University of North Florida Student Senate Senate Meeting Minutes – July 21st 2014 – 6:30 to 8:15 PM – Senate Chambers I. Call to Order Meeting is called to order at 6:37PM II. Pledge of Allegiance-Sen. Culberson III. Roll Call – Senate President Pro-Tempore Shomari Gloster– sgaspt@unf.edu Quorum is established with 13 voting members IV. Approval of Minutes – July 7th 2014 Sen. Harvel. Motion to approve the minutes from July 7th, 2014. Second. All in favor. Motion passes. V. Approval of Agenda Sen. Kontol: Motion to add True Rains, Elections Commissioner, to guest speakers. Second. Discussion. All in favor. Motion passes. Sen. Rotella: Motion to add SB-14SB-2784 as the third item under new business. Second. Discussion. All in favor. Motion passes Sen. Hartsfeild: I move to add Mrs. Victoria Shore, Student Government Advisor, to guest speakers. Second. Discussion. All in favor. Motion passes Sen. Savage: Motion to approve the agenda. Second. All in favor. Motion passes. VI. Recognition of Students Seeking Appointment None. VII. Student Remarks (3 minutes per Student) Katherine Savage. Sophomore. Fine Art Photography Major- I first would like to thank all of the senators who severed during the summer term. There have been how many emergency meetings and a lot of legislation to revise. We have all stayed pretty busy, and I can attest to how hard it has been to balance all of the components of my hectic summer on top of this new position that I was elected to. So in saying all of this, effective August 1st, I resign as my positon for Government Oversight Chair. I will remain a senator until my term is up in the spring. However with much talk with my co-workers and speaking at length with Kaitlin I have come to the realization that I will not have enough time to dedicate for this position in the fall. I will be taking 5 courses in the fall, and that is a lot for me, and I know I won’t be able to dedicate the time. I don’t think that is fair for all of you. I am not trying to run away I want the next person to be prepared. When I was nominated and ran for it, I really wanted it and I have enjoyed it. I just know that right now I will not have the time. It has been disappointing to me that I have been rushing, and I don’t think that is fair to anyone. VIII. Guest Speakers a. Hana Ashchi: Interfaith Center Intern, and Founder and Former President of Better Together @ UNF (5 minutes) Our mission is to engage the UNF campus around religious pluralism, support the religious and nonreligious identities of students, and provide distinctive programs and services to students. Pluralism means to engage with people who are a different religious or non-religious identity from you in a positive way. At the Interfaith Center we are all about learning how to communicate with others in a way that makes everyone feel comfortable. This is why we will be having the Safe Space training this week. While you’re on campus you will meet with other students or even work with other students who do not have the same beliefs as you. Sometimes it’s our tendency when working with others who are different religious or non-religious identities to try to convince them that they are wrong and we’re right or just not talk about it at all; we think there is a better way. Maybe you’re an Atheist but you might have to share a cubicle with a Muslim who prays 5 times a day. Maybe you’re a Christian and you volunteer at a local shelter with a Jewish person. I also want to make you aware of the different opportunities that the Interfaith Center has. We have coffee and conversation where a student comes and talks about their beliefs. Tech studies once a month, which is students and faculty and staff come and talk about four different religious techs around a certain theme. We have I Dinner once a month, free food and trivia/prizes. Better together at UNF which works around the Interfaith Centers mission. Then finally we have interfaith week every spring, to align with the United Nations World faith harmony week. Some opportunities that I have had, were leading through Better Together, I had an internship at the Interfaith Center, I was also a student assistant at the Interfaith Center, I attended three interfaith center institutes and I have also had the opportunity of being a Better Together coach. So please be sure to come to Safe Space training Friday, here. b. True Rains: Elections Commissioner – (5 minutes) I just wanted to update everyone on everything that has been going on. Tonight about an hour a half ago the Policies and Procedures went through the GO committee, and I would like to thank them for meeting with me today. I am going to outline some of the core points that we included in the elections policies and procedures. A lot of the financial requirements have remained. As a candidate you will no longer have to attend the senate forum meetings, there are optional candidate forums. The point of this is to increase the amount of candidates. While it is easier for them to announce candidacy, with