ASNAU SENATE MEETING #1 TWENTY-SIXTH SESSION OFFICIAL MINUTES Date: September 2013 Date of Senate Meeting: September 5, 2013 Number on council: 12 Number present: 11 Prepared by Amy Edgerton Senate Chairwoman Shayla Woodhouse called the Senate meeting of the 2013-2014 Associated Students of Northern Arizona University Senate to order at 5:02 P.M. in the Havasupai Room A & B of the University Union. Roll Call The following Senators were not present at the meeting: -Nicolas Startt Approval of Minutes: None Call to the Audience Marsha for Extended Bus Lines: She first thanks the senators and all members of ASNAU for their service to NAU. She is the sales manager for Student Media Center here on campus and has lived in Flagstaff for 40 years. She and her husband along with their children are alumni. Marsha is proposing a shuttle service from campus down Butler Ave. to the Flagstaff Mall and along Route 66 for the purpose of allowing students to participate in more activities off campus and around town. She wants the shuttle to run from 7PM to 12AM on Thursday and Friday nights, tentatively. This will cost about $750 for these two days a week. If this shuttle begins running two days a week every other week, we can observe the popularity of such a route and may increase run time to every week or another alternative. It will help students to get to know the community and she will get the word out through advertising which she has access to in the Student Media Center. She would like this to be a student backed and supported activity and that is why she has come to ASNAU. She has spoken with several other people on campus affiliated with the shuttle department who are willing to help fund this. Marsha used to be a member of CASA (Citizens Against Substance Abuse) and still supporting the cause, she wants to offer fun alternatives to students off-campus as well as on, and, having observed that the current bus routes take students mainly downtown near the bars, she would like to expand the activity options to students during the weekend. Questions: Dr. Brandel asks if businesses around the area are interested in this shuttle service. Marsha explains that has spoken with owner of the bowling alley and he has told her that himself and a few other business owners seem interested but she doesn’t want this to be a business run operation, since it is for the benefit of the students the decision should come from the students. Senator Cabral asks how many students would be interested. She says the bus downtown is very busy and while she originally looked at extending the current Mountain Link loop, it cannot be done because the route already in place is long and well used. Senator Howard asks where the route would go besides the mall. Marsha says the bowling alley and many restaurants on Route 66 would be included, along with businesses along Fourth St. and assures senators that she plans to make this route a long loop with many options incorporated. Dr. Brandel asks if, in terms of the loop, has anyone driven a bus to determine if this is something that can be done in an hour and return to campus in a timely manner. Marsha replies that this loop would take about an hour and be continuous. Dr. Brandel states that he thinks that students would want to know exactly what the loop would be in order to make a funding decision. She says she is thinking of 6 or 7 stops and what she is attempting to do with this is to provide a free service to promote these activities to students. Mountain Link only goes through campus, downtown, and to the Woodlands Village Apartments, and she wants to offer more to the students. May be available to public but mainly for students (free for students). She has talked to Parking Services and Health Promotions about assisting in funding this route. Senator Ortega asks if she has thought of Friday and Saturday or other days as apposed to Thursday and Friday. Marsha says it isn’t decided yet she just figured Thursday would be helpful to students, as she knows it is a popular night to go out. Senator Cabral asks what she is asking of ASNAU. She says she would like help funding the $750, which pays for the whole service. She thanks ASNAU for the opportunity. Unfinished Business None New Action Business Motion: Senator Smart move to vote on Item A: ASNAU FY14 Budget. Second: Senator Gorshe Discussion: President Mastrud discusses that the 2012-2013 senate has voted on the budget for this year previously. Since then there have been a few changes. Legal council physician has been increased to 35 hours a week at $40,000 a year. Increased front desk salaries and decreased administrative assistant salary as Mary Lou got paid for a lot of that time. Hours are the same for all other staff except Senate Clerk has been increased to 6 hours instead of 5 and salaries are the same. There is also work-study