Minutes for Feb. 23
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Feb 23 2006
Opening & Reports
(No statements are direct quotes
unless specified by quotation marks.)
President Cailao
called the meeting to order at 5:04
p.m. by the Senate Clock.
Roll call
Guests:
Approval of the Agenda
Randhawa moves/Wilson-Mattson seconds
to approve the agenda.
Unanimous approval of the agenda
Approval of the Minutes
Braddock moves/Ohren seconds to approve
the minutes.
Unanimous approval of the minutes
Public Hearing
Swinson
Forty years
ago this month I was a member of Student
Senate.
I am here to talk about a Dragonfire
fundraiser for scholarships for student athletes. Our goal
is to raise scholarship money for
student athletes. Those athletes can be any major, they are your
peers they just happen to be in athletics. As a university,
nation wide in our conference we provide maybe ¼ of the
scholarships. Athletics help define
this university. 125 thousand
dollars added onto the athletic
budget is going to make a big
difference. Right now we are looking for captains. Right now
we are getting captains, then the
captains go out and get walkers.
We are going to involve students,
faculty, retired faculty,
even President Bardon has a
team. The
word is out, we want to make this a university event. We are
going to have breakfast at 9:30 walk at 10:30 awards at 11:30
you as walkers raise money. We
are here to make sure that you
are aware what we are doing, we hope
you will see this as valuable. I just want
to let you know how students can
get involved. I am looking for
questions comments and ideas.
Cailao
Is there a limit to the number of students that can be on a
team?
Swinson
There is no
limit although 8-12 is recommended.
Wilson-Mattson
The Arthritis
team was here last year have you contacted them about what works
and what doesn’t?
Swinson
Good idea I
have been in contact with them, they are the week after us. I
think if we keep doing this we can make a big difference.
Cailao
What is the
deadline to turn this in?
Swinson
We can take
this up until the last minute really. Captains trainings will be
Wednesday at 11:00, as well as Tuesdays at the annex, if you
want to get hold of any of us just send an email to swinson@mnstate.edu
feel free to email me a question.
Obach
Walks are an
easy way to make a difference in the community, ms does it.
It would be a good idea to have senate be involved.
Swinson
Anything else
would help me out.
Braddock
I have several
beefs, wednesday used to be cheap hot
dog day. Those hotdogs used to
be 50 cents, then they upped it 25cents.
Now these things come in plastic
sacks, which differ from the nice foil ones
they used to have. If they are
going to up the price by 25 cents then I want
the foil bags bag.
Schwegel
At Ice Cream Plus you can receive a hot dog,
soda and bag of chips for 1.00.
Weber
A student expressed to me concern that there
are still bar ads in the advocate and yet the President has shot
down selling shot glasses.
Randhawa
W2 forms, there is a tax workshop for
international students, everyone interested can show up, but
usually do not check emails.
Randhawa
This is only
advertised through email. There is no choice all
international students have to be on this list serv.
Ascheman
This only
serves international students, what about students on there own
for the first time?
Randhawa
This workshop
would not be of any help to you. International
students fill out very different taxes. Also, H and R does
not know how to fill those out so students must go to these
seminars if they are in need of assistance.
Cailao
We could look
into tax seminar for traditional students.
Randhawa
The Center for business has accounting students that help
students with their taxes.
Rapp
I know that accounting here does and Concordia also hold
something near tax time. There is usually a couple of things
held in the tri county area.
Reports
Proxy Advisor
Wilson
-Dealing with shot glasses, the first question on shot
glasses came from former Senate President Billy Holmes.
Holmes made the remark about mixed messages on campus regarding
alcohol. Actually what occurred is an assistant to the president
who was also gonna be meeting with the student forum was going
to set up a display and when the student went to both Concordia
and NDSU they were told that other schools do not allow it. This
student came back and told President Barden that Holmes was
right.
Also here is the proposed
room and board rates for next year. Beth Connor would be more
than willing to meet with TFOC or attend student senate
meetings.