the competition my goal is to have at least 75 students put in declaration of intent. They are going to have to work hard to win a senate seat, to prove their dedication. Another thing included in the policies and procedures is the ability to vote online, not on campus, even on a mobile device, like an iPad. This allows students to vote from their home/dorm, anything with internet connection. I have worked with the IT department, I have the upmost confidence that it will work as it should. It also allows distant learning students to have a voice in SG. Just to give you an update an update on the status of the P&P’s, Senate President Ramirez signed it today, so it is just waiting on President Turner to sign it. c. Victoria Shore: SG Advisor(5 minutes) I just have three things to say to you tonight. This senate has been very active. Our senate president has been learning more and more about Roberts’s Rules of order. Last week I did go to a conference for the American Student Government Advisors. One of the courses I took was how to teach Roberts Rules. The woman that presented has a whole business wrapped around this. It costs $695 for the program, or $85 for the video. The cool thing is, I get it for a week for free. Wednesday from 5-6 in the John E. Sapp and Thursday 3:30-4:30. There are two things I want to talk to you about, remember that when you are here that no one talks as fast as John Chwalisz. Please slow down when you are making motions, adopting the minutes, or adopting the agenda. And remember people want to hear you. Your vote is very important. You represent the students and you need to make informed decisions. Lastly, the whole reason you debate is to sway people. So, repeat your motion, state your opinion, and then tell people why you are voting the way you are voting. For Example: I am Senator Shore and I say I move to have Student Government build a dog park. So it’s seconded and then discussion starts with me because I motioned for it. I would say I made this motion because I love dogs and they lessen the stress for UNF students, and I would strongly urge you to vote yes. You know the motion, you know what my opinion is and you know how I am going to vote. Take your time, repeat the motion, and know what you’re voting for. I look forward to working with you all next year. My office is always open, come see me anytime you want to. IX. - X. - Judicial Branch Report a. Chief Justice – Daniel Powers sgajc@unf.edu (5 minutes) We have a judicial nominee going before you tonight. I sat in on her interview and she did very very well. She also passed through the GO committee, and impressed them. I worked a little with Pro-temp Gloster on the CR, if you have any questions my door is always open. Executive Branch Reports a. Osprey Productions – John Chwalisz opdir@unf.edu (3 minutes) This past weekend we had OP training, Andrew and I trained our 5 coordinators which sounds kind of boring but it’s actually really fun. Our coordinators are very excited to start the year and get everything going. Please come by our - - - - office and get to know them; I would love for you all to meet them. For week of welcome we are helping with two big departments events. We are hosting the Rally along with Ryan Hennessey athletics, which is a giant pep rally the first week of school. Make sure you come out to that, Coach Driscoll will be talking as well as President Delaney. There will be free food. The second one will be the SG block party which will be that Saturday. Everyone will be there; it is going to be a big party. It is also Andrews’s birthday party. o Senate President Ramirez: What was the event called with President Delaney? - That is called the Rally on August 25th at 8:00PM in the UNF Arena. o Senate President Ramirez: Just for clarification, the block party is that Saturday? - Yes, the 30th. b. Club Alliance –sgacluba@unf.edu Katie Jackson(Assistant Director) (3 minutes) We are pretty busy even though it is summer; we have re registration going on. So for the summer we have 44 clubs that are re-registering right now. We are also getting ready for the Luau which is August 24th and it is a part of Week of Welcome. There are 50 spots for clubs at this Luau, and right now we have 38 filled up and we foresee all of those filling up. We have a general body meeting this Friday in the SU auditorium at 11:00AM. Club fest Sept. 29th 10-3 at the green. We have also been working on making specialized club fairs more exciting and better. The dates have been set for those: September 23rd, October 7th, October 21st, November 11th, and November 18th. They are still on the green from 10-3. There will be activities for each board, for example the Sports and Recreation are working on having a sports game. That should be great. o Sen. Rotella: When was Club Fest?