I. Call to Order Michael (9:05)
II. Roll Call/Prayer
Present: Benjamin Bergey, Michael Spory, Janelle Freed, Sarah Beck, William Morris, Dan Sigmans, Todd Hooley, James Souder, Katie Landis, Darian Harnish, Peyton Erb, Matt Dean, Gabe Brunk, Nels Akerson, Mariah Elliott, Hannah Wenger, Amin Laboriel, Heidi Bauman Vi Dutcher, Ken L. Nafziger
Absent: Amy Springer
III. Approval of Minutes
Motion 10112010-1 to approve the minutes: Janelle
Second: Amin
Motion passed
IV. Announcements
a. Lunch with the Board – Nov. 12: Michael shared that the lunch with the board is this Friday at 12:30. Senators are encouraged to come!
b. Justice Summit – Nov. 13: Michael shared that the Justice Summit is this Saturday from 1:00-6:00 at EMU. This is a great opportunity so everyone should go—just make sure to sign-up!
c. Faculty Forum – Nov. 16: Peyton shared that the Faculty Forum is next Tuesday from 9:00-10:00. There are five participating faculty members; make sure to bring questions for faculty to answer! There will be snacks.
V. Committee Reporting
a. Undergraduate Council : Janelle shared that Undergraduate Council consists of all the department chairs and the dean of undergraduate students. Human Resources came to ask department chairs for suggestions for a seminar coming up. They also dropped one class that was very similar to another class and added a practicum to the language and literature program. The council also discussed protocol for who to tell when the class is going on a field trip and what to do when a field trip extends past the class’s allotted time.
b. Writing: Peyton shared that they reviewed a survey sent out to students regarding the writing resources they use. They also discussed the number of hits the writing website gets. They discussed “Turn it In” and the pros and cons to this program; they wanted to bring the question of how to introduce this program to the students. Some senators felt a powerpoint tutorial that students can access online would be helpful; others thought it should be done during advising week. Others thought it should be brought up in all classes, not just writing-intensive classes, so students can be clear on what the program is. Most senators felt that students wouldn’t react negatively to this program; there may be initial backlash but after a little time, most students won’t care.
c. Cross-Cultural Committee: Nels shared that the committee chose the four trips for Summer 2012: Ecuador/Peru, Honduras, Korea, Quebec. This number is down from the usual five because many freshman signed up as being interested in semester-long cross-culturals.
d. QEP: James shared that the QEP is trying to spread their movement through the EMU community (VMRC, EMHS, A Bowl of Good, etc.) and ways to do this. They also talked about ways to incorporate sustainability into various classes/cross-culturals at EMU. Another topic discussed was the operational outcomes; each department needs to come up with ways to implement some type of change that applies to the QEP.
VI. Old Business
a. SGA Email Statement: Michael passed around a statement for IS that Darian put together as a response to our discussion about excessive e-mails from last week’s meeting. The first paragraph describes why we as an SGA feel this is an issue; the second paragraph proposes suggestions for what could be done to resolve this issue. As of right now, we think the best place to send this is IS and see if they can implement some sort of policy/guidelines regarding the number of all-student e-mails.
Motion 10112010-2 to support the draft of the SGA statement concerning all-student e-mails: Nels
Second: James
Motion passed 17-0-1
VII. New Business
a. ZOOperstars Request: Ben shared that Phil Guengerich approached him on Monday to discuss the possibility of getting ZOOperstars, an entertainment group that performs at big games, to come to an EMU game. They are coming to JMU on November 30 and Phil contacted them about the possibility of coming to EMU the day before or after; they are willing to come to our December 1 men’s basketball game (against Hampden-Sydney) for the VERY low price of $1500. At the moment, CAC has committed $300, Athletic Department has committed $300, Marketing has committed $300-500, and an anonymous donor has committed $200 bringing our total amount to $1100. We showed a clip of their performance: it was hilarious. The exec committee feels like this falls in line with our goal of drumming up school spirit; this is a great opportunity that is really rare for a D-III college. Many senators were excited about this possibility; we think this is awesome and would be a really neat thing to see at a basketball game. We love ZOOperstars!
Motion 10112010-3 to approve $400 to bring ZOOperstars to EMU: Darian
Second: Nels
Motion passed
VIII. Open Floor
-Matt and Sarah shared that they met with Dave King earlier today in regards to teaming up with the Athletic Department to get t-shirts to toss out at games. While we originally thought we would do this for the larger home games, Dave wanted to see this done at every home game. If we throw out roughly 5 t-shirts at men’s and women’s basketball games, 3 per game at men’s volleyball games, and a few per baseball and softball game, we’re going to need roughly 144 t-shirts. Dave offered $900 from the Athletic Department; this partnered with our $100 brings a total of $1000 to buy t-shirts to toss out to students. Michael is in the process of creating a simple design; we now need someone interested in creating a cool way to toss these shirts out at games. For this, Nels has a launcher. Sweet. One suggestion was to do something in conjunction with the pep band. We also talked to the EMU Bookstore about getting a few items to give away at major games; we need suggestions for things to give away at games. Senators suggested waterbottles, travel mugs, cinch sacks, keychains, t-shirts, stuffed animals, and CG gift certificates.
-Ben shared that every December there is a Monday chapel for Christmas carols; this is in lieu of a Christmas hymn sing. Before that time, on the steps of Lehman Auditorium, people are asked to pre-carol to set the mood. This year, SGA has been asked to sing these pre-chapel carols. There were mixed reactions about this; however, most senators felt that this was a good, fun opportunity. This will take place on December 13. Holler.
-Ben shared that this Monday, they’re “flipping the switch” for the new solar panels at 1:30 on the first floor of the Campus Center. Everyone should come!
IX. Adjournment
Motion 10112010-4 to adjourn: Dan
Second: Darian
Motion passed
Meeting adjourned (9:56)
smb 11/10/10