University of North Florida Student Senate
Senate Meeting Minutes – February 9th, 2015 – 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM – Senate Chambers
I.
II.
Call to Order
- Meeting is called to order at 6:39PM.
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 29 voting members.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
Approval of Agenda
- Senator Ali Awan: I move to add Matthew Harris and Abigail Goetz to Executive Confirmations after
Legislative Reports. Second. All in favor. Moved.
- Senator Douglas: Motion to add JR-15S-2837 to 1st read. Second. All in favor. Moved
- Senator Azzouz: Motion to add Kyler Dykes to guest speakers. Second. All in favor. Moved.
- Senator Ascanio: Motion to add SB-15S-2836 to 2nd read on tonight’s agenda. Second. All in favor.
Moved.
- Senator Guerra: Motion to add SB-15S-2788 to new business before the budget. Second. All in favor.
Moved.
- Chairman Kennedy: Motion to approve tonight’s agenda as amended. Second. All in favor. Moved.
Approval of Minutes
- Chairwoman Melquist: Motion to approve the minutes from the last senate meeting. Second. All in
favor. Moved.
Recognition of Students Seeking Appointment
- Amanda Harvey. Freshman. Art and English Major. Seeking General Senate Seat.
Student Remarks (3 minutes each)
- Connor Spielmaker: I wanted to talk to you about the budget. For spinnaker to operate every year it
costs over $300,000, with that we do a lot for the campus. While the appearance that you gave in the
budget goes strictly to the magazine, that isn’t the case, that money is also used to pay the reporters.
Right now the money that is in that line for the subscription will only pay to print the pages, not to
generate the content that goes into that. So effectively you would be printing blank pages. If the budget
passes as is coverage of different events will go away. Our news can’t function without
reporters/editors. So what we are asking for tonight is an additional $78,000 into that subscription line
for the content to go into the magazine. All of our content doesn’t only go to fill the magazine; it is also
online, TV, and radio. We can’t function without it, so we are asking for that increase.
- Shannon Pulusan: I would like to propose lump sum funding. Right now the proposed budget only
covers for print alone. It isn’t even enough to print. We are a news conglomerate. The best way to fund
spinnaker media is through a lump sum. If there is a certain need in one division, the leaders can decide
how to deal with that one need. The leaders can move money around to accommodate things. This is
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IX.
X.
done with our judgment on how to serve the students the best way. We are requesting that all 4 indexes
fall into 1 index with 2 line items.
Lydia Moneir: We are also asking you to remove the provisionary language from the budget. This
language requires us to print a certain amount of issues for the money that we are getting. We never had
problems without a proviso. Since the proviso was introduced, it has been a problem. Why do we have
it? Well what we have been told over and over again is that it keeps us accountable. What does the
proviso add? What does it help? All we want to do is serve students the best we can.
Annie Black: I am on board with everything they have said. Think of the students you are serving and
think of the students that are serving you by being a part of Spinnaker Media. These students really care,
without the proper funding UNF would be lacking something that has been around for a long time. I
have served as many different aspects within Spinnaker; there are leadership opportunities and work
examples for the future. We are urging you to reconsider our budget. We have a professor here, Dr.
Brian Thornton, he wanted to speak tonight but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time. He wanted me
to add that to please think long and hard about cutting the student news.
o Senator Brown: You mentioned we would be printing blank pages, since there is such a huge
online transition. Instead of printing could you put it all online and then use that money on
reporters? - We have been asked if we cut print entirely before, and the answer has always been
strongly in favor of having a print on campus through student responses. It is a part of a service
students expect.
o Senator Ascanio: In terms of the magazine, we were talking about the cost per unit; we didn’t
know the exact amount. How many units do you expect SG to fund? - We want to move away
from funding per unit. It depends on ad revenue. It is dependent on how much content is
produced. That is why we need that flexibility of a lump sum.
o Senator Ascanio: We need the exact data so we can work from that? - Our news room operates
at 200 hours a week, at a bare minimum. This is all going into the provisionary language.
Spinnaker print hasn’t always had this language. There is enough accountability in other ways
without the language. With $27,300 we would print the 32 blank pages. If it passes as is, there
will be no news, which is a problem. If we had lump sum funding and no language we would
have a much better time with cuts.
