Student Senate Membership Coordinator

General Information

Hey Zoe,
Congratulations!! I know you will do an excellent job in this role. Membership coordinator does have its bureaucratic side but it can also be so much fun! You will have the opportunity to meet so many great people, engage with a wide variety of communities, and spread awareness about ASUW. This transition doc may seem long and daunting at first, but I’m 100% certain that you’ll get the hang of it. Read on and good luck, our wonderful new membership coordinator!

Membership Coordinator Gmail & UW NetID

Username: asuwssmc@uw.edu

Password: theCOVID19er@!

(ALWAYS open an incognito tab)

Twitter:

Username: asuw_senate

Password: RecruitsayI!

Instagram:

Username: asuwstudentsenate

Password: ASUWsenate

Slack:

Password: Sammy2020!

Mailchimp:

Username: (use speaker email address) asuwssch@uw.edu

Password: Senate2k17!

TikTok & Discord:

Username: asuwstudentsenate

Password: parliprocedure123!

Printing code: asuwsen-senate

The RSO Resource Center

-This is the only place where you can print in color! It can be a little tricky printing at the HUB at first, but you should be able to quickly get a handle on things. If you need any help navigating the printing there, ask someone who works in the Resource Center!

-They have cardstock on hand for senator of the month/quarter/etc, name tags, so don’t worry about ordering that. The student staff will be your best friend for figuring out printing needs!

-How to print:

Open up the document you want to print on one of the computers in the RSO Resource Center.
Place the cardstock on the 8.5/11 tray
Send the document to the large color printer.
Before printing, open settings
1. Click paper feed
2. Click bypass tray
Enter the printing code
Voila, you can print!

Website

You will use the website frequently, but nothing you do should be too complicated. Here are some basic instructions to remember. To access the admin page, I would recommend bookmarking: https://senate.asuw.org/senate-admin/home/. To make edits to the website, I would also bookmark the wordpress site: https://senate.asuw.org/wp-admin/.

Go to “manage senators”.
Go to “pending”.
Click on a senator’s name
Go to the “membership” tab
Assign them a committee
Make them active
Additional: if they are a designated or protected seat, then certify their seat under “seat assignment”

Go to “manage senators”.

Go to “active”.

Click on a senator’s name

Go to the “membership” tab

Under “Committee assignment,” select “inactive”

Under “Senate Status,” select “inactive”

Go to “manage senators”.

Click “excused absences”.

Click “add excused absence”

Select a senator

Select the date

Go to “manage senators”.

Select “view current attendance”.

Go to “attendance”.

Click “add quarter”.

Select “make quarter current”

Go to “manage attendance”.

Go to “manage proxies”.

Fill out the information

Senators can also do this themselves

Ongoing Tasks

Every week, we will have new senators. Once fall is over, they tend to come in as a trickle. Once they appear on the roster, there a few things you need to do with them:

