MASA Meeting 2:30 PM
I President Barb Hewitt call the meeting to order at 14:33. She informed the student body that this meeting would be a planning session for much of the next two months. She also reminded everyone that the minutes of previous meeting are posted on the website. Through out the meeting there were 17 members in attendance.
II Ginna Berg/Amelia Fay that the Agenda for the meeting be approved.
III Business of the Day
A. Amelia Fay/Anita Marcotte moved that the minutes from the last meeting be adopted as posted on the MASA web page.
B. Financial Report: Sharon Pokotylo reported that the chequing account has $795.41, and the petty cash has $57.46 for a total of $852.87. There are 37 paid MASA members.
C. Budget from APALA: The costs of APALA are as follows: Transportation $479.64, Hotel Rooms $447.48, Gas $262.75
Total $1189.87 which was offset by the ASBC sponsorship of $800.00. We are still waiting to hear from the department about funding. Therefore MASA’s contribution is $389.87.
D. Fundraising and Student Funding: The purpose of fundraising is to support the policy of supporting students in the conference participation and travels. We need a cemented procedure to apply for funding, which will be based on the SIGPAC application form. There is a concern for how much money to allocate to funding students and how to split the money among applicants. The easiest way is to base the total amount on the previous year’s raised funds which would then be split into terms. The funding for the APALA conference, which is open to all anthropology students, set a president for funding. The funding from MASA would not be intended to fund all of someone trip, but partially offset someone’s costs, even if they are not presenting at a conference. The letter of application will include justification why this conference is important to your career why we should fund you. Anita Marcotte asked if only travel is covered, or if all conferences would be covered, including those in Winnipeg. Registration is a cost that is not normally covered by funding agencies. MASA would only cover a SMALL portion of the budget, as members will be expected to contribute to part of the funds. Only members are eligible for funding. It was suggested by Travis Allard that online applications would be a good idea. Instead of online applications, the instructions will be posted online within the week.
T-shirts: Last time T-shirts were ordered by UMAUSA an initial order of 25 shirts was made and a second order of 15 was put in. President Barb Hewitt is worried about recovering the initial costs of an adventure like the T-shirts and making back the start up costs. Travis Allard suggested a pre-order form, with advance payment as the way to go.
On the issue of t-shirts, Anita Marcotte wanted to make sure that the company we deal with would be around for technical support when we get the shirts. Travis Allard suggested looking at other fundraisers such as key chains and pens as a cheaper fundraiser for the future. As to the t-shirts, a view of the logo on a prominent window would be good with a pre-order sheet beside it. We will need a sample of the designed logo that Brian Barth is designing. The shirt colour will be black with the design on the back, decided by the majority of members. The colour of the logo will be decided by simple majority vote via email. We will budget on order 50 shirts from A Brick Shirt House. The cost of shirts will be $9 each including the artwork. MASA will charge $18.00 a shirt. At the open house hosted by MASA, we will allow for sizing, and a view of the logo on a black background. Amelia Fay suggested a draw for a free pre-ordered t-shirt at the open house, which would allow any sized student to have a properly fitted shirt.
Spring Bake Sale: The executive asked the student body if another bake sale is worth the effort. The Halloween sale raised $201.70, and cost MASA $42.90, for total profit of $158.80. The spring bake sale would not involve a collective baking party like that of the first bake sale, so it would be all profit, except for the $15.00 table and registration. The low pricing from the first bake, which surprised most of our customers, allowed us to realize that we can raise our prices, slightly. Due to these considerations, and the purpose for the incoming funds, the student body decided to hold a second bake sale. The bake sale will be held on the Wednesday, March 10, 2004 from 10:30 to 14:30, or whenever the baked goods run out. Ginna will post a schedule on the web, members can email MASA with the time that they can staff the table.
Under Graduate Committee Announcements: Victoria Woodward brought forth seven issues raised by the Round Table meeting with Dr. Stymeist, which had been forwarded to the head of the UGC, Dr. Greenfield. They issues are as follows:
1. The increase of course requirements in the third and forth year levels which have already gone through at the UGC level and the department level. 2. The course 076.120, has not been offered in years, and will be dropped. It is a full course combining both cultural and physical and archaeology introduction courses into one. 3. The cultural course 076.480, which has not been offered in a few years, be cut in half into a theory course, and a practicum course, or it will be scrapped.
