THE STUDENT SENATE OF THE STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA WILMINGTON 71 th SESSION:

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1 Call to Order Pledge of Allegiance Opening Roll Call Absent Ammons Farris Fink Goerke Hodges Kent Ormeno Schutte Webb Winslow Late Adams Martin Open Podium Approval of Minutes Minutes November 20, 2017 Senator Smith moves to approve Senator Haigh seconds Motion passes SENATE AGENDA Tuesday, November 28, 2017 UNCW Azalea Coast Room, Fisher University Union Guest Speakers Dr. Jose Sartarelli Chancellor -UNCW started with only 200 some students in 1947; today we have expanded immensely. -Currently at almost 16,500 students today -Our SAT scores have improved tremendously -We have the third highest graduation rate in the UNC school system; only behind UNC and NCSU -Number 1 in the UNC system for undergraduate degree efficiency -This past year we brought in about 1900 transfer students who we value greatly -Key metrics for the university is to attract/retain students, educate/advance research, enable/place, organize/engage, fund/build -We are the fasting growing university in the UNC system -UNCW has a large number of military students and was just ranked 40 th best university in the entire country for military students -Honors students have increased in the past couple of years and have a very high SAT average -Our diversity numbers have increased in the past decade; however, we acknowledge that we have still have a lot of work to do as a university to become more diverse

2 -For 4-year, 5-year, and 6-year graduation rates, UNCW is above the average of not only the UNC school system average but the national average -Have approved a number of undergraduate, graduate, masters programs that will be available within the year; several more are in the works to be approved -Over 3,000 students participate in undergraduate research while at UNCW and over 1,000 participate in study abroad -UNCW has grown in the STEM category 40% since 2010 and 173% in health sciences -Goal is to increase engagement in numerous university organizations such as CIE, OLLI, athletics -Moved up to the 14 th best regional university in the south -Many plans in the works for facilities to be built in the upcoming years -Right now the university has $125 million for building plans such as three new dorms, Allied Health building -Currently the softball complex, administrative annex, and track and field renovations are in progress -The Allied Health Building will be breaking ground in January 2018 and this is where the health sciences will be moving -Priority list for funding requests: Science Building (STEM), Randall Library renovation/expansion, Cameron Hall expansion, Dobo Hall modernization, and Kenan Hall expansion -Plans for new dorms will hopefully add 1300 new beds for on-campus housing -UNCW receives the second to least appropriation per headcount when it comes to government funding; we are not happy about this and want to improve this drastically -Enrollment goals include increasing the number of low-income enrollments and rural enrollments -We want politicians to invest money to increase enrollment growth and fund building plans Questions Senator Chiffriller: Why isn t the library the number one priority on the funding priority list? Why is a new STEM building ahead of the library? -The five buildings on the funding priority list are not actually in competition with each other. They are all important priorities on the list so it is not that a STEM building is above the library in priority. Randall Library is an easy sell to people because it is easy to acknowledge that it needs to be expanded due to the large increase in student enrollment since the last expansion of the library in the 1980s. Senator Benison: Could you expand on the opportunities for undergraduate research? -Applied learning for students is really to make sure that students have the opportunity to apply their theories to real life. For example, in political science one might take their knowledge of surveys into practice by carrying out sample size research. Undergraduate professors carry out research and then work with students who want to participate in the research. Senator Williams: With all the new buildings that are being planned, how do you plan on ensuring the safety of students while navigating around the construction sites? -We plan on making sure that there are plenty of police security monitoring these areas particularly at night. I will make sure to speak with our Chief of Police to ensure that these areas will be kept safe and are monitored well in order to keep students safe not only during these construction times but year-round. Senator Ferimer: How do you balance quantity versus quality with professors during these times of enrollment growth? -When we request money due to enrollment growth, we ask for this money for three reasons: faculty support, student support, and library support. In the past, this money has not always been allocated correctly but we are making sure that it is allocated appropriately currently. We always want to make sure that that quality is not hindered.

