Board minutes Feb. 2, 2004

Feb. 2, 2004 • 8-10 p.m.
(Rescheduled due to inclement weather from Jan. 26, 2004)
Witherspoon Student Center
Submitted by Carie Windham, Secretary

The meeting was called to order at approximately 8 p.m. by the chair. The meeting's start was delayed while the board waited for enough voting members to reach quorum.

MEMBERS AND ADVISERS PRESENT: Thushan Amarasiriwardena, Carie Windham, Faith Leach, Lock Whiteside, Matthew Gaebel, Anjan Kundavaram, Jaime Trivette, Sherry McIntyre, Jerry Blackmon, Birnettiah Killens, Bradley Wilson, Jeff Swain (for Tony Caravano)

MEMBERS ABSENT: Nathanial Horner, Nick Snell, Joe Constant, Emmaus Smith, Seth Lester, Shawna Jones, Jamie Proctor

The chair called for the approval of the Dec. 2 minutes, which were posted on the Student Media Authority Web site and distributed to board members beforehand. Jerry Blackmon objected to the approval of the minutes, citing that they were based on erroneous and libelous information. The approval of the minutes was then deferred until the end of the agenda.

The first order of business was to approve five new policy changes for the Student Media Authority. The policies dealt with reimbursements, policies, academic stipulations for student leaders and the appointment process for electing student media heads. After members raised questions about a probation period for a GPA that does not meet the minimum requirements and the release of student grades, Thushan Amarasiriwardena made a motion to pass all five policy changes as written. Locke Whiteside seconded the motion and the motion passed by a majority of members present.

The next order of business was to appropriate monies from the Student Media Reserve to wire Witherspoon Student Center for cable television. Bradley Wilson, based on conversations with Don Patty of the university's business office, said that Witherspoon Student Center was wired internally for cable when constructed. However, cable does not currently run to the building. The university estimated that bringing cable into the building would cost up to $10,000. To meet that goal, the African-American Cultural Center, Student Government and Student Media would each have to set aside funds. A motion was made by Thushan Amarasiriwardena to appropriate up to $6,000 from the reserve for cable. The project is pending, however, upon approval of funds by Student Government and the African-American Cultural Center . The motion was seconded by Anjan Kundavaram and passed by a majority vote of members present.

Anjan Kundavaram updated the board about efforts to look into the Student Media Authority Board restructuring by Student Government. Mr. Kundavaram told board members that a meeting was scheduled of the "Student Government Select Committee on the Student Media Authority" but quorum was not met and no business took place. He told the board he would continue to give reports of their progress.

[The following reports were delivered to board members in advance of the board meeting.]

Successes:
We sent 67 pages to Taylor Publishing on Dec. 5 and an additional 18 pages to the publisher on Dec. 15.
We have nearly $13,000 in ad sales thus far. Our ad salesman gets 50 percent of this, leaving us with $6,500 of our $11,000 goal.
We have sold more than 1,000 books, more than twice what we sold last year.

Promotions:
Adam Smith's pictorial history book entitled, North Carolina State University: A Bridge to the Future, will be publicized on Agromeck's Website. He will also be promoting the yearbook, as many of his pictures were taken from old Agromecks, while he promotes his book.
We are distributing cards and placing table tents to promote undergraduate portraits and yearbook sales.
Our publishing company is calling all students to gather personal information which will follow the index.

Portrait Sessions:
Undergraduate photos will be taken Jan. 26-29 in the third floor lobby of Witherspoon.
Moret than 500 senior portraits were taken, more than 100 more than last year.

Freshman Directory:
For next year's freshman directory, we will be partnering with Greek Life to produce a single directory for N.C. State. This year, neither Agromeck nor Greek Life knew the other was producing a directory. This caused much confusion with incoming freshmen concerning which one they should buy. Both groups sold about the same number of directories. Agromeck needs the publicity while the National Pan-Hellenic Council, an organization under Greek Life, needs fundraising opportunities. For the directory that will come out in the fall of 2004, Agromeck will produce a quality directory while Greek Life will publicize it. The directory will include the history of N.C. State, information about Greek Life on campus, and portraits. The directory will be sold as a stand-alone product or a package with the yearbook. Mug shots of freshmen will be submitted directly to Taylor Publishing.
Student Media will pay the National Pan-Hellenic Council approximately $10 per book. The directories will be printed and mailed to the student's home address by July 23. If there are any questions or concerns regarding this partnership, please contact me or bring the issue up during the board meeting.

TECHNICIAN (Thushan Amarasiriwardena and Carie Windham, editors) CLICK HERE for PDF file

Benefit
The most current news for KNC is definitely the Double Barrel Benefit Bash this past weekend. Friday and Saturday night, we got 10 of the best bands of the area, and more than 300 people came out to show their support. This was a great opportunity for the KNC staff to interact with listeners. It also worked towards bridging a gap that seems to exist between the NC State community and the Raleigh community, specifically when it comes to music. We exposed ourselves (in a good way) to a new crowd and got very good feedback on everything. We got some good press, including a nice ditty in the Independent http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2004-01-14/raleighrhythms.html), and I’ve seen nothing but good reviews on the Web forums and such (http://wknc.org/forum/read.php?f=1&i=71892&t=71892). WKNC had been talking with Kings about regularly working together on events like this one, but we wanted to see if we could actually make something work. Obviously we can, so hopefully this is just the beginning of something good and lasting.

Webcast
WKNC is finally Webcasting (again). On Jan 1, WKNC.org began streaming the music of WKNC FM onto the Internet making us worldwide. I’m in the process of finishing paperwork, but this is something that everyone (staff, listeners, musicians, faculty, complete strangers) are excited about. Between this and the upgrade in the fall, WKNC’s range has blown up.

