Texas Student Publications

Board of Operating Trustees

October 19, 2001

 

Minutes

 

 

Voting members present: Sara Beechner, Craig Daniel, Dave Garlock, Don Heider, Michael Hoffman, Stephen Little, Shawn Rosenzweig, Senyo Tse, Amanda Zamora.

 

Voting members absent: Natalie Mayrath, Doug Toney.

 

Non-voting members present: Margarita Arellano, Meredith Best, Caroline Connor, Kristin Finan, Kathy Lawrence, Rosa Madriz, Marshall Maher, Trevor Rosen.

 

Non-voting members absent: Matt Hammond. 

 

Professional staff present: Brad Corbett, Mary Felps, Beverly Fisher, Richard Finnell, John Foxworth, Jean Hogue, Dan Knight, Steve Metze, Doug Plummer, Frank Serpas, Jerry Thompson.    

 

Visitors present: Karen Fastenau, various Daily Texan student staff members.    

 

The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. by Craig Daniel, TSP Board president.

 

            MOTION NO. 1: Rosenzweig moved to alter the Agenda in order to consider the appointment of the

            2002 Peregrinus Law School Yearbook editor as the first item of business. The motion passed.

 

I. Appointment of 2001-2002 Peregrinus Editor.

 

Lawrence introduced applicant Karen Fastenau, a senior law student. Fastenau reviewed her application and stated her intentions, if appointed editor, would be to increase visibility of the Peregrinus among members of the law school community, increase page sales to student organizations, and to increase book sales. Questions from members of the Board followed.

 

            MOTION NO. 2: Garlock moved to appoint Karen Fastenau editor of the 2002 Peregrinus Law

            School Yearbook. The motion passed.

 

II. Recognition of Students Who Won Awards.

 

Finan reviewed awards won by members of The Daily Texan staff and Madriz reviewed awards won by members of the KVRX radio staff.

 

            MOTION NO. 3: Hoffman moved to adopt the following resolution:

 

            Resolved: That the Board of Operating Trustees commends and congratulates:

 

            (a) Yen-Yi Liu of The Daily Texan staff for a 2001 Associated Collegiate Press Photo Excellence Award for

            First Place in the News category,

 

            (b) Kristen Austin of The Daily Texan staff for a 2001 Associated Collegiate Press Photo Award of Excel-

            lence Award for First Place in the Feature category,

            (c) John Erler and the staff of KVRXÕs ÒElk-Mating Ritual HourÓ for a 2001 Austin Chronicle Best of

            Austin award for Most Interesting Talk Radio Program, and

 

            (d) Erik Wofford, John Erler and the staff of KVRXÕs ÒLocal LiveÓ for a 2001 Austin Chronicle Best of

            Austin award for Best Radio Station Sampler; and

 

            Resolved: That the director be authorized to place house ads in The Daily Texan and other student media,

            subject to available space, expressing the sense of the Board of Operating Trustees in this resolution.

 

The motion passed.

 

III. Report of the President.

 

Daniel reviewed his written report with the members of the Board, calling attention to several items.

 

a. All members of the Board were encouraged to attend Dr. TseÕs budget presentation to be held on Friday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m.

 

b. Members of the Board interested in reading Dr. VickÕs letter of response concerning the TSP budget should contact Daniel. Further, Dr. Vick expressed interest in revisions to the TSP Handbook and the Declaration of Trust. Hoffman suggested discussing strategy for Handbook revisions at the November meeting.

 

c. The TSP Election Committee met and elected Hoffman chairman. It is the intention of the committee to have a revised election code for Board member consideration at the November meeting.

 

d. The TSP Minority Affairs Committee has not yet met but Zamora has been working with Arellano to identify possible new members for the committee.

 

IV. Report of the Executive Committee.

 

Garlock reported the Executive Committee met earlier in the day and discussed revenue problems, the financial report for September, and revisions to the 2001-2001 TSP budget.

