Tuesday, April 9, 2013

9:30 am – 11am

Room 218

Mission: Student Alliance is a student-run organization that facilitates communication, sponsors events, and allocates funding to help students and student groups actualize the seven institute ideals. Listening to student voices, we build alliances, cultivate student leadership, and advocate for social change and transformation of existing power structures.

Present:

Tia Phillips – PDT, Student Alliance Coordinator

Regina Gelfo – IHL, Student Alliance Website Coordinator

Larry Norris – EWP, ERIE Coordinator

Lailah Robinson – ICPW, Weekend AWARE Coordinator

Ian Waisler – EWP, Coniunctio

Noor Najafi – ICP, Belvaspita Healing

Summary:   There were updates from student groups ERIE, Coniunctio, and Weekend AWARE. Tia shared some brief Student Alliance updates. There was one proposal for funding from Coniunctio.

Detailed Minutes:

I.         Campus Group Updates

II.         Student Alliance Updates

III.         Proposals

I.  Campus Groups Updates & Discussion

Campus Groups Updates

CONIUNCTIO

Ian has been pleased with the energy of the group so far this semester. Sarah has been a good support. Community is building and there has been good and lively energy at events. Their most recent event on Lillith was successful, with about 60 people attending. There was a last minute logistical challenge, as the event had been scheduled to take place at CIIS over spring break. The Public Programs event that was happening that same weekend on campus was cancelled at the last minute, and CIIS was no longer going to remain open, thus Coniunctio needed to find a new venue. They wound up hosting the event at the Center for Sex and Culture, about a block away from CIIS, which was a good venue. It came equipped with a projector, etc.

DYAD COMMUNICATION

Noor, the facilitator, reported that he will no longer be able to continue to facilitate this group. Attendance has been low this semester and he does not have the bandwidth to continue. This group will be removed from the Student Alliance website.

ERIE

They hosted an integration circle yesterday that went well, with 5 new attendees. This week is a big week for ERIE with the pre-Maps event programming. This Weds April 10 they are co-sponsoring the screening of Aya Awakenings in SF, and this Sunday April 14 they are hosting an in-person viewing of the Evolver Intensives Graham Hancock webinar.

EXPRESSIVE MOVEMENT EXPLORATION

Noor, the facilitator, reported that he will no longer be able to continue to facilitate this group. Attendance has been low this semester and he does not have the bandwidth to continue. This group will be removed from the Student Alliance website.

WEEKEND AWARE (and AWARE)

Lailah shared about the event that Weekend AWARE just hosted featuring Tatyana Brown. She expressed some feelings of disappointment. She felt like the event didn’t turn out as well as she had hoped it would, and she noticed that several students left during the intermission, and wondered why. It was her first time hosting an event and she felt disappointed with the overall response. There were also some technical and logistical challenges.

Other students present at the Student Alliance meeting offered support to Lailah on several notes. First, they encouraged her not to take it personally if people were leaving the event at intermission – it was a late evening event, during a very busy part of the school year, and sometimes people only have time to pop in and check out part of an event. Seasoned event producing students shared that when doing your first few events, the number of attendees or people leaving early can feel personal or like a “failed” event, but after a while the organizer realizes that it is not personal. It was also pointed out that people who attend events often have a much better time than the person organizing the event, and get a lot out of it, even if the organizer sees all the room for improvement. Lailah shared that several attendees did speak to her about the benefit of the event and their takeaways, but she was disappointed because her target audience was CIIS students, and most people who overtly responded positively were from the community (non-students).

II. Student Alliance Updates

Tech Support Packet for Student Group Leaders

After a discussion of tips and troubleshooting for student group events, Tia mentioned that it would be a great idea to create a “tech support” packet for student group leaders, which would be created from the combined wisdom of current group leaders. Larry, for example, knows a lot about various technical issues that can occur during events. Larry noted that for conferences, it is best to ask all presenters to put their powerpoint on a flash drive, and use one laptop, because changing laptops throughout the night can tax the projection system and lead to technical problems. This type of information and more would be included in the tech support packet. Someone suggested that we have a brainstorming segment at an upcoming Student Alliance meeting for this type of knowledge-sharing. Tia suggested doing this at a meeting this summer, perhaps in July. Larry suggested early July as he may be gone in mid-to-late July.

Bulletin Board System Ordered

Tia reported that a grid bulletin board type of system has been ordered to use in Student Alliance spaces on campus. It is a modular design with many segments that can accommodate fliers, etc. This grid system will be installed on the Student Alliance wall (outside the café on the 3^rd floor) and used to highlight Student Alliance sponsored student groups and events. Student group leaders will provide their own fliers and the display will be rotated, perhaps on a monthly basis. The system should arrive be the end of May, and will probably be installed over the summer. It should be fully functional by Fall semester at the latest.  There will be additional component parts that will be installed in the 2^nd floor student lounge as well as the 5^th floor break room.

Tia asked all student group leaders to submit their receipts by April 30^th, to be reimbursed by the end of this semester.

Conference proposals were reviewed by Tia. Noor offered to provide a second eye if needed, for instance, to review the proposal that Tia herself submitted, and to give a second opinion on the “no’s.”  Recipients of conference funding will be communicated by next Tuesday April 16.

There was not time to discuss the intention from the last meeting about Student Alliance wanting to chip in $5,000 towards a gift for students at this year’s commencement. However, Tia mentioned that there is not time to implement this for this year, but that she would like to bring the topic up early in Fall of 2013 to make sure there is ample time for planning and discussion so that a plan can be put in place for that year’s commencement.

III. Proposals

Proposal 1: Coniunctio (Ian)

Proposal Type: Student group funding – Coniunctio is asking for additional funding to get the maximum $800 student group semester allotment

Proposal Details: Coniunctio is asking for this extra money to be able to provide additional events as well as scholarship support for the (paid) conference that they are putting on, which is co-sponsored by the EWP department at CIIS, the San Francisco Astrological Society, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The funding request breakdown is as follows:

1. $200 – to host one meeting to present a quartet of PCC graduates who have formed an Astrology Collective to present their work
2. $200 – for food for a reception the night before the Queer Astrology conference. This reception would be free to attend and open to all
3. $400 – to create a scholarship fund to offer 8-10 scholarships to CIIS students who want to attend the Queer Astrology conference.

The Queer Astrology conference will occur July 20-12 on campus, most likely in Namaste Hall. This will be a paid conference, with admission at around $100 or $120 for full price admission, as well as some sliding scale options available, probably around $40-50 at the low end.  Ian is petitioning for the scholarship funding because he wants to ensure that CIIS students who want to attend the conference will be able to do so without cost being a barrier. He also wants to ensure that conference costs will be covered, including: 10 speakers, two of whom are travelling, materials for process-oriented events, creating an event website, running registration, hospitality food, name tags, and possibly a videographer and editor. He is hoping to have around 100 people attend.

There was a discussion of the logistical factors involved in providing the scholarships to students. Tia stressed her feeling that it was important that all CIIS students who wish to attend the conference are able to do so without financial barriers, and wondered if the funding for 8-10 students would be enough. Larry threw out the suggestion of using Brown Paper Tickets for online event registration and giving a discount code (to get in for free) to CIIS students. Dean Strong mentioned the precedent that has been set by MHSA and Public Programs. If a student wants to attend a pubic programs event sponsored by MHSA, they simply call Public Programs in advance to get their name on the list as sponsored by MHSA. Larry pointed out that it can also facilitate more commitment to attending an event if you charge something small – like $5 – and suggested that may be a way to go to keep the price accessible to students while also encouraging registrants to take their registration seriously.

Verdict: All 5 students present voted to approve this proposal, on the condition that Ian creates a clear plan for how scholarship funding will be distributed to students wishing to attend the event, and how he will accommodate more than 8-10 students wishing to attend, if that happens.

Download minutes here: 2013_04-09_SAMinutes

Thursday, March 7, 2013

11:15 pm – 1:15pm

Room 218

Mission: Student Alliance is a student-run organization that facilitates communication, sponsors events, and allocates funding to help students and student groups actualize the seven institute ideals. Listening to student voices, we build alliances, cultivate student leadership, and advocate for social change and transformation of existing power structures.

