Week in Review Part 1: Warning: Debating and and JPFW on the Horizon

Wow! 

The only reason I was able to post today was due to rehabilitating from the first half of the week. Sadly no club visits yet, but this Week in Review will deal with some of the bigger events this week: ASUP Senate and Junior Parents and Family Weekend (JPFW). 

Monday featured the continued discussion of 11-03 a resolution to reallocate Capital Improvement Funds toward the fund-raising efforts of the new Recreational and Wellness Center.  Want to know more about CIF? ASUP Senate Vice President Katie Scally has done a nice job explaining the purpose and history of this fund on her blog Heard on the Bluff.

The executive board brought in speakers from the Rise campaign and the Office of Development to answer questions the senators and visitors had.  Not surprisingly, the representatives were for the idea of students giving their efforts money.  Even though they were prepped like witness for a trial, the representatives failed to convince enough senators to support the resolution, at least for that meeting. The representatives were also skilled at the art of not completely answering questions like whether the new Library or Recreational and Wellness Center was a higher priority for the campaign at the time of questioning or even if the donation could speed development. 

I understand the latter is a purely hypothetical question, but with the new Recreational and Wellness Center not even in the designing phase, it seems foolish to assume that enough people can get swayed by the legacy argument.  The main senators who believed that were Senior Senators, some of whom appear to think that people will acknowledge the plaque that could read "Construction supported by the contributions of students from 2011-2013," when few people read the plaques on the Victory Bell, Howard Hall or even recognize the island outside the library was funded by the 1994 Senior class. If they really wanted this to be their Senior Gift, here's the Senior Gift  page from the Rise campaign website.



Also here's how the Senior Gift is funded under the current ASUP Consitution :

ARTICLE VII: SENIOR GIFT
SECTION 1: FUNDING OF THE SENIOR GIFT
A. A portion of the student government fee shall be set aside each year for the purpose of
enabling the graduating class to give a gift to the University. This amount shall be a minimum of $500.00, which may be supplemented by the graduating class itself. All monies for the gift remaining unallocated at the end of the academic year shall be returned to the general account.
SECTION 2: SELECTION OF THE SENIOR GIFT
A. A committee composed of all interested Spring, Summer, and Fall graduates of the calendar year shall meet by the last week in January, for the purpose of designating a gift, if any. The organization of this committee shall be the responsibility of the ASUP President, and the Senior Class Senator(s). Campus publications and Alumni Office shall be requested to notify graduates of the nature of the gift.

If you look at Section 2: the committee is composed of the ASUP President and the Senior Class Senators, who are for the resolution. If 11-03 does not pass and enough seniors really want to donte to the fund-raising efforts, they should use the Senior Gift.

The discussion turned bitter as senators were rehashing the same talking points that had been developed for the last few weeks of "this has to be done now or it will never be happen", "the campaign will get the money regardless of our contribution", and "why not contribute anyway? The donation cannot hurt their efforts."
Also, senators representing the Freshmen class said their constituents did not want the idea, then Senator Ross, a freshman representing Shipstad, stated he had interviewed freshmen that were for the idea.

Now from reading all that you might think I am against 11-03.  I am only against the part in which it comes from the Capital Improvement Fund and the means by which it was presented.  The idea of giving to the new Recreation and Wellness Center is good, but skipping the Oversight Committee and having three members of the Executive Board be sponsors of the Resolution does seem a little hinky, at least to this blogger.

Thank God the discussion got tabled.  Sure, the debate will still not be a debate this Monday, but at least the bickering on that topic ended so they could bicker about the current CIF.

 
To alleviate some of the concern, the donation to the new Recreation and Wellness Center was not selected as one of the final six CIF ideas submitted to the Executive Board for their decision this last Wednesday at 2:30. 


The decision to keep the donation to the Rise campaign this semester on the final list was only supported by 8 senators, two of whom were Senators Bibbs and Collins, a President/Vice President ticket. I believe enough senators were concerned the Executive Board would not be objective in their selection of the Rise donation, hence it was one of the first items to be cut.

