The State of the Student Government Association
Colgate University, Tuesday, September 25, 2012
105 Lawrence Hall
7 PM
I. Call to Order: “The regular weekly meeting of the Senate of the Student Government Association is now in session.”
II. Roll Call: Recording Secretary Lauren Tuttle
III. Presentation by Colgate Athletics Representatives
1. Motion to table until next week seeing as no representatives are here
IV. Charge to the Senate: CLSI Director Michael Maningas
1. Why are we here? What do we do with our experience?
2. What are you trying to do? How is it serving the student body? What are you doing to achieve this?
3. There are a lot of students with great ideas and intentions, but they need to take that first step. As a Senate, we should be the ones to take the first step. Once you take the first step, a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
Motion to move Class President speeches until earlier in the agenda
Class Presidents:
1. Dylan Guss
a. Ideas of collaboration with Broad Street
b. 2014 applying for BAC funding for some activities
2. Hugo
a. Inter-grade activities
3. Matt
a. Senior Night last friday night, Senior class council meeting this week to work on a schedule
V. New Student Group: Liaison Albert Raminfard
1. Colgate Business Group
a. Consists of Colgate Women in Business group and US-Asia Business Group, this umbrella allows for more groups to fall under it.
Three minute moderated caucus
Matt - this group has been putting through constitutions since Matt was liaison, they are well prepared and good groups. Different from Finance Club in that they deal more with international trade and business issues.
Motion to vote
Passes Unanimously 46-0
VI. Governance Board Elections: Election Commissioners
1. The Committee on Academic Advising
a. Clara Clymer - freshman who enjoys the academic aspect of Colgate, she would like to continue to make policies that continue to improve academics
b. Ji Hoon Park - thinks business classes are important
Clara and Ji Hoon are the new members of the Committee on Academic Advising - 47-0 Unanimous vote
Motion for Jake Caldwell to give Treasurer
BAC Met Monday night with 8 groups: Passed funding for: Model UN, Russian Club, Masque and Triangle, Chris Hedges Speech (Democracy Matters), Colgate Physics Club, The Games Afoot. Young Alumni of Finance weekend pending approval by SOC, Denied the 2014 Class Council for Study Break,
2.The Committee on Athletics
a. There is one person running for three positions, and therefore we cannot have this election tonight. Motion to table the election until next week.
3. The Curriculum Committee
a. Michaela Vebrova - passionate about educational studies
b. Laura Avram - designed a curriculum for a school in Peru, wants to expand the language program
c. John Lee - Student Life Policy Coordinator, has experience working with administrators, wants more business classes and double minors
d. Hilary Kupferberg - High School class president, worked on curriculum in high school, wants to bring more business classes and double minors
e. Alec Tiktinsky
f. Elaina Attalah-Yunes
Questions:
What would you do different?
a. Hilary - not wasting time with classes is important
b. Lorelai - would like to see more foreign languages
c. Michaela - CORE Curriculum is too complicated
d. John - there are a lot of individual students who need help going to administration for help, need more global engagement courses
Five minute moderated caucus:
Misha wants to create an NGO and is a planned educational studies major, she is very passionate about this. Lorelai is also very passionate about education and has dealt with worldwide education.
Results: John - 24
Michaela - 8
Laura - 2
Elaina - 2
Hilary - 2
Alec - 1
The new member of Curriculum Committee is John Lee.
4. The Committee on Campus Planning and Physical Resources
a. Saeed Mouzaffar - would like to see space used more efficiently
b. Christian Quattrociocchi - would like to work more with staff and administration and see how the campus is used
c. Joann Lynch - geography major who wants to offer her senior opinon of her experience at colgate
d. Austin Collier - wants to work with blueprints, etc.
e. Deborah Benaioh - very interested in archatecture, wants to figure out how to best use space
f. Alex Tiktinksy - would like to
g. Cory Berg - geography major and art minor, did a program at Harvard school of design, has an interest in university and campus planning
Five minute moderated caucus
Saeed would be a great candidate, is very organized and cares a lot, Saeed has been talking about this for a long time.
Austin has also done a great job too, he is well connected.
Joann is very interested in this.
Seniors would be best for this job, seeing as they know campus best.
Results: Saeed - 19
Joann - 23
Cory - 17
Austin - 14
Christian - 3
Debora - 3
Saeed and Joann are the new members of the Committee on Campus Planning and Physical Resources
5. The Committee of Admission and Financial Aid
a. Jack Sneeringer - important to keeep the student body lively in terms of having financial aid.
b. Michaela Verbova - promoting students who do not fit the mainstream Colgate profile, make the school more international
c. Katrina Bennett - fresh perspective on the admission process, wants to focus on financial aid towards study abroad and research
d. Lorelai Avram- partial to this program because it is how she is in America studying
e. Ji Hoon Park - diversity improvement
f. Morgan Wagner - involved as a high school admissions intern, would like to be involved in the process here.
g. Clara Clymer - has a freshman perspective, things she really liked about admissions (like the note in the acceptance letter), wants to help improve the admissions process
h. Sam Weisbarth - as an international student and someone who worked with admissions as a greeter, she thinks she could be a great addition
i. Lindsey Robertson
Morgan, Katrina, and Misha are all Benton Scholars, all have interesting views. Lorelai and Ji Hoon are both international students with a diverse experience. International opinions are important with diversity.