Present:

Tia Phillips – PDT, Student Alliance Coordinator

Regina Gelfo – IHL, Student Alliance Website Coordinator

Danielle Sharon – ICP, Yoga @ CIIS coordinator

Larry Norris – EWP, ERIE Coordinator

Emmi Bevensee – BIS, Queer @ CIIS coordinator

Jen Bloomer – EXA, AWARE Weekday coordinator

Noor Najafi – ICP, Belvaspata Healing coordinator

Elizabeth McAnally – PCC, Integral Taiji & Qigong Coordinator

Lailah Robinson – ICPW, Weekend AWARE Coordinator

Sarah Cuenen – ICP

Jalias Martin – EWP

Shauna Barbera – BAC

Roseanna Johnson – EXA

Lauren Selfridge – ICP

Kelleen Griffin – EWP

Summary:    The meeting began with going around the circle doing brief personal introductions. Then student group leaders went around the circle again giving longer updates on their student groups. The meeting moved into the proposals section and three proposals were heard and discussed, two were voted upon and one was tabled.

Detailed Minutes:

  I.         Campus Group Updates & Discussion 

 II.         Proposals

I.  Campus Groups Updates & Discussion

Campus Groups Updates

AWARE

There is a new coordinator for weekday AWARE, as Kate, the previous coordinator, will be graduating. Jen Bloomer and Dana Dart-McLean from EXA will be co-coordinating the group. Jen was present representing the group at the meeting. They are talking with Kate and beginning to discuss what they want to do.

BELVASPATA HEALING GROUP

Belvaspata has held two events so far this semester. The next event will be on March 22 from 6:30-8:15 in Rm. 311. Info will be posted through the listserv and flyers. The last event was a general introductory healing that focused on balancing the emotions and Belvaspata “Song of Self,” helping to harmonize people’s frequencies that are not being expressed. Usually there is a lecture about the modality, a guided meditation, the healing itself, and time to talk about the experience at the end. They will probably do another event in April as well.

CONIUNCTIO

Represented by Sarah Conan today. Michael Mayer came to speak and about 30 people came. The Lynn Bell Lillith talk has about 20 people planning to attend so far. The talk will be occurring during spring break. They will then be moving into a series looking at queer symbols in astrology that will be moving into the summer.

ERIE

Larry gave updates on recent events – the Feb 1 event on Integrating Entheogenic Experience was highly successful; 65 people showed up. The Feb 15 Henry Quintero talk on peyote was also a rich experience.  Upcoming events: Carmen Vicente, Road Woman, medicine woman from border of Ecuador and Peru will be speaking March 12, 6:15-9pm, in Namaste Hall. On March 14 an integration circle will occur. On March 22 the Women’s Entheogenic Symposium will occur from 1:30-9pm in Rm. 304. There will be an integration circle March 25.

A Pre-MAPS event will be held April 13-16. Details are as follows: Saturday April 13, 6-9pm, in Namaste Hall  – recipients of the Kranzke scholarship will be speaking on their entheogenic research; Sunday April 14, 3-6pm, Rm. 607 – program has not yet been determined; Mon April 15, 6-9pm, Rm. 304 – activist oriented content; Tues April 16, 6-9pm, Rm. 304 – ibogaine themed speakers.

Tia mentioned that ERIE is a pilot program – the only student group currently allowed to receive donations because of the high caliber of the speakers they have coming in, etc. Their operations will be observed and considered for ways to evolve the structure of what is allowed for future student alliance sponsored groups.

INTEGRAL ECOLOGY

Represented by Elizabeth today. They had their first hike – to Tilden Park, Inspiration point. Josh Halpern led the hike and pointed out different species of plants and animals, and there was a silent meditation. A Mt. Diablo hike will be happening this month, info TBD about the date. There will be a 2^nd annual conference, “Grounding Terrestrial Wisdom Culture,” date TBD, probably in May.

INTEGRAL TAIJI AND QIGONG

Taiji classes have been attended by between 1-7 people this semester so far. Elizabeth will be teaching a Tai Chi workshop at the Founder’s Symposium in April, for free on campus. Further details will be provided.

QUEER @ CIIS

They had their first meeting of semester last month and it was very fruitful. They discussed topics for events as well as how group will function. Emmi proposed an idea for representatives from student groups to attend diversity trainings for faculty, and Dean Strong is in support of that. The group is going in a political and social direction. Queer @ CIIS intends to support (financially and energetically) the event that AWARE is promoting featuring Tatyana Brown. The group will have another meeting this month to discuss what events to do, etc. If anyone is interested in proposing events, Emmi requests that they “bottom line it” – take responsibility for their event.

WEEKEND AWARE

Lailah has stepped up as facilitator of Weekend AWARE. They have an exciting event coming up April 4, 6:30-9:30, Rm. 216 with Tatyana Brown, a Bay Area poet and activist doing a workshop around problematic language in action, how to more effectively speak up towards a social justice intervention, how to be better allies, and how to hear and receive feedback that we have caused harm.

YOGA @ CIIS

Yoga classes occur once a day, Tuesday – Friday. There is a big sub list that has been developed too. Danielle put flyers up around campus and the schedule is being posted weekly to the listserv. Danielle has been attending the classes and reported on a few yoga classes. Regina’s Kundalini class has had good turnouts with 7-8 students showing up; people are coming back and community is building. In Shirley’s class, she brought in Patanjali’s yoga sutras and shared some yoga philosophy in addition to a full asana class, which Danielle really appreciated. In This summer Danielle will be focusing on how to improve ambiance – what rooms will be booked, as well as what cheap things can be pulled together to create a lighting kit, etc. In the Fall she will be working on how can we create space for teachers to share ideas and get support.  She will be sending out a poll to get data on scheduling before the Fall schedule is created, and will be doing more outreach at beginning of the Fall semester.

Someone asked about how the amount of classes offered on campus is determined. Danielle shared that it was a combo of budget as well as management capacity. Danielle suggested that it would be great to pay teachers more so the pay is more in line with what they would get at a yoga studio. She suggested that if scheduling could be optimized, perhaps fewer classes would be offered and the pay could be increased. Each semester, teachers are chosen based on who has been teaching and wants to continue as well as who is leaving.

Danielle has committed to doing this job for 3 consecutive semesters.

Campus Groups Discussion

Tia provided a brief update sharing that Turquoise and Hummingbird Ecstatic Dance are no longer active student groups. They will be removed from the website by Regina.

II.         Proposals

Proposal 1: Student Alliance / Tia’s proposal for Student Alliance to fund commencement reception (with Lauren Selfridge present for discussion representing Student Affairs/Dean of Students Office)

Proposal Type:  Proposal to allocate $5,000 of Student Alliance funds towards sponsoring the reception at commencement 2013 as a “thank you” gift to students from Student Alliance

Proposal Details:  Tia brought this proposal to the table in an effort to (a) do something nice for graduating students from Student Alliance, (b) to give some benefit to students who may not have received any direct benefit from Student Alliance funds, since all students chip in to the Student Alliance funds through the mandatory student activity fees, (c) to make use of surplus Student Alliance funds which have not been used.

Students had many questions; answers will be summarized below in main discussion points. There was a discussion of how the reception has been funded in the past, and Lauren shared that is has been funded by the Institute, and would still be funded by the Institute this year if the Student Alliance funds do not go towards it. There will be a reception with snacks no matter where the funds come from. Some students expressed that this detracts a feeling of value from the Student Alliance contribution, if the reception has always occurred and would still occur, it would not feel significant that it was paid for by a different source this year. Some students speculated as to whether there were financial concerns on the side of the Institute that had precipitated this proposal, and Lauren assured everyone that the Student Affairs office had not requested the financial help from Student Alliance, and said she could not share any financial information. Students felt that if there was a clearly articulated financial concern or request for help from Student Alliance this proposal would be more appealing, but since there was not an overt financial concern, there was some hesitation from students to just donate $5,000 of student money to the Institute.

There was also a concern about setting a precedent of using $5,000 of student funds to go towards commencement. In the future, there may be more of a demand for Student Alliance funds and that may no longer feel like the best use of the funds, which are currently underutilized. However, most students present did feel that they would be in support of some Student Alliance funds going towards commencement if it were to make a really meaningful contribution – like bringing in a high caliber speaker (Oprah Winfrey was cited as an example) or to in some way alter the ceremony or program to give it more character and make it more relatable to the student body.