Assign them to a committee. Senators will have their pick of three committees, so I would assign them to the one that has the least amount of members. Important to keep in mind: CRFU is technically only allowed 15 members, so don’t go over that amount.
Send them a welcome email: Feel free to reuse this year and just change any details. You can find my templates in the “Welcome Materials” folder in the “2021-2022” folder. You can also find emails from my gmail history.
Prepare a virtual folder for them with a welcome letter, a parliamentary procedure cheat sheet, a map to the meeting room, the week’s agenda, the Student Senate Bylaws, Zoom etiquette (if you’re still doing hybrid or remote), legislation template, and the Senate Handbook. (There should be templates for most of these in the drive- just make sure to update them before fall quarter)!
-Check the website weekly for new senators!!!
1. I made senators active right after steering so they could have a copy of the upcoming week’s agenda. However, it’s up to you to decide when you want to update the senate roster. I would recommend doing it before senate starts, at around 4 or so, and definitely before you print the name placards for the meeting.
Another big weekly task is updating attendance.
1. The new website has an attendance chart that shows you who was present and who wasn’t. In fall quarter, I would cross-reference this with other votes taken during the evening to keep it up-to-date. However, by spring, I became stricter with attendance and just went off what was on the chart. It’s up to you to decide how you want to track attendance.
2. Make sure to notify senators that they are inactive. This year, I gave senators the option to join again only if they had a meeting with me on why they missed senate and their plans for better communication in the future. I think this worked out well and most senators that re-joined remained active.
Go to hours.asuw.org before 10 p.m. Sunday night each week in order to set your office hours.
Check to see who has arranged for a proxy before each meeting through the proxy form on the website. This should be updated automatically, so it shouldn’t be too much work on your end.
Pre-Meeting & Follow-Up Emails:
1. I would try to send the pre-meeting emails on Monday. In this email, go over the agenda, any important announcements, and any events happening on or off campus that may interest senators. It is totally up to you on how you wish to design the emails and convey this information!
2. I would try to send out the follow-up email on Thursday or Friday by the latest. This should include a run-down of Tuesday’s meeting and any events or opportunities that were mentioned during announcements. Again, it is totally up to you on how you want the emails to look.
Prepare your Membership Coordinator’s report! It’s hard to remember everything you are working on when you’re placed on the spot. I used a Google Slides presentation, and it works out well. You also want to be reminding people of quorum and the attendance policy, as senators frequently forget.
Senator of the Bi-Week is awarded every two weeks and is voted on in the Steering meeting before the following Senate meeting. Be cognizant of who is winning these awards (diversity, inclusion!)
Senator of the Month: I actually hadn’t heard about this before, but it might be a good idea to bring this back and give a certificate to the senator of the month!

Steering Bonding: Every Quarter you will coordinate, plan, and promote one large steering bonding event. Make sure to work with the steering committee to see what works for their schedule and what they would like to do. This can be as informal or as informal as you would like!
Leadership bonding: Every Quarter, plan a bonding event for senate leadership (Speaker, VS, MC, Clerk)
1. I lowkey forgot to do this lmao, so please try to start doing this again! It can be very informal 🙂
Senate Bonding: You will be in charge of planning events (around once/twice a quarter) for the Senate as a whole as well. This year was a mix of formal and informal bondings. In fall, we had cupcakes and board games. In winter, we had a virtual game night and movie night. In spring, we had the art contest and cake. I usually did my bondings after senate but they may have been more successful at another time. Again, it’s up to you on how you want the bondings to look, but I would highly recommend getting senators’ input!

Another thing I forgot to do! Once a month (or so), you will want to create and distribute constituent outreach emails. Basically, you just want to inform constituents and senators about what’s going on within Senate and within the ASUW as a whole (by including details from OGR’s lobbying efforts, for example). You can find senators’ constituents by clicking on their names on our website. If this is too overwhelming, you can also encourage senators to individually contact their constituents and provide them with a list of their constituents if they ask for it. It might also be a good idea to create a separate mailing list on MailChimp specifically for constituents!

Throughout the year, I would also recommend keeping in contact with protected and designated seats. Protected seats are not beholden to the attendance policy, so there is potentially less of an incentive for them to attend meetings. I think reaching out to them and discussing legislation ideas would be a great way to increase their participation in senate!

Senate Meetings

With the hybrid model, my main task was being accessible on Zoom. I would post the voting links, links to the resolutions, and any information mentioned during the in-person meeting. I would also help the speaker out by letting him know if someone on Zoom had a question or wanted to speak. You will also get a flux of people emailing you five minutes after the meeting to tell you that they’re present, so keep an eye out for that! Make sure to keep your email, slack, Instagram, and GroupMe open for messages. Also, be aware of announcements to include in the Follow-Up email each week (if you forget, tell people to email you lol)!

Steering Meetings

As Membership Coordinator you sit on the Steering Committee. This is where Senate leadership figures out the agenda for next week’s meeting, discusses OA’s, and goes over any problems the Senate is facing. Unlike the general meetings you can feel free to speak up and make motions; however, similarly to our larger meetings you are expected, though not required, to abstain from voting.