line and if anyone qualifies for work-study please go talk to President Mastrud. Administrative assistant could be reduced, Dr. Brandel budgeted at 25% about $6,000. This reduction is because there wasn’t a person at the beginning of the semester and one is being found now. Office furniture line was opened this summer and next week there will be an updated copy with what was spent. Office and student recognition for awards line has been updated do the purchase of the gold axe pins. Student services are T-shirts and handouts. NSG and Club Headquarters are included in the budget. The concert line is at a weird estimate because the excess from Mary Lou’s salary was added to the already $100,000 that is for the concert, because in years past this was not enough. Extended library hours was decreased because it doesn’t cost as much and lumberyard will help pay for the Lumberyard T-shirts. We don’t yet have numbers from roll over and increase of enrollment but these may increase the budget, to be determined. Questions: Senator Cabral asks about the bylaws allowing senate clerk to be allowed up to 5 hours. President Mastrud replies that we may need to amend the bylaws to reflect this change. Vote: Unanimous, Item A: ASNAU FY14 Budget has been approved Motion: Senator Boruch move to vote on Item B: Vice Chair Approval Second: Senator Libby Discussion: Chairwoman Woodhouse would like to elect Senator Ernan Cabral to the position of Vice Chair. Vote: Unanimous, Item B: Vice Chair Approval has been approved Motion: Senator Libby move to vote on Item C: Appropriations Chair Approval Second: Senator Ortega Discussion: Chairwoman Woodhouse would like to elect Senator Shannon Boruch to the position of Appropriations Chair. Vote: Unanimous, Item C: Appropriations Chair Approval has been approved Motion: Senator Brittany move to vote on Item D: Legislative Chair Approval Second: Senator Libby Discussion: Chairwoman Woodhouse would like to elect Senator Jared Gorshe to position of Legislative Chair. Vote: Unanimous, Item D: Legislative Chair Approval has been approved Motion: Senator Howard move to vote on Item E: Senate Clerk Approval Second: Senator Cabral Discussion: Chairwoman Woodhouse would like to elect Amy Edgerton to the position of Senate Clerk. Vote: Unanimous, Item E: Senate Clerk Approval has been approved Motion: Senator Gorshe move to vote on Item F: Adoption of By-Laws Second: Senator Howard Discussion: None Vote: Unanimous, Item F: Adoption of By-Laws has been approved Motion: Senator Tillinghaust move to table on Item G: Club Recognition: Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol (GAMMA) Second: Senator Buchta Discussion: Senator Cabral notes that item must first be voted on before it can be tabled. Senator Tillinghaust moves to rescind motion Motion: Senator Cabral move to vote on Item G: Club Recognition: Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol (GAMMA) Second: Senator Ortega Motion: Senator Libby move to table Item G: Club Recognition: Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol (GAMMA) Second: Senator Howard Vote: Unanimous, Item G: Club Recognition: Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol (GAMMA) has been tabled. Motion: Senator Cabral move to vote on Item H: Club Recognition: International Christian Fellowship. Second: Senator Boruch Discussion: The International Christian Fellowship wishes to welcome international students well because a lot of them don’t know anyone coming here and are Christians looking for an organization such as this. They want to share culture and help them feel involved. Vote: Unanimous, Item H: Club Recognition: International Christian Fellowship has been approved. Motion: Senator Smart move to vote on Item I: Club Recognition: NAU Rugby 7’s Second: Senator Howard Motion: Senator Libby move to table Item I: Club Recognition: NAU Rugby 7’s Second: Senator Howard Discussion: None Vote: Unanimous, Item I: Club Recognition: NAU Rugby 7’s has been tabled. Motion: Senator Simon move to vote on Item J: Club Recognition: Northern Arizona University Trombone Society. Second: Senator Gorshe Discussion: Representatives to promote the trombones of NAU to all music and non-music majors. The club has ideas such as trombone holiday caroling group. Open to all students and everyone can come and enjoy playing trombone together. Vote: Unanimous, Item J: Club Recognition: NAU Trombone Society has been approved. Motion: Senator Smart move to vote on Item K: Club Recognition: Queer and Ally Action and Research Team. Second: Senator Howard Discussion: The Queer and Ally Action and Research Team is also referred to as the Q&A research team. They are trying to create a safe environment for all queer and ally students along with social justice and activism. Questions: Senator Tillinghaust asks the difference between this club and PRISM. The