John Russell Club Commissioner – 08-09
Political and Social Involvement Coalition Introduction The political and social involvement coalition can be the most exciting conglomeration of clubs on the university campus. Although they are not the largest coalition, the members which consist of it are some of the most ideological, motivated, whacky, and fun people one can meet and work with. Whether there is a protest, a rally, an on-campus event, a high profile speaker, or simply a few club meetings and lectures, there is never a moment when there is no activity within this coalition. Some of the biggest (and most controversial) events on campus stem from the people within this coalition, and it is the duty of the commissioner to make sure ASUN can assist them in their endeavors to make their goals and aspirations a success.
Purpose The purpose of this document is to prepare the next commissioner in what to expect within this coalition. It is important to realize that the people who are involved with this coalition are not those who are trying to boost their resume (such as pre-professional, Greek, academic), not trying to continue an activity which they may have enjoyed in high school (sports, religion) but instead, they are those who simply enjoy being on campus and want to do something fun with friends. As it is very clear, people who are involved on campus (ie: doing things other than school) are in the minority, and it should be realized that with a little bit of support and guidance, they can achieve great things.
John Russell Club Commissioner – 08-09
Issues Due to the inherit polarity of values within the political groups and the short-lived ideas of many of the off-beat clubs, this causes a natural instability and lack of coherency within the group. Also, the general attitudes of some clubs despise the ASUN bureaucracy and find themselves frustrated with the convoluted and unavailable policies of the commission. A vast majority of these clubs will only see the commission and ASUN at the budget hearings, and the experience one may encounter at such a meeting alone can indelibly shape their attitude towards ASUN. In order to help resolve some of these issues, it is recommended that: Encourage the various political club leaders to communicate with one another. Give them each other‟s email addresses and encourage them to at least start a group on facebook! There is much opportunity for these groups to organize events together such as debates, speakers, movies, and other topics which may share common interest. Recognize that some of the unique and off beat clubs which do not advertise their events and do not have much of a purpose will probably die out within 6 months. Reach out to newly formed groups as they form and encourage themselves to do events and things to find a purpose. Offer to review any budget requests for these groups before submitting them. Nothing is more frustrating for these people than to spend hours on a weekend only to find they forgot a crucial piece of information which leads them to denial of funds. Try to improve ASUN‟s reputation by reaching out to clubs with support. Get to know your coalition! Just ask if it would be okay to swing by their meeting just to say hi. They will never say no, clubs are always looking for people to come!
John Russell Club Commissioner – 08-09
Recommendations to the Commission as a Whole Funding Policies: This is by far the most critical aspect that needs to be evaluated within the club commission. These policies, once established, will serve as guidance for club leaders when doing things as well as serve the commission when trying to „responsibly‟ throw student money at clubs. Through the many rigors experienced throughout this year, these are my recommendations which I would greatly recommend to the commission: The current funding tiers are a wreck. Period. They are so subjective it repels the mind. The more experienced club leaders have found ways to exploit the inherent vagueness while the newer leaders find them restrictive, confusing, and inevitably unmanageable. It is unfair for club leaders to honestly discern what their event falls under, then to have it interpreted differently by the commission. Under these policies, something as simple as pizza can fall under any 3 of the tiers, and the commission can spend tens of minutes in heated debate trying to justify which tier it should fall under. o It is my recommendation that the tiers be based not upon the nature of the event, but on the nature of the item requested. For example: Pizza and tee-shirt items shall only fall under white. Airplane tickets and gas expense shall fall only under blue. DJ‟s, catering, and facility rentals shall only fall under silver. A comprehensive list must be established and included under each tier, similar to the list established for the “no list”. This is the only fair way for both clubs and commissioners to agree. o Repeal individual caps of certain items such as tee-shirts. It is too difficult for a governing body such as this to set caps on items with such variability. If the cap is set too low, it will be unfair for leaders attempting to acquire funds for the item
John Russell Club Commissioner – 08-09
they want. If the cap is set too high, everyone will naturally adopt the cap which will hurt everyone due to the limited amount of funds available for distribution. Therefore, remove the funding caps from the official funding policy and leave the decision to the leaders to whom it properly belongs. o If one does not feel that sponsoring an item is a good use of student funds, remove it. The commission this year had a request for an outlandish amount of money to be dedicated to a catered event. It was such an outrageous amount of money that it was decided to slash the cost in half. Do not hesitate to deny/cut funding for stupid requests (yes I said it, there are good requests, and there are bad requests). We are here to assist clubs in their event, not have a full paid vacation or 4000 dollar dinner banquets. Give them half and expect them to raise the rest! (they will appreciate it more this way anyway) Conflict of Interest: There is a major conflict of interest when the commissioner is also a member of the club who is requesting funds. If a commissioner is also a member (or suspected to be a member of an organization), he/she shall not participate in debate nor be allowed to vote. Find a way to make this happen within the policies. Also, I noticed that certain members in the commission who are running for an elected position (for the next year) will shamefully ignore funding policies and vote clubs money simply to gain brownie points for likely voters. I suggest that people who are even running for an electable position within ASUN disqualify themselves from participating in the budget allocation process altogether. Disclosure is not enough.
John Russell Club Commissioner – 08-09
Club Recognition: The barrier of entry for students to become a club and access ASUN resources is far too easy. The current policies open themselves up to abuse which can especially be seen in this particular coalition. People establish ridiculous clubs, access thousands of dollars, then disappear once they have had their ASUN sponsored private party. Find a way to drastically increase the barrier of entry. Also, as this was a US presidential election year, I suggest that candidate action groups (Ie: Mr. Sparkle for President) cannot be allowed club recognition. Most of the organizations are simply pawns of a national organization and they use insane amounts of student money who will totally disappear after the election. They are temporary and unaccountable PACS that exploit student money that should not be granted ASUN club recognition to begin with. Parliamentary Procedure: Either have a crash course on Robert‟s Rules of Order, or remove Robert‟s Rules of Order altogether. This year was particularly terrible in this respect as some members had no clue of parliamentary procedure while others were experts. This causes a major unfair advantage. I recommend to remove commission from Nevada Open Meeting Law (only senate needs to be it anyways), and allow us to communicate to each other as human beings, not automatons. No List: Add stamps to it already. Director: Finally I would like to add that the director of clubs and organizations needs to be able to effectively delegate tasks onto the commissioners. It seemed as though many things were put on by the director, and not so much organized or even discussed by the commission.