Weekly Leadership Meetings:

This is the time to go over the agenda, what you’re working on, and just do a general check-in with the other members of leadership! Speak up about any projects or ideas you have, and feel free to reach out to leadership for any help (and make sure to help them out as well!).

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My attendance policy shifted throughout the year.

Fall & Winter quarter: Three excused and one unexcused. Attendance was taken at the beginning of the meeting. Exceptions were made for emergencies. Inactive senators had to set up a meeting with me if they wanted to become active again.

Spring quarter: Two excused and one unexcused absence. Attendance was taken toward the end of the meeting/ after committee meetings. Senators had to be there for the majority of the meeting to remain active. Exceptions were made for emergencies. Inactive senators had to set up a meeting with me if they wanted to become active again.

Figuring out attendance was a bit tricky this year. As you may recall, there were many times where we failed to hit quorum toward the end of the meeting. That is why we switched the attendance vote in spring quarter. I would recommend keeping it at the end and only letting people leave early for emergencies. It’s important to strike a balance between strict and accessible. People have made a commitment to senate, so they should stick to that commitment. However, life happens, especially since COVID-19 hasn’t gone away. For people that have disabilities, you want to make a policy that makes it possible for them to skip meetings without outing themselves. We also just got a grant for live streaming and panopto recordings, so try to incorporate that in your attendance policy for more accessibility! There will never be a right answer to how flexible you should be with the attendance policy, so feel free to experiment until you find one that works for you.

Before the Session Starts

Before the session starts, you should decide:

What the attendance policy will be
What materials you will want to use in the folders, and whether you want to re-write any of them
What sort of outreach and recruitment efforts you will be making in the summer/fall
Reaching out to protected seat and designated seats entities
Prepare for Dawg Daze

I have a folder called “Summer” that goes over everything I did over the summer. Feel free to look at it if you feel confused about what exactly you should be doing. Also feel free to reach out to me or leadership if you’re uncertain 🙂

Over the summer, the most important people to email will be everyone who holds a protected seat. For that, you will want to email all of the JCC Commissions, The Office of Student Veteran Life, all of the UW Legacy Groups, the Greek Community (represented by IFC, Panhellenic, the NPHC, the MGC, the UGC, and the national one), and the RCSA Director of Government Affairs to learn when people from residence halls will be incoming. You will also want to connect with the Office of Outreach and Involvement to learn more about how you can sync up volunteer recruitment efforts.

-Get as many protected seats as you can in ASAP! Often, they will form the core of your first few meetings as RCSA alone holds something like 25 seats in Senate. To get them certified, you just need a member of their leadership team to confirm who their representative is.

*If I didn’t include someone’s email address, then you can look at my emails or the old senate roster to find it!

Designated Seats: Designated seats are typically given to RSOs, fraternities, and sororities. You can find more information about them here. Designated seats do not have to collect 15 signatures but they do have to follow the attendance policy. Make sure to reach out to the leadership of Greek Row and RSOs in September/October to get them filled ASAP. Make sure to verify the designated seat with the RSO/fraternity/sorority before certifying it!

Protected Seats: Protected seats are usually given to communities that have been traditionally marginalized. You can find a list of protected seats in our bylaws and also on our website. Protected seats do not have to collect signatures and are not beholden to the attendance policy. Make sure to reach out to protected seats in September to get them filled ASAP. Make sure to verify the designated seat with the protected seat’s leadership before certifying it!

Signature Seats: This is the most common route to becoming a senator. Students need to collect 15 signatures before you can make them active. Last year, I let people start signing up on September 10th, about two weeks before school started. Make sure to advertise signing up all over social media and (when school starts) in person!

