Xavier University Student Government Association
Student Senate Meeting Minutes
August 29, 2011
I. Call to Order: Legislative Vice President, Ricardo Martinez (3:00) p.m.
II. Roll Call: Senator Albin Unexcused
III. Prayer: Given by Father Kennealy
IV. Approval of minutes: 4-11-11 minutes were approved without change
V. Public Forum
Taylor Mauro: Sustainability Club
Bike XU would appreciate support from SGA/ 20 bikes ready to go
Ricky Narsinghani
Running for Senate vacancy
Owen Rush: TXTBOX
Wants to recognized as student run business
Kevin Tighe: Newswire
Introduction
VI. Report of the Administration
None
VII. Opinion Entry
Nick Albin
Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed the summer and that you are excited to dive into the fall 2011 semester.
I would like to inform you that I will be running about 45 minutes late to the Senate Meetings this semester due to an academic class conflict that has recently arisen. This class is a requirement that counts toward my major is only offered during this time for the semester. I have worked closely with my advisor and the business program to explore if there are any other alternatives I could pursue, but unfortunately this is the only option I have been permitted to undertake. I have spoken with Senate Coordinator McMorran last week in regard to this issue.
With that being said, I would like to state my promise to you and the students of Xavier University that I will continue to perform at a high level as a Senator and keep you posted on my projects, initiatives, and committee work. This opportunity to serve the students is a privilege and an honor and I will be sure to contribute all of my best efforts forward with you to bring out the best in our association and our University.
If you have any questions, please let me know. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with any of you personally about this matter.
Ryan Martin
Senate, I wanted to talk to you today because I feel during the first month of my term and our term as a senate together we did not do justice to the students of Xavier University and our own legislative body. I am surprised and a little disappointed on how a couple of events took place during this time. We have did two unconstitutional acts, which include the online vote and not voting for the appointments of the president for the Student Director of Diversity, the Student Rights Representative and the Jesuit Catholic Identity Representative. I have read the constitution a couple of times during the summer and I realized that we did not abide to Article IV section 2b. “No votes taken outside of a meeting shall be official.” The presidential appointments that we originally voted on were important but if we did not get these voted on during the meeting then we either should have called a special meeting or waited to vote on these, but it is our duty to follow the constitution. The other issue that I saw is that the senate is required to vote on the appointments by the president of the SDOD as well as the Student Rights Representative and Jesuit Catholic Identity representative. I appreciate that consultation took place but it is necessary that we follow the constitution which states in Article IV section 3b. “The Senate may approve or not approve all appointments, nominations, and contracts with individual students or student organizations proposed by the Association President or SAC.” I want to set a precedent of following the constitution and I am hoping that the rest of this senate will follow along with this lead. I hope we act with leadership on this issue of following the constitution that our predecessors set in front of us.
Senator Geiser: What would be your recommended course of action? Hold special meeting or move vote up in time.
Senator Roveda: What now? Can’t do anything now, act differently in the future
Senator Geiser: Fill out motion form?
Johari Idusuyi
Leaving early
Zach Alberti
Not Emailed
Jimmy Geiser
Not Emailed
VIII. Scheduled Business
IX. New Business
Motion #12-016
Sponsor: Senator Jimmy Geiser
Move for open executive session for the presentation of TXTBOX
(Initial Questions)
(Debate & Discussion)
Debate Ended
Passed
Motion #12-017
Sponsor: Senator Joe Colack
Move to suspend Chapter VII
(Initial Questions)
(Debate & Discussion)
Debate Ended
Passed
Motion #12-018
Sponsor: Senator Zach Aliberti
Move to accept TXTBOX as an officially recognized student business
(Initial Questions)
(Debate & Discussion)
Debate Ended
Passed
X. Standing Committee Reports
Association Affairs, Senator Walsh
Few updates on summer work:
· We research 15 years’ worth of SGA History
· We created an SGA Alumni Group on FaceBook
· We put together a draft email for the Alumni Center to mail to all SGA alum
· We benchmarked other colleges Elections Codes
· I reached out to Nate Fischer, BOE Chair and Ian Tanner, New Res Complex HD to discuss how Elections will be handled in the New Res Complex
Plans for the coming weeks:
· Continue SGA History Research
· Draft a Newsletter for SGA Alumni
· Create a timeline for our Elections Code revision
· Update everyone on the Fischer-Tanner Meeting
Financial Affairs Committee, Senator Bousson
Welcome back, and now for a few words about FAC! Before the summer began Jimmy and I listed our goals for before and during summer, and I am happy to say that most of them have been completed. We emailed every club their budget before recapture, and later in the summer we emailed them all again that their allocation was available and we let them know their final balances. Also, some other progress for FAC is that the Special Request Fund Application is now online, with a Terms and Agreements page, and we also get notified of any club’s submission, which makes things more organized and easier to keep track of. Although there is no longer a Common Hour, we will still try and get clubs to meet us during our meetings from 1:30-2:30 on Mondays, so keep that in mind. We will be working shortly on getting video tutorials on how to fill out the Special Request Fund on OrgSync, so if anyone thinks that they would be of help in that area, please let us and Lydia know! Now that the budget process is over for now, and our Special Request promo was handed out at Club Day today, we will now be working on sharpening our knowledge of the criteria upon which we approve Special Request funding, in order for us all to be on the same page- we will be doing the same for the overall Budget Allocation process as well. We believe that it is very important that we hold all clubs to the same standards, and we are going to do our best to make sure this goal is met.
Finally, today we met with Unified for UNIFAT as our first Special Request submission! They requested $1,600.00, but we were not in a unanimous decision because it did appear in their initial budget. The result was 5 to 2. It will be proposed in the SAC meeting on Wednesday.
Senator Roveda: Looking at clubs based on need? Don’t usually; try to base decision on moral obligation
Club Relations, Senator Greene
Club Relations has been very busy this summer. Going into the break we had three main goals: revise the new club activation process, revise the club points systems, and organize Club Day. Our biggest task has been focused on club activation. At this point we’re focused fine-tuning what we want to include in the policy. We are still committed to having an eight-week window during fall semester and a six-week window during spring semester for clubs to approach Club Relations to be an official club. The reason for the windows is to prevent incidents as seen during last semester in which Club Relations is forced to propose chapter 7 to approve them or force these groups to wait until the following semester.
Club Points has been slightly revised. The values of Club Points have been re-assessed including a minimum club point threshold all clubs are required to meet. Due to the fact that suggesting penalties for failure to meet the threshold is new, we will only be administering warning to clubs this year. Also, there is still a financial incentive for the top three point getters.
Club Day took place today. The tables arrived today on time and Club Day went pretty smoothly. Physical plant assisted us in set up and was worried about messing up the sod on the new Greenspace, but it turned out fine. Overall, Club Day was very successful and the largest one we’ve had at Xavier. Please let myself or the committee know if you have any questions!
Community Affairs, Senator Aliberti
3 Themes and 4 Goals
Theme One: Increasing Communication & Collaboration
Goal 1: Increase engagement between University & Community through building relationships and creating partnerships
Partners: University - Community; Community - Student; Neighbor – Student, Committee Councils, Hosting Block Parties, etc.
Goal 2: Establish an effective form of communication among On-Campus resources and partners (as listed above).
i.e. Expand our ‘Circle of Influence’
Theme Two: Addressing Off-Campus Issues
Goal 3: Make recommendations to unite/share resources between University—Community toward a place based (Evanston, Norwood, and Xavier) concentration of Xavier’s engaged/service community.
Theme Three: Living the Mission & Jesuit Ideals
Goal 4: Identify how the University mission and Jesuit ideals inform our relationships, responsibilities, and expectations with and in its neighboring communities.
i.e. Men & Women for and with others, To See Great Wonders, “Magis,” “Cura-personalis,” “Seeing God in all things,” “For the greater glory of God”
Potential Partners Document & University/Community Social Organization Chart are drafted
CAC’s Plan
Information Campaign
· Develop a profile or information packet on Norwood, Avondale, Evanston (off-campus) and Clubs and Administrative Bodies (on-campus).
· Determine the agent agrees with their profile.
· Make this profile accessible through digital and physical mediums for the University-Community.
Survey/Fact Checking
· Develop a Survey to determine the University-Community Social Organization from the perspective of the agent (vs. the diagram above).
· Collect results and revise organizational structure accordingly.
· Make a summary available for each agent involved.
Increasing Communication and Collaboration
· Determine an effective medium of communication among On-Campus and Off-Campus entities.
- OrgSync?
- Blog, etc.
Keeping the Relationships Alive
· CAC must stay vigilant for potential recruits all year long.
· This entails recruiting volunteers and student leaders to attend community functions so that relationships are not based upon one individuals work but a collective identity of peoples.
Senate Coordinator McMorran: Send out PPT to all members.
Student Life, Senator Geiser
Not Emailed
XI. Special Committee Reports
XII. Project Reports
Nick Albin
I hope you had a productive summer with your Senate endeavors. It was surely a busy one for me. Here is what I had the opportunity to work on:
To begin the summer, I was selected to attend the National Student Jesuit Leadership Conference (NJSLC) at Loyola University Chicago. I submitted an application to present at one of the leadership sessions for students representing Jesuit colleges and Universities across the nation. My application was approved and I presented to a group of over 30 students for 50 minutes about “Modern Ignatian Leadership: Discovering Your Purpose through the Jesuit Experience.” The focal point of the presentation was about the five Gifts of Our Ignatian Heritage, a model created by the Mission & Identity Team in 2009 with the purpose for students to discover who they are through the Jesuit tradition. I received great feedback from the conference attendees and I believe it was successful overall. Not only was it an opportunity to present on a topic I am passionate about, but it served as a chance to further develop my public speaking and presentation skills. I would like to thank Dustin, President Alleman, and Senate Coordinator McMorran for their assistance during the summer as I prepared my presentation. Additionally, I would like to thank Mr. Joe Shadle and the Office of Mission & Identity for providing me with print resources for about the Ignatian Gifts which I distributed to the students after my session as further reading.
During the summer months, I also continued the SGA Leadership Book Club, an initiative started by Senator Christopher Jolly Hale (Class of 2011). With a group of eight students (representatives from the Executives, Senate, and SAC), we read leadership articles to work on our personal and professional development as leaders of Xavier University. During each assignment, we read over the article and wrote on a discussion board in a facebook group. I was responsible for finding the readings and supplying questions to begin discussion. Some of the topics we discussed included time management, goal setting, and team work. From what I gathered, the participants enjoyed the opportunity to work on analyzing and growing in their leadership over the summer.
In addition to these two initiatives, I have also been hard at work for my project “To See Great Wonders Week.” Scheduled for the week of September 19-23, To See Great Wonders Week is comprised of programs, events, and socials that educate the Xavier community on the Jesuit heritage, Xavier tradition, and University mission. During the week, students will have an opportunity to attend sessions to breathe in and grow in greater appreciation for Xavier. I have also drafted a business plan with more details for potential presentation topics, marketing ideas, financial details, and the overall purpose of the project. It is my hope that this project will become an annual event and continue to occur in the future. Currently, I am in contact with the presenters and have scheduled meeting times to address any questions they have. I also have met with SAC Publicity Chair, Annette Frac to work on promotion and designing a logo for the week.
For committee work, I also participated in phone and e-mail discussions with the SGA Logo Committee headed by AVP Gerlach and with Senator Aliberti for Community Affairs. I believe there will be more information to come on the work of these committees during Committee and Executive Reports.
I look forward to working with you and keeping you posted this semester on all of my Senate projects and initiatives,
Zach Aliberti
I, Zach Aliberti, have completed my summer project. I am certified with the Cincinnati police department as a citizen on patrol for the community of Evanston - per the request of the Evanston community council.
My new senate project will be to identify an effective, efficient, and convenient medium for dialogue and project/resource planning - Orgsync is a possible solution.