4. The required course 076.239 is to be cut to a half course to eliminate any repeat of 076.122. Standardization of both classes, and all core courses would have to occur. 5. The Undergraduate representation on the committee is lacking. Victoria suggested that wording to increase the number of representatives by changed from one to one up to two representatives. The student body in a general consensus protested this wording. Travis Allard voiced the need for equal representation, and having two representatives, making the committee equal with both students and staff having equal power. The wording "one up to two" suggests that MASA will not always be as strong and active as it is now. It was suggested that MASA organize a silent protest, and wait outside the meeting, showing student support and interest in the department. Because the committee is closed we are not allowed into the meeting, but we can wait outside. The decision will be Victoria’s, when and if she would like this to be organized. 6. For a well-rounded, multi-disciplinary department, University of Manitoba’s anthropology department has a strong tendency to steam line their students into cultural anthropology. Cultural anthropology has 15 credit hours of required courses to 3 credit hours combined of the required courses physical and archaeology. If/when 076.239 is cut in half, it will still be 12:3 credit hours. MASA's student body has suggested that the required courses have a better system of integration of all three disciplines, which in turn would be more balanced and help all the students achieve their well rounded multi-disciplinary education. There was a consensus of the student body that this needed to be changed. 7. The honours degree. The head of UGC met with the former Dean of Arts and detailed the history of the degree in Anthropology. An honours degree was dropped in 1988, because of lack of student enrolment. 12 credit hours must be taken at the fourth year level, and must be designated as honours course. It also must have a GPA requirement of at least 3.0. Could courses be piggybacked to allow for the lack of professors? A thesis project is not required for an honours degree, but there are courses which students can take that are offered which are basically major projects. It is the students’ feelings that the change to an honours would allow for a greater competitiveness within the academic world. The change to an honours program would not take place for a few years, as it would have multiple channels to go through, but we should start the process.
IV Upcoming Events
A. MASA Colloquia: March 19, 2:30 PM Dr. Frohlick, this date coincides with the staff colloquia date, which Dr. Frohlick organized. Sharon Pokotylo will confirm with Dr. Frohlick, to see if she will still present.
B. Brian Barth announced the upcoming SAAM meeting, which is to be held on Saturday, March 6, 2004 at 11:00am. It will include guest speaker, A. M. Ervin of the University of Saskatchewan, Dept. of Religious Studies and Anthropology, his presentation is called "Adventures in Anthropological Advocacy: Casinos, Greens and Policy Institutes." The meeting will be held at Menno Simons College, South, 380 Spence Street, just west of the U of W.
C. Executive Elections will be held in the third or fourth week of March. The positions to be filled are only the executive, the committees will be filled in the fall. Quorum is 10 paid members. They will be held on Friday March 19, 2004 in the lounge at 1:30, before the colloquia. If you cannot attend, you may give someone your proxy vote.
D. Open House: Amelia Fay passed around a sign up sheet for going to the anthropology classes. We will need volunteers to put up posters and to staff the lounge. The actual open house will be held the day after the Spring Bake Sale, which will be a great advertisement, and reminder to anthropology students. The date is set for Thursday, March 11, 2004. The location will be the MASA student lounge, which will be open from 10:00 to 15:00. Please email MASA with times when you can share you knowledge with the possible recruits.
E. Year End Party and other social events: Ginna Berg, our social director, is planning on holding Thursday Night Glo-bowling sessions from 7:30 on. It was suggested that after the open house would be a great opportunity as well, inviting the MASA recruits. MASA would pay for the lanes and students the shoes. As discussed in previous meeting, there is still interest in attending a Sweat Lodge, with the teachings on campus. A tour of the
Manitoba Museum will also occur on one weekend. Finally the year-end bash will probably be a camping trip that will be held after the last day of final exams, more discussion of this will be postponed until the open house and the election day.
VI Barb Hewitt/Kate Mossman at 17:00 adjourned the meeting.