EMU SGA

I. Call to Order Michael (9:05)

II. Roll Call/Prayer Ben prayed

Present: Michael Spory, Benjamin Bergey, Will Morris, Janelle Freed, Sarah Beck, Amin Laboriel, Hannah Schrock, Erika Babikow, Nels Akerson, Courtney Walker, Heidi Bauman, Dan Sigmans, Laci Gautsche, Todd Hooley, Matt Dean, Alli Eanes, Amy Springer, Ken L. Nafziger

Absent: Hannah Wenger, Brittney Wenger, Vi Dutcher

III. Approval of Minutes

Motion 16022011-1 to approve the minutes: Heidi

Second: Matt

Motion approved

IV. Announcements

a. Hadestown – Feb. 19: SGA co-sponsored this event, which takes place in Lehman on Saturday! Come out and enjoy!  There is also a workshop in the afternoon on Saturday for all students.

b. Join a Club Party – Feb. 22: This event is sponsored by USO; please encourage any club leaders you know to attend this!

V. Old Business

a. Reflections on the Concert: Thank you to everyone who volunteered; it went off very smoothly   and everyone’s hard work was very appreciated!  All senators were impressed by the concert and

felt like it went well.  Lehman was a good venue for this particular genre; however, if the concert

would not have been so chill, it might not have been an appropriate venue.  One concern was the

lack of security; perhaps in the future we should have more senators around the dressing room.

The final ticket number was 476, which was an encouraging number.  Now is the time to start

thinking ahead to the future so be thinking about bands that you would like to see at EMU next

year!

b. Maplewood Move: The Maplewood move is February 25 and outsiders are allowed to help

from 1:00-7:00 p.m.  Seven senators agreed to help out at some point during that time frame as

schedule allows.

c. Lounge Swipe Card: The SGA Exec felt that this particular issue did not warrant a survey or

petition; we instead felt that our job as SGA is to be the voice for the students in place of a

survey.  Although we are a small group of students, our job is to represent the broader voice of

students at EMU so we feel our collective decisions reflect the opinions of the student body.  Ken

shared that part of the sentiment of the Res Life meeting was that even when the majority of the

students may want something, we still want to be aware of those students who would feel

uncomfortable with the new changes.  One reason this might cause discomfort was if there were

a lot of people from another dorm in a lounge late at night and residents wouldn’t know those

people.  Others felt that 24-hour lounges offer a safe haven for where students can go if they feel

unsafe at any time. One senator brought up that no one seemed to be super passionate about this

issue; we decided that until we hear a strong voice from the students either way, we don’t need to

change the current system.

VI. New Business

a. Club Constitution – Fishing Team: We received a constitution from a new club, EMU Fishing Team, seeking approval from EMU.  Two major concerns that jumped out at senators were the requirement of a 2.0 GPA and the requirement that every member provide their own equipment, travel expenses, and tournament fees.  Many felt that the pay-to-play restrictions are kind of limiting for all students.  There are currently six members interested in this club.  There were also clarifications needed with a few ambiguous statements in the constitution (i.e. “responsible members”).  There was also concern with the tournaments; senators had questions about whether they can attend any sponsored tournament (Budweiser?) and what can happen with the winnings. There were also some grammatical and technical changes suggested.  Overall, there was no strong negative feedback for this club; it seems like a great addition to EMU’s extracurriculars!

Motion 16022011-2 to approve the constitution for the EMU Fishing Team with said changes (grammatical, clarifying): Nels

Second: Amin

Motion passed

b. New Tasks: Michael shared that last week we looked at the committees that still had energy and the ones that had kind of fizzled out.  He asked for any suggestions for new things that SGA could get involved in for the rest of the year.  Janelle shared that one thing might be to have people in place to organize a “Spirit Bus” should the men’s basketball team advance in tournament.  In addition, Alli suggested another faculty forum for this semester and offered to help organize this endeavor.  Michael also brought up the possibility of a Music Festival some week on campus, which got a lot of interest from senators.