You should know Rene (sniglet@uw.edu) pretty well. She is our SAO adviser and very important for representing Senate at the SAO level. Knowing who each Board member is, and their position, would be helpful. A lot of them were involved in Senate this year, but keeping those connections is super important. The President is the only member of Board that can vote in Senate, but everyone will be involved in forums, etc during the session. It would also be nice to acquaint yourself with all of the different entities holding protected seats, and all of the members of steering.

Below is what my welcome email looked like this year (you should hopefully remember). You do not have to copy this. This should just give you an idea of what a welcome email could potentially look like.

“Hello, Senators!

If you are receiving this email from me, that means you have reached your 15 signatures (or you hold a protected and/or designated seat) that are required to be a voting senator! We are so excited to have you on board and join us as we navigate this thrilling journey of hybrid senate! Please check what committee you are a part of on the roster here.

This email serves as your welcome email and has the relevant orientation material for senate. If you come in person, you will also receive a name placard that contains the parli pro cheat sheet (it can be found by the entrance). Feel free to print out all the information or reach out to us if you want us to. Along with this email, you will also receive a “pre-meeting” email from me via our mail chimp on Mondays with an agenda for the next meeting and some more prep materials.

We will be meeting in Smith 120 and over Zoom from 5-7 pm every Tuesday. Here is the Zoom link for the online meeting (it can always be found on the senate.asuw.org home page and in our weekly agenda). You will also want access to the voting link (which can also be found on the agenda). Below, you can find our Zoom etiquette rules. Alongside that, there is the Senate Handbook, a cheat sheet for parliamentary procedure, a legislation template, a map for Smith Hall, and our Student Senate bylaws!

These are very important materials that you will want easy access to, especially if this is your first session. They are extremely helpful, and we recommend reading them by the time senate begins. If you are still having trouble understanding them, you can attend our weekly Mock Senates that go over the rules and procedures. They will run half an hour before our meeting. Before the meeting, I would also recommend perusing the senate website, especially our attendance policy and legislation writing resources.

Also, please follow our Instagram and TikTok @asuwstudentsenate, Twitter @ASUW_Senate, our Discord: https://discord.gg/vsNJ9fbZW2, and request our Facebook page “ASUW Student Senate.”

We all look forward to seeing you again! Let’s make this session the best one yet!”

I attached the following to the email

-The Senator Handbook

-Student Senate Bylaws

-A welcome letter from the Speaker

-Parli Pro Cheat Sheets. Look up “Parli Pro Cheat Sheet” on Drive.

-“How to Parli Pro”- a great resource an older MC wrote a couple of years ago. Basically, a more in-depth look at parli pro than is provided on the above cheat sheet.

-If we’re on Zoom, a Zoom rules sheet!

-If we are in-person, a map of where the meeting will take place

-IF YOU DO AN EMAIL, INCLUDE THE VOLUNTEER SIGN UP SHEET THAT YOU WILL GET FROM OOI – THIS IS MANDATORY FOR ALL ASUW VOLUNTEERS. If you do not do an email, you will still have to email them all this link.

-Make sure to also print out and give senators their name placards!

What to do EARLY in the Session-Fall Quarter

Fall can be a hectic but also fun part of the year! This is where you show us all why we elected you 😉 But for real, autumn is dedicated to outreach and recruitment. You should have contacted protected seats over the summer, so now it’s time to focus on everybody else. It’s up to you on how you want to recruit, but here is a list of ideas compiled from previous years.

–Posters, posters everywhere: You can work with one of the OCOMM designers in late summer/early fall for a poster or you can make your own (which is easier tbh). If you decide to work with OCOMM, reach out to them in early Autumn quarter as they get busy pretty quickly. Most of the time we re-use a poster design and change the details or colors, but feel free to do what you see fit. A lot of the old posters will be in your ASUW google drive. You can get steering to help hang these bad boys up around campus and go to the HFS Admin offices in Terry Hall in order to have them hung in all the Residence Halls. There are 11 spots to hang them in the HUB, so check in with the HUB front desk to get them approved to be hung. Also, go to the library information desk to hang them in the libraries, too.

