FMO Executive Board Minutes:

Thursday, June 4, 2009

 

Start: 7:04 pm

 

  1. Minutes Read
  2. Minutes Passed
  3. Marrion
    1. Ben
      1. Freshman in Medill
      2. FMO seems to be marginalized in terms of press on campus
      3. Would like to do a podcast involving FMO
        1. Possibly with Northwestern Chronicle
        2. Email: ben.millstein@gmail.com
        3. (Tyris) Multicultural-centered newspaper?
        4. (Ben) People should be aware. Healthy to work within the framework of the existing community.
        5. (Tyris) How much would people tune in to a podcast if they’re not paying attention to the info being put forth already by NU newspapers?
        6. (Ben) Podcast can do video, audio, slide shos, and PDF
      4. (Marrion) Great resource to utilize. Will email Ben later on to write more in-depth about the plan for the podcast
    2. Supplies for Dreams
      1. Handout
      2. Non-profit organization
      3. Donate critical school supplies through individualized backpacks
      4. Replenish supplies halfway through year
      5. For high school students
      6. Dream Interest Program
        1. Mentoring Program
          1. How to apply for jobs
          2. Etiquette
        2. Tutoring component
        3. 6% of 400,000 CPS students are expected to graduate from college
        4. Long term vision
          1. To standardize program for entire CPS
            1. 100-120 CPS schools have this type of program
        5. Partnership with FMO

 

 

 

 

 

          1. Kenwood faculty member would like black student leaders to come talk to his students
            1. Help with essays, ACT
          2. Support
        1. (Tyris) I think this is a good opportunity for us to pass on to our constituency. Coming from one of the best universities, reaching out to students and saying we want you here too
        2. (Marrion) One of our goals should always be to help others who are less fortunate. This could be our community service event for the year.
        3. (Kellyn) Why Kenwood? Related to US Empowered?
          1. Responded quickly. Not sure if related
        4. (Beth) Time commitment?
          1. Depends on what you are able to offer. Maybe once a week or once a month
        5. (Tyris) Consistent relationship should be maintained, so should be once a month
        6. (Marrion) Once a week or once every two weeks would be good.
        7. (Marrion) What do you need in terms of supplies?
          1. $25 for one whole backpack. Not expecting a lot financially from FMO.
        8. (Marrion) Formal Vote to support project
          1. Beth – motion
          2. Kellyn – second
          3. Unanimously approved
  1. Beth
    1. Late because she was at a meeting about combining the Black House and the MCC
      1. Talked about MSA, Caretta Cooke
        1. Possibly probationary period for six months
      2. Idea
        1. Talk about student experiences involving multiculturalism
    2. ISP
      1. Debriefing meeting
      2. Support from two more professors
      3. To do for next year
        1. Lecture series on Islamic and Muslim issues
    3. Black Business/Church Fair
      1. Giving them the letters to take
      2. Correspond over the summer to help
    4. Firesides

 

 

 

 

      1. Want to have the firesides to be a place where we can air out black issues so they can hear what we talk about to ourselves
      2. Racial profiling as first fireside
      3. OSB wanted to do health disparities for a fireside
      4. Possibly religion
      5. (Marrion) Possibly five different firesides with a different topic for each
      6. (Tyris) How would it be formatted to relate to the people we’re talking to
        1. (Beth) With Jena 6, opened with stories
        2. Informative and discussion-based
        3. (Kellyn) With fireside about racial profiling, a member of PAC should be apart of it
      7. (Camille) We shouldn’t make any fireside strictly FMO; satellites and affiliates should be there too
      8. (Tyris) Goal? In dorms?
        1. (Beth) Start in dorms, then go to frats
      9. (Tyris) Incentive?
        1. Get points in res colleges
      10. (Marrion) Goal to dispel myths about FMO and make sure people don’t think we’re just exclusive. Not really concerned about large numbers. If a few people can be moved and informed, that’s good. Our satellites and affiliates should feel like they’re apart of it, but an FMO member will go with them
  1. Marrion
    1. Racial Profiling Rally Recap
      1. (Tyris) I think the rally went well, but the people we were talking to were the sam people we were talking to at the forum. It’s reading week, but people aren’t in classes at noon usually. I think that crowd was little, as opposed to what should’ve been there. There should have been 100 people there on a bad day. Same stories. Nissi’s idea: stand in front of the Black House
      2. (Kristin) I thought it was a nice turnout. A lot of people I tried to get to come had class. It was different from the forum.
      3. (La Donna) Maybe it should have been longer.
      4. (Kellyn) VP Banis, grad students, random people came. It was a bit different. Plus it was last-minute. When it comes to the fall, there should be more people. We needed to keep people interested and involved.
      5. (Tyris) My expectation is a bit different. Those are people who already know racial profiling exists. Goal should be unaware people coming. It’s not just a black issue, but every person should be upset. I expect us to expect more out of not only the black community, but the Northwestern community.

