largely on student use of Baldwin Health Center in the evenings. According to Roellke, Health Services treated an average of 0.2 students per hour after 5 p.m.

Some students expressed concern over the change in hours, highlighting particularly the cost of an ambulance ride and emergency room visit in the absence of Health Services on campus. Roellke added that the College has adjusted student health insurance packages, provided by Gallagher-Koster, to cover the costs of a hospital stay outside of Baldwin’s hours. He also hoped that the quality of care provided by Health Services could be improved by focusing resources on a staff who were able to get to know the students they treat.

Main Parlors

Easily one of the most contentious issues brought up at the panel was the status of the ability of student groups to use the parlors in Main Building. According to Assistant Dean of the College for Campus Activities Teresa Quinn, performance groups will no longer be able to rehearse in the parlors. However, they may still be reserved for other meetings.

The concern that led to the decision, said Quinn, was the regular disarray of parlor furniture after late-night rehearsals, which were then left to be tidied by groups using the space in the morning. Because of a similar issue, the rooms in Rockefeller Hall will now be available after hours only by key access with prior reservation.

Several students voiced criticism at the decision, noting that the spaces have been valuable for both rehearsal and performance in the past. Students also made suggestions for how organizations might take responsibility for the care of the spaces, including the posting of a guide to furniture placement so that groups will know how to restore order to the rooms. Quinn said that she would be willing to set up a meeting with students to work out a system that would maintain both the order of the parlors and the vibrancy of and location options for student theatrical and singing groups.

Zip Cars

Roellke announced that the Zipcar program is set to begin this fall. The company has already dropped off a Honda Civic and a Mazda 3 for students to rent. Rentals will cost $8.00 per hour, which includes gas and insurance. According to Roellke, the company estimates that the program will lead to a decrease of between 15 and 20 student vehicles on campus.

Transition Program

Assistant Dean of the College and Director of Residential Life Luis Inoa updated students on a pilot orientation program, which brought 36 first-generation or low-income freshmen to campus early and paired each one with an upperclassman as a mentor. Roellke added that parents were also included in the program.

According to Inoa, as 60 percent of Vassar students—62.6 percent of freshmen—are now on financial aid, the duty falls on the institution to be mindful of the student population and what it will take for each student to succeed.

7:04 | Report from Director of ViCE Peter Denny ’10 about the Flaming Lips concert. According to Denny, several restaurants reported excellent business on the night of the concert April 17.

ViCE “more than broke even” in ticket sales, Denny say.ViCE earned about $3000 from the concert, though they are still calculating the final amount, and ViCE still has upcoming events, which some of the money will go towards.

7:14 | Report from Vice President for Operations Brian Farkas ’10: The 2010 Endowed Scholarship Fund has reached its goal and is on route to exceed it, he says.  The senior class will be hosting a panel discussion called “Why Do We Need Financial Aid” on Thursday, April 29.

The VSA elections results party will be in the Retreat tomorrow, April 26, at 8 p.m.

7:17 | Report from VSA President Caitlin Ly ’10: “The College is close to an agreement with the county bus line.” The College will no longer run the campus shuttle during the week, but the VSA will continue to fund a weekend shuttle possibly on a more limited schedule. The county bus would not run students directly to the mall or to Stop&Shop, which the weekend shuttle will do.

The Old Laundry Building will be empty next year after development moves. As of right now, the space will be swing space–mostly office space–but the President is arguing for security to move into the building to have a presence in the center of campus or for the Computer Science Department to move onto the first floor.

7:24 | Decertification of Catalyst: “More of a merger than a decertification,” says Vice President for Activities Aaron Grober  ’11. The magazine Catalyst will become the publication of the Student Activist Union.

7:25 | Decertification of the Investment Club: The Investment Club will be joining with the Entrepreneurs Club.

7:26 | Decertification of Red Panda: The Red Panda humor magazine has not published this year, and they have not indicated any plans to publish, says Grober.

7:28 | Vice President for Academics Stephanie Damon-Moore ’11 is introducing a referenda. The referenda will ask students whether they would prefer to call ‘correlate sequences’ ‘minors.’

The argument is that many employers do not recognize correlates on students’ resumes and the when students come to Vassar they don’t understand what a correlate is and how it differs from a minor at other colleges. According to Damon-Moore, minors already differ amongst colleges and universities.

