Student Government Association Senate Friday September 3, 2015 Session Minutes I. Call to Order a. The meeting was called to order at 2:02 pm. II. Roll Call a. There were 7 out of 7 senators present, we meet quorum. III. Approval of the Minutes a. Minutes are approved with 0 corrections. IV. Communications and Announcements a. Senators i. Early: Hi everyone, I am the secretary for UNOTube and next week, on Tuesday in the Quad from 12:30 to 2:30, we will be having time capsule video. In two years, we will post that video as a Throwback Thursday. Also, SAC will be showing Jurassic World at the AMP. ii. Senator Early served as parliamentarian. iii. Aucoin: I did meet with Patrick William and the robots club, and we will be working with them on writing a bill. The American Society of Civil Engineers will start recycling in the engineering building. b. Non-Senators V. Presiding Officer Communications and Announcements a. Presiding Willis report. My report is really long. I would like to remind y all about not using laptops during the meetings. We have five bills coming up today. I would like to give a shout out to our Pro Tempore, Teresa Fleming, for being a sponsor on all of the bills. I should get an email, text, or visit dying to write a bill from everyone. We have many people coming up for appointments today. There is more to having appointments now. I will be sending out all the appointees resumes. There is a flow chart that Charles made about the new constitution. Until we have quorum in our committees, it can t work that way. We have the rules and procedures to be voted on. No matter how big or small the changes they can happen. I wrote the first half by Charles, and Teresa, myself and I wrote the second half. I would like more eyes on it than just me. So please review it. VI. President Pro Tempore and Committee Reports a. President Pro Tempore b. Committee Reports i. Governance
VII. ii. Rules iii. Finance iv. Student Affairs and Information Executive Reports, Judicial Reports, Advisor Reports a. President i. Ballard: It is good to see all of y all again! I have done a lot in these two weeks. I went to the university council meeting, and they discuss the stake of the university and what is going on. I learned about enrollment numbers, Beneville hall, etc. I do have minutes from the meeting that are written up if you want them, I can email them to you. The new UVC budget committee will be starting up on September 14. That will be a much smaller committee compared to before so a lot more will get done. The big university news of the week was President Fos resignation and in the search to replace him will be much sooner than January 31 st. I am currently lobbying for seats on the committee to replace him. Also, I will be at COSP this weekend in Baton Rouge. I am working on a T-shirt swap to raise awareness about our Blues on Tues. I am trying to get us to wear more UNO attire. On another note, I need everyone to recruit! I am excited about the number of appointments. IDS seats are filled, and if by November 13 th, if y all can have 50 people here in the senate, I am going to do something awesome for y all. If you have a suggestion of what you want, let me know. In order to properly govern, we need more than 20 people making decisions. Get people in these seats. Also, we have a Swampball team if you want to play on it. ii. Aucoin: Since T-shirt swap is during Homecoming what time of the year is that? iii. Ballard: January. b. Vice President i. Lambert: How is everyone doing? For the senators, y all probably have gotten some shared documents. We have them on one drive and UNO drive we are going to get them on UNO website. Went to university council meeting and the faculty senate meeting. The faculty is required to come up with own rubric for some teachers are suitable for the next semester. College of Liberal Arts Dean search going on right now. The UL system has some proposals for some departments being changed into schools underneath the college itself. The art and film department could be getting change and the College of Education could be under the College of Liberal Arts. The new dean wouldn t take office until next year at the earliest, and President Fos has assured us to try and lobby for us to have a voice in the new president search. We are starting a graduate student
council for a representative body for graduate students at UNO. We have asked all deans to give us recommendations to fill members in the council. c. Vice President of Programming i. Callahan: I am the president of SAC. I am going to go over some events we have had and will be having. On Wednesday August 26- Sex Signals (65 students), general body meeting August 31 st (25 students), Thursdays, Eboard meetings at 4:30. The upcoming events Jurassic world Tuesday 9pm in AMP and it is free, Slice on 9/11 a service day on campus, general body meeting on 14 th at 4:30, Wednesday September 21, Cultural Conversation. ii. Aucoin: What is the stand on the events y all do? iii. Callahan: They are all open to students, faculty and staff. They are open to the community so we don t check IDs. Some events have small budgets some have larger or no budgets. The only strict rule we enforce is that there is no outside alcohol. iv. Aucoin: Is there some means or email or suggestion box for students who have ideas who don t have the time for SAC? v. Callahan: Send us an email and we have a Facebook, or if they come Monday to general body meeting they can talk about it there. We are totally open to ideas. d. Judicial e. Advisors i. Sipe: A few things to cover, a reminder when writing bills that the organization is registered with SIL s office. Getting money from SGA and privateer council will be involved when the numbers are there. Joy mentioned Homecoming and Olivia is over the programming department of that. SAC also funds everything for Homecoming. It would be great to see the SGA to participate in that school spirit during that week. Just think of ways that you are small but mighty, but that won t last for long. Homecoming is January 24-30 th. Please feel free to pop by the office if you have any ideas for Homecoming. New news in the office, we hired a new Clerk of Court, Tyran Strahan, and a new Office Manager, Melvin. You will see those new faces in the office next week. There were two new computers for in the SGA office. One is just for the senators to use in the office. ii. Aucoin: Who is in charge of SGA webpage? The new changes look very good. iii. Sipe: I am. I did say if you see anything wrong on the webpage, send me what is wrong via email.
