Texas Student Publications

Board of Operating Trustees

January 21, 2000

Minutes

Voting members present: Sara Beechner, George Castillo, Jeff Clark, Dave Garlock, Natasha Solce, George Sylvie, Senyo Tse, Aimee Woodall.

Voting members absent: Kevin Brennan, Kim Russell, Doug Toney.

Non-voting members present: Rob Addy, Margarita Arellano, Amanda Ellis, Nicole Hazard, Kathy Lawrence, Philip Moody, Frank Serpas, Cindy Tom, Jennifer Valentino.

Non-voting members absent: Brad Butler.

Professional staff present: Mary Felps, John Foxworth, Evelyn Gardner, Jean Hogue, Mike Kirkham, Dan Knight, Steve Metze, Jack Simons.

Guests: Caroline Capers, Katy Lovetinsky, Richard Neel, Ben Stroud.

Jeff Clark, president of the Board, called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.

I. Approval of November 19, 1999, Minutes.

MOTION NO. 1: Castillo moved to amend the Minutes of the November 19, 1999, TSPBoard meeting to

recognize Brad Butler, Texas Travesty editor, as a non-voting member of the TSPBoard. The motion passed.

MOTION NO. 2: Clark moved to approve the Minutes of the November 19, 1999, TSPBoard meeting as

amended. The motion passed.

II. Report of the Executive Committee.

A. Financial Report. Hogue discussed the monthly financial report for December 1999 with the members of the Board. Her report included the following: Texan expenses are progressing as expected and advertising income reflects an increase of $237,989 for the fall semester; Cactus Yearbook sales are not progressing as projected but January income should bring income closer to projections; Supplemental Services income is slightly higher than this time last year which Hogue explained was due to contract printing; Peregrinus Yearbook sales are behind; KVRX underwriting and sponsored public service announcement income has gained slightly; KVR advertising income is not as high as projected but the staff is monitoring expenses carefully.

B. Consideration of the Julia Jeffress Award nominees.

MOTION NO. 3: On behalf of the Executive Committee, Sylvie moved to accept both nominees for the

Julia Jeffress Award for the fall semester. The motion passed.

C. Proposed Student Payrolls for the 2000 Spring semester.

MOTION NO. 4: On behalf of the Executive Committee, Sylvie moved to approve the KVRX, KVR, and

The Daily Texan student payroll plans for the 2000 Spring semester. The motion passed.

III. Report of the Director.

Lawrence referred to her written report, encouraged the members of the Board to congratulate the KVR-TV news staff as recipients of an Award of Distinction from the Communicator Awards, recognized Metze who was recently selected to receive an Outstanding Teaching Award, and said a group of interested TSPalumni met and discussed formation of a TSPAlumni Association. The participants felt one purpose of the Alumni Association should be to attempt to develop a stronger relationship between the College of Communication and student media by encouraging more faculty contact with students.

IV. Reports of the Editors and Station Managers.

Moody, Hazard, Serpas, Ellis, referred to their written reports and had nothing further to add. Addy and Valentino reported the recruiting efforts of the Texan staff were very successful for the Spring semester.

V. Reports of the Supervisors and Advisers.

Gardner, Metze, Knight, and Foxworth referred to their written reports and had nothing further to add. Kirkham referred to his written report and commended the Texan staff for meeting deadlines so consistently. Sylvie told Gardner that the Executive Committee discussed alternate methods to raise income for KVR and he encouraged everyone to share any ideas to meet this goal.

VI. Report of the TSP Election Procedures Review Committee.

Addy distributed a report from the TSPElection Procedures Review Committee and discussed four recommendations with the members of the Board.

A. Election Regulation Recommendation: Allow Texas Student Publications to supervise elections for editor [of The Daily Texan] and [TSP] Board members.

MOTION NO. 5: Castillo moved to allow Texas Student Publications to supervise the election of editor of

The Daily Texan and members of the TSPBoard of Operating Trustees. The motion passed.

B. Election Timetable Recommendation: Shorten this year’s campaign to two weeks.

MOTION NO. 6: Beechner moved to shorten this year’s election campaign for Texan editor and TSPBoard

members to two weeks with candidate certification to occur on February 11, the candidate seminar for the

same day at 6:00 p.m., and allow candidates to begin campaigning at 12:01 a.m. on February 14. The motion

passed.

C. Exploratory Committee Formation Recommendation: Form an exploratory committee to research the possibility of moving next year’s TSP elections away from Student Government elections, possibly to mid-April.

Board members discussed the recommendation. The committee, to be known as the TSPElection Committee, shall consist of three student members and two faculty members to be appointed by the TSPBoard president from the voting membership of the Board. Clark appointed Castillo, Solce and Woodall as the student members and Garlock and Sylvie as the faculty members of the committee.

D. Campaign Spending Limit Recommendation: Increase the spending limits for Texan Editor candidates to $500 for the general election and $100 for the run-off election.

MOTION NO. 7: Castillo moved to allow the TSPElection Committee to raise campaign spending limits

and to enforce campaign rules. The motion passed.

MOTIONNO. 8: Beechner moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed.