EMU SGA

Eastern Mennonite University

Student Government Association Senate

Agenda

22nd of February 2012

You may never know what results come of your action,

but if you do nothing there will be no result.-Mahatma Gandhi

1. Call to Order

II.             Roll Call/Prayer

III.             Approval of Minutes passed unanimously.

IV.             Announcements

V.            Committee Reporting

a. Erika: Strategic Planning Council

1. 1.    They approved items on the university’s strategic plan. The second half of the meeting luke Hartman presented his plan with enrollment/talked about retention (retention rate is about 78%/graduation rate is about 62%)—patterns, etc. IS also presented some new ideas.

b. Alli & Tyler: Cross Cultural Committee

1. Members voted on the new proposals for fall 2014/spring 2015. Fall- phillipines and balkans. Spring- middle east and Guatemala. There were changes made to the Korea and Ecuador cross culturals for summer 2013. There are leadership changes that will happen for the Ecuador cross cultural, as the previous leader is no longer teaching at EMU, but right now they want to preserve the trip.

c. Katie: SLS

1. Originally, we wanted to bring in local speakers for the SLS, but recently an idea was proposed to bring in Bell Hooks—an author/philosopher. Katie is in contact with Deanna, trying to get Bell to come to Harrisonburg—perhaps collaborate with JMU to bring her? If that works out, it will use all funds in the SLS fund.

d. Sam & Carissa: Transitions

1. Carissa has been talking with Mark Sawin about including transfer students in the Honors Program. There are some issues with GPA’s that need to be worked out. They are talking about changing the program so that students can apply at the end of their freshman year to enter the Honors Program.

VI.            Old Business

VII.   New Business

a. Jim Yoder: Green Fatigue

1. Jim is the chair of the Making Peace with Creation committee (known on campus as “QEP”). They want to get feedback from SGA to see how we think this is going/what students perceptions are of how well they think this theme is being integrated into the classroom. The freshman college writing course last year was centered on sustainability and they also added an outcome to one class in each discipline to have sustainability integrated into that course. Sam shared that he felt (as a computer science major) that sometimes sustainability is forced into the classroom in ways that are not helpful/relevant. Alli and Becca shared that because sometimes “sustainability” is forced into contexts where it is not natural or relevant, students have become tired of the concept and others have to apologize for talking about it. It has become overused, which is sad because it is such a critical concept/issue. Taylor shared that sometimes the word is used in shallow contexts and therefore students grow tired of it. James wished that there were other ways to create a practical application of “sustainability”—have it be more personally applied to each student, rather than a vague learning outcome. Alli shared that paper waste is really common—are there practical ways to cut down on consumption as part of our pledge to sustainability? Jim asked how students would define “sustainability”—many senators said that students primarily see it as solely environmental sustainability—i.e hand dryers, composting, recycling, etc. Jim asked if any of us have had professors address the issue of sustainability in any other context besides the environment. Alli said that in her linguistics class they discussed the sustainability of dying languages, Sam reminded us about the campus ministries theme “Sustain You”. Some senators shared that the word sustainability has lost its meaning to many—it just goes in one ear and out the other. The Peace With Creation team put together a framework for sustainability on campus, trying to convey that sustainability goes beyond the environment—making connections with social, economic, spiritual sustainability. Jim is concerned that students are not hearing that message. Carissa said that in Transitions class, they asked students to define “sustainability” but then didn’t address it after that, which seemed unhelpful. She said that freshmen need to be told why sustainability is important to EMU/they need some background. Jim asked juniors and seniors what their perceptions “sustainability” since they were around when the QEP campaign/implementation happened. Brandon shared that when the QEP implementation happened many students knew it went beyond environmental sustainability, but Katie disagreed. She said that because of the title (Making Peace with Creation) many students didn’t know. She shared Brandon’s sentiments, however, that the parts of sustainability that is about sustaining oneself and social sustainability, etc. are really important. Jim said that they had to be careful how they conveyed the “Sustainability” accreditation to students (especially freshmen and sophomores). Ken said that it was important that students know that sustainability affects their lives in whatever career they choose/it affects students in every academic context. Jim said that he would love to hear further feedback from students if they have more to share.