c. How a Future SGA Might Look: Ben talked about the possibilities for infrastructural changes, one being an additional Exec member who would be a Marketing Representative.  In addition, we could add a few members to the senate as representatives from some larger campus organizations (Res Life, CAC, Campus Ministries) who would be actual voting members.  The difference between these members and the current members is that the representatives would not be elected by the student body.  General senator feedback was very positive for adding a Marketing representative to the Exec committee.  There was also discussion about the fact that the current constitution does not require students running for Exec to have previously served on the senate; this may also need to be something we look at since it’s very beneficial to have previously-serving members.  Regarding the additional representatives from other clubs, there was some discomfort noted with having voting members who were not elected by the students. There were also a few concerns raised with having so many people added to the senate; at what point does the SGA just become too large? A viable next step seems to be to go to the clubs we’re considering adding to SGA to see if representatives on SGA would be beneficial or unnecessary.

VII. Open Floor

-Help is needed to toss t-shirts at the women’s basketball game.  Courtney and Todd volunteered to help with the tosses.

-Amin suggested having clubs fill out progress reports to show how they are doing so we can learn about how other clubs are working/progressing.

-Amin shared that he has heard that there is a concern with athletes and their academics; he worries that this particular culture stresses sports instead of school and was wondering ways SGA can possibly help out with that.  As an SGA, we don’t feel like it’s really our place to handle this issue but we encouraged him to talk to Student Life about his concerns.

VIII. Adjournment

Motion 16022011-3 to adjourn: Janelle

Second: Matt

Motion passed

Meeting adjourned (10:32)

smb 02/16/11

I. Call to Order Ben (9:06)

II. Roll Call/Prayer Hannah S. prayed

Present: Benjamin Bergey, Michael Spory, Alli Eanes, Dan Sigmans, Heidi Bauman, Erika Babikow, Courtney Walker, Hannah Schrock, Nels Akerson, Laci Gautsche, Brittney Wenger, Janelle Freed, Sarah Beck, Hannah Wenger, Vi Dutcher, Amy Springer, Ken L. Nafziger

Absent: Will Morris, Matt Dean, Amin Laboriel, Todd Hooley

III. Approval of Minutes

Motion 09022011-1 to approve the minutes: Janelle

Second: Nels

Motion passed

IV. Announcements

a. Food drive—Feb. 12: Janelle shared that there have been announcements at athletic games, the posters have been put up, and there are postings on Facebook and the EMU homepage.  There will also be an announcement in Friday Announcements. Sarah offered to talk to Phil about getting a table around for outside the gym.  Peyton Erb came in to talk about the needing people to help man the booth at the game on Saturday and we also need people to help transport food to Patchwork Pantry on Sunday.  Janelle, Alli and Heidi offered to help collect items at the game on Saturday.  Courtney and Erika offered to help out on Sunday (1:45-2:30) taking food to the Pantry.

b. Josh Radin!—Feb. 13: Nels shared that they need additional help so he is passing around a sign-up sheet asking for more help.  As of right now, about 200 tickets have been sold.

c. Hadestown—Feb. 19: Spread the word about this EMU play!!!

d. Join a Club Party—Feb. 22: Ben shared that there is a type of “second-semester ice cream club social” event in Common Grounds on February 22; clubs will be present and talk to interested students who would like to join their clubs.  This is a way for people who were on cross-culturals first semester to get involved, and also people who have more time this semester and would like to get more involved.

V. Committee Reporting

a. Undergraduate Council: Janelle shared that the council talked about field trips and the new procedures for faculty to let the dean and department know about these trips.  Dave Detrow also came in to talk about problems with schedules of required classes overlapping; this then turned into a discussion with faculty and their relationships with students who take on a little too much and try to fit it in over four years.  It seems like more and more students have double-majors or several minors and this along with the expectation to get done in four years leads many students to pack in their schedules too tightly.  John Fast also came in to talk about practicums and internship and the logistics of whether these should be pass/fail and how many hours they should be.

b. Bookstore Committee: Hannah W. shared that they talked about ways to get the word out about the textbook rental program; one idea was to include which books are available for rent in the syllabus for all the classes.

c. QEP: Hannah S. shared that 1/3 of the majors have a class with a sustainability focus right now and they are working closely with other majors to bring that number up higher.  They also talked a lot about ways to encourage faculty to change their curriculum and workshops to reflect the QEP.  They also talked about surveying students about sustainability and give them prizes ($20 CG gift certificates) to encourage participation.

VI. Old Business

a. 24-Hour Lounges: Ken shared that he looked into the possibility of having the main residence hall lounges open to all students 24-hours-a-day; currently only residents of each dorm can get into the dorm after 11:00.  One concern with this is the feeling some residents may have of unease at having people who don’t live in that dorm inside the dorm at any hour.  In addition, a concern is the no-sleepover (co-ed) rules; what would constitute sleeping over?  They are requesting documentation that many students really want this option and it’s not just coming from a small-group.  Some suggestions were a survey or petition.  Many senators felt that it helps community to open dorm lounges to all students.  We tabled this discussion until next week; in the meantime, the Exec will work on drafting a possible petition.

VII. New Business

a. Funding Request—Nursing students: Elli Barnhart shared that there are 4 senior nursing students wanting to attend the Mennonite Health Assembly in San Antonio, TX from March 10-13.  This is a great opportunity for them to attend workshops, listen to keynote speakers, and get involved in break-out groups working to integrate faith into nursing.  The theme is “Many Voices, One Spirit.”  This is an opportunity for the students to share their perspectives on current healthcare both in formal and informal settings.  It’s also a good way to showcase EMU students as being involved, caring students.  The EMU Nursing department and YPCA is covering the cost of registration but the students still have additional needs as far as airfare and transportation.  They are requesting $200 to help cover the cost of these expenses.  Senators were really enthusiastic about helping these nursing students and many expressed a desire to give them more than the requested $200.  We felt this was a great opportunity and these particular students were showing a lot of initiative and passion for doing this over Spring Break.

Motion 09022011-2 to approve giving these nursing students $400 ($100 per student) for the Mennonite Health Assembly with the understanding that they will share their experience with the EMU community: Janelle

Second: Heidi

Motion passed

b. Goal Revisiting—new and old ideas: Michael shared that at the beginning of the year, SGA had a retreat and formed committees; now is the time to re-visit these committees and see what is working and what is not.  We went through these committees; Sustainability, $1 Thursday Lunches, Birthday Parties, and Science Center Student Funding were all disbanded as they either lost momentum or there was no longer a need for the committee as other projects came up.  Many committees are still going strong and have been successful.  We will re-visit this next week so keep thinking of ideas of ways SGA can get involved (i.e. networking between student governments in the regional or state level) and that you have energy for!

VIII. Open Floor

-Michael shared that he talked with Eldon about getting security systems and a swipe card system for the Art Center.  This would be coming up in the next few weeks.

-Ken shared that the Harmon construction company is also willing to bring food and volunteers for the move from Maplewood to Elmwood; way to go!

-Reminder about Calling and Career Day on Wednesday!

-Hannah S. shared her campus security ideas: memo to employers who have employees working out late at night, hand out business cards with campus security phone number, pamphlet on campus security directed to each gender, setting up a text-message alert system, etc.

-Nels shared that Doug Nyce was wondering if any students are interested in helping plan the Homecoming Committee.  Right now, we felt all SGA senators are over-stretched this year but we’d be interested in making it a committee for next year.  Ken asked if it would be better for parent weekend to be different from Homecoming; some students felt like it would be good if it took place in the Spring.

IX. Adjournment

Motion 09022011-3 to adjourn: Janelle

Second: Hannah W.

