Feb. 16, 2004 • 7 – 9 p.m.
Witherspoon Student Center
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at approximately 7:15 p.m. by the chair.
ROLL CALL
MEMBERS AND ADVISERS PRESENT: Thushan Amarasiriwardena, Carie Windham, Faith Leach, Lock Whiteside, Anjan Kundavaram, Jaime Trivette, Jerry Blackmon, Bradley Wilson, Shawna Jones, Seth Hargrave, Carol Allen, Seth Lester
MEMBERS ABSENT: Nathanial Horner, Nick Snell, Joe Constant, Emmaus Smith, Jamie Proctor, Tony Caravano, Birnettiah Killens
GUESTS: Miranda Houston, Curtis Hill, Jessica Horne
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The chair called for the approval of the Feb. 2 minutes. A motion was passed, seconded and approved by a majority vote of the members present.
NEW BUSINESS
None
OLD BUSINESS
1. Board restructuring update
Various members and advisers of the board updated members about efforts to restructure the Student Media Authority Board or to remove it from the Student Body Constitution. Four options were presented: abandoning efforts to restructure at the present time; presenting legislation in the Student Senate to remove Article V, which outlines the structure of the Student Media Authority Board, from the Student Body Constitution; amending the Student Body Constitution to reflect changes to the boards; or collecting 4,500 signatures to force a referendum to remove Article V in the upcoming student elections. Board members discussed the feasibility of each measure. Bradley Wilson suggested that the timeline may be too short to work through Student Senate and Anjan Kundavaram suggested an online system to get signatures. Other suggestions included using tables already planned to be set up in the Brickyard. Members decided to discuss the feasibility issues with Student Government leaders and report their findings to the board over e-mail to decide how to proceed.
The board approved by majority vote of the members present to pursue removing Article V from the Student Body Constitution by both working through the Student Senate and obtaining 4,500 signatures.
2. Nubian Message goals (see Jan. 26 minutes CLICK HERE)
Jerry Blackmon, editor in chief of the Nubian Message, commented on the newspaper’s publication. He reported that editors were making deadlines and the paper no longer had to be proofed by the adviser before going to press, making it easier to meet deadlines. If that can continue, he said, there should be no problems with publication.
Mr. Blackmon also said that he was unable to make weekly meets with the adviser but had arranged a proxy, his managing editor, in his place.
3. Nubian Message recruitment plan.
As outlined in a motion passed at the Feb. 2 meeting, staff from the Nubian Message presented the publication’s recruitment plan. Miranda Houston, managing editor, outlined the short term, medium term and long term goals of the newspaper to generate interest and attract staff.
In the short term, the staff plans to: work with the African American Cultural Center to recruit in MDS classes and organizations for interested students; work with the African American Student Advisory Council to get interested students and members to submit stories about their organizations or events; to hold multiple open houses including one during Pan-Afrikan week; to talk to classes and ask that the Nubian Message be added to the syllabus; to place house ads in the publication each week; to do list-serve solicitation and to hold an advertising campaign on campus through flyers and other means to raise awareness about the publication and raise its profile.
In the medium term, members plan to attend orientations, specifically the African American symposium, and orientation fairs; to put a summer edition in the hands of each incoming black student; to solicit freshmen with an interest or experience in journalism; to have better distribution of the newspaper through more boxes; to have a better presence at events on campus; and to have a better profile on campus.
In the long term, the staff plans to be a regular feature at the African American symposium; to target students interested in journalism before they come to N.C. State; to give better assignments to attract writers such as courtside sports coverage, high profile interviews and interviews with local and national celebs; to promote the perks of working with the newspaper and deemphasize the low wages; to work with faculty to get students to regularly read the Nubian Message and pitch working with the newspaper to faculty so students can be required to submit stories or “intern” for a certain number of hours to get full credit for the course.
Members of the board liked the proposals, commenting that better exposure would help bolster credibility.
4. Nubian Message response to board concerns about publication consistency and frequency.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Student Media Advisory Board may adjourn into executive session to discuss matters of litigation, potential litigation or personnel.
REPORTS
No reports were submitted in advance of the meeting.
Technician: The Technician editors, Thushan Amarasiriwardena and Carie Windham, updated the board about a new Web site launch and plans to hold new training workshops.
Windhover: Editor Shawna Jones reported that the magazine is on track and meeting deadlines.
Agromeck: Editor Jaime Trivette reported that the yearbook has met and kept up with its page counts.
Nubian Message: The Nubian Message reported that it has published three editions on time.
Members of WKNC and Americana were not present to present updates because of class conflicts.
Position Paper: The board was informed that position paper guidelines for all media student leader positions have been posted and will be voted on at the next meeting.
ADJOURN
A motion was made to adjourn at approximately 8:15 p.m. The motion was seconded and passed by a majority vote of members present.