Sales
The WKNC sales staff is doing very well with its efforts. In the fall, WKNC hired Bullseye Media to train a new staff, which has proven very successful. Previously, WKNC sales figures were negligible; now, we have about a dozen contracted clients. We’re looking to break $5,000 for January and February and are on track to potentially exceed our projections for the year.

Other stuff

[The following reports were delivered to board members verbally at the board meeting.]

Jerry Blackmon, editor of the Nubian Message, spoke about actions taken and information given at the last meeting of the Student Media Authority. He said that information used in a motion passed at the meeting violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act which protects the privacy of student education records. Bradley Wilson agreed, stating that he e-mailed an apology to members of the board after the meeting and after Mr. Blackmon raised concerns. Board members discussed ways to check student grades without violating FERPA.

On behalf of the Nubian Message, Cat Warren, a professor in the English department spoke about allegations made at the December meeting that Mr. Blackmon and the Nubian Message had committed intellectual property violations. Dr. Warren said she spoke with her colleague, Robert Kochersberger, and lawyers with the North Carolina Press Association about the issues mentioned. She said she also spoke with Mr. Blackmon and reporters. After providing background, she addressed each issue.

At the December meeting, concerns were raised about a photo credit listed "Afro-American Web Ring" on a photograph in the Nubian Message and whether that was the proper credit. Dr. Warren said that after some investigation, she discovered there were no clear indicators where the photo originated and that it existed with several different credits on the Internet. An attorney with the North Carolina Press Association concluded the photograph would fall under the "fair use doctrine" when used in a news context and therefore, the credit was not an intellectual property violation.

At the December meeting, questions were raised the article accompanying the photograph and quotes that were from wire reports. The article mentioned "contributing wire reports" at the bottom. Dr. Warren explained that quotes are not owned by a wire service and cannot, therefore, be subject to copyright. She said she found the quotes used in several contexts, including the Raleigh News and Observer, and that "contributing wire reports" fulfilled the reporters responsibility.

At the December meeting, questions were raised about a graphic from the American Cancer Society and whether the proper permission was granted before publication. The reporter obtained verbal permission before publication and written permission after. After speaking with Amanda Martin at the NC Press Association, Dr. Warren said that verbal permission was sufficient before printing the graphic.

Dr. Warren also addressed concerns that a column by Jonathan Brunson incorrectly identified the source of a Boston Globe column as the News and Observer and quoted from the column. Dr. Warren said the column had run in the News and Observer as a wire. Mr. Brunson wrote "in last Sunday's News and Observer," which Dr. Warren said was the correct way to cite the article. She said he did everything he could to carefully quote the article.

Concerns were also raised at the December meeting about a list entitled "Little Known Truths" that listed facts about African-Americans. Dr. Warren said the truths were relatively accessible and that facts are not copyrightable. She said they were taken from several different sources. Mr. Wilson said he had been informed they were taken from one source, a book, but Dr. Warren said her conversations with the writer did not convey that. She said it was not an intellectual property rights violation but that the box at the bottom of the column - which Mr. Blackmon said was not supposed to run - was a mistake and should not happen again.

Based on the information provided, board members discussed safeguards in place to prevent problems from occurring. Mr. Wilson said the errors were pointed out before publication but Dr. Warren contested that to others, they did not appear to be errors. Dr. Warren said the fact that the allegations had reached the level of grounds for dismissal was a shame. In light of Dr. Warren's comments, Mr. Blackmon suggested that the motion drafted at the December meeting be struck. But other board members argued the motion was about more than intellectual property rights. Mr. Blackmon said all the issues were connected to the property rights questions.

The chair made a motion to amend the minutes from the December meeting, striking the word "further" in Section B of the motion passed. The motion was seconded and passed by a majority vote of the board.

The chair made a motion to amend the December minutes to include an apology message from Mr. Wilson about the FERPA violations. The motion was seconded and passed by a majority vote of the board.

A motion was made by Thushan Amarasiriwardena to amend the agenda to include discussion of the lack of publication by the Nubian Message. The motion was seconded, passed by a majority vote of the members present and the discussion was added to the agenda.

Locke Whiteside made a motion to bring back the motion from the December meeting and its stipulations for discussion. The motion was seconded and passed by a majority vote of the members present.

After brief discussion, a motion was made to drop the previous motion and remove its stipulations. The motion was seconded and passed by a majority vote of the board.

Board members discussed the problems associated with the Nubian Message's production, mainly that it had missed two of three deadlines this semester. Mr. Blackmon said that his executive board had voted not to publish the first week of training since they had just undergone a day of training that they wanted to implement. The other missed date was on account of inclement weather that stranded staff members at home for three days. Some board members raised concerns that there would be no accountability if the Nubian Message did not come out and went without penalty. Others worried about the future of the publication if the editor were removed. Board members also brainstormed ways to help the publication and suggested changing the publication days to bi-weekly instead of weekly.

A motion was made by Thushan Amarasiriwardena that if the Nubian Message were not to produce each week, the editor would be terminated. The motion was withdrawn.

A motion was made by Locke Whiteside that set up goals to be met by the Nubian Message:

The Student Media Advisory Board adjourned into executive session to discuss the minutes of December's executive session.

The board resumed open session and a motion was made to strike parts of the executive session minutes that violated FERPA. The motion was seconded and passed by a majority vote of the board.

A motion was made to adjourn at approximately 10:10 p.m. The motion was seconded and passed by a majority vote of members present.