Memorial Library Committee Meeting on 12/19

Hi all,

Since today's meeting was cancelled I thought I would blog and ask if anyone had any student concerns they would like to see addressed at the Memorial Lib. Committee's next meeting. Specifically, food and cell phone use in the library. Do you feel that there should be certain areas where cell phones should be permitted? Or certain areas where food should be allowed? Or is the current policy the best, having both of these prohibited? Thanks guys, and I hope you all have a great break!

Jessica

Tonight's Meeting Canceled

Due to weather conditions, the Shared Governance Committee meeting on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 has been canceled.

Dean of Students Advisory Board

The ODOS Board met on November 20th. The following is a summary of the meeting. I will attach the full agenda with an outline in a comment.

The meeting started with a presentation and discussion about the ASM constitution. We were given a presentation on the second draft of the constitution, which incorporated feedback from the first listening section. The constitution hopes to address advocacy of issues, allocation of fees, and appointment of students. Looking forward, the final draft will be in December and the constitution will be adopted in February.

Next, we covered the Wisconsin Experience Essay. A motivation to share their unique experiences at the University of Wisconsin and a financial stipend will encourage students to write about "what the Wisconsin Idea is and what it should do" to be shared with students, administrators, the media, and the community. How would you anwer?

Halloween events on Friday, October 31 and Saturday, November are city events, however the University remains aware of them. We discussed the police presence and distribution during the two nights, programs sponsored by the union, and the OAR musical performance. What was your experience with the police presence? Was it necessary on both days and where they well distributed? Do you think that the Union should sponsor more events (non-alcoholic) or should it try to limit the number of people (especially non-students) during those evenings?

Dean Berquam shared the results of the Safety Forum Review. Students, residents, and parents addressed the issue of safety from many angles and also raised different concerns and questions. Safety has been more of an issue off-campus than on-campus, especially in the Langdon Street area. How do you feel about notification of safety concerns by text message or e-mail?

Student ticket distribution was postponed to the next meeting for the sake of time. What is your opinion about the current ticket distribution process for Football, Basketball, and other sports?

Now that snow is upon us, we must deal with issues about removing it. Mass transit was suggested as an alternative to cars which may be parked illegally and mopeds which may be unsafe to drive. Snow accumulation is a problem at bus stations. If you were waiting at a bus station and a shovel was nearby (attached by a chain), would you help to shovel as you were waiting?

Campus Transportation Committee 11/11

Projects:
- Lakeshore utility project to start in June
- Campus Drive (off University) starts in Spring
- Education Hall will be starting soon (closes Observatory to eastbound traffic)
- Chazen expansion underway
- Union South closing in January (?), slated for demolition in spring
- Highland & Observatory bus stops to change to permanent locations as roads re-open
- Randall/Dayton utility projects will coincide with University Ave re-build


Independent review process:
- Information needed from Transportation Services: previous customer satisfaction surveys; budgets; annual reports; correspondence from customers; transportation master plan; management plans & policies; list of troublesome locations on transportation network; CTC minutes; organizational structures; physical plant issues; hospital issues; basic needs assessment

- Information needed from TS specific to ASM: budget changes; ridership numbers; numbers served monthly by SAFE services

- Identification of experts: List to include directors/administrators from similar campuses, administrators of professional associations, and related transportation advocacy groups

CTC's next meeting is Tuesday, 12/9 at 12:00 in Room 1420 at the WARF building.

Union Council Meeting 11/20/08

Brittany Wiegand presented a brief overview of information regarding the Student Activity Center (SAC), which will open spring semester. SAC is a part of the new University Square complex at 333 East Campus Mall (Lucky Apartments is above it), with the purpose of providing student organizations meeting spaces. The Student Activity Center Governing Board (SACGB) is the ASM committee that oversees the spaces, which is chaired by Lauren Vollrath. They have finished allocating offices for registered student organizations.

Brittany also gave out information about the current draft of the new ASM Constitution, which can be found online at asmconstitution.wordpress.com. Feedback can be submitted to the blog.

Each of the four departments of the Union (Admin and Marketing, Facilities, Food, Social Education) gave a brief report on efforts currently being used to increase its sustainability. They will report back again in the spring to show what new efforts have been taken; any suggestions are welcome, and it was agreed that it would be a good idea to get experts in the area to give feedback and suggestions.

The one action item of the meeting was concerning extended hours for both of the Unions during finals week. It was voted to keep them open until 3am on Dec 14 (Sun night/Mon morn) through Dec 17 (Wed night/Thurs morn) (as opposed to 12 midnight, the normal closing time). This was concurrent with WUD's recommendation, but different than the Facilities subcommittee's recommendation of leaving them open for 24 hours Sunday through Thursday.

Union Design Committee 11/17/2008

The Union Design Committee met Monday November 17th to discuss the Info Commons/Technology Lounge, Food Service and Operations, the Percent for Art Program, the Rec. Center and the Student Meetings rooms.

Ideas for the Info Commons and Technology lounge included a potential lap top bar with plenty of outlets as well as available printing and individual work stations throughout the entire building. This was the opening discussion regarding technology in the building; there will be more discussions to follow as the project progresses.

Food Service in the new South Campus Union will include a traditional coffeehouse and wine bar, a market, and individual food kiosks. The coffee house will serve snacks and pastries, the market will have “grab and go” type foods, while the food kiosks will serve three distinctly different cuisines. A chef’s table will be incorporated into the kiosk area to function as a culinary training station.

The Percent for Art Program decided that an integrated piece of art should be incorporated into the new building rather than a statue or a stand-alone piece. At their next meeting on December 12th, the committee intends to select the final artist from the three finalists that were chosen at an earlier date.

Currently the recreational center in the basement of the new South Campus Union is set to have seven billiards tables; discussion arose as to whether or not some of these should be replaced with other games to add variety. One of the original stairwells was removed, opening up approximated 250 square feet of additional space. A television lounge was also added.

Student meeting room discussions focused on the ideas of permanent versus divisible walls, and whether there should be larger spaces for meeting rooms or smaller and midsized meeting rooms.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the information presented.

The next Union Design Meeting is going to be on Monday December 8th at 5:30 p.m., TITU.

-Stephanie

Space and Remodeling Committee

Space and Remodeling Committee our first meeting of the year. We were informed about how the UW ranked near the bottom compared to its peers in usage of classrooms. UW uses an average classroom for about 27 out of the 40 available hours. To give you an idea of other schools, Purdue ranks at the top using their classrooms at an average about 45 out of the 50 hours. A presentation was give about energy conservation. Some key points for students were, the money used to pay for updating buildings will come from the 20 million dollars the state provides or other sources not from segregated fees. In the long run the money put into updating the building will save the university more money. There was an idea purposed about having a class about how to save energy which would be mandatory for every student to take before they graduate. Finally the goal of meeting 20 percent energy reduction by 2010 is expected to be reached.