Minutes of Sept. 4, 2003

Members present: Chairman Riley Wilson, community representative John Pool, faculty rep Hans Rosenwinkel, KUOI adviser Jeff Kimberling, Arg Advertising adviser Michele Kimberling, Gem editor Jessi Bacon, Graduate Student Association rep Jowi McMillan, ASUI rep Carrie Joslin, Arg Advertising director Abigail Bottari, Argonaut editor Brian Passey, Student Bar Association rep Andrea Schiers, Arg/Gem adviser Brian Beesley. Guest: Steve Janowiak, assistant director of Student Activities and Leadership.

Meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m. in the Chiefs Room of the Student Union Building. Those in attendance introduced themselves, including newly appointed members McMillan and Schiers. Wilson then welcomed the board to a new school year, and began by asking for reports from the department heads.

Passey said the Argonaut was that night working on its fifth issue of the semester. He noted the staff has been encountering some problems involving the upgrade to the Macintosh OSX operating system, resulting in missed production deadlines at the Daily News. But it seemed that the bugs were being worked out and the new staff was figuring out the procedure. He said he was happy with the papers content thus far.

Bottari reported that things were going well with ad sales and the first five issues of the paper were larger than might have been expected. She noted the special Dads Weekend section coming out Friday. She also discussed some of the technical difficulties her staff had experienced due to the upgrade, but that things appeared to be leveling out. One member of last years staff, Tim Latter, did not return to school this semester and has been replaced by Brandon Leach.

Bacon said she is assembling her staff and trying to get her payroll in order. The second staff meeting of the semester was scheduled for later that evening.

In station manager Sarah Longs absence, adviser Jeff Kimberling gave the KUOI report. Kimberling said Long and her staff had set the disc jockey schedule for the semester two nights earlier, which he said must be a record for earliest scheduling ever. He said new DJs were scheduled to be trained over the weekend. Kimberling also noted that the production room upgrades were complete and the staff was excited about the new equipment.

The chairman then opened a discussion of formation of new committee to study the situation of the Gem, asking which board members were interested in serving on it. Volunteers included Pool, Bacon, Bottari, Beesley and Michele Kimberling. Wilson appointed Pool to head the committee. Discussion of the issue involved evaluating the current status of the Gem and how to proceed, either in terms of increasing sales of a traditional book or charting a new course in terms of its format. Pool said the yearbook serves a record-keeping function for the university that should be of interest to the Alumni Association. Beesley said he has had two conversations in the past year with Tim Helmke, a former Gem editor who is now the associate director for Alumni Relations, and it seems that the alumni association is aware of the value of a yearbook but they dont appear to have much financial support to offer at present. But he said the committee could always revisit the subject later to see what assistance the alumni might be available to provide.

Wilson brought up the matter of the boards next meeting, which was scheduled for Sept. 18, the night when Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was also slated to give the annual Bellwood Lecture in the SUB Ballroom. After a brief discussion, the group consensus was that the meeting should be moved up to Tuesday, Sept. 16, in the same venue, and Beesley said he would try to reserve the Chiefs Room on that date (He was later successful in doing that). Pool took the opportunity to suggest that the board seriously consider moving its regular meeting to another evening of the week instead of Thursdays, both due to the fact that its an Argonaut publication night and that he would be unable to attend most meetings beginning in October when he started a new shift at his job with the Latah County Library. Tuesdays appeared to be the most likely replacement night, but Wilson tabled the discussion until the next meeting.

The subject of board secretary then came up. Nila Gregory, an at-large member who had served in that capacity for a few meetings in the spring, did not return to school this fall and had resigned. Beesley told the board that, although it had previously approved awarding the $50 stipend, which ordinarily goes to the chairperson, to Gregory, she had never gotten the work permit that would have allowed her to be paid. Wilson said he as chairman had no objection to giving the $50 to a board member willing to be the secretary, but someone from the boards full-vote student membership would need to assume the duties. With three openings for at-large undergraduate members, the board might not be ready to address the issue, Wilson said. In the meantime, Beesley agreed to record minutes at the meetings.

At Wilsons invitation, Janowiak told the board that he was attending in his capacity as assistant director of Student Activities to get an idea of what some of the issues ahead were. He said he thought the marriage of Student Media and Student Activities  which includes student government and student volunteerism  was a good marriage in that both areas were concerned with student involvement. He said he was impressed by the work being done by the various Student Media departments and was looking forward to a successful year.

Beesley then gave an update on the Student Media logo. Over the summer, it came to his attention that the universitys marketing branch objected to Student Medias use of the UI daisy wheel in the student-designed logo it adopted in spring 2002. Beesley said that Bob Hieronymus, the director of University Communications and Marketing, told him in order to Student Media to use the daisy wheel, the accompanying words University of Idaho must be included and in the format the university uses. Beesley said he came up with a temporary logo to be used in an advertisement over the summer, and that the board would need to retool the logo or draft a new one. McMillan asked if the words could be incorporated or abbreviated to fit into the existing design, but Pool (who later noted that he was working at Student Media in the 1970s when the original UI logo was created) said an abbreviation would probably not be an option. McMillan commented that one would think the university would appreciate and want the connection from Student Media; by simply using UI in a logo, it could mean the University of Iowa or University of Indiana. Jeff Kimberling noted that by being so strict in terms of the logos use, the UI was actually forcing Student Media to exclude the reference. Wilson asked if the Argonaut could enlist its advertising designers to come up with a new logo, and Bottari said she would look into it. Janowiak also volunteered some of his departments graphic designers to help. The board decided to set an Oct. 2 deadline for submissions to consider.

Passey then made a proposal to the board to help in funding his trip to the Society of Professional Journalists convention in Tampa, Fla., Sept. 11-14. The Argonaut is one of three finalists for college newspaper of the year in its classification, and Passey said he felt it was important for the paper to be represented at the convention, regardless of its finish in the competition; even third place would be he Argonauts highest finish in an SPJ competition. He said he had already made arrangements for travel and accommodations, paying for them with his credit card. He said he is willing to finance the trip himself but he decided to approach the board to help offset his costs, which he estimated at roughly $850. He said Kenton Bird, interim director of the School of Journalism and Mass Media, had already offered to give him $100 reimbursement from the school toward this trip. Janowiak started the discussion off by speaking in favor of using carryover money for these kinds of purposes, saying that he considers attending such conventions an important part of the learning experience that the university has to offer. Joslin, the boards ASUI representastive, agreed with the educational benefits of such conferences. Schiers said the Argonaut has proven itself over the past three to four years with its quality and that sending Passey to the convention would not be a wasted investment. Wilson asked Beesley how much the board currently has in its carryover budget, and he said a ballpark figure would be $80,000-$85,000. Discussion turned to whether the $20-$30 that Passey had estimated for food during the four days was enough, with McMillan noting that he could easily spend $30 on one meal in Tampa. Rosenwinkel and Joslin suggested increasing the reimbursement to $900, and McMillan suggested moving it up to $1,000. Pool made a motion that the board use its carryover budget to reimburse Passey a figure not to exceed $1,000. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 8-0.

Joslin then made a motion to adjourn, and its was seconded by Rosenwinkel, approved by Wilson at 6:25 p.m.

 Minutes submitted on 9/5/03 by Brian Beesley, Media Board adviser