- September 29th c. Attorney General – Matthew Harris sgaag@unf.edu (3 minutes) I want to extend a very special thank you to Chairwomen Savage; I am saddened to see you go. Everyone knows how hard you worked this summer. It has been a very long 3 months, so thank you. Moving on, I think Commissioner Rains nailed it pretty well. The GO committee approved unanimously tonight his elections policies and procedures. I had the opportunity to review them thoroughly and support them. I will remind the senate as a whole that there is a provision in title 4, specifically in chapter 401.1.J, which allows any 8 senators to freeze any action of the committee. The reason President Turner hasn’t signed it yet is to give the Senate as a whole the chance to feel comfortable with it. If they so choose they can freeze that so the senate as a whole can vote on that. I would encourage you to pick up a copy and take a look at it. It is very thorough and clear, and it is there for you to take a look at. d. Treasurer – Morgan Wolf sgasbt@unf.edu (3 minutes) I don’t have much to report. I have been working on the scholarship committee. With our fund balance we have accrued interest on that. We use that interest purely for the purpose of giving scholarships out to students, and that is also where your senate scholarship comes out of. We had our first meeting on Monday and I offered a proposal to the committee of the way I think scholarships should be allocated. Those scholarships are available for you all to apply for, they will be posted on the SG website just after add/drop week. I encourage you all to look out for them. Also tonight you will be hearing SB-14SB-2781, and there is just a small recommendation that I am going to make to you tonight. It is just a word change that ensures that our funds don’t get restricted from us, just from the way that it is worded. Thank you for serving on senate this summer, clearly a lot of people do not so thank you. I look forward to serving with you in the fall. e. Vice President – Anthony Stevens sgavpres@unf.edu (3 minutes) NOT PRESENT f. President – Joseph Turner sgapres@unf.edu (5 minutes) Tonight I can tell you that I have accomplished one of the 5 things that I and many of you ran on, which is providing veterans discounts on campus. All of the vendors starting in fall will be starting the 10% discount for veterans on campus. We are working with Gracie and our marketing team to try and find the best way to promote this; maybe window stickers, if any of you have any suggestions we would be more than happy to take those. Another thing, there is a space behind building 15 by the cafeteria called the quad. For the past 5-10 years it has been a lay down area for various constructions. We finally got the clear that it won’t be used for a lay down area anymore. We would like to turn that space into some sort of functional area for the students to utilize. So if anyone has some sort of phenomenal idea for that please reach out to me about that. Two final things, I will be meeting with the provost; I am going to ask him from a faculty/academic affairs perspective how he feels about the summer pilot program for scantrons went. Based on that I will ask that he continue that in the fall, I will report to you on that. We have been monitoring that for the summer and I am hoping we can get that secured. Finally, we have been doing the presale for the jaguar tickets and we have had three 2 hour windows, 80 tickets the first day, and for all three days 160 season tickets. We have 500 per game minus the 160, so we have 340 tickets per game to sell for September 9th, the 3rd Tuesday of the fall semester. I think we can get close to selling out the games. We will also be doing online sales. We are giving away 100 preseason tickets to the Atlanta/Falcon preseason game. To help promote the ticket sale and to expand the initiative we have secured the parking at all the Jaguar games. Also for the Carrie Underwood Mega reveal this Saturday, students will be able to get discounted parking with their UNF ID. Besides that you have a Special Request coming up tonight, it ties back in with the Jaguars. Ryan Hennessey, your student advocate, had the idea to shuttle the students from here to the games. o Senator Baker: Do you think they would ever adopt providing green books? - It isn’t out of the question, the fact that they started to do the scantrons shows they are willing to provide a service to the students. If that goes well and it won’t be as substantial marginal cost to them, so I don’t see why not. XI. - - - - - XII. Legislative Cabinet Reports a. Constitution and Statutes Committee – Chairman Shomari Gloster sgacsc@unf.edu (3 minutes) I would first like to thank President Turner for not signing the bill, and for allowing us to review the elections P&P’s. I would like to further thank Chairwoman Savage for her service. In our last CSC meeting, Chief Justice Powers explained what a JD was. We further reviewed JD-14SA-001 and JD-14SA-002. Coming before you tonight, CR14SB- 2776 which is a constitutional referendum which will allow the judicial branch to run more efficiently, it was passed in committee 4:0:0. We also have SR-14SB-2777 which is for the