ASLCSC Senate Meeting Minutes

January 31, 2006

Ninth Senate

 

Call to order

The meeting was called to order at 4:32 p.m.

 

Roll Call

Present: Senators Bybee, Hanson, Johnson, Mewes, Ojeda, Rawson, Riggers, Sherpa, Smith. President Racich, Vice-President Ambriz, Media Relations Director Rohde, Committees Director Bloomsburg, Chief Justice Allen.

Audience: Ron Smith, Ernie Williams, Brandon Lytle, Senate Secretary Myndie VanHorn.

 

Approval of Minutes:

Motion to approve minutes of January 24, 2006, Senator Riggers, second Senator Sherpa. Motion for friendly amendment Senator Rawson. Under approval of the minutes need to add January 17, 2006. Second Senator Smith. Friendly approved unanimously. Minutes approved 8 Yes, 0 No, 1 Abstention Senator Smith.

 

Student Government Advisor

■          Ernie Williams- Reminder of Thursday evening at 5 p.m. Activity Center West Mezzanine, the Warrior Athletic Association is sponsoring a hot dog / hamburger BBQ free for students. Encouraging people to come to the game that night.

 

Student Activities Coordinator

■          Brandon Lytle- went over the upcoming Intramurals activities. Tonight at 7 p.m. open gym in the Activity Center West gymnasium, tomorrow at noon Ping-Pong Tournament. Also tomorrow, Dodge-Ball registration deadline is 5 p.m. Tomorrow Roller-skating at the Rollaway at 6:30. Texas Hold-Em at 7 p.m. in the SUB. Friday noon basketball, Activity Center West Gym. 5 p.m. Friday is the deadline for Indoor Soccer and Basketball League. Friday the 3rd is the first bowling night of the semester from 8 p.m. to midnight. Free to all students, unlimited games. The open gym on the 5th of February has been cancelled due to the Super Bowl.

 

LCSC Administration Communications

■          Ron Smith- Quick update on the campus master plan. Sent out this morning to student government members, Senator Riggers and Chief Justice Allen. First draft, asking for input from Student Government.

 

Executive Communications

■          President Racich- Let everyone know how Higher Education Week went last week. President Thomas did a “very fine job at addressing JFAC she received an extremely good response from the Legislators. I was very pleased to note that Dean Cameron who is co-chair of the JFAC Committee remarked on enjoying hearing her presentations, he felt that they were to the point, succinct, informative. Very good questions were asked of her, her report was very complete; she went to bat for everybody on this campus. Administration, as well as students as well as faculty, not one portion of this campus was left out of her address. It was a real treat to see what took place. She received more accolades and more respect out of JFAC than I think any other college or institution that was represented. And I think that goes a long way for us and I just wanted to let this body know that.” Reported that even though she was the lone student representative the Administration treated her well while she was there. “All in all I think it was a pretty decent trip.” Informed the Senate that Governor Kempthorne did not put the Activity Center occupancy costs into his address which was a little disappointing but hopefully the legislature will be able to “open up their hearts and their pocketbooks a little bit to LC and give us a hand, so we’re hoping for that.”

■          Vice-President Ambriz- Nothing.

■          Media Relations- Nothing.

■          Director of Committees- thank you for using the whiteboard for meetings. Congratulations to the Legacy Committee for being the first to get their policies and procedures approved. Also congratulations to Diversity for having theirs on the table tonight. Will be talking to Chief Justice Allen, a few of the committees have misplaced their rulings from Judicial and he will need to get those rulings from Chief Justice Allen.

 

Judicial Communications

■          Chief Justice Allen- “The Judicial Branch is still shut down as per there is no quorum.” Will be looking over the Campus Master Plan that he received from Ron Smith. The election is proceeding on schedule. Election packets will be on Myndie’s desk in the ASLCSC office.

 

Committee Reports

Finance: Vice-President Ambriz reported that they had met before the meeting today, there was confusion regarding the meeting and the Finance Committee will be meeting again after this meeting to catch those up who missed the earlier meeting.

Book Exchange: Senator Bybee, reported there was nothing to report.

Diversity: Senator Mewes reported that they discussed what they did last semester. Goals that need to be completed. Discussed things that need to be completed this semester. Brandon advised that the Diversity committee should check with the SPB to see if there are any events that they can collaborate on. Senator Sherpa asked that they meet after this meeting to discuss meeting times for the Committee.

Directors Council: Senator Smith reported that the Council met today. Some information may be repetition from previous reports.

à The Office of New Student Recruiting is getting ready for travel that they usually do in the spring for recruiting. They are also trying to get the rest of the students who are past the deadline to turn in paperwork for the SD107 classes and giving them another opportunity to turn those in; otherwise they will receive a failing grade for that class.

à Student Support Services: TRIO days is March 3. Registrars: they are still moving classes around, some due to the new classrooms in Activity Center West.

à Curriculum Committee wanted him to pass on that they appreciate there being a representative from Student Government at the meetings. SD307, Coeur d’Alene’s orientation class, looks like it is going to be approved. They are looking into some Accounting and Nursing “tweaks” for the degrees.

à Petition Committee: reviewed some petitions, there was only four out of ten that were approved. Most of the unapproved were because they weren’t filled out correctly, were missing a signature or did not have pertinent information on there. Diane Johnson thought that a petition workshop may help students understand how to fill out those petitions, thought that maybe Student Government could co-sponsor the workshop. Students can be there for the hearing, students are very seldom there, it helps their cause if they are.

à Nursing students: they have so many “P” grades for their classes that many students are not eligible for the Dean’s or President’s lists. Several Nursing students have complained about this. It is a very competitive program and most that are in the Nursing program are very good students who are used to being on those lists. There is a 12 graded credit minimum to make it onto the lists. Thought that Student Government could look into that issue.

à     Financial Aid: March 1st priority deadline for scholarships and FAFSA.

à Dean of Student Services office: They have a freshman newsletter that is put out monthly. Looking for content contributions, put out an offer to Student Government that if this body would like to add anything to that it is available. August 25 will be the fall orientation, with the theme of “Students First.” Will be continuing with the faculty nominated orientation assistants. Minority Services will be in charge of the Student Services Customer Training. Will have a theme of Diversity. Native American Awareness Week will be March 13-17.

à Career and Advising Services: Career Expo at U of I, they will be offering a $5 gas reimbursement. If you go to the Expo just bring something back that shows you were there and you can get the reimbursement.

à Admissions Office: one thing they have noticed has been in the Guard Unit coming back. With them coming back there has been an increase in the veteran’s population. Steve Bussolini deals with the veterans issues on campus and advised to send any of the veterans that need assistance his way.

à CAMP: This Friday and Saturday is the Northwest Minority Internship Fair at the Red Lion Hotel.

à Also an issue that was brought to Senator Smith by Mary Wak-Wak, she was approached by a Senior Citizen who was upset that she had not been charged the Senior Citizen rate. The Senior Citizen rate is significantly less than the normal student rate. They would like to have the senior students coded that way in Datatel so that people do not fall through the cracks. This issue is being looked at. Might need to have a meeting with Kent Kinyon regarding this issue. Senator Smith would like to schedule him for a meeting to discuss this. Senator Johnson suggested that Senator Rawson take this issue to the Non-Trad Club as he knows there are several members who are seniors.

 

Old Business

None.

 

New Business

■          Senate Bill 06-S042: Funding for Washington DC travel for DC Summit.  President Racich: author, introduced the bill and advised that there are six people who like to attend the Leadership Conference. Senator Rawson stated that before there was a vote on this Bill he would like to “hash out” the three Student Government members that would be going to the Leadership Conference.

à Senator Johnson passed the gavel. Senator Johnson stated that he has a problem with the wording in Section 3 where it states “in the event that the Student Government member is appointed within the Executive Branch, that person must declare their intent to serve, verbally, to the Senate.” The reason that he has issue with that is because there “is no guarantee that the person doing to appointing is going to be in that position to do the appointing next year. So even if you wish to serve next year there’s no guarantee you will be appointed by the incoming President.” President Racich stated that the reason this was put in was in case the Media Relations Director wanted to go, she has decided against it, “that is the one person that line is referring to.” Discussion ensued regarding the fact that no one is guaranteed a position in Student Government next year.

à Senator Hanson stated that he had done some research on the Summit and one of the things that he noticed was that the Summit and the Portland Leadership Conference were similar. At this point he passed around copies of both agendas for comparison. The difference that he noticed between the two was that the Summit covered the Student Association issues more in depth than the Portland Leadership Conference did. Another issue is that if there will only be three people going to this conference there won’t be much opportunity for the Government members to partake in the various sessions. He stated that it was hard for them to go to all of the sessions that they wanted to go to when there were eight people at the Portland Leadership Conference; he stated that he thought three people were going to have an even bigger problem with that. Also stated that he had “to wonder about spending $5100 just to learn the basics of setting up a student association.” He spoke to the Administrative person at the Oregon Student Association; she has referred him to their executive director. He left a message on her voicemail, but he was told that they would help “us with anything and give us any information they can. The basic idea here is, is it worth $5100 to get information that we can get for free?” stated that he thought the Oregon Student Association was a better source for information. The reason is that the Minnesota University Student Association has been billed as a state association but it does not cover every college. It mostly covers the schools in the Minnesota State University system. It doesn’t cover the University of Minnesota which is about 70,000 people. He believes that the Oregon State Student Association is better for this group because it does cover all of the four year institutions in Oregon. He stated that he believes that “we can get the information we need without spending the $5100. Therefore I urge you to join me in voting no on Senate Bill 06-S042.”

à Senator Smith asked for clarification on what kind of contact Senator Hanson had made with the Oregon Student Association also stated that he thought Senator Hanson was making some good points.

à Senator Rawson retracted his name off of the list but said that he still thinks the Summit would be beneficial to this body. He stated he thought this conference would expose the Government members to a wider group of students. Senator Johnson stated that the Northwest Leadership Conference was a very diverse group of students.

à Senator Johnson suggested that maybe the bill should be tabled for a week.

à Committees Director Bloomsburg asked Senator Hanson if someone from the Oregon Student Association would be coming to the campus to do a workshop. Also asked if this was going to be quality information. Senator Hanson stated that he did not talk to her today but he did leave a message on her voicemail.

à Senator Smith stated that he thought it would be a good idea to have her up here for a day of workshops that more people could be involved in.

à Vice President Ambriz asked President Racich what kinds of things were on the agenda for the Summit. President Racich listed off some of the sessions. Also stated that this was a conference that Student Government members wanted to attend last year. Student Government members were supposed to put in for funding for this trip, but for some reason that did not happen. Vice President Ambriz asked what other Student Government members are going from Idaho. President Racich advised that she has not gotten a definite answer from U of I, ISU is going this year, and BSU went last year.

à Senator Sherpa stated that she will not vote $5100 for Student Government members to go to the DC Summit because the Senate only voted for $300 for Vice President Ambriz (for the Global Young Leaders Summit). She won’t vote for more than $300 a piece for the representatives to go to DC. President Racich stated that this money was set aside for this summit. Senator Sherpa responded that she will not vote for more money for Student Government members to go to DC “I won’t be discriminating.”

à Senator Smith suggested that it may be a good idea to set up a workshop session with the OSA before a State Board of Education meeting.

à Senator Hanson responded that there are a lot of ways that this body can get the information from the OSA. “There’s a lot more ways to get the information…I think that spending this money is a waste a money when we can get the same stuff a lot cheaper…we can use this money for a lot better things.”

à Senator Smith moved to table Bill 06-F042, second Senator Johnson. Discussed the reasons to table the bill. Senator Smith stated that he thinks that contact should be made with the OSA to see if we actually could get someone up to do a workshop session. Senator Riggers stated that he thought it needed to be decided who was going to DC before the bill was voted on. Senator Johnson said that he would like to go if there were people going but does not think that the money can be justified based on some of the information Senator Hanson brought forth and the information he has come up with. “But if we’re going to send somebody, yea I’d like to go. I just don’t think it’s warranted to spend the money.” Roll call vote: 5 Yes, 2 No (Mewes, Rawson), 2 Abstentions (Ojeda, Sherpa).

■          Senate Bill 06-S043: The Policies and Procedures of the ASLCSC Diversity Committee Motion to vote, Senator Rawson, second Senator Hanson. Roll call vote: 9 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions. Bill passed.  

 

Senate Information Reports

■          Senator Johnson reminded the Senate that there is a movie night “Yeleen” for the kick off of Black History Month on Wednesday. Senator Sherpa added that there will be pizza at 5:45 p.m. in MLH 100.

■          Senator Smith reminded the Senate that the Clubs and Orgs meeting will be at 12:15 in the Silverthorne.

 

Audience Time

■          Ernie Williams reminded everyone of free food Thursday. WAA sponsored.

■          Myndie reminded those who have not got their class schedules to her to do so.

 

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn Senator Johnson, second Senator Rawson. Unanimous. Meeting adjourned at 5:25 p.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted by: Myndie VanHorn

 

Table 06-S042 Roll Call Vote

Roll Call Vote

 

Y 

N

A

 

Y 

N

A

Bybee

X

 

 

Bybee

X

 

 

Hanson

X

 

 

Hanson

X

 

 

Johnson

X

 

 

Johnson

X

 

 

Mewes

 

X

 

Mewes

X

 

 

Ojeda

 

 

X 

Ojeda

X

 

 

Rawson

 

X 

 

Rawson

X

 

 

Riggers

X

 

 

Riggers

X

 

 

Sherpa

 

 

X 

Sherpa

X

 

 

Smith

X

 

 

Smith

X