March 11th, 2025

Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/98559266028?pwd=XOXI1eAbHbfVmdgNNgEAcBZ9mM86JT.1

Attendees: Cheryl, Trey, Manel, Lauren, Tanisha, Mel, Tanisha, Lisa, Lucy, Katie. Quorum established.

1. Welcome and Introductions
   1. Members introductions: Name, Pronouns, Year, Major, and Space.
   2. Order: Cowell, Stevenson, Crown, Merrill, Kresge, Porter, Oakes, RCC, C9, JRL, GSA, GSC, SAB, Provost, SUA, Lisa, Lucy
2. Approval of Agenda & 3/4/25 Minutes
   1. Approval of 3/4/25 Agenda & 2/25/25 Minutes (tabled from last meeting)
      1. Mel moves to add an agenda item related to the Dear Colleague Letter after public comment. Cheryl seconds the motion.
      2. Trey moves to approve the minutes from FEbruary 25th. Cheryl seconds.
      3. Cheryl motions to approve the minutes from March 4th. Trey seconds.
      4. Mel motions to approve the agenda for March 4th and March 11th. Katie seconds the motion. No objections.
3. Public Comment
   1. No one present for public comment.
4. Announcements & Updates
   1. Member updates
      1. No member updates.
   2. SFAC Merchandise Updates
      1. Lucy explains that there was an issue with the artwork, but she’s been in touch with Shirley to update the artwork, then we should get the order fulfilled within a few weeks.
   3. When to Meet for spring quarter meeting: https://www.when2meet.com/?29368249-ULnd1
      1. Please complete the when to meet by Thursday of this week so we can solidify the meeting date for spring quarter by finals.
5. Dear Colleague Letter
   1. Mel mentions that the Dear Colleague letter was discussed at the Merrill Student Government meeting, and what some of the implications may be for the space.
   2. Lucy offers some insights related to the Dear Colleague letter, explaining that the university will not pre-emptively change anything in terms of programs, services, job titles, etc. Lucy encourages everyone to read the messages coming from UCOP which signal that UC’s values have not changed. For SFAC, we will continue to be focused on our work and the most important thing is to make sure that our funding is offered for all students and we review proposals through that lens. As an organization, we need to make sure not to make the university vulnerable for complaints, for example, that could lead to loss of federal funding, Pell grants for students, etc.
   3. Mel says she is happy to hear these updates but is concerned that things could change as we continue.
   4. Trey says that he thinks this matter will not impact us this year but may next year and we should continue to pay attention to the topic.
6. Subcommittee Meetings Weekly on Zoom - Both this week
   1. Outreach Committee Tuesday @ 5pm to 6:30pm
      1. We have been planning the Student Fee Summit for next quarter. We have been planning logistics. Mel is not sure if there will be a committee meeting today.
      2. We will cancel today’s meeting. Mel will send an email with updates.
   2. Audit Committee Wednesday @ 11am to 12:30pm
      1. If you volunteered for this committee, please show up.
7. CSF Report
   1. This past weekend, CSF took place at UC Merced. Marshall, Mel, and Trey attended the meeting.
   2. Trey explains that they talked about how each campus deals with the minimum voter threshold for referendum (from 25% to 20%).
   3. There was also discussion about the role of SFAC and SUA. SFAC is seen as an informational body.
   4. There was discussion about the state budget. There was some discussion about removing majors.
   5. Productive meeting.
   6. We need to up our game with the auditing committee.
   7. There was also discussion about updating the SFAC website. Fee and budget information needs to be updated on the SFAC website.
   8. Mel says that the UCOP rep was not there because she was at the Student Lobby Conference.
   9. This was Mel’s first CSF meeting and she found it very beneficial.
   10. Mel, Marshall, and Trey had a lot of good conversations; it was especially helpful to learn how other campuses function. Other SFACs do things very differently than the way we do. Many campuses only see 15-20 proposals per year, but those requestors come in person to present to the committee. This would be a difficult model with the number of proposals that we receive. But we could require presentations and that may reduce the number of proposals that we receive. This is how SOFA allocates funding. We can consider updates for next year’s process.
   11. A poll will be sent out for the next quarter’s meeting: April 19th - 20th; April 25th - 26th in UC Irvine. Please consider attending.
8. Discussion on TAPS Letter
   1. 2024 Letter - this is the letter that SFAC issued last year after TAPS presented to the committee
   2. Here are the materials that Dan shared with SFAC: Measure 73 Annual Report and Slide Deck
   3. Comments
      1. It was good to get feedback on the budget and where the funds are going; also about the new buses.
      2. It was good to see things from TAPS perspectives.
      3. Difficult to understand why we are still using buses from the 1990s and why we don’t have more buses. We can see the issues from TAPS’s perspective but we need to see more action from TAPS to meet student needs and address student grievances about transportation.
      4. We have the highest transportation fee of any UC, and it’s almost double the next campus.
      5. Dan’s presentation was informative on certain things, but it was broad.
      6. Lisa suggests that if there are any questions, we should send them to him, Dan offers to respond. We can request more information.
      7. There is a long lead time on purchasing the buses. We may want to ask more about this.
      8. Question: last year, it was mentioned that we were purchasing some “used” buses - did this happen and are they in circulation?
      9. Can Dan share more about the older buses in circulation and how they are inspected and maintained.
      10. There was a bus accident a couple of weeks ago (Bay and High?). Is there any information about that accident and whether those buses were taken out of circulation?
      11. We need more information about the accident from last year.
      12. The letter should ask that the TAPS continue to update SFAC and campus about the $26 million grant that we applied for.
      13. It would be helpful to have more regular communication from TAPS about services, bus purchases, etc.
      14. Lucy will follow up with Dan and share these questions.
9. 2024-2025 Funding Call (If Time)
   1. Resources
      1. Proposal Folder
      2. Rating Worksheet
      3. Absent Member Notes
   2. Proposals to review and discuss this meeting:

