The students attending the conference requested that their funding be increased from $1,700 dollars to $1,900 to cover the fees of the two alumni. The conference gives undergraduates, primarily from liberal arts schools, the opportunity to make professional contacts. Another topic of discussion was whether or not the AAS should reimburse the attendees of the conference at all since some of the students had already paid the registration fee.
Senator Mike Simmons '06 said he believed that the two alumni chaperones would be valuable to the students during the conference, and that the alumni could not afford the registration fee. "I discovered that these two alumni have done a lot of networking and the alumni still cannot afford the registration fee," he said.
Although senators agreed with Simmons' point, many were hesitant to fund the chaperones. When asked about the specific advantages of the two alumni, Simmons responded by saying that the chaperones would help students meet other people and network while at the conference. Simmons added that from his experience, he knew that the people at Harvard would not speak to anyone unless they held a business card.
However, Simmons' comment led some of the senators to wonder if the conference was even worth attending. "If they wouldn't talk to you, it makes me skeptical of the entire event," said Senator Spencer Robins '08.
Senators also began to question the method of advertisement used to recruit students for the conference as it became clear that a majority of the senators did not know that the conference existed. As a result, Robins requested an amendment that would stop AAS from funding the students' trip.
The lack of advertisement and limited pool of students who were informed about this conference troubled Robins. "This conference was advertised to people who knew about this event," he said. "I think all people on campus should have a chance to attend this conference."
Senator Gabe Mattera '05 proposed an amendment which would call for students to reapply for the conference and determine who would get a spot through a lottery. However, after a lengthy debate, the senate decided that it would be unfair to the 17 students who were already informed of their participation in the conference and to those who had already paid the registration fee thinking that they would be reimbursed. As a result, the senate failed both amendments failed but passed the original request to increasing the funding by $200 was passed.
The senate also heard from Emily Silberstein '06 and Matt Vanneman '06 who proposed a program that would review non-academic departments at the College. Through the organization of student focus groups, Silberstein and Vanneman hoped to gain input on the positive and negatives of these departments.
The senate approved of the idea, although there were some concerns about the cost of such a project. Senator Techo Kim '06 was concerned that students would have no motive to participate in another survey without some kind of incentives. Vanneman responded to Kim's concern by asserting that people were angry enough with the departments to respond to the surveys. Not all details of the proposal were finalized, but because the debate concerned whether the senate should support the project, the debate closed and the topic was put to a vote. The motion to support the project was passed unanimously.
The success of collecting new evaluations for Scrutiny was another topic which was briefly discussed during the meeting. AAS President Ryan Park '05 had announced at last week's meeting that students who submit course evaluations for Scrutiny would have a chance to win one of six iPods. "In two days, 1,000 new evaluation were submitted," said Park. He added that the iPods are going to be given out randomly, not based upon the number of evaluations a student submits.