Student Senate Meeting Minutes

August 25, 2007

7:00 p.m.BelknapResearchBuilding

  1. Call to Order-7:01 p.m.
  2. Roll Call (see attendance record)
  3. Executive Cabinet Reports
  4. President Hoffman
  5. Reminds the Senate to wear their colors every Wednesday.
  6. Task force freshmen applications are due this week
  7. State of the student body is still scheduled for November
  8. Town hall forums and focus groups will happen eventually
  9. RSO space in the SAC available and applications are available.
  10. Executive agencies- Student Lobbyist Corps and Student Government Productions, and Wrap-up Louisville are all in development
  11. New funding model is under development for future years
  12. Amendments to the Constitution are on the way for next meeting
  13. No news from the Board of Trustees
  14. Executive Vice-President Brueggemann
  15. State of the University address is on 9-12 at 3:30 in Bigelow Hall and Presidents of councils can pick up their hats and flags
  16. House of Representatives will be one of the new Constitutional amendments for consideration and applications are available for interested RSOs
  17. Student Lobbyist group is being formed
  18. Academic Vice-President Flairty
  19. Recognition of Faculty liaison, Dr. Pam Feldhoff
  20. Needs people for committee appointments
  21. Academic Policy Board will be meeting 9-13 at 7:00p.m.
  22. Provost has shown interest in bringing a smoking ban to Belknap Campus
  23. Services Vice-President Spencer
  24. Welcome Weekend was a success
  25. September is Campus Safety Month, calendars are available
  26. Campus Health Services has redecorated, using students’ health fee money
  27. Miller IT Center has a new tech store
  28. Mitzi’s has been redesigned and has new food products
  29. In the SAC, new chairs and carpet are on the 1st floor and new lockers are available for $15 per semester
  30. The Red Express is no longer running and those buses were added to the Black Loop to cut down on wait time
  31. SGA Services Task Force Committee will be meeting 9-26 at 3:30 to brainstorm on how to improve U of L’s services
  32. SVP Spencer would like feedback about parking on HSC, Black Loop vs. Red Loop, food services, parking appeals, and DPS
  33. Reports of Boards and Standing Committees
  34. E-Board- EVP Kate Brueggemann
  35. Met in August and reviewed the Constitutional changes, will hear about it next meeting
  36. Academic Policy- AVPMatt Flairty
  37. Have not met yet, still needs more representatives
  38. Appropriations- Senator Luka
  39. Considered three requests and will discuss later
  40. Student Activities Board
  41. EVP Brueggemann announced that SAB is selling pins for Homecoming this year
  42. Old Business
  43. Approval of the Emergency Meeting Minutes
  44. APPROVED- Motion by President Jones, 2nd by Senator Carrier, unanimous
  45. Consideration of Executive Summer Actions
  46. Executive Board met over the summer
  47. Appropriated money to certain RSOs
  48. APPROVED- Motion by President Jones, 2nd by Senator Luka, unanimous
  49. New RSOs
  50. Association of Black Journalists- APPROVED- Motion by President Jones, 2nd by Senator Luka, unanimous
  51. Sociology Student Association- did not have representative present
  52. Passage of the 2007-2008 Senate Budget
  53. President Hoffman reminds that last year the budget was not passed, so the E Board did it over the summer
  54. Amendments to the budget
  55. Councils that spent too much money last year will lose it this year
  56. Subtraction of $10,000 from SAB because the money is no longer there
  57. Student Affairs will no longer fund Commuter Student Services
  58. Senator Luka asked for explanation of loss of $10,000 and why it was taken from SAB
  59. President Hoffman reminds Senators that last year the Senate tried to get rid of AAPF and create a diversity fund, but it failed by one vote
  60. The E Board has created a Resolution to be talked about later about the AAPF and the Diversity Fund. See Resolution Number 1
  61. The Top 4 spent a lot of time this summer considering what to do and came upon the Resolution after much debate
  62. Senator Luka asks to suspend rules to allow for appropriation requests to be heard-APPROVED, unanimous
  63. New Business
  64. Consideration of Senate Appropriations Requests
  65. Biomedical asked for $750 for travel funds and was approved
  66. National Association of Black Accountants asked for $600 for travel funds and was approved
  67. World Music Club asked for an ensemble to come to U of L but was tabled
