Minutes of the Stewards Council, Nov. 5th, 2006

The meeting began at 3pm sharp in the TAU offices.

In Attendance: Chris Pomeroy, Pres. Keith Russo (English), Mike Ciletti (History), David Zwart (History), Elise Boneau (History), Jessica Lynam (Spanish), Erdal Terkivatan (Chemistry), Jason Trowbridge (Mathematics), Julie Houck (Mathematics), Josh Muia (Chemistry), Meghan Cook (Anthropology), Brendan Weaver (Anthropology), and Jamie McCandless (Empowered RAs).

The Stewards Council achieved quorum for the second week in a row.

The meeting began with the Bargaining Team report, delivered by Steward Trowbridge. The B-Team had meet at its regular time and place, Wednesday, 7pm in the TAU offices and had focused this week on drafting language for tuition remission to the effect of complete tuition remission for all graduate students.

The B-team was able to set a date for the first meeting with Jay Woods and the Administration, scheduled for November 14th, 2006, 9am-11am.

Stewards Trowbridge and Houck then informed the Council that, at the previous meeting, they had asked for input on the survey and had not received any feedback as yet. A general discussion took place about what information the surveys contained, what the purpose of the survey was in the organizing process, and answering some hypothetical objections to taking a survey similar to the ones used during the certification campaign.

The B-Team report ended with a notice that they will meet again this Wednesday, 7pm. All, including general members, are invited to attend the next meeting of the most pertinent and useful committee the union has to date.

A proposal was made by pres. Russo to end nominations. The motion was seconded but tabled to allow for any possible late comers before the elections

The Council then discussed the weeks organization. Steward Ciletti made a proposal that every steward should meet with at least one department this week to encourage that department to send a steward. The motion was seconded, but the discussion that ensued around the method of organization eventually amended the proposal to read: Each Steward shall take at least one department, with an organizing buddy (at their discretion) for the purpose of increasing the number of stewards at the next council meeting. The measure passed 12-2.

Departments were then assigned through the process of volunteering.

The previous week’s minutes were approved with the addendum to spell Steward Trowbridge’s first name correctly.

Pres. Russo then closed nominations by fiat and elections were held.

The initial results were

President: D. Zwart (History)

Vice-Pres: J. Trowbridge (Math)

Treasurer: tie between J. Lynam (Spanish) and F.M. Ciletti (History)

CIO: J.A. McCandless (Other)

In a runoff vote, J. Lynam was elected to the office of Treasuer of TAU.

Pres. Zwart's first act was to recognize Ex.-Pres. Russo's two years or dedicated service to the union. There were applause.

Pres. Zwart then ended the meeting at 4:03 pm.

Agenda for 11/12/2006

1) Approval of Minutes (5 minutes)

2) B-Team Report/survey (25 minutes)

3) Organizing Reports (20 minutes)

4) Community Building (5 minutes)

Jamie McCandless-CIO

please let me know if there are any corrections.