University of North Florida Student Senate
Senate Meeting Minutes – May 13th, 2015 – 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM – Senate Chambers
I.
Call to Order
- Meeting is called to order at 6:30PM.
II.
Invocation – Senate Chaplain Noah Gomez
III.
Pledge of Allegiance – Sergeant-at-Arms Jonathan Rader
IV.
Roll Call – Senate President Pro-Tempore Caleb Grantham
- Quorum is established with 14 voting members.
V.
VI.
VII.
Approval of Agenda
- Senator Ascanio: Motion to add Osprey Productions Director Katie Jackson, Osprey Productions Assistant
Director Emily Wood, Club Alliance Director Zachary Mease, Club Alliance Assistant Director Leah
Tolisano, and Director of Student Life Farouk Smith to Executive Appointments after Unfinished Business.
Second. All in favor. Moved.
- Senator Grantham: Motion to add Mark Snow under Guest Speakers. Second. All in favor. Moved.
- Senator Ascanio: Motion to approve tonight’s agenda as amended. Second. All in favor. Moved.
Approval of Minutes
- Senator Kishek: Motion to approve the minutes from April 13th, 2015. Second. All in favor. Moved.
Recognition of Students Seeking Appointment
- None.
VIII.
Student Remarks (3 minutes each)
- Richard Lynch: Sophomore. I am coming today to petition the Smoke-Free Campus Policy coming into
effect in fall 2015. I want to motion a petition to have designated smoking areas on campus.
o Senator Kishek: What are the statistics from the petition? –Approximately 300 signatures.
o Senator Harvey: Do you realize the bill passed was a voluntary petition, so if you do not follow the
rule, you will not be fined? –No, I am not.
o Senator Grantham: The bill was passed more as a progressive action to lead the university to
eventually an official smoke-free campus.
o Senator Jordan: What is your position on student’s being able to smoke in their vehicles? –I believe
that personal operating vehicles should be allotted smoking areas as long as you are not littering the
campus with cigarette buds, etc.
IX.
Guest Speakers (5 minutes each)
- Mark Snow: I want to touchup on FERPA review. It is a federal law that states all student records must be
maintained confidentially with exceptions, which include Student Government. Please be careful in your
conversations, emails, and phone records when speaking about student government university matters. All
meetings must maintain sunshine law. Once you become a senator, you are basically waiving your
confidentiality rights in regards to your school records. Please do not try to get around the rules through text
messages and so forth. If you have any questions, please contact me and I will go into more detail.
o Senator Grantham: Is this PowerPoint available online? –I can post it online or email it to anyone
who wants to review it.
o
X.
Senator Klein: To clarify, discussion about committee meetings with a non-senator does or does not
violate sunshine? –Discussion with a non-Senator does not violate sunshine, just Senator-Senator
communications.
Office of Elections Report
a. Elections Commissioner Brad Johnson (3 minutes)
- None.
XI.
Judicial Branch Report
a. Chief Justice Ben Jaeger (5 minutes)
- We have two vacancies on our branch; please send anyone my way if they are interested. The Supreme Court
unanimously agreed to uphold the interpretation provided by the Attorney General regarding the VicePresident Elect’s role. We are on our way to getting more involved in student conduct matters, hopefully in
the fall. I wrote the Constitutional Referendum coming up on first read tonight, feel free to scrutinize it and
contact me about any questions you may have.
o Senator Jordan: Would expanding the Supreme Court’s role on campus require any action by the
Senate or be done independently? – It would be done independently.
XII.
Executive Branch Reports
a. Osprey Productions – Director Katie Jackson (3 minutes)
- I am up tonight for appointment. Currently, we are working on Summer B events for the new students. We
have our kickoff on June 17th; potentially a camel or elephant will be there from 11AM-2PM. June 17th will be
our first movie showing this summer. June 19th is the famous pool party at the Clubhouse. We have been
active in orientations, five students have already signed up.
b. Club Alliance – Director Zachary Mease (3 minutes)
- We have been working on the online organization and filing system for the clubs and have had a lot of
progress with that. We have been working with osprey productions, hopefully for collaboration.
c. Treasurer (3 minutes)
- None.
d. Attorney General Dana Baker (3 minutes)
- None.
e. Vice President Hailey Guerra (3 minutes)
- None.
f. President Shomari Gloster – presented by Katie Jackson (5 minutes)
- I cannot be at senate tonight because I am meeting with my counterparts in other state universities. We have
filled 9 of the 12 positions in the executive cabinet. I support all the appointments coming up.
XIII.
Legislative Branch Reports
a. Constitution and Statutes Committee – Chairman Caleb Grantham (3 minutes)
- There is a CR in tonight’s agenda; it will be up in the C&S Committee on Monday. Please be aware of your
absence points and getting a summer leave approved.
b. Budget and Allocation Committee – Chairman Troy Bottom – presented by Chase Baker (3 minutes)
- We have a meeting on Monday. I will be hosting a workshop on travel requests and understanding how to
properly assist students and clubs.
c. Government Oversight – Chairman Gustavo Ascanio (3 minutes)
- For students who want to change something, getting a Senator sponsor is a great idea. Attendance is vital and
I want to thank everyone for showing up as they play a crucial role. I am in the process of creating a
review/guideline of questions to ask appointments and candidates to understand their position and make sure
everyone is comfortable and confident in those getting the positions.
d. University and Student Affairs – Chairman Paola Lorenzo (3 minutes)
- Finals frenzy went really well in spring, only three did not attend. We are going to be working on improving
Finals Frenzy by encouraging students more. Osprey voice will be discussed in our next meeting.
e. Senate President Chase Baker (5 minutes)
- Senate pins are in. Do not use cell phones in Senate, do not swear in Senate, encourage one another, and step
up. Points can be received not only for absences but behavior and such.