-Second thing, dealing with the
event fee, Warren discussed this at cabinet and the
administration is very supportive of it. I worked with the
original student senate in order to get this into place.
The purpose of the fee is to remove the student barrier, in
which they cannot afford to go to the games. Same thing with
student produced theatre events, that is how we established it.
Creating
this fee did yield a lot more bodies. It is pretty
interesting that its finally come back round for discussion.
-Right now the meet and greet is
scheduled for march 9th, due to the fact that many students are
going to DC. This will need to be changed.
-Also Vice President Wiese is
working with the Wellness Center architects.
-The Sustainable Campus Committee, became a committee this year.
There have been two major problems, we need more students on
that committee, and students are not able to access information
about that committee on the Student Senate Webpage.
Obach
I have been working with Paul. Out
of his 5 members one hasn’t been showing up. You can still can
apply through the senate webpage. Jan 12th I had an application
for committee.
Wilson
Currently there are only two
students showing up. We have to have majority of students
to vote or disperse funds.
Obach
I told Paul if he had any problems
in particular he can bring it to me and I can push it through.
Wilson
If you have any interested in strategic planning, go to the
webpage.
Obach
Is it possible now for a student, to go to the bookstore, or
online, or a catalogue?
Wilson
Part of what the president put out is that we will not allow
the dragon logo to be on these types of items. One
advertiser wanted to put the dragon on condoms.
Wilson
I for one have bought them.
Removing them from campuses is a national trend. We still sell
glassware but any definite shot glasses or beer glasses had to
be removed.
Justin Schwegel (Treasurer)
(No report)
No questions on
the report
James Cailao (President)
Greetings
fellow Senators, Chairs, and Guests:
This week
has been relatively busy week. In SABC, we
finalized the budget allocations for the various
student organizations, as well as reserve
amounts. Remember, Student Senate approved the
over-all budget allocation to SABC, and I will
briefly present the finalized budget to you all
at the end of my report.
I also
attended SOAC and the Alcohol Task Force meeting
earlier today. We have a number of projects
coming up in the next few weeks in relation to
addressing the issue of binge drinking. I will
be attending the 2nd F/M HESS Student
Summit meeting next week at NDSU, along with
several other students representing MSUM.
Remember, on the 8th of March, Senate
will be participating in CAB/COG Alcohol
Awareness Extravaganza from 5-7pm in the CMU. We
will be staffing a table, so I will need several
volunteers to provide their warm bodies. I would
also encourage everyone to attend the
presentation after at 7pm. Wendi Fox is a
comedian and will perform her “Alcohol Insanity
Tour”. In addition to the Student Summit, I will
also attend the community committee meetings for
Fargo and Moorhead in preparation for the
National Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking.
These committee meetings feature key members of
our community, so if anyone has anything they
would like me to pass on to the committee,
please let me know.
I had
originally scheduled our Meet and Discuss with
President Barden and the Vice-President’s for
the 9th of March, however, since a
number of you will be gone on the D.C. Summit
trip, I am going to see about rescheduling for
after Spring Break. It is definitely not too
early to begin thinking of questions for
President Barden and the Vice-Presidents.
Remember, this is an excellent opportunity to
take your concerns and questions directly to the
top.
After the
motions are presented by SAFR tonight, we will
more or less be finished with budget oversight.
I sent my Letter of Consultation to Chancellor
McCormick two weeks ago, and will need to do the
same for the Housing Budget. Which leads me
to….the Housing Budget. Beth Conners will be
forwarding the budget on by the beginning of
next week. We will have time for Senate to
review the budget, TFOC will have time to review
the budget, and finally Beth Conners is willing
to come to Senate to answer any questions or
concerns we may have. What we should aim for,
tentatively, is Senate action on the budget
before Spring Break.
I sent a
message to Brittany Goodman regarding the
weekend hours of the library and received a
response back from her. If any Senators have any
further questions, I believe Sen. Ellsworth has
a meeting with Brittany tomorrow afternoon at
1pm.
I have new
copies of the Senate Handbook available for
anyone who needs a corrected set.
