February 03 Minutes

  1. I. Call to Order Michael (9:06)
  2. II. Roll Call/Prayer Brent prayed

Present: Michael Spory, Karissa Sauder, Brent Beachy, Sarah Beck, Giles Eanes, Brendon Derstine, Peyton Erb, Darian Harnish, Katie Landis, Heidi Bauman, Hans Weaver, James Souder, Brook Musselman, Alli Eanes, Sara Derstine, Amy Springer, Vi Dutcher, Ken L. Nafziger

Absent: Gabe Brunk, Brandon Habron

  1. III. Approval of Minutes

Motion 20100103-1 to approve the minutes: Heidi

Second: James

Motion passed unanimously

  1. IV. Old Business

a. Haiti fundraising update Michael shared that some students have taken over the fund raising for Haiti: Peyton Erb, Jason Ropp, Michael Harnish, Kristi Reihnhardt, and Andrew Derstine.  The students will be involved in gathering items for students to create kits to send to Haiti, organizing student support and help in putting kits together, etc.

  1. V. New Business

a. Club Approval – S.T.A.R.S. A group of students is requesting approval to become an official club.  The club is Students Teaching And Reaching Students, and they want to teach students about the awareness of several health and social services.  General discussion followed the reading of the proposed constitution.  Many felt that the constitution was vague in certain areas such as purpose, membership, and voting.  There were also points that clarification is needed on reinstating members and other points in the constitution.  We decided not to approve the constitution until they have made those major changes; at this point we do not feel right about approving this until we understand the constitution.

b. Club Approval – Explore Another group of students is requesting to become an official EMU club.  Their focus will be on outdoor trips, local and regional areas of interest, and providing an outlet to be active in the outdoors around EMU.  Some suggestions were to put the constitution in outline form, specify when a secretary and treasurer (and possibly historian) would be included, and a few other minor changes.

Motion 20100203-3 to approve the club with the changes we suggest: Darian

Second: Brook

Motion passed unanimously

c. Funding Request for Safe Spaces – Hannah Kraybill: Hannah shared that Safe Space is requesting up to $350 because the club is looking to get t-shirts to sell to students.  They are also planning a weekend of events in mid-March (19-22) and they need funds to rent space in the theater and Common Grounds and also to provide refreshments.  Some of the events they are planning include a guest speaker, a stage reading of the Laramie project, and a forum on different perspectives from various departments on campus.  Senators discussed that this organization seems to have a lot of prevalence in this day and age as the EMU community and the Mennonite community have to

Motion 20100203-2 to approve the funding request for $350 for Safe Space: Katie

Second: Hans

Motion passed

  1. VI. Open Floor

Hans shared that there are now new speakers in the SGA office!

-Michael was wondering if we can implement something in the SGA constitution where incoming exec sits in on a few meetings the year prior to the year they serve so they can get a feel for how meetings run.  This will help efficiency at the beginning of the following year so exec members understand their role more.  Current exec members feel this would have really helped prep us for our roles and eliminate a lot of the work at the beginning in figuring out what we are expected to do.  Many senators agreed that this would be a good idea and we will discuss it more in depth at a future meeting.

-Michael shared that the Writing Committee has an opening for an SGA member; Katie can’t fill that role anymore due to a class this semester.  Michael will cover tomorrow’s meeting but we will need someone else for the remaining too.

-Katie shared that she has heard several students complain about the Den transfer meal hours.  Several people have asked that the transfer meals extend to 2:45 instead of 2:30 because some classes don’t end until 2:30 and those students can no longer get transfer meals.  Sarah also shared that several people would like the hours to begin earlier because on Tuesdays and Thursdays people that have class at 1 often can’t eat because transfer meals don’t begin until 12:30.  Katie will e-mail Bruce to see if the Den can extend open hours from 12-2:45.

  1. VII. Adjournment

Motion 20102003-4 to adjourn: Katie

Second: Brendon

Motion passed unanimously

smb 02/03/10