[128] in UA Senate
Re: UA budgeting principles
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Liz A. Denys)
Thu Oct 15 11:31:49 2009
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:30:28 -0400
From: "Liz A. Denys" <lizdenys@MIT.EDU>
To: Paul Baranay <pbaranay@mit.edu>
CC: Alexandra Jordan <amjordan@mit.edu>, Janet Li <jli12@mit.edu>,
Alex Dehnert <adehnert@mit.edu>, hwkns@mit.edu,
Jason Scott <jascott88@gmail.com>, Adam Bockelie <bockelie@mit.edu>,
Paul Youchak <youchakp@mit.edu>, Catherine Olsson <catherio@mit.edu>,
Andrew Lukmann <lukymann@mit.edu>, Alex Schwendner <alexrs@mit.edu>,
ua-senate@mit.edu, ua-discuss@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <71c951390910150716l5dcce783vb8a2d1a74d202a10@mail.gmail.com>
This would also be a short term solution to automating email to this
list (or some other list that's about the same) which would pull the
information from the Google Calendar (W20-401) where committees schedule
meetings to be sent out each Sunday and list the upcoming week's meetings.
I can manually do this in the future (though I suggest we wait one week
because Exec ~just made this calendar), but as for the automated
permanent solution, CIT is already backlogged with IT projects, so it
might take a while.
-Liz Denys, UA Secretary General
Paul Baranay wrote:
> My current idea for ua-announce@mit.edu <mailto:ua-announce@mit.edu>
> would be to send perhaps one email about meetings each week, listing all
> the upcoming meetings for the next seven days. But further details and
> suggestions for such a list should probably be worked by actual
> Senators, if anyone is interested. :)
>
> On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:53 AM, Alexandra Jordan <amjordan@mit.edu
> <mailto:amjordan@mit.edu>> wrote:
>
> Just to clarify what I stated:
>
> Individual senators do not represent the entirety of the undergrad
> population, whereas every committee chair and member is, in essence,
> representing all undergrads.
>
> And as for advertising, as I said already, it would be annoying and
> probably counterproductive to email the entire undergrad population
> before every committee meeting (each committee meets about once a
> week, so that would be about 10 meetings a week). Paul's idea has
> potential, though, as long as students are choosing to be on this
> announce list. I dont think that anyone can remove themselves from
> the undergrads list.
>
> Alex
>
> On Oct 15, 2009, at 2:13 AM, Janet Li wrote:
>
>> Do you think that the average undergraduate really checks online
>> to see when UA meetings are? I'm pretty sure that emails reach far
>> more people.
>>
>> Also, what do you mean that "Senators represent far fewer people
>> than executive committee members"? Isn't there specifically one
>> Senator from each dorm and even ones representing fraternities,
>> sororities, and the off-campus population? I thought that the
>> POINT of the Senate was to try to represent the vast majority of
>> the undergrads, in order to have everyone's perspective on each
>> issue.
>> ---
>> Janet Li
>> MIT Class of 2012
>> Dept. of Biological Engineering
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 1:55 AM, Alexandra Jordan
>> <amjordan@mit.edu <mailto:amjordan@mit.edu>> wrote:
>>
>> I would say that meetings for Senate and committees are
>> equally advertised online (committees have public google
>> calendars announcing all meeting dates on each web page), with
>> the only difference in advertising coming from emails from
>> Senators to constituents, which varies on a case-by-case
>> basis. It would be impractical for every committee to email
>> the undergrads list before each meeting.
>>
>> I also think it's important to note that Senators represent
>> far fewer people than executive committee members, who
>> essentially represent the entire student body.
>>
>> Additionally, I'd argue that committees tend to deliver
>> tangible results to the student body (look at any of the
>> active committees like DPC, Athletics, Special Projects, etc.,
>> who have all completed large projects recently that benefit
>> the entire undergraduate population) that more than encompass
>> the value of food and office resources utilized by said
>> committees.
>>
>> I agree that standardizing funds for food per person is
>> reasonable.
>>
>> Alex Jordan
>> Panhel Senator
>> Chair, Committee on Sustainability
>> Member, Committee on Dining
>>
>>
>>
>> On Oct 15, 2009, at 1:21 AM, Janet Li wrote:
>>
>>> Senate meetings are more broadcast to undergrads than
>>> committee meetings are, at least in my experience. As an
>>> example, last year, when I wasn't on the UA, the food did
>>> actually provide me with an incentive to come to some of the
>>> Senate meetings and listen to the guest speakers, etc.