Some students brought up the idea of gift certificates being an alternate way that Student Alliance could give a “thank you” sendoff gift to the 500 students who will graduate this year. For instance, each student could receive a $10 iTunes gift certificate. There seemed to be some interest among some students present in this idea, but some students also were not thrilled with this idea, and thought a powerful speaker like Oprah would be a much more meaningful gift. There would be a logistical need for someone to coordinate the purchasing and handing out of gift certificates if this idea did get passed. Lauren and Tia would not be able to take this on alone. No students present felt called to volunteer to do this kind of labor.  Lauren also brought up the concern that it was probably too late this year to be able to change the commencement programming in a significant way. Programs are to be printed soon. She shared that it was not just the Dean of Students office, but also the Alumni Office and the President’s Office that came up with the programming for the commencement ceremony.

There was a suggestion of making the Student Alliance student groups visible in some way (either via physical presence or some printed material) at commencement, should Student Alliance funds be used. A printed material of some sort seemed to be the most feasible execution of this.

There was also a concern brought up about the current proposed commencement menu, as it only contained one wheat-free food option, strawberries. Many students are avoiding wheat and most students present concurred that it was important to address the menu regardless of who was funding the commencement reception.

One student brought up the idea of sending a survey out to graduating students to present them a few choices on what they would find to be the most desirable “gift” from student alliance – iTunes gift card, a fabulous commencement speaker, or really special dessert were all options discussed.

Three students present said they would be able to offer a little bit of time or assistance – Regina offered 20 minutes to sit and discuss the menu with Tia, Danielle offered up to 3 hours of her time to work on implementing whatever idea was decided upon, and Larry said he could procure an entheogenic-oriented speaker if that were desirable.

Tia noted that the discussion was taking a long time and motioned to pause the conversation and not vote today. She said any student is welcome to email with the subject heading “Commencement decision making” to contribute your feedback.

Lauren offered to come to the next meeting to continue the discussion, if that would be helpful. She said programs for commencement would be printed before the next meeting, but was open to the idea of printing a separate flier with info about a “special gift provided by Student Alliance” if something is implemented.

Verdict:  The proposal was tabled, which due to time sensitivity, will make it impossible to implement. There seemed to be consensus between all students present that students were in support of the use of $5,000 of Student Alliance funds to do something nice for graduating students this year, but that another action would feel more meaningful than funding the reception snacks. The discussion will be picked up again at the next meeting.

Proposal 2: ERIE Carmen Vicente event (proposed by Larry)

Proposal Type: Funding proposal requesting for additional speaker fees for Carmen Vicente event.

Proposal Details: Speaker fees are $300. Only $250 is left in ERIE’s event fund out of $500 out of the $800

Verdict: Proposal passed unanimously with 8 votes.

Proposal 3: Tatyana Brown – April 4 event (proposed by Lailah)

Proposal Type:  Funding proposal for $500 asking for the $500 additional student group funds over the $300 default allotment.

Proposal Details: They are asking for $500 additional funds for Weekend AWARE to go towards the Tatyana Brown workshop. They want to be able to give Tatyana her $850 speakers fee, with $100 for refreshments, as well as compensation for Lailah. There is a request out to Queer @ CIIS to chip in $150. Their Weekend AWARE group’s $300 will also go towards this event. The $850 speaker’s fee will include this workshop as well as Tatyana’s visit to the Weekend AWARE class. Lailah is also in conversation with Denise about whether the POC student group would also be an emotional (not fiscal) sponsor. The workshop is open to all students and the community as well – not just for white people, although it is sponsored by AWARE. It will address many situations in which someone may want to speak up about a social justice issue.

Tia encourages Lailah to publicize this event to all departments. Larry asks about how to promote events to faculty. Tia says send the event announcement to program coordinators.

Verdict: The proposal was approved by 7 students.

Download the minutes here 2013_03-07_SAMinutes

Mission: Student Alliance is a student-run organization that facilitates communication, sponsors events, and allocates funding to help students and student groups actualize the seven institute ideals. Listening to student voices, we build alliances, cultivate student leadership, and advocate for social change and transformation of existing power structures.

Present:
Tia Phillips – PDT, Student Alliance Coordinator
Regina Gelfo – IHL, Student Alliance Website Coordinator
Larry Norris – EWP, ERIE Coordinator
Danielle Sharon – ICP, Yoga @ CIIS
Emmi Bevensee – BIS, Queer @ CIIS coordinator
Lailah Robinson – ICPW, Weekend AWARE Coordinator
Shirley Johnson – ICP, Yoga Teacher @ CIIS
Karina Norman – ICP
Laura Reddick – PCC, Integral Ecology Coordinator
Hope Casareno – BAC

Summary: The meeting began with introductions and student group updates from ERIE, Integral Ecology, Integral Taiji and Qigong, Queer @ CIIS, Weekend AWARE, Weekend POC, and Yoga @ CIIS. The representative for Belvaspata Healing circle was out sick and provided an update via email. There was a lengthy discussion of CIIS policy around student groups and events not being able to accept donations. Tia shared some Student Alliance updates and there was a discussion of potential improvements to campus that Student Alliance could sponsor. There was a discussion about yoga at CIIS initiated by Danielle, the new yoga coordinator.

Detailed Minutes:
I. Campus Group Updates & Discussion
II. Updates from Dean Shirley Strong
III. Discussion of Donations at Student Events at CIIS
IV. Student Alliance Updates & Discussion
V. Yoga Discussion

I. Campus Groups Updates & Discussion

Campus Groups Updates

BELVASPATA HEALING GROUP
Their next event will be Saturday, Feb. 16 from 6:30-8 PM in Room 210 at CIIS.

ERIE
Their Feb 1 event went really well. About 70 people showed up, 50 of which were not CIIS students. They have another event happening this Friday with Harry Oso Quintero, the Peyote medicine man & PhD from Arizona. March 22 they will be hosting a Women’s Congress event.

INTEGRAL ECOLOGY
They have three hikes planned but no dates yet. Laura will email the dates to Regina to be posted on the Student Events calendar when they have been determined.

INTEGRAL TAIJI AND QIGONG
They have had two meetings so far and Taiji and Qigong classes will continue weekly through the semester.

QUEER @ CIIS
Queer @ CIIS has been defunct because the previous facilitator has graduated. Emmi made a Doodle poll to find out when folks are avail to meet. There will be a meet and greet event on Feb 21, 2-4pm, in the Student Lounge (Room 218) where participants will be setting intentions for the group for this semester and building community. Emmi will make flyers and put them around campus. Queer @ CIIS is open to all faculty, staff, and students, including queer-identified people as well as allies.

WEEKEND AWARE (and AWARE)
They just incorporated as an official student group separate from the weekday AWARE group. They had first outside speaker – Tatiana Brown- who came in during their last weekend session. They are hoping to bring her back in April. Lailah is facilitating Weekend AWARE and Kate Ramsey is still the coordinator of Weekday AWARE, which has recently had a groundswell of new members. At Regina’s inquiry and suggestion, Lailah will encourage Kate to reach out to new members to get more support for facilitating the weekday group, since Kate is a weekend student.

WEEKEND P.O.C. (and P.O.C.)
Lailah spoke for the P.O.C. group and reported that the weekday P.O.C. group is not operational right now.

YOGA @ CIIS
Yoga @ CIIS is now being coordinated by Danielle. She introduced herself and initiated a conversation soliciting feedback about how to best serve the CIIS community with the yoga program as well as how to best publicize the yoga classes, which is detailed in section V of these minutes.

Campus Groups Discussion

Tia reminded campus group coordinators as well as yoga teachers to use the sign in sheet at all of their events. These sheets should be turned into Tia at the end of the semester. This is relevant to weekly yoga and taiji classes as well as special student events.

Larry asked about the protocol on submitting a contractor invoice for ERIE’s upcoming event, which is sponsored by Student Alliance as well as two academic departments at CIIS. He wanted to know if he needed to submit three separate contractor invoices or if he could just break it down on one and photocopy the one contractor invoice and submit it to all three funding entities. Tia said he can break it down on one contractor invoice.

