Eighth Senate Session

November, 7th2017

Stern Center Ballroom

Call to Order

The Eighth Session of Senate was called to order at 4:32pm

Roll Call

  • Absences
  • Senator Dudley

Minutes

Motion to waive the reading of the minutes.

  • Passed

Executive Council Reports

  • President Alexandra Helfgott
  • Feminine hygiene products have been distributed
  • I met with the Registrar about grade redemption
  • The system that we currently use is banner 8 and the College to update to banner 9 by December 2018
  • Students testing banner 9
  • We reached out to students that attended BSU advocacy panel
  • If there is anything you are ever concerned about, please come reach out to us about explaining
  • We have our Meet the Senators event tonight at Rivers Green
  • We will be there until 7pm
  • We will be trying to get the word out about SGA and all our initiatives to the student body
  • We will be giving out hot chocolate and coffee
  • Secretary Emily Ramsayer
  • I have two clubs coming today so please ask good questions and pay attention
  • Treasurer Sara Graham
  • Tentative budgets will be posted by 5pm tonight
  • No clubs coming today for allocations
  • Chief of Staff Williams
  • No report
  • Deputy Chief of StaffRunzo
  • The SGA t-shirts will now be free
  • Please write your size down on the sign up sheet that I will pass around
  • Vice President Tripp Keefe
  • We met with some members of groups that were present at the BSU panel
  • Many of their concerns we are already working on ourselves including the SGA Ad hoc committee for the diversity town hall and the SGA Ad hoc committee to revise the Code of Conduct
  • I have been looking into ride share groups such as Green Taxi and Gotcha Rides to partner with CofC
  • I have meetings set up with them, so more information to come with that
  • Please let me know if you have any questions or ideas for this initiative
  • Here is a list of initiatives to refresh your mind for our event tonight
  • Take back the Tap
  • Reforming our bike share program
  • Cougar Closet initiative
  • Individual initiatives
  • Recently got the CARTA route (204) to the grocery store
  • Code of conduct revisions
  • Follow up meeting for diversity town hall
  • Guest meal swipes
  • Be sure to be very personable with the student body
  • Open up conservation by asking them a question about what they think SGA should be working on
  • Happy Birthday to Senator Hicks!

Unfinished Business

none

New Business

  1. FB-36-2017: A bill to allow the budgeted student organization C of C YoungDemocratic Socialists to enter their 28 day waiting period
  • First Rights
  • Senator Meis:
  • I yield my time to him
  • Club rep:
  • Our club is associated with the national organization
  • We are a strongly intersectional group
  • We support the establishment of a democratic economy
  • We seek to eventually transition from a capitalistic society to a more democratic one
  • 15-20 members so far
  • There are no organizations in place for left wing ideas such as ours
  • Many people on campus have expressed a feeling that there is not enough representation of diversityon campus
  • We plan to have 3 types of meetings: public discussions, demonstrations, and regular general body meetings
  • We plan on doing tabling, using flyers and banners, utilizing social media, etc.
  • We plan to collaborate with other political groups on campus
  • We will implement the strategy of grass roots organizing
  • We plan to collaborate with the Political Science club and the CofC Democrats
  • Period of Discussion
  • Senator Lifchez: How much interest have you seen expressed?
  • We have seen a lot of interest especially from people with no specific political views; people are very excited about this club
  • Senator Roller: What kind groups do you plan on talking with to do demonstrations?
  • We are just getting our feet wet, so we are not quite sure
  • We may collaborate with CofC Pride or some other labor organizations on campus
  • Senator Hicks: Can you elaborate more on these demonstrations?
  • We don’t have any planned right now
  • But in the future, they could be held to show solidary with LGBT groups on campus or to oppose confederate monuments on campus
  • Senator Green: What is your opinion about the presence of liberal people on the college campus?
  • Right now there are no groups that specifically support socialism or social democracy
  • The CofC Democrats are liberal but they are still a capitalist party
  • Our belief is that our left wing view is not yet represented on our campus
  • Director Pullin: What does the rest of your executive board look like?
  • We have not established specific leadership roles yet
  • Chief of Staff Williams: What does registration for YDSA look like for a registered member?
  • To be a member of the club you do not need to be registered with the national organization, but if you want to be an executive member you do have to be.
  • Chief of Staff Williams: Do you know how that registration looks?
  • As far as I know there is no official joining of YDSA. You join the parent organization
  • To join, you must pay a small due and that is basically it
  • Senator Shearon: Why do you think there isn’t something already like this club?
  • We believe a lot of people are not prone to go and organize this type of club themselves, but they would support a club like this if it was present on campus
  • There have been left wing groups in the past but they are now dormant
  • Parliamentarian Rizzo: How much involvement would you have with the parent organization?
  • We would have someone as the go between; they would take notes and be the means of communication with the parent organization
  • Parliamentarian Rizzo: What measures would you take to make sure that your club would be sustainable
  • We would reach out to incoming students and have more outreach
  • We plan on being more of a grass roots organization and have a greater presence on social media
  • We are looking to create a more public movement
  • Motion to pass by unanimous consent
  • Objection
  • Period of debate

Speeches in Opposition

  • Senator Borges: I simply do not think this name is suitable. I think that when people see this name, they will be turned off and not be interested in participating in this club.

Speech in Favor

  • President Helfgott: First of all, they have other college chapters, so we know that this group has been a success. Likewise, we can’t control what a student is interested in.If they have an interest in this club and share similar ideals, then they will join the club. Again, we don’t have to agree with the content of the club ourselves, but we need to recognize if it might appeal to other personalities on campus.
  • Motion to pass by unanimous proclamation
  • Passed
  1. FB-37-17: A bill to allow the Luminescent club to become a budgeted organization.
  • First Rights
  • Senator Stewart:
  • I yield my time to her
  • Club rep:
  • We were tabling in Cougar Mall
  • We used this poster board that showed issues that studentsbelieved needed to be addressed here in Charleston and beyond
  • We gave out laptop stickers
  • Have over 100 members
  • We came up with different ideas such as a mentor program that we will do with a middle school
  • We will teach the students about healthy relationships, work ethic, etc.
  • Research has been done that if you mentor students at this age, they are less likely to drop out of school
  • Our first general body meeting will be this Thursday
  • Period of Discussion
  • Senator Jacobson: Have you sent up the mentorship already?
  • We have contacted the school
  • Senator Rothstein: Will you work directly with the schools or mentorship programs that already exist?
  • We are doing our own program, but we have also reached out to Homework Helpers
  • We will work with them, but do our own specific program
  • Senator Pitts: Do you plan on collaborating with churches or upward bound?
  • We want to do that, yes
  • We are currently involved in a localfundraiser for Flint Michigan
  • Motion to pass by unanimous consent
  • Passed
  1. FB-38-2017: To appoint Micah Feinstein to the following position: Freshman Senator of the Student Government Association.
  • First Rights
  • Senator Jacobson
  • I yield my time to him
  • Micah Feinstein
  • Ithink this is a great organization that is making strong impacts on the school
  • Period of Discussion
  • Senator Borges: What are specific initiatives that you want to look at?
  • I think a lot of the work we are already doing is great
  • I want to get a better lay of the land before I start my owninitiative
  • My own passions lie in helping all students have a voice on campus
  • My goal is to involve people outside of this room; to get their views incorporated in our discussions
  • Senator Roller: Do you have any prior experience in SGA?
  • I was the Vice President of my high school
  • I am an Akin fellow
  • I have a lot of experience in working with adults and other student organizations
  • I was the President of a regional youth group in high school of other 300 Jewish students
  • I helped plan and program events for them
  • I also founded Dance Marathon at my high school
  • Parliamentarian Rizzo: Why didn’t you run in the fall?
  • I was never interested in running for things in high school until I knew how to get involved
  • There is a gap between getting involved and knowing what we are getting involved in
  • Wasn’t sure what I was getting into
  • Did want to govern a student body that I didn’t know yet
  • Motion to pass by unanimous consent
  • Passed

