Fee Transparency Project

Attendees: Lyda Jenkins-Sleczkowski, Lucy Rojas, Fiona Weigant, Brynna Haugen, Esther Chung, Issac Karth, May Alvarez, Elliot Lewis, Brent Insua, Yuhao Chen, Adam Selcov, Chase Hayes

Guests: Chancellor Cynthia Larive, Associate Chancellor and Chief of Staff Anna Finn

Approval of agenda and minutes
1. Adam motions to approve the agenda; Brynna seconds the motion. Motion carries.
2. Adam motions to approve the minutes. Elliot seconds the motion. Motion approved.
Announcements
1. December 4th meeting is our last meeting of the quarter. Lydia explains that we will offer lunch.
  1. Proposed lunch options: Woodstocks, Upper Crust, Pizza My Heart, Falafel, Iveta Catering.
  2. Please share any dietary needs with Lydia and Lucy.
2. Funding Call Workshops
  1. Thank you to all who participated. The attendance was lower than last year so members should expect to receive meeting requests. The meeting deadline is December 6th. Lucy suggests that if members receive requests for meetings and are not able to fulfil, please feel free to refer requests to her.
3. SOMeCA
  1. Francisco from SOMeCA reached out to Adam last week and they met about the funding for last year’s proposal. We funding $10,388 for - one new laptop, one software. Our funding allocation dollar amount and items that were to be funded did not match.
  2. Adam motions that we maintain the funding for one computer, one software package, and the conference registration fees, and that we approve that SOMeCA can allocate the remaining $2,618.67 toward whatever they choose.
    1. Chase seconds the motion. Motion passes.
    2. Lucy will initiate a funding memo to the unit to document the update.
Prep for Meeting with Chancellor Larive
1. Lydia asks for suggestions on a presentation that she created. Lydia says that she would like everyone to do introductions.
2. Lydia explains that we can ask Chancellor how she would would like to proceed with the visit, we can start with a presentation from her, or we can start with SFAC presentation, etc.
3. Chase suggests that we go over the membership slide.
4. Fiona suggests that we add participation on the Misc Fee and Course Fee Committee as SFAC responsibilities.
Meet and Greet with Chancellor Larive
1. Lydia and Adam go through the presentation.
2. Cindy thanks everyone for their service.
3. Cindy asks about why there was a dip in the available funding for SFAC from last year to this year ($1.3 million to $450,000). Lisa responds.
4. Cindy says the committee is doing important work. Having students involved in the allocation of student fees is important. Chancellor suggests that the committee advance their recommendations at the end of the funding proposal process to the Chancellor and CP/EVC. They would be interested in learning more about what the committee has funded.
5. Anna adds that it’s likely that requests that come to the SFAC likely come to the campus resource call so it would be helpful to understand what initiatives SFAC has been supportive of.
6. Cindy explains that she started on July 1st. She is thrilled to be here. We have the most beautiful campus in the world. The thing that makes the campus is the people; we have great people We have great students, faculty and staff. We have a huge opportunity to go from great to even better. We need to work together in a productive and positive way. It’s ok to be honest about our needs and limitations. We need to have a commitment to working together to solve problems over time.
7. Cindy has three strategic priorities to focus on in the first year:
  1. Improve student success; we need to improve our graduation rates, first year retention rates can improve. We have achievement gaps; the rates of graduation for first-gen students, underrepresented groups are lower. Supporting graduate students is essential, especially given the cost of living in Santa Cruz. On the first day, she said if you get a paycheck from UCSC, student success is your business.
  2. Make a climate that’s inclusive, diverse and welcoming. We have UCUES student survey data that shows that as a significant number of students feel that they don’t belong here. Sense of belonging is correlated with status as first gen student, international students, etc. We need to make sure everyone feels included. Each of us has a role in controlling the micro-climate that we exist in. Each of us can make a change in our microclimate - smile, give people the benefit of the doubt, shine the spotlight on other people. We can reconsider our policies and procedures that get in the way of people being able to do their best work. We can be a more user friendly environment.
  3. Continue to bolster our research profile. You are students at a research institution. Our faculty are writing textbooks, going beyond texbooks. Graduate students are doing incredible research. We were just selected into the AAU (65 members, out of 3,000 in the nation). We now have a national platform to talk about UC Santa Cruz, our research, our social justice work. U.S. News & World Report, we are #34 of public universities in the United States. Social Mobility #2 in the country - rates of admitting and graduating Pell Grant receiving students. These accomplishments say something special about UC Santa Cruz.
Questions
1. Elliot asks whether there is a specific project that is priority. Cindy says that one priority is being out in the community - campus community and the local community. The Slugs are everywhere (alumni) and doing good work. Yesterday, Cindy visited Second Harvest Food Bank; she learned that the organization started here at UCSC. We can do better about telling our story. Cindy explains that there is a new position, AVC for Marketing and Communications - this position will report to the Chancellor. How we communicate to legislature, prospective donors, etc. is key for us.
2. Fiona asks whether Cindy will keep her hand in academics. Cindy says she is trying not to do this. We have great governance here. The Chancellor and CP/EVC need to be a team. The CP/EVC needs to be the chief academic officer. Her job as Chancellor is to think about how to make the university run better, how to bolster the university to be the best university we can be. She thinks about what we do structurally to make our university more efficient. If we are more efficient, we do things right. If we are more effective, we are doing the right things.
3. Yuhao asks what are we doing to support international students. Chancellor says that when she was at Riverside, Enrollment Management was moved under her leadership as EVC and she focused on recruiting. When she started international student population was about 4%; international students provide critical context and experiences to California students. She values our international students. Division of Student Success and UE are working on initiatives.
4. Isaac asks about the relatively low level of trust with graduate students, how will Cindy improve trust. Cindy says that her dad would say you have to earn people’s trust. Our Title IX Office is in a much better place than it was. With help from Anna and others, she is looking at structuring the offices that address compliance and regulation in a more comprehensive way. Grievances can come in through different avenues/intake methods; if there is a lack of coordination around intake it can create confusion. Part of climate is to understand bullying, this can come from a differential in power, we can have cases when people abuse that power. At Riverside there was a policy against bullying. Cindy is considering a similar policy for UCSC.
Summer Fees level for 2020.
Lydia explains that our goal is to vote at next week’s meeting to establish the 2020 fee level.
Homework for the next two weeks while we are out on Thanksgiving break is to review the information and be ready to discuss and vote.
Review the survey data, the presentation and information from Lisa. Lisa will send an updated matrix with information.
Adjournment
Chancellor debrief: share report from last year. Lydia will follow up, thanking Chancellor for coming to visit and provide the funding reports for the last three years.