There was a discussion of how to reserve a room for student groups and events. Rooms can be reserved through your department’s program coordinator or the Dean of Students office.

II. Updates from Dean Shirley Strong
Dean Strong was present for the first half hour of the meeting and shared a few updates. She brought up a conversation around the forthcoming installation of a few vending machines on campus, which was precipitated by previous interest that had been expressed. The vending machines will have a mix of healthy and junk food. She asked students for feedback about the best place on campus to put them. One may be installed in the 5th floor break room kitchen area. A student suggested possibly putting one in the nook near the library on the second floor. Another student present pointed out that that is one of the few quiet nooks on campus where students can go to make phone calls, etc , and the presence of a vending machine may disrupt that use of the nook. Another student mentioned that we should consider the politics of the corporate food in proposed vending machines and wondered how that resonates with CIIS values. Another student pointed out that it may be good to have vending machines on campus for when the café is closed. The exact types of food that would be in the machines was not specified or known. Dean Strong is open to suggestions or comments.

III. Discussion of donations at student events at CIIS
Dean Strong then initiated a conversation regarding the CIIS policy on student groups or student events receiving donations for events that (a) occur on campus or (b) have an affiliation with Student Alliance or have received Student Alliance funding. She discussed the background behind the policy. She shared that the policy is old and was in place before she was even with CIIS. The policy prohibits student groups or students who host events on campus from accepting donations at these events. She suspected that the reason for this policy was to prevent non-students from affiliating themselves with a student and co-hosting an event on campus and using it to make or raise money for something or someone that was not truly a part of the CIIS community. She also mentioned that outside groups want to rent space on campus and pay to do so, while student groups do not pay to use the space.

Recently, there have been more student groups having fundraisers and asking people to pay or donate, so it is timely to bring this policy to light to (a) make sure that all current student group leaders understand and abide by current school policy and (b) so that Dean Strong, Tia, and other relevant parties can revisit this policy and make any necessary amendments so that school policy is truly in support of students and student groups. The discussion at this meeting focused on ERIE as an example student group because ERIE is a student group that has accepted donations from the community and has received a significant amount of money from doing so. Larry mentioned that ERIE is on its way to becoming a 501-C3 (non-profit status) and wondered if this would positively impact their ability to accept donations. Shirley said if the group is a 501-C3 they can then take donations. Someone suggested that Larry could run his events as “ERIE-Sponsored events” as opposed to a Student Group event but there was confusion about whether that would actually make any difference.

For the time being, Student Alliance must stand behind CIIS policy and prohibit student groups from being able to accept donations, but they will also be in conversation with Dean Strong to rethink the policy. Dean Strong does not want to prevent or sap the creativity of student groups, especially a group like ERIE that is growing so quickly and so successful. By fall of 2013 they hope to have a new policy in place regarding student groups and accepting donations.

One student said it definitely feels wrong to charge (not including donations) for SA-funded events. She suggested that the ability to accept donations or sell merchandise at an event could be proposed to Student Alliance in advance – perhaps as part of the general event / funding proposal procedure. Other students liked this idea.

She also suggested that there could be a distinction made between “free for CIIS students” and “suggested donation for general public” when publicizing events. This is already being done.

Someone pointed out that if your student group is funded by Student Alliance, the rules (not being allowed to accept donations) still apply even if your event is off campus.

Larry brought up the point that it is easier to accept funds at your event as a general student who is not affiliated with Student Alliance than it is to accept them as an official student group. This seems like it would de-incentivize students from forming official student groups. Larry pointed out that ERIE sustained themselves for all of Fall semester from donations and didn’t ask for any money from Student Alliance until the last meeting of Fall semester when they wanted to print out the Cambio newsletters – they put on all their events prior to that without financial assistance from Student Alliance. Larry made the point that ERIE could grow and thrive more if they dropped out of Student Alliance so that they could take donations, where they would probably make more money than the $300-$800 they are allocated per semester from Student Alliance. Tia reflected that if it were more advantageous for them to stop being an official student group that would be a fine and appropriate thing to do. One student pointed out the irony that being an official student group seems to prevent your student group from growing as much as it could if you chose not to make it an official student group.

Tia made the point that meetings and conversations are required to change the rules, and that these meetings and conversations are in process. Larry made the point that he likes to get things done quickly, but he understands her point.

Lauren Selfridge wrote a letter that was shared at the meeting explaining the policy whereby any event organized by a student happening on CIIS cannot accept donations.

One student requested knowing what needs to happen to actually change the policy around student groups being able to accept donations. Tia answered saying that Shirley, Tia, and Lauren Selfridge must discuss things together and then represent their various viewpoints in meetings with other staff members, etc.

The next step is for the dialogue to continue between Shirley, Tia, and Lauren Selfridge, and this is the plan.

IV. Student Alliance Updates & Discussion
Tia shared her hours of availability for Spring 2013 semester. She is on campus on Mondays and Tuesdays from 11am-10pm, and on Tuesdays from 10am-12pm, and 6:30-10pm. She is available on some Thursdays and Sundays, mostly offsite.

Tia shared upcoming application deadlines for funding. Conference Funding applications will be accepted beginning Feb 15 and ending March 25, 2013. There will be a PAT team meeting most likely on March 28. Child Care Funding applications are due April 14. The Social Justice Research and Community Service grant will be coming up soon as well.

There was a discussion of what other resources campus could use that Student Alliance might want to fund or help with. For instance, Student Alliance funded the Zen rooftop garden that students currently have access to. Larry suggested the creation of a food garden on the rest of the roof outside of Room 607. It was discussed how the roof in that area is unstable, but if a platform was built on top of that maybe some planter boxes could be put there. A food garden could fit nicely with the Ecopsychology department. Tia pointed Larry to the facilities dept. for further inquiries.

Regina brought up potential aesthetic improvements to the newly relocated meditation room, which is much appreciated but feels a little less cozy than the previous meditation room. Tia said Michael Aho, a staff person, had been the main person in charge of the relocation of the room and he had biggest input on how that room was arranged. Tia and Danielle had been in conversation around potential improvements to this room previously. Regina wondered if the altar could be redone. There was a discussion of the potential of the altar being designed by a student in rotation – perhaps by semester- sponsored by Student Alliance. This could serve to raise awareness about Student Alliance in addition to keeping the aesthetic of the altar beautiful and fresh.

Regina and Danielle both expressed interest in redesigning the meditation space. Tia plans to speak to Michael and propose the possibility of a student rotation of altar-designs per semester or some general freshening up of the meditation room feng shui.

Danielle also brought up that teaching yoga on campus, there are some challenges with classroom space not feeling like the right aesthetic environment for a yoga class, with harsh fluorescent lights being a part of the issue. Regina requested pole lights for the yoga classrooms as one easy to implement solution. She teaches in room 212, which only has one pole lamp instead of two as many classrooms have. If there were two pole lamps they could be used in lieu of the fluorescent lights to create a more relaxing atmosphere. She also told Tia that the clock is broken in 212 and requested a replacement. Tia also mentioned that a clock was needed for the Student Multipurpose room (218).

There was a discussion of good napping spots on campus. Good napping spots suggested by students present included: the Student Multipurpose room, the nook near the library, the meditation room, the couch in the back room of the café, and the couch on the 6th floor.

Larry requested an update on the Student Alliance bulletin board. Tia shared that Dierdre, the art curator, has a great vision for the area but may not have the bandwidth to implement it this semester. Regina suggested in the meantime Student Alliance could get a cheap bulletin board and print out something that says “Student Alliance Bulletin Board” just so we have a spot that is usable this semester. Tia and other students concurred.

V. Yoga Discussion
Danielle, the new yoga coordinator, initiated a discussion regarding how to publicize the yoga classes on campus and get more people coming to yoga classes. A student suggested putting up flyers around campus as there had been in the past and emailing the same flyer to program coordinators from all departments asking them to send the flyer out to their department.

Students present shared a bit about potential barriers to attending a yoga class, such as an aversion to getting sweaty and then being on campus and being stinky and sweaty, as well as having little or no yoga experience and wanting an explicitly beginner class. One student with a disability suggested the addition of a restorative class or a “perfect for beginners” yoga class. Danielle shared that she is considering offering a yin restorative class next fall, and the idea was met with enthusiasm. Danielle suggested sending a poll out to students to see who is interested in yoga and what time slots they would be able to attend – perhaps this will be implemented in Fall 2013.