>>>
>>> Anyway, to complement Paul's numbers, there are indeed
>>> serious discrepancies in how much committees budget for food,
>>> from $400 total for 5-person meetings (Dining), to $135 total
>>> for 5-person meetings (Space Planning). At least we could
>>> standardize how much money we spend on food across all
>>> committees.
>>> ---
>>> Janet Li
>>> MIT Class of 2012
>>> Dept. of Biological Engineering
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 1:11 AM, Alex Dehnert
>>> <adehnert@mit.edu <mailto:adehnert@mit.edu>> wrote:
>>>
>>> If Senate chooses to ask that I do that, I'd ask that you
>>> either:
>>> (1) Also ask me to remove food from Senate budget (I'm
>>> not sure if you were counting Senate as a committee)
>>> (2) Come up with a *really good* justification for why
>>> Senate deserves it more.
>>>
>>> ~~Alex
>>>
>>> Janet Li wrote:
>>>
>>> I know I'm new, but I just think that committee
>>> meetings are generally short
>>> enough that no one should go too hungry during
>>> them... it does seem a little
>>> absurd to me that 14% of our budget goes to food to
>>> feed OURSELVES. Sure,
>>> the UA works hard and all, but we do it because we
>>> WANT to help the
>>> undergrads. And I just don't see how we're helping
>>> and serving them by using
>>> 14% of our enormous budget to pay for our own food. I
>>> would like to suggest
>>> that we remove food from all of the committees'
>>> budgets in the future...
>>> does anyone else agree at all?
>>> ---
>>> Janet Li
>>> Baker Senator
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 12:33 AM, Alexandra Jordan
>>> <amjordan@mit.edu <mailto:amjordan@mit.edu>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I agree with Hawkins. The UA is a large
>>> organization, that cumulatively
>>> puts in hundreds of hours for the undergrads per
>>> week, with some individuals
>>> putting in well over even a normal 40 hour work
>>> week during the more
>>> stressful periods (example: Exec officers and the
>>> Budget Task Force position
>>> pieces, example: DPC report compilation).
>>> Providing basics (like food, a
>>> productive meeting space, etc.) for people to
>>> perform work on behalf of
>>> 4,000 students is completely within reason. If
>>> you're looking to cut fat out
>>> of the budget, it shouldn't be at the expense of
>>> the quality of working
>>> conditions for the people who are representing
>>> undergraduates to the
>>> administration to make life better at MIT. I also
>>> would agree with Ashley's
>>> assessment that student groups probably should
>>> fund certain events or
>>> capital expenditures from other means, not only
>>> to ensure sustainability and
>>> longevity of the group, but also because many
>>> small student group expenses
>>> benefit even fewer people than the UA food
>>> expenditures we're discussing.
>>> I also think it's relevant to recognize that the
>>> work of the UA is on
>>> behalf of all undergrads, whereas many of the
>>> groups we fund benefit and
>>> represent extremely small segments of the population.
>>>
>>> Alex Jordan
>>>
>>> benefit MIT
>>> undergraduates. This
>>> might mean that we spend the money
>>> ourselves or
>>> this might mean that we
>>> give it to student groups who
>>> can use it.
>>> There are plenty of
>>> student groups who do wonderful and
>>> amazing
>>> things. All of us can
>>> think of student groups which get
>>> much of their
>>> funding from the UA
>>> which have made our time at MIT more
>>> worthwhile.
>>> Our goal, as the UA,
>>> should not be to do awesome things,
>>> but rather to
>>> see that awesome things
>>> get done.
>>>
>>> Sometimes, of course,
>>> this will mean that we should
>>> spend money on
>>> projects conceived by
>>> the UA and sometimes this will
>>> mean that we
>>> should give money to
>>> student groups. However, there is a
>>> natural,
>>> institutional bias
>>> toward spending the money ourselves.
>>> We need to
>>> fight that bias. Since
>>> we, the UA, get first crack at
>>> the money, it's
>>> easy to think of cool
>>> things which we can do with the
>>> money while
>>> forgetting about the
>>> very real and very cool things
>>> which student
>>> groups will *not* be
>>> able to do without that money. We
>>> can see this
>>> "mission creep" in UA
>>> funding in the way that the money
>>> allocated to
>>> UA committees has
>>> increased in past years. Yes, the UA
>>> does more with
>>> the increased money,
>>> but it is not always clear that
>>> it's spent better
>>> than it could be spent
>>> by student groups. The standards
>>> which hold for
>>> receiving funding from
>>> the UA general budget should be
>>> analogous to
>>> the standards which
>>> hold for receiving funding from UA
>>> Finboard. I
>>> will note that while UA
>>> committees received basically
>>> everything that
>>> they asked for in the
>>> Fall UA budget, student groups
>>> which applied to
>>> UA Finboard received
>>> less than 30% of their requests in
>>> the most
>>> recent funding cycle.
