Student Senate
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Norris – Moen – Approve Agenda (passed)
Moen – Camargo – Approve Minutes (passed)
Richard Adler – Graduate Studies
Proposed tuition increase to the Senate. Basically, the tuition is an increase of 3% for the doctorate program. Mankato, Metro, Winona. 28 students admitted the first year of the program. Board approved the program. This year, if you were a faculty member of the IFO, you get a tuition waiver. They didn't figure that out in the budgeting, so three people out of the 28 who have dropped out, 3 IFO members. Budget is based on 28 students and technically 22 paying tuition. That's the justification behind the three percent. Goes to the senate then the chancellor's office for approval.
Councilman Lemke
City council member for 6 years, I live in southeast Moorhead in the 4th ward. I serve on the park board and I serve on a panel for the national cities. What is the most difficult task of serving on the city council? Time – takes a lot of your time. Eight people on the city council, three are retired. Good to have that diversity, but when you work full time it's hard to devote time to the city council. Visiting with city staff, meetings, and meeting with constituents. If I want to do meetings, mailings, that's all on my own. We go through the city manager, and he's currently looking for an assistant. With eight people it's hard to get everybody together and moving together in the same direction. Lately we have diverse political views, and it's good to have that diversity but there's sometimes a lack of compromise.
Any ideas for the city that you would like to get on the agenda that aren't currently? I don't have any ideas currently. There's passions like animal and human rights. We're not moving fast enough in my opinion but they're on the radar. We have our plate full with the growth we've been having and the projects, the 34th street interchange, and the underpass. The agenda's pretty full and what I'm working on personally it's an issue of time trying to get that together.
What's your position on the parking debate of the areas surrounding MSUM and Concordia? There's nothing in front of me to put a position on. There was a neighborhood planning committee and the students felt they weren't heard on the issues and concerns. That's what I gathered from some comments from students. When we start looking at that and we try to come up with solutions, we need to make sure the students are heard. We need to include people and they feel that they are heard and we take that to heart. We can't wash our hands of it. It affects the neighborhood. MSUM and Concordia should be taking the lead on this because you are their customers. They say there's plenty of parking and the lots are empty. We have to work together to try and solve the problem. Right now, it seems like every option is on the table to try to deal with it. The institutions really need to take the lead on this because you are their customers.
What are the problems facing the community? Growth. Growth is good, but I think we've hit the wall at this point, especially in residential growth. We need commercial to catch up. We've hit that wall because city services, we can't add anymore. We have to add city services. We can't keep adding households and miles of streets and not add police and fire. Next year we add park staff, more people to pick up garbage and plow the streets. Growth is good, but sometimes you outgrow and we need to keep taxes reasonable. Fees continue to go up, including public service. At some point you have to say we can't keep raising these, or people are going to leave. We get our money from fees, property taxes and what the state gives us. They have been cutting that back, and in 2002 we had to make some major cuts; that aid keeps getting cut. We can't keep raising property taxes to combat that. We get taxes from new homes eventually. We put in infrastructure to the tune of $40 million to have the growth. We're paying on those bonds and nobody is living there right now. We shouldn't be doing that right now, but we need to start recouping that money.
What is your position on Camtown? I haven't seen much on that lately. I saw various versions of what that would look like. I would rather see some small businesses instead of those rental houses. It would be nice to have something in the area again and a connection with Concordia. We did some rezoning on the 8th street side. It would be something beneficial to look at for the universities.
I'm not in favor of eliminating it. We don't get a lot of requests to maybe close a street. The first thing we look at is how it affects the people that live on that road, the police, fire, ambulance, and buses. Making it into one lane, I'd be open to listening to what the experts have to say.
Virnala - Any obstacles for future commercial growth or why Holiday Mall is so vacant in areas?
There are obstacles. Income tax is higher. There's a minimum wage that isn't there in Fargo. The state tries to even that out. The Holiday Mall in particular, the main problem is what the owner is asking for rent. It's been sitting empty for a long time. He knows it's an issue with Moorhead and the Council, and I heard he was asking the same price as they do in West Acres. I don't see how that works, nor how he can keep it so vacant. The Marriott is looking to expand, and we can hope that once that happens the other businesses will start to fill in. Muscatell is open, and there's no parking down there. I'd hate to demolish those buildings, but it might have to be done. There's no street parking in Moorhead. The Center Mall is not very healthy, and the issues there. I don't know what the issue is there. New ownership and they're trying to buy up everybody else who is there. The lady who manages it says she was negotiating with some of the bigger stores. It's a struggle when you're dealing with Fargo.