The Council is debating whether to include an explanation of what a correlate is. Damon-Moore says that she wants to understand how students already understand the distinction between correlate and minor.

7:48 | Allocation of $1250 from the Conference Fund to Christian Fellowship is unanimously approved.

7:50 | Allocation of $1500 from Collaboration to Town Houses for their music event “In Da Circle.”

7:53 | Open discussion.

7:04 | President introduces special guest Director of Religious and Spiritual Life (RSL) Sam Speers. “We work in three broad areas when we think about community-based learning in my office—one is the community service work study program.” When the program began, there were 15 Vassar students involved, and there are now over 50 participating.

7:20 | Academics asks about the connection between “faith” and “service” and how “that’s manifested in the RSL office.”

7:21 | Speers: “Those two categories are related. Part of the challenge here is that we want to show the link between those two things while also showing that we’re in a different moment right now than we were 25 years ago, than we were 100 years ago, than we were when the College was founded. When the College was founded it was largely a Protestant institution, and we’ve now distanced ourselves from the Protestant roots of our College. That’s an accomplishment in my eyes.”

7:27 | Academics moves to endorse the Sexual Assault Violence Prevention (SAVP) Proposal, drafted by the Sexual Assault Response Committee. The proposal encourages the College to reestablish the position of an SAVP Coordinator.

7:40 | Report from Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE): Outgoing Director of ViCE Peter Denny ’10 announces that the 2010-2011 ViCE Executive Board has been finalized. Allie St. Jules ’11 will serve as Director next year. Denny also says that the organizaiton has created two new Assistant Director positions.

7:42 | Denny says that ViCE has sold approximately  2300 tickets so far for this Saturday’s Flaming Lips concert.

7:57 | Academics moves to endorse College Sustainability Coordinator Jeffrey Walker’s Sustainability Proposal, which is a proposal to the Environmental Research Institute for support of training to perform Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventories. As with the SAVP proposal, the Council will vote to endorse this document during next week’s meeting.

8:20 | Finance moves to allocate $1500 from the Collaboration Fund to Main for their second annual Pool Party event, which will be run in collaboration with ViCE. The party will be on Sunday, April 25, on Ballentine Field. Motion passes unanimously.

8:34 | Council adjourned.

7:02 | The President introduces special guest Leslie Williams, Vassar’s Education Outreach Coordinator. “This year we’ve been trying to assess Vassar’s strenghts weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats to what we refer to authentic community engagement.” Williams works with the school district of Poughkeepsie and with Vassar After School Tutoring (VAST) and the Exploring College program, among others.

7:03 | Williams: “Most people don’t know this, but the high school graduation rate in the City of Poughkeepsie is below 50 percent.”

7:10 | Williams: “As my title indicates, I’ve been focusing primarily on education, but I also look at the way Vassar can partner with community-based organizations and other institutions so that we can do more with less effort. For example, Marist College has an after-school program at Poughkeepsie Middle School, but they meet two or three times a week and have about thirty kids, and our program [VAST] has 90 kids and we meet five times a week. We want to be synergizing our resources in the same community.”

7:12 | Williams explains that he has been in dialogue with schools such as the Culinary Institute of America, which is located next door to Poughkeepsie in Hyde Park.

7:13 | Williams: “We’ve been building new relationships. Vassar is not a castle on a hill. It’s not a bastion of elitism. So we’re trying to partner with people to get this city through a difficult time.”

7:18 | Williams: “My hope is that Vassar can help to change lives within this community.”

7:25 | Williams invites questions from Council members.

7:38 | In response to a question from Lathrop, Williams notes that there are over 250 Vassar students currently involved with the five Urban Education programs Vassar coordinates.

7:47 | Following further questions for Williams, Council moves to Fund Applications. Finance moves to allocate $664.96 from the Capital Contingency Fund to the Vassar Filmmakers for camera repair costs. Motion passes unanimously.

7:49 | Finance moves to allocate $3000 from the Discretionary Fund to the Ultimate Frisbee Team for their remaining tournaments. Motion passes.

7:55 | Academics announces that there will be a majors fair from 12 to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7 in the All Campus Dining Center.

