MINUTES

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 • 7 p.m.
Talley Student Center Board Room — 4th floor

CALL TO ORDER — The meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m. by Mike Alston acting as chair.

PRESENT: John Sanderson, Kelley Brackett, Lyndsey Warhurst, John Clark, Bob Ashley, Dean Phillips, Bryant Robbins, Ty Johnson, Helen Dear, Mike Alston, Laura Frey, Charlie Weinfield, Bradley Wilson

ABSENT: Denise Gonzales Crisp, Meagan Gay, Al McArthur, Jim Ceresnak

GUESTS: Jamie Lynn Gilbert, Martha Collins, Krystal Pittman, Tyler Everett, Peggy Boone, Ana Andruzzi, John Cooper Elias, Michele Chandler, Susannah Brinkley, Ryland Clark, Brent Kitchen, Biko Tushinde, Russell Witham, Nick Tran, Kate Shefte, Alanna Howard, David Mabe, Saja Hindi, Taylor Barber, Daniel Farrell

OLD BUSINESS

• Approval of minutes — CLICK HERE The minutes were approved unanimously as amended.
• Evaluation of student leaders — Board members were mailed the staff evaluations of the editors and the editors’ self-evaluations over the break. Bradley said he thought this was a good system to give the student leaders some feedback and when the editors took it seriously they got good feedback from a significant portion of the staff.
• Timeline for this spring’s hiring of new top leaders — Was approved with little discussion. Top leaders for 2010-2011 will attend an all-candidates meeting on Feb. 8 to review the process and expectations of position packets. The position packets will be due Feb. 18. The advisory boards will meet sometime in February. Candidates will attend a public forum on Feb. 25. And the Board will approve candidates on March 9. Bradley said he hopes this new system will do away with the marathon Board meetings we’ve had the last couple years and allow the advisory boards to get to know the candidates better.

NEW BUSINESS

• Compliance with regulation 11.55.6: “Undergraduate Student Leadership” — Jamie Lynn Gilbert started with a general update on the academic progress of Student Media students. She said about of the 239 students working for us currently (down from 289 at the start of the semester), we had 21 people (9 percent) with perfect 4.0 GPA for the semester and 16 (7 percent) with a 4.0 cumulative. There ware 84 students (35 percent) with a GPA of 3.5 or greater. And there were 161 student (67 percent) with greater than a 3.0. The medium with the highest GPA was Windhover. We have some very intelligent people working up here. There were, on the other hand, three student with below a 2.00 cumulative (down from seven in the fall of 2008 and the fall of 2007). The staff of the Nubian Message had the lowest grade point average. The average cumulative GPA for all of our students was a 3.215 (range: 1.694-4.00). The average semester GPA for all our students was 3.146 (range: 0.20 – 4.00). Over the last few years, the grade point average of the student leaders has been going down and that we’ve had considerable discussion on how to stop it. Bradley pointed out that the grade point averages specifically of student leaders across campus took a nose dive this semester and a lot of people were looking into why including the reasonableness of the expectations we have of student leaders. Indeed, there is now discussion at the University level of considering allowing students to take a reduced course load, do an internship or have some sort of co-op credit.

The Board then discussed amendments to the Grades and Full-time Status Policy and approved unanimously as amended, changing the name to put less of an emphasis on grades and allowing an exception for first-semester freshmen whose cumulative grade point average and semester grade point average are, by definition, the same.

• Hiring of interim editors —

Agromeck editor — Jamie asked Michele why she was applying for editor. Michele said she wanted to maintain the integrity of the book, to back up his goals and vision. Bryant said the discussion the Board had earlier applied to him as well. Michele is certainly qualified. I don’t think there’s a problem. Bob moved and Louise seconded that Michele be hired as Agromeck editor. Approved unanimously.

Technician editor — After considerable discussion (see notes below), Bob Ashley moved and John Clark seconded that Ty was not a qualified candidate and his candidacy would not be considered by the Board. This motion was approved unanimously.

