Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe

Dear Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe (& Others),

The good news: The doors of the Cactus will remain open, with Griff Luneburg booking acts at least through this fall. The current student employees, and bartenders, including Chris and Susan, will stay on to manage the bar through the University Unions. KUT has the potential to be a great save for the Cactus Cafe, but this all depends on their actions, the first and most important will be the hiring of its manager. We’ve just learned KUT has delayed this decision until sometime “early next week”.

We are writing to ask you to take immediate action by writing to KUT and College of Communications Dean Hart to let them know that hiring Cameron Smith for the manager position is NOT good for the Cactus Cafe! Smith’s hiring would only be a continuation of the closed-door negotiations and administrative scheming that has been so prevalent throughout this whole debacle. As shown by open records, Smith contacted Union director Andy Smith and VPSA Gonzalez as early as February 10^th seeking to position himself as the venue’s new manager. Is VPSA González pressuring KUT to hire Smith? There are also concerns about his performance at Texas Performing Arts, a position which he coincidentally resigned from effective the day before yesterday, because of ‘mutual dissatisfaction’ and his apparent inability to work well with others.

See for yourself. Please visit our blog (http://blogs.utexas.edu/sfotcc/2010/08/23/cactus-cafe-open-records/) to view the open records UT has released thus far, and the timeline summary posted by Michael Scully.

“A big concern throughout the Cactus controversy was the lack of transparency on the part of UT. Now we learn that UT administrators and Cameron Smith planned the transfer to KUT in secret, bypassing the very group that UT formed for planning purposes. Through it all, the student body and the community did not know of Cameron Smith’s personal goal to run the Cactus.

I’m not commenting here on whether the transfer to KUT is good or bad. I know we’re still in a transitional phase, but the Cactus may have a great future under KUT’s wing. What’s troubling is the secrecy, the lack (once again) of true student and community involvement, and the possibility of rewarding a man enmeshed in that secrecy with the job of running the Cactus. To quote someone or other, “When will they ever learn?”

-Michael Scully

Please email the following people and respectfully let them know Smith’s behavior is clearly unethical and not needed in the College of Communication, KUT or the Cactus Cafe!

Dean Roderick Hart, College of Communication rod.hart@austin.utexas.edu

Stewart Vanderwilt, KUT Director, svanderwilt@kut.org

Hawk Mendenhall, KUT General Manager hmendenhall@kut.org

Please cc: VPSA Juan González juan.gonzalez@austin.utexas.edu

Please donate your facebook and twitter status, and post the following “comment” anywhere on KUT’s FB page:

KUT: Cameron Smith is BAD for the Cactus Cafe! http://blogs.utexas.edu/sfotcc

@kutaustin: Cameron Smith is BAD for the #CactusCafe! http://blogs.utexas.edu/sfotcc

Thanks for your continued support of the Cactus Cafe, and please share this with any friends who are interested.

Sincerely,
Hayley Gillespie

Co-founder, Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe

The following link will take you to downloadable PDFs of documents requested by Hayley Gillespie (a co-founder of SFOTCC) regarding the Cactus Cafe. https://webspace.utexas.edu/jhg297/cactus/

We learned this morning that Dr. Juan González, Vice President for Student Affairs, plans to hold a press conference on the Cactus Cafe TODAY (Wednesday May 19, 2010) at 1:30pm in the Texas Union 4.118 (Board of Directors Room). Please attend if you can and we will keep you posted!

Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe is pleased to announce that Dr. Thomas Garza has become our official faculty advisor! Dr. Garza is a twenty-year faculty member at UT with extensive ties to student organizations and events, a three-term member of the Faculty Council, a two term department chair and center director, and a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers and Regents’ Distinguished Teachers and Director of the Texas Language Center at UT Austin. Dr. Garza recently completed a three and a half year term on the Union Board. We applaud Dr. Garza’s efforts throughout this past semester to advocate for fair and transparent student representation on the Union Board, his support for continued operation of the Cactus Cafe, and his dedication to  students at the University of Texas at Austin.