–Speaking in classrooms: For classrooms, I would recommend looking at the timetable and reaching out to professors with large classrooms (100+ students). Although social science classrooms will be the most receptive, you should reach out to a wide variety of majors. After all, you never know who will be interested! I also recommend First Year Program’s FIG’s. Most of the freshmen in these courses are looking to get involved and receptive to trying new things.

-Presenting at RSOs & Hall Councils: Reach out to different Halls and RSOs and let them know that they have a designated seat! Remember, RSOs need 15 members to get a designated seat. You can use the RSO directory to reach out to them and verify their member count. You can find contact information for hall councils here.

-Greek Life: You should reach out to the Interfraternity Life President here and Public Relations person here and talk to them about representation for each fraternity. You should also reach out to the Panhellenic Public Relations person here. I would also really recommend reaching out to cultural greek houses and getting them involved as well!

-Partner with ASUW’s Office of Outreach and Involvement: Student Senators are technically volunteers, as such OOI is personally invested in helping you with recruitment, plus they have a lot of great pre-established events and resources which can help you get the word out.

-Involvement Fairs: Event submissions for the DAWG DAZE involvement fair are September 1st, so I highly recommend focusing on that first! This year, we did both a virtual and in-person event, and we got pretty good attendance! Make sure to coordinate with leadership to see which days work best for them. Also make sure you sign up for the RSO fair. This is a long, two-day event, and you want someone tabling at all times! This year, ASUW just had one booth, but it is still a great opportunity to recruit students in general. You should also recruit to the tables around you because every RSO should have a Senate rep!

-ASUW Open House: This generally happens in fall, sometimes in winter, and it’s a great way for students to come into the office and learn more about what Senate and ASUW do!

-Present in front of JCC: Almost all the members of JCC have a protected seat in Senate, which either they or their representative can take up. With the protected seats it’s incredibly important for you to be the one to reach out first, because their predecessors often forget to tell them about their guaranteed seat in Senate. Push hard for each committee to appoint someone!

-This year, the different entities across UW made an Instagram group chat called “UW Community Partners.” Make sure to ask the group chat to promote what you post, and you should also be promoting their posts!

-Come up with a social media strategy and timeline at the beginning of your summer term. I would recommend graphics explaining what Senate is, why it is important, how to join, etc. You can look back at what I did last year on the socials and do something similar.

-This year, we finally set up a TikTok and Discord. Unfortunately, we didn’t use it as much as I would have liked. It would be really great to use TikTok to explore senate and also post more fun videos (I made some that you can reference). I’d also really promote the Discord as a way for senators to communicate with each other!

-Use the OCOMM Canva pro! The login is:

Email: asuwcom5@uw.edu

Password: asuwocomm5

What to do MID-Session: Winter Quarter

One last thing I forgot to do (if it’s not in my job description, I forget, okay??). These instructions are from the previous years. Start doing apparel ASAP! For some reason, Senators hate buying clothing (although many of them will answer in a survey that they love it). A good idea is to be in contact with whoever you choose to do the gear by the last week of Fall Quarter. We have been going with Kotis Design for the last few years, but feel free to explore alternatives. I would also add that you will probably want to poll the Senate about quantity and type of apparel in mid-Fall quarter, so you can have an idea if the rep. from the company asks. Get a design through OComm.

I made sure to continue outreach in the winter quarter as well. Post flyers, talk to RSOs, hall councils, classrooms, etc. Make sure to change any necessary information!

I would review your policy in winter. Are you allowing people to get away with too much? Have you been too strict on some members? How big is Senate- is it bloated with members that you don’t need? How likely is Senate to get quorum on any given day? Ask yourself pertinent questions about attendance and get leadership to tell you what they think. Then, change the policy as needed and let everybody know about it!

What to do at the END of the Session-Spring Quarter

At the end of every year Senate has a meeting celebrating all the work we have accomplished. The major components of this meeting have historically been: