Yale College Council Council of Representatives Meeting Sunday, October 30, 2016 1PM | Phelps 207
Mini Agenda
1. Call to Action/Attendance 2. Unfinished Business a. Yale Undergraduate Lifetime Achievement Award - Peter Huang 3. New Business a. Long-Term Vision - PTS b. Meal Plans - Carlos Cohen and Jenny Xiao c. Constitutional Amendments - Peter Huang d. Associate Representative Petitions e. Yale Society Initiative f. Council-Only Meetings g. Announcements and Reminders
Minutes
Long-Term Vision - Peter Huang
● Sydney will send out the Long-Term Vision statement to Council
Meal Plans
● Yale Dining has increased the number of random pop-ups and other initiatives to treat students to positive dining experiences, but YCC will be there to refocus YD’s efforts on dining hour and cost flexibility
● The project will focus heavily on off-campus vs. on-campus eating habits as it relates to Off-Campus Housing project ● Potential analysis: Do meal plans cause people to move off campus? How can we align students’ dining habits to number of swipes?
● The project will look at proposing block meal plans, extending Durfee’s hours
● Yale Dining also wants to build focus groups to advise on meal plans, eating habits, etc.
● Jenny - We can use the community-building as an argument to change meal plans to move people back on campus
● Council Feedback
○ Bennett: We want to be sure to consider the dining staff on the focus groups for Yale Dining since they are greatly affected by meal plan changes.
○ Jaclyn - will meal plans project also focus on the costs of meal plans?
■ Jenny - ideally we would have lower costs
○ Liana: How can we improve meal plans for students who stay on campus over breaks where meals are not automatically available?
■ For spring and winter break, you have to purchase the meal plans
■ There are also days before classes start when the dining halls are not open?
○ Yonatan: Are the meal plans that you purchase over break adjusted for financial needs?
■ They are not, but Dean Howard is working to improve this feature
○ Diksha: there will be a focus group for the off-campus housing and part of the topics will be covering meal plans
○ Larry: we will be discussing meal plan options based on whether a student lives on or off-campus
○ Christopher: How does the cost of meal plans compare to our peer institutions? ■ It’s a bit more expensive, but because we have 15 dining halls that are open buffet-style, they have to charge more in order to cover their costs
■ You can review the Dining Hall Task Force report for more information for meal plan costs and dining options
○ Liana: Do we know which dining halls have the most traffic?
■ Carlos: Yale Dining will be able to provide more information on this
○ Fernando: How can we improve on meal plans for students who are on campus working Commencement?
■ Diksha: Collaborations with local restaurants through the AYA in the past - perhaps we could try to coordinate something similar?
Constitutional Amendments
● Sydney: change “Master” to “Head of College” throughout the Constitution
MOTION: Motion made by Bennett Byerley, SY ‘19 to vote to change “master” to “head of college” in the Constitution. Motion seconded by Larry Fulton, JE ‘19.
Amendment passes (20 in favor; 0 against; 0 abstentions; 4 absent)
● Christopher: add “alumni” as a constituency that YCC liases with in the Constitution
○ Nick: What would this relationship look like?
■ Christopher: Peter already is on the AYA Board of Governors, but this will be a more formal relationship
○ Sydney: We are interested in exploring partnerships between YCC and AYA, but this discussion is still in process
MOTION: Motion made by Bennett Byerley SY ‘19 to “alumni” as a constituency that YCC liases with in the Constitution. Motion seconded by Yonatan Araia SM ‘19.
Amendment passes (20 in favor; 0 against; 0 abstentions; 4 absent) Associate Petitions
● Jordan Cozby (BR ‘20) and Liana Wang (DC ‘20) petitioned to join YCC as associate representatives
MOTION: Motion made to approve the appointment of Jordan Cozby and Liana Wang via unanimous consent. Motion seconded. Motion passes.
Yale Society Initiative ● Review of visit from Danny Avraham from the October 16th meeting ● Steven: What does the society initiative do? ○ According to Danny, the issue is that the current senior societies are selective and there is high pressure during senior spring, so the YSI helps fund new societies initiations and costs. However, we don’t know how this money is being spent. Danny mentioned that it has been used for initiations in the past, which is what we want to avoid since we could be held legally liable for any hazing that occurs. ● Steven: Are the societies making an impact? ○ No one really knows because YSI is quite opaque. There has not been any word about how many societies funded by the YSI still exist.
Council-Only Meetings ● Last year, Council voted for this addition to Article Two, Section Five to have Council- only meetings to allow representatives to discuss their projects and any concerns/suggestions that they are having with their projects or within YCC ● In the internal newsletter, there is a suggestion box. If you’re interested in starting the council-only meetings, please indicate your interest there.
Announcements and Reminders ● Diksha: ask for YCC to sponsor Yale Students for Veterans. YSV will have a Veterans’ Day display on Cross Campus. Our sponsorship would only require us to add our logo on the event advertisements, but Council members are also invited to volunteer to help set up the display MOTION: Motion made by Jaclyn Price BK ‘19 for unanimous consent. Motion seconded by Carlos Cohen DC ‘19. Motion passes
● Jaclyn (on behalf of the Events Committee): Last Comic Standing is this Thursday. Please encourage your friends to come and attend ● Diksha: two Collaboratory Events ○ Nov. 2nd 6:30-8:30 for Whalley Edgewood Beaver Hills (LC 209) ○ Nov. 9th 6:30-8:30 for YCC (Whalley Substation)
"Without initiative, leaders are simply workers in leadership positions." - Bo Bennett