University of North Florida Student Senate
Senate Meeting Minutes – February 24th 2014 – 6:30 PM – Senate Chambers
I.
Call to Order
- Meeting is called to order at 6:34 PM.
II.
Pledge of Allegiance – Sen. Caudio
III.
Invocation – Sen. Wolf
IV.
Roll Call – Senate President Pro-Tempore Kaitlin Ramirez – sgaspt@unf.edu
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Quorum is established with 27 voting members.
V.
Approval of Minutes
- We have minutes from our February 10th, January 27th, and January 13th meeting needed to be approved.
- Motion to approve minutes from February 10th, January 27th, and January 13th. Second. No objections.
Moved.
VI.
Approval of Agenda
- Motion to add Kaitlyn L. to guest speakers. Second. No objections. Moved.
- Motion to add Potters Guild to the Agenda. –Turned down by Senate President Brady.
- Motion to add Amy Costa to guest speakers. Second. No objections. Moved.
- Motion to change SR-14S-2757 to second read. Second. No objections. Discussion – Sen. Caudio: I urge
you to let this go to 2nd read. Motion for unanimous consent. Second. No objections. Moved.
- Motion to approve tonight’s agenda. Second. No objections. Moved.
VII.
Recognition of Students Seeking Appointment -none
VIII.
Student Remarks
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Katie Semas. Ceramics Major. Representing the Potters Guild. We were approved for our funding through
the Budget committee, and then we came back and were cut. We are trying to appeal to get this funding
back. We are trying to rent a van to get to Milwaukee. It’s going to be 300-350 a student. The hotel price
we had been approved for has gone up since then. This is something we are really passionate about. This
packet had been filled out on October 3rd, and we weren’t informed that we needed to hurry up a bit to get
the funding before it ran out.
Hailey Guerra. Political Science Major. Sophomore/Junior. Acting Attorney General. Shows video made
by Gabriel Mattern about Aim Higher. This Wednesday from 10:00AM-4:00PM, Aim Higher. Please let
me know if you can help out and tell me your t-shirt sizes. Look forward to seeing you all there.
Alin Cepoi. Finance Major. Senior. Student Advocate. I would like to give a big thank you to Tony Stevens
and OP for putting on a great homecoming week. Also would like to remind you that April 9th will be our
Student Government Banquet. I just sent out an invitation this morning, please respond. It is the
inauguration of the new president and a night of appreciation. Please dress nicely.
Gurgen Petrosyan. Junior. Some students when seeking appointment pass their elections packets around
the classroom to collect their signatures. That is wrong. I am not here to point fingers, the one thing I will
say is that I hope you see that your actions as not beneficial to Student Government. I will gladly share my
experiences with you to help you get those signatures. Thank you very much for your time.
Ryan Hellriegel. Junior. Marketing. I stand here today to invite you to my club general meeting tomorrow
at 9:00 PM for the Marketing Association. Free food and drinks, please come on out.
IX.
Guest Speakers
a. Dr. Corrigan- Chair of Political Science and Public Administration. I come here tonight to talk to you about
the UNF constitution. I have been asked by the president to talk about any changes that we need to make to
the constitution. If you get a chance all you need to do is google UNF constitution. The idea of this
document is bring together different associations on campus under a banner of shared governance. This
constitution protects basic rights. If you have any ideas please get them to Carlo, and when we get that
feedback we will look over it. It is an important document that we need your feedback on.
b. Kaitlin Legg- I am the coordinator of the LGBT resource center which is located on the first floor of this
building. I am here tonight to speak in support of SR-14S-2757, petition for the publication crime alerts or
violent crimes. As many of you are now aware we just recently had first ever documented hate crime that
occurred here on campus. It is important that students have timely information of these acts, so that students
and staff can educate their peers. I will like to thank Senator Caudio for this proposal and would like to thank
President Carlo Fassi for reaching out to me about this act.
c. Amy Costa- Assistant director of ECO adventure. I am here to answer questions about ropes course. It is
free for every student and you just need to fill out a reservation form. You need to have a minimum of 8
people to make a reservation. I am going to start a new thing for an open time for people to come and we will
form a group for them.
X.
Judicial Branch Report
a. Chief Justice – Alex Goetz (sgajc@unf.edu) (5-minutes)
- I only have one thing to report. We have 5 openings on the judicial branch now. Hopefully in the
next couple weeks we will have some judicial confirmations. We have interviewed 8 candidates, 5 of
those are just waiting on the executive branch to confirm them.
XI.
Executive Branch Reports
a. Osprey Productions - opdir@unf.edu (3-minutes)
- Last week I volunteered 20 extra hours for homecoming. Campus movie fest is coming up; it’s an
opportunity for students to make a 5 minute short film. If you win you can go to Hollywood. Take
advantage of it. Tonight is the info mixer, to get to know your teammates, and you will receive the
technical equipment. I really encourage you to come out. Movie night on Wednesday, Gravity with
Sandra Bullock. Now for homecoming, my staff and I had about 6 events that we did. Comedy Show
had 1,250 in attendance which is pretty good for a Saturday night comedy show. That following
morning we had Swoop the Loop, 344 registered runners. The day after that we had Mr. and Mrs.