7:59 | Council adjourned.

7:02 | Committee Report from Board of House Presidents: Raymond: “We worked on the House Officer Expectation document, which we drafted based on what we think should be the expectations of the house officers. It was approved by [the Office of] Residential Life. In terms of fall training, we’re working with Residential Life to revamp fall training and also to figure out the best way to do training and transitioning this spring.”

7:06 | Executive Report from Activities: “April is just an insane month in terms of programming,” says Activities. “I know a lot of organizations have a ton of events coming up. The calendar is booked!” Activities also notes that the Fall Leadership Conference Committee is beginning to meet in preparation for next year’s annual training event for organization leaders. “We’re always trying to make it better,” says Activities.

7:06 | Executive Report from Finance: “Something that I really tried to prevent this year was to not give out too much money at the beginning of the year. I think we’ve remained pretty steady throughout the course of this semester and the last. But as Activities said, the year is coming to an end, and we’re going to be seeing a lot of [fund] applications coming up.”

7:24 | Student Life moves to adopt a revised draft of the Council’s annual Administrative Review; this year, the Student Life and Academics Committees looked at and collected feedback about the Office of International Programs, which handles students’ studies abroad. An earlier version of the Review was discussed by Council members last semester.

7: 27 | Council votes unanimously in favor of the motion.

7:37 | Academics brings up the recent discussion and controversy that has occurred on campus in response to an event planned this past Saturday called “Free Weezy Mug Night.”

7:38 | 2012: “Everyone was so angry that people weren’t really hearing each other. It makes me more upset that we’re not listening to each other on this campus.”

7:41 | Cushing: “For some reason this conversation has brought to mind the forums that we’ve had this year. Even though I think it’s important that we’ve had forums on issues like technology and the deer cull that happened earlier this year, I think what our forums have been lacking have been issues of student life that would reach out to voices that we as a Council don’t normally address.”

7:56 | Council adjourned

7:02 | Operations announces that filing for VSA spring elections will begin on April 14.

7:04 | Operations moves to amend Section 5 of the VSA Bylaws, which outlines the rules for student campaigning. “We’re simplifying it a lot,” says Operations, “and we’re making it a lot shorter than it used to be. Basically, we reorganized the passages, and various things that are repetitive have been taken out. The major differences are that we’re allowing the use of the internet—we thought it was realistically ridiculous that we didn’t allow the use of the internet. And because we’re giving candidates the power of the Web, we’re taking away fliering—we felt that it was a waste of paper, and it’s not worth doing. Instead, we are just going to give people posters that they can put up in main spaces on campus.”

7:11 | Council members discuss making alterations to the wording of the Bylaw amendments.

7:15 | Finance asks if its really necessary that campaigning be banned during the actual voting period. 2011 responds saying that “there’s something to be said for” having the voting period be a time when students aren’t being “bombarded” by campaigning methods and messages.

7:20 | 2010 asks about what “the limits are” for things you buy—like printed t-shirts or baked goods—that would aid a candidate in his or her campaign. Operations responds by saying that anything can be purchased as long as its within the spending limits set forth by the Bylaws.

7:32 | After discussion, Council votes unanimously in favor of the Bylaw amendments.

7:34 | Activities moves to decertify Better Body Image Project (BBIP). Activities explains that the VSA Activities Committee met recently with two leaders from BBIP. “Basically this is a decertification of an organization that’s no longer as active as it used to be,” says Activities. “It’s more paperwork than its worth for them, and the two representatives were both totally fine with this,” he says. “The membership of the group is four people, and the use of their budget is very limited.” Council votes unanimously in favor of the decertification.

7:37 | Finance moves to allocate $800 from the Conference Fund to Act Out. Leslie Hamilton ’10, Co-President of Act Out, explains that the organization hopes to bring approximately 24 students to Washington D.C. on April 9 in order to lobby for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; the Safe Schools Act; and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Finance’s motion passes unanimously.

7:42 | Finance moves to allocate $2000 from the Speakers & Lecturers Fund to Forum Political Thought for their event, Bao Phi: Asian American Spoken Word and Politics. Motion passes unanimously.

7:44 | Finance moves to allocate $4000 from the Speakers & Lecturers Fund to the Asian Students Alliance for their conference, The “Me” in Media. Motion passes unanimously.