Results: Morgan - 29
Katrina - 16
Laura - 15
Michaela - 13
Jack - 11
Clara - 10
Ji Hoon - 9
Lindsey - 3
Sam - 3
Morgan, Katrina, and Laura are the new members of the Committee of Admission and Financial Aid
6. The Committee on Budget and Financial Planning
a. Heather-Ashley Boyer - has been greatly involved in financial planning over the past few years, coordinated senior class gift, was treasurer of drama club, very involved at Colgate
b. John Gabler - on BAC, executive in Finance Club, running as a slate with Josh Lasker
c. Wiggs Civitillo - does finance, interested in doing this again, served on the committee last year
d. Nick - interested in working with the budgets, has experience
e. Jack - budgeted money for a robotics team, very experienced
f. David Kim - worked as leadership in many clubs, worked in an internship in South Korea writing papers about national budget
g. Tyler Mark
h. Stephen Trostle
Five minute moderated caucus
How many are we electing? Two.
Wiggs has done the position before, knows what it requires, served with Jake in the past.
John Gabler has a lot of experience with this as well.
Jake Caldwell endorses Jack Sneeringer, Wiggs Civitillo, and the slate of John Gabler and Josh Lasker
David Kim is very invested and very interested in the position.
Results: Wiggs - 25
John/Josh - 21
Jack - 10
David - 6
Tyler - 6
Nick - 5
Stephen - 1
Heather - 1
Wiggs and John/Josh will be the new representatives on the Committee on Budget and Financial Planning.
7. The Committee on ALANA Affairs
a. Yvonne Morel - treasurer of the diversity club, senior project was a documentary on diversity
b. Eritrea Woldehaimanot - actively involved in WeFunk, has worked with Alana closely in ways such as the cultural fashion show
c. Sarah Chen- transfer student, thinks Colgate is not as diverse, would like to make multicultural things more prevalent
d. Michaela Verbova- wants Alana to be more promoted. Came from a multicultural school in Singapore
e. Ji Hoon Park - diversity is very important. Lived in a homestay for two years and knows how to deal with adjustments
f. Lorelai Avram- student ambassador at Alana, would like to work with Career Services too on multicultural jobs
g. Yuan Lou- president of Chinese club in high school, would like Americans to become more cultural
h. Andrew Prieto - Alana ambassador, he is a multicultural student, knows the diversity issues
i. Che Hatter- involved in multicultural endeavors since coming to colgate, is the women’s study multicultural ambassador
j. Yunheng Liu- college is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to know other cultures
k. David Choi
Five minute moderated caucus
Andrew and David have both worked with the SGA and Alana before, and would do a great job as they have in the past. David is very hard working and would do a great job.
Yvonne is very passionate and is willing to learn.
Shea has done a lot for women’s studies and will provide a female voice. Alana also has a strong connection with women’s studies and this will help.
Sarah Chen has had experiences at another institution and can bring that view here, which is very important
Results: David - 26
Andrew - 38
Sarah - 25
Eritrea - 19
Che - 14
Yvonne - 18
Laura - 4
Yungheng - 5
Michaela - 4
Yuan - 3
Ji Hoon - 2
David, Andrew, Sarah, and Eritrea are the new members of the Committee on Alana Affairs
There are four people that will be elected to the position
8. The Bookstore Advisory
a. Motion to table due to lack of applicants
9. The Safety Advisory Committee
a. Motion to table due to lack of applicants
VII. Executive Reports
1. President
a. New colgate website - colgate.edu/sga, contains all documents
b. Delayed sound ordinance until next town meeting
2. Speaker of the Senate
a. Thank you for staying through the long meeting, next week will be shorter
b. Meeting with Dean Low about freshmen at Greek houses
c. Language Bill is going to be voted on tonight
3. Treasurer
a. Spoke earlier in the night
4. Liaison
a. Not present
5. Parliamentarian
a. Met with GAC and wrote some bills, changes to the BAC procedure book for next week
6. Class Presidents: Senior, Junior, Sophomore, First-Year
a. Spoke earlier in the night
VIII. Committee Reports
1. AAC
a. Talked about Major/Minor things
b. Discussing the agenda for the semester and setting up committees tomorrow
2. EAC
a. Spoke with Colin Cowles after meeting with Police Chief and Mayor, going to send them out to the group - police officers have discretion under NY state law, want to create a code of conduct between students and police officers
3. GAC
a. Reviewed how to write bills, met with Laura and wrote some bills for the BAC, also one with the SOC
4. SAC
a. Working on freshman dorm key card system
b. Frank flags
c. Subsidized Colgate shuttle to the airport
5. SOC
a. Bill coming up next week to change the 1 week bylaw
b. Microfinance and Monthly Rag are coming to SGA soon
IX. New Business
X. Old Business
1. Final Debate/Vote on An Act to Write the Official Language for the Bill “An Act to Overhaul the Senate and Other Facets of the Student Government Association of Colgate University”
a. Overview: purpose is to make the SGA run more efficiently and get Class Council more involved. 24 section bill, first deals with committees, rules for replacing leadership, and gender-neutral pronouns.
In favor of voting: Mike Williams - agreed on this last year, pretty simple, can be amended
Not in favor of the vote: Heather-Ashley - did not discuss the event of re-election of a Vice President with a Presidential change
Motion to vote
39 For, 0 Opposed, 0 Abstain
Bill passes
XI. Good of the Order
XII. Announcements
1. Will send out committee report forms, committee chairs, please send them back
2. Meeting next week - same time, same place
XIII. Formal Adjournment: “The Chair would be in favor of a Motion to Adjourn.”
Parliamentarian note: reconsider proxy voting