Notes/Minutes, November 3, Students for Staff Meeting

[Virgil]

[Thank you Chloe Holden!]

Meeting opened, described agenda. Report-backs from working groups,
discussion of demands, boycotts (Paul)

group points:
- Someone brought up point of reaching out to staff directly and asked
to hear back from any groups or individuals
- suggest reading of Michael Roth's statement

– Michael Roth's statement was read aloud
- offered Freeman showers to staff
- asserted that help was being provided "effectively" to staff, and
that particular concerns should be addressed to HR

description of hand signals, procedure (Paul)

report-backs:

– Media Outreach (Natasha)
- communicating to the great Middletown community
• timeline: a week or so
• goal: an Op-Ed in a public paper
- parents' weekend
• table at the student activity fair
• email to raise awareness among parents via listserv
* group discussion:
- reminder that Students for Staff Google group/listserv can be joined
via link on Wesleying
- point made that a WesSpeak or opinion piece should be submitted for
Friday's issue, online
- raising awareness among staff: Roth's email not sufficient, no
translation, many staff without email access. suggestion of media
group and translation * group collaboration to that end. suggestion to
consolidate all relevant information in order to convey it to staff
- suggestion of asking staff to speak, organizing staff meeting to
discuss these issues. (translation committee organizing a meeting,
potentially Friday morning at 7 AM, request for collaboration with
other groups)
- mention of problems contacting group leaders, access to contact
information
- do we have specific people communicating with workers?
- suggestion of creation of a zine
- cable news?
- press release suggestion
- reiteration of importance of staff communication and awareness of
services

– Translation
- request for more translators
- if any working groups have information that needs to be translated,
email it to group leaders
- staff meeting planned for 7 AM on Friday in the Butts break room to
discuss grievances and course of action
- group not responsible for creating posters, interested in having
more members to assist with publicity
- request for clarity over who is communicating with ABM staff
* group discussion:
- get in touch with staff to identify more language needs (response:
for ABM, Spanish is the main language)
- get in touch with language department, OCS, through Wesleyan
language bank for translation assistance
- suggestion of different meetings for different types of non-teaching
staff
- reminder that ABM and Bon Apetít are not the only groups of staff on
campus, broad outreach and communication essential
- list to go around
"computers are stupid. I can help" – Virgil vta...@wesleyan.edu

– Childcare
- after learning about liability issues with working out of Usdan,
daycare service set up at the Buttonwood Tree on from 8 AM to 4 PM
- Buttonwood address: 905 Main Street, corner of Liberty and Main
- publicity: bilingual fliers posted in Usdan, break room doors,
talked to staff in Usdan and WesShop
- group to send out a doodle, students can come volunteer throughout
the day. At least two students [edit: announcement accidentally sent
out through Middletown Eye that Wesleyan students would be providing
free childcare for all Middletown residents. what should we do?
discussion to be held in Childcare group]

– Food Preparation
- chili and rice made, no one was there to eat it
- group hopes to identify better distribution spaces and provide food
tomorrow

– Food Donation
- food donations received, $250 worth of food bought with monetary
donations
- signs placed in break rooms
- more publicity to staff needed
- donation of excess

– Showers and Laundry
- request for more suggestions
* group discussion
- athletic center laundry: the "Bob Wash"? (note: kind of abrasive)
- have individual staff pay students in return for use of Middletown
cash in on-campus laundry spaces

– groups break off for discussions
– regroup & UPDATES:

– Demands: to be discussed tomorrow 11/3, in small groups and then
large group
* group discussion:
- discuss demands and bring to staff at Friday's meeting

– Communication & Translation: combined group
- group plans to organize meetings with different groups of workers,
engage in dialogue about needed services, feedback about demands

– Media
- parents weekend, publicity, possible WesSpeak

– Food
- kid-friendly food will be sent to Buttonwood
- canned food will be brought

– Childcare
- Middletown Eye advert taken down to avoid having crazy numbers of
children
- doodle to be sent out to schedule volunteers

– WSA/Administration
- A community gathering/open forum will be held at 5 PM in PAC 001 for
all students, staff and faculty to discuss handling and aftermath of
the blackout.

NEXT MEETING: 8 PM TOMORROW, EXLEY