After more discussion (see notes below) Bob Ashley moved and Dean Phillips seconded that the Board re-open the application process effective immediately with a deadline of Feb. 2. On Feb. 2, the Board would have an emergency meeting to determine how to move forward. In the interim, the senior staff in conjunction with the professional staff will do what is necessary to continue publication. This motion was also approved unanimously.

• Time Out for Diversity — Bradley said he would discuss this at the next meeting and would have the full report online.
• Recruitment and Retention (Jamie Lynn Gilbert) — We continued to reach students at numbers comparable to previous years despite the change in format for New Student Orientation. Jamie reported 399 individual students expressed interest in at least one medium during the recruitment period (up from 382 in 2008, 273 in 2007 and 230 in 2006). Overall, 772 unique contacts were made with 399 students (up from 709 contacts in 2008, 481 contacts in 2007 and 304 contacts in 2006). Student Media ultimately recruited 47 new staff members. She said Bryant was just amazing in his recruitment efforts. She said the biggest recommendation was making sure the editors know where e-mails are going and who is responding.
• Budget update — Bradley said income was falling far short of expectations even as amended in the budget but that expenses were under control and also down, keeping the organization financially very stable.

SUPPLEMENTS TO WRITTEN REPORTS

• Agromeck — Bryant said it might look like they are over budget on payroll with 58 percent spent, but they aren’t. They get paid in conjunction with deadlines and more than half of the deadlines have happened.
• Windhover — Helen reported that she met with the printer Friday. They had narrowed down the visual submissions from 450 to 100 and plan to finalize literary selection Jan. 25. Now they’re moving into the design phase. The Web site is up and active.
• WKNC — Mike reported that there have been personnel changes at the beginning of the semester but they’ve gone smoothly.
• SCJ — Susannah said she hoped at least 13 people would apply to become members, more than ever before.
• Nubian Message — Demi passed around a written report. He said he had someone, Mario Terry, interested in being a top leader for next year. Mario will be spending time the remainder of the semester working closely with Demi to ease the transition. In his written report, he apologized for missing the last meeting but had a family emergency. He said the first issue would be coming out this week. They did not come out last week as scheduled. He said he had nine returning reporters, two returning copyeditors and two page designers. The staff had their first meeting of the semester Jan. 15. Toni Thorpe came to encourage the staff for the new semester. Demi is working with Toni to recruit writers/reporters, both student and faculty. He said that at the end of the last semester, a couple of complained that the content on the front page was always a Greek program. He explained that when he sent out the article assignments, Greek programs were almost always picked up. Demi said he was going to the AASAC meeting on Friday to ask organization presidents to let me know when they have events coming up. He said he tried this last semester, but didn’t hear from any of the organizations. Finally, Demi reported that deadlines for the first issue published weren’t a problem.

ADJOURN

EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Student Media Advisory Board may adjourn into executive session to discuss matters of litigation, potential litigation or personnel.

REPORTS SUBMITTED IN ADVANCE

AGROMECK
Submitted by Bryant Robbins, editor

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association named the 2009 edition of the Agromeck a Crown Finalist in December. The announcement of a Gold or Silver Crown will be made at the spring convention in New York in March

Revenue — As of Jan 13 we have sold five books

The fall senior portraits were a very big success. We had so many people sign up for appointments a second photographer was sent for the final three days. The final session for portraits will be Jan 20-22. We believe there will be two photographers because there were only a few slots left and more slots have been opened for portraits. There were 340 seniors who came and got a book; all should receive a copy of the book.

We set the total press run to 1,000 books. Only individuals who purchase book are guaranteed a book. Seniors who have a portrait taken are second to receive a book. If there are still books left after portraits any senior who is in the book may pick up a copy on a first-come, first-served basis.

Deadlines – We met our Nov. 20 deadline of 40 pages. Even though it was a struggle to meet that deadline the staff pulled through in the late hours to get it done. The Dec. 11 deadline we met which was 16 pages and went above that by sending 22 pages. The next deadline is Feb. 12 of 44 pages. This will contain most of the remaining coverage of the book and the opening.
Nov. 20 40 pages 5.675 sources per page 100 percent of deadline
Dec. 11 22 pages 7.773 sources per page 137.5 percent of deadline

Coverage — We will has some coverage of hiring the new chancellor but will leave some of that to be covered for the instillation. We are planning new ideas to cover the Krispy Kreme Challenge and as always and ideas are welcome.