difference is that PRISM is social and community building but Q&A is more activism and social work to get gender inclusive housing and other goals out the public. Senator Cabral asks if there will be officer positions. Representative explains that the club prefers that everyone be equal. Senator Cabral points out that they must list at least two officers in order to be approved. Representative says they have. Senator Smart and Christine say that they have met the requirements already though club headquarters. Vote: Unanimous, Item K: Club Recognition: Queer and Ally Action and Research Team has been approved. Motion: Senator Tillinghaust move to vote on Item L: Club Recognition: Tau Sigma Honors Society. Second: Senator Ortega Discussion: President of Tau Sigma Honors Society has come to discuss an honor society exclusively for transfer students. This society will accept students who have received a 3.5 or better GPA. The inaugural chapter was established in the spring of 2013 and they are still working on establishing themselves and doing more for NAU. Questions: Senator Cabral asks if we can approve this club since it is exclusively for transfer students. Christine says that since we have major specifics in other honor societies, this is ok. Dr. Brandel says that it is okay to have these kinds of restrictions. Senator Ortega points out that there are many other honor societies, so this one being exclusive to transfer students will not be an issue. Senator Gorshe states that these other honor societies will accommodate those students who do not meet these requirements. Makenzie says that other specific clubs have meetings open to the public and this is how the Tau Sigma Honors Society can run under the conditions. Dr. Brandel says transfer status is not a protected category. Vote: Unanimous, Item L: Club Recognition: Tau Sigma Honors Society has been approved. Motion: Senator Smart move to vote on Item M: OA: Chinese Student and Scholars Association, $500 Second: Senator Boruch Discussion: Chris, the President of the Chinese Student and Scholars Association is looking to fund the celebration of the origin of their country on September 20th. They are looking at 350 students and it is very important to the Chinese. They will use the funds toward food and other items for the celebration. Questions: Senator Gorshe asks Chris to specify what the event will entail. He replies that it’s a show of traditional Chinese performers to celebrate the culture. Senator Cabral asks about the $370 specified in the budget, President says they are asking for the full $500. Senator Cabral asks if all were approved at appropriations. Point of order being all Organizational Allocations must be in within 48 hours of last senate meeting. Motion: Senator Ortega move to temporarily suspend bylaws article 7, Section 11 (under senate committees) Subsection 2 and Sub sub section 5 in order to vote on items M through Q. Second: Senator Gorshe Discussion: None Vote: Unanimous, suspend the bylaws for Items M through Q. Vote: Unanimous, Item M: OA: Chinese Student and Scholars Association, $500 has been approved Motion: Senator Simon move to vote on Item N: OA: NAU College Republicans, $500 Second: Senator Cook Discussion: Representatives explain that the club does a 911 commemorative event each year, and they are requesting funds to buy supplies. Open to all students and there is a candle light vigil, important because they want to remember this event. Budget included. Questions: Senator Smart asks if we can fund tangible items, Chairwoman Woodhouse says yes. Vote: 11 in favor, 1 Abstain, Item N: OA: NAU College Republicans, $500 has been approved. Motion: Senator Libby move to vote on Item O: OA: NAU Saxophone Society, $500 Second: Senator Cabral Discussion: Amanda, President of the NAU Saxophone Society, is looking to fund the NAU Single Reed Symposium which was also held last year. This is an annual event where saxophone and clarinet students can attend master classes along with high school and middle school attendees. This event brings interest to NAU Campus by bringing high profile artists and also brings focus to the university professors, staff, students, and campus. This was a large event last year. Questions: Senator Gorshe asks how much was allocated last year. President says she believes they were given $3000, $500 through Organizational Allocation and $2500 through a Senate Bill. They are asking for the same amount this year. Senator Smart asks about the fundraising efforts of the club. President explains performing at graduations is their main fundraising effort. Vote: Unanimous, Item O: OA: NAU Saxophone Society, $500 has been approved Motion: Senator Libby move to vote on Item P: SB 26-5: NAU Saxophone Society, $2500 Second: Senator Cabral Discussion: Senator Gorshe mentions that some of the money will be used to pay for rooms at the Drury Inn, and inquires if we are allowed to fund this. Chairwoman Woodhouse says yes. Vote: Unanimous, Item P: SB 26-5: NAU Saxophone Society, $2500 has been approved. Motion: Senator Boruch move to vote on Item Q: SB 26-6: Open Carnival Line Second: Senator Gorshe Discussion: Chyna and Jillian propose the opening of the carnival line and will keep ASNAU updated on the budget each senate meeting. Have chosen 6 rides from Midway, 5 of the rides are $3500 and the last is $2500. This is the state of the current budget and they would like to continue moving forward. Questions: Senator Smart asks about the specific rides. Jillian lists them as follows: Gravitron, the Swinger, the Inverter, the Sizzler, the Ferris wheel, and the Tornado. Special Events will also be getting a slide, but not from Midway, Slide will be hard top and not inflatable because hard slides are quicker, involving less climbing. They will discuss remainder of the budget at a later date. Vote: Unanimous, Item Q: SB 26-6: Open Carnival Line has been approved Executive Reports a. President- Makenzie Mastrud -President Mastrud reports that this week she has been working on the budget and thanks ASNAU for approving. Will go over with Christine and Ashley at front desk and their goal is to provide an updated budget every other week even though this may be difficult and may not always work. Worked on the bylaws along with Senator Gorshe and Chairwoman Woodhouse. She has been working also with our Student State Affairs Directors on their Greek Life Campaign and also met with President Haeger and GSG about Textbooks (further discussed under Student State Affairs). Lets ASNAU know if anyone is not yet set up on payroll to talk with Ashley and Christine at front desk and they can help. If any students come into the office asking about legal aid, let them know we are working on it and it should be ready in about a month. She has met with Relay for Life to coordinate dates and locations with them. Finally, President Mastrud has Dining Dollars, which she has received from the Food Compliance Committee in order to evaluate the service. Come see her in the office if you would like to evaluate with her. b. Vice President of Student Affairs- CJ Cooper - VP Cooper reports that club headquarters have been running smoothly and has been open for the past two weeks. Helium is already almost empty due to many sororities using the supplies, but inventory and restock will occur on Fridays. Let clubs know these hours: Monday-Thursday 12:00PM-7:00PM Friday 10:00AM-2:00PM Senator Smart asks to confirm hours and asks about weekend hours. VP Cooper says that they will have a weekend drop box because weekend hours are hard to coordinate with everyone’s schedule. Working on tailgate, Lumberyard shirts are coming along well and should be done soon. Meeting with Rocky to discuss how much athletics will contribute to lumberyard shirts this year, last year was a third of the cost. Cooper has been trying to coordinate with the same DJ for all tailgates. He asks that everyone try to sign up for at least one tailgate to assist him because he cannot do it all on his own. Food truck is assigned to be at the alumni tailgate, but he is trying to get at student tailgate maybe for homecoming. Tailgate is main priority but once the ball is rolling he will begin work on Make A Difference Day. c. Vice President of Academic Affairs- Shayla Woodhouse -VP Woodhouse reports that she hopes everyone had a great first week of school. She thanks the senators who have emailed their clubs and asks if you haven’t yet please do this by the end of this weekend. Please contact your Dean’s assistants and not the Dean of your college personally because they handle the scheduling. Committees were sent out on a Google document the other day. CHECK FIRST COMMITTEE. She asks if anyone is willing to be on the Tobacco Task Force Committee, she says they are looking for 2-3 people and she and Chyna are already attending. Senator Cabral and President Mastrud offer to attend. VP Woodhouse asks if anyone is willing to attend RHA 4:00PM-6:00PM on Mondays along with Senator Boruch. Senator Cabral and Senator Gorshe offer to attend. She will start her monthly senator one-on-ones next week and will send out a Google document with time slots. Please sign up for whatever time works for you. She also forgot to mention during retreat if a senator votes no then he or she must have a reason, and must abstain if it is mainly a conflict of interest. Raise your hand high when voting, seconding, or motioning. d. Chief of Staff- Sammy Smart -President Mastrud is reporting for Chief of Staff Smart, who is sorry she cannot be at the meeting because of class. She thanks ASNAU for attending NSG kick-off and discusses how the staff is busy planning/advertising for the carnival and other upcoming events. If