 

a. September financial statement. Hogue discussed the September financial statement with the members of the Board. In discussion, Hoffman said the yearbook assistant spends more time working on the Peregrinus Law School Yearbook than the Cactus Yearbook but the Cactus budget pays a larger portion of the yearbook assistantÕs salary. Further, he suggested the allocation charged to each publication should be changed to reflect more accurately the time spent on each yearbook. Lawrence explained that the amount of time spent on the Peregrinus depends on the nature of the student editorÕs involvement with the publication.

 

b. TSP budget revisions for 2001-2002. Lawrence reviewed her cover memorandum synopsis dealing with areas approved by the Executive Committee for revision of the 2001-2001 TSP budget. Additionally, she explained further revisions may be necessary as time passes when more information is available concerning the financial condition of the organization. Finan asked about the $20,000 reduction in student editorial wages. She said conversations were held about reducing expenses but no amounts were discussed. Garlock said the reduction of budgeted expenses were predicated on the assumption that no employees would be terminated at this time. Hogue explained that the $20,000 reduction was suggested because not all funds reserved for student editorial wages are spent each year. Heider reiterated that the intention of the Executive Committee was to reduce TSP expenses without eliminating employees, especially employees who fill student staff positions. Further, Heider said he is not willing to support any expense reductions which have not been discussed with student leaders of TSP. Garlock agreed.

 

Garlock requested the discontinuation of the lease on the Ad House be considered at this time and that all other expense reductions be reconsidered after additional deliberations which include all TSP student leaders.

 

Little asked if advertising revenue would suffer due to the advertising departmentÕs move to the TSP Building. Lawrence said everyone at TSP would be affected by the move.

 

Beechner urged students be included in discussions dealing with expense reductions. Further, she said Lawrence had done a good job alerting the Board to possible income shortfalls and encouraged the Board to adopt the current plan for reductions as a draft but direct the TSP staff to continue to work out a final plan: approve bottom line figures but juggle internal figures to better meet the goals of the organization.

 

            MOTION NO. 4: Hoffman moved to not renew the lease on the Ad House. No second was received and

            the motion died.

 

            MOTION NO. 5: Heider moved to approve all expense reductions except the item calling for a $20,000

            reduction in student editorial wages for The Daily Texan and the item calling for a $4,000 reduction in

            student editorial wages for the Cactus Yearbook and that the director be instructed to continue

            working on expense reduction contingency plans with members of the TSP staff in the event further

            reductions become necessary. The motion passed.

 

c. Student fee requests. Lawrence reviewed her written report submitted earlier with other Agenda materials. Discussion followed.

 

            MOTION NO. 6: Hoffman moved to direct the director to include in The Daily TexanÕs request for the

            2002-2003 Student Services Fee (Required) (a) at least $100,000 for Classified Personnel; and (b) an ad-

            ditional sum for the corresponding Fringe Benefits. No second was received and the motion died.

 

V. Approval of September 28, 2001, TSP Board Minutes.

 

            MOTION NO. 7: Heider moved to approve the Minutes of the September 28, 2001, TSP Board

            meeting. The motion passed.

 

VI. Monthly Reports.

 

a. Report from the director. Lawrence referred to her written report and had nothing further to report.

 

b. Reports from editors and station managers. Rosen reported the budget problems he included in his written report were no longer a problem. Rosen, however, encouraged TSP to request, from the Student Services Fee Committee, a set amount per student, per semester for Texas Travesty. Additionally, he urges TSP to request additional funds for 2002-2003 in order to pay members of the student staff. No other editors or station managers had additions to their written reports.

 

VII. Liz Carpenter Award for Excellence.

 

Lawrence reviewed her written report.

 

            MOTION NO. 8: Garlock moved to approve the submitted requirements for the Liz Carpenter Award

            for Excellence including an amendment requiring to provide the director of Texas Student Publications

            to appoint the two Texan alumni to serve on the recommendation committee. The motion passed.

 

            MOTION NO. 9: Hoffman moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed.