Senate meeting minutes 1/27/09

Here are the minutes from our meeting last night. Debbie Taylor spoke and answered questions considering the Cross Country Team. 4 pieces of legislation discussed.

Student Government Association
Senate Meeting Minutes for January 27, 2009
7:30pm, Mabee Ballroom A

I. Call to Order President Lytle

II. Roll Call of Members Executive Secretary Holdsworth

III. Approval of Minutes
o Approved

IV. Approval of Agenda
o Approved

V. Community Announcements
v PLEASE NOTE: These minutes are not meant to be a direct transcript. Information may not have been recorded exactly as the speaker intended.

v Guest Speaker – Athletic Director, Debora Taylor (20 minute discussion)
o Background information:
o SEU is a founding member of the Heartland Conference
v 2 members left in 2003 to join Great Lakes Valley Conference
o The conference is very spread out
o There were no new members to replace the 2 members that left
o Advantages to being a member: voting rights on the NCAA Floor, Revenue Rights, and allows students to have opportunity to advance to post-season play
o Must maintain 5 men’s and 5 women’s OR 4 men’s and 6 women’s sports
o Must have 6 institutions sponsoring a sport
o When the 2 members left, the easiest remedy was to add Cross Country
v St. Mary’s and Lincoln were approached to take this option, but were unable
v Therefore, SEU took on the option of creating a Cross Country team to maintain the Heartland Conference
o The CC program is not at a quality level to maintain, the quality of the experience is not the same as the other athletic programs
o Questions:
o What other options were considered instead of disbanding?
v The reason for making the decision was that Athletic Department couldn't provide the goals and objectives in the Athletic Handbook
v Dir. Taylor is confident that Athletics did everything it could to keep CC on board and maintained the team probably longer than was feasible
v Do not have the infrastructure necessary
o What long-terms goals for the CC team?
v Same as for everyone program, to as possible add the resources
o What could have been done previous to stabilize the program?
v The decision was made under a forced hand to maintain the conference, normally would have had a year to two to plan for a new sport and that opportunity was not there
o What does a lack of infrastructure and quality mean?
v Lack of day-to-day support, the necessary funds were not there and not planned for, coaches did not have the level of expertise
v It is not about what the students have or haven’t done, it’s the university’s failings
o Student athletes on the Cross Country team are concerned with the air of secrecy and being stuck at a school where they cannot run and without the option to transfer to another school
o Also concerned about the lack of straight answers and that an unqualified coach was hired to be in charge of the team over more qualified individuals
o ***Motion to EXTEND DISCUSSION ANOTHER 10 MINUTES
v Approved
o Decision was made during the week of finals of the Fall 2008 semester, and it was felt that it was in the best interest of the students involved not to hear the information during this time, as well as it was inappropriate to send a letter, but better to inform students face-to-face
o Qualified and experienced coaches at a collegiate level are looking for schools with a comprehensive program and SEU was not able to offer that to possible candidates
o Why were teams not given the chance to help out with fundraising?
v Teams were allowed to sign-up for a phone-a-thon in the fall and the Cross Country team did not show up on their assigned day
o Students are concerned with the fact that there was misleading information regarding the possibility of the decision being reversed, i.e. false hope
o Did Athletics ever consider disbanding earlier?
v Truly believed that SEU could develop a sufficient Cross Country team when it was created for the Heartland Conference
v Wanted to have a full-time coach who can adequately devote time and better resources to make the Cross Country experience a good one
o Concern that CC team members are paying the price for poor planning on the part of the Athletic Department
v The plans that Athletics had simply did not come to fruition, this was a very difficulty decision to make
v Did not want to bring more students into an inadequate program next year
v Working to put together a running club and maintaining student athletes’ scholarships
o Were there other options considered to help with funding? As in sharing the costs with student members, calling parents, etc.
v It has continuously been evaluated and a program cannot be full supported on fundraising, as it may not be available every year
o Is it possible that the CC team could be brought back if the university had time to better plan, as the school continues to grow?
v Club sports is the best place to serve the interest of students
o All athletic programs are evaluated year-to-year and the department truly believed they could
o ***Motion for a 5-minute adjournment
v Approved

o The first issue of the Hilltop Views will be out tomorrow!
o Kozmetsky Center will be hosting UPDATE: Europe on February 9

