Sept. 19, 2005 • 5 p.m.
Board Room, Talley Student CenterCALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 5:10 p.m. by Board president Jessica Branson.
Elected members present included: Jessica Branson, Patrick Cleary, Heather Warren, Ronald Johnson, Emily Pahel, Darryl Hardy and Anni Sadow.
Hired members present included: Josh Bassett, Emmanuel Lipscomb, Rebecca Heslin, Britt Hayes and David Nourse.
Student Government officials present included: Seneca Toms.
Others present included: Bradley Wilson, Martha Collins, Krystal Pittman, Tyler Dukes (Technician reporter), Jannell Jackson (prospective editor candidate) and Antonio Moses (prospective editor candidate)
OLD BUSINESSS
- Approval of minutes. CLICK HERE
Patrick Cleary moved and Emily Pahel seconded approval of the minutes. There were no objections.
NEW BUSINESS
- Hiring of The Nubian Message editor
CLICK HERE for more information.
CLICK HERE for posting distributed on Aug. 31, 2005.
Minimum Requirements
- The candidate must have been a member of that media for at least two full semesters.
- The candidate must have at least a 2.25 grade point average.
- The candidate must have at least two semesters remaining as an N.C. State University student.
- The candidate must be a full-time N.C. State University student.
- Any or all these requirements may be waived at the discretion of the student media board.
Candidate Janell Jackson (a sophomore, Spanish and Communications Major, possibly adding a minor in Journalism) made presentation and answered questions from Board members.
Canidate Antonio D. Moses (a junior, English Education Minor in African Studies) made presentation and answered questions from Board members.
Patrick made motion to waive GPA/full-time student status for Antonio Moses.
Motion was seconded by Dave.
Josh and Rebecca objected to the motion on the grounds that the minimum requirements were not unreasonable. Discussion followed with the topic being whether or not it was OK to waive the GPA requirement.Bradley explained what an interim-editor was.
Discussion of past problem issues/problems that The Nubian Message has had.
-how do we solve the problems?
-should qualifications be waived?
-how was the position publicized?Bradley explained more parlimentary procedure and options for the Board.
Motion made for withdrawling the current motion on the table.
No Motion made to wave Janell’s unqualification for the position.
Motion made by Patrick to have a taskforce made up of two members of SAAC, two members of AASAC, one or two Student Media board members, and the Student Body president,.
This comittee would be tasked with
-Evaluate what The Nubian Message is
-How to improve The Nubian Message
-How The Nubian Message can work with other organizations
The Task force would report back to the Board at mid OctoberJosh seconded the motion.
Discussion of revising motion on the table.
-Have Dr. Tracey Ray directly involved on the taskforce?
-Have Dr. José A. Picart directly involved on the taskforce?
-Have comittee come up with a five-year plan for The Nubian MessageDiscussion of the issue of not electing an editor out of the two applicants, and leaving The Nubian Message without an editor until mid-October at the earliest.
Patrick ammended motion to say:
“I move that the Student Media Board convene a committee tasked with assessing The Nubian Message mission, current issues/challenges, and future directions for the publication. This committee shall be composed of seven persons: chaired by an elected Student Media Board member, one hired Student Media Board member, the Student Body President or his designee, one student representative from the African American Student Advisory Council (AASAC) selected by the chair of that group, one student rep from the Society of Afrikan American Culture (SAAC) selected by the chair of that group, Dr. Tracey Ray (director of multicultural student affairs in the Division of Student Affairs) or her designee, and Dr. Picart (vice provost for diversity and African American affairs) or his designee. This committee shall develop a five-year plan for The Nubian Message and report to the Student Media Board in 30 days.”Vote on motion passed unanimously.
Question raised about guidlines for application process. Should there be more exact questions? Discussion included the variety of positions and desire to see how committed each candidate was. The application is a reflection of the candidate's abilities and interest.
REPORTS
- Agromeck CLICK HERE
- Americana CLICK HERE
- The Nubian Message
- Technician CLICK HERE
- Windhover CLICK HERE
- WKNC 88.1fm CLICK HERE
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Student Media Board may adjourn into executive session to discuss matters of litigation, potential litigation or personnel.ADJOURN
TEXT OF REPORTS
Agromeck
(submitted by Josh Bassett, editor)EDITORIAL STAFF:
Josh Bassett, editor (editor@agromeck.ncsu.edu)
Austin Dowd, managing editor (austin@agromeck.ncsu.edu)
Joan Marie MacFadden, student life section editor (jmmacfad@ncsu.edu)
Cynthia Rouf, organizations section editor (nrouf@ncsu.edu)
Courtney J. Evans, senior staff writer (cjevans@ncsu.edu)RECRUITMENT/TRAINING
Orientation recruitment went well for the Agromeck. We had more than 100 people sign up with interest in working on staff. After e-mailing all of the prospective staffers, we held a meet and greet on Aug. 14 and invited the interested staffers up to the office. We have gained about 10 new staff members as a result of New-Student Orientation recruitment.STAFF MANUAL
I spent four days in Seattle working on the Agromeck staff manual. The manual includes job descriptions, the production process, guidelines for writing yearbook articles, policies and a glossary of terms. The manual is still in draft form and is in the process of being edited and completed. Upon completion, it will be distributed to all current and prospective staff members and will serve as a training tool.PHOTOGRAPHY
The photographers began their weekly photo nights Sept. 1 with a presentation by Bradley Wilson. The photo nights provide photographers with additional training and criticism.PROMOTION
This year we will be printing a post card every month, excluding December and May, which fill feature a photo chosen by the Photographer of the Month. The post cards contain information pertaining to ordering the yearbook, portraits, etc. and are distributed on campus by Yearbook Man. iWolfpack buttons are being distributed to people on campus and during senior portraits.DEADLINE PROGRESS
The first yearbook deadline is Oct. 3 and contains 16 pages. Progress on the completing the deadline is right on schedule. The new writers and photographers on staff have already made/are making significant contributions on the first deadline. Three articles are being written by new staff members and new photographers spent much of First Week becoming familiar with the equipment and taking photos.PORTRAITS
The first session of senior portraits has passed. A little more than 100 people had their portraits taken. This is a disappointing number and luckily there is a final session on Oct. 10-14. Last year we had 400 senior portraits included in the yearbook. Underclass portraits will be held on Sept. 19-23 in the first-floor lounge of Talley Student Center and are free of charge. No appointment necessary.AMERICANA
(submitted by Emmanuel Lipscomb, editor)Over the summer, Americana had some trouble. Not ready to lose so many of its staff members to graduation, it floundered a bit when it came to making a unified effort to publicize the need for staffers and writers. Complicating this problem even more was the fact that half of Americana’s remaining staff went abroad for the summer while the other half worked and took summer courses. As a result of all of this, Americana had no representation at the summer orientation sessions. Still, with the dedicated support of its fellow Student Mediamembers' work, 16 names were taken that expressed interest in the publication. All were contacted primarily by e-mail with subsequent e-mails and phone calls to follow. To date, no one has responded.
Currently, Americana’s staff consists of an editor (Emmanuel Lipscomb, edlipsco@ncsu.edu), a general manager (Jeff Horn, jrhorn@ncsu.edu), a features editor (Curtis Martin, cpmartin@ncsu.edu), two news & opinion Editors (Kate Sutton, krsutto3@ncsu.edu and Jode Willingham, jdwillin@ncsu.edu), an arts editor (Christopher “Critter” Wentworth, crittervision@gmail.com), an arts director (Travis Stearns, tmstearn@ncsu.edu), and finally a volunteer Web developer (Nigel Kirby, nigel.kirby@gmail.com).
Many will notice that there was a change made in Americana’s staff. Instead of two Web developers, one was made into an arts director, a position that would handle all of the site’s graphic issues in addition to composing flyers and posters for publicity. The creation of this position allows the arts editor to focus on his section where previously he was responsible for the arts section and the site graphics. The only benefit lost with the creation of this position is the ability of two Web developers to handle site publishing, problems, and changes. Americana still lacks a second features editor, a creativity editor, two publicity coordinators, and a replacement Web developer. Also, the humor editor (Dennis Duffy) resigned at the first staff meeting of the semester, so that position must be filled soon. There are nearly 20 students interested in these positions, so there are no worries as to whether or not they will be filled.
The production schedule established at the end of the summer set our publication dates as Aug. 28; Sept. 11, and 25; Oct. 9, and 23; Nov. 6, and 20; and Dec. 4, the sum of which is the usual seven issues of Americana per semester. Somewhere within that schedule would be an additional week to accommodate a three-week themed issue.
At the moment, the Americana site is down due to a server error. The cover page for the summer “Best of…” issue is viewable, but clicking to enter brings up a server error message. Not only is site down, but e-mails to the Americana list serv are bouncing. The site being down has offset publishing by one week, and the Web developer is working to get it up and running. He has described the site problem as saying that something was done to the server that caused a portion of the site to become write protected which in turn messed up the database; however, he has no idea how this could have happened. Joel Ebel and Dustin Patterson have also looked into the issue. The goals are to get the site running as soon as possible, publish the first issue late, and continue with the regular production schedule.
