Guide to Board Meetings

All meetings of the Board follow a fairly regular format. This is a brief guide to that basic structure.

All meetings start at 6:00pm on Thursdays.

Introductions and Icebreakers

Member Feedback: there is a period at the beginning of every meetings for any member to address the Board on any topic they wish, from policy suggestions to informing the Board of student events on campus.

Approval of Minutes: The first order of business of every meeting is the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. These minutes are included in the Board Pack and all Board Members are expected to review them and note any corrections at this time. These minutes are the official record of the work of Board and it is crucial that the Board reaches consensus on the accuracy of their content.

Approval of Agenda: The week before Board, Cabinet reviews all of the agenda items and approves an agenda. For something to be added later on, Board must approve it with a 2/3 vote. Once the Board is satisfied with the agenda, it is passed with a simple majority.

Executive Reports: The Board Pack included reports by the President, Executive Director, Operations Manager, and the six Vice Presidents. This stage of the meeting is where Board Members are encouraged to ask questions on the content of the reports. This is a time to discuss the general goings-on in the BSC since last Board, to check in about the status of current issues, and provide some direction to the executives.

Committee Reports: The Board Pack also includes summaries of the committee meetings since the last Board. Any questions or discussions on the work of the committees are entertained at this phase. This is often considered as part of the "Executive Reports" phase.

Consent Agenda: In addition to the major agenda items, the Board is also responsible for approving a sizable number of small items that have already been vetted by other committees. These include 17C's (exceptions to policy, sent from AdCom), CAWs (Community Action Workshops, held by Cloyne and vetted by ETCom), and other miscellaneous items, such as the approval of Alumni members on various committees. Often, policy changes will be put on the Consent Agenda if Cabinet believes that the changes will be uncontentious. Recognizing that these items are minor and mostly procedural, they are combined into a single action item to save time, known as the "Consent Agenda." Discussion on any item on the Consent Agenda is limited to four minutes, and if Board decides that any item requires more discussion, it can be pulled from the Consent Agenda and added to the regular Agenda. The Consent Agenda is approved with a simple majority.

After the Consent Agenda is approved, Board begins the main agenda items. Often Board will begin discussing the main agenda items at around 8pm, as these take up the vast majority of Board's time. These fall into two general categories: Action Items and Discussion Items.

An Action Item is anything that requires a vote, such as a motion, an election, or approving a budget.

A Discussion Item is just as it sounds: a discussion held for a finite amount of time with no required conclusion or action. These include the Executive Evaluations and reports from those organizations of who the BSC is a fiscal sponsor.