Judycki explained that the College has already decided to develop an internalized phone service for the administrative campus offices, splitting the origins of administrative and residential phone calls. "The student portion is going to remain on Centrex [a network located off-campus]," he said.
Park wanted to know why the College could not integrate both the administrative and residential networks into one on-campus system. "I got the sense that it wouldn't necessarily be cost-prohibitive. There are clearly a lot of benefits to keeping it the status quo," he said.
Lieber disagreed, explaining the project would not be cost-efficient due to the decrease in the number of students ordering phone service. "It would cost the school roughly $400,000 to put the student phones on the College system," he said. The cost of integrating the system would transfer to students, but Lieber noted that "it's the fact that more and more students aren't ordering it that makes it difficult for the College to recoup its costs."
Lieber attributed the drop in phone subscriptions to the increased use of cell phones. He named the trend toward using cell phones, as opposed to land lines, for long distance calls.
The new system that separates administrative and residential phones into two networks, which will take effect in the fall, will change on-campus dialing from four digits to seven. Students will also have to pay a monthly fee for voice-mail. The cost for local service will remain the same.
After the phone service discussion, Senator Mihailis Diamantis '04 announced that only faculty members will be able to use Alumni Parking Lot next fall. The change results from the loss of parking spots for faculty due to the upcoming construction of the new geology building behind Fayerweather Hall. Students will be able to park in one of 180 spots in a new lot under construction near the tennis courts.
New officers, elected by the student body last Thursday, were sworn in after general announcements. Secretary Di Shui '06, JC member Sachin Dhawan '05E, and Senators Arpan Podduturi '05 and Stephen Scriber '06 all officially assumed their offices.
At the beginning of the meeting, senators met with the search committee that is conducting the search for a new librarian of the College. (See "Committee continues search for librarian," page 1.)
Treasurer Paris Wallace '04 presented the budgetary committee's (BC) weekly discretionary funding recommendations. Naomi Ross '06 spoke on behalf of the outing club to contest the BC's recommendation of $0 out of a $3,280 request for funding for an upcoming ski trip. "We [already] reduced the price by quite a bit ... by getting free accommodations," she said. Ross likened the outing club's trip to a more affordable version of the ski team. "It would be inappropriate not to fund us [because we] ... extend that [ski experience] to students who can't afford being on a team," she said.
Senator Ethan Davis '05 said the trip can not be compared to the ski team. "It would be really nice if AAS could fund students who just wanted to go skiing," said senator and BC member Ethan Davis '05. "The outing club is not in the same category [as the ski team]. [The trip] is prohibitively expensive." The motion to increase funding for the outing club trip failed.
Senator Gloria Monfrini '07 motioned to amend the Take Your Professor Out-X (TYPO-X) recommendation of $0 to the full $6,000 requested. Senator Lincoln Mayer '04 explained that, under the current agreement with the administration, the additional funding was necessary in order to open the program to upperclassmen this semester, regardless of whether they used it last fall. Without the extra money, Mayer said that the program would be available to all seniors and only those juniors and sophomores who had not gone on a TYPO-X dinner last semester.
Park attempted to explain the BC's reasoning in denying funding. "It doesn't make sense that you would need [an additional] $6,000 ... when you already have $8,000 left for the semester." The motion to increase funding for TYPO-X failed in an 8-16 vote.
After the meeting Mayer and Senator Mira Serrill-Robins '06, the senators who have been the driving force behind the continuation of the program, spoke with Heather Wojtowicz of the dean of students office and agreed to open the program to all upperclassmen, despite the lack of complete funding. The program should be open for the spring semester in several weeks.
Discussion of the Spring Formal budget was tabled. The BC has not made any recommendations regarding the $24,000 that was requested.
Keepers of the Word, an annual storytelling festival, was allocated $5,000.
Ghazal presided over the election of senators to AAS-sponsored committees with open seats. Scriber was elected to the Library Committee and the Trustee Advisory Committee on Student Life, while Senator Caleb Deats '06 was elected to fill a spot on the Committee on Health and Safety. Jacob Thomas '07 was elected to the Administrative Committee on Residential Life and Podduturi took a position on the Committee on Affirmative Action.
Senator Luke Swarthout '04 updated the senate on the senior class project, which will allow students to take their professors to lunch in Valentine Dining Hall for free. He said they had tentatively scheduled it for the week after spring break.
Swarthout is also currently working on a national campaign sponsored by state public interest research groups to lower the cost of expensive science and mathematics textbooks. He explained that publishing companies typically "bundle textbooks with extraneous things [such as CD-ROMs and workbooks] that drive up the cost." He claimed that companies also "undermine the used textbook market by releasing unnecessary new editions." He distributed a packet of information concerning the textbook campaign and will return to the senate next week with a formal statement of support for AAS approval.
Wallace proposed changing the current class funding system by channeling the $1,000 set aside for each class project into one large fund that will be available to all senators. "I was not pleased with the half-assed, last-minute [class projects] passed last semester," he said. "We're really wasting a lot of potential. We shouldn't give people who don't have ideas [for how to spend the money] this arbitrary [$1,000]."
Wallace will plan the logistics of the new funding system and will return the matter to the senate for a vote.