S.G.A. SENATE MEETING
August 21, 2017
The meeting was called to order in the Leaders Suite of the Donald G. Bollinger Student Union at 4:00 p.m. Presiding officer was Vice President Austin Wendt. The Recording Secretary was Dolly McGeever.
The prayer was led by Senator Christopher Oubre and the pledge was given by Senator Savannah Sadaiappen.
The Nicholls Student Government Association Mission Statement was read by Senator Emily Ledet and Senator Stephen Battaglia, Jr. read the first value of the Nicholls Creed.
The following Executive Board members were present: President Tommy Thibodeaux, Vice President Austin Wendt, Vice President Pro-Tempore Christopher Oubre, Treasurer Katelyn Cortez, Director of Student Rights and Grievances Peyton Chiasson, Director of Public Relations Josie Graham (appointed) and Secretary Dolly McGeever.
The following Senators were present: Savannah Sadaiappen, Christopher Oubre, Kaitlyn Mistretta, Drake Thibodaux, Alec Stieffel, Josie Graham, Josie St. Pierre, Stephen Battaglia, Jr., Beau Bourgeois, Emily Bergeron, Emily Ledet, Emma Bourgeois, Keilan Kiger and Sean Adams.
The following Senators were absent: Sydney Moxley, Josie St. Pierre, Peyton Gee, Tyler Legnon and Ty Fanguy.
Student Supreme Court was represented by Chief Justice Sydney Richardelle.
Election Commission was represented by Commissioner Dustin Bergeron (appointed).
Guest present was Keely Diebold, Staff Writer for The Nicholls Worth.
Minutes of April 10 and 24 were approved as printed.
GUEST SPEAKER:
None.
OFFICER REPORTS
PRESIDENT’S REPORT – TOMMY THIBODEAUX
· Welcome back to another great semester. As you can see we already have a lot of motions. This summer has been super busy regarding the Yearbook, the Referendum, TOPS and other things. The State is in a better place than last year at this time. So far we have a lot of great people fighting for us. Dr. Henderson came down.
· We had to change some things from the previous semester as in the Public Relations position. The many reasons for that was the lack of Public Relations done in the past four or five years. As an E-Board we decided to create two new positions in order to help our Public Relations at the end of the day. Public Relations is what is going to get members. It’s going to get our word out there. It’s going to be all the reasons the motions get done. Students will know where the money is going. So we revamped the Public Relations position. If you have any questions, please let me know. I’m happy to answer any questions on why we changed it and things like that.
· Regarding the motions, the E-Board decided to ask requests for funding from the different organizations on campus. On the academic side, they reported back to us and this summer we combed through their requests. We decided at an E-Board meeting the requests we felt were appropriate for the university to fund or what the students should be paying for. This is also something we’ll be doing at the next workshop. We’ll speak to you about some of the requests and explain how we made those decisions and what will be your decision.
OFFICER REPORTS CONTINUED:
PRESIDENT’S REPORT CONTINUED:
· The Party at the Prez Rez is tonight. Please attend and try to be supportive. It’s going to be a great way to recruit new Senators. There will be a lot of Freshmen there as last year. Last year was our first one but now we know it works so if we can be out there, please be there and support SGA.
DIRECTOR OF STUDENT RIGHTS & GRIEVANCES’ REPORT – PEYTON CHIASSON
· I updated Moodle this morning so you should have all the new committee meeting times. Campus Affairs and Public Relations switched off but it’s always been like that. I updated those times and have all our dates for the Fall semester meetings. I’m still trying to map out where to put “What I’ve Done/Heard.” due dates. I always try to avoid Fall breaks like times when you’re not here and wouldn’t be doing anything anyway. I’m trying to strategically map those out right now. I’ll post it on Moodle.
· We are discussing SGA polos again. We spoke about a new color but I think we may just stick to the white and red. Of course, the university wants us to wear red all the time anyway so if you already have the red and would like another one, we’ll do that. If you’d like a white one, we’ll do that. If anyone has any opinion or objection to that or see a new color, we can discuss it. The shirt we presently have doesn’t come in gray and I wanted to stick with the shirts we have because I know they’ll last. Also, SPA has been getting gray every year. The shirts we can get is gray with the white inserts at the shoulders which I like but SPA gets those every year. It’s up to you. If you want us to do gray, we can do gray. I think sticking with red and white would be best.
· On our SGA website on the university web page, there is an email link section now where someone can email me if they have a question or concern. It’s sent to me and Secretary Dolly M. Somebody just used it last week regarding fees. I think they misread how athletics fees are set up. They had some concerns about that so I emailed them right away. I wanted you to know that it’s a new feature we have.
TREASURER’S REPORT – KATELYN CORTEZ
Hope you all had a good summer and a good day back. I’m working on the budget. I should have that in your hands very soon. For the most part, you should have received copies of four motions. If you were on the Finance Committee it will be presented at the general meeting. I’ll mention that in the Finance Committee report.
DIRECTOR-ELECT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS’ REPORT – JOSIE GRAHAM
I hope everybody had a great summer and a great first day of school. I’ll go over everything we did and what we discussed in the Public Relations Committee Report.
· As Tommy T. discussed in the Judiciary Committee, we had quorum in the committee and hopefully if the Senators decide its O.K., Mallory Robichaux and Annie Knight will serve as Social Media Specialist and University Relations Specialist. I’ve been working with them a lot this summer. We have so many great things planned for you. I am really excited about it and they are too.
· Orientations: I want to especially thank Justice Saidy Hebert and Senator Alec Stieffel for their participation during the summer. It really helped out a lot, speaking to the new Freshmen and hoping to gain more Senators in SGA.
