EMU SGA

I. Call to Order 8:07 pm

II. Roll Call/Prayer

a. Present: Lindsey Grosh, Sarah Roth, Anny Smucker, Karra Black, Bess Moser, Maria Bowman, Jackson Maust, Andrew Gascho, Kim Hawks, Michael Harnish, Rebecca Stouffer, Ken Nafziger, Stephen Stauffer, Nathan Kauffman, Nick Meyer, Amy Springer, Tyler Grove, Terry Jantzi, Tezzia Ndandula,

b. Absent: Lauren Watson, Kate Nussbaum

III. Approval of Minutes

a. Motion: Steven Stauffer

i. Second: Andrew Gascho

ii. Action I: Approved unanimously

IV. Announcements

a. Late Night Breakfast – December 10^th at 10 pm, we’ll have a sign-up next week. Chambers Singers will be there for some music.

b. Blue Like Jazz – This Friday at 7 pm in Lehman Auditorium. We need four ushers to take tickets and check IDs (this took like 10 seconds!!)

c. T-Shirts – If you come to the Blue Like Jazz wear your t-shirts!

d. Elections – Just a reminder to keep tapping shoulders of interested students. We also talked about changing the meeting time – Thursdays at 8pm or Wednesdays at 9pm.

V. New Business

a. Committee Report – Information Service Planning Committee

i. Starting this fall they are starting a two year process of changing over the user/server system – this is going to be a lot of work. Phone/voice mail system is on one hard drive – this is a bad thing. Looking to use VOIP in the future, because our phone system is full as of now. There was a big discussion about wireless in the residence halls – a positive thing for attracting perspective students (next two years). Looking at an alternative to Blackboard that would be cheaper. Jenzibar is a company just down the road and they are giving us good deals on all these new systems.

b. Committee Report – Safety Committee

i. Making a 4 inch binder more accessible to students and others. Debrief on the buffalo incident (apparently there are “prank committees” at some school – have to approve pranks for safety reasons). MSDS – something about a list of all chemicals on campus. Park Rd. crossings – flashing light which would be on all day, work with the city to make Park Rd. less of a thoroughfare. A need for a student trainer at intramural games.

c. Constitution Approvals

i. Black Student Union –

1. Motion: To approve the constitution with the following changes include Native Americans, edit the amendment process (President’s Cabinet) and other grammatical errors -Tezzia Ndandula

2. Second: Nick Meyer

3. Action II – Approved Unanimously

ii. Alpha Omega Dancers –

1. Motion: To approve the constitution with the following changes - edit the amendment process (President’s Cabinet) and other grammatical errors -Nick

2. Second: Maria Bowman

3. Action III – Approved Unanimously

iii. Peace Fellowship –

1. Motion: Tyler Grove

2. Second: Nathan Kauffman

3. Action IV – Approved Unanimously

VI. Open Floor

a. Our Last meeting will be at 7:45 next week.

b. Starting next year we will be given the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off and the Monday after Easter off – to accomplish this the fall semester will start a day sooner and spring semester will start at 8 am on Monday instead of noon.

c. A student came into the office and had questions about the den staying open late and has that affected Common Grounds? There are too many variables in calculating the losses that CG has suffered to know if it’s because of the late hours in the den. And are we trying to create two kinds of Common Grounds with our renovation of the Den? NO!

VII. Adjournment 8: 50pm

a. Motion: Tezzia Ndandula

i. Second: Maria Bowman

ii. Action V: Approved unanimously

I. Call to Order 8:05 pm

II. Roll Call/Prayer

a. Present: Lindsey Grosh, Sarah Roth, Anny Smucker, Karra Black, Bess Moser, Maria Bowman, Jackson Maust, Andrew Gascho, Kim Hawks, Michael Harnish, Rebecca Stouffer, Lauren Watson, Nick Meyer, Amy Springer, Ken Nafziger, Terry Jantzi, Stephen Stauffer, Tyler Grove, Tezzia Ndandula

b. Absent: Nathan Kauffman

III. Approval of Minutes

a. Motion: Tyler Grove

i. Second: Jackson Maust

ii. Action I: Approved unanimously

IV. Announcements

a. Board Report/Thanks – Thank you for coming to the luncheon!! The Board Meeting report went very well. They were very affirming of us and what we’re doing. Their focus this meeting was the Comprehensive Campaign (raising money for the science center and other funding projects).

V. New Business

a. HTFRLL Taskforce

i. Filled out a questionnaire.

ii. Based on your written rankings, what do you like about the halls that you ranked higher and what do you dislike about the ones you ranked lower? Heating, air conditioning, lack or larger windows, space, sense of community, wear and tear of lounges and kitchens, odor

iii. What is your overall impression of EMU’s resident halls compared to other schools you’ve been to? Hollins University has bigger dorm rooms, Messiah has very nice lounge areas and in general their dorms are newer, Goshen has new dorms (connecting corridors to each dorm, computer labs in the dorm, nice lounges and rooms), Mount Vernon has big screen TV, surround sound, game cabinets in each dorm, Goshen also owns nice houses off-campus.

iv. If you thought about having either new or renovated dorms what improvements would you like to see? Adding carpet to rooms and hallways, rooms across from each other not to the outside of the building, using natural light and/or building green, wide hallways, elevators in each dorm.

v. What is needed in a dorm to help build a sense of community and a sense of interaction? Lounges (comfy couches, board games or games like Catchphrase, more counter and cupboard space to cook, curtains), more sunlight!, it’s good that the Wood’s dorms face each other (the Quad is a good thing), outside benches are nice

vi. What would you consider paying more for in the residence halls? Air conditioning, DVD players in the lounges, carpet, nicer TVs in lounges, wireless, more efficient heating control.

vii. If you had to choose living in a dorm/hall of the same class or mix of upperclassmen and lowerclassmen? Problems connecting with lower classmen, but also nice to meet different people. It’s really nice having sophomore CA’s because their friends come to the hall and the freshmen get to know them. Living with people who are going through the same adjustments and experiences in life is a good thing.

viii. Integrate academics and residence life – living and learning communities, having space for classrooms or offices in a residence hall. Or having themed residence halls? Dorms are the spaces that are homes away from homes – a good space away from learning. Having computer labs or study rooms are good, but not offices and classrooms. Have “jacks in” the room (we all heard Jackson ;-)). Professors are very accessible already; we don’t need them closer necessarily.

ix. Other comments about residence halls – changing the point system for Hillside. More options like Hillside – there is a need for more places like this.

VI. Open Floor

a. Late Night Breakfast – Monday December 10th or the 11th, 10-11 pm. Ideas for carolers or live music?

b. Blue Like Jazz – November 30th.

c. Cross Cultural Committee Meeting – Moral Judgment Survey, Foreign Language competency and if language study on CC could count for your requirements on campus, where you live right before you leave and when you come back is a concern – no housing refunds, debriefing program – there is a group set up, but no one is coming.

VII. Adjournment 9:07 pm

a. Motion: Michael Harnish

i. Second: Steven Stauffer

ii. Action II: Approved unanimously