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May 20th, 2025

3:00 – 4:30 pm

AgendaMinutes

Present: Marshall, Mel, Trey, Lisa, Cheryl, Tanisha, Wahaj, Lauren, Lucy

Guest: Sharon Castro, Director of LSS and Interim Disability Resource Center (DRC)

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 & Minutes
    1. Approval of Agenda and May 13th Minutes
    2. Consensus to approve the agenda and May 13th minutes
  3. Public Comment
    1. No one present for public comment
  4. Announcements & Updates
    1. Sweatshirts are here!
      1. Please pick up sweatshirts from Lucy’s Office after the meeting
    2. SFAC Member Survey FY 26
      1. Fill out by 5/23
      2. https://forms.gle/LZ6Hyz1onSLP5jDb9
    3. Campus Elections Update (Lucy)
      1. Voter Party
        1. Lucy shares updates from the Voter Party - thank you to Marshall, Mel and Shirley who represented SFAC at the Voter Party. There was incredible energy
      2. Unofficial voter turnout - as of May 16th at 7:00 pm, undergraduate voter turnout was 30.7%
    4. End of the year SFAC dinner
      1. Saturday, May 31st, 5:30 - 7:00 pm: Location TBD
        1. Discussion regarding where to go to dinner. Italian and Thai are popular options during the conversation. The group decides on Italian. Lillian’s is the final choice.

UCSC Opera: Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) @ 7:30 pm

        1. Shirley is performing in the opera and invited us to attend.
        2. Lucy suggests folks get their own ticket (students are no cost and non-students purchase a ticket. Information is on the website provided).
  1. Funding Call
    1. Tracking Sheet
    2. Additional available funds - $30,970
      1. #33 ABC SS Initiative: $17,275 (DSAS will be providing funding)
      2. #41 ABC SS Academy: $13,495 (DSAS will be providing funding)
    3. SFAC Operating Budget
      1. Budget
      2. We have approximately $33K left for this year.
    4. Resource Centers and Grad Student Commons - if referendum passes, how SFAC will move into next steps during funding allocation notifications.
      1. FYI: updates on funding that RCs project that they would not need next year if the referendum passes. See this Sheet.
      2. Marshall explains that will not know the outcome of the referendum before the end of year and we don’t want to
    5. Mel motions to approve the funding call. Trey seconds the motion.
      1. Roll call vote
        1. Merrill - Yes
        2. RCC - Abstention
        3. College 9 - Yes
        4. Porter- Yes
        5. Crown - Yes
        6. GSA - Yes
        7. SAB - Yes
        8. Motion carries. We will send the funding recommendations to VC Bradley-Armstrong for final approval.
  2. Discussion on SFAC Appointments/Hiring
    1. Recommendation to VC Student Affairs - New recruiting and appointment process for SFAC members
    2. Discussion regarding a student who may be moving from undergraduate to graduate school at UCSC. A different way of wording eligibility could be two years of service as an undergraduate
    3. Marshall reviews the draft document and discussion occurs regarding edits - edits are made directly in the document.
    4. No objections to making this recommendation to Vice Chancellor Bradley-Armstrong.
  3. Discussion on Office Hours and Member Engagement
    1. Bylaw Draft: SFAC Bylaw Changes May 25
    2. Discussion regarding edits to the Bylaws. Marshall explains that he has brought in the duties of Chair and Vice Chair from the orientation manual.
    3. The by-laws updates are approved by consensus.
  4. LSS Summer Fee Review (4:00 - 4:30 pm)
    1. Visit with Sharon Castro, Director of Learning Support Services
    2. Fee language: https://deanofstudents.ucsc.edu/elections/pdf/2015/measure-63.pdf
    3. Fee is currently fully charged in summer
    4. Questions for Sharon:
      1. LSS activities in summer quarters vs fall/winter/spring quarters,
      2. Expenditures over the last 3 summer quarters,
      3. Planned future summer expenditures,
      4. Impacts of the campus structural deficit on summer quarter activities,
      5. The kinds of students who take advantage of LSS over the summer (visiting, year-round, etc.),
      6. Student utilization rates of LSS tutors,
      7. LSS carry forward information and future plans for it.
    5. Sharon shares a presentation for LSS [add link here]
    6. Questions and Answers
      1. Sharon explains how LSS has had to reduce the number of tutors as the hourly rates increase per the bargaining contract (tutors are part of a union/collective bargaining). Sharon explains that
      2. Are there waiting lists for students? Sharon says yes, especially in first year classes. Sharon explains that there is a way to adjust session sizes in order to accommodate a greater number of students. Sometimes there are high impact courses that students just can’t get into.
    7. Debrief the LSS presentation and summer fee
      1. Marshall explains that the main objective here is to establish the fee level for summer 2026 for LSS. The fee is currently charged at the full amount of $12.00.
      2. Fee level should be based on need and utilization.
      3. Lisa confirms that LSS did not have a lot of carry forward last year.
      4. Discussion regarding whether non-matriculated students (i.e. high school students) pay this fee? The answer is yes.
      5. Return to Aid goes toward summer session student aid. RTA is charged at 33%.
      6. How many students took 10 or more units in summer 2024? 4500
  5. Adjournment
    1. Meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm.

Upcoming Guests/Topics:.

  1. Invitation sent to AVC Amber Blakeslee with invitation to present on current budget updates - confirmed for June 2nd.
  2. Next year - Lisa would like to discuss SFAC being involved in developing policy around pausing or reducing fees.
  3. Planning for Next Year’s Funding Call
    1. Multiple different pools of money for different initiatives (i.e. money only for programs affecting off campus students, etc.)