 

 

 

 

      1. (Nissi) I thought it was really good. When I first heard, I thought, “Oh, another rally.” Kianga was really good, and so was Arianna. We’re dealing with a campus that has ignored the black community for a while. Force the campus to pay attention to us. Channel 2 was there. The idea was borrowed from Ms. Jerre: If the demands at the rally are not achieved by next year, then have a rally at the Black House. If the rally is at 12 pm, it should start at 11:50 to catch people leaving from class. I know it was last-minute, but maybe we should go back to picket signs and maybe we should have walked to Kellogg. I thought it was a good event. I thought more people would come out.
      2. (Marrion) I feel similarly. I feel it was very successful because after the racial profiling forum I talked to Kianga, and people were fed up, but I didn’t want to do something directly after that event, but momentum would’ve been built soon, and died soon. We showed the administration that this has been thought-out and worked on consistently. Different theme from last week to this week. It gave people a week to cool down. Then, we can lay out what we can do and mobilize. We will in the future mobilize more students. We are working with a very apathetic community. It was publicized very well. People are lazy. I’m glad you all think we should have a larger turnout. We are the biggest culture group on campus. Without FMO, a lot that happens on this campus, wouldn’t. We need to mobilize our friends. Facebook – people won’t come. They’ll just click a button. We are partially the problem because we could’ve told more people. Having it outside of the Black House is a great idea. This is a Northwestern issue. We want a policy that will be spread throughout the entire NU campus
      3. (Dalls) I think it’s healthy that we’re talking about making it a university-wide issue. It ran at 6:00 on CBS, and that’s good. We should push to get more TV coverage. External relations person from NU was there, and he was there because CBS was there
    1. Meeting with Provost Linzer and others
      1. Talked more in detail about concerns with Ms. Cooke
      2. We want another meeting next week
      3. Linzer cares and has the power to change things
      4. (Amin) What power does the provost have?
        1. (Marrion) In charge of everything at Northwestern. Whenever you say you are part of FMO, say For Members Only, the black student alliance, not FMO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

        1. Don’t be afraid of making it seem like we’re exclusive. Also, say Vice Coordinator instead of VC
  1. Camille
    1. BSAC Calendar
      1. If you’re on a satellite or affiliate, make sure you have them send information
    2. NPHC
      1. Don’t have a reprimand yet. (Marrion) Send a warning, and if they’ don’t attend a mandatory event, they will be put on probation, which consists of loss of listserv privileges, etc. (Check Constitution.) If it’s a warning, it should come from Camille, but Marrion should be CC’ed.
    3. Satellites and Affiliates website up; included are important documents, to-do lists before summer and fall
    4. Black Student Handbook deadline by June 30
      1. Invite Exec to site
      2. Put link to the site on the FMO website
      3. Don’t want people to have power to change calendar. Francesca to approve events on calendar but ask Camille first
      4. For satellites and affiliates, communication is bogged down with use of technology. Instead of Facebook, make face-to-face contact. That is a concern, and we should address it as much as possible
        1. (Tyris) One person from each satellite and affiliate should come every two weeks to give us a brief overview of what they do
          1. That’s apart of the plan for two members from FMO going to every satellite and affiliate event
    5. Records
      1. Leave everything accessible so future classes can use it too
      2. Leave layout for leadership retreat for next year
    6. Autonomy
      1. Self-owned, self-run
      2. Made a comment at leadership retreat saying we should be autonomous and one leader felt offended and addressed it later. It’s about taking pride in ourselves.
  2. Nissi
    1. Fall speaker
      1. Working with Cahn and Pick-Staiger
        1. Price? Cahn - $525 – standard rate to rent
        2. Cahn is reserved for November 23rd, 2009
        3. Pick-Staiger - $2000 - $3000
        4. Date is fine

 

 

 

 

