SUMMARY OF GBM 02/03

Milvets:

For those not present at last Thursday's General Body Meeting, we covered quite a bit of ground. Here is a summary of the proceedings:


SPECIAL ELECTION
As previously announced, Milvets held a special election for interim Vice-President and Treasurer. After briefly addressing the body, candidates Matthew Bishop and Ben Paladino were elected Vice-President and Treasurer, respectively. Their accessions are effective immediately.
J-CLEAVE UPDATE
The scheduled briefing on J-CLEAVE was postponed because President Emeritus John McClelland could not be present. We can report, however, that yesterday, February 4th, John met with freshman U.S. Congressman Jon Runyan (R-NJ). A blog report on that meeting should be forthcoming from John today.
E-BOARD ELECTIONS (2011-2012)
The timeline previously announced for the 2011-2012 General Election has been changed. In short, we all forgot that the 14th was Valentine's Day, causing conflicts for those of you with significant others. The original timeline called for a submission deadline
of February 10th for candidate statements, a general body meeting on February 14th at which candidates would address the organization, and a polling window that would remain open February 14th-17th. All of these dates will be shifted right, and we plan to announce the new timeline later this week. Nostra culpa.
Several points made at Thursday's meeting bear reiteration for all those who plan to run for office:

1. The duties of leadership in this organization are manifold. Please look at your current commitments and recognize that we expect Milvets to be your primary extracurricular focus, should you be elected. This will take a large chunk of your time.

2. While there is currently nothing in our constitution that requires the Milvets President or Vice-President to be present at orientation for new student-veterans each semester, those who are interested in running for these positions should understand this as an unwritten rule. Welcoming new veterans, many of whom are freshly returned from combat and nearly all of whom are new to life in New York City, is a fundamental obligation of our leadership.

COMMUNICATIONS
Milvets receives a steady deluge of emails from external individuals, organizations, and corporate entities. President Brendan Rooney spoke with several individuals on Thursday who expressed interest in working together to handle email communications. These individuals will be in attendance at all E-Board meetings in order to familiarize themselves with the moving parts behind Milvets. We will be working to devise a plan in which there is adequate accountability, such that no email inquiries or proposals are neglected.

EVENTS CHAIR
Milvets needs an individual to spearhead events. One of our goals this semester is to reinvigorate the tempo of social functions available for Milvets. Several of these will be planned by your E-Board by the end of the coming week. That said, it would be extremely helpful if someone stepped up to take charge of this. The right person for the job should be comfortable reaching out to local businesses and corporations. Many of these entities are willing to sponsor us.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Azar Boehm and Erica Gallegos briefed those present on several ongoing projects. The ACP/Columbia happy hour originally planned for this month is now scheduled for sometime in mid-March. Siemens will be sponsoring this event and needs time to submit their budgetary plan, which is why we're shifting this right by a few weeks.

Several ideas were tentatively proposed. The first is to send out an electronic survey that would help us to gauge to what degree the general body is inclined to serve our community. Ongoing possibilities include tutoring kids in Harlem, assisting a junior baseball league, volunteering at a local soup kitchen every Saturday, and organizing a project with The Mission Continues. The second idea was to organize one large community project per academic year. This would be something in which we encouraged the entire body to participate. An event like this would provide us the opportunity to demonstrate an organizational commitment to service and to help our fellow citizens. We will continue brainstorming and encourage you to step forward if you wish to take charge of a volunteer event or have an idea to contribute.

Erica briefed the body on a project called Honorvet.org, organized by Senator John McCain's son, Jim McCain. They are looking for interns, both paid and unpaid. If interested, here is their website. It looks like these guys are good to go.

CONCERNING THE MILVETS ORGANIZATION
Please be advised that Columbia Milvets is now an organization specific to the Columbia University School of General Studies. Milvets will nevertheless continue to work and collaborate with veterans from the university's other schools.


Semper fi,
Matthew Bishop
Vice President