Fee Transparency Project

Present: Lydia Jenkins-Sleczkowski, Lucy Rojas, Yuhao Chen, Elliot Lewis, Lisa Bishop, Chase Hayes, Brent Insua, May Alvarez, Esther Chung, Fiona Weigant, Isaac Karth, Veronica Mitry, Brynna Downey, Venkatesh Nagabundi.

Approval of Agenda and Minutes
1. Lydia suggests focusing on the funding call and adjusting the agenda to reflect all other agenda items toward the end of the meeting. The goal today
2. Adam motions to approve the agenda. Brynna seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
3. Esther moves to approve the minutes from February 25th. Adam seconds the motion. No objections. Motion carries.
Lunch
1. Lunch will be coming at 2:30 pm. Snacks are coming around.
Announcements and Updates
1. CSF winter conference call
  1. Lydia explains that the CSF winter conference call is tonight at 7:00 pm. If anyone would like to participate, Lydia can send out the Zoom link.
2. Adam explains that he works for Giving Day; there have been communications into University Relations with unofficial reports that folks have indicated they may not want to note . We should keep this in mind as we consider the proposals.
Funding Call
1. Materials and Resources
  1. Numbered Folders
  2. Rating spreadsheet
2. Lisa asks if we can revisit the two proposals #39 and #11 because she has been able to revisit the budgets. Isaac motions to discuss proposals #39 and #11. Brynna seconds the motion. No Objections. Motion carries.
3. #39: Lisa explains that the confusion on #39 and we noted that the benefits number didn’t look right. Lisa says that it clicked for her and it looks like the group used the old benefits calculation. Lisa is going to take responsibility for this, given that the group used the template she provided. She wanted to make sure that we were aware that the group did not make the error.
  1. Adam thanks Lisa for the clarification. That is very helpful. Adam says that he is not sure if this clarification changes his opinion. He is still leaning toward not funding given that the group has not indicated whether they would be able to accept partial funding.
  2. Brynna agrees.
  3. No action is taken.
4. #11: Lisa clarifies that when you look at the budget all that was visible was the funding amount and not the detail. There was a hidden row that requires you to download the document and then click on a cell to see the amount.
  1. There is consensus to revisit the proposal and discuss further.
  2. Adam says that there are certain things that we should prioritize. There are six interns. Max we should fund three interns. There is a large budget for t-shirts. Historically, we haven’t funded a lot of events like this. There are expenses for these things like a retreat, which we don’t typically fund. There is a lot of important things on this list. Adam says he would be open to allocating $10 - $15K to the proposal.
  3. Elliot asks about another proposal that we discussed that wanted to fund things like key chains - should we say something similar about the t-shirts. We should focus on student employment.
  4. Adam motions to fund $10,000 for the program, to be spent at the author’s discretion; Brynna offers a friendly amendment to increase to $12,000. Adam accepts the amendment. Fiona seconds the motion. No objection. Motion carries.
5. #44 Student Alumni Inspiring Leadership (SAIL) Mentor Program
  1. $8,880 for one year
  2. SSF or M7
  3. Asian American/Pacifc Islander Resource Center
  4. Chase says that this one was tricky because of the gift component.
  5. Adam says that the most important items on the list are the facilities and travel, in terms of having an event. Adam would suggest funding $3,080 for facilities, lodging and travel.
  6. Chase says that he wouldn’t fund the gift cards for the alumni. Lucy agrees and says that the university gift policy is $75.00, so a $100 would may not be appropriate. Also, we shouldn’t use student fees to purchase gift cards.
  7. Chase motions to fund $3,080 to fund facilities, travel, and lodging. Adam seconds the motion. No objections. Motion carries.
6. #50 Internship Development and Expansion
  1. $41,185.00 for one year
  2. SSF or M7
  3. Career Center
  4. Chase says they are asking for the funding for the salary for this position.
  5. Adam says that there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm for the proposal. He motions to not fund. Yuhao seconds the motion. Chase says that our sentiment is not anti-Career Center; however, it seems like the approach of the Career Center has been very student-oriented. The new AVC Jennifer has great intentions, but this may not be the best use of student fees. Isaac comments that having more internships available for students and more coordination would be a good thing; he wishes we could fund this if we had more funding. No objections. Motion passes.
7. #17 Sexual Health & Wellness Vending Machine
  1. $7,000.00 for one year
  2. SSF or M7
  3. College 9 & 10 CoCurricular Programs
  4. Adam asks for a clarification - the funds will be used to purchase a vending machine and provides sexual health items at a cost to students. Are these items available at the Health Center at no cost? Veronica says that this is super important. Plan B is less cost effective. This is a convenient location that students can access.
