ASNAU SENATE MEETING #12 TWENTY-EIGTH SESSION OFFICIAL MINUTES Date: December 7, 2015 Date of Senate Meeting: December 3, 2015 Number on council: 14 Number present: 13 Prepared by Kyra Johnson Amanda Dietlin, Vice President of Academic Affairs, called the Senate meeting of the 2015-2016 Associated Students of Northern Arizona University Senate to order at 4:02 pm in the Havasupai Room A & B of the University Union. Roll Call Absent: Senator Mathew Approval of Minutes Motion: Senator Beghtol moves to approve last weeks’ minutes. Second: Senator Graham Vote: Unanimous, last weeks’ minutes have been approved. Call to the Audience: a. Sustainable Landscape Project Paul: Hello, I was the staff advisor from the last Sustainable Landscape Project. I have been working with Green Jacks to get support for them to get funding for landscaping on campus. She had to work today so I am going to try to give background and ask for your help. The team and Green Jacks are working on a letter for the president for funding from admin. The administration has not funded it and the herbicides that are being used create issues in the environment and to people. According OSHA/EPA/IARC their classification of the herbicides on campus have possible human carcinogens. Some of them are toxic to living cells and harmfully to humans. The environmental agencies are not “do no harm”, but instead take a cost approach. They don’t consider when the herbicides are mixed together. There are studies showing a higher effect in the water supply when mixed together. The team takes caution when spraying, but there is still no way to stop it from being in the air. There is no way to avoid it. We think there is a path to reduce this and that the university should be taking it. Gas emissions are a production of the herbicides. To address these issues, the project was developed in 2011 and the Green Fund funded it. The strategy that this project has development is removing weeds manually to create thick grass. The ways are soil aeration, regular over seeding etc. What we found was, we had tested plots and control plots. This shows this one is thick and healthy and the other sick and bald spots. We demonstrated that it can help the lawns look better over time. We have gotten support from the SLM demonstration project, but they have not enough of a budget to continue and the weeds will take over again. They had to reduce spraying around the residence halls. The green fund wants the admin to fund it so we reached out to the coordinating committee for campus sustainability to partial fund it. In 2014 they created a budget with it, but the budget was denied and the herbicides continued. There has been history of strong support for this on campus, with Green Fund, ASNAU, Faculty Senate, and Environment Caucus. We are at a stop and we see it as a campus safety issue. We believe to make a strong lead now so that we don’t have to re start. The request is annual cost of $89,000 and a one time cost of $61,000. If herbicides start again they will waste an extra $12,000. I am here today to request that you endorse that letter, which is requesting the money from the admin. We would like the president to sign the letter for ASNAU. We want all organization from the past to re-sign to show we are behind this effort. That’s the main body of the letter and below is a list of people who have supported it in the past. It will be submitted electronically and then sent to everyone who signed it. Its gives a background and the budget for it. Motion: Senator Carr moves to approve Associated Students of Northern Arizona University’s endorsement of the Sustainable Landscape Project. Second: Senator Moore-Sharp Vote: Unanimous, the motion has been approved b. Higher Learning Commission President Buchta: So basically this is the re-accreditation process. I have briefly talked about it before. There are committees and sub committees to make sure in 2017 we stay a state university. Laurie: I am the co-lead for re-accreditation. I went ahead and did an overview of it. We are honored to have Doctor Rosen here. We thought it would be important for students to also ask him questions. Doctor Rosen: Thank you for the opportunity, I have a really good story to tell. One of the really important elements, reaccreditation is quality on campus. How do we evaluate your learning experience to other campuses? Who are peer reviewers? Teachers, presidents and me. The purpose of the review is to get someone to come in and see with fresh eyes about all the elements of the quality of the education. We do this in Untied States and are the leader for this. We rely on creditors to go out and look at these schools and report back to the government. In the scheme of things, it is making it better for your peers and other students. There will be an open forum, but since we know that students’ life’s are complex and we know we don’t capture all their voices at the campus. We want to hear from you since