Executive Meeting Minutes – December 16, 2020

Executive Meeting Minutes

Date: December 16, 2020
Time: 4:30 p.m. PST
Location: Zoom
Called to order at 4:37 PM.

Roll Call

• President: Gina Vasquez (Present)
• Vice President: Heather Leasure (Present)
• Director of Academic Affairs: Nigeria Tyler-Williams (Present)
• Director of Finance: Laud Williams (Present)
• Director of Legislative Affairs: Samantha Fakharzadeh (Present)
• Director of Student Events and Promotion: Chelsea Rollins (Absent)
• Director of Communications and Compliance: Altessia Endencia (Present)
• Director of Diversity: Andrea Ashmore (Present)
• Director of Resources: Alexis Edwards (Present)

• Advisors: Andria Donneworth

Reports

President Report

Becky O’Donnell, Andria, and Angela meeting about moving forward with research grant. Over break, will be working on Presence — which is our new social engagement platform that will be rolled out across all campuses throughout spring break. Tessa will be helping with that, along with committee chairs.

Vice President Report

Working on food voucher program, including working with different companies over break. Hopefully, we will be able to start it mid-spring or set it up over summer. Will be setting up meetings with Debbie to figure out next steps.

Director of Academic Affairs Report

I have been working with United Way to see if they would fund the Cougar Pledge. School that used to work for was funded by United Way. Trying to get it to be a permanent grant.

Director of Finance Report

Sent an update for agenda. We’ve been getting a lot of people asking about money lately, and expecting to use more funds next year. Starting next semester, we will be doing a finance report. Angela is working on something similar to advisory program for global campus.

Director of Legislative Affairs Report

Committee days just happened. Met with a few legislators and trying to get childcare and TPA out there. Started DOLA transition for pre-legislative phases and legislative phases, including a getting started kit (a lot of physical things needed to get started).

Director of Communications and Compliance Report

Met with Gina last week to go through Presence. After two proposals from last meeting, found that Presence would work very well with both of them (including orientation and tracking committee hours). Will be working on our Presence page over winter break.

Director of Diversity Report

Connected with Matthew Jeffries (Director of GEISORC)about the lavender graduation for LGBTQ+ graduation to partner with us so that global campus students can participate in graduation. Going to connect next month, but he was onboard. Currently, global is lacking in that regard of supporting LGBTQ+ students. Also going to see what they do and how we can implement some of the things that they are doing.

Laud and Andrea are working on a survey, sent to Nigeria and Tessa for feedback to understand people’s experiences to help minimize issues. Chelsea and Andrea are also partnering about events to put together next semester. Want to also implement a comment dropbox to help gather anonymous information from people that do not want to contact directly. Had also received data to look into, including graduation rates and demographics to identify issues. Next week, will dive into Presence to do some self training.

Director of Resources Report

Finished the fall reimbursements, which have all been approved so students should be getting checks.

Also been doing organization on the backend. A lot of people submitting reimbursements for the first time. Have a master spreadsheet now so that when people apply for reimbursements, you can see how much they’ve received before and also see how much has been spent so far. Also looking to integrate forms into Presence, and Valentine’s Day cooking event. Also seeing which resources are most in demand and the professional organization reimbursement plan.

Students have been asking insurance program — looking into it (Coug Health as a potential resource).

Items Discussed

Meeting Minutes — 12/02/2020

Motion to approve meeting minutes by Tessa.

Motion seconded by Nigeria.

Votes:

• Yes by Tessa
• Yes by Chelsea
• Yes by Heather
• Yes by Samantha
• Yes by Laud
• Yes by Andrea
• Yes by Nigeria
• Yes by Alexis

Update on Tax Requirements for Giveaways

New tax codes that the IRS implemented. Gina was in a meeting two weeks ago with administration. Students will no longer be able to receive giveaways without it being tracked. If they receive a certain threshold, this has to be reported to the IRS and financial aid.

We still don’t know all the details — Leslie shared what she knew so far.

This is primarily going to affect gift cards. Students can win gift cards, but that has to be tracked and reported to financial aid.

We will need to create a master database to track any student that has ever received a giveaway.

This also includes physical items (laptop, backpack, etc). If they’re over a certain dollar amount, they need to be reported to IRS and financial aid.

International students cannot receive any gift cards or prizes. They may receive a check, but this check will be taxed at thirty percent. E.g., if an international student won a gift card for $10 — but that check will have $3 deducted. International students may also not receive any tangible items. They will receive a check for the dollar value of the item.

