Universal U‐PASS Advisory Board Fall planning meeting 21 October 2011 Minutes 1. Five minute public comment period a. A guest spoke about the Extended Degree Program (EDP) – Danielle Torre [
[email protected]] i. “EDP doesn’t support the mandatory policy for Universal U‐PASS. Some students already receive ORCA cards through their employers and some students are only on campus four days each quarter. The majority vote didn’t take them into consideration and for a lot of students in this program even $76 could be a tipping point for whether or not they continue their classes” b. A late guest came after the comment period, but still made remarks – Micah Kurtz [
[email protected]] i. He was hurt by the form letters he receives in response to messages sent to upassAB. ii. He doesn’t think it is fair for him to “subsidize someone else’s bus fare” when he is struggling financial and never takes the bus. He has to choose between healthcare for his child, food, and the U‐PASS. iii. He is willing to give back his Husky Card to prove that he isn’t taking advantage of the program. 1. Rene Singleton took Micah’s information for follow‐up contact. 2. Future meetings should feature a more formal sign‐in process for non‐ committee members. 2. Student Database Follow‐up a. Professional and Continuing Education (PCE) said there are an estimated 801 students in online programs. i. At this point it is strictly a sample size, Commuter Services was unable to receive local address information for this population 1. Josh and Nate will follow‐up to receive local address information from PCE. ii. Commuter Services is still working on PCE’s definition of an online student—a student enrolled in one online class and other classes on campus or elsewhere, or a student strictly enrolled in online classes. 1. The Advisory Board would like to know the population size that is strictly enrolled in online classes. 3. Mandatory Fee Letter Follow‐up a. Nate drafted a letter explaining the mandatory nature of the fee. This letter will serve to inform employers or others who are covering the cost of a student’s education that the fee is indeed mandatory and should be considered a part of tuition costs. b. The letter will be about one page long and will receive final approval from Josh over the weekend. 4. Peer institutions a. Alicia conversed with WSU’s director of Transportation Services.
i. Their equivalent of this Advisory Board does not have bylaws or rules. ii. Alicia sent the interview transcript and related materials to Advisory Board members. These related materials included the initiatives that WSU students voted on in order to approve the fee. iii. Online students at WSU do not pay SAF. b. Michelle Rhoads is looking at peer institutions in Oregon for more information i. Rene would like Commuter Services to look at more peer institutions outside of Washington and Oregon. 1. Josh will send out a query on his professional list serv. 5.
[email protected] Communications a. All Advisory Board members received copies of all messages that have gone out through upassAB as well as drafts being considered by the writing team (Alicia, Bill, and Melanie). i. Bill has a new draft for the online students who would like Husky Cards sent in the mail. ii. Sarah has changes to the message going out to long distance or online learners seeking exemptions. iii. Bill and Melanie still need to approve the draft message for correspondents questioning the legality of the program. iv. Adrian thinks the information used in the message for correspondents who park on campus is very interesting and could potentially be used in other applications. b. Alicia will keep a running log of all iterations that come into the upassAB inbox. 6. Open Meetings Law Follow‐up and other “loose ends” a. The Advisory Board will follow Washington’s open meetings law. i. When a day and time is chosen for a meeting the Advisory Board is then bound to that commitment because that notice is sent to student groups and advertised. ii. Rene will look into whether the board is complying with this law voluntarily or if it is mandatory. b. The board has some time to get things organized, but once it is officially established and a meeting schedule is set there is a three day window to send the agenda and then it cannot be changed. i. The Advisory Board still needs bylaws to figure out some logistics, such as who will send out the agenda, for example. c. ASUW can host a website for the committee similar to the SAF committee website. i. ASUW can also easily store and track record and create a separate page for the advisory board. d. Minutes need to approved so that official minutes are posted to this new website, not draft minutes. e. The committee will need to officially vote on and approve members soon. 7. Meeting adjourned.