From ruk04 at hampshire.edu  Tue Nov  6 08:13:12 2007
From: ruk04 at hampshire.edu (Rafferty U. Kenney)
Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2007 08:13:12 -0500
Subject: [Coca] COCA--info, updates, work
Message-ID: <1194354792.4730686822d54@webmail.hampshire.edu>

Hi all,
    First I want to thank everyone for being involved in the planning committee.
Various snags aside, I think Halloween went relatively well, as well as other
previous issues. I've been too busy and assumed a lot of other didn't feel like
getting bombarded with e-mails on every little thing (including ongoing debates
on the HALA conference), but shoot me an e-mail if you still want a lot of
stuff forwarded.
   I'm writing this to say thank you, but also to say that I cannot be involved
as much anymore. I will still be going to meetings and handling things as a
chair, but only insofar as it is critical for me to personally handle certain
things. As you know, both I and Shane are Div III this year, and neither one of
us has made substantial progress. I know that Jay is also completely swamped
with academic work. As such, the signers are probably going to have to be far
less involved than the first half of the semester. For the signers, one idea is
that these three could probably work out something where the person with the
most free time could be the point person and coordinator for the week. With
general business, is anyone else willing to handle different tasks or
components of various issues? For instance, the HALA thing has been completely
draining, and having one or two people as liaisons or point persons during the
week could help a lot.
   Don't know how swamped all of you are and am sure that everyone is pretty
busy at this point, but if anyone would be willing to take on a bit more that'd
be great. I'll still be around and easy to contact about anything at all, but as
vacant pages stare me down through an LCD mirror of doom it's become pretty
apparent that I need to immediately abnegate as much responsibility here as
possible. There's a lot more happening on campus right now and a lot of
unexpectedly intense controversies that have been monumental energy/time sinks,
but each thing isn't too big on its own.  Regardless of one?s affiliation with
Re-Rad, Community Council, the sub-committees (including us), or any other
groups or movements, I think that everyone on this campus should be as involved
as possible. However, some of these things have more tangible obligations for
me, such as issues related to Halloween and the HALA conference. Any help would
be immeasurably appreciated. I?ll probably send out an e-mail later on regarding
the preliminary agenda for Thursday and what needs to be done between now and
then, unless Jay and/or Shane could handle that.
   The budget masterlist is being written up right now, but there are some
expenses that need to be adjusted, including the bill from Pub Safety that
Josiah handed me today: $9,492.25, not counting the $2,247.88 for Amherst PD.
Last year Amherst PD cost us $1,381.73 because we had four APD instead of five.
Don't have the exact number, but Pubs cost around $8,000+(I think). Though many
students reported feeling safe and had no issue, from a more administrative
view it's unnacceptable at least in part because officers were not at the front
gate until 4:30, so that's a deduction. I'm also concerned about whether the POs
for rental agencies did indeed go through account 611, which had $6,000 for the
general budget after $24,000 was transfered to #777, the Halloween fund. This
could be a critical problem we don't know about yet, but Stephen Pereira
contacted Grace from the Business Office to get figure out what's going on with
that. First step is a follow, hopefully not to be proceeded by a legnthy
red-tape safari.
   Again, thanks so much for everyone who contributed to Halloween and all other
events thus far. I want to remain as involved as possible and am not going to
step out, but family, friends, and my Div III committee are probably right
about priorities. Having done little readings, missed an essay, and
accomplished little in the way of Div III, at this time I?m going to have to
abnegate as many other responsibilities as possible short of dropping out.
Given that Shane is in a similar situation and that Jay is behind as well, if
anyone could handle ongoing or new issues as much as possible within your
workload that would be excellent. Will be seeing you soon, thanks.

-- 
Rafferty Kenney
Committee on Community Activities
voting member, Community Council
Hampshire College
P.O. box 0891
Amherst, MA 01002
(518) 928-7129

(tl;dr reflection, rant, info, and updates; can post further info on current
issues if requested; a good deal of the following can also be found on
Council?s (outdated) site https://intranet.hampshire.edu/cms/index.php?id=4296
and the college archives in http://library.hampshire.edu/archives/index.html.
The hardcopy of NSNS is lacking in some information and details.)

