The Associated Students of Fort Lewis College met on March 14. Members discussed funding for Academic Registered Student Organizations at varying RSO levels. It discussed the public forum that will be held for the three presidential candidates for Fort Lewis College and the contract with the Durango Transit Center further. ASFLC also passed two resolutions.
RSO Funding
ASFLC is concerned with the funding for RSOs that also allow for academic credit, such as Images and The Independent, Walter Potter, senator for ASFLC, said.
Making sure the organization is student run and not led by the professor or advisor of the course is important, Potter said.
Katie Hankinson, a senior at Fort Lewis College and editor in chief of the Images literary magazine, spoke to clarify funding allocation and student leadership of the RSO.
The Independent is a student-run organization, Alex Semadeni, a junior at FLC and editor in chief of The Independent said. Semadeni is solely in charge of decision making for the organization, he said.
Funding for these RSOs does not go toward the class nor the department to which the class belongs to, but towards production of the literary magazine, Hankinson said.
Funding for Academic RSOs is not going to be cut completely. The funding will be decreased, similar to other RSOs and many other budgets on campus, Jacob Wolfe, Financial Allocation Board director, said.
RSOs at each level, including ASFLC, are required to have an advisor, per ASFLC bylaws.
Potential Addition of a Fourth RSO Level
There are currently three levels of RSOs. ASFLC discussed the possibility of adding a fourth level to accommodate RSOs that are led by a paid staff member rather than students.
Only two RSOs on campus are at a level three, the Environmental Center and KDUR, which means professional paid staff members and employees are involved, Fink said.
Salaries and benefits for the director and assistant of the Environmental Center and two and a half positions for KDUR are covered each year by a roughly $206,000 budget. This budget has been untouched by ASFLC, but is under discussion, Fink said.
Fink proposed previously that there be a fourth designation for student organizations. This would give RSO III’s, like KDUR and the Environmental Center, a chance to be nominated to move up to a student sponsored organization rather than a registered student organization, he said.
This allows organizations at an RSO III level to have a staff member run the organization rather than the students, he said.
RSO IIIs are designated by having a paid staff member who runs the organization. This means the RSO is no longer a student run organization which is what an RSO is, Fink said.
A blended model of funding has been proposed to combat these issues, he said. Funding would be based on enrollment and how much money comes from the student activity fees.
Transit Contract
ASFLC has been in contact with Amber Blake from the Transit Center to discuss the cost of the contract between FLC and the Transit Center, Fink said.
The current contract cost for the Transit is around $85,000. If ASFLC agrees to the new contract, the cost next year will be $88, 569.94 and will increase by 3 percent every year thereafter to accommodate inflation, Fink said.
The hesitation to solidify the contract yields from route cuts and changes that affect FLC students, Fink said.
Accommodations for these routes have been made by the Durango Transit, he said.
Discussion concerning families living on campus and members of the family riding the Transit also took place.
It was decided that two options would be proposed to Blake to accommodate student families who live on campus. A plan for spouses of FLC students whose families live on campus and a potential family pass to ride the transit will be proposed, Fink said.
FLC Presidential Candidates
The names of the three candidates for Fort Lewis College president are expected to be released March 21. The three candidates will be involved in a series of public forums, Fink said.
Each candidate will attend a public forum, the first takes place from March 29 to March 31. The second set will be from April 2 to April 4 for finalist two. The third set will be from April 4 to April 6 for the third finalist. Students are encouraged to attend as this is an opportunity to hear from the three candidates and pose questions to each, he said.
One member of ASFLC will be appointed speaker for ASFLC to attend the public forums to analyze each candidate, Fink said.
Grants Passed by ASFLC
Resolution 18-020 was sponsored by Rebecca Judy, senator of ASFLC.
AIBL requested a $1,050 travel grant to go to the National Business Plan Competition, Michael Watchman, student at FLC and AIBL member, said.
The plan is to create a program for Native American youth to be emerged in nature, Levi Nells, student and AIBL member, said.
The program can be altered to fit the Native American youth who are involved and where the program is taking place, Nells said.
This resolution was passed by ASFLC unanimously.
Resolution 18-021 was also sponsored by Judy.
Feminist Voice RSO requested $1,000 to bring poet Olivia Gatwood to present a workshop in light of Women’s History Month.
FAB bylaws requires at least a draft of the contract to go through the Leadership Center in order for the request to be approved, Wolfe said.
This was brought to the attention of the representatives of Feminist Voice since a contract had not gone through the Leadership Center yet, Mark Mastalski, director of the Leadership Center and ASFLC advisor, said.
A text from Liz Bahe, director of the Diversity Collaborative, to Mastalski confirmed she had signed the contract, Mastalski said. The event grant request was up for voting after this confirmation.
This resolution was passed by ASFLC unanimously.