7:47 | Finance moves to allocate $4000 from the Hosting Fund to Squirm for their celebration of their 10th anniversary. Motion passes unanimously.

7:49 | Council adjourned.

7:03 | The Council Meeting begins with a report from Chair of the Judicial Board Dan Salton ’10. “I was sent here on behalf odf the jud board and the daen of students office to inform you about a change in how student conduct is being done here. Traditionally, until last week, disciplinary conduct is divided into two parts: you’re either dealt with by a house advisor or by a more serious college regulations trial overseen by administrators and students. Over the last few months, we’ve been developing a new format to act as a new option—there will be student conduct panels, which are basically miniature squads formed out by the judicial board instead of the house advisors. In cases that are slightly contentious, students will be sent to a panel of three judicial board members who will act in the house advisor’s stead. They will listen to the person, take a vote and then decide on the penalty if it is decided that one is deserved.” This will “increase our student governance significantly,” says Salton.

7:10 | 2011 asks if decisions made by the student conduct panels will be final ones. Salton explains that the Dean of Students felt confident enough with the students on the judicial board to give them the final call on such minor disciplinary matters. Salton says that the student conduct panels will not address anything that would normally be handled by a college regulations panel. He points to drinking fire safety issues as an example of the kind of infraction handled by the student conduct panels.

7:12 | Salton: “We’re not positive yet whether students will be able to chose whether they’d like to have a student conduct panel versus a house advisor try them. I’d like to make that an option that students could have.”

7:17 | Committee Report from ViCE from Peter Denny ’10: “Jazz Night has been doing really well, and After Hours has been working on some really interesting projects with making music videos” and a pre Founder’s Day show, says Denny. “Special Events has a big party coming up right after break. The theme is Miami Vice. We’re working with the senior class and it will be in conjunction with 50 Nights. The main event will be in UpCDC and will be DJed by student DJs. Amanda Blank will be the headliner for this show, which will be a really big draw for some students.” Her music is hip-hop based, according to Denny.

7:20 | Denny adds that after selling tickets today for the Flaming Lips concert in April, ViCE has already sold 600 Vassar tickets. “After the student tickets have been taken care of, we’ll be doing more outreach to other colleges in the area,” says Denny.

7:31 | Executive Report from Operations: “Mind the Gap was incredibly successful this year,” says Operations. “We’re suprisingly up on giving—last year’s participation average for young graduates was 17 percent. We’re already up to 19 percent and the fiscal year is barely getting started.”

7:40 | Council begins discussion of capital budgeting for the spring 2010 semester. The budget is passed.

8:00 | Council adjourned.

7:02 | President introduces special guest Vice President for Computing and Information Services Bret Ingerman, who announces that “starting in the fall of 2010, you will not be able to plug in a phone in your room,” says Ingerman. “For life safety issues, we’re going to be installing hall phones in every residence halls.”

7:07 | Ingerman explains that this year was the first that the College didn’t offer long distance telephone service in residence halls. This saved the College approximately five to 10 thousand dollars, says Ingerman, who adds that removing phones completely from each individual room will eventually save the College up to one quarter to one half a million dollars.

7:13 | “We’re about to engage in a study about cell phone service in specific residence halls,” explains Ingerman, saying that the College hopes to locate the weakest service points on campus.

7:24 | Council representatives report various problems with VPrint to Ingerman.

7:31 | Students ask Ingerman if there is a fax machine on campus available for student use. While Ingerman did not know of one and felt that the demand for a public fax machine would be relatively low, Alyssa Pabalan ’10—Student Assistant to the President and Career Development Office (CDO) intern—explains that there is in fact a fax machine for students in the CDO.

7:52 | Finance moves to allocate $1000 from the Council Discretionary Fund to Pro-Health for their annual Relay for Life event this spring. Motion passes unanimously.

7:54 | Finance moves to allocate $1000 from the Hosting Fund to the Vassar Prison Initiative for the 2010 Green Haven Reunion. Motion passes unanimously.

8:00 | Finance moves to allocate $1000 from the Council Discretionary Fund to 2010 to aid the Daisy Chain in purchasing dresses for this spring’s commencement ceremony. Motion passes.