TSP Board of Operating
Trustees Meeting
Texas Student Publications
2500 Whitis Ave., Room 3.302
December 1, 2006
3 p.m.
AGENDA:
I. 2:00 p.m., Convene in Open Session for Meeting of
the Executive Committee
A. Monthly Financial Report (Merry
Tillman, Financial Director)
II. 3:00 p.m., Recess and Convene in Open Session for
the Texas Student Publications Board of Operating
Trustees Meeting
A. Approval of the November 10, 2006 TSP
Board Minutes
B. Executive Committee Report (Rusty Todd,
Committee Chair)
C. Discussion and appropriate action
regarding unfinished business
1.
Discussion and appropriate action regarding the proposed reorganization of
Texas Student
Media.
a. Consideration of the draft of the Declaration of Trust document
b. Relationship of The Daily Texan and the College of Communication
c. Consideration and discussion of the letter submitted to the Board by
Brian Ferguson
D. Discussion and appropriate action
regarding new business
1.
Discussion and appropriate action regarding The Daily Texan page counts
a. Consideration of $300,000 allocation from reserves to increase daily
page counts
b. Effectiveness of TSP and Òcross-mediaÓ efforts
c. Allocation of overhead costs between units
2. Appointment of the Managing Editor for
The Daily Texan for the 2007 spring semester
III. Adjourn
Persons interested in the meeting and desiring
communication or other special accommodations should contact the Board Office
at least two working days prior to the meeting. The Board Office may be contacted by phone at (512)
499-4402; by fax at (512) 499-4425; or by email at bor@utsystem.edu. The Board Office is open Monday through
Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., excluding national holidays. Every reasonable effort will be made to
accommodate special needs.
Requests may be delivered or mailed to: The Office of the Board of Regents, 201 West Seventh Street,
Suite 820, Austin, Texas 78701-2981 or submitted electronically to
bor@utsystem.edu.
Texas Student Publications
Board of Operating Trustees
November 10, 2006
Voting members present: Brian Ferguson, Cindy T. Brummer, A.J. Bauer, Bill
Laird, Bill Cornwell, Jef Richards
Voting
members absent: Rusty Todd, Urton
Anderson, Kendra Newton, Lindsay Meeks, Brandon Chicotsky
Non-voting members
present: JoAnna Chin, Carlos Corral,
J.J. Hermes, Kathy Lawrence, Loren Seeger, David Strauss, Zach Warmbrodt, Ely
Cohn, Kristen Jones, Jennifer Hammat
Non-voting members absent:
Professional staff present:
Richard Finnell, Wayne Roche, Tim
Serpas, Jack Simons, Merry Tillman, Dan Knight, Frank Serpas, Mary
Baird-Wilcock, Brian Tschoepe
TSP Board President A.J.
Bauer called the meeting to order at 3:06 p.m. without a quorum present.
I. Reports and Business
Tillman gave her report on
finances. Lawrence noted a major
change from last year to this in TSTVÕs budget related to class fees. Corral was unable to explain why they
would be so much lower this year.
Before their approval,
Ferguson requested an addition to the October minutes such that after the
paragraph ending in "...$5 million in 2006." the following should be
added:
Ferguson
indicated that such a goal was unrealistic and that an internal development
director would be ineffective and unneeded.
With
a motion from Ferguson and a second by Richards, the minutes were approved as
amended.
The
Executive Committee report noted that the new draft of the Declaration of Trust
from the Regents had arrived only that morning and that a line-by-line review
of it would not be available until the next Board meeting.
II.
Draft Discussion
Bauer
asked for comments from the Board at this point based on what reading they had
done so far. Ferguson was happy to
open the discussion, mentioning specifically that section 3.1 was bad for TSP,
the new financial requirements would place a needless burden on the
organization, and that prior review was still a part of the document, contrary
to the BoardÕs expectations.
At
3:27 p.m., Newton arrived.
In
the face of a draft so at odds with the BoardÕs expectations, 501(c)(3) status
and its pros and cons were brought up.
According to Hammat, the retention of benefits for professional staff
would be at the whim of UT System in the long run and not guaranteed.
Bauer
requested suggestions as to how to proceed in negotiations. The consensus was to attempt to fix the
draft. To this end, Bauer
requested that Board members send their comments on the draft to him as they
had time to dissect it.
With
a motion by Richards and a second by Seeger, the meeting was adjourned at 3:52
p.m.
Note: This was drafted by Jim George; Kathy
Lawrence updated the media properties on Schedule 1.4.
AMENDED AND RESTATED DECLARATION OF
TRUST
OF
TEXAS STUDENT MEDIA TRUST
1. INTRODUCTION AND
DEFINITIONS
1.2.
Trust Assets.
All Trust Assets are held by the Trustees to be used solely for the
maintenance and support of the Student Media, and shall be recorded in the
accounting records of the University in accordance with the standard practices
for the management of this type of funds and account.
1.4.
Definitions.
As used in this Declaration of Trust, the following terms shall have the
specified meanings:
(a)
ÒAcademic DepartmentsÓ shall have the meaning set forth
in Paragraph 2.3.
(b)
ÒApplicable LawsÓ shall mean all laws, statutes,
constitutions, rules, regulations, principles of common law, resolutions,
codes, ordinances, requirements, judgments, orders, decrees, injunctions and
writs of any Governmental Entity which has, or is reasonably likely to have,
jurisdiction over the Trust Assets or the Student Media including, without
limitation, Applicable Laws related to libel, slander, defamation, advertising
injury and broadcast decency. (Jim, the question has been raised that Òapplicable
lawsÓ could also mean that RegentsÕ Rules and Regulations are a ÒGovernmental
Entity which hasÉjurisdiction over the Trust Assets. If this is the case, then
wonÕt Regents be ultimately in control no matter what the Trust document says?)
(c)
ÒBoard of RegentsÓ shall mean the Board of Regents of
The University of Texas System.
(d)
ÒBoard of
Operating TrusteesÓ shall mean those persons serving as Operating Trustees
of the Trust at any given time.