EMU SGA

Student Government Association

Senate Agenda

30th of January 2013 

1. Call to Order – at 8:42 pm

2. Roll Call/Prayer

3. Approval of Minutes – Minutes passed.

4. Announcements

a. Dinner with Pat and Loren – March 13^th at 6pm with some vegetarian options being available.

b. Sign-up sheets were passed around again.

6. Old Business

7. New Business

a. Peace Fellowship Funding Request – Krista Nyce brought up the request for the annual Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship Conference for $475. $75 is to help cover part of the registration fees and then $200 per car (for two cars). Participants are paying $20 out of pocket to go. This conference has been funded always in the past by SGA. Becca gave the motion to give the full amount of $475. Matt M. seconded the motion. Motion passed.

b. Committee reporting – Meg went to the Strategic Planning Committee today where they talked about fundraising for the new Science building. They need about $2 million more of the $7 million budget. Building should be done if fundraising and renovations go as planned in 2016. Right now they are trying to make connections with wealthy alumni.

8. Open Floor

a. Andrew brought up that the Athletic department cannot help fund sand volleyball lights and gave other ideas of ways to fundraise. He was unsure what the final cost would be. Phys plant already has poles, which are the most expensive part. Hannah suggested having students volunteer for Pioneer.

b. Becca and Carissa went shopping for the Encouragement Corner. Molly is working on a sign to make it for visible/colorful. Carissa suggested making postcards from SGA to send students for encouragement.

c. Elias met with library committee about board games to be checked out. They are open as long as SGA funds it and does inventory. Elias also asked about keeping the library open later for finals week as long and they said SGA would have to be willing to staff it. This idea was shot down by several people.

d. Zach reported that the Administration Transparency Committee were going to try to schedule a town-hall meeting. Molly suggested a warm month and hold it on Thomas Plaza. Others brought up that that might be too late in the semester. Zach suggested a couple of weeks after Spring Break.

e. Carissa wanted suggestions for the Opinion Board. She also brought up that the SGA Office does not have a single pen. Carissa also hopes to post more on the facebook page and make the Opinion Board mostly online.

f. Erika brought up that the WeatherVane is still willing to give SGA a box. Meg and John said that they could help write sometimes.

9. Adjournment

a. Becca made motion

b. John seconded

c. Motion passed.

Student Government Association

Senate Agenda

23rd of January 2013

1. Call to Order – at 8:35 pm

2. Roll Call/Prayer

3. Approval of Minutes

4. Announcements

a. Dinner with Pat and Loren:– Senate decided to meet on March 13 at Pat and Loren’s at 6pm and not have a regular Senate meeting that night.

b. Sign-ups – Sign-ups for Office hours were sent around, as well as contact information, snack sign-ups, and committee sign-ups

6. Old Business

a. Basketball Club – The Senate from last semester had made suggestions for their constitution, but they never got back to us with changes.

7. New Business

a. MLK Day Feedback – A lot of people felt that they could not go to events due to classes. Most senators agreed that they would have like to go if they had not had classes. Attendance for Shane Claiborne’s events was high and Carissa remarked that his afternoon forum was especially good.  Table flyers with events were helpful as well as Brian’s emails with links to the website.

b. Committee Forming – The retreat on Saturday spent some time talking about last semester. The rest of retreat was spent working on committees. Hannah talked about ways that committees can continue and not loose momentum as the semester gets busy. She hopes to develop individual goals that people can be working on. 

-The first committee is on Common Grounds and how it can become a more sustainable place.

-The next committee is Administration Transparency so students know where their money is going.

-The third committee is working on installing lights on the sand volleyball courts. John mentioned that they have been in contact with phys plant and the cost will not be too high as long as we do the manual labor ourselves.

-The fourth committee is the Hospitality/Encouragement committee that works to recognize students as well as help with the encouragement corner by the post office.

-Brad then talked about the fifth committee of music in the caf. One idea is to have theme days, as well as play EMU student music. Another outlet we can work on is coordinating communication between SFI (Sustainable Food Initiative) and the caf. Tyler shared that Bruce has been in contact with local sellers to buy more local food.

-Molly and Elias talked about the last committee about putting games in the library to check-out. They have already been in contact with the library.

-Christine brought the idea of campuses partnering with SPCA’s and rescue groups to bring animals to campus where students get to hear about spaying, neutering, and rescuing. Students can then also pay to spend time playing with animals like once a semester. Other ideas are a campus puppy.

-Christine also brought up that there is a grad student willing to facilitate a discussion on race and ethnicity on EMU’s campus.

-Ken shared that he wanted to hear more about flash seminars. Erika organized them but it is not an SGA initiative.

-Mariah expressed interest in forming more support groups on campus, especially on mental health or sexual abuse.

-John talked about starting an EMU rugby team. He has a sign-up sheet of 100-150 guys who have expressed interest.

-Ken shared how the EMU president used to hold “town meetings” and if this is a format we would be interested in? He shared that different administrators could come and be open to hearing different questions and giving different reports. This died out, but it is something we could revive as SGA. Senators seemed to like the idea, but worried about the success of such an event. This could go under the Administration Transparency committee.

8. Open Floor

a. Vi brought up the Henry C. Smith Oratorical Peace Contest that is coming up this semester and refreshments are needed. She was asking if SGA would be willing to make something and take charge of that part.

9. Adjournment

a. Becca made motion

b. John seconded

c. Motion passed.