University of North Florida Student Senate
Senate Meeting Minutes – February 23 rd , 2015 – 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM – Senate Chambers
I.
Call to Order
Meeting is called to order at 6:40PM.
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 25 voting members.
V.
Approval of Agenda
Senator Motes: Motion to add CR-15S-2840 to the agenda under 2 nd read. Second. All in favor Moved.
Senator Douglas: Motion to add SR-15S-2844 to the agenda under 2 nd read. Second. All in favor.
Moved.
Chairwoman Melquist: Motion to add JR-15S-2837 to the agenda under 2
Moved. nd read. Second. All in favor.
Chairman Grantham: Motion to add CR-15S-2845 to the agenda under 2 nd read. Second. All in favor.
Moved.
Chairwoman Melquist: Motion to remove SR-15S-2839 from tonight’s agenda. Second. All in favor.
Moved.
Chairman Grantham: Motion to add the reconsideration of SB-15S-2832 to 2 nd read under unfinished business. Second. All in favor. Moved.
Senator Rader: Motion to approve the agenda as amended. Second. All in favor. Moved.
VI.
Approval of Minutes
Senator Brown: Motion to approve the minutes from February 9 th , 2015. Second. All in favor. Moved.
VII.
Recognition of Students Seeking Appointment
none
VIII.
Student Remarks (3 minutes each)
Gurgen Petrosyan: Student Government subsidies a business model for Spinnaker. I hope that you could re-allocate the $70,000 for spinnaker. Let me ask you all why we are all here at the University of
North Florida. All reasons are important. We are here to get an education. Without tutoring we all withdraw from many subjects. Those who work at UNF at ACE, their tutoring service are priceless. It is not working for general population. Commuters and others all need access to tutoring. There is not enough space. The counseling service needs to be moved to career services. o Senator Ascanio: You are talking on behalf of Spinnaker. We have to make sure we have the accountability. We ask each index that we fund about where the money goes. We were never provided that. Would you be able to provide that? - The funding that we provide now is a waste of money, I am saying it should go towards tutoring.

o Senator Rader: What would you propose? - There is not enough space. We have a counseling center, which needs to be moved to career services. We need to hire more tutors. We need better office hours. I messaged both Presidents about tutor.com, if we can fund that. Teaching assistants are more needed. o Senator Brown: We did ask students in our last Osprey Voice about tutoring. We are trying to expand ACE tutoring in the library.
Matthew Harris: I just want to say a few words, strictly as a student, on the A&S budget. You should all be commended about completing a very difficult task, a budget through a deficit year. You all approved a budget which successfully copes with substantial cuts that we were required to make. To me as a student that the process SG follows and that you all approved has been set back. I want to encourage you to overturn the veto. This budget was democratically created and is in no way skewed against anyone. You all had a very difficult task of managing the budget this year and you did it in many public forums, which only one budget director attended, and many signing days which were open for opinions. I encourage you to support the integrity of our process and overturn the veto.
IX.
Guest Speakers (5 minutes each) a.
Doreen Perez- Director of Health Administration
Our center is in the College of Health on the 2 nd floor. We have state of the art services. Our mission is to keep you healthy and to help you all do what you need to do. Services provided include the same from what you can expect from your doctor at home. If we have the medication there, the doctor will provide that. If the doctor feels you need prescription, they will give you that. We do it all for $2.99 per credit hour. Turns out it is about $35 a semester of unlimited health care. All the staff members are certified. We know that a lot of you get sick over the weekend and after hours. We work with a triage clinic. When we turn off our phones it gets transferred to them. The majority of the students listen to what they are being advised. We also have travel health.
X.
Office of Elections Report a.
Elections Commissioner Brad Johnson (3 minutes)
You will hear from Chief Justice Jaeger about 2 judicial complaints I filed last Friday morning. The debate is a week from tomorrow at 6:00. We just found out about the counter final for basketball, so we are trying to condense the debate to an hour and then go to the game. Elections are 2 weeks from tomorrow. I have a sign-up sheet for volunteering, they are 2 hour blocks. I ask that only fall senators sign up. If you are not running and you are a spring senator come talk to me if you want to volunteer.