UNF, in which two senators competed. The bon fire was a big success. If you see me please talk to
me. I would love to get to know you all more.
b. Club Alliance - sgacluba@unf.edu (3-minutes)
- Night of Fun we broke the record and had 2,700 people come out. We really appreciate all the
volunteers who came out and helped. Spring Bash happened right before Night of Fun, I didn’t really
get to attend much of that because I was working on Night of Fun. I will have those numbers for
you next time once my coordinators get those to me. Other than that I am done with event planning
for the year so I will be just working in my office providing customer service to Clubs.
c. Attorney General – sgaag@unf.edu (3-minutes)
- I didn’t realize that I could have a report before I was confirmed, so thank you.
d. Treasurer – sgasbt@unf.edu (3-minutes)
- I just have two things to report this evening, first of which is the club budget process that senate
passed at the last meeting. We will be having CBC meetings; it will be concluded by April 4th. There
is a title 8 bill that is coming up and I’ll be proposing an amendment to it. We will talk more about
that later when it comes up.
e. Vice President – sgavpres@unf.edu (3 minutes)
- I would like to thank everyone who came out to the homecoming events and everyone who helped
out. I highly encourage you guys to come out to the upcoming OP events. Hailey brought up Aim
Higher this week, please come out and help. That’s all for my report.
f. President – sgapres@unf.edu (5-minutes)
- Excellent job to the agencies for putting on homecoming week. I would like to support the JR-14S2757 proposed by Senator Caudio. This will ensure that alerts will be sent out in a timely fashion
about these sorts of things happen. I think it is very important that these crime alerts go out
immediately for everyone to know about it. I would like to announce that the Academic Affairs
agreed to request to funds necessary to buy scantrons for students for the next fiscal year. We will
implement a pilot program for the summer semester and hopefully continue throughout the
upcoming semesters for the professors to provide the scantrons to the students on the day of the
exams, instead of the students having to come up to student government to pick it up. So hopefully
we can get that done before April 9th. I would also like to bring up the vetoes that I made for the
specific travel requests. I vetoed SB-14S-2750, SB-14S-2751, SB-14S-2752, and SB-14S-2753. These
were all travel requests that were passed at the B&A committee. All the vetoes that I signed are still
granting the clubs 70% or more of the funds that they are requesting. I would like to remind the
Senate that we pass a budget every year and we pass a certain amount of money that is used for travel
funding. By January 1st of this year $30,000 had been spent. We have no mechanisms in place to
replenish that account. A bill that my staff wrote for the senate meeting at the beginning of the
spring semester was passed, and without it those bills that I vetoed wouldn’t have received any
money at all. I think preemptive measures need to be taken by the Budget and Allocations
Committee when approving travel requests. It did disturb me that over half the money that we had
transferred into student conference travel had been spent in one week. I highly advise that you
support this veto and not override it. I also commend the bill for Student Protection and Affordable
Travel Act, which allows for more travel money to be funded.
XII.
Legislative Cabinet Reports
a. Constitution and Statutes Committee – Chairwoman Kaitlin Ramirez (sgacsc@unf.edu)
- I don’t have much to report, other than a CR presented by senator Petrosyan failed 3,0,4. Other than
that I just would like to remind that if you are absent from any meeting don’t forget to turn in your
absence form.
b. Budget and Allocations Committee – Chairman Collin Waychoff (sgabac@unf.edu)
- At our previous B&A meeting we passed a travel request passed, the one vetoed by the president.
There was a title 8 bill that was unanimously passed in B&A. That’s to look into how to make the
process easy, transparent and an equal opportunity for all students requesting.
c. Elections and Appointments Committee – Chairwoman Emily Antworth (sgaesac@unf.edu)
- As most of you know we don’t have much of an election but we are still going to go ahead and have
a presidential forum on Thursday at 2 o’clock in the boat house, it will be Joe and Tony answering
questions. I hope to see all of you in attendance, thank you.
d. University & Student Affairs Committee – Chairwoman Star Caudio (sgausac@unf.edu)
- The safety council had a meeting and they discussed sidewalk safety with bikes and golf carts. They
figured that the rules that already in place are good but that the students need to be better educated
on the rules. In new business they discussed they are exploring options on how to handle seemingly
healthy people parking in handicap spots. The student union advisory board’s space committee is
working on the student lounge which is really exciting. Interfaith center is having interfaith week
March 3rd –March 8th. Finally in my committee we discussed re-vamping osprey voice. We want to do
an Osprey Voice market day.
e. Senate President Christopher Brady (sgasp@unf.edu)
- Make sure you clear April 9th on your calendar for the Banquet.
- For anyone who would like to override the vetoes we will do that after we go over all the New
Business.
XIII.
Executive Confirmations
a. Hailey Guerra.
- Motion to confirm Hailey Guerra for Attorney General. Second. No Objections. Discussion-Sen.
Caudio: She has been extremely helpful and useful. Sen. Waychoff- Even before she was confirmed,
she has been very beneficial and got an interpretation out in a timely matter. Sen. Petrosyan: She has
a brilliant mind. Sen. Antworth: She is a really hard worker, and always has her door open. Sen.
