I. Call to Order
II. Roll Call/Prayer
III. Approval of Minutes
IV. Announcements
a. Final meetings overview
V. Committee Reporting
a. Board of Trustees
b. Benjamin—SPC
VI. Old Business
a. Student Fees discussion/proposals
i. Different fee plans
ii. Final proposal
b. SLS names
VII. New Business
a. CMC Survey
VIII. Open Floor
IX. Adjournment
Next Meeting: Wednesday, December 2, 2009. 9:00 p.m. UC 211
I. Call to Order: Ben (9:33)
*Note from Exec: WE APPRECIATE YOU!*
II. Roll Call/Prayer: Janelle
Present: Benjamin Bergey, Janelle Freed, Sarah Beck, Brent Beachy, Giles Eanes, Will Morris, Drew Kirk, Karissa Sauder, Sara Derstine, Brendon Derstine, Peyton Erb, Darian Harnish, Hans Weaver, Katie Landis, Heidi Bauman, Larisa Zehr, Ken L. Nafziger, Vi Dutcher, Amy Springer
Absent: Gabe Brunk
III. Approval of Minutes
Motion 20091111-1 to approve the minutes: Darian
Second: Karissa
Motion passed unanimously
IV. Announcements
a. Lunch with the Board: Ben announced that SGA is invited to eat lunch with the Board of Trustees this Friday at noon in the west dining hall. It’s just a time to mingle with the board!
V. Committee Reporting
a. Peyton—Safety Committee: Peyton reported that the committee looked at injuries on campus over the past year and this year. There is also a new fire procedure for the buildings on campus.
VI. Old Business
a. Student Fees discussion/proposals:
i. CG history and dialogue: Doug Wandersee and Matt Ropp came in to talk to us. Doug shared the history of Common Grounds, which originally was thought to be a money-making entity of the University. It was always very clearly a place for people to come together and have dialogue. Common Grounds has made great efforts to be as sustainable as possible while still providing the services it is asked for on campus. Matt Ropp shared that from the managers side, they are all taking it very seriously and are excited about the possibilities to make CG better. They talked about the proposed $7500 from SGA and a match of $7500 from President’s Cabinet. The managers feel that this is a number that they can work with and that will be very helpful. They are exploring all the different ideas and appreciate SGA’s help!
ii. Shen and CAC discussion: Ben shared that Andrew Jenner gave us some numbers with regard to Yearbook prices. For the Shen to be independent of SGA, each student, even seniors, would have to pay a $50 fee in addition to student fees with the option to opt out if the student doesn’t want the book. However, if too many students opt out, SGA may still need to subsidize the rest. SGA Exec discussed having all students pay $40 and then SGA still subsidizes it a little.
Hans reported back that we can definitely look into hosting a concert here but we would need to seriously look into the cost. For example, Jars of Clay would cost anywhere from $25-30,000. This would be doable if we are sure that we would get a lot of response from students. If only 150-200 students come, it would not be worth the cost and effort which we could get from other concerts. If there is a lot of student interest in smaller concerts, and we make sure to find an artist to attract a lot of students, this is a very serious possibility. Tickets usually only make up about ½ to ¾ of the total amount that pays for the concert. After talking to many other schools, Hans believes the ticket cost would be $10-15 per student and $25-30 for community members, which is reasonable for concerts like this. As CAC rep, Doug also said that CAC does pay a portion of tickets for JMU concerts to EMU students and sell around 30 tickets. Hans also shared that many schools have benefited from the community coming to these events and is good for the University as a whole. To go through with this, they would need full commitment from SGA and CAC. He also shared that we would probably need to book the band 5-7 months in advance because it takes a lot of time to plan. Ben shared that because of the current budget, this concert would not be a possibility until next year.
iii. Motion for this year’s support
Motion 20091111-2 to give Common Grounds $7500 from our general rollover account for next semester and put in a request from SGA to Student Life to at least match that amount to give Common Grounds : Karissa
Second: Darian
Motion passed unanimously
Ben addressed the Senate and asked if there were addition questions/suggestions regarding the raising of student fees. Darian suggested raising the amount even more than $10 with the reasoning that this is a LONG process and if we would like to increase our support with Common Grounds, concerts, and additional costs on campus. Larisa also shared that students may be more supportive of the raise if it only happens ONCE rather than every year when we see more needs. It was suggested that we look at numbers on a sheet of paper: comparing what it looks like if we raise student fees $10, $20, or $25. Darian offered to put this sheet together and pass it out.
b. SLS names: This has been tabled due to the fact that Gabe isn’t here, but we will be discussing it next week.