TOCAR
(Training Our Campuses Against Racism) will hold
their introductory training on the 6th
of April from 6-11pm. They are aware that we are
attempting to make Campus Diversity a standing
committee, and are very insistent on Senate’s
presence at this meeting. I would ask that each
of you please make a serious effort to attend.
I will
need a Senator to volunteer to sit on the
Presidential Task Force on Class Scheduling.
Vice-President Braddock sent out an email about
a week ago detailing a discussion SAFR had
regarding the Event Fee. This fee has not been
adjusted for 10 years, and by raising the fee to
$1 a credit with a 12 credit maximum (that’s $12
a semester) we would be able to generate serious
funding for athletics, theater, and campus
events. As a bonus, we would be able to host
these events at no charge (other than the fee)
to the students. Besides enhancing the culture
of our campus, providing serious support to
these areas of our university, and enriching
campus life, this has the potential to take a
substantial burden away from the Student
Activity Budget as well as student fees in
general. I think that this is an incredibly
exciting prospect, and I urge each of you to
watch for any information that comes out
regarding this fee.
The
Democracy Summit was held last night in CMU 101
at 7pm. We were very fortunate that Sen. Keith
Langseth, Representative Morrie Lanning, and
Representative Paul Marquart all attended our
meeting and spoke about the importance of
student participation in a caucus. We are
extremely grateful for the time they were
willing to share with us. Unfortunately, we had
about 4-6 students attend the meeting. I realize
that with school and work each of us have very,
very busy schedules. But I have to ask each of
you as Senators to make as strong an effort as
possible to attend these functions. Senate isn’t
just Thursday evenings from 5-8pm. We have the
potential to be the core of college grass-roots
activism. The potential of the students is
within the campus community, but it has to be
actively approached. Senate cannot operate of
the work of a select few. Unless we have the
dedicated energy of every member of this student
organization, we absolutely will be unable to
perform our mission statement, achieve our
goals, or make any substantial difference at
all. Every effort we make is just going to end
up looking and being pathetic. It’s very
disheartening for one or two individuals to put
together an event, and have no turn out at all,
not even from Senate. I’m not asking for 100%
participation from everyone all the time. I
realize that’s impossible. But make an effort to
volunteer some of your time to one or two
projects, and once you’ve committed yourself, be
sure to BE THERE! On the plus side, our caucus
campaign was a good starting experiment and a
way to work the kinks out of the system. I think
we’ve generated some good ideas along with
MSUSA, and I’m positive that they could actually
make a difference if we put some effort and work
into them.
We have
our retreat tomorrow night! Meet in the Senate
office by 4:30pm so that we can be at the Armory
by 5pm. It should be a very fun and productive
time.
Obach
Is it not true that there will be
many members of SABC graduating and that Student Senate members
might consider joining?
SABC is a pretty important organization. It is a difficult
committee, I use flash cards, I use calculators, consider
joining.
Braddock
You get to watch Mihal and Obach
fight a lot and that is a pretty significant reason to join.
Rapp
Plus I rock?
Bard
Where was your TOCAR training at?
Cailao
Undisclosed location due to
national security I am not allowed to tell.
Braddock
Former senator Edwards encouraged me to have us go to the
April 6th session, dinner is provided at that one.
Short
Is the March 7th 8-5 session still
happening?
Cailao
Kristin Edwards suggested that it
was preferable that Senate attend the April 6th meeting.
Lovcik
The longer one is more for faculty
Randhawa
Can you tell us the dates for the
training sessions again?
Vrtis
I can send out a note but I believe
its march 23rd 9-11:30
Wilson
On TOCAR, what we were doing is setting up three basic info
sessions. Then from those we were hoping to get enough at the
April 6th session.
Cailao
I think it is important that senate be a part of that.
Wilson
If there is no longer any over run
for SABC, Where does the overrun come out of.
Cailao
General overrun.
Vrtiss
April 30th.
Vrtiss
Also Safe Zone training will be
2-4:30 if you did not sign up before and would like to let me
know.