      1. Theme: How black community received and perceived
      2. Put in his contract that we want a lecture at McCormick-Tribune to appeal to academic departments so they can give us more financial support
      3. Meet-and-greet and book signing to be included; could cost more
    1. Black Family Reunion
      1. Committee sent out itinerary for the day
      2. Whoever wins the contest should be included in Voice and Vision
      3. Egg toss, double dutch, etc
      4. Not a lot of speaking; Nissi and Marrion will talk, and that’s it
      5. Food will be served throughout the day
      6. NPHC to help out strongly
        1. Shouldn’t be co-sponsored
        2. Told them we wanted one member from each Greek organization
        3. Participation should be something that gets Greeks directly involved and we could ask old Greeks to come back and participate
        4. (Marrion) This is NPHC’s chance to show their face and dispel the myth that Greeks are just for parties
      7. Nissis will meet with Shadra to get money
        1. June 8, 2009 at 9 am
    2. Alianza general/social
      1. First general in October, but they won’t be apart of our general
      2. Ice cream social?
    3. T-shirts for FMO
      1. Amin’s ideas
      2. Francesca’s ideas
      3. Look at images on shirt before we decide on one
    4. Members Only Jackets
      1. (Marrion) Can research jackets and collectively vote on a jacket
    5. Who will be here this summer?
  1. Francesca
    1. Looking for African proverbs or quotes; something politically driven for FMO shirt
    2. NSBE banquet
      1. Evan spoke and brought up some things he learned at the FMO general
      2. Rare interaction between NSBE and FMO
      3. NSBE has a weird view of FMO, but after the leadership retreat, Evan and Ike have talked about FMO. They’re really interested.

 

 

 

 

  1. Adam
    1. $263 deposited in checks and money given for Financial Freedom Campaign, not including online contributions
    2. $200 NUBAA check deposited
    3. Waiting on check from CSI and admissions
    4. Now we’re at $269
    5. Nissis needs reimbursement
      1. Give Adam receipt
    6. Camille will get her reimbursement
    7. LUNA check to be mailed
    8. FAB wristbands
      1. $275.42
      2. Transfer the $263 into OO. Then we can issue the FAB bill, but write a memo because it’s from last quarter
    9. Admissions will give check tomorrow
    10. Financial Freedom Campaign; make sure all money has been paid
      1. If you have money now for June, give it to Adam now
      2. Goal: three scholarships
  2. Dallas
    1. Put a lot of pictures on website and Facebook
    2. Working on Black Student Handbook
    3. Black Student Yearbook – no response
  3. Kellyn
    1. Newsletter
      1. Draft
        1. To put in Faculty Appreciation Dinner
        2. Need Zach’s letter
        3. Mike will send information for Spring Concert
        4. Everything filed in by Saturday
      2. Attach across listserv and make copies to put at the Black House
      3. Mail this summer
    2. PAC
      1. Meeting Tuesday; five people came
      2. People interested in racial profiling
      3. Email suggestions
        1. (Tyris) Send all stories to administration
          1. Questionnaires – to type up
    3. Meeting with BGSA next week
  4. Kristin
    1. Album has most views
    2. Since racial profiling incident, activity on website has gone down
    3. FMO group updated, so you have Admin privileges
      1. Accept invite

 

 

 

 

  1. Tyris
    1. Parents won’t be added to website
      1. If students want their parents involved they should be responsible for making that happen
    2. At senate, vote failed; didn’t have a quorum
    3. Presented first piece of legislation
    4. Student life legislation (Ms. Cooke) received overwhelming support
      1. Compile literature in the future
    5. (Nissi) Suggestion: When sending emails, don’t include original text
  2. Amin
    1. Financial Freedom Campaign deadline tomorrow
      1. Can push back until next Friday
    2. Solicitation packet – never got, but will push forward
    3. Departmental solicitation
      1. Put together direct budget list and draft a solicitation on different offices and tie in how FMO is related to them and how it is beneficial to them
      2. Do as soon as we get back, like Sept 1
  3. Marrion
    1. Community Bridging Effort
      1. Proud of you all
      2. Becoming more than an Exec Board
      3. Active Effort
        1. Transition dinner
        2. Grad students are coming for office hours, and African American Studies department is happy with this idea
      4. Vocal Effort
        1. Providing political voice
        2. PAC has been doing a great job
      5. Structural Effort
        1. Timeline
        2. Meeting as frequently as possible
  4. Extra
    1. (Nissi) Do binders for secretary and ASG senator before beginning of new school year

 

End: 9:15 pm

 

 

Attendance:

All Present