There are three stations: library, student union, and the clubhouse. I am trying to eliminate two SG members at the station at once. I really would appreciate if you could sign up for this. Anyone who is running there are two candidate sessions at 11:00 and 2:00 on Wednesday. o Senator Kontol: Are the senate candidate sessions being posted/advertised online? - They are already on social media. I will be posting them on the chamber doors and in the rotunda.
XI.
Judicial Branch Report a.
Chief Justice Ben Jaeger (5 minutes)
My deputy chief justice position became vacant, so I appointed Kate Sanchez since Dana Baker has been appointed as the acting Attorney General. As the Elections Commissioner said I did receive two judicial complaints. The court has determined that both complaints lack sufficient merit. Both decisions will be made available tomorrow in the Rotunda. o Senator Akers: Could you discuss the complaints? - One involved an issue with the presidential candidate form and the other was about the timeline being posted.

XII.
Executive Branch Reports a.
Osprey Productions – Director John Chwalisz (3 minutes)
Presented by Club Alliance Director Jackson: This past Sunday was our Comedy Show ft. Jim Gaffigan which marked the kick off to FEST-OF-ALL 2015. I greatly appreciate all those that attended, your continued support is incredible and my staff as well as myself are very happy to have it. We had approximately
4800 in attendance and could not be any prouder. Throughout the week we have various events that not only need your attendance but also your assistance. If you didn’t know you are able to appeal all absentee points by volunteering at an OP or Club Alliance event. Tonight we have Mr. and Mrs. UNF at
7 PM in the Robinson Theater. Wednesday is Euphoria: UNF’s Artwalk at 5 at the UNF Green.
Thursday is Lip Sync at 8 PM. Friday is The Fest at 6 PM in the Osprey Plaza with Carnival rides, food trucks, Build-a-Bear, and much more. Saturday is the Osprey Tailgate Classic and the Men’s Basketball
Homecoming Game. Lastly, next Thursday and Friday is the OZ Music Festival. Please reach out to me if you are interested in helping. Please change your Facebook cover photo to our OZ banner for additional marketing support. Finally please pay attention to our Facebook page for weather updates throughout the week. b.
Club Alliance – Director Katie Jackson (3 minutes)
Spring Bash is next Tuesday from 10:00AM-3:00PM. We really need volunteers; we only have 4 Club
Alliance staff members. I will send around a sign-up sheet. We are taking applications for our constitution coordinator till this Friday. March 27 th is our next general body meeting, which is also the date of the talon painting party. We got permission from the Brooks College of Health to paint till there.
There will also be a lot of new talons. c.
Treasurer Morgan Wolf (3 minutes)
The scholarships are now competitive; these will be posted by the end of this week. They can be turned into the business and accounting office due March 25 th . The club funding board met this week and everything is going well. o Senator Gomez: Where will the scholarship forms be? - On the SG website. o Senator Brown: For the scholarships, is that for only fall senators? - It is for all senators. d.
Acting Attorney General Dana Baker (3 minutes)
There is a statute that makes it to where the Elections Commissioner must file all violations, and they must go through judicial complaints. These complaints were reviewed by the court and they didn’t find merit. President Turner recently vetoed the budget; I just want to lay you out with your options. You can override the bill with a 2/3rds vote. You can amend the bill with a 2/3rds vote. The third one is to do nothing, and in this case the bill dies and you would have to restart the entire process of the budget. e.
Vice President Christopher Brady (3 minutes)
Not present. f.
President Joseph Turner (5 minutes)
I would like to comment on Attorney Generals Baker appointment, after the interview process I thought Dana was the most qualified. One bit of bad news, I will be calling an emergency senate meeting on March 2 nd after committees, the reason why is for the special request going through B&A that night. I waited to submit the request just after we secured the home game. This will be so students can get into any game for free. In the coordination with osprey nation we don’t want the students to pay for A Sun tournament game. As for my veto, I feel that you should take this opportunity tonight to reconsider the request from the spinnaker. I would like for you to add 10 minutes to the budget for them to give a proposal.

XIII.
Legislative Branch Reports a.
Constitution and Statutes Committee – Chairman Caleb Grantham (3 minutes)
We met last Monday. We had an appeal, and that senator had points removed. We also had a CR, which is on the agenda tonight. It is a minor change in the constitution. We had an emergency meeting tonight to discuss two different CR’s, they both passed. Last thing I wanted to touch on is absence points; you are all set at a max of 4 points. If your points are removed, you can remain a senator. If you build up the points again you will have articles of impeachment filed or you will have to resign. It is ultimately up to you guys. If you missed a committee meeting those forms are due on Tuesday. Notify us of any issues so we can take care of it. If you would like to know your current standing, email me. b.