· Welcome Back Day: on August 24th, we’ll need volunteers from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to work the SGA table in the Ballroom. Your job there is to interact with Freshmen or anyone else on campus who chooses to come by. Tell them hello, tell them a little about SGA and if they’re interested, help them complete a Senator application. I’ll send out a sign-up sheet.
OFFICER REPORTS CONTINUED:
DIRECTOR-ELECT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS’ REPORT CONTINUED:
· I was pro-active in scheduling our Scantron Giveaways for the rest of the semester. I know it was an issue last semester when officers were unaware of when they were going to be held until the last minute. For the record, they’ll be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on September 6, October 4, November 1 and December 6. The team and I had a plan to make it more efficient and easy for everyone so instead of all of us working every scantron giveaway, you can sign up for a specific one. You’ll be responsible to attend for a certain amount of time. If one Senator wants to split that day with you, you can split the time in half but the purpose is not to have everyone sitting at a table to hand out scantrons and cookies. I don’t think we need ten Senators to do that. It’s more effective having a few that can do personal interaction and do the job efficiently. Keep those dates in mind because those are the dates they’ll be held.
· Social Media – I want to emphasize that we’ll begin actively posting on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. To find us on Facebook, you’ll search Nicholls Student Government Association, on Instagram we’re at Nicholls_SGA and on Twitter we’re at NichollsSGA, just one big word. I really want you to push your other student organizations to follow these accounts. We really want you to share everything we put on these pages to get the word out. We’re trying to be a lot more transparent this year so we’ll post as much as we can on these sites.
· Like I mentioned in my interview, we’ll try to do things like Senator Spotlight and Minutes in a Minute just to let everyone know what we’re doing at all times.
· Bulletin Boards: I worked on the one in the Greek Hall that is currently under construction. When we get with the Public Relations Committee next week, we’ll try to assign those members to revamp the others.
· In the future, we’re going to talk about hosting a Town Hall meeting. It’ll be the first one we have in a really long time. It’s going to take a lot of planning on our part so keep that in the back of your mind. It should be around November.
· Constitution Day is coming up in September so keep that in mind as well.
COMMENT: Director Peyton C. commented that the posts that have already been released are fantastic. Director-Elect Josie G. said thanks. They’re all Mallory Robichaux’s work.
VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT – AUSTIN WENDT:
It’s exciting to see all of you back. I know it’s been kind of hectic the first day for everyone. I know it’s been quite hectic for me. Thank you for showing up today.
There’s a couple of things that I want to go over with you:
· Thank you to all of you who responded to the survey we released. The responses were really constructive and we took a lot of it into consideration. At the next meeting, during the Discussion Period, I’d like to go over a little further into some of your responses. I won’t ask who responded. I just want some feedback from you so we can build on it and make sure we have the most constructive, efficient and productive year going forward. To be able to do that, I want to discuss some of the concerns that you have so we can ensure that your voice is being heard and so that we, as a team, can move forward.
· One of the things that was rather confusing last year, and I hope this will resolve that, is the way that motions are handled during meetings. I’ll pass around a format of how presenting motions should be. I want to get your feedback on that when we get to the Discussion Period. With regard to that, once motions are handed in to Secretary Dolly M., they’re going to be read at a meeting. The motions will be assigned to a committee meeting. Once it passes the committee, if it’s a financial motion, it will either originate in Public Relations or Campus Affairs, then it will go to Finance and then to the general meeting for a second reading and a final vote. The process may not be clear cut, we can save that for discussion when we can discuss it further.
OFFICER REPORTS CONTINUED:
VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT CONTINUED:
· Committee sign-ups will take place today so please make sure you sign up for your committees. Remember that you have to be a part of two committees for this semester. Please be reminded that if you miss a committee meeting, it’s considered half an absence. The general meeting counts as a whole absence. That will go toward your absences for the semester. Remember that you can only have three unexcused absences a semester.
· Next week, I’ll be at each of the committee meetings to talk to you about what the committee’s job is. With the exception of Campus Affairs and Judiciary, we’ll be nominating Chairs. All the committees will have Co-Chair positions with the exception of Public Relations. We’re still working on that one.
ACTIONS TAKEN ON OLD BILLS
S1617-081
I move that the Senate purchase 3 spring-back Pedestrian Crossing Signs at $427.09 each for a total of $1,281.27. It has come to the attention of the SGA that the safety of pedestrian crosswalks is in need of improvement. The purchase of these signs, in addition to the removal of parking spaces, will make the Nicholls Campus safer for pedestrians. Signage on crosswalks will allow drivers on the Nicholls campus to be more aware of the various pedestrian crosswalks on campus. Students will be safer when walking through campus which will improve the quality of life of our students. This motion will exceed $500. Each sign is $427.09 which will mean 3 signs will cost $1,281.27. Shipping is free for orders exceeding $249.00. Funds will come from the Senator Projects line item of the budget. Passed and signed.
S1617-091
I move that the Senate purchase 16 huddle table tops, 16 sets of legs for huddle table furniture top with caster and 26 chairs for a total price of $8033.42. Peltier Hall is outdated and it is very hard to write on the small desks in 252. Students would be able to write more effectively, bring laptops to class and generally have more space in class. These reasons are especially beneficial to the students in writing classes. The funds for this motion would come from the unallocated funds line item of the budget. Passed and Vetoed.
S1617-092
I move that the Senate buy 2 new 6000 Lumen XGA DLP Projectors for the college of business for classroom 205 White Hall for a total of $3,829.32. I have been contacted by the College of Business that we need new projectors. They say that the current ones are on their last leg. Students will be able to do course work more efficiently. This will be in one of the OIS 200 Classrooms and everyone has to take a class. This will cost $3,829.32. It will come out of the Senator Project line item of the budget. Passed and signed.