Motion passed

Meeting adjourned (10:25)

smb 02/09/11

I. Call to Order Michael (9:05)

II. Roll Call/Prayer Sarah prayed

Present: Benjamin Bergey, Michael Spory, Will Morris, Janelle Freed, Sarah, Beck, Hannah Wenger, Dan Sigmans, Todd Hooley, Alli Eanes, Erica Babikow, Heidi Bauman, Nels Akerson, Courtney Walker, Hannah Schrock, Matt Dean, Brittney Wenger, Laci Gautsche, Amin Laboriel, Vi Dutcher, Amy Springer

Absent: Ken L. Nafziger

III. Approval of Minutes

Motion 02022011-1 to approve the minutes: Heidi

Second: Nels

Motion approved

IV. Announcements

a. Food Drive – Feb. 12: Michael shared that former SGA senator Peyton Erb is heading this up and SGA will help put it all together.  The marketing committee will meet after our meeting tonight to discuss ways to advertise this.

b. Spirit Day: Dress up on Saturday at the basketball games!!!

c. Joshua Radin – Feb. 13: GET EXCITED!

V. Committee Reporting

a. Cross-Cultural Committee: Nels shared that the committee met today and received updates from all the groups currently on cross-cultural (the Middle East group is safe despite the current unrest in Egypt).  They also talked about an overview of the Sesotho language course being given by Harlan de Brun this semester, the Kiwi coffee house in CG discussing the New Zealand Cross-Cultural.  In addition, semester proposals for 2013-2014 were discussed and they talked about the logistics between two Spanish professors being gone on cross-culturals in the same year.

b. Concert Committee : Heidi shared that the concert is NEXT Sunday; a big thank you to everyone who helped sell tickets for the concert this past week in the Student Life Suite.  There are still some slots available, Hannah W. offered to take the 11:00-11:30 slot on Friday and Michael will take the 11:30-12:00 slot.  Ben offered to take the 10:00-10:30 slot tomorrow and Todd took the 10:30-11:00 slot.  Good work volunteers! For next week, the ticket booth will be moved to the Campus Center.  As of right now, there are over 60 tickets sold so far.  SGA senators will also have to buy a ticket if they would like to attend.  Nels passed around a sign-up sheet for senators to sign up for a position to help with hospitality during the concert.

c. Campus Ministries: Heidi shared that the committee met last Monday and met Dawn Monger, the interim campus pastor this semester.  They also reviewed the MA/PA program; it was brought up that it would be nice to connect transfer students and students who have taken a year off (before or during college) to each other.  Students shared about FCA and Multicultural Services and what is going on with their meetings.  In addition, the chapel format (Wednesday=praise worship; Friday=speaker) was discussed.

d. Commons Council: Matt shared that the committee talked about security, safety, and storage.  The hallway on the North End behind the gym is currently used to store soccer goals and the mats for indoor track mats; this has come up as a fire hazard and new ways to store them need to be discussed. Regarding security, they discussed lock-up schedules; right now there is an access hallway from Common Grounds to the gym side of the Commons and the lock-up schedule needs to be addressed with CG and security.  Also, on snow days school children have started coming into the gym and using our facility, which is not allowed without parental supervision.  They are looking into ways of preventing this from happening when snow days occur.  They also discussed bike racks and places to add them around the Commons.

VI. Old Business

VII. New Business

a. Campus Security: Michael shared that the Exec would like to talk about ways to make students, particularly students, feel safer around campus.  One possibility would be to propose a “buddy system” where if someone was feeling unsafe at night they could call a specific number and someone would come walk with them to their destination.  Another suggestion would be to involve the campus security guards who are more than willing to walk students back to the dorms.  General senator feedback was that it might be better to just create more awareness (i.e. sending out the number to call security via e-mail and encourage students to program it into their phones) at this point in time.  Hannah S. is going to brainstorm ways to work with CAs to talk about raising awareness.

