Meeting #1

September 11, 2016

Room #273

http://blogs.shu.edu/sba/

  1. CALL TO ORDER
  2. ROLL CALL – 10:00 AM

E-BOARD
Office / Name / Start / End
President / Chelsea Ott / P / P
Vice President / Nicholas Falci / P / P
Evening Vice President / Nakicha Joseph / P / P
Secretary / Joseph DiCarlo / P / P
Treasurer / Jason Sumbaly / P / A
Social Chair / Sierra Kresin / P / P
Parliamentarian / Timothy Gonzalez / P / P
SENATE
Office / Name / Start / End
4L Senator / Christopher O’Hearn / P / P
Latoya Dawkins / A / P
3L Senator / Paul Agrapidis / A / A
Joe Dellera / P / P
Jesse Lieberman / A / A
Beata Safari / A / P
Brent Saferstein / P / P
Porter Strickler / A / A
3LE Senator / Justin Roxas / A / A
(vacant)
2L Senator / Mary Bessemer / P / P
Zachary Hansen / P / P
Max Mescall / P / P
Ameya Pendse / P / P
Daniel Roman / A / P
Logan Stagnitto / P / P
2LE Senator / Ahmad Aburas / A / P
Andrew Landman / A / A
Christopher Medina / A / A
1L Senator / Omar Debs / P / P
Andreas Diakos / P / P
Brooke Emery / P / P
Claire McSherry / P / P
Marjan Moussavian / P / P
Ali Thompson / P / P
1LE Senator / Robert Jenkin / P / P
Tamires Oliveira / P / P
Vanessa Pinto / P / P
No. Present:
Quorum: Yes / No. Present:
Organization / Start
Arab Law Student Association / P
Asian Pacific American Law Students Association / P
Black Law Student Association / P
Corporate Law Society / P
Criminal Law Society / P
Democratic Party Society / A
Employment Law Forum / A
Entertainment and Sports Law Society / P
Environmental Law Society / A
Evening Student Forum / A
Family Law Society / P
Federalist Society / P
Health Law Forum / P
Intellectual Property Law Association / P
International Law Society / P
Irish American Student Law Society / P
Jewish Law Student Association / A
LAMBDA Law Alliance / P
Latin American Law Student Association / P
Muslim Law Students Association / P
Phi Alpha Delta
Public Interest Network / P
Real Estate Law Association / P
Rodino Society / P
Sports Club / A
St. Thomas Moore / P
Student Animal Legal Defense Fund / A
Tax Law Society / P
Student Veteran’s Association / P
Women’s Law Forum / P
  1. MOMENT OF SILENCE
  2. 9/11 Anniversary
  3. Flood victims in Louisiana
  4. Victims of the earthquake in Italy
  5. Professor Denbeaux’s wife, Marsha
  1. SPECIAL PRESENTATION
  2. Katya Valasek – Admissions
  3. Katya begins presentation at 10:20
  4. Value of SBA representatives to admissions; relies on students to help with admissions because it makes the process more authentic
  5. She brought a handout for everyone to complete if they are interested in volunteering
  6. Ways to get involved:

1) Admissions events in the fall and spring

2) Tours to prospective students

3) Social events following tours and admissions

  1. “Talk to Sierra, she loves them”

4) Meet with prospective students for tours after 6pm and on the weekends

  1. Admissions has already started travel so they will be in and out of the office, but students who are interested in helping are more than welcome to stop buy
  2. Admissions is working with pre-law societies at undergrads to try and get more admitted students before December
  3. Veterans Association: Has the school ever worked with prospective veteran students?

1) Katya: Yes! We do, the school has benefits for veterans so we definitely try to

2) Veterans: Companies recruit veteran students, we should do it the same way

3) Katya: Great idea (invited Veterans representative to stop by the office this week)