NUBIAN MESSAGE
Submitted by Demi Olubanwo, editor

NO REPORT

TECHNICIAN
Submitted by Ty Johnson, editor

Budget — Bradley and I met shortly before winter break to discuss budget shortfalls, but he said not to worry about things until we could run the final numbers for 2009. We’ll discuss it throughout the semester to stay on top of the budget situation.

Personnel — I’ve hired six new deputy editors who all began work with the school year, so it’s been a fun transition for them and me. They’re still getting the hang of day-to-day operations, but we’re aiming for Feb. 1 to be the day we’re all caught up.

Training — I’ve been doing a lot of one on one training with my new editors, and last weekend’s retreat was a good time to discuss issues with production and get problems out of the way ahead of time. Also, here is my addendum to the Nov. report concerning my ethics training: As per last month’s Board Meeting, I organized an ethics training for the entire staff to focus on ethics and libel in reporting. Below is the summary of the training and attached are statistics and photos from the training.
Attendance summary: 40 attendees
Online Pretest: 32 submissions
Posttest: 10 submissions

Mike Tadych, a First Amendment and communication law litigation attorney with Everett, Gaskins, Hancock & Stevens, LLP led our training on ethics and libel Sunday Nov. 8 in the Student Senate Chambers.

After a quick rundown, again, of what the Mary Beth Kurz situation entailed, Tadych cited examples of differing cases he’s experienced in his time practicing law. He gave an extensive definition of libel, and answered a number of questions from attendees, including one about a recent cartoon Technician published.

Tadych discussed at length various defenses and prosecutions he had been a part of, especially in working with Raleigh’s News & Observer reporters.

He said mistakes will happen, and that it was good we could learn from them in a college setting, but really sent the message of how serious the publishing of unsubstantiated stories can be in a professional setting.

He also discussed public records requests, and had an interesting example of how he and the N&O staff weren’t allowed access to the same e-mails from the University as the federal government’s investigation. This example, because it involved a recent and ongoing event, seemed to garner the most attention from the attendees, especially since it involved N.C. State.

After a question-and-answer session, I spoke on how stories like the one I published can be avoided through prior review guidelines and the danger and privilege of being able to post content on the Web.

Tadych said the big stories aren’t usually the ones that get papers in trouble, that it’s the small ones that aren’t reviewed as much that usually lead to law suits. I cited some examples where it was my judgment on whether to run a story or not for ethical reasons, and we opened up discussion about the differences between legality and ethics.

I also highlighted some points on some handouts Bradley provided me that were pertinent to what we do. Ranging from fact-checking to questioning the printing of stories, I think I helped the attendees realize they are truly journalists and that the issues facing non-student newspapers everyday were the same problems they were experiencing as well, from long hours and low pay to angry sources and harsh deadlines.

Saja Hindi volunteered to e-mail attendees training evaluations for them to complete. We’re placing a deadline for those as soon as she can locate the evaluation form and get them out.

Though I was very impressed with our attendance at the training, we’re aiming to ensure all staff members receive the training through the use of our Vista course. Section instructor Peggy Boone is making certain all staff members take the quizzes as part of their required monthly training. Those who missed the training were told to pick up the handouts at their section meeting this week, and we’ll also have the handouts online in .pdf format so others can view them.

Coverage — Between following up on stories from last semester and our new chancellor, we have a wealth of work to do this year. I’ve asked the new editors to focus almost chiefly on story ideas to begin with to insure we vary our coverage. Also this month will likely see the deployment of the beat system that I’m very excited about.

Deadlines — Last year we finished very strong and the first three papers of 2010 have been impressive. Besides our first paper which sent very late, we’ve sent early twice.

Ethics/Legal issues — We’ve had no corrections this year, and though Bradley’s numbers show we finished up last semester averaging one correction per issue, this is an improvement from earlier in the semester.

