University of North Florida Student Senate
Senate Meeting Agenda – May 8th 2013 – 6:30 PM – Senate Chambers
I.
Call to Order
Meeting is called to order at 6:44 pm.
II.
Pledge of Allegiance – Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Collin Waychoff
Senator Collin Waychoff was out for injury, Senator Abreu leads.
III.
Invocation – Senate Chaplain Morgan Wolf
IV.
Roll Call – Senate President Pro-Tempore Kaitlin Ramirez (sgaspt@unf.edu)
Quorum is established with 9 voting members.
V.
Approval of Minutes
Motion from Sen. Anderson to amend minutes to read “Senate Meeting Minutes” instead of “Senate Meeting
Agenda”. Second. No objections. Moved.
Motion from Sen. Anderson to approve the minutes as amended of May 8. Second. No objections. Moved
VI.
Approval of Agenda
Motion from Sen. to add Hailey Guerra to executive confirmation. Second. No objections. Moved.
Motion from Sen. Abreu to add Bennett Smith to judicial confirmation after executive confirmation. Second.
No objections. Moved.
Motion from Sen. Morris to add advisor Katie Delaney to the agenda. Second. No objections. Moved
Motion from Sen. to approve the agenda as amended. Second. No objections. Moved
VII.
Recognition of Students Seeking Appointment
None.
VIII.
Student Remarks
None.
IX.
Guest Speakers
Katie Delaney, SG senior advisor –I just had a couple of announcements to make. One, you should all have
this FERPA form, it should have been emailed to you. If you have not yet completed it, it is due on the 10th,
which is this Friday. Please make sure you fill out all the information, and include the designee, and just list
my name down there. Make sure that this gets back to the professional staff before 2:00 pm on May 10,
which is this Friday. Also, I just want to talk about a safety issue: if you or anyone you know of who is in
Student Government is in some sort of an accident, or is injured, or is in some sort of danger any time and
you are aware of it, please make sure that you notify a staff member so that we are aware, because part of our
responsibilities here is to ensure your safety. That’s all I have tonight. Thanks very much.
X.
Judicial Branch Report
a. Chief Justice – Alex Goetz (sgajc@unf.edu) (5-minutes)
We got a request for a judicial review this last Monday from Treasure William Namen. The question was
presented that CR-12S-2565, that was passed through Senate on January 30th, 2012 and was adopted by the
student body, if it was done constitutionally. Turns out we decided that it was not done constitutionally, for a
few reasons. So what happened for those of you who do not know or were not here: the CR was passed
through Senate, it went to the President’s desk, it was vetoed, and then was returned to Senate. It was split
into two bills and put on the ballot. That process that was being challenged was the veto by the President,
constitutionally the president does not have veto power over the bills. After this point when it was split, there
were many errors with it and it was pretty much passed wrong. It shouldn’t have been passed the way it was.
What the judicial branch decided unanimously was that the bill shall come back to Senate and shall be passed
the right way. So you should hear it in Committees soon and the bill will essentially start from scratch so it
can be done the right way.
William Namen, Vice President – Just to further clarify what the Chief Justice is saying: the question I asked
was based on some findings our Attorney General made, and basically what he is clarifying for us right now is
that the procedures taken on making this bill created are void, as in the steps that were taken were not the
right ones. And because of that every step that was taken after that false step made the bill void. So we have
to go back and redo it.
Alex Goetz, Chief Justice – The constitution was initially broken when the President vetoed the bill. The bill
was going to go back to that point and that is where you will start again. So currently, if you guys do nothing
it should go on the ballot for the fall election. The bill that was originally passed is not. The problem with this
is that there are a couple inconsistencies in the bill itself that were found, so you guys might want to readdress
the bill and make the changes that are necessary.
Katie Delaney, Senior Advisor – I would like to reiterate for any of those members who are on CSC to pay
very careful attention to any of the bills that are being sent back. Ask a lot of questions, talk to the other
members of the committee, speak to me, speak to Alex Goetz, also your Attorney General who have
knowledge of this bill and the history. They do have an understanding of what changes should be made.