John Chwalisz: Next week is homecoming week. Comedy show is on Sunday. That Monday, at 7:00PM
is the Mr. and Mrs. UNF pageant. That Wednesday is the art walk, 5:00-8:00. That Thursday is the LipSync at 8:00PM. That Friday we have the crate competition, the fest is that night. That Saturday is the
Osprey tailgate classic, right before the basketball game.
Guest Speakers (5 minutes each)
- Kyler Dykes, Director of Lend-A-Wing Pantry: Lend-A-Wing is doing great. Since last year our usage
has increased a lot. Our food donations have also been increasing. We have forged a lot of partnerships.
We have a plot in the Ogier Gardens. We are also working on a partnership with feeding northeast
Florida; this will open up our donor base. Hunger Fight is a local organization to help ending hunger;
they have donated a lot of meals to us. Lend-a-wing will be running the Can Castle event during
homecoming week on Wednesday.
Office of Elections Report
a. Elections Commissioner Brad Johnson (3 minutes)
- The party registration came and went. We have 3 registered parties. The candidate deadlines for
senatorial and presidential forms are due this Friday the 13th. The candidate information session will be
February 25th in the senate chambers. Our presidential debate will be March 3rd. We are putting a lot of
effort into this debate; there will probably be give aways. Finally, for you sitting senators, we will really
need your help for volunteering. If you guys can please come and meet with me, and let me know if you
can help.
o Senator Gomez: Is volunteering is only available to senators who are not running? – Yes,
correct.
o Senator Kontol: Did you mention a time for the presidential debate? - 6:00-7:30.
XI.
Judicial Branch Report
a. Chief Justice Ben Jaeger (5 minutes)
- I have appointed Elizabeth Avilla to the Senior Associate Justice position for the remainder of the
semester. We will be going through our P&P’s and our hearing guidelines. The parking meeting we had
an update for the parking appeals. Parking services has been very happy with the new system.
XII.
Executive Branch Reports
a. Osprey Productions – Director John Chwalisz (3 minutes)
- This week we have 3 events. This Wednesday there is a talent show. Thursday we have laser tag in the
ballrooms. That Friday is Large in Life game day from 11:00-2:00 at the Green. Next week we are
showing Interstellar on Wednesday. We are doing Oz, Mac Miller and Sublime. Let me know if you
want to apply for a productions assistant. Kyler talked about the Ogier Gardens. If you are interested in
coming to the Ogier Gardens, SG has a plot.
o Senator Rader: Will you need volunteers for the game day? - Yes I need volunteers for
everything
o Senator Brown: Can non UNF students attend? - Yes they just need to be with a student.
b. Club Alliance – Director Katie Jackson (3 minutes)
- Matthew Harris (Acting Assistant Club Alliance Director): Club alliance has a general body meeting this
Friday at 11:00am. Our first event is this Thursday we have a specialized board fair for religious and
faith based clubs. There is a bill coming before you tonight to make the club funding process more
effective to use. Homecoming is coming up, 11 clubs have signed up. We hope to see you all at our
events.
c. Treasurer Morgan Wolf (3 minutes)
- Yield my time.
d. Attorney General (3 minutes)
- No Attorney General.
e. Vice President Christopher Brady(3 minutes)
- Yield my time
f. President Joseph Turner (5 minutes)
- We don’t have an Attorney General currently. I am working hard on filling that position; I will probably
make a decision by Wednesday. I just got done with some interviews today. Let me know if you know
anyone interested for that position. I support all legislation on the agenda for tonight, including the
budget. Let me know if you have any questions about the JR, I talked about it heavily in my report last
time.
XIII.