In a recent letter to the Texas Union Board, Dr. Garza eloquently states, “I cannot emphasize enough how fortunate we are at the University of Texas at Austin to enjoy such a robust and collegial “town and gown” relationship. I am convinced that this special affinity is the direct result of the numerous opportunities the University presents to the community-at-large to take advantage of the facilities and offerings on campus. From Explore UT to the offerings at the Performing Arts Center, from the collection at the HRC to the concerts at the Cactus, we invite the public to our space, to experience our lives and works, to develop mutually beneficial relations with our clients, our students’ parents, and our real and potential donors.” We believe Dr. Garza will bring a well-seasoned, grounded outlook to our organization that builds upon the University and community relationships we have forged since our formation in early February.  ”I really think there’s no better person to serve as our faculty advisor than Dr. Garza.” says Hayley Gillespie, co-founder of SFOTCC. “His enthusiasm, experience and genuine good attitude will be invaluable to our organization in ensuring that the Cactus Cafe remains – and I quote Dr. Garza here – a ‘jewel in the crown of UT’”.

We encourage our members to send Dr. Garza a note of welcome and thanks to:  tjgarza at mail.utexas.edu

The following is an Guest Editorial by Student Friend Matt Portillo, published in The Daily Texan on Thursday, May 13, 2010.

As most UT students don’t know, the Cactus Cafe is “saved,” insofar as it will continue to see live music performances on select evenings throughout the whole year.

Congratulations, UT community, this represents a big victory for us. We’ve come a long way from Jan. 29, when our administrators announced to us that the Cactus Cafe was going to be closed forever.

However, we still have another gigantic fork in the road ahead of us: who exactly will be managing the Cactus Cafe beginning in September? According to Vice President for Student Affairs Juan González, there are two options on the table right now. Under the first option, the task of programming the Cactus Cafe’s evening performances would be handed over to UT’s NPR affiliate in the College of Communication, KUT Radio. Under the second option, the current management model, by which both evening programming and cafe/bar operations are overseen by a full-time, on-site manager within University Unions, would be retained.

To many students, the choice may seem rather inconsequential, but in truth, the decision made by our administrators in the next few days will have significant implications. I believe that the best choice is to maintain the current management model, whereby full-time, on-site management oversees the Cactus Cafe’s operations — both programming and cafe/bar operations — from open to close.

The option whereby KUT would oversee future Cactus Cafe programming is a relatively new one. It stemmed from KUT raising its hand several weeks ago and offering to take on the task of programming concerts in the Cactus Cafe in the event that the current management model is not a viable option. Honestly, I appreciate KUT’s willingness to commit to this and I think KUT could realistically program many quality performances every year. However, I do have a few concerns in regards to KUT management, namely 1) KUT has neither the desire nor the capability to sustain and enhance cafe and bar operations (so the Cactus Cafe would cease to be much of a “cafe” at all), and 2) the “KUT proposal” has not outlined any initiatives to involve students, with the exception of establishing a few additional student internship positions at the station to help with Cactus programming and management.

On the other hand, a proposal in support of retaining the current management model was recently submitted to the administration by Friends of the Cactus Cafe and Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe. I read the final draft of the proposal on Friday afternoon, and frankly, it is the biggest step forward we’ve seen in the past three months. It goes far beyond the now-exhausted rhetoric about “preserving fundamental character” and it leaves behind all the finger-pointing that hasn’t moved us any closer towards a solution. Rather, this highly-detailed proposal represents a solid plan to combine everyone’s desires by preserving much of the Cactus’ past, while at the same time, executing many necessary changes to move the Cactus forward into a new chapter. I’m especially excited about the student initiatives it proposes, and I was happy to see that they seem to be very much in line with the mission statement of the Office of the Dean of Students (in whose portfolio University Unions and the Cactus Cafe are contained): “The Office of the Dean of Students provides opportunities and experiences that support student learning and personal development.”