policies and procedures for the 14-15 year, which was also passed in committee 4:0:0. b. Budget and Allocations Committee – Chairman Michael Rotella sgabac@unf.edu (3 minutes) Since the last senate, we have had three travel requests passed; one was for Dance Marathon, another for James Flannigan, and another was for myself to go to a real estate conference. We also had two special requests; one was the student experience enhancement act that Joe was talking about, and the other from SLAB which is to bring Tim Augustine to campus. Our current indexes are: Special Requests- $119, 088, Travel Requests- $26,100, and the Salary Reserves is currently at $57,970.08. On a side note, a lot of you didn’t attend it, but it was very informative the safe space training for the LGBT center, and I encourage all of you to come this Friday because I am sure it will be just as informative. c. Government Oversight Committee – Chairwoman Katherine Savage sgaesac@unf.edu (3 minutes) We heard Akaash, Shanice, and Kate. They passed through my committee unanimously; please ask them lots of questions and try to get as much information as you can get. We also heard the elections policies and procedures. o Sen. Kontol: I just wanted to thank Kate for all she has done both for E&A and the GO committee. We have redone the whole application process, and she has been working so hard this summer. d. University and Student Affairs Committee – Chairman Chase Baker sgausac@unf.edu (3 minutes) Our last USA committee meeting we discussed ways to make osprey voice better, since a lot of you did not do it. We have started to do Osprey voice Tabling, I will pass around a sign-up sheet where everyone has to sign up for 2 hours. It will be from 10-3, I will provide the survey for you. The questions will be the sustainability one and how would you rate your summer experience from 1-10 and what would make it a 10. This will be our last paper event. We will have the iPads next time. We will be passing out t shirts to everyone who does the surveys. In accordance to what Mrs. Vicki was talking about we will be having a *Roberts’s Rules pop quiz*, you all better be at that webinar. We will have SG pamphlets at the tabling event, and there will be a sign in sheet. e. Senate President Kaitlin Ramirez sgasp@unf.edu (5 minutes) This is our last senate meeting of the summer, thank you to all of you. I would also like to thank chairwomen savage for her service, and if you are interested in that position please talk to her and our Attorney General. The position will be posted for nominations when we get back. Our first senate meeting is August 25th, 6:30 Senate Chambers, same time same place. I will run the GO committee meeting until we have a new chair, which the elections will be the following senate meeting, the week after we have Labor Day. As Advisor Shore shared with us, we have Roberts rules the video, please be sure if you can make it. This is a wonderful opportunity; it is a well explained video. Next, please be sure to complete your osprey voice. This Friday is the interfaith this Friday 9:15 AM. I am counting on 8 of you to be there. Anyone who can’t make this there will be more training in the fall. New Business a. Legislation considered for 1st Reading b. Senate and Joint Resolutions on 1st Reading c. Legislation considered for 2nd Reading i. CR-14SB-2776 Refinement within the Judicial Branch Sponsored by Senator Hartsfield: Shomari has made some changes to Article 4 to make the judicial branch run more efficiently. Senator Gloster: The first change is changing the name of the Judicial Council to the Supreme Court. The next was changing it form 9 to 7 justices. The next change would be the number of years changing that from section 3, we will be changing that to a maximum of 6 years. I think it would be fair since that is what senators have. In section 5 we will change it from judicial review to judicial review processes. There were some more changes throughout section 5, we are changing it from saying MUST consult general council to MAY consult the general council. The remainder of the changes was just changing council to court. o Sen. Gloster: Motion to change in section 2 AC. Strike through Associate Chief Justice and instead read Deputy Chief Justice. Second. Discussion. Roll call vote. Motion carries. o Sen Gloster, everywhere is says general council make it say Supreme Court. Friendly o Sen. Gloster: Motion to approve CR-14SB-1476. Second. Roll call vote. 13:0:0 ii. SB-14SB-2781Student Experience Enhancement Act Sponsored by Senator. Shackelford: The Executive branch has been working really hard to provide to the students, one of these being the printing service that has been going on for 3 years. President Turner: This is the 3rd year that we are seeking to do a free printing initiative. We have funded this through special requests. The first line is the fall free printing initiative is a similar amount we budgeted for last year, just under $16,000 for a little bit of growth in the program