• Email from Slugworks

• Responses to questions

• Updates from Lucy regarding proposal #41

• Updates from AARCC Director regarding proposal #42: At this juncture, given the state of the budgets, we are willing to accept any amount of funding to ensure that our current mentors retain their positions for AY26 to properly plan to sunset the program in AY27 if we are unable to procure stable funding.
  1. Deliberations
     1. Slug Works #24
        1. Mel says that she was not aware of how new this organization is.
        2. Manel expresses some concern on whether this group is well established enough.
        3. Trey asks if they have been around since 2023 why don’t they have a budget?
        4. Cheryl says that the statistics are unclear as to when they started operating.
        5. Mel explains that she has used the SlugWorks lab in the past.
        6. There are more questions to ask. Get more information from them, along with the budget.
     2. Kresge Pride #25
        1. The authors provided the Kresge programs office operating budget.
        2. Kresge Pride is one of our only campus wide pride events each year. This is very special. Not every campus has a pride march and festival. This is special about Santa Cruz. It takes a year to plan. Kresge Pride is its own student organization.
        3. Mel would like to fully fund the supplies at $7060. These items will be appreciated and used by students throughout the year.
        4. A suggestion is made to fund $12,000 - Trey suggests the supplies and some of the programming. Trey wants to uplift this event. Cheryl agrees that we should support the food truck and the parking permit for the truck.
        5. Cheryl would like to add the Disability Van Service and Katie agrees. This would help support access for participation.
        6. $12,000 for supplies, food truck, disability van service and food truck parking permit.
     3. Minorities and Philosophy Speaker Conference #26
        1. Lucy explains that the group provided an operating budget.
        2. Mel reviews that they are asking for $5000.
        3. Manel says that $5000 is significant.
        4. Ask them to update the budget for the request.
        5. Also ask for more details on their sponsor, as well as where the conference is being held and other funding they secured.
     4. Supporting Interdisciplinarity and Intersectional Identities: Community-Building through Mentorship in Environmental Studies #27
        1. This is a mentorship program.
        2. There is only one high priority item, the small group activities which come out to $2250.
        3. Mel suggests that we fund the one high priority. Trey agrees.
        4. Cheryl mentions there are two high priorities.
        5. Someone asks if we should fund the stipends for grad students?
        6. Mel says we should fund activities. Trey would like to fund stipends. We will fund $2250 for the small group activities, and return to the stipends should we have funds available after the first pass.
     5. The Colleges-Sponsored Writing Center #28 - table to future meeting
     6. Academic or Personal use Loaner Laptops & Chargers funding proposal
        1. Discussion regarding the number of locations for the kiosks (2)
        2. Someone mentions it’s unclear if ITS has invested funds in the program as they say they can’t cover through other funds
        3. Sometimes the kiosks are empty which shows utilization is high.
        4. Trey suggests that if we partially fund, this could require ITS to make an investment in the program. Is it an all or nothing situation? Would the program end if SFAC does not fully fund?
        5. Discussion regarding SFAC funds as “seed funding” for new ideas and programs. Manel suggests we should ask ITS to plan out their next move. Where will they apply for funding?

1. Adjournment
   1. Mel recognizes everyone’s hard work this quarter. The people who are here today have been attending regularly throughout the winter quarter and it’s appreciated. Hope everyone has a wonderful spring break.
   2. Meeting adjourned at 3:00 pm.

Upcoming Guests/Topics:.

1. Discussion on scheduling one or two weekend meetings
2. Results of 2023-2024 progress reports from awardees
3. Student Fee Summit
   1. Google Doc