Chris Braddock
(Vice President)
-Finished
preparing for Democracy Summit. Thank you to everyone who
helped. This event was on really short notice and President
Cailao and I addressed that issue with Peter after the event.
There is a lot we could, and should, learn from that event, and
if any of you have any thoughts on how it went and suggested
changes for the future, please talk to myself or Campus Rep
Zeiher.
-At next week's senate meeting, we'll
be conducting a dorm storm for precinct caucuses. Campus Rep
Zeiher will talk more about that in her report. This will be a
mandatory event, and the meeting won't be adjourned until after
the storm. This event should only take about a half hour.
-I interviewed an individual for one
of our vacant off-campus seats, and we'll be bringing him up for
appointment tonight.
-I attended the usual committee
meetings, and I'm absolutely tickled that SAFR is done for now.
I get to sleep in tomorrow morning. The event fee we'll be
discussing tonight was a lot of fun to conceptualize and I'm
excited about what that will let us as students do. SABC has
completed allocating money to student orgs, and I'm glad I was
able to be a part of that process.
-Mid-term is nearly upon us, and I
hope you are all doing fine. A few Senate members have
approached me with questions about Senate and wanting more to
do, and I love that. If any of you have any questions at all, I
want you to ask them. If you aren't comfortable asking me,
approach President Cailao, Treasurer Schwegel, chairs, or anyone
else who may have answers for you. I want this to be fun for
everyone, and I hope you guys are having as good a time as I am.
Jennifer Costley
(Secretary)
-
Did minutes
-
Did attendance
No questions on the
report
Emilie Mihal
(Special Projects)
(No report)
No questions on the report
Committee Reports
Committee on Committees (Chair Obach)
-There will be one COC nomination
later on in new business. Due to unfortunate circumstances COC
is down to one member, just want to bring that to the executive
boards attention.
-As for the retreat, I want
everyone in office by 4:30 so we can get there by 5. If
anyone is unable to make it just give me a call so we can get
directions. We are going to have a good time, games, fun stuff,
movie and TV scene it. Don’t forget to bring sweat
clothes as we will be doing some physical activities.
Randhawa
What is the address for the
retreat?
Obach
1015 15th ave north in Moorhead
Hepola
What time returning?
Obach
8:00 am maybe 9:00.
Campus Affairs (Chair Randhawa)
Attendance:
Randhawa
Bard
Ellsworth
Guests:
Emilie Mihal
Vice President Braddock
- The art project has been disposed
of.
-The apartment survey was discussed
and it is our plan to collect data at the end of march/beginning
of April. CA will be in talks with Doug Hamilton regarding
the survey.
-Subs and Sweets was talked to
about the microwave. We received an unfortunate response
from them.
-The CMU door on the west side
should be fixed soon as the GMW was contacted.
-The library hours cannot be
changed.
Ascheman
That was not a joke?
Randhawa
He repeated this3 times.
Wilson-Mattson
Do you have the name of this
person?
Randhawa
He is the fulltime supervisor that
Sodexho has hired for this year.
Cultural Diversity Rep. (Oni)
No Report
Legislative & Internal Affairs
(Chair Wilson-Mattson)
Attendance:
Zeiher
Ascheman
Wilson-Mattson
Lovcik
Guests:
Elkin
-Discussed bussing for the caucuses
-New leg/int bonding meeting will
be February 27th at 6:00 pm in the Senate Office.
-Discussed another forum for the
elections.
-Constitution to be discussed at
next Leg/int meeting.
Marketing (Chair
Brown)
Attendance:
Short
Ludden
Brown
-The word is finally getting out
about Student Saver Club Cards. Please pass the word on.
Marketing would like to display a picture of each senate member
in the area to which they represent. We are calling it
"getting our faces out there". If you do not have a
picture on the website or would like a different picture please
contact me. My goal is to have it done by next thursday.
Tuition & Fees Oversight (Chair
Elkin)
No report
Campus Safety Committee (Braddock)
No new news to report.