  5. May says that she is supportive of this proposal. The budget for the proposal is not complete.
  6. Will off-campus students use this? Depends on the situation and what their budget is.
  7. Local pharmacies are not open 24/7. This vending machine would be available 24/7.
  8. Esther says that she met with the proposal authors and they would be partnering with the pharmacy on replenishing the machine.
  9. Veronica motions to fully fund. Brent seconds the motion. No objections. Motion carries.
8. #41 Mental Wellness Workshops for Muslim Identifying Students at UC Santa Cruz
  1. $4,200 for one year
  2. SSF or M7
  3. Muslim Student Association (MSA)
  4. Elliot says that we may want to fund one per quarter.
  5. Discussion regarding the budget and workshop costs.
  6. Lucy reminds the group that we funded this last year.
  7. Adam motions to fund $2,100 for one workshop per quarter. Esther seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
9. #47 Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz: Linking students with ‘Alternative Nobel’ laureates
  1. $30,900 for one year
  2. SSF
  3. Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz
  4. Brynna says that it doesn’t seem an effective use of student fees to pay students to select the students who will then receive the awards.
  5. Fiona says that the program is popular on campus. This seems like a good use of funds.
  6. Lucy asks whether the program is affiliated with an academic division?
  7. Elliot suggests that we fund items that are most appropriate for Student Services Fees. It’s probably not appropriate to fund the awards.
  8. Brynna asks whether undergraduates are familiar with these events? Are they well attended? Lydia says she sees the ads for the events.
  9. Brynna says that if part of what we want to fund, there is an honorarium component.
  10. May motions to not fund. Adam seconds the motion. Chase objects. There are some aspects of the proposal he would feel comfortable funding, such as the programming costs (not honorarium), lodging, etc. Fiona suggests that we fund the 10% of the coordinator’s salary, so the program can continue. Brynna asks how the other 90% of the position is funded? Fiona met with the group and explains that this is a position that is pieced together through various grants, fund sources, etc.
    1. Vote on motion to not fund: 2 - Yes. 8-No. 2-Abstention. Motion does not pass.
  11. Isaac asks how much the 10% of the coordinator salary is. Response is $12,000.
  12. Brynna suggests $5,500 for the event programming, lodging and transportation.
  13. Elliot motions to fund $5,500 toward travel, lodging, event programming costs (no honorarium). Brent seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
10. #25 Center for Racial Justice Staffing
  1. $105,000 for one year
  2. SSF
  3. Center for Racial Justice, Humanities Division
  4. Adam asks to clarify what the proposal is asking for, $75K for one position and $40K is for the other position. Adam says we should not fund that much. Lucy states that she met with the group and they expressed that as a new program they would likely be building their budget from several sources.
  5. The proposal mentions that they received $200,000 in seed funding. The SFAC budget document/template was not submitted.
  6. Fiona motions to not fund. Elliot seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
11. #10 El Centro Student Employment
  1. $37,200 for two years
  2. SSF or M7
  3. Chicanx Latinx Resource Center
  4. Adam suggests that we fund half of one year at $9,000. His biggest question is what do the interns do? What is the actual work they are doing?
  5. Lisa reminds the group that last year, we funded a similar request for $2,000 for technical costs.
  6. Fiona asks about whether central funding is being applied to minimum wage increases? The response is no.
  7. Chase motions to fund $9,000. Brynna seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
12. #22 UCSC and Watsonville High School AVID Tutoring Program: Building Pathways for Greater Educational Equity across Santa Cruz County
  1. $17,300 for one year
  2. SSF
  3. Education Department and the Apprenticeship in Community Engaged Research (H)ACER Program at College Ten
  4. Fiona will recuse herself from discussion on this proposal.
  5. Chase mentions that the funds go back to UCSC students who are serving as tutors.
  6. Adam suggests funding five student tutors. Chase agrees. Chase asks whether we should fund the vans.
  7. Chase motions to fund $8,650.
    1. May says we could increase to $11,050
    2. Yuhao suggests giving them a lump sum and then the programmers can determine the best transportation strategies. Adam agrees.
    3. Adam seconds Chase’s motion. No suggestions. Motion carries.
13. #2 Mock Trial Tournaments 2020-2021
  1. $5,000 for one year
  2. SSF or M7
  3. Mock Trial (student org)
  4. Lisa mentions we have funded two other student groups similar to this proposal.
  5. Issac questions about how much we funded other two student groups.
  6. May suggests that because they have a large membership, we should fund so more members can participate, but would not fund the total amount.