Thank you.
Alex Goetz, Chief Justice – For my final report, Bennett Smith will be our new Associate Chief Justice. Ryan
DeWitt had to step down because of work related conflicts, and he is no longer to fulfill the role of Associate
Chief Justice. Be looking forward to meeting Bennett tonight, he should be here when he gets out of class for
confirmation so I will introduce him then. Also, the parking pass that Judicial designed back in the fall is
going to be used for next year’s parking pass so look forward to seeing that on your car in the fall.
Motion from Sen. Estrada to revisit the agenda. Second. Taken to electronic vote.
Motion from Sen. Estrada for unanimous consent. Second. No objections. Moved.
Motion from Sen. Estrada to move the executive confirmation of Hailey Guerra before Executive Agency
Reports. Second. No objections. Moved.
Motion from Sen. Estrada to approve the agenda as amended. Second. No objections. Moved
XI.
Executive Confirmation –
a. Hailey Guerra as Director of Governmental Affairs
William Namen, Vice President – This is Hailey Guerra. She has been selected by the hiring committee of
President Fassi as the Director of Governmental Affairs. Ms. Guerra herself has been involved with Student
Government for a little bit now. She was an associate justice this past semester working under Mr. Alex
Goetz. She served very well for them and when it came time to trying to find the right personnel for our
cabinet we wanted someone to not only care about Student Government but go beyond that and try to make
differences and try to make our cabinet the best cabinet that this Student Government has ever seen. Ms.
Guerra had the talents that we were looking for, for this specific position, someone that not only cared about
Student Government and UNF as a whole but also the bigger picture, which is very necessary and important
for this position. There is no doubt in my mind that she is the perfect person for this position so I strongly
urge the Senate to confirm her. However, I’ll let her give some information about herself.
Hailey Guerra – My name is Hailey Guerra, I don’t know if any of you guys remember me. I was here before
getting confirmed, this is my second time going before the Senate, not that it’s any less nerve-wracking. I have
been selected to be Director of Governmental Affairs, which is basically working to handle anything on a
state level that comes in to school that will affect any of the state university system, and assisting President
Fassi and Vice President Namen with any legislation that comes through. It’s something that I’m really
passionate about, I want to go into law. I have experience as a legal assistant previously in Miami and also as
an associate justice under Chief Justice Alex Goetz.
Motion from Sen. Estrada to confirm Hailey Guerra as Director of Governmental Affairs. Second.
No discussion. Electronic vote. Passes 9-0-0.
XII.
Executive Agency Reports: (3-minutes each)
a. Osprey Productions - opdir@unf.edu
John Chwalisz, Director of Osprey Productions – Good evening Senators, I’ll keep this short for you guys.
First, OP had a great intercession week, we all went on a cruise so I hope you all got the chance to get away
as well. For starters we did hire our staff right before we left. We have a staff of 10 which is supportive
coordinators, one public relations coordinator, an office manager and a graphic assistant. The other three are
already confirmed. We hired those, and our leadership orientation is next week. It is a three day event because
there is a lot to know. Next, we are working this summer on new advertising to the students, and you guys are
seeing new methods of it to entice the incoming freshmen. And lastly, we are working on summer events so
be looking forward to those in Summer B. Hope you all have a great summer.
b.
Club Alliance - sgacluba@unf.edu
Brett Weismann, Club Alliance Director – We are preparing for our June 7th general meeting. We’re going to
be doing re-registration June 1st, and that is what we will be discussing at the meeting. Also, we are currently
accepting applications for our coordinator position. For constitution, it’s event and communication
coordinator; so if you know anybody that’s interested please send them our way, give them my email. Also,
Week of Welcome we are doing a club fair at the same time as the Luau this year for the first time. Last thing,
Club Fest for us is going to be September 26, and we have picked a carnival theme.