This proposal outlines a comprehensive plan to (among many other things)…

1. Make the Cactus Cafe completely financially self-sustaining and not reliant on any part of the already-overstretched Student Services Budget (in fact, the Cactus could potentially contribute approximately $38,000 back into the budget);
2. Continue the current cafe and bar operations, and expand the menu to include (through a potential partnership with Whole Foods) more “healthy” options that are currently absent inside the Texas Union food court;
3. Establish student internships that would provide a stipend, course credit, or (policy permitting) both;
4. Establish a Cactus Cafe Coordinating Committee with students on it that would advise management on which artists and genres to program in the evenings;
5. Start a lunchtime series that would feature student talent in acoustic “unplugged” performances (i.e. string quartet from the School of Music, the Ransom Notes, student singer-songwriter, etc.);
6. Select student “artists-in-residence” to regularly open for well-known headlining acts; and finally,
7. Retain the ten student employees who, as far as we know, will otherwise become unemployed at the beginning of September.

(The proposal is available in its 25-page entirety here)

For the past month or so, we haven’t really had much to stand on in regards to the Cactus Cafe issue. However, I believe this proposal helps give voice to our collective desire to effect positive change on campus and ensure that current UT students have opportunities to engage the Cactus Cafe in new ways. I would highly encourage any and all interested students to take some time to have a look at it. We can only hope that our administrators — and the student leaders who advise them — will take these ideas into serious consideration and make a bold move for students in the face of these undeniably tough times for our University.

-Matt Portillo

SG University-wide representative

Music and Rhetoric & Writing junior

On April 30^th, Dr. Gonzalez was to return to the Union Board with a recommendation for the future of the Cactus Cafe. During that meeting, in part because Dr. Gonzalez was unable to attend due to a death in his family, there was no discussion of the Cactus Cafe by the Board, and members were asked to send their recommendations in writing to Dr. Gonzalez.  We are in the process of requesting that Union Board members share their letters with the student body. If these students are acting as our representatives, we have a right to know what their letters to Dr. Gonzalez contain.

Here are the letters that have been shared with us by individual members of the board. According to the new Union Board chair Andrew Nash, these three letters were the only ones submitted to Dr. González. We thank these members for openly sharing their letters.

Dr. Thomas Garza

Andrew Nash (current chair)

Basil Awad (former chair)

We are excited to announce that we (along with Friends of the Cactus Cafe) submitted a business plan to Dr. Gonzalez last Friday, May 7, that further outlines how we plan to implement and fund our original proposal (submitted to to the Union Board on Feb. 22). We stand ready to work with the administration and student leaders to develop a win-win future for the Cactus Cafe.

Please click here to view the press release for our business plan.

Please click here to view the business plan.

The following is part of a letter sent to members of the President’s Student Advisory Council, University Unions Board of Directors and Dr. Gonzalez by Hayley Gillespie as part of the public comment period for the Cactus Cafe that ended May 7, 2010. We sincerely hope that this evidence weighs heavily in decisions regarding the future of the Cactus Cafe.

1) The three most relevant pieces of evidence for official UT student body support of the Cactus Cafe are the following resolutions and statements by the GSA/SG/College Council presidents.

• SG Resolution (unanimously passed) 3/29/2010
• GSA Resolution (unanimously passed) 2/10/10
• Statement by the 18 College Council Presidents run in Daily Texan.

2) It is very important to note that the Student Events Center (SEC) proposal was never a plan to repurpose the Cactus and was only a contingency plan for how to use the space if the Cactus was indeed closed in August.