Download PDF of Minutes.

April 25, 2013 – PAT Team meeting – SJRCSG
April 21, 2013 – Social Justice Research and Community Service Grant application deadline
April 18, 2013 – PAT Team meeting – Child Care
April 14, 2013 – Child Care Subsidy application deadline
March 28, 2013 – PAT Team Meeting – Conference Funding
March 25, 2013 – Spring Conference Funding application deadline

Proposal Action Team meetings are open to all students and are where the applications are reviewed and the recipients of funding are chosen.

Mission: Student Alliance is a student-run organization that facilitates communication, sponsors events, and allocates funding to help students and student groups actualize the seven institute ideals. Listening to student voices, we build alliances, cultivate student leadership, and advocate for social change and transformation of existing power structures.

Present:
Tia Phillips – PDT, Student Alliance coordinator
Regina Gelfo – IHL, Student Alliance Website coordinator
Larry Norris – EWP, ERIE coordinator
Emmi Bevensee – BAC, Queer @ CIIS coordinator
Noor Najafi – ICP, Belvaspata Healing and Expressive Movement Exploration groups
Tati Albero – EWP
Elizabeth McAnally – PCC, Integral Ecology, Integral Taiji and Qigong
Ian Waisler – EWP, Coniunctio
Sarah Coenen – ICP, helping with Coniunctio

Summary:

The meeting began with personal introductions around the circle and updates from the following student groups: AWARE, Belvaspata Healing, Coniunctio, ERIE, Integral Ecology, Integral Taiji & Qigong, Queer @ CIIS, and Yoga. Then Tia presented some brief Student Alliance updates. Next, two proposals for funding were voted upon. Both were approved. A brief discussion occurred regarding various topics afterwards.

Detailed Minutes:
I. Student Group Updates
II. Student Alliance Updates
III. Proposals
IV. Discussion

I. Student Group Updates

AWARE
A representative from AWARE was not present, but Emmi announced that AWARE is presenting an event on Fri Feb 8, 3-5pm, Rm 207, “A dialogue with professor Zara Zimbardo on Racism and White Privilege.” This event will explore potential within this institution to identify and interrupt oppressive patterns, framing differences between prejudicial interpersonal attitudes and larger structural racism.
Belvaspata Healing
They already had their first event of the semester with a great turnout. They are hosting an upcoming event on Sat Feb 16, 6-7:30pm room 210, a Life Frequency Healing event. There are flyers up on campus.

Coniunctio
This semester, they would like to do another few participatory and socially oriented events similar to the chart drawing event they did last semester. They requested funding at this meeting that will allow them to do 5 events consisting of 3 talks and 2 socials this semester.

An upcoming event features Michael Mayer (former adjunct prof at CIIS, who taught astrology) speaking on Feb 5, 7:30pm, Rm 212. March 20, Lynn Bell will be speaking on Lilith as a symbol of the disowned feminine. She is one of the most loved astrologers in Western astrology. More info about these events is on the Student Events calendar at http://www.ciisstudentalliance.com/student-events-calendar/ .

Coniunctio is interested in addressing the absence of queer language in astrology – there may be discussion group on this.

Coniunctio is interested in co-sponsoring a conference on Jack Fertig, who was doing work on queer inclusion in astrology, who recently passed away. Coniunctio wants to book space the last weekend of June (the weekend after Pride fest), but needs to figure out who to talk to about booking space for the summer semester. Emmi offered support from Queer @ CIIS for this event.

ERIE
ERIE has one event planned per month for this semester. They will most likely need the full $800 available to student groups for the semester.
Upon Tia’s request, ERIE shared some of their advertising tactics, as they have been one of the most successful student groups, drawing 80-100 people to events regularly. They advertise via their website, Sane TV in Berkeley, Facebook page (they have over 450 people on their Facebook page), meetup.com (they have about 210 people in their meetup.com group). Meetup.com charges a fee, but it is worth it because people’s RSVPS tend to count for more than they do on Facebook.com.
ERIE’S upcoming events this semester are as follows:

Feb 1- Fri, 6:15-9pm, Namaste – “The Functions of Integration for Entheogenic Experience.” This event will feature two speakers and a panel. The speakers are Howard Whitehouse speaking on the challenges of integration, and Carl Gnosis speaking on physical integration. Adrian Auler will be joining for the panel after the speakers.

Feb 15, 6-9pm in Namaste Hall. -“Nogoni’î Izzada: The Story of Peyote in the American Voice”, a talk by Harry Oso Quintero, Apache medicine man and PhD in American Literature from ASU (concentration in Native American Literature and Ethnomusicology). Harry is a medicine hunter for the Native American church. He wrote his dissertation on the influence of peyote on western American literature and music. He will be coming from Arizona for this event. The event will feature a lecture as well as singing, chanting, and Q&A afterwards. It will be ERIE’s first lecture that brings in an indigenous voice combined with Western dialogue.

March 22 – Women’s Congress – Women’s entheogenic panel- Rm 304, 2-9pm. Speakers TBD.

April 13-16, on campus, rooms and times TBD, “Entheogenic Coalition / Pre-Maps half-weekend,” featuring ERIE, Evolver, and Psychedelic Society SF throwing events all weekend the weekend before the MAPS conference. ERIE will be presenting programming for all of Saturday. More details forthcoming.

ERIE Entheogenic Integration circles will be occurring this semester on: Feb 7, 7-9pm, Rm 308, March 14, 7-9pm, Rm 308, March 25, 7-9pm, Rm 308, April 8, 7-9pm, Rm 308, and April 25, 7-9pm, Rm 307. To attend, you must RSVP to erievision@gmail.com with “RSVP for Integration Circle” in subject heading. These events are intimate with a limited number of spots available.

More info about these events is on the Student Events calendar at http://www.ciisstudentalliance.com/student-events-calendar/ .

Integral Ecology
They have a few meetings planned this semester that will include hiking, walking and talking, and possibly another conference. Stay tuned for more details.

Integral Taiji and Qigong
Weekly classes are being offered on Thursdays from 12pm-1pm. Details are on the Student Events calendar at http://www.ciisstudentalliance.com/student-events-calendar/ .

Queer @ CIIS
Emmi reported that she is thinking of sending out a Doodle poll for members of Queer @ CIIs to plan a casual gathering to gauge intentions for the group, find folks to step up to leadership positions, and come up with consensus based events.

Yoga @ CIIS
Tia shared a written update from Hui, the former yoga coordinator, who has just graduated. More info about the new coordinator, Danielle, will be coming shortly.

II. Student Alliance Updates

Review of Fall 2012 Semester
- 46 students applied for conference funding
- 3 people were on the Proposal Action Team
- 10 students applied for child care funding
- There were 15 active student groups
- The former yoga coordinator Hui Tai completed her last semester as the yoga coordinator/ facilitator, and the position has been filled with the new coordinator that Hui is currently training.

A budgetary review will be done in the next meeting.

Tia gave an overview of upcoming student funding opportunities including:
• Conference Funding – Application deadline TBA, will be in March. There is $5,000 per semester allotted to conference funding.

• Child Care Subsidy – Application deadline TBA, will be in March. There is $10,000 per semester allotted for childcare.

• Social Justice & Community Research Grant- Application deadline TBA, will be in late March or early April.

Some students asked questions about the Social Justice and Community Research Grant criteria. Tia notes that projects are prioritized that a student has already been working on, rather than a new project. All students who receive the grant will present on their projects at the end of the semester. There were questions from Larry about whether ERIE could count as a non-profit since ERIE is applying for 501-C3 status. Tia said that currently, student groups do not count as non-profit organization for the purpose of applying for the grant, but that it was worth further consideration. Tia will bring past proposals in so students can view past proposals. Regina may post them online with names omitted.

III. Proposals

Proposal 1: Coniunctio (represented by Ian)

Proposal Type: Funding request for $500 additional student group funding for the semester.

Proposal Details: Coniunctio is requesting the additional $500 that is available to student groups so that they can receive a total of $800 for the semester. The money would go towards paying three speakers $150-$200 each for talks, plus food and a few administrative supplies, which would add up to $800.