you represent the whole campus, so we have developed a student survey. This one is important and we hope you can communicate it to your colleagues. So we understand what it is like for these students here. We have learned there are issues in the financial aid office, because only ten students have answered but lets us know what is working well and not well. There are three brief questions. Are these things you need apparent and meeting the needs of all students. This will help the peer reviewers help the school improve. We look at the institutional goals here and we help them improve. Senator Moore-Sharp: We mentioned this earlier back, what about the ideological problems in the classroom. In the classroom, I don’t hear from my peers but I want to hear more from them and if they are being silenced in the classroom. Doctor Rosen: I hear the concern, but I that is something that I can do nothing about. With the survey you can put it down, that will be a way for your voices to be heard. The peer reviewers will be able to make sense of that in their review. These documents provide a record and let them say we identify that it is a concern. In the next four years we can see if they improved on that. Unfinished Business New Action Business Chair Dietlin: For all the clubs that are here today when I call your item come to the podium and you will talk for about 2-3 minutes. If you are here for recognition tell us about your club: number of people, what you do, what you wish to accomplish. If you are here for funding come up and tell us what the funding is for, how much, how will this impact the college. Item A- Club Recognition: Islamic Youth Group Motion: Senator Graham moves to vote on Item A- Club Recognition: Islamic Youth Group Second: Senator Nunnally Discussion: Hi everyone, thank you for given me this opportunity to present to you. The Islamic Youth Group is about promoting peace and nothing else but peace. We want to recognize the stereotypes plus do charity work and enrich the diversity of NAU. We would give the student the opportunity to pray 5 times a day and have that space for them. Vote: Unanimous, Item A- Club Recognition: Islamic Youth Group has been approved Item B- Club Recognition: NAU UNIque Unicycle Club Motion: Senator Graham moves to vote on Item B- Club Recognition: NAU UNIque Unicycle Club Second: Senator Davis Discussion: Good afternoon, I am here on behalf of the club. We want to create an environment for students who want to learn how to unicycle and have the safety equipment for it. I spent about two weeks trying to learn how many people know how unicycle, we found 10 people. By making this organization we would be able to allow students to learn the skill. Vote: Unanimous, Item B- Club Recognition: NAU UNIque Unicycle Club has been approved Item C- SB 28-38: Blue Key Honor Society Motion: Senator Sowerwine moves to vote on Item C- SB 28-38: Blue Key Honor Society Second: Senator Graham Discussion: Good afternoon, I am Jennifer. We are asking for funding for flight to travel to our national conference. We asked for up to $2,500 and our club is covering $100 per student for registration. The conference is for key note speaker and presentations on understanding our four pillars. Plus, we would have the opportunity to learn from other clubs around the nation. Senator Beghtol: We need to amend the bill to say Blue Key Honor Society instead of the Cardinal Key Honor Society Motion: Senator Beghtol moves to strike the Cardinal Key Honor Society and add the Blue Key Honor Society Second: Senator Davis Vote: Unanimous, the bill will read the Blue Key Honor Society Vote: Unanimous, Item C- SB 28-38: Blue Key Honor Society has been approved Item D- SB 28-39: Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society Motion: Senator Graham moves to vote on Item D- SB 28-39: Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society Second: Senator Anderson Discussion: Hi, I am the president of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society. I have two copies of our budget for you guys to look at it. We sent two officers to Florida to attend the National Leadership Conference. It was beneficial to us on how to better to manage our club. We also got to exchange ideas with other universities and gained information on scholarships. We believe this will not only benefit our organization, but other clubs on campus and the community. Senator Beghtol: Same thing again, we need to amend it to not say the Cardinal Key Honor Society Motion: Senator Beghtol moves to strike the Cardinal Key Honor Society for the 3rd whereas Second: Senator Moore-Sharp Vote: Unanimous, the bill has been amended to exclude the Cardinal Key Honor Society Vote: Unanimous, Item D- SB 28-39: Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society has been approved Item E- SB 28-40: Northern Arizona University Gate Millennium Scholars Motion: Senator Roos moves to vote on Item E- SB 28-40: Northern Arizona