VII. New Business: None this week!
VIII. Open Floor
- General discussion took place regarding the Tim Jost event tonight. The senators that attended felt it was very well attended and thought Tim was an excellent speaker. Larisa said that it was nice to have a publicly-recognized speaker who has credentials and is still local and knowledgeable.
-Peyton shared on the D.O.R.D. event tonight, which she also thought was excellent but attendance could have been better. This may have been a product of the Tim Jost event taking people away from D.O.R.D.
-Karissa shared that Mark Sawin, Peter Dula, and Ann Hershberger are lined up to speak at the student-faculty forum. She is still looking for a fourth person, but we may only have 3 for this semester.
IX. Adjournment
Motion 20091111-3 to adjourn: Katie
Second: Hans
Motion passed unanimously (10:26)
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I. Call to Order Benjamin (9:06)
II. Roll Call/Prayer Brent prayed
Present: Benjamin Bergey, Janelle Freed, Brent Beachy, Sarah Beck, Giles Eanes, Karissa Sauder, Drew Kirk, Will Morris, Brendon Derstine, Gabe Brunk, Sara Derstine, Hans , Darian Harnish, Katie Landis, Heidi Bauman, Amy Springer, Ken L. Nafziger
Absent: Peyton Erb, Larisa Zehr, Vi Dutcher
III. Approval of Minutes
Motion 20091104-1 to approve the minutes: Karissa
Second: Giles
Motion passed unanimously
IV. Announcements
a. Later next meeting- Ben announced that the meeting next week will be at 9:30 due to Tim Jost speaking. Also remember not to unlock the inside of the SGA door in the office when you have your office hours.
V. Committee Reporting
a. Commons Council—Brent
Brent reported that the council is looking into adding more bike racks on campus, particularly covered ones around the woods. A few minor changes would include putting a sign up for the theater and a possible speed bump on campus. Also, they are considering putting computers in the Den where the condiments are and were wondering what SGA thought about this. Most senators thought this would be an okay idea if there is the demand for it.
b. Writing Committee—Katie
The writing committee is mostly concerned with academic integrity and they are also going to have a late-night tutoring the week before finals for students to go to.
VI. Old Business
a. Student Fees discussion/proposals
Heidi talked to CG’s events manager Charise Garber and she said that reducing managers is something that is not really possible due to the amount of work the managers have to do. Also, she suggested instead of making barista’s pay for items, they would only get one free item per shift instead of two. Sarah commented that many work study jobs do not offer free food so it is not unreasonable to ask baristas and managers to pay a reduced price when working. Drew liked the idea of adding work study jobs; however, Ken said that we can’t always control how many work study students we have. Particularly with managers, it often works better to get qualified workers who are not work study eligible. Sarah also suggested possibly having a system where there are not that many customers, perhaps send a worker home or something to reduce the amount of people there working when they are not needed.
Darian discussed the option of raising student fees for everyone, even seniors, so everyone pays a little for the yearbook. There could still be an opt-out option. Ben said that the Exec committee also talked about this by adding $10 to the student fee per semester ($60) which would mean there would be a substantial amount of money to allocate to the Shen and Common Grounds. Another possibility is opening up an account for students in Common Grounds. For next semester, we could possibly take $7500 out of our rollover budget to give to CG and request a match of that amount from the University to give CG a total of $15,000. Ken could tell the President’s Cabinet that the students are putting in half and ask the cabinet to respond to this.
Giles reported back on other schools and their student fees and got results anywhere from $25 to $600 with the majority having well over $100 a year. Most fees were much higher than EMU’s. Common Grounds managers Matt Ropp and Rachel Kolb were present and were still unsure of the exact number that CG needs for next semester but they could let us know by next week. By next week we will also have a number from Andrew Jenner about the amount needed for the Shen as well.
Katie also brought up that one possibility may be to move the WeatherVane to an online newspaper which would save money that could be allocated elsewhere.
VII. New Business
a. Student Lecture Series (SLS)
i. Review bill
Ben passed around the SLS bill and discussed the purpose of SLS.
ii. Speaker options
Gabe is the SGA rep on the Lectureship committee and said that the committee already has some names and ideas for speakers. They are working hard to make it appealing for students. Ken requested that Gabe bring in the list they came up with for speakers for the SLS. Gabe would like to discuss this more next week; the committee is also interested in getting more student involvement in deciding who the speakers are.
Motion 20091104-2 to approve the bill: Will
Second: Karissa
Motion passed unanimously
VIII. Open Floor
a- Will brought up that Multicultural Services and SGA are sponsoring the D.O.R.D. and he will be sending out an e-mail for volunteer positions for next week so we can be involved in this event.
b- Karissa shared that SGA is also co-sponsoring the Tim Jost event on health care in CG next Wednesday and she might be asking for our help with publicity.
c- Jessica Sarriot brought a funding request for Students for Morally Responsible Investment in Palestine. They want to build a mock “wall” on campus to raise awareness of the issue of the wall in Palestine and the checkpoint situation there.