Election Chair (Chair Young)
Young
I'm a chair and I need a committee,
with that I will just pass around this email sheet.
Braddock
Just a reminder that if u are going
to be running u cannot be on miss Young's election committee.
Obach
Not only are these table tents "funner" but they also showcase
an exciting major.
Weber
So this is a committee sign up
sheet?
Young
I Didn’t know that, thanks for pointing that out.
Old Business:
None
New Business:
Motion SP06-23 (Leg/Int)
| Whereas we are encouraging
participation in the precinct caucus,
Whereas not all students have easily
accessible transportation,
Be it resolved that Student Senate
allocate the appropriate amount to rent three vans to
drive students to and from the DFL, GOP and Independence
designated caucus areas. |
Wilson-Mattson
Since
we are trying to get students to
go to the caucusas
and students have asked if we are
going to provide rides there. I think we
should.
Cailao
Can I make friendly
amendment to bill?
Wilson-Mattson
Sure.
Bard
Do we have locations for the caucuses?
Cailao
Yes we do, Moorhead
high school, Moorhead tech and ….
Schwegel
How many students
have expressed interest in going to
these things?
Wilson-Mattson
3 people
thus far.
Schwegel
3 people,
so that is1 one person per caucus.
Ascheman
In addition just
because students do not ask
for a ride does not mean they will not
accept a ride.
Zeiher
All caucuses have to start at 7 at night.
Obach
Have we been in
contact with different departments in regards to letting them
know.
Zeiher
I have not discussed
it with them.
Obach
That would be a good way to get the
information out there.
Zeiher
Oh okay.
Obach
I'm just making a few helpful suggestions.
Obach moves/Schwegel
seconds to table the motion
Obach
I would like to know
specific numbers, with Joe and
Laura working together
we can get some hard numbers
on this.
Schwegel
I would like to know more about this,
in order to make sure that the
independent party is having a
swaray at campus.
Wilson Mattson
Just a general note marketing isn’t going to work well
with only one week.
Lovcik
Not having a chance to market the Democracy Summit really hurt
our numbers, it could have the same effect here.
Motion to table the motion carries
SP06-24 ( TFOC)
|
Whereas the Student Academic Fee
Review Committee has approved the Health Center
Budget for FY07,
Whereas
Tuition and Fees Oversight Committee has reviewed said
budget,
Be it resolved that Student Senate
approve the health services fee for FY07. |
Ohren
Basically health services is running
into an issue with
the cap being 102 dollars.
Basically SAFR
and TFOC have discussed instead of
being charged per credit, all students paying
the same amount regardless of how many credits they are
taking. Taking more or less credits
will not result in better or worse
service. Also because of that first credit
charge the summer fee will be lowered to $25.00.
Brown
Is this being charged to us?
Ohren
We are already at
that cap. The
51 dollars per semester
is now charged on the first
credit instead of over 6 credits. Fulltime
students are paying the
exact same amount of money.
Motion Carries
Unanimous aye.
SP06-25 (TFOC)
|
Whereas Student Academic Fee Review
Committee approved the event fee for FY07,
Whereas Tuition and Fee Oversight
Committee has reviewed said budget,
Be it resolved that Student Senate
approve the event fee for FY07. |
Braddock
I love this event fee idea,
it is just 12 dollars a semester,
and because of it you can do a lot of
things for free on this campus.
There is also a built
in 10 percent category, in which the money
goes to reserve. We can use that
reserve amount in the future to bring in big name speakers. A
few years ago we brought in Maya Angelou
for roughly 13,000 dollars.
This reserve could help make our
campus stand out, as we are able to bring in new and interesting
speakers. Warren actually came into senate office to talk
to us, so this is a pretty good thing.
Obach
I am completely
for this. The cost is minimal but as
always there will be some naysayers.
However, for the most part
I believe students
will really appreciate this.
Wilson
Why did theatre take such a big jump?
Why wasn’t more placed in the reserve?
Braddock
At first
the motion started at 45,
45 ten. Theatre made
a case they wanted to bridge
the disparity between the two.