Legislative Branch Reports
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a. Constitution and Statutes Committee – Chairman Caleb Grantham (3 minutes)
Last week we heard two pieces of legislation, title 3 reform and a title 5 reform. Both passed. We heard
the title 11 reformation tonight which passed at the emergency meeting. We had 3 senators up for
appeal, all senators had points removed. I sent out a clarification email about absence policies. You do
have the opportunity to volunteer to remove points.
b. Budget and Allocation Committee – Chairman Blake Kennedy (3 minutes)
*shows account totals on screen*. We have 4 travel requests that came before our committee. 3 of these
passed. We had one request that was denied, which is in front of us tonight from the UNF college
republicans. There was no second on the motion. It was not seen as a beneficial opportunity got the
body as a whole. My committee and I have been super busy with passing the budget. I have a lot to
report about the budget but I will yield my time to when I present the bill.
c. Government Oversight – Chairwoman Amanda Wollam (3 minutes)
- I had an emergency meeting tonight. There were two people who came up for appointment, assistant
director of club alliance and the digital media coordinator. They were both approved. You will be
hearing from them tonight.
d. University and Student Affairs – Chairwoman Leah Melquist (3 minutes)
- I do have the osprey voice signup sheet. We had a lot of senators who didn’t show up when we did the
online signup. *shows Osprey Voice results*. The next osprey voice will be next week, please sign up.
Please make sure that you know that it is mandatory to show up. There is a new text reminding system,
so I can send you a reminder for Osprey Voice.
o Senate President Pro-Tempore Grantham: If you showed up to the last Osprey Voice and didn’t
get credit, please let her know.
e. Senate President Chase Baker (5 minutes)
- This Wednesday we have an ad hoc committee at 4:30PM for the P&PS. There are a lot of volunteer
opportunities coming up. As far as the budget goes tonight, if you have a motion to make make sure it is
balanced.
o Senator Gomez: How do Policies and Procedures differ from what C&S does? - It is a step
below from the Constitution. It is for the senate.
o Senator Azzouz: For volunteering, is there a special form? - talk to Senate President ProTempore Grantham after the meeting.
Executive Confirmations
a. Assistant Director of Club Alliance.
- Matthew Harris: Sophomore. History major. Most of you all know me. I have been in Student
Government for a little over a year now. I started off as an Associate Justice. I did not expect this
opportunity. Club Alliance is a very hard working and dedicated agency. It offers student engagement.
My work as Attorney General is a lot of behind the scenes. The idea of getting involved with students
excited me. I have worked on a lot of policies, but haven’t had the chance to engage with the students.
That is why I chose to go after the position.
 Senator Melquist: Motion to approve Matt Harris as Assistant Club Alliance Director.
Second. All in favor. Discussion.
 Senator Kontol: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. Nay-Roll call vote: motion
passes 26-0-3.
b. Digital Media Coordinator.
- Abigail Goetz: Freshman. I applied for the position to get more involved on campus. I have taken
many graphic design courses in high school. At the end of my senior year, I won the art award in
graphic design. I have a very flexible schedule, and I also keep a very orderly agenda.
 Senator Ascanio: Motion to approve Abby Goetz as Digital Media Coordinator. Second.
Discussion.
 Senator Brown: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. All in favor. Moved.
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XIV.
*Chief Justice Jaeger swears in Matthew Harris and Abigail Goetz*
XV.
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
New Business
a. Simple and Joint Resolutions on 1st Read
b. Legislation on 1st Read
c. Simple and Joint Resolution on 2nd Read
d. Legislation considered for 2nd Read
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i. SB-15S-2830 Title III Revisions
Matthew Harris: There are amendments for the attorney general sections. There is a change to the
definition of an interpretation. This now makes them go under judicial review within 5 business days. In
executive transition period, this was changed to for the new administration to not take over till after the
last commencement ceremony. It was pretty loose, and now it is very specific, the elections
commissioner is in charge of this.
 Senator Ascanio: Motion to approve SB-15S-2830. Second. No discussion.
 Senator Ascanio: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. All in favor. Moved.
ii. SB-15S-2831 Title V Reform
Matthew Harris: Most of the edits are changing the name to Supreme Court. The major change is to
move merit decisions to the judicial branch. This will propose to change for any 3 justices out of 7 to
decide to hear a case. The justices have a certain amount of time to decide if they want to hear a case. It
protects the right of minority.
