Blogs @ EMU

March 30 Minutes

Minutes
  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 18th at 8:00 in Common Grounds.  They are going to ask the 4th 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