University Gate Millennium Scholars Second: Senator Moore-Sharp Discussion: Hello, I am the Vice President and Treasurer of Gate Millennium Scholars. The GMS is a program of students funded by the scholarship. We are doing projects off and on campus. We are asking for funding for our conference. We have done fundraising, but are here to request extra help. Senator Moore-Sharp: Congrats on getting the scholarship! Presenters: Thank you. We are glad, but want give back what we have been given. Vote: Unanimous, Item E- SB 28-40: Northern Arizona University Gate Millennium Scholars has been approved Item F- SB 28-41: NAU French Club Motion: Senator Graham moves to vote on Item F- SB 28-41: NAU French Club Second: Senator Ridge Discussion: Hello, I am Kimberley. We are asking for reimbursement for our event tonight which is the international dance party. It’s an event opened to all students. All the international clubs on campus have come together to showcase all the cultures at NAU and around the world. There are games, activities, and food that represent all the different nations; then a dance party. Vote: Unanimous, Item F- SB 28-41: NAU French Club has been approved Item G- SB 28-42: Xi Sigma Pi Motion: Senator Roos moves to vote on Item G- SB 28-42: Xi Sigma Pi Second: Senator Sowerwine Discussion: Hello, I am Laura, the president of Xi Sigma Pi. We are a national forestry honor society. We are requesting money for the 5 students who attended the Society of American Foresters National Convention. We wanted to have national networking and to represent the student body. Out of the 4,000 students that applied for positions, 5 NAU students and the only other school with the same amount was Colorado State. Vote: Unanimous, Item G- SB 28-42: Xi Sigma Pi has been approved Item H- SB 28-43: Francisca Gonzales Motion: Senator Nunnally moves to vote on Item H- SB 28-43: Francisca Gonzales Second: Senator Ridge Discussion: Hi. I went to the AESA Conference and went on behalf of the honors department. I was on a panel with other presenters. I did it with a faculty member that I have been working with. I am only one of the ten undergrad students at the conference. I got to share that information then with fellow students. Senator L’Ecuyer: For the funding packet, in appropriations we talked about how it was for registration. Chair Dietlin: The funding packet in the email reflects that Vote: Unanimous, Item H- SB 28-43: Francisca Gonzales has been approved Item I- SB 28-44: Association for Computing Machinery Motion: Senator Rosic moves to vote on Item I- SB 28-44: Association for Computing Machinery Second: Senator Graham Discussion: Hey guys, I am Chantz. We are requesting funding for a Hack Arizona. It was the first hack-a-thon. Students came together and were given a few hours to create a coding programing or cool robots. They got dozens of top name companies to come. We are requesting funding for the 30 of us going. We are going to camp out there to save money. It is a great way to network and connect with future employers. Vote: Unanimous, Item I- SB 28-44: Association for Computing Machinery has been approved Item J- SB 28-45: LGBTQA Resources and Support Motion: Senator Moore-Sharp moves to vote on Item J- SB 28-45: LGBTQA Resources and Support Second: Senator Nunnally Discussion: I am the coordinator and I am the grad assistant. We are request $1,600 for the bus to get down to the conference. We are receiving $1,000 for food to feed the students. This conference is put on by me and a committee. I am in charge of the programming. UofA and ASU are also coming to the conference. This is our 5th year participating. We have the most workshops that are presented. 93% of participants said they feel more likely to advocate for LQBTQA students after the conference. 60% said that it was important to have it again for next year. We want to fill the bus this year, last year there were only 5 non undergrads that went. We have put out the call all across campus. We had a waiting list last year, that’s how full it will become. Senator L’Ecuyer: To clarify, the by-laws say that 75% of the number of the people going needs to be undergrad, so they are fine. Vote: Unanimous, Item J- SB 28-45: LGBTQA Resources and Support has been approved Item K- SB 28-46: Model United Nations Motion: Senator Davis moves to vote Item K- SB 28-46: Model United Nations Second: Senator Roos Discussion: Hey, I am Scott and I am here on behalf of MUN. We are requesting money for flight and hotel for the three conferences we are having next semester. All of these conferences are a big thing to be picked to go to. The club, the conference helps us build a community around MUN. Vote: Abstentions: Senator Nunnally and Ridge, majority rule, Item K- SB 2846: Model United Nations has been approved Item L- By-Law Changes Motion: Senator Graham moves to table Item L- By-Law Changes Second: Senator Nunnally Discussion: What we did is change the stuff from last