 Senator Rader: I move to approve SB-15S-2831. Second. No discussion. Roll call vote:
motion passes 28-0-1.
iii. SB-15S-2836 Title XI Revisions
Treasurer Wolf: There are two processes right now. One is called club funding, which is a first come
first serve basis for $300. They can also come for a budget boost. There is also CBC, where clubs come
for a budget. There will be a combined committee, so there is no confusion on which process they are
on. This will help clubs get money more easily.
Matthew Harris: The major changes are combining the club funding board. There is equal membership
from legislative and executive. There are also changes to make the $300 clearer. We had about 40 clubs
apply for budgets, and we have about 22 on budgets now. Supplemental allocations, clubs can request
up to $200 up to the discretion of the club funding board.
 Senator Ascanio: Motion to approve SB-15S-2836. Second. No discussion.
 Senator Kishek: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. All in favor. Moved.
iv. SB-15S-2838 UNF College Republicans
Jordan Wilson: We have been on campus for about 15 years. We have funded ourselves every year to go
to the CPAC conference. It is a really beneficial thing to go to. I learned so much when I went to this
last year. CPAC is a great opportunity. You learn a lot about the GOP, in order to be someone in
politics you need to know people in politics. This is a great way to learn from others. We will then take
what we have learned and ultimately acquire it for what we do in our club here at UNF. By going to this
event, we can see speakers, and go to workshops. This will also help us make work connections. By
sending a few students they will learn how to speak and create networks. This will also strengthen the
bond with our club and other colleges clubs. We can ultimately gather a group of students around. The
agenda for CPAC hasn’t been established yet. There were many influential people there last year. *shows
last year agenda*. The conference will be for 3 days. We want to use the last day as a bonding
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experience. For our financial breakdown, we have a package deal for cheaper hotel prices, and admission
tickets. There will be out of pocket money that we will be paying for. We will be fundraising for this. I
cannot emphasize to you enough how important this is.
o Senator Galligan: How many active members are in your club? - 30.
o Senator Harvel: You mentioned earlier that the club has paid for this trip in the past? - I just
know we have never asked Student Government.
o Senator Gomez: I just wanted to say that when we are allocating these funds, it is a matter of if it
is fiscally responsible or not.
o Senator Wollam: What plan of action do you plan to take if you do not get the funding? - Due to
the fact we were denied, this is our last chance at going. I will push to see funding for this for
next year. I will just become more motivated.
o Senator Silberstein: How will this benefit the students here at UNF, other than the Republican
Party? - We do get stickers saying where we are from we can walk up to people letting them
know where we are from. We will bring back a lot of knowledge, and spread it. We will grow this
club and gain more awareness.
 Senator Rader: I move to approve SB-15S-2878. Resinds motion.
 Senator Rader: I move to approve SB-15S-2838. Second. Discussion.
 Senator Guerra: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. Nay. Roll call vote: 24-0-5.
Motion passes.
Senate President Pro-Tempore Grantham: Motion to open the agenda for amendments. Second. All in
favor. Moved.
Senate President Pro-Tempore Grantham: Motion to add guest speakers. Second. All in favor. Moved.
Senate President Pro-Tempore Grantham: Motion to add a 5 min recess after the guest speaker
presentation. Second. All in favor. Moved.
Senate President Pro-Tempore Grantham: Motion to approve tonight’s agenda as amended. Second. All in
favor. Moved.
 Guest speaker (3 min) - Dr. Brian Thornton: I am speaking solely for myself and not for the
communication department. I am asking you to consider your decision very carefully. One of the
things you are trying to do here is to be a real senator, I think a senator in this situation would try to
get more information. One of the ways to get information through a survey. You are voting to
dramatically cut the spinnaker funding. We at the communications department think it is a great
opportunity and experience. If you cut the budget it would be a tremendous loss. If you give us
enough time we can sign a petition. I am sorry for the last minute. It is very important to the
communications department. I don’t know all the details of the budget. Please consider very
carefully. Maybe put it off for more time. And give us time to present you with a petition.
Recess at- 8:25.
