November 04 Minutes

I. Call to Order Benjamin (9:06)

II. Roll Call/Prayer Brent prayed

Present: Benjamin Bergey, Janelle Freed, Brent Beachy, Sarah Beck, Giles Eanes, Karissa Sauder, Drew Kirk, Will Morris, Brendon Derstine, Gabe Brunk, Sara Derstine, Hans , Darian Harnish, Katie Landis, Heidi Bauman, Amy Springer, Ken L. Nafziger

Absent: Peyton Erb, Larisa Zehr, Vi Dutcher

III. Approval of Minutes

Motion 20091104-1 to approve the minutes: Karissa

Second: Giles

Motion passed unanimously

IV. Announcements

a. Later next meeting- Ben announced that the meeting next week will be at 9:30 due to Tim Jost speaking. Also remember not to unlock the inside of the SGA door in the office when you have your office hours.

V. Committee Reporting

a. Commons Council—Brent

Brent reported that the council is looking into adding more bike racks on campus, particularly covered ones around the woods. A few minor changes would include putting a sign up for the theater and a possible speed bump on campus. Also, they are considering putting computers in the Den where the condiments are and were wondering what SGA thought about this. Most senators thought this would be an okay idea if there is the demand for it.

b. Writing Committee—Katie

The writing committee is mostly concerned with academic integrity and they are also going to have a late-night tutoring the week before finals for students to go to.

VI. Old Business

a. Student Fees discussion/proposals

Heidi talked to CG’s events manager Charise Garber and she said that reducing managers is something that is not really possible due to the amount of work the managers have to do. Also, she suggested instead of making barista’s pay for items, they would only get one free item per shift instead of two. Sarah commented that many work study jobs do not offer free food so it is not unreasonable to ask baristas and managers to pay a reduced price when working. Drew liked the idea of adding work study jobs; however, Ken said that we can’t always control how many work study students we have. Particularly with managers, it often works better to get qualified workers who are not work study eligible. Sarah also suggested possibly having a system where there are not that many customers, perhaps send a worker home or something to reduce the amount of people there working when they are not needed.

Darian discussed the option of raising student fees for everyone, even seniors, so everyone pays a little for the yearbook. There could still be an opt-out option. Ben said that the Exec committee also talked about this by adding $10 to the student fee per semester ($60) which would mean there would be a substantial amount of money to allocate to the Shen and Common Grounds. Another possibility is opening up an account for students in Common Grounds. For next semester, we could possibly take $7500 out of our rollover budget to give to CG and request a match of that amount from the University to give CG a total of $15,000. Ken could tell the President’s Cabinet that the students are putting in half and ask the cabinet to respond to this.

Giles reported back on other schools and their student fees and got results anywhere from $25 to $600 with the majority having well over $100 a year. Most fees were much higher than EMU’s. Common Grounds managers Matt Ropp and Rachel Kolb were present and were still unsure of the exact number that CG needs for next semester but they could let us know by next week. By next week we will also have a number from Andrew Jenner about the amount needed for the Shen as well.

Katie also brought up that one possibility may be to move the WeatherVane to an online newspaper which would save money that could be allocated elsewhere.

VII. New Business

a. Student Lecture Series (SLS)

i. Review bill

Ben passed around the SLS bill and discussed the purpose of SLS.

ii. Speaker options

Gabe is the SGA rep on the Lectureship committee and said that the committee already has some names and ideas for speakers. They are working hard to make it appealing for students. Ken requested that Gabe bring in the list they came up with for speakers for the SLS. Gabe would like to discuss this more next week; the committee is also interested in getting more student involvement in deciding who the speakers are.

Motion 20091104-2 to approve the bill: Will

Second: Karissa

Motion passed unanimously

VIII. Open Floor

a- Will brought up that Multicultural Services and SGA are sponsoring the D.O.R.D. and he will be sending out an e-mail for volunteer positions for next week so we can be involved in this event.

b- Karissa shared that SGA is also co-sponsoring the Tim Jost event on health care in CG next Wednesday and she might be asking for our help with publicity.

c- Jessica Sarriot brought a funding request for Students for Morally Responsible Investment in Palestine. They want to build a mock “wall” on campus to raise awareness of the issue of the wall in Palestine and the checkpoint situation there.

Motion 20091104-3 to approve the request of funding their purchases up to a total of $125 to build the wall: Darian

Second: Will

Motion passed unanimously

IX. Adjournment

Motion 20091104-4 to adjourn: Drew

Second: Katie

Motion passed unanimously

Meeting adjourned (10:12)