April 11, 2011, 10pm Caltech Corporation Meeting Addressing the New Housing Policies Notes by Laura Santoso
New Housing Policies Summary of new policies produced at the 4/7 meeting b/w housing, the house presidents and secretaries
• Off-campus housing will no longer be guaranteed to undergrads • There will be 2 new area coordinators (ACs) and 2 new RAs living in the North and South houses, taking away rooms in Ruddock, Ricketts, Blacker, and Dabney • All pets will be banned after the 2011-2012 academic year • Over the summer: people cannot take doubles as singles, storage PODS will be provided and no resident rooms can be used as storage, OCAs will be closed, room moves will be minimized • Only new furniture purchased from a store will be allowed into housing
Original Goals of the BoD/IHC What the BoD/IHC representatives (Chris Hallacy, Laura Conwill, Will Steinhardt, Tim Black) hoped to accomplish for their meeting with Anneila Sargent (VP of Student Affairs) on 4/11
- Get housing guaranteed for all students for all four years.
- ACs: a. Should live in unaffiliated housing (eg. Marks/Braun) b. Report to the Mosh or the counseling center instead of housing c. Be hired with student oversight – get secondary interviews for students and ultimate veto power
- Communication: Housing administration needs to communicate better with students, primarily requiring new policies to pass through an official oversight committee with student involvement Note: the other implemented policies will still be addressed, but urgency is not necessary and solving communication problems will help fix these as well
Results of the Monday 4/11 meetings
- Got housing guaranteed for all students for all four years.
- Area Coordinators/RAs: a. For the 2011-2012 academic year, one AC will live in Marks/Braun, one AC will live in an RA apartment in one of the houses (undecided which house). – Anneila thinks it will be impossible to get both ACs off campus. b. For the 2011-2012 academic year, 5 RAs will be replaced and 2 RAs will be added. Due to the lack of candidates, housing will not start knocking down house walls to build RA apartments until qualified RAs are found. c. ACs will still report to housing, specifically to Maria and Sue. – ACs are being paid by housing and budgets cannot be redistributed. If under the counseling center, ACs cannot inform anyone by law if there are any problems. d. The AC hiring process will be similar to that of RAs. Two students will be immediately be involved in the process. If the majority of houses do not like an AC, he/she will not be hired (note: we do not have ultimate veto power because Anneila does not want the opinion of a few to dominate the opinion of a majority)
- Communication: a. Paul Asimow (chair of housing committee of student-faculty board) will be more active in curtailing housing decisions. b. Paul Asimow will attempt to reinstate meetings between Peter Daily, Tom Mannion, and himself to determine decisions in advance. c. Laura Conwill will bring student representatives to biweekly meetings with Peter Daily about housing issues. Note: No official oversight committee requiring that administrative procedures be passed by students exists yet.
Idea of ACs/The Mental Health Task Force (MHTF) The origin of the idea of ACs by the mental health task force, who comprises the mental health task force, the actual implementation of ACs
• A few years ago the MHTF wanted to improve student health and well-being and were trying to determine why suicides occurred and solve the problem • They decided that the ratio of mentors to students needed to increase – the current ratio is 1:85 and administration is set on increasing that ratio to at least 1:50, aka getting new student mentors is unavoidable! • We need to focus on controlling the purpose of ACs and their implementation • ACs were originally intended to who make students happier without interfering with house culture, gov’t, etc. – approx. ¾ of the students agreed with this idea, ¼ disagreed • ACs will differ from the counseling center b/c they will interact with us on an everyday basis and be available 24/7– they will be like RAs (also in terms of confidentiality) but with greater availability and with professional degrees in mental health • Avery’s AC does not police students and did not intend to change the house. She adjusted herself to fit Avery’s requests and is currently integrated in the UCC system. The hiring process will ensure that future ACs will mesh well with other houses. • Despite the largely positive intent of ACs, we are unconvinced by their current implementation – see goals for sources of problem • The MHTF currently has no students and its report is generally condescending to students. This needs to change.
People in Power The current stance of influential people, primarily the faculty and trustees.
• The student faculty board is not being targeted because their meetings are infrequent, so the issues at hand will not be dealt with in the desired time frame • The Trustees currently like Peter Daily (head of housing) because he is extremely efficient. This is a problem though because this means he implements policies without review. However, the Trustees really care about student happiness. • The Trustees are coming for a walkthrough at the beginning of next week. At this time we will inform the Trustees of our opinions. • Winning the support of the Caltech faculty is important because they are extremely influential. The support of the faculty will likely lead to the support of the Trustees and President Chameau.
Protest Plans for an organized protest to sway influential people so that they support the students
Main Issues of Protest:
- Require better communication with housing, and student input in any future housing policy changes
- Incorporate student input in the implementation of the Mental Health Task Force report
Things to remember: • PFW is coming and the prefrosh will find out about these issues. We will tell the prefrosh the truth, remembering that the point of the protest is to continue with the positive changes that are being made for the students • When we protest in front of the Trustees, we want them to understand that that these issues are important to Caltech students and that we take this seriously • We are NOT fighting ACs directly – we are fighting their implementation • The BoD/IHC will continue to work with the administration following protest • Target faculty with personal, smart, and reasonable conversation, especially those who you are already close to (freshman – go to your frosh advisors) • Don’t be stupid, stupid (something about shooting feet?)
Protest Format
- T-shirts: Orange t-shirts with the slogan “No Area Coordination without Representation!” will be made and distributed. People who do not receive shirts should wear orange. Use the shirts to start discussion with professors, trustees, etc.
- Picketing: A large group will congregate on the South side of Winnett/Chandler from 11:30am-1:30pm to catch the attention of people going to Chandler/the Ath. Feel free to make intelligent posters
- Booth: An organized booth will be stationed up against the wall of Winnett from 11:30am to the end of the work day (~5pm). Brief pamphlets will be distributed.
- Trustee walkthrough: There are tentative plans to protest again when the Trustees are here. Look for more information later.