February 24 Minutes

  1. I. Call to Order Michael (9:07)
  2. II. Roll Call/Prayer Michael prayed

Present: Michael Spory, Karissa Sauder, Brent Beachy, Sarah Beck, Brendon Derstine, Heidi Bauman, Gabe Brunk, Peyton Erb, Giles Eanes, Hans Weaver, Brook Musselman, Alli Eanes, Brandon Habron, James Souder, Sara Derstine, Vi Dutcher, Ken L. Nafziger

Absent: Katie Landis

  1. III. Approval of Minutes

Motion 02242010-1 to approve the minutes: James

Second: Brandon

Motion passed unanimously

  1. IV. Announcements

a. the “Spirit Bus” details: Michael shared that SPC talked about having a “Spirit Bus” take students down to Salem, VA to watch the men’s tournament on Friday.  An e-mail went out today and sign-ups are open until tomorrow evening.  Michael made the executive decision to allocate $300 out of the budget to help subsidize the cost for students, which matched the CAC allocation of $300.  He opened up the floor for discussion to see if senators supported the decision and there was general support for the decision.

b. Cross-Cultural Committee – Alli: Alli shared that the committee was trying to decide on four proposals for Fall 2012 cross-culturals (Australia/Papua New Guinea, New Zealand/Figi, Ecuador/Peru, and South Africa) and the committee needed to decide on two.  The committee decided on New Zealand/Figi and South Africa.  South Africa is now planning on going every fall for three falls in a row.  There are two proposals for Spring 2013 (Middle East & Guatemala).

c. Institutional Effectiveness – Darian and Brook: Darian shared that the committee talked about the SACS visit and a little about deficiencies in the initial off-campus report.  EMU only had 8 deficiencies in comparison to an average of 25 deficiencies.  He also shared that they talked about AIERS and several new ways they are going to try to measure leadership on campus.

d. Strategic Planning Council – Michael: Michael shared that the committee talked about cross-culturals regarding immediate and distant future plans of the cross-cultural plans.  They worked to change the overall goals of cross-cultural guidelines and how to measure what a “semester-long” cross-cultural is.  The new wording for the goal of cross-culturals is that the “majority of 50% of the graduating class will have participated in semester-long cross-culturals.”  The committee also discussed potentially canceling classes so students could travel to Salem for the tournament games, but they decided not to do that.

  1. V. Old Business

a. SACS visit – Tues.-Thurs. Wear your QEP shirts and be prepared to answer questions if you’re stopped by any members of the committee!

b. Shen options: We discussed potential options for the Shen next year.  In the fall, we passed a motion that added a $40 optional student fee for the yearbook with the option being to “opt in.”  Our potential options are:

    • “opt-out” method

-Pros: It’s already in the student fees so students are more likely to keep it in rather than adding it.

It can be taken care of easily in the registration line at the beginning of the year.

-Cons: Free senior book would be hard to manage because determining “senior” is difficult.

    • “opt-in” method

-Pros: Helpful to determine which seniors want the book.

-Cons: Students may be less willing to tack on another $40 to their bill.

    • hybrid model

-Pros: Easier for business office.

-Cons:

*Please bring any additional questions to Andrew Jenner next week!*

  1. VI. New Business

a. Leadership conference next fall: This conference happens every two years for students currently filling leadership positions on campus (any leadership positions!) and Doug Wandersee is looking to us to help with some rough planning this semester such as speakers, events, etc.  Michael requested some senators to help with Student Life.  Brandon, James, and Michael all agreed to help out with this.  Next year’s executive committee and senate will be working on this with Student Life.

b. Friday Announcement guidelines – Karissa: Karissa shared that Campus Ministries has received various concerns about Friday Announcements, specifically regarding the length and content.  They drafted proposed Friday Announcement Guidelines for future people interested in doing this.  After reading it, Darian expressed concern with the arbitrary nature of item #5 which discusses the SGA V.P. or Friday Announcement designee will “make the final selection of announcements.”  We suggested adding that reasonable reasons should be given for those announcements not included.

Motion 02242010-2 to approve the Friday Announcements Guidelines with the proposed changes: Giles

Second: Hans

Motion passed unanimously

  1. VII. Open Floor

-Ken shared that the commissioner of the O.D.A.C. is supporting a Corn Toss Championship to raise money for the Salem Rotary Club’s “Emergency Shelter Box Campaign for Haiti.”  This is happening this weekend in Salem (where the O.D.A.C. tournament is).  The idea is that each person signing up is contributing $5 to toss 8 bags (not including a 10-bag warm-up).

-Show your support for the Haiti kits tomorrow from 6-9 as kits will be assembled.

-Brendon shared that the “What we can do with the Maplewood Basement?” committee met to discuss possibilities.  Two possibilities are giving the space to the WeatherVane and Shen.  There was general consensus that this is a good idea and we can support it as an SGA.  Another possibility would be to add a small computer lab down there for people to use, but there would be other issues such as security and sharing resources with the WeatherVane.

-Brendon also shared that he talked to Bruce about the potential caf expansion and Bruce is now talking to the higher-ups.

-Brendon shared that the bookstore committee has been working on revamping the bookstore website and now they are including the ISBN numbers will also be up.  Now it will be much easier to find your books!  Book rentals also can potentially be up this fall (where students sign a contract and rent the book for a much smaller fee).  Michael brought up that the Bookstore could potentially sell student art or photo paper.  Printer items would also be a good option, as well as a photo machine.

Motion 02232010-3 to allow Michael and Brent to allocate money to another student “spirit bus” in the event of further basketball success with a $1000 cap: Darian

Second: Alli

  1. VIII. Adjournment (10:18)

Motion 02242010-3 to adjourn: Giles

Second: Darian

Motion passed unanimously

smb 02/24/10