  7. Issac says it is reasonable to fund around $5000 because of the others
  8. Esther motions to fully fund. Second by Elliot. No objections. Motion carries.
14. #30 Graduate-Undergraduate STEM Collaboration Program
  1. $13,900 for one year
  2. SSF or M7
  3. Communicating Research Effectively (CORE)
  4. Elliot says the funding doesn't seem too secure, so the funding from SFAC would seem like a wait.
  5. Issac says he would like to see something like this program happen, no arguments against what has been raised.
  6. Brynna points out this would fund fewer than 10 undergrad stipends.
  7. Issac says that by the time we have made our decision they will have demonstrated their use of funds.
  8. Brynna says it is very popular at least if you are in the department.
    1. Suggests since we are not sure about the attendance, then we could fund everything except the food which would be $12,400.
  9. Brent asks how many undergrad stipends? 10 = $12,000 total.
  10. Issac is checking why they need 10.
    1. Motions $12,400, specifically used for everything except food. Brent seconds. No objections. Motion passes.
15. #34 Graduate Student Diversity, Wellness, and Retention
  1. $106,200 for one year
  2. SSF or M7
  3. 6 Resource Centers
  4. Brynna doesn’t think it is appropriate to ask Grad students to work 20 hours a week because this stipend does not cover tuition and this does not sense as a Grad student.
  5. Lydia brings up how the MINT program is mentioned and confused how it was lumped together.
  6. Lisa says we funded $68,000 last year.
  7. Issac mentions the other sources of funding from the EVC and if granted would not need the funding from SFAC.
    1. Table until we confirm the funding from EVC.
    2. Fiona mentions we should ask for clarification about the tuition issue.
    3. Lisa says we cannot use SSF for tuition remission.
    4. Brynna says this is nonsensical.
    5. Fiona says they cannot possibly work 100%.
      1. Motion to table until the next meeting. Second by Brent. No objections. Motion passes, tabled till next Tuesday’s meeting.
16. Motion to recess for lunch. May motions. Second from Ester, motion passes.
17. Adam motions to resume the meeting. Yuhao seconds the motion. No objections. Motion carries. Meeting is reconvened.
18. #27 Biodiversity Resurveys in the Monterey Bay
  1. $38,114 for one year
  2. SSF
  3. Norris Center for Natural History and the UC Natural Reserve System
  4. Elliot said via email: “event seems super cool and fun, serves a lot of students. that being said they should definitely hit up the college senates for funding. suggest funding student stipend of 18,000.”
  5. Chase suggests allocated for student intern costs.
  6. Adam motions to allocate $18,000 for student salaries. Brent seconds the motion. Motion passes.
19. #8 Teleconference Technology
  1. $29,651.28 for one time
  2. SSF or M7
  3. Graduate Student Commons
  4. Fiona and Brynna recuse themselves.
  5. Elliot writes via email: suggest funding the GSC whatever amount that is requested.
  6. Adam is supportive of funding at least $20,000.
  7. Adam motions to fund $20,000 for this proposal. Isaac seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
20. #1 Students Researching Human Rights Using Open Source
  1. $40,335 for two years
  2. SSF
  3. Research Center for the Americas
  4. Elliot via email: “fully fund one year excluding the privacy screens & camera covers.”
  5. Chase suggests removing the team building dinners, which is listed as an optional event in the proposal. Adam suggests not funding the student field trips; they could do this through Zoom, for example.
  6. Adam motion $15,480 to fund one year, not including: supplies (privacy screens and covers), team building dinner, and student field trip. Esther seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
21. #19 Building Sustainability through Community-Engaged Apprenticeships in Environmental Justice
  1. $31,500 for one year
  2. SSF
  3. Colleges Nine and Ten and Division of Social Sciences
  4. Elliot writes via email: “pay for that one week trip - all expenses (alternative spring break).” Lydia calculates and this would be $2,500
  5. Adam suggests $12,000 for one graduate student and four undergraduate students.
  6. Brynna motions to fund $12,000 for one graduate student and four undergraduate students for summer activities. Adam seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
22. #57 Increased GSA general fund
  1. $100,000 for three years
  2. SSF
  3. Graduate Student Association
  4. Isaac recuses himself from discussion.
  5. Elliot writes via email: “needs support but they are asking a lot for events, maybe we can break it down and specify what we think is most important. Perhaps just fund this year?”
  6. General discussion on the proposal.
  7. Discussion regarding recent change where Grad Division will be administering travel grants, instead of the GSA (some of this funding was permanently allocated by SFAC).
  8. Adam motions to not fund. Brent seconds the motion. Brynna objects. She would like to see the Privilege Workshops funded at $3,250. Discussion: No discussion.