b. The Freethought Coalition Constitution

1. Vi suggested that in Article II: Membership, they change the wording to “people of any religious affiliation are encouraged to come and” as opposed to “but”. Brandon suggested that they define “active member” under Article IX. They should change the spelling of “adviser” to “advisor.” James proposed that in Article III: Elections, they clarify how a president is voted in—i.e by a 2/3rds vote, etc. Carissa and Becca voiced concern about the wording of “should be prepared to potentially have their views respectfully challenged” in Article II: Membership. Elias said that he felt it should stay because they may expect members to have a more secular mindset. Vi suggested ending the sentence after “discussion”—“people of any religious affiliation are encouraged to come participate in the discussion.” Ken said that one question that would come up in the President’s Cabinet would be the nature of the Secular Student Alliance that they want to affiliate themselves with. He said that they should clarify what it means to be an affiliate of the Secular Student Alliance (what do they require? Will they have to pay dues?)—what do they stand for that makes it beneficial for EMU to be affiliated with them or would it be a risky organization to be connected to? Vi said they should change the wording of “between” in line two of Article 1 to “among.” Vi also suggested that they add in some more welcoming language.

            c. USO Meeting Summary

1. Erika and Hannah met with the USO and talked a lot about budgeting—they told all club leaders what they need to turn in, in order to apply for funding for next year.

VIII.  Open Floor

1. Carissa shared that it was difficult to hear each other in the President’s Room (where we met tonight). Tyler said that if we advertised the meetings and had a presence before the meeting (like a snack time outside the President’s Room) may welcome more students to sit in on the meeting. We will meet here again next week and may try the pre-meeting snack time.

IX.            Adjournment Tyler moved to adjourn. Taylor seconded.

Eastern Mennonite University

Student Government Association

Senate Agenda

15th of February 2012

“A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.”

-Thomas Carlyle

1. Call to Order

II. Roll Call/Prayer

III. Approval of Minutes passed unanimously

IV. Announcements

a. SGA Dinner: Monday Feb 20^th starting at 5:30. Meet in front of Commons at 5:15.

V. Committee Reporting

a. Subcommittees

i. Res Life—Tyler emailed Eric and set up a time to meet with him next week. He will be talking to him specifically about senior housing—what Res Life is considering/ideas, etc, share thoughts and feedback that he has gotten from others with Eric.

ii. Sexuality Coffeehouse There are two dates set for student coffeehouses—March 1^st and 19^th. Brandon is going to talk to CA’s to ask them to start talking to their halls/encourage them to attend coffeehouse. Brandon is also going to talk to speech professors so they can tell their students to attend. The first faculty luncheon is being postponed to give us more time to send out the faculty survey (which should be sent out in the next day or so).

b. Cross Cultural- Laci Laci asked someone to take her place at the CC meeting on February 20^th. Tyler volunteered.

c. Library Task Force- Carissa Members of this commitee want the library to be a more welcoming place for students. They broke down goals—what they want to do next year and then long-term goals. See Carissa if you want to know more info.

VI. Old Business

VII. New Business

a. Funding Request- TCK Club Senators generally responded very positively about this event/funding request. They expressed excitement about the nature of the forum. Becca moved that we approve the funding request for $75 for this event in Common Grounds. Motion passed unanimously.

VIII. Open Floor

1. Amy reminded us that Career and Service Day is next Wednesday. She asked for one more volunteer for the 4-5 slot.
2. Rebecca gave a budget update: we have less money than was originally estimated—we brought in about $4,000 less than what we expected. We currently have $3,100 for the rest of the semester. We still have money in the roll over fund as well.
3. Brandon is starting to plan the faculty forum and he would love to have someone else help him. Bruce Emerson, from the caf, has already volunteered to be one of the people on the forum.
4. Taylor and Jacob have been meeting with the Creation Care Council. They have picked out a date: Thurs 23rd, 4:00-5:30 in CG.
5. The Book Store committee still needs a representative—they meet Mondays at 11:30 a.m. 
6. Erika and Hannah are looking into using the President’s Room for our meeting in two weeks.

