EMU SGA

Motion 13042011-4 to adjourn: Will

Second: Dan

Motion passed

Meeting adjourned (10:06)

smb 04/13/11

1. I. Call to Order Ben (9:05)
2. II. Roll Call/Prayer Heidi prayed

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

Absent: Amin Laboriel, Vi Dutcher, Ken L. Nafziger

1. III. Approval of Minutes

Motion 06042011-1 to approve the minutes with a few minor changes: Janelle

Second: Matt

Motion passed

1. IV. Announcements
   1. a. Late Night Breakfast-April 27, 10pm: SGA helps serve the food at this event so be aware that this is coming up.
   2. b. SGA door: The door is sometimes left open, which is something to be aware of.  The latch doesn’t always catch so just check to make sure it’s latched closed before you leave!
2. V. Committee Reports

a. Cross-Cultural Committee: Will shared that they shared updates from the current trips, all of which are doing very well.  Nels also shared that they discussed a re-entry program for the cross-culturals; the proposal is to provide an optional re-entry program (1 credit) that would help you apply the knowledge you gained to your life back in the US.  It would also be a time that could help you re-adjust to life in the States again.  This could potentially be something all the cross-culturals do together or it could be different for each trip.  Nels asked for discussion from the senate as to whether we thought this was a good idea.  Many felt that it had potential but concerns were cost and time.  One suggestion was to incorporate it into senior seminar somehow.

b. Writing Committee: Hannah W. shared that the committee discussed writing standards for undergraduate level.  They tried to condense the standards to make it more reader-friendly.

1. VI. Old Business
   1. a. Faculty Forum: Hannah W. shared that they got a confirmation from Mark Sawin and they have the description written down and Common Grounds reserved on April 18 at 8:00 pm.  She inquired whether or not the committee had funding for snacks; funding is in place for coffee and snacks!  This is going to be a great event!
2. VII. New Business
   1. a. Constitutional amendments: Ben brought proposed additions to the SGA Constitution to the senate.  Proposed additions included an additional Exec member (Vice President for Marketing) and a description of the duties that the position would have.  In addition, a proposed point in Article III, Section 2, B incorporated the carrying out of SGA’s strategic plan and future revisions necessary for that plan.  Other than a few grammatical changes, there were no major issues with either proposal.

Motion 06042011-2 to approve the proposed amendments with said grammatical changes: Janelle

Second: Matt

Motion passed unanimously

1. VIII. Open Floor

-Michael shared that a student brought up an idea to have a ticking TV showing announcements from student organizations rather than just putting little slips of paper in campus mail.  Some senators thought that wasn’t very economically friendly; others thought perhaps we could have a whiteboard, e-mail, etc. to get the same idea.  Future Exec members were encouraged to look at this and keep this as an idea for the fall retreat.

-Will told senators to talk to leaders of PPHS and Celebration to bring in their folders to get funding!  Bug them! They need this to get funding!

-We discussed SGA folders and bringing them in to meetings.  Also, remember to take your things with you at the end of meeting—a lot of things are getting left behind!

1. IX. Adjournment

Motion 06042011-3 to adjourn: Janelle

Second: Matt

Motion passed

Meeting adjourned (9:45)

smb 04/06/11

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

Present: Michael Spory, Janelle Freed, Sarah Beck, Brittney Wenger, Laci Gautsche, Courtney Walker, Matt Dean, Todd Hooley, Amin Laboriel, Lars Akerson, Erika Babikow, Alli Eanes, Hannah Wenger, Hannah Schrock, Will Morris, Ben Bergey, Heidi Bauman, Ken L. Nafziger

Absent: Amy Springer, Dan Sigmans

1. III.      Approval of Minutes

Motion 30032011-1 to approve the minutes: Matt

Second: Janelle

Motion passed

1. IV.      Announcements

-None this week!

1. V.      Committee Reporting

a. Strategic Planning Council: Ken shared that SPC talked about how EMU can take leadership as

being the university of choice for a globally-oriented Christian university.  They are striving to be

“A Christian university like no other” where students learn to serve and lead in a global context.  Another thing they discussed was data collection and comparing EMU to 20 different schools.  EMU has a very low student-faculty ratio (10:1) when compared to peers and aspirational peers.