WINDHOVER
Submitted by Helen Dear, editor

Windhover‘s most recent activity has been focused in several areas: collecting submissions, posting submissions to the Web site, developing the theme of the book, making major design and printing decisions, and a new addition to our team.

Although the official deadline for submissions was Dec. 1, Windhover will be accepting submissions through Friday, Jan. 15. The literary and visual committees are meeting on the 15, and we wanted to collect for some last-minute submissions to make the pool of work as great as possible. As of Jan. 11, we have the 655 total submissions: literary — 195; visual — 446; audio — 14.

The quality of all submissions is generally pretty high, which will hopefully ensure a book full of quality work. I am pleased that we have more fashion design, fine art and textile design than in years past. This year’s Windhover will deviate away from the traditional inclusion of many senior graphic design pieces, which I think is a good thing. There are also many more short stories and prose pieces than expected.

The next step is for the review committees to meet and determine which pieces will be included in the print edition, which is happening in the next week. All visual pieces will be reviewed by Friday, Jan. 15. All literary pieces will be reviewed by Monday, Jan. 25.

The majority of these works have been posted to the Windhover Web site (some have not because of poor quality and/or lack of time to post all 655 pieces!). See more about the Web site in the Web report below.

The design staff has been finalizing some major design decisions about the book before conveying them to the printer, Frank Pulley from Theo Davis Printing. The designers put a lot of effort and research into choosing the typeface for the book. Our choice, Sentinel (from foundry Hoefler & Frere-Jones), is a traditional serif font with lots of different weights. Other decisions the design staff has finalized include: book size, paper choice (color, weight), cover stock, and spot colors. Toni Chester, senior designer, and I will convey these decisions to our printer on Jan. 15. The most challenging part of planning the design for this book has definitely been developing a theme that can be applied in both a visual and a literary sense. Discussing the aesthetic decisions we envision for the book (natural, muted colors) with Joe Wright, the literary and audio editor, has helped us organize the book’s content in a way that can be interpreted literally and visually.

Windhover has welcomed Mollie Mohr, junior in English, as an unpaid assistant to the Literary and Audio Editor Joe Wright. Mollie will work with Joe to organize the Literary Review Committee, select and edit literary pieces for the book, and organize pieces into sections. Mollie is very enthusiastic about editing and literature, and has had previous leadership experience. I’m excited for her to learn about the literary selection and editing process this year, bearing in mind that perhaps she will be involved next year.

FROM WORDPRESS:
Referrers (how people navigate to Windhover‘s site):
- Facebook: 174
- WKNC: 53
(shows that our publicity on WKNC is effective!)
(also: many blogs from people that submitted are listed as referrers)

Top Posts: past 30 days
- Home page: 1359 visits
- Submission Policy: 56 visits
- Photography by Maggie Luckadoo: 28 visits

Total Views: of all time!
- overall: 9,612
- Nov. 09: 3,808
- Dec. 09: 2,012
- Jan. 10: 952
- average per day: 86
- week of Jan. 4 had a 289 percent increase
- busiest day: Nov 8: 377 visits

WKNC
Submitted by Mike Alston, general manager

Revenue — Non-fee income (money in the bank), as of Jan. 1, 2010: $16,985.30
Tir Na Nog — $6,850.00
Regular donor announcements — $6,579.60
Promotions — $800.00
Recording Fees — $30.00
Live Nation — $1,293.75
Sports —$1,050.00
Other – $381.95

Sponsorship sales, as of Jan. 12, 2010: $7,704. We are continuing to add new clients, some in package sponsorships with Technician. Our collection rate is also high.

Expenditures — Several budgeted engineering purchases were made during December and will show up in January’s expenditures. We also purchased a new AudioVault automation system, as our previous system was no longer supported by the manufacturer and having stability issues. Other than that, there are no noteworthy purchases or abnormal expenditures.