b. Funding Request – CAC: Kirk Shenk-Zehr came in to talk to SGA about Anais Mitchell, a singer-songwriter who performs “folk-opera,” and is touring with her six-piece orchestra Virginia in February.  EMU has the opportunity to host Anais and her orchestra on Saturday, February 19 at 9:30 p.m.  Anais would also present a workshop for the VACA and Theater Departments in the afternoon of the 19^th; however, this may be made available to other EMU students outside those departments.  Originally, this was thought to take place in the newly-opened Mainstage Theater; however, there is a possibility it will not be ready by this time.  Another possibility would be to host this at EMHS or somewhere else on campus.  Kirk knows Anais personally and believes many students at EMU would be interested in attending this concert.  He brought the idea to Doug Wandersee, who was very intrigued by the idea of hosting such a unique concert.  Because CAC is hosting Joshua Radin the weekend before, Doug suggested a coalition of campus groups to help support this show.  Kirk has spent the last few weeks gathering support and so far has received very encouraging feedback from various departments.  He has collected $500 from Student Programs and $200 each from Bible and Religion, Visual & Communication Arts, Theater, Language & Lit Departments, and CJP, totaling $1500.  He is coming to SGA in hopes of gaining additional funds ($200-500) to further entice Anais to come to EMU.  She originally asked for $3500 but decided to be flexible in order to make EMU a stop on her tour; the bare minimum necessary would be $1500 but this does not include accommodations, lodging and renting a venue (if necessary).  One concern of senators was that it’s happening at a time when a LOT is happening around campus and it’s coming right on the heels of the Joshua Radin concert.  We listened to a short clip of her music and she definitely has an interesting sound that would draw a certain crowd of EMU students.  Generally, senators were excited about the chance to host a different type of concert.  We felt that $200 was appropriate to give since there is already a lot of funding coming in from other EMU departments and they have already raised the minimum $1500 and anything else at this point is gravy.

Motion 02022011-2 to approve giving $200 for Anais Mitchell to come to EMU on February 19: Dan

Second: Alli

Motion passed

c. Funding Request – Peace Fellowship: Kaitlin Heatwole came in to talk about the Annual Intercollegiate Peace Conference which is being held in Bluffton, OH on February 18-20.  They have 12 students who want to go (not all of whom are in Peace Fellowship).  Peace Fellowship is covering the cost of registration; however, they still need funds for transportation.  Because the cost of renting an EMU van was so high, they are looking to take 3 private cars.  They have worked out the details of transportation costs to be $490, which they are requesting from SGA.  They are planning on sharing about this conference when they get back in the form of a forum.  Senators were very supportive of this; one senator brought up that peace is a huge part of EMU’s mission statement so this is a great way to discuss peace with others from different Mennonite schools.

Motion 02022011-3 to approve giving Peace Fellowship $490 as requested to cover the cost of transportation to attend this conference: Janelle

Second: Hannah W.

Motion passed unanimously

d.      Calling and Career Day : Amy shared that the second-annual Career Day will be happening in the Commons on February 16.  This is an opportunity for students to attend workshops on budgeting, portfolios, interviews, etc.  Everyone is encouraged to attend a seminar or two and it was very well received last year. There will also be a fair around the track from 1:00-4:00.  Amy needs people to sign-up to man the welcome table and is passing around a sign-up sheet for senators to sign-up to help.

VIII. Open Floor

-Erica shared that she and Amin met with the Information Systems committee where the biggest thing discussed was the switchover to Moodle from BlackBoard.  In addition, they talked about looking at potential distance learning (video conferencing, online courses) that may be implemented in the future at EMU.  They also talked about ways to change the computer labs around to make them more user-friendly for a more laptop-toting student population.

-Hannah shared that the Block Party is now taking place on the day that freshman are moving into EMU so no one from EMU will be able to attend; therefore, EMU will no longer have representatives there for the Block Party.

-Courtney shared that the moving date for Maplewood is February 25 (Friday) and the helping-to-move hours are from 1:00-7:00, which is slightly inconvenient for people with classes.  Michael agreed to discuss this with Housing and Res Life to see if this could be extended.  Food will be provided for people who come to help!!!