The surviving ideas are solar panels, a computer kiosk in the Commons, weight room equipment for Howard Hall, renovating the outside of St. Mary's Lounge (because the inside has been the recipient of previous CIF and the interior "possesses character"), CPB sound and Lighting, and Repairing the Victory Bell.  The last idea was attempted to be cut by the recommendation of  newer Senior Senators Steele and Saxton, but they and two others were the only ones in favor of cutting the repair.  Enough Senators believed ASUP (the Associated Students of the University of Portland) should fund its repair since a student allegedly broke it and its repair would help raise awareness of its purpose, ringing in victories for the athletic teams. 

The need to thoroughly discuss these ideas and caucus twice provided ample time and was a great inadvertent way to stall for time to not vote on 11-03. 

Since this is getting a little wordy, next post will feature day 2 of the intense week: the ASUP Executive Candidate Speech Night.

To borrow a sign off from Dan Rather that seems like appropriate summation and foreshadowing: "Until next time, Courage!"

Inaugural Week in Review

This busy week offered several activities, many of which I sadly was unable to attend due to ASUP Senate proceedings and prior commitments.

I was unable to attend the African-American Read-in, the Anti-Valentine's Day Reading held by the English Society, a lecture about graphic novels, the Trashin' Fashion show, in which students submitted clothes made from recycled materials, the Campus Community Emergency Response Team session, a group preparing the campus for survival in case the community is shut off from resources via an emergency, the CPB movie Hereafter, or the Pilots After Dark event "Dance Your Heart Out."

I was fortunate to attend the Alaskan Immersion Plunge Concert/Bluffoon Improvisation performance and the ASUP candidate information meeting.

The concert, which raised at least $400 from $3 admission prices, featured student Sam Wegman and a group including April Vanderkamp, the event organizer.
Sam performed a cover of The Beatles' "Something", his own "Behind Closed Doors", "Never Perfect" and an untitled song that discussed the use of white lies to hide the truth of the subject's addiction.

Vanderkamp's group took a more humorous approach with their covers of Weezer's Sweater Song, the Band's "The Weight", "Maybe" and "I'm Sorry", the latter two being Vanderkamp originals about a couple's progression in a relationship culminating in living in a house built for four and a blunt but still respectful way of ending a relationship.

The Bluffoons performed some of their usual games like "Presidential Debate" in which two "candidates" have to say "A vote for me is a _____ for a ____", "I promise a _____ for every ____" and a closing quote, which was "And My Axe".  A team of three people mime the words that go in the blanks  and the first person to complete the phrases "wins" the election.  As easy as it might sound, ten minutes worth of using Michaelangelo's "The Creation of Man" from the Sistine Chapel fresco so the candidate could get "I-pod" managed to produce more laughs than I thought.

I managed to accomplish the highest goal for a spectator, getting a suggestion used, during the game "3 Rooms." This game features three different scenes happening, but the last line of one scene must be used in the next, word for word.  The scene featuring my suggestion "nice pants" had the trials of alleviating the pain of too tight pants. 

One of the interesting games was their starter, "My Movie", in which Bluffoon members pitched their ideas, provided a synopsis if prompted, then had their movie performed if the "studio executive" wanted to see it.  The participants provide some interesting ideas like "The Movie about the Thing", the tale of a multi-armed creature; "The Spoon Diet: a How-to Guide" where eveerything is eaten with a spoon, "The Legendary Benches of Azaroth", and "Orange You Glad?," the tragic claymation tale of two oranges that exist peacefully until one of them gets squashed.

The two hours flew by and was a solid investment of $3 and two hours on a Friday night.  The next Bluffoon show is Friday, February 25th, so take advantage of your Friday night by investing in laughter.

The candidate meeting for Executive Board positions was a harbinger of the week within ASUP Senate with one candidate concerned about personal attacks aimed at her.  Since I am acting as the coordinator and producer for the debate, I am concerned on how it will go, especially with the CST 363 class attending.

It should be fine, but the activity surrounding the newest resolution over allocating Capital Improvement Funds toward the construction of the new Recreation Center says it will not be easy. Activities includes facebook groups on both sides of the issue, strong opinions on how to discuss it during this Monday's meeting, a compromise meeting held after the Beacon deadline, a Beacon story that was unable to discuss the proposed compromise and a petition to move the decision to a student vote, for which I helped obtain signatures, all create a sense of tension and stress for the next week. The petition hinges partly on the resolution discussion being tabled, an uphill task.

If I can survive the next few days, the week should be smooth sailing until Junior Parent Weekend, which might present its own creative circumstances.

Take care, and have a safe and efficient week!