Reconvene at- 8:36.
o Quorum is reestablished with 29 voting members.
v. SB-15S-2832 2015-2016 Activity and Service Fee Fiscal Budget
 2015-2016 Activity and Service Fee Fiscal Budget
- Chairman Kennedy: This is the budget that has gone through my committee and is being proposed to
you tonight. There were two days of requests and then one day of deliberations where treasurer wolf
proposed her budget. My committee made changes. On the bill in front of you, you can see that it was
placed on display last Monday. The next step was for me to hold an open forum, on February 3rd. this
was for anyone to come and ask me any questions. I had one person who came to speak with me who
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was Director Chwalisz. This was only 2 minutes out of the 2 hours that I was sitting there. Now it
comes through senate then it goes to President Turner, and then it’ll go to President Delaney.
Treasurer Wolf: I have been gearing up for this night since September. I have been sitting down with
budget directors to gain a better understanding of their budgets and their projections for the years
forward. This is a tough year financially. I know this budget like the back of my hand. I feel very
confident about this budget. When people come up here and speak, I really listen to them. I can tell you
with full faith I am confident with this budget. It has been posted for 5 days, and I think that this has
given the body enough time to look over it. I didn’t have anyone seek me out about the budget. As well,
no one came to the forum. I recommend you pass this tonight, but not if you aren’t confident. In the
deliberations it took us about 4 hours to go over this. I will give a broad overview of the budget. I want
to start by giving the financial position that we are in. Enrollment is projected to decrease which will
decrease our revenue. There is also an increase in minimum wage and salaries. That left our deficit that
we had to cut at $145,809.03, based off of last year. With all the requests we had to cut over $400,000. I
kept the students in mind the whole time to see what was best for them. I also trimmed off OPS wages
and rounded off numbers. I went over our financial position, and came to the conclusion that this was
not the year for expansions to be made. I trust you have all gone over it, so let me know if you have any
questions.
o Senator Ascanio: Can you go over the index for the Spinnaker? - I had multiple meetings with
the Spinnaker, I know there is tension. I tried to be an objective party in the whole thing. I see
their view point, but I stand by the accountability. They used to have 4 different indexes last
year, I proposed to combine all of those into one index, so they can disperse how they like but
still keep line items. It is now a lot easier for them to transfer funds around, with still keeping
accountability.
o Senator Guerra: There were a few positions that received salary increases, how did you get those
numbers? - Those were mandated. There was an increase in minimum and salary.
o Senator Guerra: Can you discuss the provisionary language? - We will vote on the budget first
and then move onto provisionary language.
 Senator Akers: Motion to approve the budget for the fiscal year of 2015-2016, SB-15S2832. Second. Discussion. Roll call vote: Motion passes 25-0-4.
 2015-2016 Provisionary Language
Treasurer Wolf: This governs the entire budget. I am going to highlight the changes that were made. For
spinnaker, since there used to be 4 indexes, their provisionary language has now been combined into 1
provisionary language. We put in funding shall be provided at .65 cents at 7,000 units per issue for a
maximum of 6 issues. In the past it restricted them, we added the words for “up to” so they can do less
or more, but we will be funding them for up to 6 issues. I think that gives them plenty of costs. For
Recreation we changed from $8.25 to $9.00 wage an hour. Since minimum wage increased, we just
changed that cap. For club funding they were allocated $60,000 last year, and we allocated them $50,000.
We allocated that they can transfer $20,000 should they need it from special requests, which decreased
the special requests. Osprey Productions can spend up to $100,000 from ticket revenue, I am proposing
we include homecoming to be more transparent.
o Senator Kishek: Is the $100,000 per event? - All together.
 Chairman Kennedy: I move to approve the provisionary language for the 2015-2016
fiscal year. Discussion. Roll call vote: Motion passes 26-0-2.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
Announcements
- President Turner: I do have 5 days to act on this budget, so if any students do have lingering questions
about the budget, I would be happy to hear that.
- Chairwoman Melquist: We are missing 4 people here that didn’t sign up for Osprey Voice.
- Please reach out if you want to volunteer at any of the upcoming events. Our job is to serve the
students.
Final Roll Call – Senate President Pro-Tempore Caleb Grantham
- Quorum is reestablished with 28 voting members.
Adjournment
- Meeting is adjourned at 9:15PM.
Minutes taken by: Leah Tolisano, Senate Secretary.