April 8th, 2025

Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/98559266028?pwd=XOXI1eAbHbfVmdgNNgEAcBZ9mM86JT.1

Present: Marshall, Mel, Cheryl, Trey, Lisa, Lucy, Lauren, Wahaj, Shirley, Manel, Katie

Quorum is established.

1. Welcome and Introductions
   1. Members introductions: Name, Pronouns, Year, Major, and Space.
   2. Order: Cowell, Stevenson, Crown, Merrill, Kresge, Porter, Oakes, RCC, C9, JRL, GSA, GSC, SAB, Provost, SUA, Lisa, Lucy
2. Approval of Agenda & 3/11/25 Minutes
   1. Mel motions to approve the agenda and the March 11th minutes. Trey seconds the motion. Motion carries.
3. Public Comment
   1. No one present for public comment
4. Announcements & Updates
   1. Member updates
      1. No member updates. Lucy will reach out to SCOC again.
   2. SFAC Merchandise Update
      1. Lucy explains that we need a few updates for the
   3. Scheduling a weekend meeting
      1. Saturday, April 12, 2025, 11:00 - 2:00 pm. We are scheduling a weekend meeting and will have the meeting on April 13th on Sunday from 11:00 - 2:00 pm.
      2. We will have an in-person and Zoom option.
      3. Lunch will be provided. We can order while on site at the meeting. Lucy will work on confirming a location in Bay Tree.
   4. Spring CSF Meeting @ UC Irvine 4/26 - 4/27
      1. RSVP Due 4/10 (Thursday of this week)
      2. Marshall and Trey will attend. Please be in touch with Marshall if you are interested in attending.
5. Subcommittee Meetings Weekly on Zoom - Choose new times - Marshall will send out “when to meet” poll for the subcommittee meetings.
   1. Outreach Committee
   2. Audit Committee
6. Campus Elections (3:15 - 4:00 pm)
   1. Fee Referendum Presentations
      1. Save Theater Arts Fee Amendment - Amendment to Measure 11. Presented by Celeste Lagrange and Michael Chemers
         1. Was on the ballot last year and failed to not meeting the minimum threshold.
         2. Increasing the fee from $2.00 to $5.00. Students are able to attend the performances for free.
         3. Goal is to move to 10+ productions per year.
         4. Established in 2003; no escalation built in. The fee has not changed while expenses have been increasing.
         5. Opinion poll reflected 64% were interested in supporting this fee.
         6. Fee increase will include 33% return to aid.
         7. Expand budgets for shows; hire more student workers with fair wages. No venue charges for use of the venue.
         8. Mel asks what happens if the referendum doesn’t pass? The outcome would be that the number of shows would reduce (currently at 6 shows per year).
         9. What is the average attendance at shows? Attendance has gone up this year. More students are getting to know about the program; the media has taken interest. The Main Stage seats about 400.
         10. Graduate Students will not pay this fee; participation fee is $5.00 for tickets for graduate students.
         11. Lucy asks about the venue charges for students
         12. Results of the Opinion Poll from 2023.
      2. Increase Student Government Fee - Becca
         1. Additional funding for SUA, from $7.00 to $12.00. If this passes, the fee collection would begin after the carry forward is brought down to 15%.
         2. Fee increase will have 33% RTA on the increased amount.
         3. Becca goes over the history of the fee and past increases.
         4. Attached to the referendum language is the SUA budget which shows how the fees are used by SUA. Some of the budget is set by the by-laws.
         5. Becca discusses the carry forward for SUA and why the funds have accumulated, which started with the pandemic.
         6. Becca explains that the SUA will host a summit that will include UCSC administration, SFAC and SUA budget committee.
         7. Funds will go to increased travel, new conferences for USSA and dues for USSA. Increase the amount that goes to SOFA, anticipating that as university budgets are reduced students will need more access to funding. There is interest in bringing back free food for students, like the food pantry. This quarter the SUA VP for Student Life is doing a weekly pantry.
         8. Mel asks what will the SUA cut if the fee doesn’t pass? Last year, most officers reduced the number of interns. A budget committee makes decisions about establishing the budget.
         9. Trey asks about the budget committee and what plans there may be to spend down the carry forward fees.