VIII. IX. iv. Willis: Senators will have a computer in there to work on SGA stuff not to do homework. Old Business New Business a. Rules and Procedures Tabled until next meeting b. SGA Recruitment Event i. Introduction: 1. Schantz: This bill is a proposal to allocated in order to sponsor a recruitment event outside the library breezeway to hand out scantrons and light refreshments, and people will be able to ask about questions SGA. This will allow students to be aware of SGA. 2. Early: Is this the same free scantrons as the ones posted on the door in SGA? 3. Sipe: This is not double dipping. ii. Tabled to next meeting. c. IDS 40 th Anniversary Gala i. Aucoin served as temporary Pro Tempore. ii. Introduction: 1. Fleming: This is to allocated money for IDS Gala at The Cove, on November 17 th. from 6-9pm. Everyone is invited to it. This is a great way for people to come together in IDS and to hear from the Alumni, current students, and faculty from before and after. This is to just celebrate 40 years of IDS. The UNO Alumni association will be there. It is a very big event. iii. Tabled to next meeting. d. Driftwood i. Introduction: 1. Bravender: This bill is to allocate money for equipment to make driftwood more accessible to social media. 2. Ballard: I don t have a vote on this until it comes to my desk, but before it comes to my desk, I think it would be please consult with UNOTube to have a joint meeting where you sit down together before we spend all this money. I would like to attempt to see if there can be some sharing. Can y all do that? 3. Fleming: Yes. 4. Willis: There has been communication before the two but we have been shut down, but we will try again. 5. Early: Can anyone tell me whom you talked to in UNOTube? 6. Fleming: We can talk about this after.
ii. Tabled to next meeting. e. Swampball i. Schantz served as temporary Parliamentarian. ii. Molly Whittington Swampball Co Chair, Gina secretary for Ambassador iii. Introduction: 1. Fleming: This is a bill to help pay for Swampball. 2. Molly: Swampball is an annual event put on by UNO Ambassadors. We are only doing it only in the fall now. We have a big pit in the quad, and we fill them with water and then it becomes a mud volleyball tournament. Anyone over the age of 16 is welcomed to play. We have Aramark provide food, snowballs, and Monster comes out. iv. Tabled to next meeting f. IDS Furniture i. Introduction: 1. Fleming: This bill is to allocate money to provide furniture for the IDS Student Resource Center. This was already voted on and passed for last semester. The money has already been voted on to go there and the spending freeze exemption got declined once it got to Business Affairs. ii. Questioning: 1. Aucoin: Was anything different changed to this? 2. Fleming: I used the same bill changed sponsors, accounts, and updated the prices. 3. Willis: Joy and Josh went to talked to LaJana and Dr. Kemper and I think they are going to talk to Lassen about this too. It is our money so they can t deny it. 4. Sipe: At the time, it was the declined when the Jefferson Center was handing out the furniture around campus, and so it was a miscommunication at his office. Because the Jefferson Center is not on sale anymore so that s the reason it can t be denied anymore. 5. Bravender: What is the condition of the IDS lounge? 6. Fleming: It is not suitable to spend a lot of time there to study. If you want to come look at it afterwards we can. iii. Tabled to next meeting X. Nominations and Appointments a. Senate i. T. Logan Chilton, College of Engineering
a. Chilton: I am from Mobile, Alabama and I went to high school in Texas, spent my first year of college at a naval academy. I did a couple of years at Texas A&M. I just wanted to finish my degree in Naval Architecture, and so I transferred here and this is my first semester at UNO. I really wanted to get involved. I have been on both the leadership and student side of SGA, both in college and the naval academy and Texas A&M. I have good perspectives on coming up with a lot of different things to get students involved. 2. Initial debate: Against 3. Initial debate: for a. Aucoin: I met with him on several occasions and he will definitely be a great asset to the senate. b. Schantz: I also met and spoken with him outside of meetings. I think he is a great candidate to be a senator. 