AAS Meeting Minutes

AAS Meeting Minutes Date: 9/10/12 Meeting Begins: 8:30 PM

I. Attendance (Noah Gordon ‘14)

II. Public Comment

a. Open to all students on any topic

Chris Friend ’14: Health center is only open certain hours of the day to pick up a prescription. This is inconvenient.

Bess Hanish ‘13: The mosquito situation is concerning; are we taking enough precautions?

Peter Crane ‘15: Fall Formal (Great Gatsby theme). They’re monitoring the mosquito situation to see whether the formal will be held outside.

Rama Hagos ‘15: Decided that the mosquito is not so severe, so it’s still outside.

Motion to fund Transfer Student Association. Passed.

John Yarchoan ‘13: Tournament at Dartmouth. Motion to fund John’s proposal. Passed.

Chris Friend ’14: The Amherst Debate Society is going to attend a tournament at Smith this weekend. We’re requesting $500 to cover registration fees. Motion to fund Chris’ request. Passed. IV. Presentation on Divestment in Coal (Deidre Nelms ‘13)

Deidre: Public affairs is aware of this so we thought student government should also be aware. We are interested in reviving the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility. The purpose is to oversee the endowment and see that it’s not overstepping the mission statement and values of the college. Getting engaged and getting involved in corporations that have poor practices (perhaps gender discrimination, perhaps terrible social and environmental records). We’d like to revive this committee and make it an elected position. I’m not sure what the process for that should be so I’m willing to hear suggestions.

We’re trying to get the Board or Trustees to pass a divestment policy from the coal industry; basically, Amherst College would never invest in coal. In its investment policy, Amherst says in the case of human atrocity, the college will divest from certain corporations based on poor practices. I’d like to expand this divestment policy or argue that the coal argument counts as a “human atrocity.” There’re a lot of statistics. The coal industry is responsible for polluting the water of a lot of Applachian towns and there’s tons of research on how thousands of people die each year from health complications resulting from airbone related illnesses because of coal.

Green Amherst Project is currently running a campaign. We’re coordinating with all 5 colleges and this is also a national campaign. Last Friday, we had a huge, well-attended event at Johnson Chapel and a rally at Frost library. We had about 900 guests. Many of them came from far away. We got several hundreds to support a petition to divest in coal.

Coal is an unambiguously horrible financial investment. It’s risky. Our first year of the campaign will focus on direct investments. In 2011, Amherst was invested in 2-3 coal corporations (e.g. Exxon Mobile). If Amherst could be the first college to publicly speak out on this, it would be huge. This is a moderate task and has potential to grow. It’s really about starting an important dialogue among schools and our nation.

Adam Gerchick ‘13: I want to know specifically… would we be taking a vote on reviving the investor responsibility committee?

Deidre: It’s a decision you can make independently. This is a discussion you can decide to carry on or drop. Tania is going to all of the meetings with the investment office and Biddy. To revive the committee, your support would be helpful, but is not necessary.

George Tepe ‘14: I think, since there’s faculty on the committee, it could be a faculty committee. The Dean of Faculty can definitely help revive the committee. Once the committee is revived, we’ll inform the student body. We could then, as a Senate, pass a resolution of some sort.

Ian Hatch ‘14: What’s the formal definition of a coal asset?

Deidre: That’s something that’s going to be negotiated. We can do a list of inclusive companies and draw lines and limits. We’ll discuss with the board of trustees.

Adam: Is there any reason why the college couldn’t choose to divest for other reasons? The word “atrocities” is pretty strong.

Deidre: Not only do we fit the existing standards, we would love to renegotiate the standards and make them more specific.

JJ Hoffstein ‘14: Why was the committee terminated in 2006? Deidre: Lack of student interest. I’d like for Amherst to become socially aware of their endowment. I think there was a lot of unpaid research from students that led to burnout. Perhaps we can have paid research assistants.

Benyam Ashenafi ‘15: Have you suggested alternative investment options? In lieu of coal?

Deidre: We’re definitely considering those options; however, I want to be bringing in professionals to have those conversations.

John Yarchoan: This is a huge issue. It’s important for students to realize that what Amherst does with their endowment will represent what the college stands for.

At the conclusion of the discussion on Divestment in Coal, Senator Pierce Edwards ’13 takes the opportunity to resign from Senate.

V. Update on Website and videos (Nicole Umina ‘15)

First video showcased and well-taken. More to come! Website still in the workings.

VI. Reports

VII. Committee Reports

Ian Hatch: Transportation council met.

Brendan Burke ‘13: Arts Committee finalized exhibit in Schwemm’s. Labels and notices up for contacts. If anyone knows others with spare pieces lying around in their dorm room or anywhere else, let us know.

John Yarchoan: Val committee: “Grab and go” idea for lunch. As you walk into Val, a room for grab and go options from 11 to 2. Test trial in Keefe the last week of September into the first two weeks of October. September 12th: Coffee tasting at Val. We switched coffee providers to Sun coffee. Val is interested in shaming people who walk out with china.

VIII. General Announcements

IX. Officer Report

Abigail Xu ‘15: BC meeting the 19th. In this issue of The Student, there will be a section of “AAS Treasurer Report.”

George: Calculators coming to Merrill at no cost. WS Journal officials asked for personal e-mail addresses, and we cannot provide those. It would cost $40,000 to access the online papers. We still would like only the physical papers and not online.

Bryson Kacha ‘15: Would it change the number of paper copies?

George: Stick with 75 paper copies to try it out.

X. Dining Committee Election (George Tepe ‘14) a. 2 Senators, saving one additional spot for a first-year Nominations: John Yarchoan ‘13, Bess Hanish ‘13, Christina Won ’15, Jeff Feldman ’15. Nominated: John Yarchoan ‘13, Christina Won ‘15 and Bess Hanish ‘13.

XI. Student Community Engagement Fund Committee Election (George)

a. 2 spots, Wednesdays 7-9pm, allocates around $5,000 a semester with CCE members to student community engagement projects Nominations: Bryson Kacha ’15. No other nominations. Bryson is nominated.

XII. Approve Minutes, 9-3-12 (George) Minutes approved.

XIII. New Business

Peter Crane ‘15: Williams has a service that goes to NYC every weekend. Let’s look into this, transportation committee!

Brendan: Toothpaste dispensers in the bathrooms for personal hygiene matters?

XIV. Adjournment: 9:24 PM