Service reductions and additions were also discussed. The #7 will be extended along with the #84 in order to extend service to the North and South Residential areas and downtown and Arlington/OSU/Grandview. Reductions include the elimination of the #20 to the Brewery District and minor changes to the #84 and #2. Goals of the new agreement are to continue access at current fee levels, increase ridership, and maintain COTA's presence on campus. Discussion included questions about service reductions, particularly to the Brewery District and Lennox Village. Ridership does not merit the route to the Brewery District at this time and the reductions in service to Lennox were based on a survey of employee shift times. It was suggested that this be revisited in light of the fact that movies often end past the proposed midnight hour of the last departure form the village. Would ridership need to double in order for the OSU fees not to increase? Possibly, but the increase is not scheduled for the next contract renewal and is dependent on COTA fare increases, as well. How much revenue is generated from the OSU contract? COTA receives funding from many sources, fares and contracts like these being just a portion. Approximately 20% of their operating funds come from ridership, and about 10% from the OSU contract (these numbers are rough estimates). Mike Goodman spoke to the importance of maintaining COTA's incentive to not reduce OSU bus routes by renewing this contract. Frank Sasso indicated that today's presentation was consistent with the undergraduate students opinions on the matter. Has COTA considered natural gas or bio-diesel fueling options? Money is the issue. COTA is not optimistic that this will occur within the next contract period due to cost. They are, however, replacing the bus fleet according to their maintenance plan. Just under 100 busses have been recently replaced, and newer vehicles are more energy and fuel-efficient. Why wait to poll the students until after the contract is renewed? Cost and timing. It seems more resources efficient to conduct the survey according to the timeline presented. Where does the OSU portion of the proposed marketing and outreach plan come from? The fee, Student Life (though this has not been approved as yet), and possibly the Ohio Union (though this has yet to be determined, as well). Do the proposed routes support the University's commitment under the state grant received to bring low-income folks to job sites on campus and to make a strong employer in the Columbus community? The southern routes touch on one of the city-designated "empowerment zones." COTA cannot track individual ridership to see which riders are OSU riders as they have several contracts with different organizations and schools throughout the city. How will the next agreement about contract extension or increase in fees be reached? Similar to now, through negotiations with concerned parties and an evaluation of demand. The point was made that COTA is interested in this partnership not only for the financial agreement. They are evaluated based on ridership and customer satisfaction with several federal and state standards that also need to be met. The COTA-OSU group need the formal backing of CSA to bring their proposal forward to University and COAT legal council for evaluation and agreement. CSA will likely see the new contract in January or February. New Business: Kerry Hodak introduce Lisa Mazza, a new financial staff member in the Ohio Union room 237 working with student organizations. Old Business: RESOLUTION FROM THE Council on Student Affairs TO ADD DOMESTIC PARTNERS COVERAGE TO UNIVERSITY HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS. The drafted resolution was distributed for discussion and approval. A motion was heard to remand the resolution to subcommittee for review and investigation. The motion was not seconded. The Chair read from the USAC staff compensation and benefits report regarding domestic partner benefits: "USAC recommends that Ohio State extend equal benefits to university employees' domestic partners and their partner's children to help attract, retain, and reward staff and faculty. While the household dependent benefits would provide access to health, dental, and vision plans, a disparity still exists. The lack of comprehensive benefits for employees' domestic partners and their partner's children keeps Ohio State at a competitive disadvantage for attracting and retaining quality employees in the competitive global market. USAC urges the president and provost to present to the Board of Trustees a plan for approval of extending domestic partner benefits. Not only is this a business necessity at this time, but it is the equitable thing to do. Did Wright State lose funding when they passed their measures? No. It was done quietly at the time. What about pushing this through quietly at OSU? Not a possibility in the current climate. Point of information: SHIC has not costed dependent coverage, only spousal and domestic partner coverage. A motion was heard to approve the resolution from the Council on Student Affairs to add Domestic Partners Coverage to University Health Insurance Plans with minor changes. The motion was seconded and passed, with one opposed. It is attached to these minutes. Reports: Chair: Kerry Hodak will pass the resolution to Senate Steering tomorrow and then on to the Board of Trustees. The chair will also convene an ad hoc committee from the Council on Student Affairs, the Council on Academic Affairs, and the Committee on Academic Misconduct to discuss and make decisions regarding the implementation of the Code of Student Conduct by faculty members. She hopes to have recommendations to CSA by the end of Winter quarter. Point of Information: Policy and Standards Committee of the Graduate Research Council are looking at academic misconduct for graduate students, as well. The Professional Schools have their own policies, too. Subcommittee A: No Report. Subcommittee B: No Report, though there will be more to talk about next week as the Ohio Union Feasibility Study is in and a short questionnaire has been sent to people in Student Life who do marketing and advertising on behalf of the Office. Allocations : Julie updates were provided:
• $350,000 is left for the remainder of the year The subcommittee wants to safeguard against spending all of the funds during the Fall quarter, so $150,000 has been set aside for the $500 allocations allotted student organizations for operating funds (this number was calculated at a rate 10% above last year). There is a soft deadline of Spring quarter set for the release of these funds to general programs. Lat week, $19,591.31 was approved. Five requests were denied due to use of old forms, lack of registration by the requesting group, or no budget for the $500 operating budget was provided. Ann Farrelly is now the Vice Chair of the Allocations Committee. Allocations will meet over the summer, as the activities fee is a 4-quarter fee. New money comes in July 1 for the summer. Any unused money is rolled to the next year. Ohio Unions and Student Activities are working to plan summer programming. It was suggested that they look at welcome week activities, including those for professional schools. IPC: Nidhi Gupta reported on behalf of IPC that there were 1132 in attendance at last week's Halloween Party. IPC is inviting speakers to their meetings on a monthly basis; last month's speaker was Matt Couch, this month is COTA. The service committee is going strong and made a donation to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. CGS: Jamie Depelteau brought the Council up to date on CGS activities. The following act and resolutions were passed at the last meeting:
Also, several delegates will be traveling to Washington DC to lobby for tax exemption for graduate assistantships/fellowships/etc. The annual conference of graduate student governments will be taking place soon, and Larry Lewellen addressed CGS regarding Health Insurance. CGS is negotiating a fixed rate for graduate student health insurance with any increases to be paid as a part of the graduate assistant (GRA/GAA/GTA) benefits/stipend. USG: John Payne reported on the activities of USG. The policy committee is looking into the 4-year graduation plan and preparing to speak to the president about such on December 19 th . The committee is also looking into off-campus meal plans and the possibility of negotiating these with local businesses and campus food services. Undergraduate research grants are also available this year from Dr. Garland's office. USG will be awarding 50 $500 grants for travel to conferences. Upcoming projects include 11/12/03 coffee on the oval (and surveys to be handed out), the Fall Sports Fest for Michigan Weekend, and the Senate Retreat. A question was fielded about regional representation on USG. There is a regional representative on USG. An addition to the report of the chair was made to include the fact that CSA will be taking up the issue of the disbanding of the Student Technology Advisory Committee. USG continued to discuss that 1.5% of the tuition increase was supposed to go to OIT for increased security. Student Life : Rich Hollingsworth distributed a copy of the resolution presented to the Vice President of Student Life by the Diversity Council re: Sponsored Dependent Benefits was distributed. Plans for the Palestinian Conference are going well. Tracy Stuck and the Ohio Union are working out the details of the weekend. A meeting will be held tomorrow morning about student organizations receiving "gifts" from alumni under the auspices of "development." Can this be done? Announcements: Rhymers of Eldridge is being performed this weekend. Copies of the Marion Campus Student Life Campus Update were distributed.
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