anyone wants a poster created fill out a green form by her office and give to PR. If you want changes after the poster has been created please fill out the pink sheet and do the same. Please be positive and do not be harsh with what you say because Spencer and Colleen spend a lot of time on these posters and other advertising things. She is working on the language for the concert survey that will go out in the next couple of weeks. Executive officers are meeting with administration next Monday to finalize a procedure. She will inform ASNAU once she knows what it will be. There is an event calendar in the back, please add to it if you have an event coming up. She will have her office hours soon and Staff on a Stick will start next week. Joke: What did the grape do when it got stepped on? Let out a little wine. Staff Reports A. Student State Affairs- Ben Silva, Dylan Lefler, Oregon McDiarmid - Ben reports that they are going to the faculty senate meeting to discuss textbook pledge event, to encourage the use of current versions of textbooks for multiple years instead of updating every year. Also encouraging the use of online and rentable text books and resources for the convenience of the students. At UA they have a similar pledge but they have teacher’s turn in their lists of next semester books early to increase buy back at the end of the semester. - Oregon reports ABOR sent out at letter to social sororities and fraternities. They will be starting a campaign for Greek life to show what the students are really all about. Society sees them as alcohol drinking kids who don’t take advantage of education and we would like to change this viewpoint. If any Greek life affiliates have any questions about this let us know. Senator Simon asks if they would like support from Greek life. Went to the United Greek Council and are planning on going to individual chapters to educate and inform. President Mastrud says that they would also like to spread the word to Greek life students. Senator Smart says their goal is to promote academic success and asks what the board of regents is doing and why they’re taking interest. Oregon explains they have taken notice of ASU and UA’s Greek life and they haven’t given a positive of negative stance yet, only have sent out the letter and been silent. President Mastrud explains that 5 of 7 sororities are on probation and that we need to work on holding chapters accountable. Oregon explains that we are trying to be proactive instead of reactive. Senator Gorshe asks if other campuses are doing the same, Oregon doesn’t - - know, and also asks if since the next ABOR meeting will be here if we will have this rolled out by then. Senator Simon asks if ABOR has done anything with athletics and other campus organizations or if they are suddenly picking on Greek life. Oregon says he can’t speak for the regents but they do take notice of things within higher education. Art Farmer explains that private citizens can approach the board about all sorts of subjects. They can look into many different kids of student issues and seeing as there have been many front page issues revolving around Greek life lately it has come to the attention of the Board and they are putting it out to the national organizations. He doesn’t know if they would or could pull these organizations, but they can talk to university president about these issues. Instances keep hitting and it hasn’t helped. Two national responses have occurred so far and Oregon says they have worked on getting them. Cooper asks if it would help to point out how many Greek life students are involved in student government. Oregon says they will add that into the campaign. Senator Libby asks if they can attend the meetings, Mastrud says it is open to the public. Derek Lopez says to keep an eye out for upcoming articles. Dylan has been working intern program and applications are due next week interviews on the 17th and 18th. He thanks ASNAU for letting Student State Affairs speak at NSG kick-off. ABOR is on the 26th and 27th and everyone should come for a little while, institutional excuses must talk to President Mastrud. Meeting will occur 8AM to 5PM on Thursday with a 2-hour break at 12:30PM. Agenda will be released a week before and will be available. Oregon says they will let us know when they get an official statement on the vote on ASA from ASUA. B. Public Relations- Colleen Flynn, Spencer Carlton - Spencer and Colleen have finished NSG and internship flyers. They have been working on Lumberyard T-shirts and should be working on finalizing them tomorrow. Brought a sketch to show ASNAU. Working on royalty flyers and homecoming flyers. Will be working on Greek Life Campaign along Oregon and the tagline is ‘Beyond the Cup’. C. Special Events- Chyna Gade, Jillian Zuniga -Been working closely together to get everything rolling. Chyna discusses that they will work on family weekend activities to have during tailgate. They have yet to decide specifics but looking at Minute-to-Win-It games. They will update ASNAU as soon as the exciting stuff is official. Been working with Funrunners and Midway to finalize carnival rides. Will have a family corner for students with children to have a safe environment. Looking at having the WTF truck as long as photo booth and other things with the excess budget. Royalty requests are with Spencer and Colleen and packets will come out on Monday the 16th. Tagline is “Feeling Royal?”