Personnel — We made several personnel changes in our music department. I hired John Hubbard as the new daytime music director. John was previously an assistant daytime music director. We hired Michael Jones as the second assistant daytime music director. Michael was the “Outstanding New Staff Member” for the fall semester. Jeremy Leonard remains an assistant daytime music director. Kate Rafferty rounds out the daytime music staff as daytime music assistant. Kunal Vasudev was hired as new underground music director. We also had a unique opportunity to hire Kelly Reid, former daytime music director, as the station’s head music director while she finishes her second bachelor’s degree. Kelly will be charged with training all new music director personnel as well as helping to develop a training curriculum for future music director turnover. The graduation of Carter Neely has propelled Liz Cervantes to sole production manager, a role in which she has impressed thus far.

Training — Kelly Reid, head music director, is developing a new training curriculum, most especially for music directors. The WKNC spring training program begins with two interest meetings Jan. 13 and 15, with official training to start Jan. 20.

Coverage — The Jan. 11 Eye on the Triangle featured an interview with Chancellor James Woodward about his newly announced successor William “Randy” Woodson.

Technology — Fred Eaker and our engineering staff upgraded Audiovault over the Christmas break. Innumerable and inevitable changeover issues arose, but Fred has been on top of all of them.

Online presence — WKNC.org had 27,292 visits and 74,762 page views from 14,724 visitors during December 2009. Our visit numbers dipped slightly right around Christmas, but still remained relatively strong despite the holiday. Nearly half of our page views are for either the front page or our playlist page. DJ Rudy had the highest number of views to his DJ profile (353) with Adam Kincaid second (54 views).

Our top referral site continues to be Facebook (942 visits). As of 1/13, we have 1,325 fans of our Facebook page and WKNC881 on Twitter has 1,149 followers.

SOCIETY FOR COLLEGIATE JOURNALISTS
Submitted by Susannah Brinkley, president

SCJ is preparing for another semester, starting with recruitment. Two officers, treasurer Meredith Faggart and historian Luis Zapata, will study abroad this semester, so they will not be active members this semester. However, member Alison Harman has returned from a semester abroad, and she will be joining us again. We are hoping to accrue some more new members this semester too. We held an information session the first week of school, and we are encouraging others to apply for SCJ. Applications are due Jan. 27 and inductions will take place Feb. 5. The application process has not changed.

Adviser Martha Collins has been busy planning the SCJ Biennial Convention which we will host March 5 to 7. She is working to arrange hotel accommodations, meals and classroom spaces, as well as speakers for the various breakout sessions. It is shaping up to be an exciting opportunity for SCJ members at N.C. State and nationally.

SCJ had originally been planning a panel discussion for February, but we decided we had enough on our plate with the convention in March. We will shift our focus to that, as well as to Sunshine Week, which is also in March.

BUSINESS OFFICE
Submitted by Laura Frey

Revenue — When reviewing the revenue from this past fall semester in comparison to fall 2008 we found that local sales had increased by $18,922.01. In special sections the increase was $3531.56. As we start a new semester we are encouraging our staff to make more personal connections with their clients and to go out more into the field to continue to boost revenue.

Staff — Although we lost a few employees to graduation we have found replacements to fill all of our open positions. After holding interviews during the last week of classes, we hired five of the eight applicants. We now have four new office assistants and one new sales representative.

Training — We held our spring semester training on Jan. 9 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. We split up around the office to focus on specialized training, which was important for the new staff members.  For the returning staff the training was more so a review but it’s always good to be refreshed after a long break. The design team worked on fliers for the housing fair and baseball on WKNC. We all joined together to go to lunch and everyone except the sales representatives were free to leave after. Liz Cervantes and Matt Tobia came to give some input on script writing and even judged a competition we had. The sales representatives were quizzed on their knowledge of the office by ending the day with a scavenger hunt.  Overall, the training was an enjoyable way to refresh the returning staff and educate the new staff for the upcoming semester.

