Inside the VSA: We're all members, but how does it work?

Anita Varma News Editor

As Vassar Student Association (VSA) elections draw closer and talk of transparency continues to pervade student conversations, VSA Council meetings become a point of interest. Some students might not be aware that they are welcome to attend weekly VSA meetings. Others might be curious about their VSA Council meeting obligations if elected to VSA positions for the 2005-2006 school year.

The VSA Council meets every Sunday in the College Center at 7 p.m. Occasionally, the location or time is adjusted to accommodate big events such as the Superbowl.

“Meetings are open for everyone,” said VSA Vice President Margaux Knee ’05. “No one should feel excluded.”

At the head of the large table, the VSA Executive Board runs the meeting. The VSA Executive Board includes President Joe Wildfire ’05, Vice President Margaux Knee ’05, Treasurer Andy Caselli ’05, Secretary Petra Stankard ’05, and Academic Executive John Delap ’05. The rest of the Council consists of House and Class presidents.

“The theory is that every student is represented three times: once in their housing, once in their class, and by exec board,” said Knee. “The exec board represents all students.”

The VSA President calls the meeting to order, and the VSA Secretary takes roll. All Class and House Presidents are expected to come to each meeting. According to the constitution, VSA Council members are permitted to use a proxy (a fill-in person from their constituency) three times per semester. Knee added that special allowances can be made if the council member has a specific circumstance or problem.

Council meetings abide by VSA constitution rules and guidelines and are conducted in a formal manner. Council members use predetermined sentence structures, such as “I move to amend the motion by striking...,” taken from a chart called “Robert’s Rules.” Members who want to speak raise placards with their positions on them and wait to be recognized by Wildfire. Council members knock their knuckles on the table when they agree with a fellow member’s statement or when they want to show enthusiasm for an upcoming event.

The first motion is usually to approve the minutes of the previous week’s meeting. The VSA Secretary e-mails the minutes to all VSA Council members.

The VSA Secretary also nominates “Orgs of the Month,” organizations that have contributed to student life and have planned interesting and successful events the prior month as “Orgs of the Month.” These organizations receive $100 to use for the year. Organizations that have received this recognition include Hunger Action and College Democrats.

The bulk of the meetings are spent on approving requests for funds. These requests come from VSA organizations as well as majors committees, mini-courses, and individuals. A representative for the fund request is expected to be at the meeting to describe what the project or event is, and to field questions from Council members.

VSA Council members receive print-outs of the requests for funds, which are processed by the Treasurer. Deliberation on whether to grant funds can range in length from five minutes to an hour. People are often commended for creative fund-raising prior to approaching the VSA for funds. Council members have expressed to people requesting funds that it is imperative that they exhaust other possible sources of funding before approaching the VSA.

After fund requests are processed, the VSA President opens the floor for open discussion. Most weeks, Class of 2005 President Vivek Mahapatra starts the open discussion by reporting on the senior class’s activities and imminent plans.

In the past, topics for open discussion have included noise and party policies, complaints VSA Council members have received from their constituents, decisions about e-mail policies (resulting in the weekly activities e-mail from the VSA Secretary in place of multiple separate emails from different VSA council members), and occasionally more requests for funding when the request was not submitted or needed more timely attention. Also, the VSA spent much of their meeting on Feb. 27 discussing the recent Town Meeting and ways to improve transparency and the role of student representatives on committees.

The final point of business during first semester meetings was selecting a theme for the following week. Wildfire would inform a Council member at the beginning of the meeting that it was their turn to choose a theme, and they would tell the rest of the Council at the end of the meeting what it would be. Past themes have been “Gilligan’s Island” characters, Halloween, your favorite dictator, and football teams. All VSA Council members were invited to dress up for the theme, but most weeks Wildfire was one of the few to sport a costume. This semester, the Council seems to have dropped weekly themes.

The VSA represents student interests to the College. Knee advises those concerned about how their interests are communicated to the adminstration to attend weekly meetings. “In a time when people are worried about representation, [I would] just encourage people to get involved,” she said.

Information on election procedures is included in the VSA constitution. Copies are available in the VSA offices in the College Center. The constiution is revised annually, so old constitutions may contain outdated guidelines.