Other than restoring the site and getting back on schedule, the main priority is to fill the staff roster. The need for staff members was publicized on flyers at the end of the semester and on The Wolf Web message board and Scholars Forum e-mail distribution list this semester. Many people e-mailed expressing interest, and both the editor and the general managerhave been in contact with those students. Efforts are being made to begin interviewing for the positions as early as next week. The likely order of interviews will be Web, publicity, creativity, and then features. A new web trainee will provide Nigel Kirby, the current Web developer, with some possible aid in restoring the site, and the hiring of publicity coordinators will allow the editors to focus on publishing while Open Mic Nights and other publicity events are scheduled. Features and creativity are last on the list because of the number of people interested. Hiring staff to fill the positions with less competition will allow Americana greater freedom in scheduling interviews because of an increased availability.
A change was made in the interview process of Americana. Ordinarily, interested students submit a piece of writing that exhibits a skilled command of the language, specifically in reference to its grammar and style. This year applicants must provide the staff with actual submissions to the magazine. The benefit is two-fold; the staff becomes familiar with what the applicant is likely to submit and publish in the future, and Americana obtains a greater number of submissions overall. This greatly benefits the Creativity section where approximately 10 students are interested in becoming Creativity Editor.
Once the site has been restored, the publishing schedule has been re-established, and the staff roster has been filled, the older business of staff development and training can be addressed. The goal is to develop a staff handbook that explains the responsibilities of each position, sets a more rigid uniform style, and offers a go-to guide to negotiating campus red tape. In addition, this handbook would contain specific information of benefit to the editor-in-chief, general manager, publicity coordinators, and web developer. These positions would benefit from a handbook because of the difficulty that comes in completing their responsibilities when campus policy is not known.
The final goal is to begin encouraging members of the current staff to take up the editor's position once I graduate. The earlier the person is trained in the position, the easier the transition will be.
All in all, Americana hopes to have a successful year despite initial setbacks.
TECHNICIAN
(submitted by Rebecca Heslin, editor)The first few weeks of production this semester were quite taxing on us. We had printing and technological problems, as well as some content issues. All in all, we're improving and recovering from these setbacks.
Greg Behr joined our staff as a deputy features editor, he seems to be making the transition onto the editorial staff quite nicely. Looking forward to a real pick up in the features department.
Staff recruitment was phenomenal this summer. Patrick Clarke led the drive from Technician and really got our name out there. Everyone interested has been contacted and feedback has been great.
Training is now underway within each department. Recruits have been contacted and are coming into the office to write practice stories and learn the ropes.Our biggest problem thus far has been meeting deadlines. Due to new staff members and getting back into the swing of things, we've been hard pressed to get files to the printer by 1 a.m. We are organizing a bootcamp-esque training day to really hammer out specific goals, identify problems and how to fix them. No more excuses.
How can I submit this board report without a mention of the now infamous protest Aug. 30? After columnist Daniel Underwood wrote a column entitled "Sorostitutes are weak and wounded," quite the firey debate ignited on campus. The Greek Life community came together to voice its disgust with the column. This is developing into a great thing because it brought the Greek community together for a cause. Oftentimes it takes a common enemy to unite a group, and if that's the role Technician had to play, then so be it.
WINDHOVER
(submitted by Britt Hayes, editor)
- There have been no deviations from the budget in either income or expenses.
- Open House before school started went well, and contacts were made to fill positions. There should be interviews to fill the spots during the first full week of September.
- Windhover was received well at New-Student Orientation sessions, and e-mails were sent to those students interested in the media.
- Upcoming deadlines are: Feb. 1, 2006 end of submissions; March 13, 2006 book to printer; April 10, 2006 book delivered; reception before April 21
WKNC
(submitted by David Nourse, general manager)WKNC is still on the air!
This summer saw a tremendous amount of growth and change for WKNC. New carpet was laid down nd renovations took place in the on-air operations studio. The furniture in the on-air studio was completely replaced and new equipment was purchased and installed. The installation of this new furniture and equipment will result in expanded interest in WKNC from NCSU students and a much greater sense of pride by current WKNC employees.Much work was also done on the WKNC training/operations manual. It has been completely updated and will shortly be ready for distribution to current and new WKNC employees.
This summer also saw a payroll blunder on the part of the general manager, Dave Nourse. Due to Mr. Nourse’s unfamiliarity with Student Media policies, he overcompensated WKNC’s chief engineer, Sean Hill, for work done remodeling the new on-air studio. This was a mistake on Mr. Nourse’s part and takes full responsibility for the error.
This fall WKNC will be implementing a new method of training station personnel. It will take the form of classroom instruction supplemented by production & on-air studio labs. It is expected to reduce to amount of time needed to train new DJs and will enable future staff to be well-versed in FCC rules and station policy. This training will also provide the fundamental skills needed if staff members are to progress from NCSU into the radio industry.
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