    1. Vote on motion to not fund: 2-Yes. 5-No. 5-Abstention. Motion does not pass.
    2. Brynna motions to fund $3,250 for the Power and Privilege workshops. Adam seconds. No objections. Motion passes.
23. #5 Graduate Orientation
  1. $19,904.94 for one year
  2. SSF or M7
  3. Division of Graduate Studies/GSC-Graduate Orientation
  4. Brynna and Fiona recuse themselves.
  5. Elliot says via email: “app seems a little bit lazy but the event itself is really important so this is something we should definitely fund. They requested the full amount, but the majority of the money would be going to alcohol which would already be funded. I added everything up excluding sandwich/salad bar and the alcohol and it came out to $6199.81.”
  6. Adam suggests we exclude the swag and keep the food in.
  7. Adam suggests $10,000, not to include alcohol or swag. Adam motions to fund $10,000, not to include alcohol or swag. Brent seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
24. Lydia explains there are four proposals left and we have only two meetings after today. Adam motions to extend the meeting by 20 minutes. Isaac seconds. No objections. Motion carries.
25. #21 Tackling first-generation student issues at UCSC: A student-led, student success equity participatory action research co-curricular approach
  1. $143,092 for two years
  2. SSF
  3. Student Success Equity Research Center
  4. Elliot writes via email: “the budget is confusing for me to read, but I really like and support what they want to do, it's just a lot of money for such a small amount of students.”
  5. Adam suggests that we fund one of the student interns, or provide $30,000 to split up as they would like. Perhaps one undergrad and one grad student.
  6. Brynna says they have 90 weeks in their proposal, for two students, the number should be $17,000.
  7. Adam motions to fund $25,000 for one-year. Brynna seconds the motion.
26. #54 Funding for UCSC American Red Cross Association Blood Drive
  1. $150 for one year
  2. SSF or M7
  3. American Red Cross Association (student org)
  4. Elliot via email: “fully fund because it’s only 150. Perhaps we can refer them, to request from the colleges or other sources of funding.
  5. Isaac motions to not fund given that Vice Provost will fund this. Adam seconds the motion. No objections. Motion carries.
27. #36 Quarry Amphitheater Student Produced Annual Concert
  1. $50,000 for one year
  2. SSF or M7
  3. Quarry Amphitheatre and SUA
  4. Lucy recuses herself from the discussion.
  5. Elliot writes via email: “great event i would love for this to happen and they have back up plans - i would love to fund as much as humanly possible.”
  6. Lydia likes that this supports students who are gaining experience in the concert and production industry.
  7. Adam is concerned that this is dependent on the SUA VPSL position, and it is uncertain if this concert will happen.
    1. Lisa reminds that the group follows a reimbursement model, and that it will be returned if this concert does not happen.
  8. Clarification over the FOAPAL the funds would go towards.
  9. Chase and Lydia clarify that there is full time staff support for the Quarry productions.
  10. Chase motions to fund $18,668 for student employees and student internships. Adam seconds. No objections.
28. #46 Support for Crown’s Center for Applied Ethics and Values in Emerging Technologies
  1. $59,354 for two years
  2. SSF
  3. Crown College
  4. Elliot writes via email: “keep on our trend of just funding one year, not sure how we could break it down in order to save more money. it was also our last priority.”
  5. Adam suggests that there are things in the proposal such as prizes that we shouldn’t fund. There are some expenses that are not specified. Brynna mentions there are some FTE referenced and it’s unclear what those salary costs are for.
  6. Esther to not fund. Adam seconds the motion. No objections. Motion passes.
29. Adam notes that proposal #12 was one that we discussed had an incomplete budget. Was this related to the document error we detected earlier. Response is no.
30. #58. Lucy confirms that VPSS will fund $1000 based on recommendation of SFAC to this proposal.
31. Chases asks whether we may want to open up discussion for any of the proposals that received zero funding. There is $76,000 left to allocate. Lisa will provide the list of those proposals before Tuesday’s meeting.
Campus Based Fees Discussion
1. Chase motions to table this item to the next meeting. May seconds the motion. No objections. Motion carries.
Chair and Vice Chair Nominations
1. Because Lydia will be abroad in spring quarter, she will not be able to continue as Chair. Adam is graduating this quarter.
2. Lydia explains that the Chair role requires about 6-7 hours per week. This includes working on the agenda and minutes, outreach to groups, responding to inquiries, communication on behalf of the committee.
3. Adam suggests that the Vice Chair helps in a number of roles. There is typically an election event in the spring quarter that the Vice Chair would fund.
4. Adam nominates Chase for Chair. Chase accepts.
5. Adam nominates Brent for Vice Chair. Brent asks for some time to think about it.
6. Adam nominates Brynna for Vice Chair. Brynna accepts the nomination.
Adjournment
1. Adam motions to adjourn. Chase seconds the motion. Motion carries. Meeting adjourned at 4:21 pm.

Next meeting: Tuesday, March 3, 2020, 2:30-4:30 pm, Location: Hahn 245 conference room