IX. Adjournment Alli Eanes moved to adjourn. Becca seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 

Eastern Mennonite University

Student Government Association

Senate Agenda

8th of February 2012

“When he took time to help the man up the mountain, lo, he scaled it himself.”

-Tibetan Proverb

I.             Call to Order

II.             Roll Call/Prayer

III.             Approval of Minutes

a. passed unanimously

IV.             Announcements

V.            Committee Reporting

Subcommittees

a. Encouragement Committee- encouragement corner still seems to get a lot of use.

b. Mayterm-

Kari will get the survey results (from the Mayterm survey) from Erika and Hannah and report more later.

c. Common Grounds

VI.            Old Business

VII.   New Business

a. Amy- Career and Service Fair-

Amy talked about the Career and Service Fair (Feb. 22) –it is an opportunity for students to do mock interviews (as well as real interviews for certain businesses), work on resumes and pick up applications/ look at post-college options (jobs and service/volunteer opportunities). They are changing the time from previous years—from 3-6 so that more students can attend. They will not be offering workshops this year, but will have a social media corner (help people use LinkedIN and talk about your professional image online). She is asking for SGA to help at the check-in/info table/help with iPad drawing. There are 3 one-hour time slots and she needs two people per shift.

b. Alli- Sexuality Coffeehouse

Alli described the purpose of the faculty survey as trying to get an idea of what faculty’s interest in a course for sexuality is. She asked for feedback from the senate about the specific document and the broader feeling about sending out a survey like this. Sam suggested including more about who will be there and what will happen- more specifics. Vi talked about making sure these times don’t overlap with faculty lunches. Ken suggested on formerly identifying Hannah and Erika as SGA co-presidents. Carissa clarified if the survey is going out to faculty or staff? Alli said Deanna recommended both. Alli asked Ken if the survey should go out through IRB or through a personal email. Ken recommended using Survey Monkey or GoogleForums. Jacob and Taylor volunteered to help set up the survey if necessary. Alli asked for further questions, there were none.

c. James- Constitutional Amendments

The Exec proposed a constitutional amendment (and James wrote up the proposed change) for Article III, Section 2, E, 2, b. The current wording is confusing and seems to require that there be more people running for senate positions than number of positions open. A similar amendment used to be in place for exec positions, but was revised (so that now only one person has to run for each exec position) and so the current exec suggests that the case be the same for senate positions. The current constitution wording is “The Executive Committee must ensure nomination of at least one more candidate than possible conditions for each resident constituency by nominating additional names if necessary.” The new proposed amendment reads, “The Executive Committee will ensure the nomination of at least one candidate for each Senate position but nominating one or more names if necessary.”

1. Open Floor
2. A.        Taylor Weidman voiced his concern and the reason he ran for Senate. He wishes students knew what EMU’s SGA did, and would like to see the student body become a more active part of decision making processes. He asked for feedback about ways to make senate meetings more accessible to students and proposed hosting a snack time modeled after Conrad-Grebel. The senate body also discussed changing the location of weekly meeting places to be more accessible. Hannah and Erika will look into using the President’s room.
3. Adjournment Alli Eanes adjourned

Eastern Mennonite University

Student Government Association

Senate Agenda

1st of February 2012

As busy as I claim to be, I’ve still got the greatest job in the world.

-Peter Criss

1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call/Prayer
3. Approval of Minutes passed unanimously with change (to the portion about IS that Sam presented)
4. Announcements The SGA dinner will be on Feb. 20^th.
5. Committee Reporting
6. Blene and Kari- Campus Ministries—Talked about Y-Trips. They are thinking of adding another trip since they were so popular and there was a wait-list. Options: a local trip or doing a trip to West Virginia—they wanted feedback about those ideas. Talked about the upcoming Spiritual Life Week—which will include two days of “random acts of kindness”. Talked about a mentoring program for non-CA’s. Talked about Res Life idea for “screen free Sabbath.”
7. James- Undergraduate Council—Talked about faith formation goals of each dept/departmental chapel (which they want to have every year). Mark Sawin brought an Honors Curriculum proposal—he wants to change it so that people can apply after their freshman year of college (it would include a number of classes with an equivalent number of credits to a minor). Discussed a different format for midterms. Also, a new Kinesiology major has been added and changes have been made to history courses.