   There's a lot of exciting things going on right now, including high hopes for
changes to the current Div I system--which has been a constant irritation to
several generations of Hamp students--and became nearly the sole focus of the
all community meeting addressing the Accreditation Committee this afternoon.
There are also the issues of the HALA Animal Liberation conference, which in
its own right has illustrated a lot of other issues that need to be addressed
on this campus; needless to say, those issues can only be addressed by
effective dialogue. The security camera all community meeting is this
afternoon, 3:30-5:00pm in FPH, which may also be an excellent opportunity for
the community to engage other correlating issues. Community Council
<i>finally</i> ratified their bylaws, which they've been squabbling about every
semester since F04 and before; this should result in a far more effective system
for advocating student concerns, and hopefully will once again rise to be an
organization that directly affects a variety of policies/events/developments
campus wide. The bylaws ratified recently will change a few things that
directly affect us, such as requiring a signer from each subcom to be a member
of Council, as well as some changes in financial procedure, but nothing
monumental as it directly affects COCA. Due to these changes, I took the signer
obligation and am once again on Council.
	There's different places to find docs on that, but there once was a senate and
a judicial committee, which in its time dealt with disciplinary procedures and
codes of conduct; the judicial committee voted itself out of existence several
years ago, the senate no longer exists, and the remnants are what we now know
as Community Council and its sub-committees:

COCA -- us, which once was only concerned with Halloween and SpringJam, but has
increasingly absorbed student group and other campus wide events. As of this
Fall, the committee is now primarily charged with all campus wide student
events, including the possibility of a Winter Rock Show (Shane, Jay, and Brian
seemed to be the ones spearheading that).

COCD -- development; COCD is the reason why the airport lounge exists, as well
as why the upper RCC fooseball table is a battle between gangsters and
mermaids.; currently they're renovating the upper RCC. Permanent installations
on campus, pre-existing spaces, and renovation/creation of spaces are among
their responsibilities. They are

FiCom -- financial committee; in sadder days, a year or two before I entered,
there was serious corruption in FiCom such as mismanagement, embezzlement, and
various other ethical (and possibly criminal?) breaches. F04-S05 some talked
about dissolving FiCom altogether, but instead they get everything together and
it's now running fairly well. They are responsible for distributing SAF funds
(Student Activities Fee). Our budget was $30,000 at the beginning of the year,
and while I don't know the exact number for now, last year I think those funds
were drawn from a pool of $163,000. That account is bigger this year, and as
some may remember from Josef, there's an extra $80,000 open for use by
different groups.

(COCA, COCD, & FiCom are the primary sub-committees. SafeCom and InfoCom were
created within the last couple of years, so they?re not as established yet and
often act more as liaisons.)

InfoCom -- has only existed for a few semesters; chair partially acts as
liaison; involved in building websites and information dissemination; I do not
know much beyond that.

SafeCom -- Safety Committee, responsible for evaluating health, security, and
safety issues on campus; Remains in contact with Public Safety, Phys Plant,
EMTs, and others; has previously sought ways of increasing night visibility,
call boxes, and various other strategies; initiated removal of sections of
speedbumps for cyclists.

Community Council itself is the umbrella organization that ultimately has
control over SAF funds, since FiCom is supposed to be a compliant organ of
Council. When Council is functioning their word takes precedent over all
subcommittees. Should the bylaws die and not be resurrected to haunt the agenda
again, Council will be able to re-establish itself as a body that makes
decisions on policy, community norms, and a variety of other issues, either as
Council itself or through the subcommittees.

