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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - CCC Minutes 04/23/18MI NUTE S CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY COMMISSION Conference Room 235 City Hall, 515 Clark Avenue Monday, April 23, 2018 Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:04 p.m. by Chair Karin Chitty. Members present were Eric Abrams, Evelyn Beavers, Pete Englin, and Tom Lindsley. Meghana Akella, Warren Madden, and Cody Smith were not present. Staff liaisons Tasheik Kerr and Brian Phillips were also present. Approval of Minutes: It was moved by Pete, seconded by Eric, to approve the minutes of the February 26, and March 19, 2018, meetings. Motion carried unanimously. Public Forum: Nitin Gadia was present to remark that he had sent an email to the Commission. He had contacted the Design Department regarding a public space project. He wanted to set up a film in the Design College related to that. Nitin wondered if the Commission was interested in co-sponsoring it. Pete noted that the Commission has dealt with the gathering space topic and the Council has accepted the Commission’s report. The Commission has been directed to move to a different topic, regarding the inclusiveness of the community to students. Meghana arrived at 6:08 p.m. Nitin offered to have a Commission member be a co-admin for his Facebook group. He also noted he was working together with the CRP undergrad club regarding an event. He thought it would be good to set up an event in the space. He offered to have the Commission sponsor or host the event. One idea he had was to do the event during Summerfest. Community Inclusiveness Task: Karin indicated Tasheik had prepared a report with ideas of topics. Eric reviewed the original discussion notes from the Commission meeting in August regarding this topic. Karin noted that there was a student vs. non-student dichotomy in discussions regarding issues such as rental housing. She noted that there would be a new event called “First Friday” in Campustown to welcome students to Ames and connect with them. Karin noted she reviewed the list of examples and marked some that sounded intriguing. Eric asked what the “pain points” are for students who are new to the community? Pete noted 94% of freshmen live on campus. Fewer live on campus when they transfer. He stated the number one predictor of success early on is homesickness. Students who connect to friends early on do better. Joel Hochstein, from the Office of Student Conduct, mentioned that off-campus students may have been connected to their on-campus environment; when they move off campus they are connected to each other, but not as connected to the environment. Eric asked what inclusiveness meant to the group. Karin said she did not want it to feel like students should be included so they follow the rules. Bringing people together was her goal. Tom stated the inclusion statement for the Commission was the idea of one community. Even in this conversation, it is being framed as student and non-student. He was trying to figure out what success looks like for some type of new event. How is the impact measured? Evelyn noted that it would be helpful to measure the impact students have in the community, not just from a standpoint of the effect on rental rates. Meghana agreed, in that having demonstrations of how students benefit the community would be a good idea. She suggested having student demonstrations of experiments at the Farmer’s Market. She also suggested that as an international and graduate student, having Ames feel more like a home would be helpful. Perhaps pairing students up with a family for a meal over the weekend would provide bonding. Karin stated she loved the idea of a community picnic or a block party. She also liked the idea of a dialogue dinner to build relationships. She also noted the idea of connecting students with the City Manager’s Office through an advisory group. The group discussed the area south of Campus as an area in particular where there is stress to be mitigated. Pete noted you are less likely to be adversarial when you know your neighbor. Nitin Gadia stated that the Council should appoint more students to the Commission. He also said the Commission meetings should be held on campus. Commissioner Comments: There were no Commissioner Comments. Adjournment Eric moved the meeting be adjourned. The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m.