>>>
>>> Therefore, during the
>>> Spring 2010 budgeting process, I
>>> intend to push
>>> for allocating more
>>> money for student groups. Projects
>>> which we choose
>>> not to fund from the UA
>>> general budget can seek funding
>>> through UA
>>> Finboard, from LEF or
>>> ARCADE, from the MIT
>>> Administration, or from
>>> other funding sources.
>>>
>>> Please discuss.
>>>
>>> Alex Schwendner
>>>
>>> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at
>>> 12:52 AM, Alex Dehnert (UA
>>> Treasurer)
>>> <ua-treasurer@mit.edu
>>> <mailto:ua-treasurer@mit.edu>
>>> <mailto:ua-treasurer@mit.edu
>>> <mailto:ua-treasurer@mit.edu>>>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> As several
>>> people have pointed out, the UA
>>> spends quite a
>>> bit of money on
>>> events (about a
>>> third of last semester's budget)
>>> and focused
>>> projects (like
>>> PLUS --- about
>>> a tenth of last semester's UA
>>> budget). As
>>> Andrew Lukmann
>>> pointed out
>>> last week, committees are spending
>>> almost twice as
>>> much in Fall
>>> 2009's budget
>>> as in Spring 2007's budget.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately,
>>> it is now a little bit late to
>>> make major
>>> changes to the
>>> Fall 2009
>>> budget. Last week's meeting was
>>> intended to
>>> allow that, and we
>>> spent a great
>>> deal of time on it then. I also
>>> solicited
>>> feedback late Friday
>>> night (or
>>> really Saturday morning), and didn't
>>> receive any. Of
>>> course, you
>>> are well within
>>> your rights to amend the budget
>>> at this point.
>>> (Though
>>> Athletics
>>> Weekend has already happened, so I'd
>>> rather you
>>> didn't amend
>>> that...)
>>>
>>> However, the
>>> Spring 2010 budget has not begun
>>> being compiled.
>>> In preparing
>>> the the Fall
>>> 2009 budget, I (and I believe
>>> committee
>>> chairs and the Special
>>> Budgetary
>>> Committee) generally followed
>>> precedent as to
>>> events and amounts.
>>>
>>> In some sense,
>>> there are (at least) two options
>>> for guiding
>>> principles to
>>> take in
>>> producing the budget:
>>> (1) Many of the
>>> UA-run events are more useful
>>> than the events and
>>> programming
>>> (Finboard-funded) student groups
>>> would spend the
>>> money on
>>> (2)
>>> Alternatively, that events and
>>> programs such
>>> as Athletics
>>> Weekend or
>>> PLUS aren't
>>> worth taking the money away from
>>> those student
>>> groups
>>>
>>> We've recently
>>> been defaulting to the former
>>> guiding
>>> principle. However, I
>>> would encourage
>>> the Senate to seriously consider
>>> which is
>>> preferable and
>>> pass
>>> appropriate legislation indicating a
>>> preference.
>>>
>>> I would be
>>> *thrilled* to have such guidance, and
>>> would happily
>>> incorporate
>>> it into next
>>> semester's budget. (I warn you,
>>> however, that
>>> committee chairs
>>> will probably
>>> be asked to begin budgeting in
>>> about two weeks.)
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Alex Dehnert
>>> UA Treasurer
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Adam Bockelie
>>> 801.209.7233
>>> <bockelie@mit.edu <mailto:bockelie@mit.edu>>
>>>
>>> Massachusetts Institute of Technology
>>> Department of Civil and Environmental
>>> Engineering
>>> Class of 2011
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jason Alexander Scott
>>> Class Council President
>>> MIT Class of 2010
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________
>>> Alexandra Jordan
>>>
>>> MIT 2011
>>> Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science
>>> Political Science
>>>
>>> amjordan@mit.edu <mailto:amjordan@mit.edu>
>>> 916.813.7740
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> __________________________________
>> Alexandra Jordan
>>
>> MIT 2011
>> Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science
>> Political Science
>>
>> amjordan@mit.edu <mailto:amjordan@mit.edu>
>> 916.813.7740
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> __________________________________
> Alexandra Jordan
>
> MIT 2011
> Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science
> Political Science
>
> amjordan@mit.edu <mailto:amjordan@mit.edu>
> 916.813.7740
>
>
>
>
>
--
Elizabeth A. Denys
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Class of 2011
Department of Electrical Engineering
Department of Mathematics
630.730.1136 | lizdenys@mit.edu