Verdict: 8 students voted Yes. The proposal was passed unanimously.

Proposal 2: ERIE (represented by Larry)

Proposal Type: Additional group funding of $250 (on top of the default $300) for an event

Proposal Details: The event will be Feb 15, 6-9pm in Namaste hall. It is being organized by Tati and is a talk about peyote culture and music. The speaker, Harry Oso Quintero, has a PhD in American Literature from ASU with a concentration in Native American Literature and Ethnomusicology. He is an Apache medicine man who is a medicine hunter for Native American church and also has a PhD From ASU. He wrote his dissertation on the influence of peyote on western American literature and music. He will be coming from Arizona. The event will feature a lecture as well as singing, chanting, and Q&A afterwards. The event is being co-funded by the East West and Social Anthropology depts, so they are requesting only $250. The funds will cover speaker fees for Harry and payment for musicians. They are hoping to be able to pay $100 to each musician and $250 to Harry. The event will be cross-advertised between the East West and Anthro depts.

Verdict: 6 students voted Yes. The proposal was passed unanimously.

IV. Discussion

A student brought up the idea of increasing conference funding to be more than $5,000 per semester, as in comparison to child care funding it is half the amount. A few students also mentioned that it would be helpful to raise the amount of money each recipient of the childcare subsidy receives, as $250 does not make much of a dent in a semester’s worth of childcare costs.

Tia is sending out blasts to all the departments to make students aware of these funding opportunities.

One student raised the issue of student event flyers being taken down prematurely, and another student confirmed that their group had experienced the problem too. Another student recommended that the Student Alliance bulletin board area could be used for student alliance sponsored event flyers once it is redone. It would be a great place to post information about Student Groups monthly. Tia approved of the idea.

Download PDF of Minutes

Monday, Dec 3, 2012

12:30 – 2:00 pm

Room 218

Mission: Student Alliance is a student-run organization that facilitates communication, sponsors events, and allocates funding to help students and student groups actualize the seven institute ideals. Listening to student voices, we build alliances, cultivate student leadership, and advocate for social change and transformation of existing power structures.

Present:

Tia Phillips – Drama Therapy, Student Alliance Coordinator

Regina Gelfo – IHL, Student Alliance Website Coordinator

Larry Norris – EWP, ERIE Coordinator

Hui Tai – American Buddhism, Yoga @ CIIS

Summary:     The meeting began with updates from Student Alliance. American Buddhism, ERIE, and Yoga groups gave updates. There was a discussion of Campus Group leader policies including regular attendance at Student Alliance monthly meetings, followed by a discussion of compensation for Campus Group leaders.

Detailed Minutes:

      I.         Student Alliance Updates

    II.         Campus Group Updates & Discussion

  III.         Yoga Coordinator Discussion

I. Student Alliance Updates

Tia reported that 185 sack lunches were made and distributed to homeless men and women in Union Square plaza on Thanksgiving, and said it was a lot of fun.

Student Alliance will be allotting 20 Social Justice and Community Research Grants to students in Spring 2013 instead of just 10. Tia is reaching out to publicize the grant to all the departments and asking them to share with their students so that new applicants can receive the grant.

Student Alliance will be meeting with Eloise to review attendance and success of the Zumba class that was being offered on campus. Next Student Alliance will meet with HR to discuss HR chipping in some funding for the class. Eloise’s salary will also be discussed.

Dec 12 is the deadline for any f, 2012unding requests to be turned in from student groups from this semester.

II. Campus Groups Updates & Discussion

Campus Groups Updates

AMERICAN BUDDHISM

The last meeting is a meditation is scheduled for Dec 17^th. Hui put it on the American Buddhism calendar.

ERIE

Has an event tonight from 6-9, with 5 speakers including the clinical director from MAPS speaking on the topic of Entheo Health and Wellness. They have over 70 reservations for Room 607. Last Thursday Larry and 3 other members of ERIE were on Sane TV in Berkeley. There will be another interview in Jan or Feb because the host really enjoyed ERIE. ERIE created all of the content for the last issue of the Cambio CIIS student newsletter.

Larry will send Regina some updates for events next semester.

Campus Groups Discussion

There was a discussion of challenges for some students to attend Student Alliance meetings monthly. ERIE has found it challenging.

The policy moving forward for Campus Group leaders is that they must let Tia know if they cannot attend a meeting, and they will try to find someone to sit in for them at the meeting if they cannot attend. They must attend at least 3 meetings per semester or their group will not qualify. This will be enforced beginning in Spring 2013 semester. Larry mentioned that he had a schedule conflict with the days that Student Alliance had been meeting in Fall 2012. The requirement moving forward is to have group leader attend or a proxy sit in.

Tia will publish the new more rigid protocol for Campus Group leaders when the new semester begins, and it will be updated in Campus Group documentation. Regina requested that Tia call or email all the student group leaders directly and let them know that they must attend 3 meetings per semester. Protocol for what needs to happen if a Campus Group leader can’t make it should be published on the website, as well as protocol for what happens to a Campus Group if a leader or representative doesn’t attend at least 3 Student Alliance meetings per semester.

Larry critiqued the SA policy of it being easier for a group leader to get money to pay themselves for being a facilitator then it is to get funds for supplies, which require receipts.  ERIE is requesting to get their $300 of semester funds for printing the Cambio newsletter. SA will fund ERIE their student group allotment of $300. Erie is taking their $300 for printing the Cambio. Larry will submit a contractor invoice for himself for ERIE to be able to get the money sooner.

Yoga Coordinator Discussion

Hui will be graduating and a new yoga coordinator will be needed. A current yoga teacher is interested who is an international student. Tia will discuss with Jodie the legal side of international student eligibility for working as the yoga coordinator.

Hui will do the work during January to set up the spring yoga schedule and continue to work remotely training the new coordinator.

Hui will figure out a breakdown to pay herself to train the new coordinator for Spring 2013 semester, and paying the new coordinator a minimal amount, then checking in with the coordinator in Summer 2013 to determine their salary.  The transitional stage for Spring 2013 would be Hui taking $1000 to manage and train the new coordinator and the new coordinator to be paid $1000.

Hui will be hiring more yoga teachers in the spring. There is a budget for 7 teachers. If you are interested in applying for being a yoga teacher send Hui your resume and schedule of availability by Jan 9. Hui already has a stack of resumes from previous applicants. If it will be your first semester at CIIS you are only eligible to be a substitute yoga teacher, not a full yoga teacher.

Larry wonders how to get up into the tier of making $1,500 per semester for facilitating a student group, as he learned that Hui has been paid $1,500 per semester to be the yoga coordinator. Regina suggested that this structure of the yoga coordinator could be replicated for other areas of activity and interest in addition to yoga. The topic was tabled for further discussion.

Download PDF of Minutes

Mission: Student Alliance is a student-run organization that facilitates communication, sponsors events, and allocates funding to help students and student groups actualize the seven institute ideals. Listening to student voices, we build alliances, cultivate student leadership, and advocate for social change and transformation of existing power structures.

Present:

Tia Phillips – Drama Therapy, Student Alliance Coordinator
Emmi Bevensee – BAC
Regina Gelfo – IHL, Student Alliance Website Coordinator
Dennice Ibarra – ICPW
Kate Ramsey – ICPW
Hui Tai – ICP, American Buddhism and Yoga group coordinator
Ian Waisler – EWP
Noor Najafi – ICP, Belvaspata Healing and Expressive Movement Exploration groups
Lailah Robertson – ICPW

Summary:   The proposed Student Alliance budget for 2012-2013 school year was discussed. There were four proposals: (1) Salary increase for Student Alliance Coordinator, (2) AWARE-weekend group creation, (3) People of Color-weekend group creation, (4) Coniunctio new group facilitator. There were updates from the following student groups: AWARE, American Buddhism, Belvaspita Healing, Coniunctio, People of Color, Queer @ CIIS. There was a brief discussion around student group issues.

Detailed Minutes:

      I.         Student Alliance Budget

    II.         Proposals

  III.         Campus Groups Updates and Discussion

I. Student Alliance Budget

Tia went through the proposed Student Alliance budget for the 2012-2013 year and explained each line item. The proposed budget is attached.