Budget and Allocation Committee – Chairman Blake Kennedy (3 minutes)
*Shows account totals on screen*. Last committee meeting we had 3 travel requests, all 3 were approved unanimously. I would like to touch on the veto, I do not agree with his veto. We have a process in order. As I’ve expressed over the past two months we got before you a balanced budget with a lot of time put in. I also held a forum and only one director came, which led me to believe every other budget director was happy with the budget. I ask you to be very careful with what you do with it tonight. We worked really hard. I stand behind what we passed 100%. c.
Government Oversight – Chairwoman Amanda Wollam (3 minutes)
Last week I did not hold a committee meeting due to all the emergency committee meetings. The
Attorney General can work for up to 30 days without appointment. Our upcoming committee meeting we will have Ms. Baker come through for appointment and a general senate seat. d.
University and Student Affairs – Chairwoman Leah Melquist (3 minutes)
We did have some issues with the network for the last Osprey Voice. Let me know if you had any of these issues. This past osprey voice, the questions were regarding tutoring getting expanded into the library. *Shows osprey voice results on screen*. As for roundtable and town hall, town hall is more for executive. Roundtable is once every spring semester following elections. e.
Senate President Chase Baker (5 minutes)
Thank you to everyone who attended the P&Ps ad hoc committee. I hope you all looked through it thoroughly. Whoever signed the College Republican’s bill, there was no bill number on there so after please come see me to resign that. As far as volunteers go, Brad needs a lot of help. March 9 th we will be having safe space training at 6:00PM before senate. As far as motions to be added, I encourage you to add some time for the spinnaker to speak.
 Chairman Grantham: I move to open the floor up for amendments to the agenda.
Second. All in favor. Moved.
 Senator Ascanio: Motion to add the spinnaker presentation for 10 minutes before SB-
15S-2832. Second. Nay  R oll call vote. Motion passes 14-0-10.
XIV.
Unfinished Business a.
Legislations considered for 1 st Reading b.
Simple and Joint Resolutions on 1 c.
Legislations considered for 2 nd st Reading
Reading i.
SB-15S-2832- 2015-2016 Activity and Service Fee Fiscal Budget
Lydia Moneir: We want to come here and give you a revised proposal after all the meetings we have had.
We are still requesting lump sum funding. One would be for spinnaker operations, without any provisionary language attached. We are not asking for additional funding, we want to move forward. We don’t want to waste your time anymore. How are we going to cover the short fall? We have a fund balance for things like this. So for this next fiscal year we are going to cover that with our fund balance.
We want to do this just as a temporary pass. The consistent cuts to our budget have led us to not be able to function anymore. We actually had a meeting with the advisors and student affairs budget officer, if

the spinnaker didn’t operate the way it did with its updated model, we wouldn’t have been able to survive the cuts. Media is an evolving thing, which is why we need flexibility in our funding. What if in the future we don’t have the same printing product, we can never predict how media is going to change.
*shows cuts that have been made on screen*. It doesn’t look like that big of a deal, but you have to also think that minimum wage goes up each year.
Annie Black: News is the center of everything. News is currently funded through the subscription. We know that you worked hard with this budget, which is why we aren’t asking for more money just an adjustment. Radio and TV are funded separately, but now that we have this cut to our budget we want to be able to have the flexibility to move around money. News, radio and TV are a multiplatform and we need the money to be used for each department equally. We have been talking to everyone, and we have come up with the fact that we need the flexibility and that the proviso is not necessary. We also talked to the budget director from student affairs to discuss and better understand our budget.. 48% of the budget is shared.