1. VI.      New Business
   1. Funding Request – Earthkeepers: Katie Jantzen spoke to the senate about an Earthkeepers request for funding for 10 students (with two students on the waiting list) to attend the PowerShift Conference held in Washington D.C. on April 15-17.  The conference is bringing young adults together for grassroots organizational training in leadership skills focusing on clean energy and how young people can have the power to move towards a clean energy economy in the context of environmental and social justice.  They will also have the opportunity to learn about the down sides of “dirty” energy.  The conference is $65 per person to register and $30 per person for lodging for a total of $950.  Earthkeepers is hoping to raise money to fund transportation and food for this conference.  They sent out an all-campus e-mail and got three interested students outside of Earthkeepers who wanted to attend; after the conference they hope to share what they’ve learned with the EMU community by writing up an article in the WeatherVane.  After Katie left, senators expressed concerns for the large amount of money requested.  There was agreement that this is a worthy conference and we want to support the students going; however, it is not unreasonable to expect students to have to pay a small portion of the cost to attend something like that.  Will shared that our budget is in very good shape at this point in the year so we do have the funding in place to provide the necessary money to Earthkeepers.  Some discussion ensued with whether SGA should pay the full amount of the conference fees or just pay registration fees and have those wanting to attend pay some out of pocket.

Motion 30032011-2 to approve the full cost of registration and lodging ($950) for these students to attend the PowerShift Conference: Hannah S.

Second: Alli

Motion passed

1. SGA Budget: Will shared the recommended SGA budget for the 2011-2012 school year.  He went through each club and the requested/recommended allocations. The biggest change in requested amounts and what we’d like to allocate was with YPCA; they requested $8,000 and we decided to allocate $6,000 and encourage them to try to find Y-trips that don’t require such high transportation costs.  In the case of a student-initiated Y-Trip, YPCA can also come back to SGA with an additional funding request.  YPCA also helps with scholarships and other activities around campus.  Another concern was the large amount of money given to Common Grounds; however, that is a valuable center of student activity and would not be sustainable on its own.  We therefore feel it is a worthy place for our money.

Motion 30032011-3 to approve the recommended 2011-2012 budget as presented to the senate: Sarah

Second: Janelle

Motion passed 17-0-1

1. VII.      Open Floor

-Hannah W. and Alli shared that 3 of the 4 professors (Jeanne Horst, Tom Joyner, Lynn Mackey) have agreed to participate in the faculty forum on April 18^th at 8:00 in Common Grounds.  They are going to ask the 4^th professor tomorrow and once they have a final word from him they will begin advertising the event.  A special thank you to Hannah and Alli for working on this and setting it up!

-Michael shared that he and Ben shared with the Board of Trustees last weekend and shared our strategic plan with them.  They were very affirmative of our work and appreciated all that we have done this year!

-Alli shared that she got an e-mail from Brian Martin Burkholder as part of the Lectureship committee; he was wondering about possible suggestions for speakers for the Student Lecture Series for next year.  Go to Alli with any ideas!

1. VIII.      Adjournment

Motion 30032011-4 to adjourn: Janelle

Second: Hannah S.

Motion passed

Meeting adjourned (10:06)

smb 03/30/11

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

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

Absent: Hannah Wenger, Ken L. Nafziger

1. III.      Approval of Minutes

Amy noted that there was a discrepancy with the name of the committee Beth Aracena asked SGA to report back to; we were just to give Beth herself the feedback.

Motion 23032011 to approve the minutes with said changes: Dan

Second: Janelle

Motion passed

1. IV.      Announcements
   1. SGA Dinner, Monday, 3/28, 5pm: The dinner will be at Loren’s house.  Dress nice!  We will meet at 4:50 outside the Commons
   2. Commons Volunteer reminder: The Board is coming this weekend and this Saturday is the dedication of the Commons Phase II. Reminders were given to those who volunteered to help out.  Wear your SGA t-shirts!
2. V.      Old Business

a. AVAIL website:  Ben asked for feedback on AVAIL; some senators found that their

search results didn’t bring many options.  Someone mentioned that searching under the

tags listed proved to be more helpful.  Senators thought there were a lot of neat links in other outside organizations which was cool.  It was also stated that the fact that the organizations listed how frequently help was needed was helpful.  Most found it to be a fairly intuitive site!

b. T-shirt toss volunteers: Volunteers are needed to toss t-shirts at the final volleyball

games; Amin and Sarah will toss at tomorrow’s game at 7:00 and Hannah S. offered to

toss them at Saturday’s game at 2:00.

