Ren Faire

The trip to Ren Faire happens near the beginning of the school year, usually in place of either the second or third official SWIL meeting. There are disadvantages to both in terms of recruiting frosh: the second meeting is the first meeting after activities fair, and thus the first meeting many frosh will attend, but the third meeting is potential dismemberment for frosh who found SWIL early. At any rate, going to Ren Faire with SWIL usually counts as a meeting for anyone trying to get three-in-a-row.

We have come up with a simple solution to this problem: go on the Sunday of the third weekend, rather than the Saturday. We haven't yet implemented this, so try it and see if it works.

SWIL has a transportation budget, which basically exists so that we can rent a Student Council van to go to Ren Faire. Any Swat-certified driver can drive the van, and a driver should be recruited and a van rented shortly at the beginning of the school year (unless swilfolk have enough cars that we don't need a van, which is, i guess, theoretically possible.) No, the van should be rented sooner than that. Really. Some years, we don't get a van because there isn't one available by the time the reserved-students e-mail goes out saying who the new van coordinator is, so find out, and ask before that.

A large number of frosh will sign up at activities fair to come to Ren Faire with us. These frosh should be e-mailed as a group to find out whether they really want to come. Don't worry about car space -- most of them won't actually come. At the first meeting, the presidents should pass around a list for people to sign up to come to Ren Faire, and to volunteer car space if they have any.

People should meet at ridiculously early (like 9am) to go to Ren Faire, probably at the rose garden or someplace convenient like that. There are stopping points along the way at which people not in costume can get discounted admission tickets (people in costume get a discount at the door). Ren Faire itself is pretty self-explanatory, but you should arrange a meeting time and place for leaving (at which a count of people should be taken), and discuss car space in cars that are going back early. Also, make sure everyone who's driving knows the directions.

There should be a map in this binder with directions to Ren Faire included. Make some xeroxes of it, and hand them out.

SWIL is considered a non-integral organization for purposes of van use, meaning that we don't need to drive places in order to be a club. So we have to pay half the mileage when we use the van. There are also some tolls on the way to Ren Faire and back. Thus, it's a good idea to collect $3-4 from everyone who rides in the van, so that the driver doesn't lose money. The current rules read:

Billing Procedures:

• Rental rates depend on whether a group is funded by the Student Activities Fund, and, if so, whether the group is integral (transportation is necessary to its purpose) or nonintegral.

• A funded group should therefore have a transportation subcode in their budget. For an integral group, full costs of van rental will be paid by the Student Activities Fund; for a nonintegral group, only have the costs are paid, and a bill will be sent covering the other half.

• A check made out to Swarthmore College should be sent to the van coordinator. For integral and nonintegral groups, a transaction form with name of group, transportation subcode, and the statement ``transfer to another account'' should be sent to Budget Committee, acknowledging the amount of the rental that is funded.

• The cost of using the van is $0.45 per mile for non-funded groups and $0.20 for funded groups. The minimum charge for weekdays is $2.00 for funded groups and $5.00 for non-funded groups. The minimum charge for weekends is $4.00 for funded groups and $10.00 for non-funded groups.

• Any group that rents the van overnight or for more than 12 hours between Friday and Sunday (not including Sunday night) will be charged for a minimum of 100 miles for every night they keep the van.

• Funded groups can be reimbursed for gas and tolls by submitting relevant receipts; under no circumstances will costs due to violations of traffic law be reimbursed.

• Fees that remain unpaid one week after the due date will be increased by 10continue until the bill is paid in full. If the bill remains unpaid for more than six weeks, the renter will be subject to penalty imposed by the College Judiciary Committee.