Students will need to fill out a W9 when they win an item. Nigeria suggests using Excel to keep track of giveaways (similar to system at United Way). Global campus students may be tracked on AirTable.

Pullman campus is working on something where students fill out W9 when they register. Leslie and Angela are working on a way to store students’ W9’s in a way that is protected, such as a database.

At a single event, departments may not distribute prizes worth over $200 to a single winner.

We cannot ask for school ID number in lieu of social security number because it’s a federal requirement.

This policy took effect last month, and we didn’t find out about it until two weeks ago. Effective immediately, we will start keeping track of who got what until we’re able to store information in secure database.

Vote on Professional Organization Reimbursement

We can table professional organization reimbursement vote until next month’s meeting. Alexis working on proposal.

Cougar Pledge Proposal

Working with United Way to help fund Cougar Pledge. Find something that can help students in need of help with things upfront (e.g., such as daycare). $250 per student starting out using S&A fees until we can get a grant.

Green River College had the Gator Pledge helped students that were experiencing financial burden that may help them finish school. The Gator Pledge had someone overseeing program that would help verify, such as calling apartment complex if someone needs help paying rent.

Andria suggests researching whether or not this will affect financial aid, including allowance for purchasing books.

Semester Evaluation

What it is that you liked about this semester and what you’d like to see next semester?

Nigeria: Having more events, including online events.

Tessa: Coordinating office hours so that at least one person is working at the same time.

Gina: Weekly office hour to encourage collaboration.

Heather: Wants to see more grocery reimbursement.

Mentorship Collaboration Opportunities

Laud and Gina had an idea to do a mentorship program for first generation students. It is a project that is already underway — Debbie, Angela, and Joy are all working on it. They are currently acquiring feedback from office of Pullman to gauge student interest and alumni students (the latter to gauge their interest in being mentors). Recent first generation student graduates would serve as mentors to current first generation students. Will be gotten off ground sometime in the next semester.

Something similar to Laud’s program with the goal to get global students the resources they need when they need it. Communication between mentors and mentees to solve problems in real time. Laud’s program is more advisory assistance, vs program currently being worked on is more career advisory. Something that is more constant than twice a year.

This particular mentorship program is focused on career, professional, and personal development. Serving to have someone to ask for help for, and having support. We have an opportunity to collaborate on program.

They were able to secure some funds.

The initial plan taking on 3 — 5 students to acquire data and bring to administration — or budgeting for it in S&A committee. Still working with Angela, payment to mentees to be determined. Time management on ASWSU Global team as mentees is also to be determined, but we can help with development of program. Currently, it looks like program is volunteer-base.

ASWSU Global team expressed interest in collaborating in an advisory capacity.

Grocery Reimbursement

Earlier this year, we voted to start the grocery reimbursement for global students to help with food insecurity. We voted for the fall semester to see if it was working out and to see how popular it would be. Grocery reimbursement was very popular.

We had over $5,254* used for grocery reimbursements this year. Last year, it was only $3,900. We have a little over $4,000 to be used for grocery reimbursement.

Last semester, we voted for $150 per semester.

Heather brought up moving it to $100 students so that we can help more students. Laud brought up that we definitely have money to cover them, including funds that we will not use (promotions, athletic reimbursements, etc), so we can move funds around if we need to in the spring. The only problem is reporting to the IRS.

Can students that received funds in the fall be able to reapply? Yes, it will be a reset.

*Note: Alexis shows $6k approved.

Heather motions to vote to extend grocery reimbursement for the spring semester for $150 per student per semester, for the spring semester.

Seconded by Alexis.

Votes:

• Yes by Tessa
• Yes by Alexis
• Yes by Samantha
• Yes by Andrea
• Yes by Heather
• Yes by Nigeria
• Yes by Laud

Grocery reimbursement is extended for Spring 2021 with remaining budget. Will review funds when it gets down to $1,500 – $2,000.

Holiday Break

Reminder for committee chairs to work on committees Presence page. Top priority is to get a graphic that fits well with tile when looking through student portal.

Our deadline for having pages done is second week of January. Sometime that week, Andria will have meeting to audit.

We have access to Canva Pro.

Motion by Heather to adjourn the meeting at 5:49 PM.

Seconded by Samantha.

Meeting adjourned.

Note: Meetings are adjourned for holiday break. Starting January 2021, ASWSU Global will be resume meetings on a weekly cadence.