Meeting Notes

4.16.07
  • Malawi fundraiser for a well in Africa. Jess is organizing this one. Wants to make t-shirts to show legitimacy.
  • Step it up was a giant success - thanks to Campus Action people who went.
  • SPAN (Student Peace Action Network) meetings are in Albany about once a month. If anyone is interested in attending contact Ian Kennedy.
  • CELA plans to help host an anti-racist week from May 4 through May 11. Wants to involve any interested club and believes Campus Action would be a good supporter. Week includes a speaker on injustices in New Orleans among other events. Wants a constant presence on campus, rather than a one time event.
  • Ian Kennedy will get together a budget for the stakes and talk to Zak for funding.
  • Krickx is going to work on showing The Ground Truth with Professor Mosquera.
  • Lobbying next Monday April 23 from 10 to 4:30. Chance to meet Elliott Spitzer and lobby for clean elections. Contact Ian if interested.
  • Jess needs to confirm a time for the Iran Lecture event.
  • May 3 we will be working on stakes and be hosting a speaker series including Joan Mandele and Michael Berg.
  • Graduation Pledge cannot be an administrative event, but could be a grassroots effort. Alex will talk to Environmental Club to help. Article in Concordy would be ideal.
  • Next Wednesday Breazzano House will be hosting an anti-poverty event and Earth Day issues. Hyma would like help if anyone can promote and organize.
  • Multifaith Council is working on a CROP walk (Sunday May 6) and is looking for walkers to raise money for national, local, and international hunger fundraisers. Contact Naazia Hussain to volunteer to walk and help.

    4.9.07
  • Steve is going to try to upload meeting notes more regularly.
  • Step-It-Up- April 14th from 11:30-2, includes Organic BBQ, march in Schenectady, etc - Be there or be square
  • Proposed event on Thursday, April 26th at 6pm about US-Iran relations with Professors Motahar and Feffer. We'll be doing I Love NY Pizza.
  • Stakes/Democracy Matters event together: We'll be doing the stakes Week 6. We need an IEG, and Ian will be trying to get Michael Burg, Joan Mandle of Democracy Matters, and Jeff Cohen of FAIR. ($900 for funding)
  • Campus Action and Women's Union will be holding a fundraiser later in the term to raise $5000 to build a Union College Well in Malawi. We'll be working with Amy Hart of Water First, and we're looking for fundraising ideas!
  • April 23rd is Albany's Lobby Day. Campus Action will be going to lobby for clean elections. Next week we may be doing a table to have people write postcards to their reps.

    October 2006
    Website hasn't been kept particularly up to date.
  • Over two weeks Campus Action looked into longer term solutions regarding the creation of a more divere, accepting campus. The group looked into Multi-Cultural Affair personell and looked into the policy statement regarding bias-crimes.
  • Continuation of the bi-weekly film series.
  • Budget running low...
  • Discussed campaigning for the November Mid-Term Elections
  • Discussed Mid-Term election party
  • See events page...a lot went on this term...

    9.26.06
  • Ian will ask Professor Feffer to host a discussion about Why We Fight as part of the bi-weekly film series. Ian will talk to Den Detora about prices for snacks.
  • Sir, No Sir is tentatively the second movie on the Campus Action film series. Po-Chedley will get in contact with Professor Meade about organizing it.
  • Voter registration will be taking place Wednesday September 26 and Friday September 28 in the Campus Center. We will be using Go Vote dot org.
  • Meeting times Thursdays at 4:30.
  • Alex Krickx requests vote of no confidence for Zak Lazovik.

    9.21.06
  • Anita Paul was in attendance from Schenectady Neighbor's for Peace to help us organize the Eyes Wide Open Exhibit. The exhibit displays boots for every New York State Soldier who died in Iraq along with fifty pairs of shoes to represent the fact that for each U.S. soldier, 50 Iraqi civilians died as a result of U.S. occupation. The table will have information about the war along with a guest book.
  • Ian Kennedy is attempting to start a group, "Union College Students for Clean Elections" with Campus Action's help. Ian s working for Democracy Matters and would like to focus somewhat on clean elections.
  • Kennedy brought up the idea of having voter registration in the Campus Center.
  • Campus Action is going to start a bi-weekly film series with Schenectady Neighbor's for Peace and will show the first film, Why We Fight by Eugene Jarecki on Thursday October 5, 2006 at 7:30 in Old Chapel.
  • Alex Krickx proposes an obstacle course as a Campus Action event.