Lydia Moneir: We don’t want more money; all we want is to revise the budget. The 5 leaders are the ones who work out the budget for the department. It is about trusting the people to do the job and compromise. We are not asking for more money just for flexibility and no more proviso. There is plenty of accountability without the proviso language. Please consider this and think about it. We really just want to do our jobs. If you can take the time to discuss this we really appreciate it. o Senator Grantham: With media being flexible online, wouldn’t that require less funding? - It isn’t really about a shift. We did a survey and have evaluated and students want the print, but we do still offer both things. o Senator Ascanio: The cuts we made were for the subscription part and not salaries? - The subscription fund funds the newsroom. That is still a part of what the subscription funds. o Senator Motes: There is a process in place to move funds from place to place; is there a current problem with that? - We think that process is unnecessary. That just creates hassle. We need to be able to sit down and do our budget. The main problem here is we need the flexibility to craft our own budget. There are plenty of checks and balances in place for us currently. o Senator Grantham: You have had meetings with multiple people, is there a reason you didn’t attend the budget forum? - One reason was the short notice. We didn’t get the budget until
Monday. There was an inaccuracy on there, so that wasn’t updated online till Friday after the forum. We didn’t have enough time to sit down and discuss. As soon as we did find out we reached out and we had meetings with the treasurer and B&A chair. o Senator Akers: You have mentioned accountability, can you detail some of the ways there can be accountability for that money? - The proviso didn’t exist till a year ago. We submit budget reports to student affairs. Our expenses also go through our advisory board. o Senator Ascanio: My main concern is that everything comes down to how much it costs for the subscription. Can you provide how much it will cost per unit? We have been asking, and I still haven’t received an answer. We want to make sure that the accountability part is transparent? -
Right now is the end of the contract, which means we have to tell a new contract the number of prints we will have. So that has been put on hold. We don’t want to be treated like a vendor. We still need to find out from the printer, so we need to find out what our budget is. o Senator Melquist: The reason you didn’t come to the forum, is because you didn’t have enough time. You said you met with the treasurer, but in the minutes Treasurer Wolf said no one sought her out? - A meeting was called to discuss the budget. The only reason we didn’t call the meeting.

o Senator Akers: For the budget we just passed, we gave you about a quarter of a million and also a fund balance to almost $500,000. What was the thought process that you don’t have enough funds to operate? - Our advisors salary is a part of that which isn’t a part of our operations.
Looking at the operations of last year, that is why we think we don’t have enough.
*Discussion*
 Senator Ali Awan: When we did the Osprey Voice, it showed that 25% of students read the magazine and 75% do not.
 Senator Brown: I think that we need to be looking out for the entire student body. In the
Osprey Voice, the questions seemed biased. I know we adjusted the budget, but I think they need the flexibility. They sought out so many people. I think it is very important that we look into this.
 Senator Guerra: I think if you ask the general student body population how many of them are aware of the function of Student Government, I think that you would get a response that is lower than 25% and that does not invalidate the legitimacy of this organization. There are multiple levels of accountability for them; I don’t think that we have to be a part of the accountability.
 Senator Ascanio: I worked with the B&A committee, and I still haven’t received about the cost. We still don’t have the information. I think they have the flexibility already. We always ask for accountability and transparency. I think the budget is the most efficient for this year.
 Chairman Grantham: I am not denying effort that the Spinnaker has put into this. I just want to point out the timing of their efforts. They said they were informed late about the forum. I think the timing puts off the effort.
 Senator Motes: We are not denying them to be able to move their funds. We just want to see where it is going. We are not telling them what to do with it.
 Chairman Kennedy: They want a lump sum into an auxiliary. That money can accumulate. I think it is fiscally irresponsible to put the A&S fees into an auxiliary. This is the first we have ever seen a lump sum. They wanted to compromise, and we gave them a compromise. We gave them a lump sum with accountability. We are here to serve the students and I think that is what we did before it was vetoed.
 Senator McCulsky: We heard many requests from around the school. And we asked questions that would benefit the student body as a whole. I support Senator Kennedy.
 Senator Akers: They mentioned the salary for their advisor, is that in the A&S fees?- Yes.
 Senator Silberstein: The language keeps the Spinnaker running efficiently and keeps them accountable. Understand that everyone works within checks and balances; it is what gets things done. I would like to say a little saying here, don’t bite the hand that feeds you,
Spinnaker you had your chances and you didn’t take advantage of it. There are people in this room, who sat here for countless hours working on this budget. You didn’t take your chances. We worked really hard on this. I am in full support of this. Senators trust your fellow senators and pass this budget.
 Senator Guerra: I think this is a fair compromise; they are a body holding transparency.