Motion to suspend the special rules to swear in the new Senator

Passed

Motion to reinstate the special rules

Passed

  1. SR-4-2017: To encourage the College of Charleston to use the PaxSafetechnology.
  • First Rights
  • Senators Lifchez, Bridges, Dudley
  • This is a safety app that can be personalized
  • You will see a brochure of all the schools that have the PaxSafe app
  • There are 150 campuses
  • The College can decided which safety features are present on the app
  • Features such as Safe Walk, which sends info about ongoing incidents in the area
  • You can send an alert with just one click of a button on the app
  • It is more efficient than Cougar Alert and encompasses a broader range of safety features
  • This app allows you to text Public Safety if you are in a situation where you can’t call them
  • It also allows you have Public Safety and 911 on speed dial
  • President Helfgott: This was presented to the President and his senior leadership team and they were completely on board. They just asked that we get student support in the form of a resolution
  • Period of Discussion
  • Senator Caleca: Would this replace Cougar Alert?
  • President Helfgott: This would eventually replace Cougar Alert because it is more dynamic that Cougar Alert and Cougar Alert’s contract will be expiring soon.
  • Senator Palacios: How would this accommodate for people who don’t have smart phones?
  • You can still get the text messaging features just not the more high-tech features
  • Motion to pass by unanimous consent
  • Passed
  1. SR-5-2017: To denounce hate and racially derogatory actions on campus and to promote diversity and solidarity with affected or threatened students.
  • First Rights
  • Senators Jacob Brown and Frankel
  • We met with Dr. Caudill and we came up with this idea to have SGA publically denounce hateful acts on campus
  • We cited different sources such as the BSU and President McConnell
  • Period of Discussion
  • Motion to pass by unanimous consent
  • Objection
  • Director Conti: Was there input from other people?
  • We have been reaching out to senior administrators and we met with Dr. Caudill
  • Senator Brown: Does SGA have history of doing this?
  • There was a posting earlier about Charlottesville on the Face Book group
  • Senator Brown: How do you plan to make this more widely known?
  • We felt that this resolution would be more widely seen and more official
  • Vice President Keeffe: This will be presented to senior members of administration to show what students are denouncing, so it will reach higher up. This is the soonest that we can get a statement out about this
  • Senator Caleca: Would this resolution be the statement about denouncing hate?
  • We thought it was more powerful coming through the as a resolution; this is instead of a statement
  • But if you think it is not strong enough a statement than there can be friendly amendments made; but this resolution would be the statement
  • Senator Meis: Not a lot of students look at SGA legislation in general. Would we be putting it on social media?
  • Yes, we would scan it and put it on Face Book
  • Senator Borges: Do you think it would be more powerful to include a phrase about how to move forward from this matter?
  • President Helfgott: Action is going to be taken. Chief of Staff Williams and I went to a meeting with administrators last week. These students involved in this matter deserve the right to privacy. We cannot mandate that they be expelled, but we can say we want action to be taken, however action is being taken already.
  • Senator Green: What would you say to someone who would make the point that resolutions had been made in the past and says that this isn’t enough?
  • There has to be a starting point somewhere and that this is a good starting point
  • Vice President Keeffe: The student who are involved in this act are being punished and SGA is involved in changing the Code of Conduct currently, and we are addressing issues of race with our diversity committee; SGA is working to take concrete action, but this resolution might draw more people’s attention.

Motion to move into period of debate

Passed

  • Period of Debate

Speeches in Opposition

  • Senator Borges: I would like to make an amendment to change the purpose of this resolution

Motion to suspend the special rules

Passed

Motion to reinstate the special rules

Passed

  • Period of Debate of the Amendment
  • Senator Roller:
  • I yield my time to Vice President Keeffe
  • Vice PresidentKeeffe: We added further language to the resolution as shown on the screen
  • Motion to pass by unanimous consent
  • Passed

Speech in Favor

  • Senator Palacios: The only people from SGA that were at the BSU meeting were 3 of us. No members of the Executive Board were there. It was disappointing that not as many people from SGA were there. I want all of you to be aware that actions speak louder than words.
  • Point of Information
  • President Helgott: A lot of people were unaware of this event. It should have been post in the FB group so that people could be made aware of it.
  • Vice President Keeffe: Alexandra and I had mandatory events at the exact same time. We found out about the event an hour before. We watched the live stream and talked to the President of BSU afterwards about how we can help in moving forward.There are reasons why we can’t attend every event, but we do our best of still be involved. We would have liked to have gone but we couldn’t.
  • Senator Palacios: There are four of you on the Executive Council. It was widely publicized event. I didn’t know about it until an hour before hand and I still went.
  • President Helfgott: This is a personal conversation that can be had at a later date.

Motion to pass by unanimous proclamation

Passed

Committee Reports

  • Allocations- Treasurer Sara Graham
  • We will have one change of request and one student outreach
  • We are done with contingency
  • Student Organization Review Board- Secretary Emily Ramsayer
  • No report
  • Director Conti
  • No report
  • Director Pullin
  • No report
  • Freshman Committee
  • No report

Announcements

  • SGA Related
  • none
  • Non-SGA Related
  • none

Adjournment

The Eighth Session of the Student Senate adjourned at 5:41pm