• The KUT plan is nothing more than the SEC plan with KUT added for non-academic-year management.
• See attached KUT plan draft 1, given to the Cactus Conversations group on 4/8/10 for similarities between the SEC and KUT plans, later revised and released on the Cactus Comments blog as the “KUT & University Unions visions draft”.
• In addition, here is a comment from the Cactus Comments blog by someone who identifies themselves as “SEC student” who is apparently speaking on behalf of the SEC.

sec student
February 21st, 2010 at 11:30 pm

PLEASE REALIZE that the SEC does not endorse closing the Cactus at all. Many of us are devastated by the idea. This is, however, our attempt to do SOMETHING to salvage the space, and ensure that it is still used, WHEN it closes. If it is saved, that would be incredible – but if it’s not, we want something in place to prevent it from falling into non-use in the room inventory. We have no illusion that this would do justice to the history of the Cactus, or be anything like it is right now. The fact is, we need real solutions for the “what-if,” when it actually closes. If you have ideas for how we can do this with no money, I very honestly urge you to contact us with your ideas.

• See the 168 comments on the Cactus Comments blog opposing the SEC proposal
• See the 40 comments opposing the KUT proposal

3) Attached are the subset of comments from the Cactus Comments blog that can be 100% positively identified as coming from current UT students (other comments may be from students, but don’t identify themselves as such).

4) Testimonials authored by eight students who used to work in the Cactus Cafe are attached. These testimonials clearly demonstrate the tangible benefits to students that the Cactus Cafe can provide. If the  KUT proposal is enacted, there will be no more student employees running the cafe/bar. Between eight and twelve UT-employed students work in the Cactus Cafe every semester, and many stick around for years. We need to protect student jobs in our Union.

5) There has been an almost unprecedented amount of grassroots organization by students (both graduate and undergraduate) in support of the Cactus Cafe and/or in opposition to the KUT plan. There has been no grassroots effort to organize on behalf of any students or groups to promote the KUT plan or closing the Cactus, not even a single OpEd.

• Two student proposals (out of three, if you include the SEC proposal) by Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe and students Taylor Steinberg and John Meller both advocate for keeping the Cactus open under current management while improving the business plan and increasing student involvement (text of both proposals attached). The KUT plan was introduced by administrators (not students) and uses the SEC proposal for a purpose for which it was not originally intended.
• Founding of grassroots student organization (undergrad/grad) Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe.
• Approximately 550 signees of the Friends of the Cactus Cafe/Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe petition (that garnered approximately 6,000 signatures) are current UT students. The text of the petition reads:

“We, the undersigned, recognize the vital role that the Cactus Cafe plays in the University and Austin communities and the American music community at-large and strongly urge the Texas Union management and the Texas Union Board of Directors to commit to keeping the Cactus Cafe open in a manner that preserves its current fundamental character, in its present location, under professional and experienced management as it currently operates. We support the efforts of Friends of the Cactus Cafe and Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe to keep the Cactus Cafe open as a cherished music venue and believe their plan to fund operating expenses of and provide greater opportunities for students in operating and performing at the Cactus Cafe should be given a chance to succeed”

• Approximately 400 student facebook fans on the two UT student Cactus Cafe pages, many more on the Save the Cactus Cafe group (with over 25,000 members, we haven’t been able to look and see how many are students; its too many to easily count!)

6) The following is a collection of student support, articles, and OpEds regarding the Cactus Cafe.

• 2/5/10 Austin American Statesman OpEd by UT undergraduate student and musician Ricky Stein
• 2/8/10 Burnt Orange Report OpEd by UT undergraduate student Zachary Bidner
• 3/25/10 Daily Texan Firing Line by UT undergraduate student and University-Wide rep Matt Portillo
• 4/6/10 Daily Texan Editorial by UT undergraduate student and Daily Texan Editor Jillian Sheridan
• 4/7/10 Daily Texan Article by UT undergraduate Audrey White In which Dr. Soncia Reagins-Lilly, senior associate vice president and dean of students, said she will still consider the resolution passed at the March 30 SG meeting as the voice of the assembly.

• 4/10/10 Daily Texan Guest Editorial by UT graduate student Hayley- Gillespie. This editorial describes the major shortfalls of the KUT option
• 4/18/20 Statement by the Daily Texan Editorial Board. This editorial board statement (all undergraduates) states, “As administrators try to push through a new business model by the end of April, we can only hope the Union Board realizes more time and consideration — not to mention proactive options — are necessary and postpone the vote.”

• 4/25/10 Undergraduate Jeremy Buchard for the Daily Texan Editorial Board

• 4/29/10 Daily Texan Editorial by UT Undergraduate and Daily Texan Editor Jillian Sheridan

• 5/3/10 Shabab Siddiqui’s Daily Texan article on current Cactus management. This article features the current Cactus management and discusses how the Cactus has worked with students.

7) The following are a sampling of articles recently published in the Daily Texan that feature Cactus Cafe artists. If acts that play the Cactus were completely irrelevant to students, the Daily Texan would probably not be giving them full back page Life & Arts coverage. The Texan has also covered other singer-songwriters and “folk” musicians this semester that play music in the same vein as many Cactus artists.

• Kat Edmonson
• Alejandro Escovedo
• Kerrville Student Singer-Songwriter Contest

8 ) The following articles are a small sampling that demonstrate the Cactus’ fame as a music venue and demonstrate that this issue is representative of similar budget-cut and student representation issues nationwide.

• Billboard magazine article text that lists Cactus Cafe as one of the top 15 listening rooms in the country.
• The Cactus Cafe has won the Austin Music Awards best acoustic venue for the past 9 years.
• Economist magazine discusses Cactus Cafe as part of a larger discussion on how cutting key programs as part of budget cuts doesn’t improve student education
• New York Times coverage

9) Attached is a document outlining Dean Soncia Reagins-Lilly’s answers to a list of questions that posed to her in a meeting by Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe co-founder Hayley Gillespie regarding the Cactus Cafe. The most enlightening of which are the following:

Q: What groups of students were advocating for the Cactus and Informal Classes to be singled-out for cuts before 1/29/2010?
A: “There were not any”. Since she has been here there may have been students who have asked questions about what the Cactus is, but she cannot recall who or when; no documentation of complaints/concerns/requests for access. May have some old emails [never got a reply as to whether any were found, or if she looked after meeting].  No tracking of any formal student opinion, not something they were keeping track of.

Q: How exactly was student input sought prior to 1/29/2010?
A: “We didn’t” , this was a purely administrative decision.

10) Attached are all emails circulated between members of the “Cactus Conversations” group. These are attached in order to demonstrate, in part, that the students involved in these meetings repeatedly called for:

• More student and faculty involvement and representation in the “conversations” (which never happened)
• Actual review of submitted student proposals and the Cactus budget (which never happened)
• Hosting a public forum (which was eventually held by Dr. Gonzalez)

In addition to student support for the Cactus Cafe, here is a list of support including community, University, government and other sources:

Friends of the Cactus Cafe, a non-profit 501(c)(3) formed in early February and have raised nearly $30,000 in pledges of support for our joint business plan for the Cactus Cafe through their SavetheCactusCafe.org campaign. They have over 25,000 facebook fans from all over the world. They have gathered over 6,000 petition signatures in support of saving the Cactus Cafe.

Representative Elliot Naishtat, and city councilperson Laura Morrison spoke in support of the Cactus Cafe at the Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe rally on Feb. 26, 2010.

The Travis County Democratic Party passed the following resolution in support continued community involvement and preservation  of the Cactus Cafe and Informal Classes in April 2010

The Governor’s Texas Music Office sent the following letter to President Powers on March 10, 2010.

Dr. David Hillis, UT faculty writes the following guest editorial to The Daily Texan on April 7, 2010.

The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University sent the following letter to the Texas Union Board on April 27, 2010.

UT Austin Faculty Council passed the following resolution on May 10, 2010 calling for all stakeholders to be consulted in the decision to close or repurpose the Cactus Cafe. Faculty Council was unable to vote on it in April’s meeting due to lack of a quorum.