IX. Adjournment

Motion 02022011-4 to adjourn: Janelle

Second: Amin

Motion passed

Meeting adjourned (10:34)

smb 02/02/11

I. Call to Order Ben (9:08)

II. Roll Call/Prayer Janelle prayed

Present: Benjamin Bergey, Michael Spory, Janelle Freed, Will Morris, Sarah Beck, Laci Gautsche, Hannah Schrock, Brittney Wenger, Erica Babikow, Amin Laboriel, Nels Akerson, Courtney Walker, Todd Hooley, Matt Dean, Alli Eanes, Heidi Bauman, Dan Sigmans, Hannah Wenger, Vi Dutcher, Ken L. Nafziger

Absent: Amy Springer

III. Approval of Minutes

Minutes approved unanimously

IV. Announcements

a. Signups—Office hours, contact sheet, Committee list: Michael shared that there are a few sign-ups going around for senators to sign up for duties this semester.

V. Committee Reporting

a. Concert committee: Nels shared that the Joshua Radin concert is February 13^th in Lehman Auditorium.  EMU student tickets are $5 and community tickets are $15.  There are a lot of spots needed for people to help out and SGA senators will need to be involved on the concert day.  Major committees include stage hands, hospitality, committee outreach, and hospitality.  Most SGA senators wanted to be part of the hospitality committee so Nels will take that back to the committee.

VI. Old Business

a. Food drive with athletics; apparel: Michael talked about the possibility of having a food drive at an athletic event (partnered with Athletic Events).  The donations would go to Patchwork Pantry.  At the game there would be a specific bin of items to donate into; anyone donating would be entered into a drawing to win EMU apparel.  Michael asked for volunteers to help with this; Hannah W. volunteered to be an extra contact person.

VII. New Business

a. Funding Request—SFI: Meg Smeltzer came in to share that Laurelville is hosting a conference for people to learn more about methods of sustainable eating, as well as to form relationships with others who are experienced and dedicated to sustainable food and farming.  There is a total of 5 students interested in attending this conference and someone from Phys Plant wants to attend so they will be able to drive and EMU van up there.  SFI has some funding to cover a portion of their expenses but are requesting $400 to cover registration (which includes housing and food).  Ben shared that when a small group is sent to a conference, SGA generally requests that the group that goes shares their experience with the larger EMU community through outlets such as the WeatherVane, Common Grounds, Chapel, etc.  Meg didn’t feel that there was a problem with this and that SFI could do something like that.

Motion 19012011-1 to approve the request of $400 to SFI for the conference with the expectation that they would share with the EMU community upon return: Janelle

Second: Hannah W.

Motion approved 16-0-4

b. Marketing and Hospitality Committees: Michael explained to the new senators these two internal SGA committees and asked new senators (or returning senators) to volunteer to serve on this committee in order to fill vacant spots.  Brittney volunteered to help out with this.

c. H’burg Block Party Planning Committee: Ben shared that SGA was asked to send a representative to serve on the Block Party committee for next fall; Hannah W. signed up to help with this.

VIII. Open Floor

-Amin shared that the energy for the birthday parties has dwindled and doesn’t feel like we should continue with that venture.  There is also very little energy coming from CAC and most senators agreed that the committee had lost energy and is now absolved.

-Janelle asked Courtney to keep SGA updated as to the Maplewood moving so we can know when the projected date of moving can be so we can sign up to help students move.  There will be a new Director of Housing on February 2 and hospitality will be sending him a welcome card! J

-Michael shared that he has heard some dissention on places where WiFi is dead; he is looking for a list of suggestions for places where we could use WiFi.  Spots include: Caf, Science Center, and the Art Center.

IX. Adjournment

Motion 19012011-2 to adjourn: Sarah

Second: Janelle

Motion passed unanimously

Meeting adjourned (9:52)

smb 01/19/11