Week 11: 3 prospects, 0 meetings, 17 contacts, $7,098.26 in sales
Week 12: 5 prospects, 1 meeting, 15 contacts, $7,539.53 in sales
Week 13: 2 prospects, 0 meetings, 15 contacts, $1,353.10 in sales
Week 14: 2 prospects, 2 meetings, 14 contacts, $7,219.45 in sales
Exam issue: $3,815 in sales
Week 1: 2 prospects, 0 meetings, 8 contacts, $6,833.09 in sales

BUDGET UPDATE
As of Jan. 1, 2010

Technician advertising billed: $161,927.42
Technician projections for collections: $150,592.50
Technician budgeted income to date: $196,889.75
Technician actual expenditures to date: $145,132.60
Nubian Message local advertising sold to date: $180.00
Agromeck local advertising sold to date: $0
Agromeck total advertising sold to date: $4,490.00
Agromeck book sales to date: 5
WKNC non-fee income to date: $20,536.35 (billed and collected)

CLICK HERE for a PDF version of the update.

ACADEMIC PROGRESS

The Student Media has a policy regarding grades and full-time status of its employees, last amended October 2008. All students are advised of this policy when they complete their job/volunteer agreement.

We analyzed the grades and status of the current students on payroll and working as volunteers. As we continue to watch the potential impact of a grade policy, here is how Student Media came out for the fall of 2009:

• We had 239 students in our records, including volunteers. It took Jamie about 12 hours to check grades using the online Student Information System and analyze the data. The October 2009 report included 289 students, representing a loss of 50 students throughout the semester.
• There were 84 people (35 percent) with a greater than a 3.500 GPA for the semester. This represents an increase from 32 percent of the staff earning a greater than 3.5000 for the semester in fall 2008 and 29percent in fall 2007.
• There were 21 people (9 percent) with a 4.00 GPA for the semester and 16 (7 percent) with a cumulative GPA of 4.00. This represents an increase from 7 percent of the staff with a 4.00 semester and 3 percent with a 4.000 cumulative in fall 2008. In fall 2007, 8 percent of the staff had a 4.00 semester and 5 percent had a 4.00 cumulative.
• There were 161 (67 percent) people with greater than a 3.0 cumulative GPA, fulfilling one of the requirements for membership in the Society for Collegiate Journalists. This is an increase from 61percent in fall 2008, 62 percent in fall 2007 and 61percent in fall 2006.
• There were three students with below a 2.00 cumulative (much lower than the seven students in the falls of 2008 and 2007). Our current policy states these students will be dismissed from the staff. Two of the students were first semester freshmen.
• The media outlet with the highest cumulative GPA and semester GPA for the fall of 2009 was Windhover. The staff of the Nubian Message had the lowest cumulative GPA and semester GPA. The average cumulative GPA for all of our students was 3.215 (range: 1.694 – 4.000). The average semester GPA for all of our students was a 3.146 (range: 0.200 – 4.000).

Of our student leaders (individuals in non-entry-level positions across all Student Media):

• 15 had below a 2.50 for the semester.
• Five student leaders had below a 2.500 cumulative.
• Three student leaders had a 4.00 for the semester and two maintain a 4.00 cumulative.
• The average cumulative GPA for student leaders was 3.117. (Average cumulative GPA was 3.201 in fall 2008, 3.22 in fall 2007 and 3.336 in fall 2006)

DETAILED NOTES FROM DISCUSSION ON TECHNICIAN EDITOR HIRING

Technician Editor Ty Johnson then expressed concernes about University policy 11.55.6 regarding student leaders. He acknowledged that his GPA was below a 2.5 but his cumulative GPA was a 2.7, above a 2.5. “It was a pretty bad semester.” Mike Alston asked if he had met with the adviser within four weeks. Ty said yes. Bob Ashley reminded everyone that Ty was being dismissed from his leadership position, not from staff. Mike then asked about the previous semester. Ty said he was on a work plan after his academic performance in the spring of 2009 but that he took a summer class and did very well so he thought he was removed from the work plan. Mike said the policy doesn’t speak to work plan then skip a semester then get back on a work plan. Ty said, “I still feel like I am entitled to this semester.” Laura asked if there was anything in the policy regarding repeat offenders. Jamie said she wondered whether summer counted. Mike asked if summer counted. Ty said, “I was not aware I was on a work plan this fall. I had no idea this was going to happen. I took one class over the summer.” Mike asked what Ty and Bradley talked about this fall. Ty said that being on a work plan is more like a meeting. “It’s not like I didn’t want his help. I have an academic adviser. I went on a work plan after the spring.” Bryant said that he understands that the law protects Ty’s privacy. John Clark said that something was mising. Bryant said, “You get one chance and that’s it.”