Do we understand how spinnaker functions? I don’t think we do. They understand how the organization runs. President Delaney supports the removal of the provisionary language, so why wouldn’t we?

 Senator Akers: Everyone in this room bears responsibility of this money. I would feel irresponsible giving that lump sum to them. There is always accountability. Every penny of that fund we take from the students. Student media plays an important part of student life. I urge you all to think about that responsibility.
 Senator Bottom: We have been talking about accountability, to say that they didn’t have enough time I think it is a bad excuse. We worked really hard on it. I support the budget.
 Senator Brown: If we can allocate 4.4 million dollars, I think one organization should be able to allocate themselves as well. I know you are concerned with financial responsibility, but they have their own accountability.
 Senator Ali Awan: We spent a lot of time on this budget; I think it’s too late.
 Chairman Kennedy: Everyone that Student Government funds goes off a line item budget. We already gave them a compromise.
 Chairman Grantham: When we pass things in, it goes through a 2 week period. What they are proposing is based off a 5 people. I don’t see the comparison.
 Senator Wollam: Motion to close the floor for discussion. Second. All in favor.
Moved. d.
 Chairman Kennedy: I move to override the veto. Second.
Discussion. Roll call vote: 19-0-5. Motion passes.
Simple and Joint Resolutions on 2 nd Reading
XV.
New Business a.
Simple and Joint Resolutions on 1 st b.
Legislation on 1 st Read c.
Simple and Joint Resolution on 2 nd
Read d.
Legislation considered for 2 nd
Read
Read i.
SR-15S-2839 Real Food Challenge ii.
CR-15S-2840 Legislative Officer Elections
Senate President Baker: I added the word “spring” before general election. It is a pretty simple change, it is for continuity. This also adds the word “all” to the members of the legislative cabinet who are up for re-election.
 Senator Kontol: Motion to approve CR-15S-2840. Second. Discussion.
 Senator Kontol: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. All in favor. Motion passes. iii.
SR-15S-2844 2015-2016 Senate Policies and Procedures
Senate President Baker: We went through the Senate Policies and Procedures during an Ad Hoc committee to make changes to help us run more efficiently. *Shows changes on the screen*. o Senator Brown: Under the senator scholarship, did we have money in the fall and now we didn’t have? - The fall senators were grandfathered into the past system. o Senator Guerra: For the appeal process and hearings, it says that a senator will be removed if a senator doesn’t attend their hearing. I don’t know if we should be tweaking that until that gets changed? - There is actually a CR that is going forth tonight about that.
 Senator Ascanio: Motion to approve SR-15S-2844. Second. Discussion.
 Senator Rader: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. All in favor. Motion passes. iv.
JR-15S-2837 Legislative Priorities
Chairwoman Melquist: We had an emergency USA meeting tonight, we did not meet quorum so this bill was forwarded to tonight’s meeting.
President Turner: Our job here is to represent the student body, and that doesn’t stop here at the
University. It goes on to the state level. These are items that are endorsed by the Florida Board of

Governors. I represent our students, I want that the entirety of student government to support this as well. *shows the items on screen*. I have a good feeling about most of these items on the agenda. With the endorsement of this we will be able to get things done at the state level. o Senator Brown: Will it take a while to get these in place? - It would take effect next fall.
 Senator McCulsky: Motion to approve JR-15S-2837. Second. Discussion.
 Senator McCulsky: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. All in favor. Motion passes. v.
CR-15S-2845 Article II Revision
Chairman Grantham: This is proposing a change to article 2. It is a pretty small change. The proposed change is “and may with 2/3rds concurrence may remove a member due to the excessive accumulation of absence points” . There have been a lot of issues with absence points. There still isn’t a well written out process for the accumulation of absence points. Right now we would have to file articles of impeachment. Now it would be internal and skip the process of going through the Supreme
Court. This will have to be further defined in our P&P’s.
 Senator Gomez: Motion to approve CR-15S-2845. Second. No discussion.
 Senator Ascanio: Motion for unanimous consent. Second. All in favor. Motion passes.
XVI.
Announcements
None.
XVII.
Final Roll Call – Senate President Pro-Tempore Caleb Grantham
Quorum is reestablished with 24 voting members.
XVIII.
Adjournment
Meeting is adjourned at 8:46PM.
Minutes taken by: Leah Tolisano, Senate Secretary.