1. Carissa- Library Task Force—They want to make the library a more welcoming place for students to hang out. Are considering a number of changes/discussed budget. Discussed classrooms in the library/new chairs.

1. Becca- Campus Improvements—Becca inquired about the Redbox on campus that was discussed last semester. She got in contact with people in the business office—the RedBox must be connected to a business. She also talked to the secretary of Phys Plant about the water tower issue.

1. Jacob- Writing Committee—They will be sending out an assessment to faculty/students to ask about the writing webpage—see if improvements can be made. There is a writing retreat in May (Cairo’s Place) and details about space for students are being ironed out. Assessments for writing intensive courses are being changed.
   1. Old Business
   2. New Business
   3. Jonathan Lantz-Trissel- Creation Care Council Meeting—Jonathan is the Sustainability Coordinator at EMU. The Creation Care Council (which is made up of reps from all over campus) would like to have a campus-wide meeting. He would like to see student representatives take part in the planning/structure of the meeting and is wondering if SGA might be open to cosponsor the event. They are not sure about the date yet, but are considering having it in the next two or three weeks. Senators generally were supportive of cosponsoring the meeting. Tyler moved to cosponsor the meeting. Taylor seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

1. Darian Harnish- Weather Vane Funds—Darian presented a proposal to the senate about funds for the Weather Vane. He is requesting that funds for Weather Vane roll over from year to year. The campus newspaper is supposed to be a roll over account, but in the past two years money has not been returned to the account and has now disappeared. So he is requesting that the money from the past two years be put back into their account. All together he is requesting $2,304.39 for the Weather Vane (they will use this money to make some improvements including a bigger newspaper size, better paper quality, a new printer, etc). Specifically, the money for this would come from the rollover fund, not the general fund. Jacob moved to allocate the $2304.39 to Weather Vane that they are requesting. Tyler Groff seconded the motion. Passed unanimously.

1. Alli- Human Sexuality Events—Alli and Brandon Habron met with Deanna Durham to discuss her ideas surrounding the conversation surrounding sexuality on campus. They proposed two student coffeehouses in February and March and two faculty luncheons corresponding to those dates. These conversations will be informal and used as a way to collect information about the conversations that our campus is having surrounding sexuality. Deanna has suggested a facilitator who is willing to attend these sessions. Moving forward the senate needs to decide 1) if there is support of this from the senate 2) a motion to hire a facilitator. Sam asked to clarify what the lunch conversations would consist of. Alli explained that these luncheons are to serve as a way for faculty to share their thoughts on the conversations of sexuality that are happening in their classrooms. Alli also explained that bringing in a facilitator who is not from EMU is a very important asset to the conversation as they will be a neutral presence. Vi inquired if administration was aware of this proposal and Alli and Brandon clarified that Deanna has been in conversation with Nancy Heisey. James moved to fund a facilitator for the faculty luncheons around sexuality, which would be a $100 allocation from the SGA. Carissa Seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

1. Erika- Funding Request—This funding request comes from Student Life (Laurie Miller) for the Leadership Conference. It is open to any student, but is targeted particularly at CA’s, MA’s and other student leaders. The total amount requested is $1200 from SGA. Sam asked what portion of the total cost the $1200 is and Erika said that it is half. Andrew asked about how many students have attended in the past and Hannah and Erika thought it was around 50 or 100. Some of the money could potentially come from the Union of Student Organizations. Brandon stressed the importance of leadership events, such as this. Several people who attended last year said what a wonderful event it was. Tyler Groff moved to approve the funding for the Student Leadership Conference and Brandon seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
2. SGA Dinner- Monday Feb. 20^th

VIII. Open Floor

1. Tyler Groff mentioned the North End Greenway—a bike path connecting EMU/Parkview to downtown. He’s hoping that down the line SGA could support it to a small degree financially and also endorse it officially to show that EMU is in support of the project.
2. Tyler also said he is thinking about applying for recognition from the Bicycle League of America (?) to get EMU certified as a bike friendly campus.
   1. Adjournment Sam moved to adjourn the meeting, Andrew Kniss seconded the motion.