c. SGASP: Ben and Michael brought the revised SGA Strategic Plan (SGASP) to the

senate for review.  This plan includes four goals for the next three years and each goal

has several objectives necessary to reach the goal. Discussion ensued on point A-1 which

discusses the establishment of clear and specific documents to outline role

responsibilities and tips from previous members; Janelle felt that there should be more of

an ongoing date written in so future exec members would be more obligated to continue

to revise their documents.  Most felt that this was not something to put in an actual

strategic plan because technically, we can’t be positive that future exec would follow

through.  We decided something could be written in the actual document to show that this

process should continue to be ongoing so the role responsibilities and tips can be updated

in the future.  When discussing B-3, which discusses encouraging student initiatives, it

was mentioned that this was very vaguely written and it might be a good idea to include

more specific examples (the Idea Drive, etc.).  Other small discussions involved small

grammatical changes and where the document should go from here (perhaps Ken L.

Nafziger will have suggestions about that implementation and appropriate paths to take).

Senators were reminded that the SGASP is a continuously-working, revisable document

that future SGA’s will be able to revise at the end of their terms.

Motion 23032011-2 to approve the SGASP as the senate’s working plan with said changes: Dan

Second: Todd

Motion passed

1. VI.      New Business
2. VII.      Open Floor
3. VIII.      Adjournment

Motion 23032011-3 to adjourn:

Second:

Motion passed

Meeting adjourned (9:54)

smb 03/23/11

I. Call to Order Michael (9:06)

II. Roll Call/Prayer Janelle prayed

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

Absent: Todd Hooley, Brittney Wenger

III. Approval of Minutes

Motion 16032011-1 to approve the minutes: Hannah S.

Second: Hannah W.

Motion passed

IV. Announcements

a. SGA Dinner at Loren’s: March 28^th (Monday) is the scheduled night for the SGA dinner at Loren Swartzentruber’s house so mark your calendars! We will probably meet in the Commons to carpool/walk (weather permitting).

b. Exec elections petitions: Encourage people to run!

V. Committee Reporting

a. Information Systems: Erika shared that they are putting wireless and SMARTBoards in the Science Center  (!!!) and they are also adding a new system in Martin House.

b. Undergraduate Council: Janelle shared that Stephanie Bush shared how to educate students on how to become more literate when it comes to researching credible sources.  In addition, they talked about enrollment and the goal of reaching 1,000 undergraduate students by 2014.  Also, by 2012 all the VCRs on campus will be gone. Sad day.

c. Safety Committee: Laci shared that the committee talked about putting chemicals used online so students can see them, fire inspections and drills, potential lockdown drills, and the e-panic button.  This button would be a key on every computer that would send an emergency distress signal.

VI. Old Business

VII. New Business

a. Beth Aracena shared that one of her jobs is to help promote community learning and EMU is moving to an online platform for service learning.  She is hoping everyone in the university will jump on board with this new program.  She shared that AVAIL is a project being launched in Virginia; this is a centralized database for all online service learning.  This program would allow students and staff to search for various service agencies/opportunities; these agencies can put all their contact information and available opportunities for students into this database.  This database also keeps track of total logged hours that EMU students have spent serving.  Beth asked the SGA senators to log in to this database and try it out to give her feedback on this system.  She is also looking at ways to broadcast this opportunity to the students and is open to any and all suggestions.  One senator suggested making this a requirement for community learning classes, which the committee is already trying to organize.  Professors could also show the website to their community learning classes to make students aware of its capabilities.  Another suggestion was to have a “service day” type launching party in the fall where students can learn about this website and its opportunities.  Another suggestion was to add a tab to myEMU so students can quickly and easily access the database.  Some suggested organizations who would probably be interested in partnering with this database would be ResLife and YPCA.

b. Calling and Career Day: Beth Aracena and Jennifer Litwiller came in to discuss finding a new name for “Calling and Career Day.”  They are looking for a different name that fits the situation and wanted a brainstorm.  Ideas thrown around: beyond, next steps, life, vocation, finding vocation, “making life real,” “inspiration day,” “Career and Service Fair” etc.  Some senators also thought that “Calling and Career Day” was an appropriate title for the event that takes place.

c. Concert Feedback and Ideas: Doug Wandersee came in to get feedback on the Joshua Radin concert and to get new ideas for future concerts.  He believes that it’s important to survey the campus early to get an idea of potential acts that students would like to see since it takes several months to negotiate the contracts.  He passed around the concert budget and CAC actually came out approximately $300 ahead which is wonderful!  He shared that 1 out of 3 EMU students attended which is a really great percentage.  He feels that this was a great opportunity for EMU to continue to do in future years; however, he suggested having a larger-scale concert like that every-other year and in the years in between the concert money could be spread out into smaller acts to provide a larger variety of options for students.  Several senators agreed that this would be a good idea; others felt that the bigger name brings in more students so smaller concerts may not be as well attended.  Doug felt that a concert series over a period of years could build good repertoire with students and could eventually gather more student support and be better attended.