Jenson - How do you see the animal rights issue in Moorhead?
About 4 years ago I tried to put together a group to build a citywide shelter. We do not have the capacity in the Fargo Moorhead area for a number of animals that are unwanted, neglected or abandoned. The city of Fargo has room for 8 or 9 animals, and that's it. They've gone through three directors and they have their issues. I work for the Fargo police department also. We have five officers who deal with animals. Training is minimal, and it's not a top issue for a lot of people. The number of animals is unbelievable. The one good thing is that a gentleman who owns a kennel in West Fargo and passionate about animals, he has offered to build a metrowide animal shelter. A deadline of March 30th. Fargo has said March 10th – he's tried to work with Humane Society. This may be a last shot because Fargo is going to make a long term contract with Valley Vet. I'm bringing up several proposals to change ordinances. We need to deal with people who have vicious dogs; anti-chaining dogs – it limits the time you can because they sometimes become more protective or vicious; spade and neutered.
Jean Hollaar – Tuition Consultation
(a copy of the Budget Planning draft will be in the Senate office attached to the paper copy of the minutes)
I visited with you in early December regarding the tuition increase for fiscal year 2009. At the top, which is where we have the projection for the fiscal year 2009 revenue. The columns on this sheet indicate the FY 2008 budget, this year's budget. On the right is the FY 2009 budget and then the difference between the two and the parameters for the plan. We'll be getting MnSCU competitive salaries allocation; 1% of the legislative appropriation tied to performance measures; tuition revenue buydown; and the overall tuition increase is 3%.
We are basing this on a 0% enrollment change. The 3% tuition increase is roughly $5 more per credit, so for a 30 credit load, you can expect approximately a $153 increase. The story of the budget of the 2009 budget is in the salaries. The estimate is based on the contracts that have already been settled. Based on the tentative agreements, we are projecting a $2.5 million settlement, a significant increase from FY 2008. When comparing the revenue to be allocated to divisions, there is a difference of -$1,516,705 that needs to be corrected. There are several solutions coming from 2008 that can be used to help, a total of $1,093,067, leaving ($423,638) that still needs to be corrected by departments in terms of budget planning. Cabinet has not yet discussed how to solve this, but I'm confident we'll be able to.
Ellsperger – The fuel and utilities. That went up quite a bit. I know you walk around campus and all the lights are on in the buildings. Is there a way to turn these lights off? It seems it'd be practical.
Hollaar – Conservation is the issue, and that's a responsibility of all of us.
Morse – This winter has been insanely cold, does that have to do with it?
Hollaar – There's a lag in receiving the bills from Moorhead Public Service. We don't know if that's enough yet, but that's based on what we figured – it will definitely impact the '08 budget.
Greg Wymer – International Student Affairs
Began working in September of this year – came here from Southwest State. I worked there for 12 years, I'm very excited
to be here. I wanted to introduce myself
to you and some of the changes that are occurring in our office. An increase of enrollment of our
international student population – had some growing pains so to speak. As students increase, so should the resources
allocated to those areas. We have seen
additional resources so we can service our international students as best as we
can. International Student Program
Coordinator has had experience in our office with the international students –
we also have been operating without an office assistant. That is not an easy thing to do when trying
operate efficiently. We recently added
an office assistant at 70% - she is not fulltime yet, but I am thankful for
her. Her background is accounting and
I'm very glad she is in our office. We
continue to evaluate in the office to see how we can better serve our
international students I think that with the additional staff we can add some
much needed programming advisement for international students.
Ellsworth – Did you talk about relocation?
There are a lot of changes that are occurring – we will be relocating to across the hall in Flora Frick. Where the advising center currently is they'll be moving into our spot. When registration moves out of the Dragon Den, that is going to be renovated so it becomes a huge advising area for Center of Business and undeclared students as well. That will be a great opportunity for us to have some much needed added space. March 28th at 4:00 pm will be the kickoff event for Diversity Week.
It's a campus policy – every student. I'm pretty sure the state or MnSCU decided that in order for your classes to be held you had to have a certain percentage of your tuition paid.