Wilson
This is kind
of an unfair breakdown
because theatre only puts on 4/5 shows a term.
Braddock
Strawhat has been
draining the theatre budget.
This will all be reviewed next year in
SAFR.
Wilson
Now Strawhat
is being subsidized by event fee?
Obach
Strawhat has been
killing the dramatic budget.
SABC is concerned that one is showing a
profit and the other is not.
Motion carries
with one abstension.
SP06-26 (Exec)
|
Whereas Student Senators will be
taking valuable time away from their jobs in order to
attend the DC Summit,
Whereas the experience gained there
will be of use to Senate,
Whereas MSUSA will not be providing
financial support for meals,
Be it resolved that Senate allocate
$600 dollars ($100 per attendee) for meals during the DC
Summit trip.
|
Braddock
We are going to need a little help on
this trip, we can submit a supplementary request to
SABC.
Obach
Good point, alot of us wont be able to
make any income while on this trip.
Ellsworth
600 dollars per person?
Ascheman
Basically 100 dollars per person, breaks down to 20 bucks per
day.
Unanimous aye
Motion carries.
SP06-27 (Exec)
|
Whereas there is an off-campus seat
vacant,
Whereas the Student
Senate Constitution provides for the appointments to
vacant seats by Exec,
Be it resolved that Senate approve
the appointment of Steven Horn to an off-campus seat. |
Ludden
moves/Schwegel
seconds to suspend rules
in order to question
the candidate.
Horn
I was born
and raised here in Moorhead, MN. I am a
junior here and going into
criminal justice. I have been coming
here since about 2001. I am really
looking forward to this opportunity.
Obach
What caused you to come to senate?
Horn
I am a people
person. I am interested to hear from my
classmates what kind of changes they would like to see. I
feel that due to my living around here
I know the area. I can help with
off campus students who have needs.
Brown
What can you bring to
senate?
Horn
I know the layout and the operations of this
area.
Weber
What are your expectations for senate?
Horn
Just to get peoples
opinions heard. I
may be new at this but that doesn't mean I will not go full
force into this. I see diversity as a big issue on this
campus. I have friends from around here that feel it is a
predominantly white area and that those who are not white may
feel shunned away.
Short
Since you are entering the criminal
justice field, may I ask what is your
favorite donut?
Horn
I would have to say glazed.
Obach
moves/Bliss seconds to enter into
executive session.
Motion Carries
Points for the Good
of the Order
Ascheman
I do believe when we elected sergeant
at arms that there was a rule requiring that
he show up in uniform if he fails again I
believe we should remove him.
Bard
moves/Obach
seconds to suspend the rules to
open COC nominations.
Bliss
moves/Weber
seconds to open COC nominations.
Obach
Appointment of Mikan Lovcik to SCC.
Unanimous aye
Obach
moves/Bliss
seconds to close COC
nominations.
Young
There is a toothpick
bridge building contest tonight. You
should all really check it out.
Bard
By
the way that was some top notch parliamentary procedure back
there.
Cailao
I
think having a senate team for the dragon fire walk is a great
idea.
Obach
If someone does make
a team can we appoint someone to be a chair?
Cailao
I
encourage you all to be as involved as you can.
Student Senate is not just a Thursday
night thing.
Obach
Who will be there
tomorrow night for at least some part of the time?
Announcements
Brown
I am printing
up invitations for Dilworth.
Braddock
I am not a fan of Browns connotation
that I don't invite people to my house.
Also the history club is showing the Patriot,
and my Professor fully intends to rip it apart.
Schwegel
There are four minutes before the promised adjournment.
Also let it be noted that if
we did put some kind of attendance penalty on
Obach for not wearing his uniform, he
would probably be better off just not showing up period.
Obach
If you need to contact me regarding this weekends
retreat my number is 701-306-1664.
Weber
I
am going to run for treasurer this spring.
Cailao
Right on
Adjournment
Ascheman moves/Schwegel seconds to adjourn
the meeting
|