  1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
  2. Approval of April 17, 2016 Meeting Minutes
  3. Vote to approve: In the eyes of the chair, motion passes. Minutes approved
  4. PUBLIC INPUT
  5. Tax Law has a career panel event on November 3rd (will add to next agenda)
  6. BLSA: Is this where we lobby for the budget?
  7. President Ott: No, we will do that later in the meeting for discussion and the senate will vote.
  8. Criminal Law Society: We are new! So please let us know of anyone who wants to join
  9. WLF: Thank you for attending the wine and cheese event – big success!
  10. OFFICER REPORTS

a. Jason Sumbaly, Treasurer

i. Budget 2016 – presentation and questions

  1. Treasurer Sumbaly gives budget presentation; Treasurer Sumbaly and his team, along with Dean Marable, spent a lot of time on this budget  strongly urges the Senate to pass it
  2. Reworked some of the budget to work with diversity organizations
  3. Senator Thompson: How does voting and discussing the budget work?
  4. Treasurer Sumbaly explains the budget process from creation to approval
  5. Senator Debs: Who makes the final decision on the budget being presented?
  6. Treasurer Sumbaly: The committee does, I do not have a vote in the budget, but, ultimately, the Senate has to pass it
  7. Senator Pendse: How does it work if someone appeals after we vote?
  8. Treasurer Sumbaly: Good Segway to appeals process
  9. Treasurer Sumbaly: Appeals process timeline discussed; they request that all organizations make an appeal per event – they are looking for how much money they are requesting and how that money will actually help you carry out events
  10. All appeals will be sent out by September 27th
  11. In December, they will reevaluate the budget and have another appeals process to see if they can implement the money differently for the Spring
  12. Veterans/BLSA: I understand the process, but if the organizations need certain money, can we make suggestions as to where we would like the money pulled from (Barrister’s Ball, etc.)?
  13. Treasurer Sumbaly: Understand the concern. For this year, it will be difficult to pull from those events, because we already planned them; but for next year, recommend speaking to your senators about allocation
  14. President Ott: If we reallocate funds, it may hinder the affordability of some of the events like Barrister’s Ball. If we cut the budget for such events, it is going to impact the students and ticket prices and we don’t want anyone to feel like they can’t go afford to go to these events, particularly when we try to bring the entire community together. If this is something the Senate feels strongly about doing, please let me know so we can begin to look for more affordable venues now.
  15. There may be other ways to do certain things, but as Treasurer Sumbaly said, it will be tough to reallocate for this year
  16. Senator Oliveira: Can the organizations independently fundraise?
  17. Treasurer Sumbaly: Absolutely
  18. Senator Pendse: Can we pass a resolution from the senate making a recommendation to the school to reallocate budgets for events like Barrister’s?
  19. President Ott: A resolution is definitely possible
  20. Senator O’Hearn: All organizations have specific events listed, but some are more specific are others; how did you make decisions to give certain clubs more than others when all they have listed is “3 events - $xxx for each event”
  21. Treasurer Sumbaly: Certain Organizations are newer, and their descriptions of their events may have been really specific, but not fully concrete. Can be shown to Senators separately if they want to see it
  22. BLSA/Veterans: Question/Concern about appeals process
  23. WLF gets $500 for wine and cheese for 40-50 people
  24. So if other clubs are putting on events, but are trying to accommodate more/the same amount of people and we are getting less, we can’t sustain the events
  25. We have a big donor right now ($4,000), but the fundraising process does not allow us to do that – going through the school is not appealing to the donor and they don’t want it to go through the school but just to the club; spoke to Deans
  26. President Ott: There is a uniform process in place so that everyone in the school knows how the system operates. Suggests working with Dean Werble and find a way to contact that person and explain the process, express our gratitude for their donation, and make sure they receive credit for their donation. We don’t ever want this process to hinder the ability of students to get generous donations, so if we need to talk with the Senators and Deans about revising the fundraising policy, that’s something we can do, but suggests reading the Fundraising Policy in its entirety and thinking about the implications of altering it because in President Ott’s opinion, the Fundraising process is very important
  27. Treasurer Sumbaly: This is not a discussion within my purview. Let’s discuss after the meeting
  28. President Ott and Treasurer Sumbaly pass out fundraising packet
  29. Senator Pendse: Concerned about many of the organizations losing a lot of money from last year
  30. Treasurer Sumbaly: Unfortunately, the budget is allocated to the number of students we have and that number keeps dropping. Your job as a Senator is to represent the students that voted for you, and if you have issues that you think would bother your constituents, you are encouraged to speak up if you have concerns
  31. President Ott: We know its difficult and frustrating to have the budget cut; we encourage you to represent the students and if the Senate wants to pass a resolution, we are open to that discussion.
  32. Criminal Law Society/WLF: Concerns about the catering company and how much money were spending and having to dip into the reserve account because it is so expensive; it’s hard to have in school events that the administration wants us to have for alumni, because we don’t have many funds left to dip into for those events for food, etc.
  33. President Ott: Cafeteria closes at 3pm everyday; we have gone through a number of catering companies in the past few years and we always have to subsidize them; It’s been nearly impossible to keep a catering service because our class sizes are shrinking – so we make up for that by allowing to cater events (believes it part of our contract with them)
  34. Treasurer Sumbaly: Goal for next year is to have a much better and clearer preliminary budget by the end of the year for next year to make for better student planning for over the summer
  35. Criminal Law Society/WLF: I understand, it’s just that the only reason that we can continue to hold events that are in demand is because we have reserves. We are concerned about organizations that have not been able to fundraise because they are new. They literally wont have enough money to have events
  36. President Ott: Explaining justifications for budget and the little money we have; frustrated about the amount of money we have, but encourages orgs to get creativity with their events (team up with other orgs so you have more resources and people attending – “super” events)
  37. Senator Oliveira: Who manages the food companies?
  38. President Ott: Not sure, will check.
  39. Senator Debs: Who is on your committee that cerates this?
  40. Treasurer Sumbaly: Named selected students on the finance committee who will be voted on