VI. Officer Reports
o President President Lytle
v In future meetings, we will be having Dr. Crahan and Patrick Kirby coming to speak
v Thank you to members of the association for professional conduct during Ms. Taylor’s discussion
v The spring poster sale has done much better than expected, so this is great news for the secondary account – 15% of the total sales goes to SGA
v Please remember to sign-up for a call center shift – this is important, because it gives us the option to use it in the future to fund raise
v Would like to recognize Senators Kurtzweil and Simons on their outstanding work and going above-and-beyond
v Cabinet Appointments:
§ Director of Finance: Jaime Villareal
i. Approved
§ Director of Association Events: Colleen Malloy White
i. Approved
o Intergovernmental Affairs Vice President Cromack
v Thanks to all those IGA members who have been writing legislation
v If you want to make changes to the Election Manual, please turn them in by next week
v Committee meetings on Wednesdays at 7PM
o Legislative Initiatives Vice President Kuentz
v If you have legislation in LI, please show up or send a co-author or co-sponsor to the meeting – this is very important, because LI is assigned dates for authorization in the next meeting
v LI committee meetings are Wednesdays @ 8PM in Lucas
o Student Representation Vice President Carroll
v This is the last chance to sign-up for university committees
v Assignments will be posted by Monday on the door of the office
v No SR meeting this week – go to the call center instead!
v SR members (any returning or anyone who cannot be on IGA or LI), please meet after this meeting to discuss a new meeting time for the semester
o Senior Class Executive Senator Bustos
v Senior Class Toast tomorrow from 6-8PM in Mabee C – 21 and over/seniors!
v They will be giving out information for seniors graduating May-December
o Junior Class Executive Senator Bencivengo
v The applications to fill vacancy is Friday at 5PM
v Class meeting next week to determine class social
v CFL Light Bulbs legislation will be coming up for authorization, contact Bryce if you want to discuss it
o Sophomore Class Executive Senator Martin
v Working on filling the senator vacancy – application deadline will by Friday at 5PM
v Senator Dains has come up with an idea for Sophomore Speed Dating as a social
o Freshman Class Executive Senator Peal
v Class meeting Wednesday at 10PM
v Working on social ideas
o Schools Represented Executive Senator Duke
v There are also still vacancies in Behavioral and Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, and New College – would like to fill by mid-February
v Meeting this Friday
v Decided on a BBQ-style social, not sure on the date yet

VII. Cabinet Report
o Director/Associate Director of Public Relations
v Polos did not come in today, as hoped, but you can still go ahead and pay for yours
v Ginny met with Debbie Taylor and one of the comment boxes will be moved into the RCC
v Been working on a logo for the Homecoming Committee
o Director of Association Events
v No reports at this time
o Director of Finance
v No reports at this time
o Director of Member Development and Training
v Working on a line-item budget for Big Topper/Little Topper, but need help with ideas for activities
v Will be sending out an e-mail to get feedback on this program
o Director of Service
v President’s National Honor Roll of Community Service survey is being passed around – please fill out with your information
o At lot of schools gets judged by the amount of service hours done
o Director of Involvement
v Working on t-shirts for Homecoming
v Aggressive ad campaign planned to get teams to participate
o Chief of Staff
v Birthday celebration – get some cookie cake!
v Regretfully resigning as Chief of Staff due to an opportunity at a great internship and approaching graduation
v Very happy with all the work the Cabinet has done this year