4. Open forum: 5. Final debate: Against 6. Final debate: For 7. Roll call vote: 6 yes 0 no 1 abstention. He is appointed. ii. Keydra Jones, College of IDS a. Jones: Hi, I am Keydra Jones, I am a sophomore, and I am in the College of IDS. I am involved in Leadership Cabinet and last semester I was involved in Emerging Leaders. I want to join SGA because I think it would be a great opportunity to see how the student government and also the government in general. I have a concentration in legal students and want to learn more. b. Schantz: How many hours do you spend on campus? Jones: I live on campus. 2. Initial debate: Against 3. Initial debate: For a. Early: I personally know her. She is very strong willed and very interest in getting into SGA. She went trough Emerging Leaders and she her come out with great leadership skills. I think we should vote her into the senate. 4. Open forum: 5. Final debate: Against
6. Final debate: For 7. Roll call vote: 6 yes 0 no 1 abstention. She is appointed. iii. William Odom, College of Engineering a. Odom: I spent last 12 years in Marine Corp or contractor. I moved here three months ago and I am studying engineering. 2. Questioning: a. Bravender: What way do you feel you can contribute to SGA? b. Odom: I see things outside of the box. I have the mindset to listen, observe, and this is what I can bring to table. c. Schantz: Do you have previous experience in SG? If so, what things have you done? Odom: I did sit on the SGA in Houston. They have a different structure. I filled in a vice chair for chair with dean of Engineering. 3. Initial debate: Against 4. Initial debate: For a. Schantz: I believe he would be an excellent addition, and I think he would be a valuable addition. He has great ideas and it would be a great to have another great idea person. b. Dave: Odom is awesome, and he is super motivated and dedicated. 5. Open forum: 6. Final debate: Against 7. Final debate: For 8. Roll call vote: 6 yes 0 no 1 abstention. He is appointed iv. Quintarius Queen, College of Business Administration a. Queen: I am a freshman, and my major is Business Administration. I plan on using that degree and going to law school and then get into the political field. I love Student Government, and have been trying to get involved because I have in high school. I was a part of the SG and student council. I am also a UNO track member 2. Questioning: 3. Early: did you do anything in student government that went towards your actual school? 4. Queen: We didn t do too much of that, it wasn t a financial thing.
5. Initial debate: Against 6. Initial debate: For a. Sipe: I spoke with him at the athletics orientation and came into the office to follow up with executives. He had a lot of thought into it, and I really have a lot of respect for that. 7. Open forum: 8. Final debate: Against 9. Final debate: For 10. Roll call vote: 6 yes 0 no 1 abstention. He is appointed v. Jacob Schlinder, College of Engineering a. Schlinder: I am a senior Electrical and Mechanical Engineering student. The reason why I want to get involved Student Government is to develop my leadership and communication skills and to contribute to the university. I think we need to help out the university and students here as a whole. I did a lot of project management, different organization things. I helped organized some events. So, I think I can contribute to senate as a whole. 2. Questioning: a. Willis: What was your first choice for committee? Schlinder: Finance. 3. Initial debate: Against 4. Initial debate: For a. Aucoin: I knew him for the last couple of years. Always one of the more active students in engineering. 5. Open forum: 6. Final debate: Against 7. Final debate: For 8. Roll call vote: 6 yes 0 no 1 abstention. He is appointed b. Slate for committees i. Schantz Rules, Bravender finance, Early Student Affairs and Information, Schlinder Finance, Odom Governance, Jones Student Affairs, Queens Governance, Chilton Student Affairs and Information. 1. Roll call vote: 7 yes 0 no 0 abstention. Everyone is on those committees 2. Bravender Chair of Finance a. Roll call vote: 7 yes 0 no 0 abstention. He is appointed to Chair of Finance.