Motion 20091104-3 to approve the request of funding their purchases up to a total of $125 to build the wall: Darian
Second: Will
Motion passed unanimously
IX. Adjournment
Motion 20091104-4 to adjourn: Drew
Second: Katie
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned (10:12)
I. Call to Order
II. Roll Call/Prayer
III. Approval of Minutes
IV. Announcements
a. Lunch with the Board
V. Committee Reporting
a. Peyton—Safety Committee
VI. Old Business
a. Student Fees discussion/proposals
i. CG history and dialogue
ii. Shen and CAC discussion
iii. Motion for this year’s support
b. SLS names
VII. New Business
VIII. Open Floor
IX. Adjournment
Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 18, 2009. 9:00 p.m. UC 211
I. Call to Order
II. Roll Call/Prayer
III. Approval of Minutes
IV. Announcements
a. Later next meeting
V. Committee Reporting
a. Commons Council—Brent
VI. Old Business
a. Student Fees discussion/proposals
VII. New Business
a. SLS
i. Review bill
ii. Speaker options
VIII. Open Floor
IX. Adjournment
Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 11, 2009. 9:30 p.m. UC 211
I. Call to Order Benjamin (9:04)
II. Roll Call/Prayer Sarah prayed
Present: Benjamin Bergey, Janelle Freed, Sarah Beck, Brent Beachy, Will Morris, Giles Eanes, Karissa Sauder, Heidi Bauman, Brendon Derstine, Peyton Erb, Sara Derstine, Drew Kirk, Darian Harnish, Vi Dutcher, Amy Springer, Ken L. Nafziger
Absent: Gabe Brunk, Hans Weaver, Larisa Zehr, Katie Landis
III. Approval of Minutes
Motion 20091028-1 to approve the minutes: Giles
Second: Brendon
Motion passed unanimously
IV. Announcements Ben asked if there is someone willing to do a little digging to find out what other universities charge for student fees since we’re considering raising ours. This is all located on a website so it would be easy! Giles volunteered to do this.
V. Old Business
a. Academic Integrity—Vi
Vi passed around a color chart of the academic integrity policy. There have been a number of reports (6-7) of academic integrity reports this year. The first-year classes were polled to see their opinions of academic integrity violations and they largely reported that they have seen it happen. There has been faculty discussion on how to change this. In the past, there has been confusion for the faculty as to when to report “minimal” violations and how to determine if they are the first ones or not. One option is turnitin.com, which is a program which has a bank of a ton of papers that automatically checks for plagiarism. A possible meeting about this policy with the students was brought up, but this may not draw the people who need to hear about it the most. Another suggestion would be to ask professors teaching writing intensive classes to go over the policy.
VI. New Business
a. Shen—Andrew Jenner
i. Budget request This request is coming in for next year. This year the Shen has $18,600, which is almost entirely used up. This year they’re paying non-work study students and photographers as well. This year the staff is also considering trying to buy a camera. After paying initial cost, there is about $13,000 to pay for the books. The books can be free for students and $30 for undergraduate students. Any additional money goes to lowering the price of the books for undergrads. If we want to get free books for everyone, about $18,000 extra would be needed. The books now are all color too which is a little more expensive.
ii. This year’s Shen distribution The “mug shots” of students are going to be taken for next year’s Shen within the week and at that time orders will be taken for last year’s Shen, which will be roughly $35-40. If more than 100 students order the book, then discounts start to kick in. One possibility of distribution would be to tack on the book fee for the Shen with tuition and then everyone gets the book; plus about 90% of the expense would be covered. This would also reduce the amount SGA would need to allocate to the Shen. In this scenario, giving seniors free books would still cost extra for SGA.
VII. Open Floor
a- Ben passed out a proposal for Common Grounds sustainability possibilities that Darian drew up. Take a look at it and we will discuss it next week.
b- Darian and Larisa are co-presidents of the proposed revival of an old EMU club “Safe Spaces”. Larisa passed around copies of the proposed constitution for our review. The club are asking for a vote approving the official constitution. Since this is a revival of a previously-existing EMU club, protocol is a little different. Jess Sariot was also present and shared that the purpose of the club isn’t so much about a “finding yourself” but affirming and supporting a specific, minority lifestyle. A few minor grammatical errors were pointed out.
Motion 20091028-2 to approve the Constitution with minor grammatical changes: Will
Second: Drew
Motion passed unanimously
VIII. Adjournment
Motion 20091028-3 to adjourn: Giles
Second: Will
Motion passed unanimously
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