    9.12.06
  • First meeting of the term. Ian Kennedy went over the basics of the club, the purpose, the structure, and some ideas for the term.

    5.22.06
  • Summarized year and discussed possible issues for next year. See current events for listing of ideas. 5.15.06
  • It is decided that Campus Action would like to be more proactive in counter-recruitment movements, especially in local high schools if possible. It was brought up that Campus Action opposes military recruiting on more issues than the issue of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" Policy. Campus Action is looking into Union College's bias crime policy to see why military recruiters are allowed on campus.
  • Discussed possibility of creating a panel of experts to analyze and critisize Loose Change.
  • The idea of bringing local political candidates on campus for a talk or debate was brought up for next term. It is decided that we will have to set aside the next meeting to plan events for the fall. Ideas include a movie series, hosting political candidates, a counter-recruitment movement, participating in protests, and working on campus sustainability.
  • The final meeting of the term will be held Monday May 22, 2006 at 4:05.
  • Jess Cromeek and Ian Kennedy will be our presidents, Kaitlin Canty treasurer, Stephen Po-Chedley secretary and media relations, and Professor Jenkins our advisor.
  • I feel like I am forgetting one or two major, major bullets, because I didn't bring my notebook to the meeting...

    5.8.06
  • Loose Change and its producers, coordinated by Jake Shaffren will be on campus on Thursday May 11 at 6:00PM in the Olin Auditorium.
  • Ian Kennedy will look into the Graduation Pledge for next meeting.
  • Steve Po-Chedley will forward mock contracts to Jake so that he can work on getting the producers of Loose Change funded.
  • Jake will work on pulling information together for banning military recruiters from the campus. The information may be applied to Schenectady High School Military Recruitment.
  • It was consensus that Campus Action would be willing to support whatever efforts are taken by other groups regarding the recent intolerant and racist e-mails that were sent out.
  • The stakes representing the Iraq War were removed on Friday May 5. The display yielded mostly positive comments.
  • Press from the display can be found on the new Press Page.

    4.30.06
  • Organizational meeting for stakes in Ozone House at 7PM. Erected War Memorial.

    4.24.06
  • Abbreviated meeting recapping where everything stands and getting pieces together for 4.29 protest.
  • Reed Olsen agrees to look into Darfur Crisis for possible events for next year.
  • Ian Kennedy and Jess Cromeek are named Co-Presidents and Kaitlin Canty will be treasurer. 4.17.06
  • Five people will be attending the protest in NYC. Maggie Levine, Ian Kennedy, Michael Gillin, Jake Shaffren, and Megan Keenan will be representing Campus Action.
  • Loose Change has been booked for May 11 at 6:00 PM in Old Chapel. Steve Po-Chedley will be in charge of reserving the building and Jake will coordinate with the producers, media, and the college.
  • Kaitlyn Canty will take care of the budget application for next year.
  • Ian volunteered Noah to research the Graduation Pledge. Professor Jenkins would be willing to work with Campus Action on this as he is all ready working on sustainability issues with the Minervas.

    4.11.06
  • Much of the same continued from last meeting.
    Noah Eber-Schmidt will submit an IEG proposal and contact Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace about the NYC demonstration on April 29.
  • Ian Kennedy is set to meet with administration about approval for the Memorial Event.
  • Jake Shaffren will attempt to schedule loose change for May 11 at 7:30 in Old Chapel. Steve Po-Chedley will reserve Old Chapel.
  • Interest has been expressed in working on The Graduation Pledge.
  • Our movie series will continue in the fall. Possibilities include: Why We Fight, Lord of War, Out Foxed, Syriana, Hotel Rwanda, The Corporation, The Motorcycle Diaries, The Constant Gardener, V for Vendetta, 9/11 in Plane Sight, Loose Change, and Weather Underground.
  • Kaitlyn Canty was M.I.A. because it was her birthday. She will let us know who owes us money from Ritter next meeting.
  • Green House is working with Noah to arrange a trip to see V for Vendetta.
  • The Concordy needs writers for the World's Views Section. E-mail Zach Fields for more information.
  • Next meeting will be Monday at 3PM.