      3. Communities and Belonging Fee - Resource Centers. Autumn Johnson, Xiomara Lopez, Joselyn Salgado, Paola.
         1. Ethnic, Gender and Sexuality Resource Centers
         2. Autumn provides an overview of the Resource Centers, the programming, mental health programs, student employment (currently there are about 67 student employees). Students receive leadership development, student leadership institute, career connections.
         3. Students Paola and Joselyn share their perspectives on how the resource centers have supported their development. Students have seen and felt the impact of the resource centers and have advocated for the resource centers.
         4. Autumn reviews sense of belonging theory (Strayhorn 2019) and UCUES data.
         5. New fee of $20.00 per student, per quarter. ⅓ will go to return to aid, ⅓ for student payroll distributed equally among the six centers, ⅓ to programming and expenses distributed to the RCs and to center for annual programs and central services (such as food pantry).
         6. Xiomara explains the budget challenges faced by the Resource Centers. ⅔ of student employees are funded by one-time funding, materials costs have increased. Engaging in fundraising activities takes time away from serving students; this includes fundraising going to SUA, SFAC.
         7. Xiomara explains some programs that are going to be reduced or have been discontinued.
   2. Schedule + Materials (statements and budgets)
   3. Subcommittee to develop statements for the ballot
      1. Marshall, Mel, and Lucy
   4. Deliberations
      1. Theater Arts Fee Increase
         1. Cheryl is supportive. The increase is modest. The fee has never been increased, while costs have increased for things like payroll, costumes, and props.
         2. Katie expresses support and agrees with Cheryl.
         3. Consensus in support of Theater Arts fee increase.
      2. Student Government Fee Increase
         1. Lisa says that she has concerns about the carry forward and also how the group is going to spend down this year’s fee.
         2. Wahaj states he doesn’t have a strong opinion about the fee.
         3. Trey says that the budget is unclear and what they plan to spend the funding on. Discussion about the fee budget.
         4. Katie expresses some confusion about the budget as well.
         5. Mel is supportive with some reservations.
         6. Shirley mentions she is aware of some of the initiatives that SUA may be planning and the direction new officers may take the organization in.
         7. Perhaps we can build some thoughts into the opinion statement.
         8. Strawpoll: 2 in favor, 2 against, 2 abstentions; could not come to consensus.
      3. Resource Centers - Communities and Belonging Fee.
         1. Marshall says that the Resource Centers need support; it may be difficult for them to secure external funding.
         2. RCs does free food during finals which is always very popular. There is a common space for ERCs
         3. Is the fee for graduate students? No.
         4. Lucy mentions that if the measure passes, there will be less pressure on SFAC for RC requests.
         5. Strawpoll. Consensus in support of the fee - we will draft approving language for the fee.
7. 2024-2025 Funding Call - Table this item.
   1. Resources
      1. Proposal Folder
      2. Rating Worksheet
      3. Absent Member Notes
   2. Proposals to review and discuss this meeting:

• Email from Slugworks
• No response (as of 4/11/25) to follow up request for information on 3/28/25 (requested response by 4/8)

• No response (as of 4/11/25) to follow up request for information on 3/28/25 (requested response by 4/8)

• Follow up from ITS (questions posed by SFAC)

• Updates from Lucy regarding proposal #41: DSAS will likely be giving funding to this program but it will not cover all costs. The department would still need partial funding to implement the program.

• Updates from AARCC Director regarding proposal #42: At this juncture, given the state of the budgets, we are willing to accept any amount of funding to ensure that our current mentors retain their positions for AY26 to properly plan to sunset the program in AY27 if we are unable to procure stable funding.

1. Adjournment

Upcoming Guests/Topics:.

1. Discussion on TAPS Letter
   1. 2024 Letter
   2. Response from Dan (to questions we developed on March 11th)
2. Results of 2023-2024 progress reports from awardees
3. Student Fee Summit
   1. Google Doc
4. Campus Based Fees Review for summer session, FY 26