Chief Justice Alex Goetz swears in Hailey Guerra as new Director of Governmental Affairs.
XIII.
Executive Branch Reports
b. Attorney General – Paige Lehman sgaag@unf.edu (3-minutes)
Since the last time I saw you, I met with all of the branches as well as the Executive Agencies to discuss their
policies and procedures to make sure they’re in compliance with the constitution statutes as well as to discuss
any changes they are willing to propose. I also have been working with Advisor Delaney and Sen. Ramirez on
going over the constitution and statues for any discrepancies and there are three particular ones I wanted to
discuss with you guys. The first is the bill SB-12F-2634 Special Request Act. It was passed Oct. 8 and it was
not made effective immediately, and as per Chapter 4 3.5 it has to be made effective immediately unless it’s a
Title VIII, then it’s made until July 1st. It was put into our statutes so it will be removed until July 1st, so it
stays in compliance.
The next bill you have in front of you is SB-13S-2686 Title X Revisions. This bill does not have an inactive
clause at the end. Per our statues every bill has to have an inactive clause to get this bill to pass by the Senate
and signed by the President. Therefore it is my recommendation that the Senate motion to recall this bill back
to Senate, move it to first read and send it back to Committee where it can have changes made to it and stay
in compliance. Doing this will require a 2/3 vote.
Lastly, as Chief Justice Goetz stated, in reference to the CR-12S-2565, per judicial review this will go back
before the students in the fall general election. However there are some grammatical mistakes, discrepancies,
so I highly recommend the Senate to recall the CR back to Senate, then move it to first read and send it back
to committee where they can go through it and make changes, and stay in compliance. Doing this will require
a 3/4 vote.
I have passed out the two bills so you can look at them; the CR and the SB bill.
Motion from Sen. Anderson to recall CR-12S-2565 adopted on January 30, 2012. Second. No discussion.
Electronic vote. Passes 9-0-0
Motion from Sen. Anderson to recall SB-13S-2686 adopted April 1, 2013. Second. No discussion. Electronic
vote. Passes 9-0-0
Motion from Sen. Anderson to revisit the agenda. Second. Electronic vote. Motion from Sen. Anderson for
unanimous consent. Second. No objections. Moved.
Motion from Sen. Anderson to add SB-13S-2686 to first read. Second. No objections. Moved.
Motion from Sen. Anderson to add CR-12S-2565 to first read. Second. No objections. Moved.
Motion from Sen. Anderson to approve agenda as amended. Second. No objections. Moved.
c. Treasurer – Joseph Turner sgasbt@unf.edu (3-minutes)
Not too much to report; I am getting into the new role and I’m enjoying it so thank you all. I did hold a
meeting with the former Treasurer and former B&A Chair, now Senator Chris Brady, as well as the Business
Manager and got some revisions together for Title VIII that should be coming down the pipe here. Hope
summer classes are going well. Thank you.
d. Vice President – William Namen sgavpres@unf.edu (3 minutes)
I don’t have much to report to you guys right now. I’ve been working on the Student Government retreat
which is looking like it will be sometime in mid-June. Also, my cabinet is working heavily on trying to
transform the orientation process that we have now. We’re trying to make it more engaging for students and
integrate them better with our campus. Besides that, we’re still working on some initiatives that really haven’t
come out yet. That will be really all tentative on the retreat once we brainstorm there.
Question – What’s an example for orientation?
William Namen, Vice President – for example, one major thing was that retreats right now are two days but
there are 6-4 hours in each one of those day. You don’t really have a lot of time. One of the ideas is
increasing funding to that orientation and by doing that they can open up to two full days where they come
here in the morning, stay here over the night, kind of get that general aspect, that real university feel that
other orientation students get at other schools. They stay here the whole night, they stay here all the next day
and then they leave. It’s expanding it.
e. President – sgapres@unf.edu (5-minutes)
None.
XIV.