ii. Reimbursement

  1. Treasurer Sumbaly: If your organization had expenses from the organization fair, I have reimbursement forms, please get them to me as soon as possible
  2. A few things:
  3. DO NOT spend more money than you request and then request more – we will not be able to give it to you
  4. All catering and payments are done/made internally
  5. Submit receipts for things done/bought outside the law school – Treasurer Sumbaly and Dean DeAlmeida signs it
  6. Email going out with all information regarding appeals
  7. Can we get catering information
  8. Treasurer Sumbaly: will send out this week
  9. Urges to pass the budget

b. Chelsea Ott, President

i. Welcome Back!

  1. So glad to have all of the new senators; we are excited for this year

ii. Senator introductions and responsibilities

  1. Senators introduce themselves individually
  2. Attendance at meetings is vital; please bring any constituent concerns or issues to the E-board/meetings
  3. If you are proposing legislative amendments, they must be sent to Secretary 7 days prior to the meeting
  4. Make announcements to sections – 2 minutes before or after class (be sure to seek the professor’s permission if you are going to be using any class time)
  5. Fall fest, etc.
  6. Join Committees
  7. Attend student org events
  8. Good for the organizations and for you – network!

iii. Thank you to SHLEC for organizing this year’s elections

iv. Important Info for Organizations Re: Event Planning and Fundraising

  1. Organization Introductions
  2. All organizations introduce themselves individually
  3. President Ott: discusses upcoming events and how to best market those events to students; Important to meet with students face to face to talk about the events
  4. Highlights BYOD events, Judges Reception, Lunch with attorneys – important for leaning and networking; Law Review Symposium – topic is important to the economy and our profession; free for students
  5. Career services is here to help students
  6. Want to encourage 1Ls to come out to events so that they spread out from their sections

v. Upcoming Events (check out the Google Calendar -

Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA) General Body Meeting

September 12 from 4:30-5pm

Health Law Forum (HLF) General Body Meeting

September 12 at 5pm

Red Cross Blood Drive sponsored by the Health Law Forum

September 14 in the Student Lounge – email Ryan Gega to make an appointment

BYOD (Bring Your Own Dinner) Meetup

September 15 at 5pm in the Cafeteria

Judges Reception

September 19 from 5:30-7:30pm in the Atrium; Business Attire Required

Register on Symplicity by clicking on the events tab

Health Law Career Panel

September 20 from 5-6pm in the Fifth Floor Faculty Library

Red Mass

September 23 – Big event for the NJ legal community!

