Congress 8:00pm 03/14/16 1. Icebreaker ­ What would you change about Hope? 2. Formula SAE ­ ad hoc request for $15,850 a. Background: The team started in the 80s as a competition to increase engineering proficiency coming out of college (more hands­on experience). This team gives experience that employers are extremely interested in. Our team reflects the liberal arts part of Hope, and represents many different departments. b. Our funding request is for our second car. This will further our team’s mission and allow us to go to the SAE competition this spring. The team has reached out to many organizations and companies for assistance with funding. c. We are competing against schools with teams that receive extremely large budgets; we’re definitely at a disadvantage financially against the larger schools, including graduate programs. d. Looking forward, we would like to bring the team to the competition biannually. i.
Parts can be reused, and once we get these parts, our future financial requests will be smaller. e. The Appropriations Committee believes that they have done an excellent job presenting, and their enthusiasm, budget use and fundraising has been impressing. We believe they would use the funding well and this would be a responsible and rewarding investment. i.
Jean Luc motions to approve, with the suggestion to start fundraising earlier next year, Matt seconds. ii.
Motion passes unanimously. 3. Committee Updates a. Shiku ­ Administrative Affairs board i.
Faculty evaluations ­ can we make anonymous feedback a last resort? ii.
President Knapp wants to include staff on his advising board b. Shiku ­ Yearbook continuation, committee to discuss that ­ email Mike Pikaart if interested c. Jonathon ­ International Education i.
Looking to change the strategic plan to increase the number of degree seeking international students to 5% by 2025. The vote will happen this week. ii.
The main goal is that if it is in the strategic plan they can get better funding d. Matt ­ Student standing and appeals committee i.
Disciplinary appeal going on right now 4. Task Force a. Israel ­ Sustainability i.
Green Initiatives ­ culturally driven, we need to change the opinion ii.
Partnering with campus ministries during earth week to do a chapel to increase awareness iii.
Partnering with CFL 5.
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Electricity producing bicycles in the Dow v.
Can we get free water bladders to incoming freshman b. Shiku ­ Strengths and Leadership i.
We’re going to have another session like last semester to assist c. Rosemarie ­ Internal Strengthening i.
Congress Apparel ­ send designs to Rosemarie ii.
End of the year celebration d. Spencer ­ Campus relations i.
Admitted Student Day ­ booth at activity fair ­ come promote Student Congress! April 16 at 12:00pm e. Catherine ­ Advocacy i.
Foster relationships between Congress and MSOs/other groups on campus ii.
Community hour ­ what is the situation surrounding that, which classes interfere, which meetings overlap, etc. What is the general feel on campus regarding the community hour? iii.
Involvement culture ­ how can we get students curious? We are going to look into other schools’ actions and how we can improve! Officer Reports a. Milestone yearbook i.
What is the general feel on campus? How would an online version go over? Does the yearbook feel like a necessity? ii.
Could we at least have an online archive that would be easier and cheaper for students to access? iii.
It should be kept going, but could be downsized. iv.
Leadership has been poor, and revenue is dropping, as that improves, excitement could build as well. b. Networking on Campus i.
We are looking to build relationships with all areas of campus, any administrator, faculty member, etc, who you believe Congress would benefit from a relationship with ­ let Andrew know and we can work to develop those. Old Business a. Matt ­ Starting another water drive: talked to Katie Butterfield, we need to find a local organization to partner with and then submit a fundraising request. New Business a. No new business Adjournment a. Jean Luc motions to adjourn, Jason seconds, motion passes.