1. Photos

Eastern Mennonite University

Student Government Association Senate Agenda

25^th of January 2012

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. Call to Order
2. Roll call/Prayer
3. Approval of Minutes
4. Announcements
   1. Funding Request- Peace Fellowship

i.     Julia Schmidt and Kirsten Rosetto presented about the Intercollegiate Peace Conference (which brings the peace groups at other Mennonite colleges together) happening in February in Ontario, Canada at Conrad Grabel University. They are requesting funds for transportation (they are taking their own cars)—both gas and car maintenance (at $.35 per mile). Members of Peace Fellowship will cover the $15 registration fee, Lorrie Miller will cover the food and they are being hosted for free at CGU. They plan to have a Weather Vane article and maybe a coffee house after the event to report about the weekend. Senators felt that it is a great conference that is organized well and the amount of money they are asking for is reasonable. Brandon Habron moved to allot the full amount ($700) to Peace Fellowship for the Intercollegiate Peace Conference. Passed unanimously.

1. Committee reporting
   1. Erika- Strategic Planning Council

i.     The meeting consisted of various people around the university reporting on the action steps they are taking according to the Strategic Plan that was put in place. The action items will mostly be instated this fall. At the meeting, Ken reported about student interest in intentional communities on campus as well as the leadership scholarship idea (to promote upperclassmen leadership on campus). Erika said that Nancy Heisey talked about all the different events that happen on campus (Suter Sci Seminars, Augsberger Lecture Series) and asked that different disciplines be represented at those events (and others). She also talked about creating a fund for students/faculty who want to go to conferences together.

1. Elias- QEP

i.     There are students doing a survey on campus right now about green fatigue. They talked about a Creation Care Council campus wide meeting (they may ask SGA for support in advertising that later in the semester) and Jim may come and ask SGA for feedback about QEP. They also discussed ways that different departments could be more green. There was also a discussion about David Kline, who is a farmer from Ohio, a speaker coming in two weeks to speak around campus.

1. Old Business
   1. Over viewing Sub-committees

i.     Erika listed the sub-committees that the SGA came up with during the retreat on Saturday. They are:

1. A Common Grounds Committee (to explore the possibility of Common Grounds dollars like Den dollars)
2. Campus Improvement
3. The Encouragement Committee
4. May Term (passing on the results of the survey that went out this summer and exploring further possibilities)
5. Res Life (establishing a way that SGA could be in better communication with them/giving feedback)
6. Sexuality Coffeehouse (planning a coffeehouse to get student feedback on a sexuality course)
7. Student Lecture Series
8. Transitions/Enrollment
9. [SGA] Website Enhancement

ii.     Erika and Hannah encouraged senators who missed the retreat to contribute ideas and to sign up for the current sub-committees.

1. New Business
   1. Faculty Panel

i.     Erika explained that faculty panels have been held once a year or once a semester in the past, so she encouraged people to let her know if they are interested in organizing one this spring. Brandon Habron is interested.

1. SGA Dinner

i.     President Loren Swartzendruber invited the SGA to dinner at his house on February 20^th at 5 p.m.

1. Walk for Hope

i.     This is a suicide awareness walk on March 31^st from 9-12 that EMU is doing in collaboration with JMU and Bridgewater. It is partially sponsored by Coach Link at EMU. SGA agreed last semester to be on the planning committee and they are requesting an SGA rep to attend another meeting on February 24^th at 9 a.m. Kari Denlinger, Brandon Habron and Carissa Harnish both expressed interest.

1. Open Floor
   1. Sam reported some more on the IS committee: After this semester, ID photos are optional. Additionally, IS is working to minimize the emails that students receive (so that people only receive emails that pertain to them). They also want to start using Cloud Computing.
   2. James passed around a card to be signed for Theo Yoder.
   3. Elias encouraged people to put things on the agenda if at all possible so that open floor does not run too long. If people want something to be on the agenda, they can send an email to Hannah or Erika.
2. Adjournment Laci moved to adjourn the meeting and Brandon Habron seconded the motion.