week. We wanted to make sure we clarified. We wanted to make sure that they had access to an appeals. Also a vote of 2/3rds of exec needs to vote in favor for it to go through. We made sure we defined what new complaints are. The supreme court has 10 days to uphold the position. If there are extreme reasons why they can’t meet, they can do it electronically. Also people can refile, but we don’t think that will be a problem. Senator Carr: We also talked about a mediation process since this seems like it might get intense. We will put in a by-law about mediation, so both parties can get together to talk it through. President Buchta: When it comes to writing, in student life you can file a complaint verbally. Last year ASNAU had a sexual harassment problem and I don’t think they would want to go write a whole thing about it. Senator Moore-Sharp: There are other organizations on campus that make it a written one. That’s what really got me on board. Senator Nunnally: We talked about that as a concern, we would have a scribe, but we also worried about the process of the re-victimization. Kristine: There is the part of 2/3rd vote but I think maybe 2/5th would be better to make it easier. Senator Roos: The 2/3 to be put on duty leave? Chair Dietlin: 2/3rd would have to decide for them to go to supreme court. Senator Carr: Can we amend it? With what you brought up is there a way if they don’t want to use our process they can use another office? President Buchta: If something like that happened in the work place and you could take it to student life but you still have to see him/her in the office. Lauren: If you follow it through student life they can’t impeach them but we can. Cindy: I think you want to separate out the organizational thing. We have measures to solve those things. This is presuming that they don’t want the student code of conduct. Senator Anderson: I do agree with what Ali said about writing it. Is there a comprise about them not having to write it? Senator L’Ecuyer: In the by-law change there is a scribe and if it a verbal complaint it is the same thing as having a scribe. Senator Moore-Sharp: The whole point is that when we are talking about people losing their jobs or post, you need to stand behind the weight of your words. We are presuming that you are innocence until proven guilty. Senator Rosic: I think that this article is necessary, we should table it. Senator Ridge: To value your time, we should table it and talk about it at a late date. Senator Moore-Sharp: Can we repeat all the things we need to fix just to have a mental checklist about all the concerns. Senator Carr: I think we need to clarify about the organizational things and if it was that bad there needs to be another option. Senator L’Ecuyer: What would the other option be? How could you not say it out loud or write it down? Senator Nunnally: Maybe record it and translate it later into words. Senator Carr: The fraction, 3/5ths. Senator Moore-Sharp: Okay yeah. Vote: Abstention: Senator Davis, majority rule, Item L- By-Law Changes has been tabled Chair Dietlin: For all the clubs and organizations here today we have finished the voting phase and are moving on to our reports. Before you leave, if you did have a senate bill passed, we invite you to the podium to take a hand out that shows you how to get in receipts and extra information about it. If you write your names and fill out the other information the would be great. After you do that if you have places to be and people to see you are welcome to leave. Executive Reports a. President- Alexandria Buchta - Lately, I have been answering a lot of email from students coming here next year. There have been a lot of questions on how they log into Louie. Sometimes they thank me for accepting them. I am working with front desk ladies and Lauren on budget issues. Lauren: We made some changes on where they put things in the lines. President Buchta: I am working on stuff for commencement. Next week we will have regular hours, but if you are busy with finals just talk to us. After that is is only the study breaks hours. Laruen: It is 7-9pm in the library. I will send out a google doc to everyone and you will be paid for those hours. If you have a concerns let me know. Senator Graham: Can we work both of those days? Lauren: Yep b. Vice President of Student Affairs- Allison Kelley - We hired two sustainability interns. We liked both of them, they met all of our qualifications. They start in spring, but I am meeting with them next week for setting goals. Last week, we had diversity committee to set goals and after I met with Dallas to give her those goals. Kiss my Axe voting is open so let’s get the word out. The more votes we get; the better idea we will have of what the students want. We had the bobble head raffle and Grace, Brooke, Madi, Hali, and Kali won. For some reason we are missing two. Senator Roos: It wasn’t the two for the NSG party? Allison: No I counted those. Make a difference