VIII. Open Floor

-New computer in the SGA office!!! Very exciting!

-Make sure and sign-in to the AVAIL system to check it out and we’ll discuss thoughts next week.

-Hannah W. and Alli shared that they are looking at April 18, the Monday before Easter Break, for the faculty forum.  Current suggestions are Mark Sawin and Jerry Holsopple and Mike the security guy.  This could become a Faculty and Staff Forum to include the staff members.

IX. Adjournment

Motion 16032011-3 to adjourn: Janelle

Second: Matt

Motion passed

Meeting adjourned (10:09)

smb 03/16/11

I. Call to Order Michael (9:04)

II. Roll Call/Prayer Ben praued

Present: Benjamin Bergey, Michael Spory, Janelle Freed, Sarah Beck, Hannah Wenger, Matt Dean, Todd Hooley, Dan Sigmans, Erika Babikow, Courtney Walker, Hannah Schrock, Nels Akerson, Heidi Bauman, Vi Dutcher, Amy Springer, Ken L. Nafziger

Absent: Laci Gautsche, Alli Eanes, Will Morris, Brittney Wenger, Amin Laboriel

III. Approval of Minutes

Motion 02032011-1 to approve the minutes: Janelle

Second: Matt

Motion passed unanimously

IV. Announcements

a. T-shirts: The SGA shirts for the new senators have finally come in! Please pick up your t-shirts in the SGA office.

b. Commons Phase 2 Grand Opening: The Grand Opening of the new Common Grounds addition is the weekend of March 25-26; volunteers are needed to help out with various parts of this opening (welcoming guests, handing out programs, monitoring refreshments, etc.).  A sign-up sheet went around for senators to sign up for times to help volunteer for this.

c. Executive Petitions and Elections: Feel free to take a petition for SGA Exec for next year; elections will be in the second week back from Spring Break.

V. Old Business

a. Faculty Forum: Hannah W. shared that she and Alli will be meeting this week to discuss

finalizing a date for this forum to take place and she will keep us posted.

VI. New Business

a. SGA Strategic Plan: Ben and Michael shared a proposed Strategic Plan in working document form for the SGA for the next three years (through 2014).  This plan included goals and objectives for the SGA in order to focus our energies and foci; the Exec has already previewed and revised this plan and desires feedback from senators.  Goals included increasing sustainability and efficiency of SGA roles and transitions, developing useful networks among SGAs, equipping leaders to serve and lead more efficiently and effectively, and establishing a Student Center where involved departments and clubs can be in closer proximity.  Discussion pertained mostly to various clarifications with wording of goals, parties responsible for the goals, launch dates, and specific purposes of goals.  Senators were also encouraged to think about possible goals/objectives to add to this plan; one senator brought up possibly finding a way to increase and encourage student initiative.  It was decided that this fit in nicely with goal C, which discusses finding ways to equip leaders.  The next step with this process is finalizing our Strategic Plan for next year and then finding a place in the SGA Constitution for a Strategic Plan that can be reviewed/revised at the end of each year.

b. Student Lecture Series suggestions: Michael shared SLS is where the Lectureship committee tries to bring in speakers to campus; last year we spent part of our budget for the SLS to use for this year’s Attachment Conference.  Michael was looking for speaker suggestions for next year’s SLS.  Suggestions by senators were Francis Chan, Calvin College’s January Series (for options of speakers), and Francis Collins.  Amy also brought up that it would be a good idea to talk to department chairs to get ideas for speakers who might be interesting to bring to EMU.

c. Finance Committee: Michael asked for volunteers to serve on the finance committee to approve budgets; this commitment would most likely be only one meeting.  Interested senators should contact Ben or Michael.

VII. Open Floor

-Nels shared that the Cross-Cultural approved the trips for 2013-2014, shared updates from the current trips, discussed sustainability for cross-culturals, brought in new advisors, discussed a new tool used for students to submit cross-cultural reflections.  They also discussed an Attachment Conference seminar focusing on cross-cultural attachments which will be VERY interesting!

