October 29th, 2018
Present: Ashley John, Adam Selcov, Chase Hayes, Veronica Mitry, Lydia Jenkins-Sleczkowski, Derek DeMarco, Lucy Rojas
Approval Agenda, Minutes, Announcements
a. Approval of Agenda
i.
Adam motions to approve the agenda; Lydia seconds the motion. Motion passes by consensus.
b. Approval of Minutes
i.
Adam motions to approve the agenda; Lydia seconds the motion. Motion passes by consensus.
c. Announcements
i.
ii.
iii.
SCOC Updates: Adam shares that SCOC did not appoint the Porter or reps two weeks ago. The positions are still open. The GSA rep is still open as well. Orientation for SFAC: Ashley explains that we are looking at conducting an extended meeting on November 26th in the evening to include dinner. We will conduct an orientation for the committee and spend time preparing for the funding review. Ashley will send out a “when is good” poll. Lucy announces that Campus Elections orientations will begin next week.
- Funding Call
a. Regarding maintaining a reserve, Ashley explains that there was some general agreement at last week that we should maintain a reserve. Ashley reminds the group that Kimberly suggested 10-15%.
i.
ii. iii.
iv. v.
vi.
Adam says that if we split the pot, we should maintain two reserves, one for each pot. Veronica suggest we keep things as less complicated as possible. Adam suggests that we could split the funds 60% for admin requests and 40% for students. Chase responds that it’s a good idea but would work if we knew how many groups would be participating. Chase suggests that we look at the proposals more holistically. Ashley suggests that instead of splitting, maybe we could put the call out and in the letter we could state that groups could ask for smaller projects. Veronica says that how we advertise is key. Adam says that we could have a kick off event and provide snacks.
b. Adam makes a motion to not split the funding call, to have one funding call, and to edit the funding letter to state who is eligible, and to do more outreach. Lydia seconds the motion. The motion carries by consensus.
c. Adam motions that we could internally split the funding call, with the flexibility to
i.
change after we receive the applications. Veronica seconds the motion. Objections: Ashley objects and says that splitting the funds overly complicates the process. We should keep all of the proposals together. They are evaluated individually in the context of the metrics and are not compared to one another.
- Vote: Yes-1, No-5. Abstentions-0. Motion fails.
d. Reserves i.
There is a total of $1,159,395 one-time funds available. There is discussion regarding the 10% level and 15% level for maintaining a reserve. Lydia motions to maintain a 15% reserve for future years usage, special projects, etc. Chase seconds the motion. The amount is $173,909. No objections. Motion passes. The amount available for the funding call will be $985,485. Lydia and Chase comment that it’s important that we explain why SFAC has an increase in the available funds this year. Lucy will follow up with Kimberly and seek some advice on what could be listed in the letter.
ii.
iii.
e. Ashley reminds the group that we didn’t decide last week about whether to
require an in-person meeting. Ashley says that last year Suini created a check- list for the meetings that is very helpful.
i.
Discussion continues regarding whether to require meetings and/or offer workshops.
f. Lydia motions to table the rest of the funding discussion items to next week’s
meeting. Chase seconds the motion. No objections; motion carries.
- Miscellaneous and Course Fees
a. Lucy Van Doorn from Planning & Budget is our guest. She is a budget analyst
and works with Lisa.
b. Lucy explains that her goal is to increase the number of students who participate in the Misc. and Course Fee committee. Currently, the Chair and Vice Chair of SFAC have been participating. She would like to increase to three students. c. The role of the committee is to review fees and make recommendations to the
Chancellor who makes the decision.
d. Miscellaneous Fees are charged for things like room rental, replacement fees,
etc. These fees are not exclusive to students; everyone is included.
e. Course fees are mandatory fees paid by all students who are enrolled in a
particular class; things that are paid for include things such as chemical solutions, field trips, and other one-time costs. Things that can’t be covered with course fees include: salary for UCSC employees, no instruction. Currently, about 50% of all course fees are charged in Arts Division. PbSci is about 20%. All other divisions, including PE classes make up about 30%.
f. The committee is not an approval body. The committee is tasked with ensuring that fees do not generate revenue. The committee watches for deficits and surpluses.
g. The committee is made up of one rep from PbSci, one faculty member from the Committee on Planning & Budget, 2 reps from the Budget Office, Registrar, SFAC (2 reps), 1 rep from the Student Success Division, one rep from VPDUE division.
h. The committee operates in winter/spring. i.
Lucy is asked whether the third student has to be from SFAC, or could she put a call out through SCOC. Lucy says she would like to hear from SFAC first, before determining an alternate process.
j. SFAC decides to wait until November 5th meeting to see if anyone is interested.
- Adjournment
a. Adam motions to adjourn. Lydia seconds the motion. Motion carries. Meeting
adjourned.