The total proposed budget is $93,000. Student Alliance would have $750-$2500 left.

Tia’s job is to make this budget go to zero each year. She mentioned that it has been a challenge to get all the money used.

Some brief points of discussion ensued around the budget. Tia pointed out that most student groups are not taking advantage of the maximum amount of funding available to them, and encouraged all present to utilize the funding available to them.

There was a discussion of the Zumba teacher (who is a staff member) getting paid $50/class where our student yoga teachers only get paid $20/class. A few students present who are yoga teachers spoke in favor of the yoga teachers getting paid more.  Between $30/$50 per class was the range discussed. No formal policy changes were made on the yoga teacher’s salaries at this meeting, but there was an intention to keep the discussion moving forward.

The Zumba classes are open to students, faculty, and staff, and Tia would like to get Staff, Faculty, or HR to pitch in some money in support of the Zumba teacher’s salaray so the money is not all coming out of Student Alliance money, since faculty and staff

II. Proposals

Proposal 1: Salary Increase for Student Alliance Coordinator

Proposal Type: salary increase

Proposal Details:  Tia presented her proposal at the last meeting and it was tabled due to there not being enough students there to vote.

Funds Allocation:  Tia reiterated the reasons why she feels the Student Alliance Coordinator position should receive a salary increase.

Verdict: 7 students voted yes, 1 person abstained. The proposal was passed! The students present voted yes with the condition that we request that Tia is given the new rate retroactively for her work in the Fall 2012 semester so far.

Proposal 2: AWARE Weekend Group

Proposal Type: new campus group

Proposal Details:  Proposed by Kate Ramsey and Lailah Robertson. There is already an AWARE (Awakening to Whiteness and Racism Everywhere) campus group that has been led by Kate Ramsey, who is a weekend ICP student. Kate and Lailah have informally been facilitating a weekend version of the AWARE group that weekend cohort students have participating in. Due to the logistics of how programs are run at CIIS, weekend program students tend to only be at school on the weekends (with some commuting from other parts of the country) and weekday program students often are not at school on weekends. Both the AWARE and POC (People of Color) groups have been informally facilitating weekend-only gatherings because of the logistics of when they are on campus, and these gatherings have been met with much participation and appreciation. Kate and Lailah feel that making AWARE Weekend Program Group separate from the AWARE group catering to weekday students will make more logistical sense. Kate does not have the bandwidth to put much organizing energy into the weekday version of the AWARE group since she is a weekend student. Some other students have shown interest in stepping into leadership roles in the weekday AWARE group.

Funds Allocation: The specific amount of funding or plans for allocation of funds was not discussed. This writer assumes that the group would be requesting the standard $300 semesterly funding to pay for snacks, group meeting facilitation, and any speakers or special events.

Verdict: 5 students voted yes, 1 student abstained. The proposal was passed!

Proposal 3: POC Weekend Group

Proposal Type: new campus group

Proposal Details:  Proposed by Dennice Ibarra. Similarly as to with the AWARE group (discussed above), Dennice is a weekend student who has informally been facilitating POC (People of Color) group meetings during weekend program days. She feels it would be beneficial to have a weekend group so they have their own source of funding. She hopes to have some more support and training from someone above her, and there is a new faculty member to be hired that she is hoping will fill this role, starting in the ICP weekend program and hopefully working with other departments to help hold this space as well.

Funds Allocation: The specific amount of funding or plans for allocation of funds was not discussed. This writer assumes that the group would be requesting the standard $300 semesterly funding to pay for snacks, group meeting facilitation, and any speakers or special events.

Verdict: 4 students voted yes, 1 student abstained. The proposal was passed!

Proposal 4: Coniunctio Group

Proposal Type: new facilitator for campus group

Proposal Details:  Proposed by Ian Waisler. Ian wants to step up to take over facilitating the Coniunctio group, which currently does not have a facilitator, as the former facilitator recently graduated.

Funds Allocation: Funds would be used for speakers, facilitator to pay himself, and snacks.

Verdict: 3 students voted yes, 1 student abstained. The proposal was passed!

III. Campus Groups Updates & Discussion

Campus Groups Updates

AWARE
Aware has been having one group meeting each time the weekend program sessions occur. These meetings are technically open to all CIIS students but mostly (or only) weekend program students have been attending so far due to logistics. The meetings have been well-attended and students have been getting a lot out of them.

Kate has organized 2 bigger campus-wise AWARE events for the semester including a Nov 1 screening of the “Traces of the Trade“ film screening  (Thurs Nov 1, 6:30-9pm) as well as an event on Nov 14 from 7-9pm in room 304. AWARE screened “Traces of the Trade” last year and it was a powerful and well-received event.

AWARE (campus-wide version) had a meeting on Oct 12. It was well-attended. There was a discussion about how to re-form the group, new leadership, and Kate feels hopeful about new leadership for weekday AWARE group. She wants to focus her energy on the weekend version of the AWARE group. The next step in the weekday AWARE group is to organize another meeting for November. Kate will email Regina the date for the upcoming AWARE meeting so it will be posted to the Student Events calendar.

The biggest step for AWARE right now is forming its separate weekend version which will be facilitated by Kate and Lailah. Kate is willing to plan and facilitate AWARE meetings for the weekend programs, and to provide support and share funds with the weekday branch of the AWARE group, but she can’t put much more organizing energy into the weekday branch of the group.

AMERICAN BUDDHISM

The American Buddhism group is sponsoring an event that will be happening this weekend. Details are on the calendar here:

http://www.ciisstudentalliance.com/american-buddhism-group-calendar/

Or contact htai@ciis.edu for details.

BELVASPITA HEALING GROUP

Noor, the facilitator, shared about a recent event he held where around 10 students RSVPed and several of them cancelled on the day of the event. He was expressed his disappointment with the attendance and curiosity about how to get a better turnout at student events. He expressed concern that people don’t value the events as much because they are free.

CONIUNCTIO

Ian is taking over the Coniunctio group this semester. A friend of Ian’s from EXA dept. has volunteered to help run the group, but has not formally signed on as a co-facilitator.

Ian shared two upcoming events that Coniunctio is hosting this semester. This coming Weds Oct 24 the group is hosting a “Draw Your Own Chart” study group/ mixer, and Nov 13 the group is hosting a professional talk by Jessica Murray about U.S. astrology and the U.S.’s astrological chart.  More info about both events can be found on the calendar here: http://www.ciisstudentalliance.com/student-events-calendar/.

Ian is interested in holding more regular group meetings but not sure about the logistics. There was a discussion of what publicity venues work for publicizing group events. One successful tactic is sending an email to all program coordinators for them to share with their department. Ian will send Regina a list of the contact info of all program coordinators, which Regina will post on the site for all campus group leaders to access.

PEOPLE OF COLOR

Denise has been running an unofficial POC (people of color) group throughout the weekends this semester. The weekend POC group was approved at this meeting. There is not a clear facilitator for the campus-wide weekday version of the People of Color group, but all students present agreed that this is an important group that is needed on campus.

QUEER @ CIIS

Emmi is potentially interested in co-facilitating Queer at CIIS group, but not by herself. She feels strongly that the group needs to continue and is willing to step up if needed. Kate expressed willingness to help co-facilitate as well.

Campus Groups Discussion

Regina, the Website Coordinator, requested that all Student Group leaders email her their events by the last day of the month, each month, so she can post them to the Student Events calendar.

There was a line of inquiry put on the table around how to stay motivated and not burn out as a student group leader, especially when working on your group/s alone, and if group meetings are not getting the best turnout. The discussion did not get covered much but it was agreed that it was an important topic to come back to.

Appendix: Proposed Student Alliance Budget

Proposed Fall 2012 Student Alliance Budget (download as PDF)

Download PDF of Minutes

Mission: Student Alliance is a student-run organization that facilitates communication, sponsors events, and allocates funding to help students and student groups actualize the seven institute ideals. Listening to student voices, we build alliances, cultivate student leadership, and advocate for social change and transformation of existing power structures.