Many years ago, before the dissolution of the senate, before the vote that
erased the Judiciary, governance at Hampshire was taken very seriously as a
community effort. Community Council is known as such because, rather than being
an ineffectual student council, its membership was composed of students, staff,
and faculty from across the school. For a brief period it was a de facto
student government, and for the most part professors, deans, House Directors,
and various other staff were barely ever present. I became involved in COCA
after joining Community Council, which up to now required all members to join a
sub-committee. I?d been on it since F04 but dropped out for S07, largely because
of too much extra work, but had also wholly ceased to care about Council. In the
past, students have (maybe rightfully) ignored Council, with turnout often
around a few hundred votes cast: most were elected automatically because no one
else ran, and few cared anyway. In spite of its legacy, Council had degenerated
into weekly meetings spent squabbling over multiple copies of their bylaws, and
was constituted mostly of student members, who rarely stayed for more than a
year, which further shunted Council into irrelevance. This has been changing
recently. COCA is actually semi-autonomous component of Community Council, but
has previously functioned most effectively with a high degree of autonomy. I
continue to believe in preserving the autonomy of the subcommittees, but some
form of re-integration is likely to happen, and under current conditions may
help to restore the legitimacy and power of Council. I?m confident that Council
will be able to further move towards increasing its influence on campus--partly
by representing many elements of the Hampshire community--while also giving the
students a more powerful tool of having their voices heard.
   Older staff, professors, and alums have told me stories about the old days.
The Tavern in Prescott was originally a spot for of-age students to drink beer
with their professors on a Friday night while discussing theory, their work, or
just hanging out the same as two students. In the old days many of Hampshire?s
faculty and staff lived on campus with the students. All community meetings
were a big deal, and they drew hundreds upon hundreds of people into the RCC.
Nowadays many of these meetings are fortunate to draw 100 people, and mostly
students. The Tavern, which was also run by the students up to my first
semester, has since been turned over to Sodhexo, and the days of getting a pint
with your advisor are gone.
	The word ?community? comes up over and over in Hampshire?s discourses, but as
of late it?d been no more than a mixture of farce and nostalgic longing. The
reality of Hampshire?s so-called community is that it is a fractured collection
of groups and individuals, many of whom have embedded themselves within the
bureaucracy, zealously lording over their small dominions, and sometimes
erupting into conflict either between different elements or internecine power
struggles. I had a certain romanticized image of Hampshire, and believed that
Halloween was one of the true expressions of the soul of the college without
considering the darker aspects. One of the most exemplary things about
Hampshire Halloween ?07 was the way in which the community can come together
and express itself in wonderful ways, but also that there are occasionally
complications, power struggles, bureaucratic redundancies, and thickets of red
tape. Miscommunication among rental agencies, individual students, student
groups, organizations, campus offices/departments, and other off-campus
organizations were profound. Glaring incompetence and squabbling bubbled up at
various points, and I still feel bad that I had not done the job perfectly.
Though I still think it was ultimately a successful event, complications that
had arisen during, before, and after Halloween in its planning/execution
illuminated certain things about Hampshire--and these issues have only become
more pronounced in light of recent issues on campus.
	Within the last five years or so there have been a lot of radical transitions,