Bradley explained the discussions that were had among the professional staff and other individuals in student affairs. First there was the philosophy that academics takes priority. We should not be having expectations of students that conflict consistently with academic performance, jeopardizing their potential for a successful academic experience. We also took time to look at the students as individuals when going through this process. We looked at the numbers in terms of grades and enrollment. Then we looked at past performance. We considered objective measures as well as subjective measures. Ty asked, “So there was some subjectivity? Maybe if the adviser were ‘closer’ to the student leader he would be more qualified to evaluate that subjectivity.” Ty acknowledged that he could have been suspended in the fall base on academic progress at that point and that he was reminded of that. “Yes, I knew it.” Louise asked Ty, “So, you’ve already had one semester on a work plan?” Ty acknowledge that he had.

Bob Ashley said he was feeling a little uncomfortable with the level involvement Mike was making as the chair running the meeting but also interjecting so often. Mike said, point well taken and moved on.

Laura said, “You kind of get one chance to redeem yourself. What happens there goes.” Ty said he was expecting to discuss my work plan for the spring. It’s not even a question of whether they’re consecutive or not. My mom wasn’t happy with it. A probationary status would be a more appropriate thing. I had no staff this summer. This fall, I put all the pieces together. It was a rebuilding year. I knew my GPA was going to go down. Lyndsey asked, “Did you discuss it? Was it something you assumed?” Ty said he did everything possible to get a 2.5. I don’t want to have a bad GPA. John asked, “Did you talk about your GPA?” Lyndsey said she thought Ty was relying on the work plan. Ty acknowledged that if he saw this coming he should have talked with Bradley.

Bryant said that at this point, he’s not sure what the role of the Board is. I don’t know. Bob said he was beginning to feel like the group was going around in circles. We’ve voted for the policy as amended. University policy trumps Student Media policy. Mike said he would accept any motions at this point. Bob said he would like to have a person in Student Affairs come in to discuss 11.55.6 with the Board. “It’s an appropriate topic to discuss.” Dean said he felt uncomfortable discussing a University policy that he really wasn’t familiar with. Bob said this was an issue of importance, an issue that affects the lives of good people. Dean said it has created some understandable confusion.

Mike said at this point if there were no objections, he was going to limit debate to 90 seconds per person to keep the meeting moving.

Ty said he called Mike Giancola and that Giancola confirmed that this decision was left to the discretion of the adviser. The decision had already been made by the time he had been notified. “I wanted to show you that my view is to pressure said adviser to reconsider this decision. It has been a constant war. I’ve never had any support from Bradley. I’ve had minimal support from this Board. This is a loophole someone is exploiting. None of this really surprises me. Could a probationary status work better for everyone involved. I’m a person. An objective number let someone act subjectively.

Krystal said that we (the professional) staff all discussed this. It was an agreed upon decision. We also kept your performance completely separate from the issue at hand.

At this point, Mike said that unless there were further discussion he suggested the Board move to the next item on the agenda.

Regarding the Technician editor, Bradley reminded the Board that is the group’s decision on how to hire.

Ty said he prepared an application and passed it out. He said that beyond the bureaucracy of who is qualified, he said he didn’t understand why he couldn’t reapply. “I don’t think in a week someone’s going to apply. I don’t think in a month someone’s going to apply.” Viewpoint Editor Russell Witham said that of the senior-most staff (Lauren, Biko, himself and Kate), none of us are willing or able to apply this semester. There won’t be someone in a week or month. Power sharing, that’s not an option. I don’t think it’s possible to run this boat without some senior exectuvie. What would be your advice for the staff moving forward.