The mass itself is free and does not require registration

The reception is $35 for students and requires registration online – http://law.shu.edu/Alumni/events/red-mass-event.cfm

Law Review Symposium - The New EU Data Protection Regulation: Transnational Effects on US Businesses

September 29 – free for students, but requires registration online, http://law.shu.edu/Students/academics/journals/law-review/Symposium/2016/index.cfm

Fall Fest

September 30 at VB3 in Jersey City

SBA Meeting

October 2 at 10am in Room 273

Fall Break

October 9 – October 16

Rodino Banquet

October 19 at 6pm in the Newark Club

BYOD (Bring Your Own Dinner) Meetup

October 20 at 5pm in the Cafeteria

Diwali Dinner

October 24 at 4pm in the Student Lounge

SBA Meeting

October 30 at 10am in Room 273

Mentor and Mentee Lunch/Dinner

November 8 at 12pm (Day groups) and 4:30pm (Evening groups)

Holiday Party

November 17 at Maize in Newark

SBA Meeting

November 20 at 10am in Room 273

Reading Days

December 2 – December 5

BYOD (Bring Your Own Dinner) Meetup

January 19 at 5pm in the Cafeteria

SBA Meeting

January 29 at 10am in Room 273

Chinese New Year

January 30 at 4pm in the Student Lounge

BYOD (Bring Your Own Dinner) Meetup

February 16 at 5pm in the Cafeteria

Circuit Review and Legislative Journal Joint Symposium

February 15

SBA Meeting

February 19 at 10am in Room 273

BYOD (Bring Your Own Dinner) Meetup

March 16 at 5pm in the Cafeteria

SBA Meeting

March 19 at 10am in Room 273

Barristers Ball

March 31 at Maritime Park in Jersey City

SBA Meeting

April 9 at 10am in Room 273

BYOD (Bring Your Own Dinner) Meetup

April 20 at 5pm in the Cafeteria

c. Nicholas Falci, Vice President

i. Orientation Success

  1. Really was a team effort, thank you for everyone that helped, especially the mentors and volunteers
  2. Recognized Deans and administrators that helped

ii. Mentor Program

  1. Changes this year:
  2. Smaller groups of 1Ls with more mentors - meant to help people meet each other
  3. Few events throughout the year that will help cultivate a year-long relationship:
  4. Wednesday Nov 9
  5. January or February
  6. End of the Year – wrap up in April

iii. Committees and sign-ups

  1. Academics and Curriculum
  2. Career Opportunities
  3. Community Outreach
  4. Diversity and Inclusion
  5. Governance
  6. Facilities
  7. Pirate Pride
  8. Each Senator will get sheets (passed out) where you will rank the committees you want to be on
  9. Vice President Falci explains all of the Committees by topic and area
  10. President Ott: Anyone who wants to join a Committee and is not a Senator is more than welcome to join and then be approved at the last meeting; Senators will rank, but are technically appointed by the President
  11. Committees will report to Vice President Falci, who will oversee the committees

d. Nakicha Joseph, Evening Vice President

i. Comments on Orientation

  1. It went very well, thank you to Vice President Falci and the E-board

ii. Going Forward – Plans

  1. Pirate Pride Day - considering hosting family this year
  2. Evening Students – transparency is her goal to address evening student concerns as well as full time student concerns
  3. More events for evening students are a focus for this year
  4. Cafeteria and Café Deni hours are a concern for this year as well
  5. Town Hall Meeting – want to schedule it, but looking for suggestions from Students/Senate for scheduling
  6. Senators – PLEASE ask your constituents and the students for 3 issues prior to each meeting and communicate them to the Eboard
  7. Link for suggestions/concerns from students: http://law.shu.edu/students/rights/shul311.cfm

e. Joseph DiCarlo, Secretary

i. Agenda

  1. Will post minutes once have access to Blog Page

ii. Master contact list

  1. Will make and distribute

iii. Organization/Senator Nameplates

  1. Will make the missing ones and distribute

iv. Attendance – Senators and Organizations

f. Sierra Kresin, Social Chair

i. Fall Fest – 9/30

  1. Please share the link/facebook event, http://law.shu.edu/Students/events/fall-fest.cfm
  2. Tickets are $35 and include open bar, pizza, grilled cheese, etc.; there will be an awesome DJ
  3. In Jersey City
  4. Dress Code – casual, wear what you would wear out to Hoboken
  5. [Events throughout the year start casual and get increasingly more formal]
  6. Standing Ovation for an Extra Bartender

ii. Holiday Party – 11/17

  1. Dress Code – a bit more formal, ties for guys, dresses for girls

g. Timothy Gonzalez, Parliamentarian

i. Robert’s Rules Overview

  1. We will be a bit informal, but we will follow the foundation of Robert’s Rules
  2. Will send an email with Robert’s Rules that we will follow

ii. Parliamentarian Gonzalez: it is my job to make sure that the meetings run smoothly