day is coming up and that gives students an opportunity to do work around campus. We will be having stuff like a food drive and the undie run will round it out. If you have clubs who need community service let me know. C. Vice President of Academic Affairs- Amanda Dietlin - This past week I had to make some amendments to the bills, because there was information that was in the packet but not in the bill. I have an academic standard committee tomorrow and we are talking about the syllabus changes. I have not received many write ups for dean meetings, I will not sign off on your last few hours if I don’t have them. If you haven’t met your dean for some reason, you need to let me know. I had a very interest phone call about getting this survey service for free and I tried to tell him that we have one. It was interesting because I don’t think English was his first language. D. Vice President of Government Affairs – Vanessa Pomeroy - Hello everyone, I apologize for not being at the meeting today, I am currently at the Strategic Planning and Budget Council meeting which I will provide updates for at the next senate meeting. Currently SSA is in the process of wrapping up last minute details regarding Human Trafficking Awareness week which will be taking place the last week of January. We have also released applications for the new SSA Director position that we will be hiring next week. I am working with the other three universities to plan a lobbying day at the state capital where ASNAU would rent a bus to take students down in. If you have any question, please do not hesitate to reach out and ask me. I hope everyone has an amazing winter break. e. Chief of Staff- Lauren Stebbins - I am going to let my staff say everything. We have been working on the finals bus shuttle schedule, donuts with the dean and the concert. Also looking at what we can do for next semester. Staff Reports a. Student State Affairs- Heaven Pollock, John Bower -Vanessa covered it. b. Public Relations- Reed Emerson, Connor Wandersee, Korrin Snow - Lauren: They have been working on study break ads and anything else we have left c. Special Events- Amy Edgerton, Taylor Wesner -This week we met with Matt so we can work on things with the concert. Hopefully send out offers to artists soon. We worked on study break stuff and donuts with the deans. Which went good since most of the donut were eaten. Senator Moore-Sharp: What genre is it? Chair Dietlin: We don’t get to disclose that. Lauren: You get to know the genre when you know the artist. d. Information Technologist- Chantz Spears -Ali gave me the duty of taking all the binders in the back and putting them into a digital archive. I am through 5 binders so far. I Fixed some computers; mostly Sara’s since she breaks it a lot. Senator Moore-Sharp: I had someone that emailed me about a funding packet and the one online is not up to date. Chantz: The chick last year hid a lot all around, but I think I fixed it. Also I have most of your staff pictures, but I am waiting for new staff and winter break retreat to get the rest. Senator Moore-Sharp: Winter retreat? Laruen: Its just a half day thing. e. NSG- Hali Wetzel, Kali Morris - Hi. So we are doing a food drive this week in the freshman halls and it ends tomorrow. Whoever wins will get social. During the NSG party I got stolen from twice, so yeah. Committee Reports A. Appropriations: Senator L’Ecuyer - A lot of corrections to bills, so keep working on that. Stefan also brought up the idea that during senate we should introduce ourselves so people get to know us more. B. Legislative: Senator Carr - We are going to have to edit those by-law changes. We are continuing to look into the structure of other senates in other states to see if there is anything else we can do. I think we should do a big town hall thing where people can come and talk to us about concerns they have. Senator Davis: What about that thing that Stefan brought up about the thing that was going on Facebook? Senator Rosic: I totally forgot, but I will restart working on that. Senator L’Ecuyer: Are we going to talk about the dangers of that? Chair Dietlin: We will revisit that next semester. C. Diversity: Senator Rosic - Like Allison said we talked about our goals for next semester. I talked to PRISM and we talked about how to rebuild our relationship. Also they gave a good suggestion about opening some of the committee meetings in the month for students to come. Senator Reports College of Arts and Letters a. Abbey Matthew- Not Present b. Stefan Rosic- Thanks to special events for last minute corrections and donuts with the dean. Abbey really helped with a lot of stuff too. The dean could only stay for 20 minutes, so it was like donuts without the dean. I want to bring to everyone’s attention about the list of demands that was given to the dean. There are some demands that ASNAU can manage. Like for students without housing we can look where we are over spending and reallocate that