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 28th (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