    4.4.06
  • It has been decided that we will have an Iraq War Memorial again. This year we will attempt to focus on the Iraqi Civilian casualties, as well as Coalition forces. Ian Kennedy will be in charge of the project, including securing funding, press, administrative support and organizing the actual Memorial. Campus Action will create some type of objective statement that allows people to draw their own conclusions from the memorial. The purpose of the Memorial is to illustrate, quantitatively, the losses in Iraq and U.S. sacrifice. The Memorial is set for the week leading up to the Iraq War Protest on April 29, 2006.
  • Noah Eber-Schmidt will be in charge of coming up with transportation options for the protest in NYC on the Iraq War on April 29. He will present the option at the next meeting.
  • The SOA Protest in Washington looks out of our reach at this point.
  • Jake Shaffren is working on getting the producers of Loose Change on campus for a screening and discussion.
  • Pi Sigma Alpha is looking for groups interested in co-sponsoring a trip to V For Vendetta. Contact Noah Eber-Schmidt if interested.
  • The meeting was very long and topics will be resumed next week, including, Graduation Pledge discussion, The Activist, and Movie Series ideas. We will also continue discussion on the memorial, Loose Change, and the NYC Demonstration.

    2.27.06
  • The table for Jake Shaffren and Reed Olsen's event is being reserved and when it is confirmed Elizabeth Buck will send an e-mail asking Dean McEvoy to send a campus wide e-mail describing the purpose of the table (to allow people to express their views on intolerance in an artistic format). Spectrum will co-sponsor the event with us.
  • Ian Kennedy, Reed Olsen, and Alex Krickx could not make it to the Campus Action meeting in Albany.
  • Kaitlyn is still trying to confirm payment for Scott Ritter.
  • Next term we would like to put out a Memorial for the soldiers with Ian Kennedy taking charge of the project again. We would also like to set up an open microphone or a megaphone to read off names of civilians who have died as a result of the U.S. invasion. Jess Cromeek is in charge of finding these names.
  • Movies, "The Fog of War" and "Outfoxed" have been suggested as possible Campus Action showings.
  • It has been suggested that we look in reexamining the situation in Iran again, with a follow up event to what we did in February of 2005. We will look into this more thoroughly next term.
  • This was the last meeting of the term. Campus Action will reconvene first week of spring term.
  • Steve Po-Chedley will submit a summary to Campus Action in Albany to keep them updated.

    2.20.06
  • Zak Lazovik moved for Campus Action to issue a statement pertaining to the recent homophobic/racist occurances at Union. Jake Shaffren and Megan Keenan volunteered to represent the group and issues the following statement to the Concordy:
    In light of recent events, Campus Action feels it necessary to reaffirm our principles of tolerance and unity. It is deplorable to see vandalism of any sort on our campus, especially that which endorses ideals of prejudice and racism. Not only do these acts hurt those who they are targeted against, but they also are offensive to the community as a whole. We stand in solidarity with all victims of hate crimes, on the campus and around the world. When we tolerate oppression of the minority, it demonstrates the ignorance of the majority. It should not take an act of vandalism for Union Students to speak against intolerance. We call on the entire campus community to stand united against hate.
    ~Union College Campus Action
  • Reed Olsen and Jake Shaffren are also going to be in charge of a campaign against these types of homophobic and racist statements by creating a visual poster that people can sign to show their support. The poster will be available to sign in the Campus Center Tuesday through Friday next week and then will be displayed somewhere appropriate on campus.
  • Ian Kennedy, Reed Olsen, and Alex Krickx will be representing Union at the Albany Campus Action Activist Workshop.
  • Steve Po-Chedley was in charge of purchasing the movie, "Why We Fight," but it will not be released to DVD until next year. If you have other ideas e-mail Campus Action immediately at progressive@vu.union.edu.
  • In an effort to keep the volume of e-mail down in the group please limit mass e-mails to the listserv. If you are unsure, send the e-mail to progressive@vu.union.edu. If you have other ideas e-mail Campus Action immediately at progressive@vu.union.edu and the mass e-mail will be streamlined with the weekly announcements and meeting times. If you would like to have an idea incorporated into the meeting, e-mail progressive@vu.union.edu, as well.
  • Anything to be posted to the webpage can be sent to progressive@vu.union.edu, or Hannah Weitzmah.
  • Zak Lazovik moves for a vote of no confidence in our fake president, Alex Krickx. Again, nobody seconds the motion.
  • Steve Po-Chedley has been forced into the position of acting secretary and is ready to step down anytime someone else wants to take notes.
  • Kaitlyn Canty is going to get Scott Ritter his money.

    Campus Action Home