-Vi shared that Brittney is the senator serving on the Writing Committee and is no longer able to attend the meetings at 12:40 on Mondays; if anyone can fill in that spot please let her know!  Hannah Wenger agreed to help serve on this

VIII. Adjournment

Motion 02032011-2 to adjourn: Matt

Second: Hannah W.

Motion approved

Meeting adjourned 10:03

smb 03/02/11

I. Call to Order Ben (9:05)

II. Roll Call/Prayer Janelle prayed

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

Absent: Courtney Walker, Ken L. Nafziger

III. Approval of Minutes

Motion 23022011-1 to approve the minutes: Heidi

Second: Nels

Motion passed

IV. Announcements

a. Maplewood Move: Please come on FRIDAY from 1:00-7:00 p.m. to help residents move into their new dorm!

b. Exec elections schedule: Ben shared that the petitions will be going out very soon and will be due the Monday, March 21^st; the elections will then take place on Wednesday March 23^rd.  Every position will be open since the current Exec is entirely composed of graduating seniors; we encourage all the current senators to consider running for a position they are interested in!  We also open up our Exec meetings to any senator interested in sitting in on a meeting to see how the Exec works.

V. Committee Reporting

a. Strategic Planning Council (SPC): Michael shared that this committee is where the administrators at EMU look at the university’s strategic plan and long-range goals.  Some of the goals discussed were looking at having more sustainable buildings in the future (currently Cedarwood, Maplewood, and Elmwood, when finished, are lead-certified), and becoming a “Christian University of Choice” and what that means for our future.

VI. Old Business

VII. New Business

a. Gamer option from IS: Ben shared that Jack Rutt, the IS director, had gotten feedback that students had been complaining that they are unable to play certain online games (mostly World of Warcraft) due to the blocks that EMU puts up to block person-to-person games, which allow file-to-file sharing.  WOW is not a player-to-player game and thus, should be able to be played by students.  Jack has obtained a program where this block can be lifted; however, to use it will cost any interested students a $25 player fee and a $100 deposit that is fully refundable if the student does not use any player-to-player games.  He wanted to come to SGA to see what we think of this proposed contract for all interested students (whom he will also be contacting separately).  General senator feedback was that this system seems fair and we support this contract.

b. Idea for minutes in the future: The Exec proposed a new method of reviewing/passing minutes.  At this point, Sarah reads all the minutes aloud at each meeting; under the proposed changes, Ben and Michael will send out the minutes as usual and senators will be expected to read them in preparation for the weekly meeting.  Sarah will then just read any old business that will come up in the current meeting and the minutes will be voted on.  The minutes will be sent out by Tuesday night so senators have time to read them.  Senators agreed that this was a more effective and time-saving method of minutes so this will be implemented next week!

VIII. Open Floor

-Michael brought up the possibility of sponsoring a Spirit Bus to the ODAC tournament this weekend in Salem. Dave King in athletics is giving away 100 free tickets to students; one suggestion was to talk to him about how many students have come to get free tickets.  Another option is to pass a preliminary motion to rent out an EMU van for any interested students; if there is not enough interest we can always not rent the van.  Renting the van would be about $150 and two vans would be $300.  One issue we would find would be a lack of available drivers since the driver must be 25 and trained.  General senator feedback wasn’t super enthusiastic about the van; we mostly felt that students would find their own rides but we think it’s a good idea to have an option for any students wanting to go who don’t currently have a ride.

Motion 23022011-2 to approve necessary funding for a Spirit Van contingent on finding a driver and a minimum of six interested students: Janelle

Second: Amin

Motion passed unanimously

-Vi shared that she and Ben Beachey had two workshops last week for any faculty members concerned with “Turn it In;” there were not many faculty members in attendance so they took that to mean there are not many faculty issues with this program.  She has also been trying to get student feedback on the program which has mostly been positive; students don’t seem to mind having to turn in their papers to this program.  She asked senators to come to her with any positive or negative feedback we hear from students.

-Todd shared that he heard from a student that t-shirt tosses (or other items) could happen at other non-athletic events such as music or theater events to try to get more student interest in those events.

IX. Adjournment

Motion 23022011-3 to adjourn: Janelle

Second: Alli

Motion passed

Meeting adjourned (9:41)

smb 02/23/11

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