We are only $20,000 away from this

Grant D’Avino keeps you up to date!

The University Senate passed a smoking ban! As it stands, smoking will be prohibited within a 20-foot bubble around all buildings. The old, and loosely enforced, ban, as per New York state law, of 20 feet only applied to residence halls. Ashtrays or some other type of cigarette receptacle will be placed at the edge of the new 20-foot perimeters, along with information about quitting smoking.

The council then discussed a resolution to create centralized publication racks in Lerner. The logic behind the racks is that they would provide publicity for publications and reduce waste by cutting down on the number of publications that are thrown away. Currently, publications are forced to haphazardly distribute in residence halls, around Lerner, and in various academic buildings, and hope against hope that someone will pick up the magazine or journal that they happened to stumble across.

The funding for the new racks in Lerner would come from Lerner itself, and building representatives have already pledged to pay. Three suggested locations for the publication racks were the current location of the New York Times racks, the piano lounge, and that awkward nook near the new advising center. One council member noted that “it’s not going to be fixed by one publication rack. That would have to be pretty epic.” Given that observation, council members named the lobbies of John Jay, Hamilton, and the Butler lounge, as other possible rack locations. However, funding for those locations has not been pledged, so there was little discussion about them. The council did not vote on the resolution.

Bacchanal then gave a presentation. Or, more precisely, Bacchanal asked CCSC for money. Bacchanal has requested that CCSC, along with the other three undergraduate councils, contribute $20,000 to improve the spring concert. “We’re trying to make the spring concert as awesome as possible,” one Bacchanalian said. The concert is expensive: “1.5 Wiz Khalifas equals one stage.” The thrust of the presentation was that while Bacchanal has been a great event in years past, the additional money would allow for higher quality performers, and a higher quality concert. Comparisons were made to the spring events at Penn and Brown that are known to draw students from nearby schools because they are so awesome. As it stands, the group has roughly $60,000 to $70,000 to spend on artists, and they may begin negotiations for artists as soon as this week.

When asked why the funding could not be generated with ticket revenues, Bacchanal reps claimed it was impossible. Either they would need to ask students to pay up front (like, now) based on the promise that they could secure the concert of the students’ dreams. Or, they would need to secure an artist at a certain price and make a similarly unfounded promise that they could raise the money through ticket sales. Finally, given that the concert is held on the steps, tickets would mean a high level lockdown by campus security so that those coming in and out of the gates could be assured to be ticket holders. In discussing the sizable donation, CCSC members raised concerns about oversight, the short time frame in which to make a decision (Bacchanal requested a decision by Wednesday), the lack of details provided by Bacchanal, and the other expenditures the council would forego in making the contribution. The council will vote online sometime in the coming days or weeks, and the results of that vote will be made public.

The meeting ended with a vote for the co-chairs of Glass House Rocks. Explaining the event to 2014 representatives, one council member bluntly explained its goal: “Turn it [Lerner] into the student center it was supposed to be, but never really became.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons