Minutes for Feb. 16

Student Senate Home > Get Informed > Minutes > Feb 16  2006

Opening & Reports

(No statements are direct quotes unless specified by quotation marks.)

President Cailao called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m. by the Senate Clock.

Roll call

Guests:

• Temie Giwa

Proxy:

      Jennifer Costley for David Bard

Approval of the Agenda

Braddock moves/Obach seconds to approve the agenda

Unanimous approval of the agenda

Approval of the Minutes

Brown moves/Weber seconds to approve the minutes

Unanimous approval of the minutes

Public Hearing

Obach

Numerous Senators have complained to me about on campus parking.  Often being even one minute late to the meter will result in a hefty fine. 

Braddock

I was yelled at by the administration when I wrote parking space tickets.

Elkin

The handicapped door coming into the union seems to be stuck.

Lovcik

Apparently when you call and ask for OSA they redirect you to the CAB office.  No one seems to care.

Cailao

What building was that Nicki?

Elkin

CMU, the one near the front door.

Cailao

That would be the west door.

Brown

The library closes at 4:45 on Friday's and Saturday's. Myself and some other students were wondering if it would be possible to have the library's weekend hours extended.

Reports

Advisor Wiese

The Student Activity Fee Review Committee has come up with their recommendations. We will meet tomorrow to discuss the event fee and how that is determined for those receiving that

funds.  Those involved will be giving health service priority over CAB. 

Also in response to Obach's parking concerns the parking tickets written this year are significantly down from last year.  So much so, that it has been called into question whether or not we can properly fund the proposed parking lots.  The amount of revenue is so diminished that we may have to alter the planned time lines. 

Braddock

I think if you put me back on the job, I could raise those funds.

Short

Is it possible to have parking lots that entirely monitored by meters? 

Wiese

I believe that there is one such lot on campus currently.  That would be something for the parking committee to consider, but I am sure that it is a possibility.

Justin Schwegel (Treasurer)

(Treasurer not present)

No questions on the report

James Cailao (President)

This week I attended SABC. We had several budget requests, and will review the Club Sports/Intramurals requests next Tuesday.

I also chaired SOAC and attended SAFR.

Retreat is coming up, next Friday. Meet in the office at 4pm. We will leave for the Armory to begin at 5pm. The retreat will run until 8am on Saturday morning.

The Democracy Summit is coming up next Wednesday at 7pm. I will be attending and speaking at the event.

Thanks to Mikan for the work she's done during Dragon Frost, as well as everyone else who has been helping out. Our bed sheet (in the Union) looks great!!!

Good luck to Jennifer and Kendall on Saturday!

Senate totally dominated Mr. MSUM with Chris and I taking Second and First Place respectively.

For those of you who will be attending the Cultural Diversity Conference this weekend, please bring back to us what you learn.

Iris Gill, the Director of Institutional Research, sent me the following email request: "To help in improving the total college experience, we are collecting feedback from students. One of the ways of doing this is to participate in the nation-wide NSSE Survey (National Survey of Student Engagement). President Barden will use the results to improve our curriculum and general campus life. Next Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, randomly selected freshmen and seniors will be invited by e-mail to complete the NSSE Survey on-line. Please consider completing this survey to make your voice heard!"

Amy Philips, a faculty member in the Social Work Department, and member of the TOCAR Steering Committee on our campus (Training Our Campuses Against Racism), sent me the following e-mail to read to Senate: "TOCAR is hosting an all-day introductory anti-racism training on Tuesday, March 7, 8-5 in the Ballroom. The training is free and meals and materials are provided. The TOCAR Steering Committee is extending an invitation to members of the Student Senate to participate in the training, which will also include faculty and staff. I would appreciate it if you would pass this invitation on to the Senate and have anyone interested in more information or in participating contact me at 477-2724 or ap@mnstate.edu."

TOCAR is also holding short informational sessions for students to learn about ways to get involved with anti-racism efforts at MSUM and the various TOCAR teams on MSUM's campus. Free food will be served at these sessions.

When: Feb. 21st at 9pm, Feb. 22nd at 3pm, Feb. 23rd at 11am at MacLean 171 (Women's Center)

I will also be setting up a time for TOCAR to come to one of our meetings to work with us as Senator's on this training.

Obach

I contacted the armory over there, normally they do not allow overnight activities. They are willing to make an exception.  There are however, a few variations from the plan.  There will be a fee of 80 dollars for the rental of the building.  We will also not be able to access the building until after 5.  We will plan on meeting here between 4 and 4:30.  We will get some pizza going and make sure you are fed.  We will be leaving the building at 8 am.

Obach

I would also like to note that when we nominated Bliss for DragonFrost there was a stipulation that he must be clean shaven.

Bliss

Relax, I intend to shave.

Elkin

In the past senate has made a motion to have TOCAR come and do their training during a meeting.  I talked to them at the table and they were open to the idea of coming in to do that.

Cailao

Alright thank you.

Chris Braddock (Vice President)

-Attended SABC and SAFR.  The way that the health service fee is assessed will be changing, you will be hearing more about that.

-Caucus Campaign is coming soon, many people signed up to volunteer but when they were contacted they did not respond.

-Tabling policy will be implemented.  If you have an office hour at the table and you do not attend, you will be assessed the proper points.

-There will be a cabinet meeting after senate tonight.

-Individuals still need to take the ARS.

Jennifer Costley (Secretary)

• Did minutes

• Did attendance

No questions on the report

Emilie Mihal (Special Projects)

(No report)

Braddock read email reminder for Senators to turn in their worksheets.

No questions on the report

Committee Reports

MSUSA Campus Representative (Senator Zeiher)

We have been working really hard at getting the Caucus Campaign together.  It will not be in the ballroom instead it will be in the Comstock room.  I still need Senators to give class presentations please talk to me if you would like to do that.  I encourage all of you to be there it promises to be a really good experience.

Committee on Committees (Chair Obach)

Attendance

         Bliss

         Haken

         Obach

-There seems to have been some confusion regarding who was nominated for which committees.  This week was basically a clean up week.  I worked on the spreadsheet and gathered more information in order to update it.  I am going to ask senators to sign up for there current committee assignments.  Also since the last meeting a few more senators have come forward to join committees.

Campus Affairs (Chair Randhawa)

(Randhawa absent from meeting)

Cultural Diversity Rep. (Oni)

(No report)

Legislative & Internal Affairs (Chair Wilson-Mattson)

Marketing (Chair Brown)

Attendance:

           Short

           Ludden

           Brown

-Student saver cards came last week; they are now available in the PAC, The ROC, The Compass Bookstore, Hendrix, Student Senate Office, Etc Shop.

-Posters were made for the Democracy summit as well as mailbox stuffers.

Tuition & Fees Oversight (Chair Elkin)

(No report)

Wiese

The directors of the health centers at Mankato and St Cloud have met and discussed this cap.  If you have any contacts of influence with students from those universities please contact them.

Elkin

If anyone has an opinion or would like to attend please come to our Wednesday meetings.

Campus Safety Committee (Braddock)

(No report)
 

Old Business:

None

New Business:

Motion SP06-21  (TFOC)

Elkin

Last week we had issues because of the 10,000 dollars was still in SABC even though it was not being utilized by the dance and cheer coaches.  Our quarrel with budget has been delt with, we also added the last statement about the wage increase.

Braddock

I totally misled everyone on the whole 10,000 dollars thing.

Unanimous aye

Motion Carries

SP06-22 ( Obach/Ascheman )

Obach

I will have Director Nick Gaines explain the situation.

Gains

Recently I traveled to Metro State where I attended several meetings.  While at Metro, Broer and I had a conversation in which she decided to make inappropriate comments in regards to my sexual orientation.  She basically said, "If I didn't know you were engaged I would assume that you were gay".  She proceeded to go through several reasons for her thinking this way.  I replied by saying, "Well Loralee that is not exactly why I am here".  She continued by saying, "Well I think you can agree that you act more feminine". I informed her that had nothing to do with how I execute my job.  She went on with the conversation by explaining how she didn't think there was anything wrong with being gay, just that she thought I was.  After that she talked about what she thought my ulterior motives were.  I brought it back to why I was there.  After this conversation with Loralee I talked to President Cailao and suggested we make this motion.  I sent her an email and she responded to me. (Email not available for minutes).  In conclusion, someone who sits on the board of directors for seven universities should not be making negative comments toward sexuality.

Obach

According to Kimball, this is not the first time inappropriate comments have come from her. Nick is merely the first to come forward. Nick talked to Director Kimball about what the appropriate action to take was. With that I yield.

Ascheman

This had to start somewhere. Someone needs to bring this forward.  MSUM may not be viewed in a good light but it is an issue, she represents several campuses. When a board member is harassed it needs to be dealt with.

Elkin

What she said that offended you I understand.  I did not understand why we cannot address this by speaking to her, instead of asking for her removal.

Gains

You are saying it would be appropriate to just discuss this with her.

Elkin

A board member should not be making negative connotations toward any group.  However, stereotypes are  not always negative. This just seems like a very drastic action to take.

Weber

She has not been warned about this by anyone?

Gains

Kimball said he has spoken to her in regards to things before. This was last straw for him.

Short

Is there documentation that she was talked to before?  Has it always been to a certain group of people?

Gains

It has been documented on two separate occasions.  She continuously has negative things to say.  Comments about sexual orientation are not acceptable but she has also made comments regarding peoples weight and appearance.

Rapp

I can understand why some people here want to know if there is documentation, but personally I find this type of thing inexcusable for a figure in her position. I think warnings are irrelevant, stress or no stress, apologetic or not.

Obach

Part of the reason I bring this motion up is that Broer is a director at large.  She represents many organizations not just Metro, but MSUSA as a whole.  This will effect us greatly as MSUSA is the major lobbyist group we go through. 

Braddock

I am going to play devil's advocate. I think we really need to think about what this means for us, before we vote on this.  Given last semester MSUSA may see this as an over compensation. I guess from my perspective this is going really really fast.  Kimball indicated something to be done, I get a queasy feeling about it but it has to be done.  However before we vote take a moment and think about how this will effect Moorhead.   In general, vote on the heart of the issue not any prejudices you might have for or against the subject of this motion.

Ascheman

This will probably give MSUM a black eye.  Some of  the other groups are not going to approve of it.  I think that they are going to have harsher image of MSUM after this. We have to remember that she did this while performing her duties representing us, if she were ever to say this to someone outside of MSUSA, it is going to hurt us a lot more than it is now.

Elkin

I don’t approve of what she said, but this seems like a rather drastic motion to ask for her removal.  She may not realize the extent of the problems she has caused.

Gains

 I feel like if we don’t pass this it is saying we are okay with this. This is not something that should be tolerated. A slap on the hand for inappropriate comments toward sexual preference is  saying that it is okay to make those comments. This is not a matter of how MSUM looks.  We are taking a stand on something which is important.

Oni

What if a person in the gallery has a question?

Cailao

Then you yield your speaking rights to the person in the gallery.

Oni

I yield my speaking rights to Temie.

Giwa

When she said it was there anything mean about the way she said it?

Gains

Its more a matter of questioning.

Short

I know neither party here.  I am not seeing any documentation and no one else was here was there when it happened. I do not know exactly what happened?

Weber

I think if we were to vote in favor of this motion that documentation should be provided, so everyone understands where we are coming from.

Ascheman

Does the motion state that there were previous incidents?

Cailao

No it does not
 

Obach

Our source was  Kimball.

Ascheman

Final comment, here is the reasoning behind why Moorhead may get a black eye.  This is of course a person of the majority taking offense at being accused of being a minority.  While I don’t think it matters minority on majority or vice versa it is something to keep in mind.

Braddock

We are going to need to do some damage control with MSUSA.  I am completely in favor of this motion, even though it completely sucks.

Lovcik

We need to stand up for what is really going on here.

Rapp

I want the discussion to be over with, since everyone already stated pretty much everything that there is to be said.  I believe the black eye will be worth it.  Sometimes you gotta throw a punch and get one back.  I am in favor of this motion.

Motion carries

Points for the Good of the Order

Braddock

I Left a few things out of my report. If I slighted anyone while talking about our tabling difficulties I didn’t mean it.  We appreciate all of your help. Also at the end of Mr. MSUM Cailao jumped on my back.  I think my nine year old niece has about 15 pounds on him.

Obach

Thank you everyone for great discussion tonight.  There were both good questions and good debate. As far as any potential backlash goes, before the MSUSA conference there will be the DC summit.  If you have questions, issues or concerns talk to those going to DC.  We will be trying to accurately convey what happened.

Zeiher

I Want to encourage all of you to go to the democracy summit.

Rapp

In the next three months look for me in a crappy computer renaissance commercial.

Gains

Please respond back to me regarding the email I sent last week. I will be coming once a month to senate meetings.  Also I will be in the senate office doing office hours with MSUSA.


Cailao

I will be meeting with the DFL governor on Monday.  I guess I will be finding out his views on higher education.

Elkin

Invite him to the summit on Wednesday.

Obach

We are going to try and get him to swing by the senate office to meet with everyone. He did some work during republican convention for daily show so he is a very funny guy, good sense of humor.

Announcements

Braddock

There is Cabinet tonight. I know where you live I have seen where you sleep. One week from tonight the history club is showing patriot. Bang up job Y'all.

Obach

Last week it came to my attention that Morse did not have nickname and wanted one. So I have come up with a very clever one....
Second thing is there has been a long going debate between Chair Oni and myself regarding the fact that she has socks of every color under the sun. She does not however have black so I brought her a spare pair.

Elkin

Obach is making a charge to seduce everyone in the room, names and presents.
 

Adjournment

Ascheman moves/ Weber seconds to adjourn

Meeting adjourns at 6:05