money for them. College of Social and Behavioral Sciences a. Brooke Graham- NR b. Gabriella Nunnally- We have our dean meeting next week. c. Drake Ridge-NR College of Health and Human Services a. Alex Roos- NR b. Ashley Beghtol- I went to the drug, tobacco meeting, but it was cancelled. I talk to the lady in charge and she said that it was the same time next semester so I will still be able to attend. College of Education a. Alyssa Anderson- We had our meeting with the dean. b. Kyle Davis- At our dean meeting we talked about donuts with the dean, which we got finalized. Then we talked about having a bulletin board in the college for ASNAU to list things we have going on. College of Business a. Amanda Copeland- Lauren and I blew up over 340 balloons this semester. Also this is my last meeting. b. Lauren L’Ecuyer- I am going to miss my counter part. I will keep you updated. Something that I think we should focus on is an open forum with all our senators. Maybe discuss our funding and where it goes. College of Engineering, Forestry, and Natural Sciences a. Madi Sowerwine- We had lunch with our dean today. We talked about keeping the science building open for final. Our dean talked about how we have a relationship with China, where students come here for a year and when they return they will have two degrees. b. Stella Carr- We have an office in Beijing. As you know we are not having a donuts with the dean since another club in that college does that, but instead a small group of 5 students breakfast. We are working on where it will be and how to get applicants. We don’t want too many, but not just people we know. I had an idea a few weeks ago to have a follow up about what is happening with the funds. So asking people what they learned or accomplished with the funds. University College a. Marc Moore-Sharp- Abbey and I worked really hard on the by-law changes. I don’t have a meeting this week with my dean, but instead next semester. Quick question is orientation through student life or? Chair Dietlin: Orientation is their own thing. Advisor Reports (Cindy Anderson and Kristine Heflin) Cindy Anderson— Hearing that the college didn’t want to do donuts with the dean, I was thinking that we should do one with me. First off, I want to say that this is has been a powerful semester for me. I am impress that we are growing and changing. You are being serious with your elected positions. We will miss you Amanda as you finish the last semester at home. I talked with the president about the list of demands. I think that your president and want you to know that we have done things towards two of those demands already. Associated students are already on track with that. As a point of information that the STACK funds may have been allocated today, 60% of the funding went to student’s funds. It may help you as you to come across the funding for the spring. I also want to introduce Erin Grisham. Erin: I have two things, parallel to the list of demands. We have worked on a biased response for next semester. We have worked very hard to get that ready for spring. Another part of that is the BEST team and they can work close with your director on those things. We are really excited about the protocol. The other FYI, the president wants to schedule another leadership day for leaders on campus before ABOR. I mentioned it to Ali already. It was great last spring to bring students to that and the president wants to get that scheduled. Hopefully you will all check your email over break for that. Senator Moore-Sharp: What do you mean by biased? Erin: Biased experiences that students might experience on campus, something different than a hate crime. They can meet with the team, that idea was out of the campus safety request. Any more questions? Thank you Kristine Heflin— This week I worked with Allison for the the shirt design voting. So many more students have voted in this than elections last year. I want to give you credit for the growth semester. I have enjoyed working with it. You guys have been on top of planning things. I encourage you to stay strong academically, there are a week of classes and finals left. This is the time for you to finish strong with the academics. Discussion Items Announcements Chair Dietlin: Golden pinecone goes to Amanda, because she has done a great job this semester and will be missed. Also please fill out your availability for next semester so we can figure out a new meeting time for committees. There is a tab for all three committees. President Buchta: I want to let you all know that we have allocated $12,620.20 today. All together $56,022 for the whole semester. That’s about 22%, but have only cut checks for 11%. Vanessa: As you know, I was sitting on that council. They want to know what you guys think, so if you have anything come let me know. Important Dates Adjournment Motion: Senator Ridge moves to adjourn meeting at 5:54pm. Second: Senator Sowerwine Vote: Unanimous, meeting has been adjourned.