and so we don’t have to request emergency funding. The current program is every student gets 2.25 loaded onto their osprey 1 card, 25 free prints. There are a couple problems in that, that’s why there is such a dramatic difference in price. In spring it says free print lab, if we get the funding here today starting in the spring. We could get a machine in by fall, so we can do the program successfully. It would consist of, our in house computers on a table, for students to come in and print. We have wonderful space in the club commons for a printing machine. Just a basic printing machine. This would allow us to pay .0065 cents vs we pay .09 cents a print the quick math is, we can provide 14 prints vs the 1 print in the past program. We have a space for it. We wouldn’t have a limit, and we can monitor that situation as it goes. It is a much more sustainable way. It is not as much as a convenience, but I think in the long run it will be more of a service. I think it is a much better and efficient way. Hopefully both the fall and spring semester, right now just the spring. So I am going to move to the last item which diverges a little bit from free printing, Jaguar shuttles. The quote you have in front of you for the $6,132 breaks down to 7 games for 2 buses per game. The cost for two buses per one game is $756. Each bus would have to pay for parking when they get down there, which is $60 a bus; $120 per game will get you that 6,000 number. We might only need one bus for the later games. I decided to request for the max as far as usage is. o Sen. Kontol: The jaguar shuttle buses would those be free? - Yes, for all students. o Treasure Wolf: On line 15/16 taking away the word fall in the line 15 and the word spring in 16. So that it reads free printing initiative and free printing lab. It would prevent causing a restriction on our funding, so if the free print lab happens early we wouldn’t have to wait till the spring to use our funds. I would like to make the recommendation for a senator to make a motion. o Senate President Ramirez: For the spring, will they be able to do color?-No. just black and white. Sen. Kontol: Friendly amendment about it saying Shomari Gloster as the acting Senate President. Sen. Gloster: motion to strike fall off of line 15 and spring off line 16 and also to take the parentheses off around the free printing initiative. Second. No Discussion. No objections. Sen. Baker: motion for unanimous consent. Second. Motion passes. Sen. Rotella: Motion to pass SB -14SB-2781 with the amendments. Second. No objections. Discussion. Roll call vote. Motion passes 13:0:0. iii. SB-14SB-2784 (SLAB Special Request), Sponsored by Senator Rotella. Senator Rotella: Because of miscommunication on my end I will be talking on behalf of SLAB. I have worked with James Flannigan a good bit. They are requesting $5800 to bring in Tim Augustine for a workshop, on how to land a job after graduation. I think it is great for people to have the tips. He is very well known and he has got great reviews. I am personally looking forward to hearing him. Throughout the clubs they plan on marketing and fundraising for the event. o Attorney General Harris: Unfortunately title 8 bans us from hearing the request, under chapter 840.7 without one member of the entity submitting the request. o Senator Rotella: I was told at the end of my B&A committee that I could speak on their behalf. *Sen. Gloster: Motion to go to recess for 5 minutes. Second. All in favor. Motion passes.* 7:50 *Sen. Kishek: Motion for division of the house. Second. Roll call vote. 13:0:0. Motion passes Quorum is reestablished with 13 voting members*7:58 *Sen. Baker: Motion to amend the agenda to add osprey voice after judicial confirmations. Second. Discussion. All in favor. Added.* *Sen. Kontol: Motion to approve the agenda as amended. Second. All in favor. Motion passes* *Sen. Rotella: Motion to table SB-14SB-2784 to the second senate meeting of the semester, September 15th. Second. Discussion. Sen. Gloster: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. All in favor. Moved.* d. Senate and Joint Resolutions on 2nd Reading i. SR-14SB-2777 2014-2015 Senate Policies and Procedures Sponsored by Senator Ramirez. Senator Ramirez: *Shows track changes on projector screens* There are a few major changes and a few minor ones. One being, switching around mission and purpose. Removing ability of senate president, all senators should be attending committees. Clarifying the duties of the senate president. Pro tempore, keeping records on the O:Drive. The pro tempore is who enforces the absence policy. Senator orientation will be moved to the senate president, and they have the ability to delegate to a legislative cabinet member. The parliamentarian no longer has to attend individual workshops. The senate Chaplin, the interfaith center has a Chaplin training. We are going to use the language chair instead of chairperson. Updating our committee information for GO committee. To submit any committee minutes in the