3. Early head of information sub committee within Student Affairs and Information. a. Roll call vote: 7 yes 0 no 0 abstention. She is appointed. 4. Schantz Vice Chair of Rules a. Roll call vote: 7 yes 0 no 0 abstention. He is appointed. c. Presidential Appointments i. Liliana Harrison, Justice a. Harrison: I am advertising management for The Driftwood. I am in the honors program. I do Dress for Success off campus, I am in the youth group in my church. 2. Questioning: a. Bravender: What other qualifications do you have in a judicial way for SGA or Student council? b. Harrison: As advertising manager of Driftwood, I give my best to everything. c. Schantz: Why the Supreme Court? d. Harrison: I will try my best to understand everyone s perspectives. e. Aucoin: Have you read the new constitution yet? f. Harrison: I read the part about the justices, but I have not read the new constitution. 3. Initial debate: Against 4. Initial debate: For a. Early: I have not formally met her, but I heard she is very good at getting things done and keeping things on track. I am very happy she is here. 5. Open forum: a. Ballard: I am for her. As for other judicial nominations, and I met with Darius and I think it would be a great addition. They have not met quorum. She seems very great to fit the job. 6. Final debate: Against 7. Final debate: For 8. Roll call vote: 6 yes 0 no 1 abstention. She is appointed. ii. Saul Faal, Justice
a. Ballard: He is not able to be here at this time, but this will not keep him from fulfilling the duties as a justice. He is a Ph.D. Political Science student. He went to Dillard for undergraduate. He got his master s from Howard. He is very educated and smart guy. He is always jumping to help. He has also talked to Darius. He is familiar with duties. 2. Questioning: a. Bravender: What other qualities does he have? b. Ballard: Other than being a Political Science, I can t speak if he has any other qualifications. c. Lambert: His brother is a United Nation lawyer, and his dad works for The World Bank. 3. Initial debate: Against 4. Initial debate: For 5. Open forum: 6. Final debate: Against 7. Final debate: For 8. Roll call vote: 6 yes 0 no 1 abstention. He is appointed. iii. Davis Caron, Justice 2. Caron: I am a transfer from LA Tech, I was vey involved there. I was on Union Board (SAC here), I served on several different committees that helped the student body. I am also a member of Phi Kappa Phi fraternity where I served on the Standards Board, which is very similar to Supreme Court. We review the constitution, bills are passed through us, and conduct of members is handled within us. I was an executive board VP in high school. 3. Questioning: 4. Initial debate: Against 5. Initial debate: For a. Chenevert: He really wants to join SGA! 6. Open forum: 7. Final debate: Against 8. Final debate: For 9. Roll call vote: 6 yes 0 no 1 abstention. He is appointed iv. Shynitra Lyons, Chief of Staff a. Lyons: I am from Deridder, Louisiana. I am a Physics major. I am very goal oriented, and I am getting involved on campus because I was very involved in high school.
XI. 2. Questioning: a. Early: When you were president of these clubs, how did handle everything? b. Lyons: I am very organized, and being that I was president I was able to assign other task to people. For a lot of the clubs, I just took on the task myself. 3. Initial debate: Against 4. Initial debate: For a. Aucoin: Since this position is in the president s office. I see no reason to deny her appointment. 5. Open forum: a. Ballard: She has been trying to get involved since day 1. She is really excited. She is already working on projects for me. She wants to be involved. She always wants to do something. She will be a great tool in our staff. 6. Final debate: Against 7. Final debate: For 8. Roll call vote: 6 yes 0 no 1 abstention. She is appointed. Open Forum a. Willis: I know that I am being mean about asking people to sit down after talking, but we do that because we can be here forever. If you are going to proxy, talk to your proxy and see what they want to vote on. To the people who are recommending senators for people, I have 10-15 applications for appointments; there are about 8 who haven t turned in a few things. They didn t get appointed today because their application isn t complete. I want leaders in the senate. We redid the appointment forms. It all gets turned in together. b. Early: Our numbers are low in our department, we are trying to up our recruitment process in the music department. We are setting up social media pages so we can get the music department known on campus. c. Willis: I started a Facebook group of who has been voted in a position or elected. I don t have everyone on Facebook. Find me on Facebook and we will add you to group. It is unofficial business. It is just for stuff to help us bond. d. Fleming: IDS has all senators filled, so I just sent out an email introducing Jessica and I and letting them know that we have a IDS Senators office so people can come and talk to senators about concerns and whatnot. If you want me to forward you the email, and have Joy look at it, and it can be helpful for recruiting. e. Chilton: I have gotten one email about SGA, and I think we can be more visible and it will be easy. There are news flyers or emails sending out and we are practically invisible. f. Willis: We really encourage senators to email their departments.
XII. g. Ballard: I don t think we are invisible. I have worked hard so we wouldn t be. We do have email access now to the entire student body, and we haven t used it yet because we just got access. If you want flyers made and want things done. Welcome to senate and lets go and do it. We all do this, and I am not pointing fingers. If you want something done go do it. Follow the email policy get them approved by me. h. Aucoin: I was the one who had that out. i. Early: Every week someone post that we have a meeting in this room on the SGA s Facebook there information is there. It s up to us now. j. Willis: All new people, except justices, stay after to get sworn in. Adjournment a. 3:36pm.