Legislative Cabinet Reports
a. Constitution and Statutes Committee – Chairwoman Kaitlin Ramirez (sgacsc@unf.edu)
There were quite a few motions going on and what just happened was that CR-12S-2565 was moved to first
read which means in my committee we will be going over CR-12S-2565. So please be on the look out for that.
If you would like to sign up for my committee still, I would love to have you.
b. Budget and Allocations Committee – Chairman Fransua Estrada (sgabac@unf.edu)
None.
c. Elections and Appointments Committee – Chairwoman Emily Antworth (sgaesac@unf.edu)
None.
d. Student Advocacy Committee – Chairman Aaron Anderson (sgasac@unf.edu)
Thanks everybody for coming out to Finals Frenzy and for helping out, we were very successful. We did
about three times as much as we did last year. Of course we had two locations, and we added at least an extra
hour, but we spent over $1,000 to give back to the students from the Student Advocacy Committee Budget,
and something around 300 bananas, 1000 granola bars, and a lot of water bottles, I can’t do the math in my
head, were given out. Thank you for all your help. Give yourself a hand.
e. University Affairs Committee – Chairman Justin Turner (sgauac@unf.edu)
None. On leave for Summer A, and Senator Morris will be representating the UA Committee Chair in his
absence.
f.
Senate President Christopher Brady (sgasp@unf.edu) – Senate Pro-Tempore Kaitlin Ramirez is substituting
while Senate President Brady is on leave.
Senate President Brady will be back at our next scheduled Senate Meeting. In the meantime, I will send out
summer committee assignments at the beginning of next week. Please come see me after senate if you have
any issues or would like to update your summer leave, if may be. Also, as Advisor Delaney mentioned, we
need FERPA forms turned in by 2:00 pm on Friday this week and I have extras up here if you would like to
fill them out. Please come up after senate to fill them out and give them to Advisor Delaney right afterwards.
Please if you have any questions about any of the motions that happened in the meantime feel free to ask. It
was a lot and it was a little rough, so bear with us. Thank you so much
XV.
Fiscal Requests
None.
XVI.
New Business
a. Constitution and Statutory Changes on 1st Reading
b. Senate and Joint Resolutions on 1st Reading
c. Legislation considered for 2nd Reading
d. Senate and Joint Resolutions on 2nd Reading
XVII. Judicial Confirmation –
a. Bennett Smith – Associate Chief Justice
Alex Goetz, Chief Justice – This is Bennett; Bennett has been on the branch since 2010, so he is a seasoned
veteran and has seen countless Judicial reviews, judicial complaints, election violations, and probably posted
many parking appeals by now. He knows exactly what he needs to do to get this job done. He has been
extremely reliable over the years, speaking with former Chief Justice Matthew Yost and myself, we both
attest at how reliable he is. I need someone who can be that reliable person for the branch so please confirm
him.
Bennett Smith – If you guys have any questions for me; like Chief Justice Goetz said I’ve been up here for a
while so I know how the branch works.
Motion from Sen. Estrada to confirm Bennett Smith. Second. No discussion. Electronic vote. Motion from
Sen. Garrity for unanimous consent. Second. No objections. Moved
Bennett Smith is sworn in as new Associate Chief Justice.
XVIII.
Announcements
Please come see me afterwards if you have any questions or any conflicts with the summer, or if you’d like to
update your absence, or if you would like to sign up for additional committees. As you all see we’re a little
sparse over the summer and so to make sure we have Quorom on each committee we’d like to see your
bright and shiniing faces on as many committees as possible. And as a final reminder, FERPA forms are due
this Friday and I have extra sheets up here. If you have any questions on anything that’s happened tonight,
please ask any of us after the meeting. Before I forget, Committees are May 20th, that is our next committee
meeting.
XIX.
Final Roll Call – Senate Pro-Tempore Kaitlin Ramirez – sgaspt@unf.edu
Quorum is reestablished with 9 voting members.
XX.
Adjournment
Meeting is adjourned at 7:18 pm.