. D. ITS-Joey Smoll -ASNAU website has been updated with positions, contact info, and he has removed things are no longer dealt with such as the Snow Jack Express. Posted that we are still looking for a student advisor. Will be working on the homepage with more info next week. E. NSG- Annsley Niemann, Derk Lopez, Jeremy Chan -Derek was not able to go to the retreat. Thank you for coming to the kick off event. Jeremy Chan says that they are looking forward to this semester and first meeting will be Wednesday. Committee Reports A. Appropriations: Senator Boruch says that she thanks everyone for coming to the first meeting. Bills and OAs should be in by the time the office closes on Tuesdays, appropriations meetings Tuesdays at 7:00PM. Chairwoman Woodhouse says please stamp the OA packets when they are received so everyone knows how long they have been in the office. There will be a reminder on the front desk. B. Legislative: Senator Gorshe says that he worked with President Mastrud and Chairwoman Woodhouse on the bylaws. Senator Reports College of Arts and Letters a. Shannon Boruch- Working on meeting with the Dean. Did spreadsheet and got everything organized for clubs. Been asked to attend club meetings and will be working on that. b. Scott Tillinghast- Working with the NAU Saxophone Society and thanks ASNAU for passing the bill he wrote. Been in contact with all of his clubs and in correspondence with several of them regarding club headquarters and other matters. College of Social and Behavioral Sciences a. Ernan Cabral- Haven’t contacted his Dean yet. Sometime within the month this will be accomplished b. Brittany Simon- Talked to all of her classes and let students know that they can discuss their issues and concerns with her and she will bring them to the Dean. She is currently in contact with Dean assistance. College of Health and Human Services a. Zachary Howard- Hasn’t contacted his Dean yet. Did spreadsheet and has contacted clubs, no response yet. b. Nicolas StarttCollege of Education a. Kelsey Smart- Needs to email clubs still, in contact with Dean. b. Jared Gorshe- Congratulations to Kelsey and Scott on bills. In contact with clubs and working on office hours. College of Business a. Ryan Cook- Will meet with dean by the end of the month, could not attend retreat due to work. b. Alexandria Buchta- Will email the Dean/Dean’s assistant. College of Forestry, Engineering, and Natural Sciences a. Savannah Libby- Will be meeting at the end of the month with the Dean. Hopes to be done with clubs by tomorrow. b. Nicole Ortega- Emailed clubs and wants to talk to classes like Senator Simon. Advisor Reports (Rick Brandel and Art Farmer) Rick Brandel— None Art Farmer— Thanks ASNAU for patience and President Mastrud’s caution with not having filled the administrative position yet, they should have an announcement out with HR and they have had people interested so it should be moving along quickly. Asks if there are any questions with the organizational process, and explains how everything begins in their office and goes through Christine for approval. He asks that everyone please ask whatever questions they have throughout the process, but if all jobs have been done correctly everything should run smoothly and be approved before it reaches the Senate. Art Farmer continues by discussing that the university committee assignments are key because they didn’t used to be available and it is important to have the student voice represented. We would not want to lose these seats so please take it seriously and attend committee meetings. Finally, thank you to everyone, those here this summer for being gracious for allowing them to use the office while theirs was being redone. Makenzie wants the office redone or Starbucks in return. He thanks ASNAU for the polo, and for the electronic agenda before the meeting. Discussion Items None Announcements - Golden Pine Cone award will recognize an ASNAU member for their hard work each week. Colleen and Spencer are the recipients for this week. Congratulations! Art thinks that Chief of Staff Smart’s joke was weak. Many others liked it though. She said she will have one every week since she cannot attend. Adjournment Motion: Senator Smart Second: Senator Gorshe Unanimous, meeting Adjourned at 6:33 PM