  68. APPROVED, unanimous
  69. Consideration of 2007-2008 Budget
  70. Resolution 1- Presented by President Hoffman
  71. Makes it known that ABS has a problem with time table and rescinds their endorsement of the Resolution
  72. President Hoffman believes that it can all be resolved within 1 year and that funds can be found and should not be passed on to future SGAs.
  73. VP Jacobs asks about why the budget has gone down significantly
  74. President Hoffman explained that 2006-2007 had a lot more money, $70,000 more, so we should look at 2005-2006 as more of a benchmark
  75. Senator Luka calls for Point of order that the Senate should consider the Resolution before the Budget
  76. President Connor asks what the benefit is of getting rid of the AAPF if ABS is still guaranteed $10,000.
  77. Hoffman explains that the $10,000 in the future would not come from SGA
  78. It was asked why they are guaranteed $10,000 if other RSOs had their budgets cut
  79. President Hoffman explains that ABS is dependent and the way that it was done in last year’s Senate was unfair
  80. Senator Carrier asks why on this budget the International Fund isn’t there but the AAPF still is
  81. President Hoffman explains that the Diversity Fund won’t happen until next year and then all decisions will be done by Senate
  82. Senator Luka asked how other diverse RSOs will get money and asks if the Resolution has any legality and Hoffman says that yes, it can be overturned
  83. Senator Downs asks is ABS can still double dip into Appropriations Committee and Hoffman says yes
  84. Senator Murphy moves to table consideration of Budget until after passage of Resolution 1, 2ndby Senator Downs, unanimous
  85. Consideration of Resolution 1
  86. Senator Murphy moves to amend Resolution 1
  87. Opposed to Diversity Fund because it creates competition among RSOs
  88. Spoke to Treasurer of ABS and thinks that they should have a 5 year window so that they have opportunity to fundraise and then won’t be dependent on SGA
  89. Believes that there is a mistrust between ABS and SGAand should spend 5 years mending that
  90. Discussion
  91. VP Pfendt opposes the year 2011 deadline because SGA has such a short window and believes that it will be forgotten about
  92. Senator Downs believes in the diversity fund because there are RSOs that need the money
  93. President Barnes opposes guaranteeing funding for just one group
  94. Senator Awadallah asks if other groups actually ask for money from SGA
  95. AVP Flairty reminds that the Top 4 has tried very hard and spoken to ABS extensively and that one year will give them time to recover and that the diversity fund would address the inequality among funding
  96. Senator Ellingsworth doesn’t support Senator Murphy’s amendment because there are many types of diversity and they should be allowed to apply for the funds too
  97. Doesn’t believe that it promotes competition among RSOs and that it promotes autonomy as individual organizations
  98. Reminds that the Resolution is not binding and next years Senate will have opportunity to change it
  99. Senator DeRossett says that a year isn’t really enough time for an organization to get the funds that they need and should have a bigger window to fundraise
  100. Recognition of Demetrius Gray, Treasurer of ABS
  101. Has spoken to people (accountants, people who fundraise for U of L and market analyists) and says that ABS has decided that they need an endowment and endowments cannot be raised within just one year
  102. Senator Wallin states that institutional memory isn’t as issue because that is one of SGAs goals for this year so five years isn’t a long time
  103. Senator Foster raises a question to President of ABS, Rosie Washington, and asks if they raise money on their own now. Washington states no.
  104. VP Bajaj asks if the Diversity Fund would still have $20,000 if they manage to raise their money
  105. President Brauch reminds that any RSO can be included in the SGA budget and that ABS will have power to petition SGA for inclusion in next years budget
  106. Senator Wallin asks why theInternational Fund hasn’t been considered to move to the Diversity Fund
  107. Recognition of Rosie Washington
  108. Recognizes the problem of specialized funding and realizes that they need the endowment
  109. Reminds that the AAPF came from a struggle and wasn’t just given to ABS
  110. Senator Murphy reminds that the ABS is dependent on the funds and that if the amendment is passed unchanged, it will severely damage ABS
  111. Senator Chenna reminds that diversity is important to everyone and that other diverse student organizations deserve the right to utilize the funds
  112. Senator Downs reminds that ABS’ progress can be checked throughout the year and if possible, it could be extended. It shouldn’t be extended right now
  113. Call to vote on Senator Murphy’s Amendment to Resolution 1, 2nd by Senator Wallin
  114. DEFEATED, 29-9-1
  115. Discussion of original Resolution 1
  116. Senator Jacobs reminds that the Senate has unique perspective of voting on two budgets
  117. Senator Luka asks ifABS have to report to the Appropriations committee and President Hoffman replies no
  118. President Hoffman reminds that the Senate has the power to ask ABS how they spend their money
  119. AVPFlairty reminds that the money will simply be given to them to use at their discretion
  120. Senator Luka asks if this is a blank check for ABS and President Hoffman replies yes because they do not have to submit a budget to receive the funds
  121. Senator Moore reminds that ABS is like an appropriations committee for all of the black organizations on campus (Fraternities, sororities, CONECT, Porter, etc)
  122. President Barnes reminds that no double dipping is allowed so if a group under ABS applies for money from the Senate, it is double dipping
  123. Demetrius Gray reminds that the fund is just for programming and that appropriations can ask for the budget if they want to see it
  124. Senator Murphy has a call to question, 2ndby Senator Wallin
  125. APPROVED, Resolution 1 passes as written, unanimous
  126. Senator Downs moves to untable the budget
  127. APPROVED, budget for 2007-2008 passes unanimously
  128. Consideration of Resolution 2
  129. Senator Downs and President Brauch remind that in past, institutional memory hasn’t really existed so Resolution 2 will hold resolutions accountable
  130. Senator Awadallah asks if it will extend meeting times and Senator Downs replies no because the reports will be written
  131. Senator Wallin reminds that it encourages students to write bills on a larger scale that they can follow throughout the year
  132. Seeing no more discussion, Senator Luka motions to vote, 2nd by Senator Carrier
  133. APPROVED, unanimous
  134. Consideration of Resolution 3
  135. Speaker Kersting yields the floor to EVP
  136. Speaker Kersting wants to improve professionalism in the Senate
  137. Senator Wallin wants to clarify that guests will still be heard
  138. Kaden Jacobs reminds that because of By Laws, it is already in effect
  139. Senator Awadallah shows his support
  140. APPROVED
  141. Motion by Senator Downs, 2ndby President Jones, unanimous
  142. Consideration of Resolution 4
  143. Senator DeRossett, Senator Awadallah, and President Henshawexplain their resolution
  144. Stress that they don’t want good students to suffer because they are new to the country and new to the language
  145. Discussion
  146. Senator Luka reminds that just because someone is a non resident alien, it doesn’t mean that English isn’t their 1st language and asks if the DisabilityResourceCenter does anything about this
  147. President Henshaw replies no
  148. President Barnes agrees with Senator Luka but asks how to level out the playing field in the humanities and math
  149. Senator DeRossett points to the U of L Constitution and how it promotes fairness
  150. Senator Murphy acknowledges that U of L is lagging behind and they aren’t exactly being trendsetters
  151. Dr. Feldhoff points out that it is a faculty matter
  152. President Jacobs supports the NursingSchool and points out that the more ESL people at U of L, the better it helps out the health care programs at U of L.
  153. Senator Downs makes a motion to amend to include faculty senate
  154. AVP Flairty wants to work on it and can meet with faculty tomorrow
  155. Vote on amendment is seconded by President Jones, APPROVED, unanimous
  156. President Jones points out that some may take advantage of the extra time given to ESL students and that would not be fair
  157. Senator DeRossett states that it can be determined who needs the extra time and who doesn’t
  158. VP Pfendt states that the faculty can decide who needs it and doesn’t
  159. VP Marcsik states that a university wide policy is needed
  160. President Fowles calls to question, 2nd by Senator Downs
  161. APPROVED with limited opposition
  162. Announcements
  163. Next senate meeting is the 18th
  164. Remember to dress up
  165. Adjourn- 8:59 p.m.

Taylor HamiltonPage 1 of 6

Director of Administration