XIV.
Executive Appointments
a. Osprey Productions Director – Kaitlyn Jackson

b.
c.
d.
e.
I am majoring in Communications and double minoring in Public Relations and Community
Leadership. I volunteered with OP my freshman year, was the office programmer my sophomore
year, became the assistant Club Alliance Director and then Director my junior year, and now have
been the acting Director of Osprey Productions for the past few months. I have a lot of great ideas
for Osprey Productions and am passionate about incoming students.
o Discussion.
o Senator Brahmbhatt: Motion to approve Katie through unanimous consent. Second.
Objection. Moved to roll call vote.
o Passes 14-0-0.
Osprey Productions Assistant Director – Emily Wood
 I am an education major with a concentration in deaf studies. I have been in OP since my freshman
year. I was a coordinator my sophomore year. I was the Sports and Leisure Coordinator last year,
planning many of the interactive campus events. I am hoping to get the internal assistant director
position which will be mainly facilitating the coordinators and helping Katie.
o Senator Brahmbhatt: Are there any events you want to see done? –I will be mainly
facilitating the coordinators and helping them accomplish their goals. I would love to see
some of the older events come back, expand on the larger-than-life game day
o Senator Lorenzo: Motion to approve Emily as the Internal Assistant Director of OP.
Second. All in favor. Moved.
o Discussion.
o Senator Jordan: Motion to approve Emily through unanimous consent. Second. Objection.
Moved to roll call vote.
o Passes 14-0-0.
Club Alliance Director – Zachary Mease
 I am majoring in Ceramics. I started in Club Alliance last semester but have taken in a lot of
information since then. My priority is to cut down on excess paperwork and documentation for the
clubs that seem unnecessary. This will allow Club Alliance more direct contact with clubs and allow
us to help them more.
o Senator Brahmbhatt: Could you elaborate on the changes? –Removing unnecessary steps in
paperwork and minor changes that will save clubs and Club Alliance a lot of time.
o Senator Klein: What past experiences have prepared you to be in charge of Club Alliance? –I
have had past managerial positions that have prepared me and I have led a campus club that
has taken me to the other side.
o Senator Jordan: How will you ensure paperwork reduction will not render the university
liable? –We have collaborated with the appropriate people to make sure we are not in a
dangerous situation on the university’s behalf.
o Senator Lorenzo: Motion to approve Zachary Mease as the Director of Club Alliance.
Second. All in favor. Moved.
o Discussion.
o Senator Brahmbhatt: Motion for Zachary under unanimous consent. Second. Objection.
Moved to roll call vote.
o Passes 14-0-0.
Club Alliance Assistant Director – Leah Tolisano
 I am a senior, majoring in psychology, and double minoring in business administration and
community leadership. I have been with student government for three years, first off as a student
assistant then as secretary. I have helped planned various senate events. I have realized I want to be
more involved in the student engagement aspect of Student Government.
o Senator Jordan: Motion to approve Leah Tolisano as Club Alliance Assistant Director.
Second. All in favor. Moved.
o Discussion.
o Senator Lorenzo: Motion to approve Leah under unanimous consent. Second. Objection.
Moved to roll call vote.
o Passes 13-0-0.
Director of Student Life – Farouk Smith
 I am majoring political science with a minor in English. This position is not very well known but I
plan to do a lot with it if appointed. I have always been involved in campus life, many clubs, and
resident council. I plan to work closely with OP, Club Alliance, and Athletics. I want to make sure
Homecoming is seen as an all-campus event, not just Greek. I have a lot of ideas regarding the
basketball games and tailgating.
o Senator Grantham: What do you hope to get from collaboration with the agencies? –I hope
we will work together to see what students want and need and hopefully, bring it to them.
o Senator Grantham: Are you going to be involved in putting on agency events or just
coordinating them? –I will be working with the agencies on the events and pursuing any
ideas President Gloster has.
o Senator Grantham: Do you have any ideas of your own? –Homecoming, as I mentioned
previously, and athletics.
o Senator Brahmbhatt: Motion to approve Farouk Smith as Director of Student Life. Second.
All in favor. Moved.
o Discussion.
o Senator Brahmbhatt: Motion to approve Farouk under unanimous consent. Second.
Objection. Moved to roll call vote.
o Passes 14-0-0.
XV.
Swearing in of Executive Appointments – Chief Justice Jaeger
XVI.
Unfinished Business
a. Legislations considered for 1st Reading
b. Simple and Joint Resolutions on 1st Reading
c. Legislations considered for 2nd Reading
d. Simple and Joint Resolutions on 2nd Reading
XVII.
New Business
a. Simple and Joint Resolutions on 1st Read
b. Legislation on 1st Read
i. CR-15SA-2862 Article IV Revisions
c. Simple and Joint Resolution on 2nd Read
d. Legislation considered for 2nd Read
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
Announcements
- Welcome Farah Azzouz as the new Senate Secretary and great questions, keep it up.
- Ms. Vicki Shore: Mark Snow sent me clarifications which I will email out to you.
- Senator Lorenzo: Pleas sign and give me the iPad use paperwork.
Final Roll Call – Senate President Pro-Tempore Caleb Grantham
- Quorum is reestablished with 14 voting members.
Adjournment
- Meeting is adjourned at 7:53PM.
Minutes taken by Farah Azzouz, Senate Secretary.