Present:
Tia Phillips – Drama Therapy, Student Alliance Coordinator
Red Karpman – ICP
Hui Tai – ICP, American Buddhism and Yoga group coordinator
Regina Gelfo – IHL, Student Alliance Website Coordinator
Dennice Ibarra – ICPW
Shirley Strong – Dean of Students
Laura Reddick – PCC, Integral Ecology group
Noor Najafi – ICP, Belvaspata Healing and Expressive Movement Exploration groups

Summary:    The Student Alliance coordinator and Website Coordinator gave a website update. The Student Alliance coordinator gave a general update of Student Alliance news. There was a discussion of policies for campus groups. There were two proposals for funding, one for an Integral Study Coaching campus group, and one for a raise for the Student Alliance coordinator, and both were tabled.

Detailed Minutes:

      I.         Student Alliance Website Updates

    II.         Student Alliance Updates

  III.         Campus Groups Updates and Discussion

  IV.         Proposals

I. Student Alliance Website Updates

The forms section has been updated, and all forms are in packet formations now, so students can download the entire packet of forms they need for a particular process. See http://www.ciisstudentalliance.com/forms/.

The website now features a calendar for the Student Multipurpose Room (Rm 218). Please email studentaffairs@ciis.edu to book the Multipurpose room. View the calendar here http://www.ciisstudentalliance.com/student-multi-purpose-room-218-calendar.

Regina, the Website Coordinator, requests that all Campus Group leaders email her the events or group meetings you have scheduled for the semester by Oct 5 for her to post to the calendar. Henceforth, please send your group events to Reginagelfo@gmail.com by the last day of the month so she can update the calendar.

II. Student Alliance Updates

Budget

Dean Strong gave a brief update on the anticipated Student Alliance budget for this year. She shared that normally the Student Alliance budget is around $77,000/year, but this year enrollment is down so may be around $60,000. We don’t have the firm numbers yet, and Tia and Dean Strong will follow up with the information when it has been determined.

Zumba Classes

Student Alliance is working to increasing health and wellness programs at CIIS through adding a weekly Zumba class. The class starts Monday Oct 8 and will be happening on a weekly basis, but alternating between Mondays and Wednesdays (so class will occur on alternating Mondays and Wednesdays). The class is open to staff, faculty, and students, and hopefully will build community between folks that attend. There are flyers for the class around school and the flier will be online at www.ciisstudentalliance.com soon as well.

Social Justice and Community Research Grant

Student Alliance wants to increase the Social Justice and Community Research Grant (SJCRG) to $20,000 instead of $10,000 per year, to be able to provide the grants to 20 students instead of only 10. There is also a goal to increase awareness of this scholarship across the school so more students can apply. The grant will still be offered only in Spring semester.

New Scholarship for Beloved Community

Dean Strong gave an update on a new initiative to create an additional scholarship for students who are serving the community. The Dean’s office is starting a new initiative, the Center for Beloved Community. The Center for Beloved community is a vision and a concept and is based out of the Dean of Student’s office and focusing on community service in the Bay Area, primarily San Francisco but within the greater Bay Area as well. The Center is inspired by the word of Gandhi and MLK Jr. and aims to explore what CIIS would be like if we truly had a beloved community. The Center aims to work with each of the programs/departments at CIIS to make sure they have a strong community service internship component.

As a means of acknowledging that community service takes a lot of time, the Center will be offering scholarships to recognize the importance of community service. The Center will be offering 5 scholarships of $5,000 each on a competitive basis for students who are deeply engaged in community service within the Bay Area. Student Alliance is chipping in $15,000 towards this and a few other scholarship sponsors are being secured. In order to apply, a student would submit a statement to explain what you are doing, its impact, depth, engagement, etc. It will be offered as soon as Spring 2013, and if not Fall 2013. Scholarships would reward students doing community service work now, and would not be based on past work.

Conference & Child Care Funding Applications Open!

The conference funding and child care funding application process is now open and form are all online on the http://www.ciisstudentalliance.com/forms/ page. See the “Packets” section at bottom of the page. Proposals are due Oct 30,2012.

Come Vote on Proposals for Funding!

Student Alliance is seeking Proposal Action Team members for the next Proposal Action team meeting, to be held on Nov 12 or 13. There will be food at the meeting and participating students generally will receive a gift card to the café. Email studentalliance@ciis.edu if you are interested in participating.

II. Campus Groups Updates & Discussion

Campus Groups Updates

A few campus groups no longer have facilitators, including: People of Color and Queer at CIIS. Dustin Smith (student leader) and Lauren Selfridge (staff leader) are co-leading the queer at CIIS group, though there is no formal facilitator.

A new facilitator is needed for the People of Color campus-wide group. Truc, the former facilitator, is no longer doing it.

Weekend programs want to host their own AWARE and People of Color groups that will meet on the weekend. All students will be welcome to attend these meetings. These weekend groups will be proposed at the next Student Alliance meeting on Oct 22, 2012.

Campus Groups Policies Discussion

There was a discussion of how many student groups one person should be leading, and whether we want to set a formal policy limiting how many groups a student should carry or take it on a case-by-case basis. Generally, student group facilitators have not led more than 2 student groups. It could be too much for a student to run more than 2 groups and balance their academic workload, etc.

There is a currently a situation where an existing campus group facilitator stepped down and asked another student active in the group if they would be interested in leading the group. This student would be willing to lead the group, but he already leads two other groups. The original student had not notified the Student Alliance coordinator that he was stepping down and this is against Student Alliance policy. There must be accountability for group leaders to communicate their plans and group status to the Student Alliance coordinator.

On the subject of accountability from group leaders, one student proposed that group leaders could be required to follow up with the Student Alliance coordinator at the beginning and end of semester. It was suggested that maybe groups should be more short term, and the leaders would need to reapply each semester or each year. All present agreed that policy should be changed so that group leaders will have to take action to keep their group alive, rather than Student Alliance assuming that groups are alive unless stated otherwise.

Another student was concerned about making the check-ins between group leaders and Student Alliance coordinator too regimented. Another student threw out the idea of restructuring the way Student Groups are managed and creating more of a committee model where there would be a group of 3-5 student leaders on staff of student alliance coordinating interest groups and activities, which she thought would lead to greater accountability and more extracurricular activities being offered to students. All present agreed that this conversation of accountability should continue.

There was a discussion of the rules that student groups must abide by– like being open to all students on campus, and how the Dyad practice group outlies the group policy because it requires students to have taken a particular class or be in one of the counseling programs in order to participate.

 III.           Proposals

Proposal 1: Integral Study Coaching Group

Proposal Type: New Student Group

Proposal Details:  The group was proposed by Regina as a group open to all students on campus, in which Integrative Wellness Coaching would be offered in a group session, along with other holistic study tips (Breathwork, meditation, etc). The focus of the coaching would be study habits. The group would meet once a month, for 1.5-2 hours on campus. Regina would facilitate the meetings and bring in guest peer coaches from the Integrative Health Studies (IHL) Coaching program to lead peer coaching.

Funds Allocation: Regina requested the $300/semester standard funding to pay for snacks, fliers, and to pay herself for facilitating the groups.

Verdict: Proposal was tabled. Students that were present expressed interest in Integrative Wellness Coaching (most students present did not know that CIIS has a coaching program) but 2 of the 5 students present at the time of this discussion felt that they did not need any help with their study habits and that a coaching group with a broader focus would be more useful. Someone suggested that the group have a semesterly theme, and that Study Coaching could be the theme of the first semester. Regina decided to think more about this and table her proposal.

Proposal 2: Raise for Student Alliance Coordinator

Proposal Type: Increase of Salary for Student Alliance Coordinator

Proposal Details:  Tia proposed a raise for herself, going from $16 to $25/hr. She does many duties in addition to her written job description, including playing counselor to students who are having trouble, interfacing with prospective students, hiring and managing employees (including the Website Coordinator), and planning events.  The current pay for this position ($16/hr) is lower than what she was used to but she had wanted to accept the job and serve the student population. She has held the position for over a year now. All three students present supported Tia getting the raise and getting retroactive pay for the 2012 school year.

Funds Allocation: Tia requested a salary increase from $16/hr to $25/hr.

Verdict: Proposal was tabled because only three students were present in the meeting by the time the proposal was heard, and Tia felt that more students should be present to vote on it. The three students present fully supported Tia getting the salary increase.

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