most notably the new Division I system. The president, Ralph Hexter, has not
been here for long, having replaced Greg Prince who was president my first
year. The person previously in charge of Student Affairs and orientation also
left within this time, and F05 & 06 orientations left a great many people
feeling dissatisfied, in contrast with F04 who generally appreciated that
year?s program. Judith Raper took over these responsibilities for F07, but has
since left. Mr. Ford, former Dean, also left within this period of time. Many
of the ?old guard? Hampshire faculty--those either involved in Hampshire?s
foundation or at least here since the seventies or even eighties--are no longer
with us. Much of Public Safety is also new to this school. Some of the officers
at Public Safety are still fresh out of academy and have yet to make the
transition from ?police officer enforcing the law? to ?ensuring the wellbeing
of a college community.? Many Pubs simply don?t know anyone here, nor do they
understand the culture or guidelines of the school. Among others, these are
some of the examples of how the people at Hampshire have been rapidly shifting
through here within a relatively short period of time.
	In conjunction with other changes within Hampshire, as well as socio-cultural
shifts in America as a whole, this rapid transition between those in various
positions of power has helped to cause critical shifts in Hampshire across the
board. The result has been confusion, disorganization, and further
fragmentation of the Hampshire Community. Lines have not been clearly
established and understood in terms of responsibilities of individuals and
organizations on campus, which has increasingly set the stage for
interdepartmental conflict, carving spheres of influence, and increased poor
communication--or even negating attempts at meaningful dialogue altogether. The
instability caused by these sudden shifts have probably made a huge impact on
the fracturing of Hampshire College on all levels: academically in terms of
dissonance within the divisional system; socially in terms of periods of
divisiveness with students, faculty, staff, administration, and Public Safety,
both in terms of friction between the different groups and the internal
conflicts of these groups. The new Division I program has also played a role in
deepening these issues, particularly by creating unnecessary rifts between
students and the faculty, upon whom they rely systemically for committees,
advisors, and overseeing independent projects.
	I believe that the obvious solution would be creating a stable medium for
dialogue between all members of the Shire. This is including, but not limited
to, those in Student Affairs, Special Programs, the Business Office,
President?s Office, Deans of the 5 schools, the faculty, Physical Plant, Public
Safety, various signers/officers of student groups, EMTs & other health/safety
personnel, and of course, the general student body. In order to help foster
this there must be changes within the academic program, and in order for that
system to function we need more faculty. There has been a shift in cultural
paradigms over the last several years, and the most crucial way of shifting it
back is the simplest: randomly striking up conversations with people on campus.
A broader trend towards socio-cultural acceptance and integration is one of the
most important keys to fixing the multitude of problems currently plaguing this
school. The other most important factor, which is dependent on the former, is a
sense of responsibility. In order for Hampshire to function as an institution
and as a community there needs to be an ingrained sense of personal
responsibility, both for one?s own actions as well as a sense of responsibility
to the community. With this responsibility comes a broader sense of respect and
duty. Moreover, such responsibility is the cornerstone of our freedoms and our
power. Before we can be free or exert any power or influence there must be that
sense of responsibility; it is this sense of responsibility that has been the
driving spirit of Hampshire College?s academic program, and the ultimate dream
of Hampshire as an institution and a set of ideals.