Dean asked, “So you don’t believe you can run things by committee, but you can’t recommend any individuals either?” Russell said you need someone to call the shots. Without that person, it’s hard to make those decisions. These are very real problems. Do we have the content? Yes, we hope so. I don’t think any of us are prepared to lead. Prepared to help lead it? Yes. Michele said that taking 17 hours for a graduating senior is a lot. But I’m serving as exective editor. It would be a good idea for the Technician as well. Surely one section editor can step up. Tyler Everett, sports reporter, said he’s edited the sports section maybe 20 times tops. He said it was unbelivably unlikely and impossible he would be ready to lead the entire staff. Russell said it wasn’t impossible for the staff to get a group of people to lead the group for the semester. He said being editor takes a financial toll and an emotional toll. It’s a draining role. We have people who have technically met the qualificiations all over staff. The Board has established minimum expectations, not real expectations. Everyone I’ve spoken to cannot do it. We don’t feel like there is a person who can and who wants to.

Bob said this was a difficult decision. Clearly Ty has the support and loyalty of the staff. Basically we have an institutional emergency. I sense the Board’s view is not accepted among the staff members. Now, leave aside the reason, the Technician is about not to have an editor. All of you are talented folks that have a commitment to the institution. What if the editor were hit by a truck or got Swine Flu and were out of commission for a while. You would have to come together to follow through with your commitment. It’s a challenge. Your commitment is to the institution. Put aside personal feelings. The Technician is bigger than any of us. It has a long and important tradition on campus. Ulitimately, this Board cannot solve this problem. None of us can. It’s up to you.

Ty said he didn’t get hit by a bus. “I still feel like I meet the qualifications to apply. I would just press the Board to think outside the box. Which of these qualifications don’t I meet? It’s a loophole I’m trying to get us to look at.”

John said he didn’t think we should discuss Ty any more tonight. Now we can pursue other options.

Bob Ashley moved and John Clark seconded that Ty was not a qualified candidate and his candidacy would not be considered by the Board.

In discussion on the motion, Charlie said this wasa newspaper. “I find it hard to believe the four section editors wouldn’t want to put out this paper. Feelings aside, we need people to put this paper out. It’s getting a little bit ridiculous.” Nick Tran, reporter, said that in the time he’s known Ty, Ty has taken on more than one role, helping with the news staff in particular. He said the news staff was not capable of working without some form of oversight at this point.

Brent Kitchen asked which section keeps Ty unqualified for the job. Bradley replied 2.1.5.

The motion passed unanimously.

Bryant Robbins spoke to the Technician staff. “You applied to get a newspaper done. I made sure that somebody stepped up so that we, all my staff, can finish what we started. Somone can step up. What you’re talking about is finishing what you started.”

Dean told the staff that minimally they were going to have to rotate through the job. Russell said members of the editorial board can manage the budget. Coop said they were jumping ahead of things. Lauren Blakely said she had no problem with each of the senior staffers taking one night. Tyler said there is more than one position open at the top. Alanna Howard said she didn’t have time even if it was for just one night. Bob asked if Ty’s predecessor was eligible to help out. Jamie said that just wasn’t an option. Bryant said “It’s not like this is a lot more work. Step up to the plate.”

Martha reminded the group that although he is not qualified to be a student leader, Ty had not been dismissed from staff.

Bob Ashley moved and Dean Phillips seconded that the Board re-open the application process effective immediately with a deadline of Feb. 2. On Feb. 2, the Board would have an emergency meeting to determine how to move forward. In the interim, the senior staff in conjunction with the professional staff to do what was necessary to continue publication.

Lauren said she didn’t think it was an issue of the staff getting the paper out. We’re going to try our best. Bob said he certainly expected the staff members would do their best.

Laura again reminded everyone that if Ty was willing he could be on staff as a copyeditor. Bradley said Ty could do whatever an entry-level staff member could do, but he couldn’t represent himself as editor. And Bradley said he would do what was necessary to get people paid what they were owed for payroll and paid on time. Michele said Ty can still contribute to staff. People can still look up to him.

Ty said he had, earlier in the day, had a discussion with Bradley about choices and his role on staff. But he asked why on earth he would still want to contribute to staff when the Board had been working to undermine me at every turn.

Dean asked what that meant. Ty said he chose his words poorly. Bob said words matter. Ty said it has been difficult and made difficult by some choices I’ve made. Why would I want to accept the responsibility. Jamie said it would be for Ty to determine how to proceed.

The motion passed unanimously.