3 Mr. John Scherer General Counsel -Office of the General Counsel is here as a resource not a roadblock -We try to be very proactive when problems arise rather than get involved at the tail end of the problem -We get involved in pretty much every aspect of the campus whether that be through contracts within varying departments, personnel matters amongst faculty and staff, student issues, or student safety -There is a great variety in representing a university and it has been the most interesting job -Happy to talk about free speech rights and issues surrounding this topic -We are deeply committed to freedom of expression on this campus; however, we are also deeply committed to treating people with dignity and respect -The Seahawk Respect Compact is an expression of our values as a community within our university. While it is not something that you have the right to enforce, you do have the right to say what your values are and your beliefs in the respect compact -The incident in Charlottesville is something that we hope does not happen here in Wilmington but if it does we are prepared for it and are deeply committed to making sure that we both honor freedom of expression and also not put up with shenanigans. -The university has policies that allows certain people to come to certain places on campus through the use of a permit and promote their free speech -There are certain restrictions on things, but we do have to allow free speech -Student organizations can sponsor certain people or politicians to come speak on campus -To prevent incidents such as Charlottesville, we do not allow any protests to carry weapons, torches, wearing masks, etc Senator Lewis: What are the policies in regards to incidents that occurred last year during election season where there were some racist remarks made? -Chalking policies have restrictions to where things can be written, but essentially students have the right to free speech during their chalking. If something is written that is a direct threat to an individual s personal safety or accuses an individual of inappropriate and incorrect comments, it should be directly reported to the university. You also have the right to chalk back by chalking next to or over the remarks. Senator Haigh: How would you differentiate between free speech and hate speech? -The Supreme Court has never defined hate speech, so in case law hate speech does not exist. However, if someone makes a direct threat against someone s sexuality, race, etc. than that is not allowed. Hate crime is different than hate speech. Hate crime must have an underlying crime take place to be considered a hate crime. For example, if someone punches someone on campus it is an assault. If someone punches someone on campus specifically because they are an LGBT student, then that is a hate crime. Senator Guadalupe: Could hate speech be considered as defamation or slander against someone? -Slander and defamation has to be proven in a court of law which is difficult to prove. Hate speech and slander may not always be one in the same in each incident but there is the potential to be overlap. Chief of Staff Daye: Going back to chalking, what is the justification that a few years ago Black Lives Matter chalkings were power-washed over the next day but yet hateful speech during election season last year was kept on the sidewalks? -The power-washing incident took place during a scheduled cleaning session due to commencement being the following day so it was not intentional that the chalkings were erased.

4 Senator Brethen: What is our current relationship with FIRE? -FIRE has made recommendations to different policies over the years. They have worked with our university personally many times on many different topics so it is always useful to have input from them as an organization. Senate Appointments Reports Ottillie Mensah Student Body President -The inner-faith prayer and meditation room is something that we as SGA will be supporting. If you would like to sign the declaration of support as an individual senator, feel free to. -Would like to acknowledge the senators who are leaving us this semester; Taylor Ferimer will be graduating in December. Rachel, Carter, and Justin will be studying abroad next semester. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to SGA. Austin Spivey Student Body Vice President BriAuna Daye Chief of Staff Alex Pauls Treasurer Kara Johnson Director of Communication Ashley George Director of Diversity and Inclusion Nolan Dunagan Interim Director of Marketing -The t-shirt needs to be approved for the Teal Game coming up in January. Elizabeth Brethen Senate President Pro-Tempore -Internal Affairs will briefly meet for five minutes after this meeting. Meredith Lewis Senior Class President; Sustainability Chair -Spring elections are coming up so I need two more on-body members for the elections board. Alexis Landrum Student Services Chair Megan Walters Campus Services Chair Rachel Kowadlo, Ebony Ormeno Academic Affairs Chair -Recharge It Randall is in the works and we will be presenting a bill for funding Taylor Ferimer External Affairs Chair -RHA is doing a spaghetti dinner in front of Randall library on Friday 6-8pm in support of hurricane relief. Please come out and donate money to the relief and get a plate of spaghetti. Malia Benison Shared Governance Chair

5 Old Business New Business Appropriations Bill Senator Khanna moves to approve Senator Love seconds Motion passes; 30 approve, 0 oppose, 0 abstentions Bill Senator Kowadlo: Academic Affairs committee is requesting funding in this bill for the event Recharge It Randall. Senator Tillett moves to approve Senator Guadalupe seconds Motion passes; 29 approve, 0 oppose, 1 abstention Meeting Time Change Vice President Spivey: I will entertain a motion to change the weekly senate meeting time to 6:30pm effective in January when the new semester begins. Any questions? Pro Tempore Brethen: What will be the policy for senators who will not be able to make a new meeting time in the spring semester? President Mensah: If senators are not able to make the new time, they can still remain as an off-body member for the committies. Senator Khanna moves to approve Senator Guadalupe seconds Motion passes; 26 oppose; 0 oppose; 2 abstentions Announcements Advisor Reports Jon Kapell, Ed.D. Director for Campus Activities & Involvement -UNCWeekends is hosting a Mingle and Jingle/Cookies with Cops program this coming Friday, December 1 st from 9pm to 1am on the second floor of the Hub. Free arts and crafts combined with cookie decorating alongside UNCW police. -The exam crams will be taking place in the Hub now that Wag Out is no longer in existence. Nicole Fedders Assistant Director for Campus Activities & Involvement -Good luck on exams and look forward to seeing you next year! Adjournment