Reich: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. No objections. Moved. Sworn in by Chief Justice
Alex Goetz.
XIV.
New Business
a. Legislation considered for 1st Reading
i. SR-14S-2757 Petition for the Publication Crime Alerts of Violent Crimes – Sen. Caudio
b. Senate and Joint Resolutions on 1st Reading
c. Legislation considered for 2nd Reading
d. Senate and Joint Resolutions on 2nd Reading
i. SB-14S-2749 Student Protection and Affordable Travel Act – Sen. Waychoff
- There needs to be some changes in our club funding process. We need to provide equal
grounds when students request money for their clubs. This bill will create transparency and
make it easier for when they request money. The first change is 811.5, in which the B&A
chair displays any times and dates 10 days before the meeting for the public to view. Within
those 10 days we will have a B&A meeting anyways. This would prevent me from calling an
emergency meeting. Another change would be RSO’s can request $2,000 per fiscal year and a
cap of $5,000 per student. The main reason for changing the student cap and not the RSO
cap is because it’s easier for an RSO to request money versus an individual student.
- Questions? Sen. Reich- Motion to strike line 79 on the last page to eliminate the grey area if it
would be passed. Second. No objections. Discussion. Motion for unanimous consent.
Second. Moved.
- Treasurer Turner, to amend this bill we would have to add a simple addition of chapter 833.8;
Registered Student Organizations and the line underneath it. I propose that you strike the
comma or personnel items and replace it with for personnel in support for an RSO’s
operation. Clarification- OPS wages can’t be used to pay advisors or students.
- Sen. Caudio: Motion to change 833.8 per recommendation of our treasurer. Second. No
objections. No Discussion. Motion for unanimous consent. Second. No objections. Moved.
- Sen. Caudio: Motion to approve SB-14S-2749. Second. No objections. Discussion. Roll call
vote-Motion Passes 29-00.
ii. SB-14S-2754 Women in Business Society Special Request – Sen. Baker
- Requesting 900$ for their Spring Forum. President of club states they will now only be
requesting $800, since they raised $100 since the submission of the special request. Expecting
roughly 200 people in attendance. It is a professional development event, free for students
and professionals. Located in Coggin building. March 7th from 10:00-2:00.
- Sen. Garrity: motion to strike line 19 and bring the quote down to $800. Second. Objection
by Sen. Caudio(then rescinded her motion). No discussion. Motion for unanimous consent.
Second. No objections. Moved
- Sen. Gloster: motion to approve SB-14S-2754. Second. No discussion. Roll call vote-Motion
Passes 29-00
iii. SB-14S-2755 PORL Special Request – Sen. Petrosyan
- The lab provides a polling lab; we have done quite a number of polls in the past couple of
years. The request would fund the necessary wages for a state wide poll. Dr. Binder discusses
PORL and its benefits.
- Sen. Gloster: motion to approve SB-14S-2755. Second. Discussion. Roll call vote- Motion
passes 30-00.
iv. SB-14S-2756 Turbo Vote Special Request – Sen. Waychoff
- Turbo Vote organization helps getting students registered to vote. Also provides online
services for online voting. This service is being utilized by many Universities. They are
requesting $1000 to initiate this program and 4% of the student bodies cost to mail their
voters registration form to them. SG will be paying for the mailing fee. This Turbo Vote
program will help UNF’s students to vote. It is going to increase civic engagement across
campus.
- Sen. Gloster: motion to pass SB-14S-2756. Second. No discussion. Roll call vote- Motion
passes 28-01.
v. SR-14S-2757 Petition for the Publication Crime Alerts or Violent Crimes-Sen. Caudio
- An aggressive assault occurred on February 6th, was reported to UPD February 14th and
wasn’t reported to the student body until February 19th when the Spinnaker put out an article.
It wasn’t until February 20th that there was a crime alert sent out to the student body. This
was an attack on a transgender, but a person willing to attack someone in a bathroom is a
danger to everyone on campus. With the passing of this, we can get the crime alerts out faster
to the student body.
- Sen. Reich: Motion to amend SR-14S-2757 from an SR to a JR. Second. No objections. No
discussion. Motion for unanimous consent. Second. No objections. Moved.
- Sen. Reich: Motion to approve JR-14S-2757. Second. No objections. Discussion. Motion for
unanimous consent. Second. No objections. Moved.

Sen. Caudio: Motion to override the president’s veto for SB-14S-2750 for the Potters Guild. Second. Objections: Sen.
Petrosyan-I would like to see the Veto. President Carlo Fassi, emailed it to Parliamentarian Dykes to put it up on the
screen. Sen. Petrosyan resends his objection. Discussion. Roll call vote (required 2/3rds vote)-Motion dies 4-0-25
XV.
Announcements
- This Wednesday Aim Higher Rally
- SG Banquet April 9th.
XIV.
Final Roll Call - Senate President Pro-Tempore Kaitlin Ramirez – sgaspt@unf.edu
Quorum is reestablished with 30 voting members.
XVI.
Adjournment
Meeting is adjourned at 8:50PM