-- 
Rafferty "How's that sketchy?" Kenney
co-chair, Committee on Community Activities
voting member, Community Council
Hampshire College
P.O. box 0891
Amherst, MA 01002
(518) 928-7129







From ruk04 at hampshire.edu  Thu Nov 29 18:20:37 2007
From: ruk04 at hampshire.edu (Rafferty U. Kenney)
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:20:37 -0500
Subject: [Coca] COCA's budget
Message-ID: <1196378437.474f4945525c3@webmail.hampshire.edu>

Hi all,
   I'd sent this out before in an rtf file to a few people yesterday before
sending it through the listserv (I haven't heard any corrections, so I think it
may be set).
~~~~~
COCA BUDGET MASTER LIST -- FALL 2007

General Fund Allocations:

Bread & Puppet Show
$750

October Break Tavern Concert
$500

Local Foods Feast
$5,000

New Leaf Powershift '07 Conference
$5,309

Students for Justice in Palestine (presentation on campus)*
$550-$700

Hampshire Animal Liberation Advocacy (weekend long event of conferences,
workshops, and performances)*
$1,500 (does not factor Public Safety costs)

Honorarium for Keith Henry (founder of Food Not Bombs)*
$3,000

Performance by Jason Webley*
$74.00 ($68 for event monitor +$6 for posters)

*Final figure has yet to be established, has yet to be approved, or otherwise is
not currently processed.

Hampshire Halloween:

Rental Agencies
Theatrix (sound/lighting for performances) -- $10,689.34
KEC Part Rentals (inflatable rides and generators) -- $3,540.95
Creedon and Co. (tents, heaters, tables, chairs, drape, etc.) -- $3,728.05

DJ?s for main tent
Mikio Kennedy -- $700
Neil Fleishman a.k.a. Infinite Sun -- $700
Plus Move -- $200

Performances inside RCC (MC and bands)
Zardon Richardson -- $100
Big A Little a -- $800
Team Robspierre -- $1000

Personal Reimbursements (Beauty Bombers? decorations [helium tank, glow-sticks,
balloons, etc.] and refreshments for RCC performers)
Tara Jacobs -- $22.00
Cora Johnston -- $124.90
Haley Morgan -- $100.00
Kelley Mariani -- $95.16
Raff Kenney -- $48.63

Community Health -- Condoms and safe sex supplies/info
$195

Delivery Express -- pizza for performers
$300 (will change and need receipt form, actual cost lower)

Atlas Pyrotechnics -- fireworks display
$5,000

Student Affairs account -- reimbursements via Transfer of Funds
Inspection Permit and Fire Safety Detail for fireworks (Amherst Fire Department)
-- $585
Security from Amherst Police Department (Town of Amherst Treasurer) -- $2,247.88

Public Safety account (includes extra staff from Phys Plant, Business Office,
etc.)
$9,492.25
(We are expecting a portion of this to be returned due to the non-presence of
Public Safety from 4-4:30pm at the entrance, but as of 28 November 2007 we do
not have the final estimate after reimbursement.)

Total known allocation of funds as of 28 November 2007:
Held in account 611
$30,000 initial operating budget
$5,000 additional allocation from FiCom
Held in account 777
$5,657.00 (1,131 registered student gusts admitted)

Hampshire Halloween 2007:
$30,176.91
$39,661.16 after transfer to 90-0-31403-61401 (Public Safety), before adjustment

General Budget:
$11,559

COCA Expenditures for Fall 2007 to date:
$51,228.16

Stipulated funds as of 12:30pm, 28 November 2007:
Gross
	$40,657.00
Net
	-$10,577.16
Pending
	$6,174 (very rough estimate)

	The final figures for Fall 2007 could exceed currently available funds by
anywhere from ten to twenty thousand dollars, which is contingent upon
adjustments and approvals from numerous sources.
~The HALA conference figure needs reappraisal, for Jerry Vlasak did not require
$500 and the amount requested by Public Safety is not currently known by COCA.
Public Safety initially requested over $3,600 but COCA was unwilling to pay any
more than $2,000.
~The $300 PO for Delivery Express exceeded the required amount by a very small
amount.
~COCA does not currently know how much to deduct from the HH?07 Public Safety
charge.
~No final decision was made on the honorarium for Keith Henry, and the students
have yet to contact COCA with any updates.
~We do not have the final requested amount for Students for Justice in
Palestine.
	One of the biggest issues has been the failure of $24,000 transfer from COCA?s
611 account to the 777 Halloween account, to which we had subsequently charged
all Halloween costs. At this time I do not know the fate of absolutely all
charges, as multiple charges were re-routed and I don?t know whether they were
ultimately deducted from 611 or 777. The following have had forms submitted for
processing but I do not know their current status:
Zardon Richardson -- $100
Big A Little a -- $800
Team Robspierre -- $1000
Mikio Kennedy -- $700
Neil Fleishman a.k.a. Infinite Sun -- $700
Plus Move -- $200
Community Health -- $195
All other submissions have been confirmed.

COCA is therefore requesting an immediate transfer of $5,000 to account 777 to
cover Public Safety and an additional $5,000 to COCA?s 611 account. Additional
requests will be made as they are known, but a total of $10,000 is needed very
urgently. Thank you,

Rafferty U. Kenney, co-chair
Shane T. Foster, co-chair
Johnathan M. Cassano, signer
Committee on Community Activities


-- 
Rafferty Kenney, co-chair
Committee on Community Activities
Hampshire College
P.O. box 0891
Amherst, MA 01002
(518) 928-7129




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