Musicians send the following letter VP for Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez and KUT radio manager Stewart Vanderwilt to perserve the fundamental character of the Cactus Cafe and voice their opposition to the KUT plan in May 2010. Many other musicians have noted their support for the Cactus Cafe

The comment period for the Cactus Cafe ends on Friday, May 7th. Please take a moment to write to the following people regarding the future of the Cactus Cafe as soon as possible, especially if you are a current UT student. If its been a while since you wrote, copy your message one more time. Copy us on your message if you feel comfortable (studentrelations@savethecactuscafe.org)

Please send your message to the following people:

UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS:

President William Powers, Phone: 512 471 1232, president@po.utexas.edu, wcp228@po.utexas.edu

Juan C. González, Vice President for Student Affairs, Phone: 512 471 1133, Juan.gonzalez@austin.utexas.edu

Andy Smith, Jr., Executive Director of University Unions, Phone: 512 475 6608, Fax: 512 475 6599, andy.smith@universityunions.utexas.edu

Dave Puntch, Director of the Texas Union, davep@universityunions.utexas.edu, (512) 232-4642

PRESIDENT’S STUDENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE: These students have been asked to provide their recommendations for the Cactus Cafe by May 7, 2010.

Mr. Manuel Gonzalez, President of the Graduate Student Assembly, mgonzalez@austin.utexas.edu

Mr. Scott Parks, Student Government President, scott.parks@bba06.mccombs.utexas.edu

Ms. Chelsea Adler, President of Senate of College Councils, chelsea.adler@gmail.com

UNION BOARD OF DIRECTORS : The Union Board has been asked to submit their recommendations to Dr. Gonzalez by May 7, 2010.

Mr. Liam O’Rourke, Student Body President (outgoing), orourke.liam@gmail.com

Mr. Scott Parks, Student Body President (incoming), scott.parks@bba06.mccombs.utexas.edu

Ms. Britnie Franklin, Elected Representative (incoming), britnief@mail.utexas.edu

Mr. Basil Awad, Appointed member & chair (outgoing), basil.awad@bba06.mccombs.utexas.edu

Mr. Nathan Bunch, Appointed Member 2009-2011, nathanbunch@gmail.com

Ms. Nicole Falkenberg, Elected Representative (outgoing), nicolef@mail.utexas.edu

Ms. Alyssa Flores, Elected Representative (outgoing), aflores90@gmail.com

Mr. Andrew Nash, Student Events Center President (outgoing), Elected Representative (incoming), nash1407@gmail.com

Mr. Taylor Steinberg, Student Events Center President (incoming), taylor_s@mail.utexas.edu

Dr. Soncia Reagins-Lilly, Senior Associate Vice President and Dean of Students, soncia.r.lilly@austin.utexas.edu, 471-5017 (Office of Dean of Students)

Dr. Jerome Williams, Appointed Faculty 2008-2010, College of Communication, Dept. of Advertising, jerome.williams@mail.utexas.edu

Dr. Thomas Garza, Appointed Faculty 2008-2010,  College of Liberal Arts, tjgarza@mail.utexas.edu

Dr. Brian Roberts, Appointed Faculty 2009-2011, College of Liberal Arts, Roberts@mail.utexas.edu

Here is an easy copy/paste email contact list: mgonzalez@austin.utexas.edu, scott.parks@bba06.mccombs.utexas.edu, chelsea.adler@gmail.com, president@po.utexas.edu, wcp228@po.utexas.edu , Juan.gonzalez@austin.utexas.edu, andy.smith@universityunions.utexas.edu, davep@universityunions.utexas.edu, orourke.liam@gmail.com, scott.parks@bba06.mccombs.utexas.edu, britnief@mail.utexas.edu, basil.awad@bba06.mccombs.utexas.edu, nathanbunch@gmail.com, nicolef@mail.utexas.edu, aflores90@gmail.com, nash1407@gmail.com, taylor_s@mail.utexas.edu,  soncia.r.lilly@austin.utexas.edu, tjgarza@mail.utexas.edu, Roberts@mail.utexas.edu, jerome.williams@mail.utexas.edu