Fee Transparency Project

Present: Brynna Downey, Alvin Ho, May Alvarez, Sarah Avdeef, Mathew Sart, Gloria Qiu, Vivian Pham, Isaac Karth, Sue Carter, Lisa Bishop, Mathew Sarti, Emily Montano, Lydia Jenkins-Sleczkowski, Lucy Rojas, Aaron Jones, Brianna Medrano, Ami Gonzalez, Mario Wash (guests)

Welcome and Introductions
Approval of Agenda and 12/4/2020 Minutes
1. May motions to approve the agenda, Alvin seconds. Motion passes.
2. Alvin motions to approve the minutes, Vivian seconds. Motion passes.
Interim Director of EOP Aaron Jones: Consultation on Measure 68
1. Lucia and Brianna share that the funding for the EOP wellness program comes from Measure 68. It was passed in 2017 and EOP receives 8% of the $38.50 quarterly fee/student. Some of the past services we offered were outdoor physical activities with the goal of promoting physical health, fitness, and experiential learning. Some of the in person limitations faced include the capacity for outdoor activities, transportation for off-campus events, process of providing award, and capacity.
2. In the remote environment, EOP staff have come up with restorative movement workshops, community circles, wellness challenge, giveaway, and biweekly newsletter. Now that everything is happening virtually, there are no outdoor activities for students to participate in, and unfortunately students are experiencing Zoom fatigue. There are two workshops currently hosted online. Wellness might not be a priority during the remote environment due to personal problems or focus on grades. EOP is trying to make these resources and information as accessible as possible since these are not something students might not be thinking about.
3. Alvin asks if the program has received any negative reviews? Brianna responds that she has not come across any negative comments
4. Lisa shares that there have been high carryforwards in this program every year and asks what their plan is to make sure they are spending all revenue in fiscal year 21-22?
5. Aaron says they are working to expand and provide more types of activities and asks the committee for ideas to use this fee.
6. Ami senses that the committee supports a need for more wellness tips and focusing on wellbeing overall.
7. Aaron says that the quarry amphitheatre partnered to put on a recording artist Umi and a concert last week. The meditation was a couple of weeks earlier. There were a lot of questions and attendance was really good. Students were interested in how they might take the suggestions from the artist.
8. Lucy agrees and adds that the Zoom chat was very powerful. Lucy asks how students, and as the SFAC, the committee reads measure 68? Could funding be used in the spirit and support of wellness in doing different kinds of things?
9. Brynna asks if EOP staff have any feedback on how the remote activities have gone?
  1. Lucia responds that so far it seems like students have enjoyed the workshops.
  2. Brianna adds that in the space she created, the students were grateful to have a chance to speak on their feelings. It opened her eyes to see that we need more of these spaces on campus
  3. Aaron adds that the healing circles have been facilitated by an outside consultant.
10. Brynna reads the language in Measure 68 about the referendum's goals:
  1. 1. Provide sufficient and sustainable funding for UCSC Intercollegiate Athletics.
  2. 1. Provide a model for EOP to increase the participation of students in athletic-related activities at UCSC (e.g. intramurals, outdoor adventures, sport clubs, etc.)
  3. Aaron says that any ideas from SFAC about how to expend the referendum would be helpful.
11. Alvin says that he doesn’t think this money can be used without it being amended and cites the referendum language “to support the current and long-term operations of UCSC’s intercollegiate athletics program and provide access to students who meet Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP) criteria for athletic-related activities”
12. Lucy mentions that most of the referendum was meant for in person service delivery. Now with the remote environment, the current reality is that all services have shifted. It's appropriate since all these units have continued to operate. Every service has moved online at this point
13. Lucia has also gone back and forth on what is written. There is a section in the measure on page three: “OPERS’ goal is to enrich the total educational experience by promoting physical activity, encouraging health and wellness, building community, and cultivating leadership”. That is her focus when trying to coordinate programs for students. Their goal is to enrich their overall experience and Encourage health and wellness while considering financial barriers for students.
14. Aaron: drives me to think of the purpose of athletics. It's a way to keep your wellness together. The stay connected survey to provide feedback on remote environment experience. A lot of the concerns students have is that many of the students who are first gen are concerned on the level of maintaining the motivation in experiencing high levels of stress. EOP wants to help relieve this stress through programming.
15. Gloria asks how these programs are outreached to students? Lucia responds that this communication has been challenging, and will try to advertise sooner in the quarter
16. Brynna interprets that “activities” is a vague word, and in the remote environment it can mean many things. Some of the equipment, for example, might be personal for people. The alternative is nothing.
  1. Sarah agrees. Anything meant to get people involved is the intention of the measure.
17. Sarah motions to extend by 5 minutes, XX seconds. Motion passes
18. Lisa was involved with the measure, and the intention was for funds for students to participate in OPERS activities. However, under these circumstances, she believes there would be more leniency in the interpretation of non-OPERS activities.
Funding extension: CORE STEM Mixer
1. Original proposal: $12,000 for undergrad research stipends for 2 quarters, $400 for STEM mixer expenses, no food
2. Previous request: Postpone use of funds until in-person instruction resumes
3. New request: Postpone deadline to use funds to June 2022
Announcements & Updates
1. Upcoming SFAC proposal workshop in January
  1. Funding call presentation
  2. Promote and share flyers (Flyer 1, Flyer 2)
2. Meeting day/time for Winter quarter
3. Upcoming: From Kimberly Register, “In partnership with the Student Fee Advisory Committee, we are also exploring the possibility of temporarily reducing campus-based fees (referenda fees) in Fall, Winter and Spring of this academic year 2020-21 due to ongoing impacts of COVID-19.”
Adjournment
1. Isaac motions to adjourn, Gloria seconds. Motion passes.