VIII. Unfinished Business

IX. New Business
o S.B. 07 – Concerning Presidential Term Limits
o Rationale is as of currently, there are no current provisions in the constitution
o 10 MINUTE DISCUSSION:
o The reason for full academic year, if a President resigns and a VP must step up, the VP can serve as an elected President for full time
o Presumably the only way an individual can serve 2 years is if they are pursuing a 5th year
o Senator Armstrong would like to be added as a co-sponsor
o What is your reasoning? And what is this package of reforms that you are interested in passing?
§ Not in favor of passing omnibus legislation (definition=multiple pieces of legislation tagged into 1 bill)
§ Believe in incremental change
§ Would like to stream-line and better represent the Association
o Possibility of researching interest of Graduate and New College students
o ***Motion to send to IGA
o Approved with unanimous consent
o S.B. 08 – Selection of Executive Senators
o The point of this bill is to allow for more accurate representation within Senate
o Senators are better judges of who should and should not lead
o Currently it is a popularity-type contest
o 10 MINUTE DISCUSSION:
o Concern with the Date of Effect
§ It should stay as 2009-2010 and will apply to senators for next year
o Support of this from the Academic Schools, as this was how the Executive Senator was chosen
o Hesitation with how this applies to the freshmen, as they are brand new and no one will really know each other
o This bill also address the concern that Executive Senators did not necessarily sign-up for that tier of commitment, but put in the position simply because of getting the most votes
o Concern that following this train of thought would lead to presidents and VPs being voted in-house
o Consider how this situation would be remedied if the chosen Exec decided to step down
§ Assuming another meeting and a new vote would be taken
o ***Motion to send to IGA
§ Objection
§ Voice vote
§ I’s have it – sent to IGA
o S.B. 09 – Concerning Separation of Powers
o Want to clarify and prevent a trend that occurred, as the author is both a member of the executive branch and judiciary
o 10 MINUTE DISCUSSION:
o Feel that this isn’t entirely necessary, as the author has effectively filled both positions
o Clarification of the 3 branches:
§ Office of the President and Cabinet as executive branch
§ Executive Senators, even as members of the Executive Board, as part of the legislative branch
§ In the 2009-2010, this would take effect, so would not effective current members
o Concern that there really is no need to separate the powers, seeing as the two don’t really come into conflict or overlap
o The Elections Committee would be considered part of the judicial branch, as well and it is inappropriate for members of senate to serve on a ruling body of elections
o Executive Senator Duke caught a lot of flack for proposing a necessary bill to pay for traffic court needs
o There is a need to clearly define who is categorized within each branch
§ This would require an amendment to the Constitution and Bylaws
o Concern with the fact that the Association has a problem with member retention, and feel that this legislation may be discouraging
o ***Motion to send to IGA
§ Objection
§ Nay’s have it
§ Division called
§ Roll call vote
§ 13 to 11, motion passes to IGA
o S.B. 10 – SGA Bulletin Board Appropriations
o Idea is taken from the Texas House that has a Mon-Fri calendar outside of chambers showing who will be speaking and what issues will be tackled
o This has also been implemented by the Kozmetsky Center and the receipt of their purchase has been copied as an example of the cost
o 10 MINUTE DISCUSSION:
o Has an ideal place been thought of?
§ Would like to have it in Ragsdale
o Are there any plans to implement a internet-type service where we could share this same information?
§ Have been trying to do this for the past 2 years and Marketing has been very difficult in consenting to this request
o May be a better idea to put this board in the new residence hall/dining facility, as this may become the new central location
o This fits very well with one of our core goals for this year – visibility – and this is money being spent wisely
o There is a blog that has been created by the Director of Public Relations, where minutes have been posted
o Concern with investing in this when we have moved to be a more eco-friendly organization and students may have difficulty reading the agenda, i.e. understanding the format
§ Suggest implementing better recycling of our documents
o Would the author add a friendly amendment to add “all appropriations not used be returned to the secondary account”?
§ Accepted
o ***Motion to send to IGA
o Approved with unanimous consent
X. Gallery Comments
o We thank Whitney for her amazing service to SGA for 3 and ½ long years!!!
o Please remember to pay for your polos!

XI. Advisors Comments Advisor Walden
o The call center is located in the Woodward Office building – please sign-up for a shift! Tom is buying pizza. All you need to do is one 30-minute shift
o Looking at the idea of having “Community Advisors” for student organizations, so that there would be multiple advisors and allow for better networking
o Collegiate Link system is ready to go – training begins on February 4 and advertising for the times will be going out soon
o Remember to accept your membership to the SGA page
o Orgs will be able to set-up profile pages, sort of like Facebook
o There will be a raffle associated with this
o Don’t forget that you can set-up meetings with Marisa if you have questions

XII. Final Comments

XIII. Roll Call & Adjournment