Fee Transparency Project

Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/93456796050?pwd=Wjg3M0lIMXF4eXFrYm1BQ3BrVnA0dz09

Welcome and Introductions
1. Members introductions: Name, Pronouns, Year, Major, and Space.
2. Order: Cowell, Crown, Kresge, Merrill, Porter, RCC, Stevenson, C9, JRL, GSC, SAB, Provost, Jade, Lisa, Lydia, Lucy
3. Oakes Rep - still vacant
4. Ice breaker: What is something that you want to change, adjust or work toward in this year?

Attendance : Andy, Marshall, Trey, Mel, Gabrielle, Jhertau, Daniel, Manel, Lydia, Lucy, Daniel, Lisa

Oakes spot is still vacant; we can table or talk to potential reps

Approval of Agenda and Minutes (12/05/23)
1. Marshall approves minutes and agenda
2. Mel seconds
Announcements & Updates
1. TAPS will visit with SFAC in Winter Quarter regarding referendum
  1. Andy would like to know more about the member's opinions and questions we would like to ask TAPS or what we should talk about during the meeting
  2. Lucy explains that any questions about the investigation might not be things that can be asked due to the investigation, but we can still think about questions
  3. There might be a Zoom webinar by the end of January with taps
  4. Andy explains that there can be more in-depth questions and he wants bigger questions/ explanations that can shine a light SFAC on their operations
  5. Jhertau adds that JRL College has some questions and there might be other colleges that might have their own questions
  6. Lucy asks about when SFAC might want to ask; it might be better to meet with us first before the webinar so that they know what kind of questions students might be asking
  7. Lucy explains that on the agenda there is an item about public comment and attendees; especially as it pertains to meeting with Dan. While SFAC does not have an existing practice for public comment it can be implemented.
  8. Mel adds that SUA does the public comment at the end
  9. Daniel adds that it might be a good idea to give attendees agendas to give more structure to public comments
  10. Andy clarifies that this might be harder during the winter quarter as this work is a little repetitive.
2. Other announcements
  1. Daniel spoke with a few faculty members and there is not a lot of visibility about SFAC and the aid of students
    1. We could be more proactive about outreach
      1. We have an outreach committee to talk about various ways we can reach students as well as streamlining the process
      2. Lisa adds that these funds cannot be used for academic purposes.
      3. Andy talks about how it is a struggle because newer people have not had the information about SFAC passed down
      4. Lisa adds that the application process should be thoughtful so we know who truly wants the money and we have one one-on-ones to guide people through the applications.
      5. Mel also adds that our process has to be more thorough to make sure we can fund these applicants.
      6. Manel adds that we could have two applications for less than $2000 or over that amount to have a streamlined application.
      7. Andy adds that we can talk about the two-tier idea and structural ideas near the end of the year
      8. We can also send out a survey about the various applications and the process.
Funding call
1. Summary on funding call
  1. 57 applications
  2. Less student group applications
  3. We had 3 proposals that were late, SFAC needs to decide if we are going to fund them
2. Discussion on three late proposals
  1. Cantu Center - technical issues (contact Lucy 10 minutes after the deadline)
  2. Right Livelihood - issues related to time zones (contacted Lucy the morning of the deadline)
  3. Mock Trial - missed deadline (contacted Lucy one week after deadline)
    1. Do we have precedent of accepting late proposals?
    2. Mel adds that we did accept, but only if the application was done correctly.
    3. Diana added that the right livelihood applicants were in contact with her and wanted to go over the proposals.
    4. We might want to have punitive measures to make sure people turn in their applications on time.
    5. Last year we would put them last to make sure that we fund proposals done right.
    6. Jhertau brought up that we might not want to not fund the student groups due to their funding
    7. There was a comment that we should not have favoritism towards these groups due to the principle we want to set
    8. Marshall adds that these student clubs, don’t have funding that they can use and if we dont give them money, they dont have anything
    9. Student clubs and organizations don’t receive funding through someca
    10. Daniel motions to add these proposals to the funding call
    11. Jhertau seconds
3. Discussion: 2023-2024 Rating Worksheet
  1. Andy proposes to read the proposals in batches and we can do 10 per week and we can do 6 per week.
  2. After we are done with the proposals, we can start on the trimming process
  3. We look through the proposals in the first pass and trim it to fit our budget at the end
  4. We would also use this time to see if we want to advise these groups to alternate funding sources.
  5. We are thinking of doing the taps meeting sound week 5 as well
  6. There are many groups that are trying to meet with TAPS but we have a guaranteed spot due, but we need to make sure we remember that they're are many organizations trying to meet with them.
  7. As you input points in the overview you will eventually see the ratings out of 100 and see where they stand on the proposals
Auditing units/fees with large carry-forwards (spring quarter project)
1. SFAC Budget Presentation
2. Student Media Voice Fee (368.5%, $384.3)
3. Cultural Arts and Diversity Fee (349.9%, $382.8)
4. Student Media Council Fee (337.7%, $488.0)
5. Student Governed Spaces Fee (265.2%, $804.2)
6. College Student Government Fee (155.8%, $976.4)
  1. Porter, 622% carryforward balance
  2. Merrill, 2 01% carryforward balance
7. Student Fitness Center Facility Fee (-2.2%, -$15.9)
  1. Lisa’s note: Spend fund without committee review and reserve transfer (outlined in Referendum Measure 65)
  2. Andy’s suggestion: To have SFAC function as the OPERS Student Advisory Committee to provide oversight of the fee and future projects supported by this fee.
Other Business
1. Request from student to attend SFAC meetings and possibly make comments - should we add a public comment to our meetings?
  1. We might add public comment into the agenda and the student might come the week after next.
2. Meeting Timeline (captures our goals for each meeting and prospective topics for meetings)
3. Member Notes (any members who will be absent from a meeting may add topics for discussion, questions, feedback for items on the agenda, etc. in this running document).
Adjournment
1. Daniel motions to adjourn, Jhertau seconds. Motion passes.

Upcoming Guests/Topics:

Student representation for Misc Fee Committee in Feb/March.