absence of the senate secretary, they need to be submitted within 3 business days. All chairs are responsible for doing their voting records. The CSC committee would like to be called C&S going forward. The SAC and UAC committee is now combined into the USA committee. Updating what types of legislation we have. The absence policy got a face lift; we have broken it down to two appeal hearings. We have added a 3rd process of a redemption process. For senators who have completed their involvement requirement for their scholarship are now eligible to reduce an absence by volunteering at an agency event or volunteering 5 hours at the Lend-A-Wing pantry. You will get more points if you sign up and then don’t show up. There are also grammatical changes. Updating information on workshops, and orientation. *Sen. Savage. Motion to extend the adjournment time to 8:30. Second. Discussion. No objections. Sen Baker: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. I withdraw my motion* *Sen. Ramirez. Motion to extend the adjournment time to 9:00. Second. Sen. Kontol: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. All in favor. Motion passes.* Sen. Savage. Motion to approve the senate policies and procedures. Second. Objection o Sen. Baker. Motion on page 25 line 19 to change at least 4 events in the fall and spring semester to read in the academic year. Second. No objections. Sen. Rotella: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. No discussion. Moved. Sen. Savage motion to approve the senate policies and procedures. Second. No discussion. No objections. Sen. Rotella: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. No discussion. Moved. XIII. Senate Confirmation a. Akash Brahmbhatt.(approved unanimously in GO committee) - I am a sophomore, Public Law and Advertising. I am fairly active on campus through my fraternity, and in the interfaith center. I want to be on senate so I can be active on campus for the students who don’t speak for themselves. Doing the survey on the appointment form, not many people know about what student government does. I found that really sad, we have a lot of amenities like the wellness center, which everyone loves. I have been meeting a lot of the new freshman, and we should make it a campus everyone loves. o Sen. Baker: What committees would you like to serve on if you are appointed? - The C&S committee. o Sen. Matekja: Would you be open to siting on multiple committees?- Yes Sen. Baker: Motion to approve Akash Brahmabhatt. Second. Discussion. Sen Kontol: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. No discussion. Moved. b. Shaneice Byrom (approved unanimously in GO committee). - Senior Construction Management major. A lot of people in my department don’t know about student government. I wanted to be a voice for my college and be more involved. o Sen. Culberson: Do you have any leadership experience? – Yes, I am the president of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, a colony member of alpha kappa phi (business fraternity) o Sen. Matejka: you said you are president of your sorority, do you see that as a time conflict? No o Sen. Baker: What committees are you interested in serving on? B&A. o Sen. Kontol: Why the B&A committee? I want to see where the money goes towards, and knowing that I am helping someone. Sen. Gloster. Motion to approve Shaneice Byrom for general senate seat. Second. Discussion. Sen. Rotella: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. No discussion. Moved. XIV. Judicial Confirmation a. Katherine Sanchez(approved unanimously in GO committee). - Junior. Criminal justice and Spanish major and minor. I was a facilitator I oversee 14-16 honors freshman, I reviewed lecture and the various reading. As a cite leader, I went 7 months of training during the trip. We were responsible for all major decisions. I really love UNF and want to give back to the campus at a deeper level. Policy making and determining the budget has never been my thing, but the law portions are. I feel I have a firm grasp on the SG constitution statutes and Florida sunshine law. I see the judicial branch as an unbiased decision. o Sen. Rotella. Motion to approve Katherine Sanchez for Judicial confirmation. Second. Discussion. Motion for unanimous consent. Second. All in favor. Motion passes. *Chief Justice Powers swears in Akash Brahmbhatt and Shaneice Byrom as senators and Katherine Sanchez as an associate justice* - Osprey Voice. Sen. Rotella: Motion to cancel Osprey Voice on Wednesday. Second. Discussion (no one signed up for Wednesday). All in favor. Moved. XV. Announcements Osprey Voice this Tuesday and Thursday Safe Space Training by interfaith Friday morning 9:15AM. Next senate meeting is August 25th at 6:30PM in the Senate Chambers. Anyone interested in sitting on a University Wide Committee please see me. XVI. Final Roll Call - Senate President Pro-Tempore Shomari Gloster– sgaspt@unf.edu Quorum is reestablished with 15 voting members XVII. Adjournment Meeting is adjourned at 8:32PM