ASA meeting 2010-02-02
Attendence: Keone, Tony, Rebecca, Nicole, Zhao

>>Office Allocations update:
Standing issues: 
Anime/SEDS/a capella
	-SEDS is happy, 
	-Anime is mostly happy; they're moving in, would like to know when the partition will be there
	-CAC is getting an estimate on how long till a partition; CAC and SAO will cover the cost
	-the a capella groups and ACF say they need locking cabinets for insurance purposes
	-they want something like what the band groups have; Jed is hesitant to have SAO and CAC invest more, so the groups need to decide how much they want to invest
	-we (ASA exec) should meet with the a capella groups


Lion Dance, (possibly CSSA) want shelves - there are shelves in 441, S7-9 that can be assigned
Oori - the records aren't clear; they currently have stuff in 437; if there were shelves in 437, that might work; we talk to CAC re:shelves, but need clean space before that can happen
Locker clean out - send out announcement setting date for Feb 16 from now - either groups clean things out by then, label with name and send us an email explaining it with a small picture, or stuff gets thrown out
Walker basement - had cleanout last Thursday by CAC, don't know how it went, but rooms there are open and ready to be moved into; can talk to CAC
Some lockers don't have keys - talk to CAC. 

Tony is going to talk to Jed/CAC about these things. 

>>Possible Improvements to Allocation Process
-guidelines to have flexible dates - needing to move before the 15th caused problems
	-perhaps have schedule approved at first GBM; it would be about the same, but could take into account events and such
	-want to have guarantee about when things will happen (i.e. moving done by end of IAP, but still have some freedom if necessary)
	-could possibly just have board vote on it, instead of all GBM
-first stage of allocations needs to produce a map
	-the current allocations are vague and difficult to appeal, because it's hard to figure out if groups need to appeal or not
	-like it easier to shuffle groups around to get the best configuration, but don't want to take away space if a group has had it for 50 years - i.e. more fluidity
	-perhaps have a yearly review of offices
	-there needs to still be some wiggle room in the first round of allocations - how?
		-could mark some rooms as absolutely not moving, 
		-give ideal situation, leave wiggle room for when groups complain
-walkarounds need to happen in a better way
	-need to talk to groups in their space
	-a yearly walkaround would help




>>LEF/ARCADE - is it taking up too much time/commitment of ASA? 
	-We could have non-ASA people on the board, i.e. members at large
	-would need to recuse themselves from decisions over their own groups

>>New Groups

>Systems Thinking Society
We approved them, but they want to be funded. They're mostly academic, which we haven't been funding much so far. 
-> unfunded

>Gordon Engineering Program
They're a program with a staff, not a student group. 
-> Not recognized as group

>Renewable Energy Projects in Action
They seem to have their act together, have money donated, lots of projects (that they'll go ahead with whether we approve them or not). 
-> Approved as funded group

>Innoworks
We had voted no, then had them go talk to Jed, Jed approves. 
-> Approved as unfunded

>Bhopal
Most of their events are fundraising, so they won't get funding anyway, but other events are important.
-> Approved as funding

>Science Policy Initiative
Were funded by Washington office, still working closely with them, but not getting funded for on-campus activities. Can we make them funded if they still get some funding from Washington office? MIT Washington office is funding events related to Washington, people going to Washington, etc. They want to fund things on campus, which is why they're asking us.
-> Approved as funded

>Will next meet to approve new groups in two weeks


>>GBM
Thursday the 18th at 7:30. We'll start serving refreshments at 7pm. 


>>Website Updates
Group listings w/ meeting times is hopelessly out of date - Tony will cover that
Keone is going look into the new database and see what we can do - it would be nice to get that going. 

>>ASA Official mailing
GBM, locker clean out, new groups - Keone is writing

Adjourned at 10:55