Upcoming Guests/Topics:

Director of Budget and Resource Management Kimberly Register (Next Quarter)

Alternate document: SFAC_Minutes_120420(1).docx

Student Fee Advisory Committee

Meeting Agenda

December 4, 2020

____________________________________________________________________________

Present: Brynna Downey, Alvin Ho,Venkatesh Nagubandi, May Alvarez, Sarah Avdeef, Mathew Sart, Gloria Qiu, Vivian Pham, Isaac Karth, Sue Carter, Lisa Bishop, Mathew Sarti, Emily Montano, Lydia Jenkins-Sleczkowski, Lucy Rojas, Garrett Naiman (guest)

Welcome and Introductions
Approval of Agenda and 11/20/20 Minutes
1. Gloria motions to approve the agenda, May seconds. Motion passes.
2. Venkatesh motions to approve the minutes, Alvin seconds. Motion passes.
Guest: Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students Garrett Naiman (1:00 - 2:00 pm)
1. Questions from the committee
2. Sarah asks what major initiatives the Dean of Students office is heading?
  1. Garrett shares that budgets are a moral document where we put our money and stand in our values and thanks SFAC for its work.
  2. Garrett is looking to support students in a way that makes outcomes more equitable and socially just. One upcoming project is to review the conduct process. Brian Arao will co-chair the committee and there will be strong student representation. First phase is an internal review. There will be an evaluation using our database to explore if there is disproportionate intake of conduct assertions or charges or outcomes of who is responsible. And look at this with demographics. Couple of those will be a qualitative; there will be a review to meet with stakeholders and look at things with language. Some policies can be amended, some we cannot. We will bring in external reviewers. And the committee will bring all of this together and decide if there are things that we need to change, tweak, edit, etc. this may be put into the handbook.
  3. Garrett is also working on a project within Student Development and Engagement to have dialogue as a unit around themes relating to trauma and social justice.
  4. Another focus is to do more direct communication with students, especially with social media presence.
3. Brynna asks what the student climate is like right now? Garrett responds that everyone is struggling with their mental health right now on top of school and work. Transfer students are affected differently too. Lucy is also working on student input through new projects such as a social media directory.
4. Brynna says that she is hearing more reports where students are talking about why they are paying campus fees. Garett responds that in his experience, the more students learn about fees there is more understanding of nuance and decisions where fees should remain. Fees aren’t necessarily funding direct services. There are workers who still need to be paid.
5. Brynna asks how Garrett’s work changed in the remote work environment, in particular basic needs and slug support? Garrett admits that the transition was a challenge. He is constantly trying to think of how to build a community online. Slug Support and Basic Needs were innovative in adapting to the remote environment. Slug Support has since expanded, with Mariah Lyons in an Assistant Dean role. Case managers are now on call all day. There is now a lockbox with resources, and managers can issue E-gift cards. They have also enacted a virtual lobby for Dean of Students operations. There is a running food pantry, pre-packaged meal services, and a grad student basic needs focus. SOMeCA is entirely online and some groups are doing podcasts and sometimes lunchtime cooking hours.
6. Gloria asks if the fires caused Slug Support to run into a deficit? Garrett responds no, and it was helpful when the community came together with the fires and contributed funding to Slug Support. They used the money for housing and putting people in hotels.
7. Alvin asks if some of the Dean of Students remote operations will continue after the pandemic? Garrett responds that it is possible. There is a lot of value in in-person meetings, though the increased use of ecards is important. The emergency hotline will also remain.
8. Garett previews some topics he may need advice on. He will be going to go on a “mini tour” regarding this sense of belonging and engagement. He is also trying to grow his organization, and with that comes space needs. Finally, he is considering hiring an additional Slug Support case manager with a focus on grad student resources.
Announcements & Updates
1. Upcoming SFAC proposal workshops
  1. Funding call presentation
    1. Funding calls requests for questions and clarification. First workshop is this sunday. We will do breakout rooms to connect one and one. The more people the better. Is there a chart or document to check if clubs are eligible?
    2. Lucy clarifies that as long as the group is a registered organization and they have a FOAPAL it is okay, however we cannot fund groups that are not registered.
      1. Lydia reminds the group that some docs are on our website
  2. Promote and share flyers (Flyer 1, Flyer 2)
    1. Please pass this long for our college. Really important that we have student proposals and sent through SFAC college representatives.
Adjournment
1. Isaac motions to adjourn, Venkatesh seconds. Motion passes.

Upcoming Guests/Topics:

Interim Director of EOP Aaron Jones (December 11): Consultation on Measure 68
Director of Budget and Resource Management Kimberly Register (Next Quarter)