Withanachi – I got the same email – it said that those who have any amount outstanding will not be able to register – did not say that you had to pay a different amount.
Abey – I know that Mark Rice spoke with Greg, he was bringing policies up to speed with MnSCU policies. No students would be able to register until they settled their bills. If you have a payment bill you're considered to have paid your bill in full.
Sollinger – The policy is the same policy that everyone has been held to as a standard. The international office has been more liberal because they had tens of thousands in outstanding accounts receivables, which isn't good. Basically, international students are going to be getting the same standard which hasn't been as enforced as much as it should.
Withanachi – My battery died and I was on the street between 3rd and 4th avenue. I was under the impression that we could request campus security to help and have them get your car jump started. Somehow when I contacted them what they told me is I had to be within a certain area and if you are parked beyond that area they are not able to extend that courtesy. I think it's inside of 6th avenue, that's where it stops.
Presentation by Kelly Asche, JJ Jouppi, and Kari Winter – Lobbying the MN Legislature
Reports
Treasurer Morse
I balanced the budget. $207.00 are tied up in motions, and we have $1001.25 in discretionary funds. I attended exec and SABC; right now we are discussing how much money to allocate to certain organizations for FY09. Thank you to all who attended the retreat.
Vice President Zeiher
(No Report)
President Weber
I met with Warren, attended UPBC, SABC, and met with exec. There are four resignations this week: Laura Richter resigned her education and human services seat; Paul Kellen resigned his off campus seat; Maria Camargo resigned her business & industry seat; and Kara Brungardt has resigned the MSUSA financial aid intern position.
I will be attending the diversity conference this weekend. The meet and discuss is next Thursday, please dress up for that meeting. I attended TFOC and their meeting with Jean Hollaar, and I interviewed potential senators, so they will be coming up for appointment tonight.
Campus Affairs – Chair Brungardt
I e-mailed Karen Mehnert-Meland in the CMU to find out who we needed to contact to deal with the issues with Kise student staff. I met with president Weber to go over the grievance policy and how he would like us to handle it. I contacted Mike Parks and set up a time for him to come and visit the senate to answer questions, he'll be coming on March 13th. I set up a time to meet with Dave Holsen to talk with him about the issues with the Lommen bathroom.
Committee on Committees – Chair Norris
We convened throughout the week. We are still processing senator responses to primary committee appointments, thank you for your patience. We are still taking suggestions for CoC advertising, thank you for the ideas. We will be implementing them in the coming weeks.
Legislative and Internal Affairs – Chair Jenson
We had no meeting last week, but we will have a meeting tomorrow at 12:30 pm. Get any constitution amendments to Dane or Justin Norris by Thursday, February 28th for the ballot.
Tuition Fees and Oversight – Chair Randall
We met with Jean Hollaar last Friday, and there will be a motion coming up about the tuition consultation. I've been discussing several upcoming things for us to do, and when I have more information, I will pass it on.
Diversity – Chair Abey
The committee met last Friday and we discussed Diversity Week briefly. Apart from that, I have been trying to contact diverse groups on campus to invite them to senate meetings to introduce their organizations and their plans for the future.
Elections – Chair Camargo
After a few days, filing opened – reminder that any college seat & officer seats need to file, so please do so. I will be working on the display window Sunday afternoon if anyone wants to help. The next stage will be planning the candidate meet and greet/open forum. I received numbers today for the college seats and will be doing that soon.
Haugen – what meet and greet?
Camargo – Senate candidates. Something small, not sure what I want to do. Last year it wasn't really well planned, I'm not sure.
Special Projects Assistant Ohren
(No Report)
MSUSA Campus Representative Lovcik
I need everyone to go to the MSUSA website and sign up under "Receive MSUSA Legislative Action Alerts." I want to make sure everyone signs up so please let me know when you have done so and I will check you off of my list. The first Lobby Core trip is Friday, February 29th. I'm waiting for MSUSA to get back to me on our meeting times but I will email you all as soon as I get them. Lobby day is coming up on Wednesday, March 12th. Let me know before next Friday if you would like to attend.
MSUSA Diversity Representative Ellsworth
I'm finishing up little tasks for my trip. I talked to IT and Conteh about diversity week. I attended STOCAR. We will leave at 1:00 pm tomorrow for the diversity conference. If you have any questions, call me.
Virnala – Moen – To remove the Thank You motion from the table – Failed
Appointment – Maria Camargo – Off Campus Seat
Norris – Olson – Suspend rules to question the candidate (passed)
Olson – What is the problem again?
Camargo – I'm a business seat, so I'd have to re-file, but I can't because I'm the elections chair so I'm going to switch over.
Brungardt – Haugen – Enter executive session – Approved
Norris – Williams – Exit executive session – Approved
Kurt Reuther – Appointment
I wanted to be involved with campus issues and I think this is the best way to do that. I wanted to assist the students as much as I can.
Norris – Olson – Suspend the Rules to Question the Candidate (approved)
Norris – How much free time do you have? Just want to make sure that this takes up a fair amount of time.
Reuther – I have a lot of free time. In the afternoon I'm pretty much free. I only work weekends at Menards. If there was something on the weekend I could get it off.
Morse – What are some issues that you see on campus that you would like to address?
Reuther – Parking and the Dragon Core – they are revising that. As a senior, I took a lot of classes that I wasn't led in the right direction. They should have the freedom to take what they want and figure out what they want to do.
Haugen – What sort of talents and abilities could you bring the senate as an individual?
Reuther – I've been on campus a few years, so have some networking. I think I have some great leadership skills – motivator towards certain issues. Mostly it's dedication.
Haugen - Would you personally be aggressive in reaching out to your constituents and reaching out?
Ellperger – Change one thing? Parking
Norris – Brungardt – Executive Session (approved)
Moen – Norris – Exit Executive Session (approved)
Reuther – Appointment – Approved
Alex Olson – Appointment – Undeclared
I'm a sophomore and I'm undecided. I'd like to get more involved in campus issues and I'm taking a light class load this semester and I'm just trying to get more involved and campus and I think this is a great opportunity to interact with other students and maybe help on some of the issues.
Moen – Haugen – Suspend the Rules (approved)
Morse – DO you see any problems on campus that you could maybe work on while you're on senate?
Olson – I don't know if there's anything I'm currently passionate about changing. I like helping whatever students feel is most important.
Haugen – What other things are you involved with on campus besides your studies at this time?
Olson – I'm working with the college democrats, otherwise not a whole too lot. Tonight, I entered the engineering department and engaged in a conversation.
Moen – Griffin – Enter executive session (approved)
Zeiher –
Alex Olson – Appointment – Approved
Resolution – TFOC – Tuition Consultation
Norris – If I remember correctly there is still one more union to negotiate.
Weber – MnSCU locked the tuition increase. Even if that came in, it would not affect that.
Norris – If there is a major change they will come back to consult again?
Weber –
Griffin – This is where we talk about the buydown from MnSCU?
Weber – This is where we talk about the tuition increase for next year.
Griffin – When they suggested 4%
Weber – No, they're allowing 4% but there is a 1% buydown from MnSCU. MnSCU is going with it, so no matter what happens this 3% will stay.
Approved
Happy Birthday by the Beatles – Virnala – Lovcik – Resolution
Virnala – Would you like to wish me a happy birthday? I hope you would, thank you.
Norris – I love you, but do you have senioritis?
Virnala – I'm just doing what has not been done before.
Olson – Does this have any money attached to it?
Weber – Resolution so no money.
Morse – How old will you be?
Virnala – I will be 24.
Moen – Brungardt – Call to Question
Vote – Passed – 2 N – 1 A
Points for the Good of the Order
Norris – Congratulate our new senators. I am the chair of the committee on committees, and I am to inform you of your duty to serve on a university committee. I will be in the student senate office from 12:30 to 4:00, I am usually there at that time. This folder is in my mailbox and you can let me know what your committee preference is. You have 2 weeks to make your decision and after that points will be assigned for every week you are not appointed to a committee.
Olson – Just wanted to extend a happy birthday to Jon Virnala.
Haugen – Welcome to our new senators – work hard, represent the students well because this is a lot of fun.
Weber – Got a little crazy when these meetings go a little longer than an hour. Please keep it together at least for meet and discuss. It would be embarrassing if it happened when they are here. I'll be angry if you do after, but not as. Those going to Lobby Core you are cool, I'm glad you are going to lobby core. Some of us are going out tonight – JJ Jouppi, we're going to go out for food. You should all come – you can meet the executive director and hang out with senators.
Announcements
Moen – Griffin – Move to adjourn