Eastern Connecticut State University
83 Windham Street, Willimantic, CT 06226 Phone: 860-465-0099
Student Government Association
General Board Meeting
Present:
Executive Board: P. Bjornstad (President), A. Bullard (Vice President), M. Hicks
(BAM), B. Rice (Treasurer), Z. Yeager (Secretary)
Advisors: C. Ambrosio, M. Delaney
Senators: J. Ahern, E. Benoit, A. Burns, K. Chrzanowska, V. Cosma, K. Cusano, A.
DelValle, E. Drouin, A. Fiducia, M. Fournier, J. Garzone,C. Gosselin, R. Labrie, E.
McDonald, M. McFallGorman, E. Pelletier, R. Perry, J. Reid, R. Rivera, M. Styrczula
Meeting called to order at 3:02 PM
1. Acceptance of Minutes for
a. Motion # 14 (J. Reid, E. Pelletier) Motion to accept the minutes from
10/7/13 (25-0-0) Motion Carries.
2. President’s Report:
a. Group Issues:
Group 1: They came up with the issue of raising the 4 year graduation rate. It
is currently at 42%. The committee wants to raise awareness of 4 year plans
and “that stuff.” The intention is to pair up with housing in order to partner
with RAs and their educational programs.
Group 2: This group came up with the issue of improving advising. A lot of
students were unaware of their adviser. New advisees would meet advisers
before their registration period. It was also suggested that there be an
increase in communication between the advising center and faculty advisers.
Maybe there would even be an evaluation for advising at the end. M. Hicks
mentioned that next summer “undeclared” students will declare an interest
to get an adviser that knows about their interest.
E-board issue was to make sure tenured professors’ have their course
evaluations examined.
b. Town Gown:
It went better than expected. J. Reid mentioned that many students are
unaware of the issues that the townspeople bring up.
c. Pep Rally:
Be mindful of SGA’s opinion and stop talking about what happened.
d. One on One’s:
These will be starting soon. They last 10-15 minutes.
e. Open House:
Thanks to M. Fournier, R. Rivera, and R. Labrie for giving up their Sunday to
Eastern Connecticut State University Student Government Association
“Students Serving Students”
represent SGA at the table at open house. There was a lot of interest from
students and parents alike.
E. Pelletier noticed that not many clubs were at the open house and more
should be done in the future so that students can get more info about clubs.
f.
BOR Update:
J. Ahern mentioned the election of the chair and vice chair. They are trying to
get more order this year and are sticking to the plan of “Advise and
Advocate.”
3. Vice President’s Report:
a. E-Board Update:
E-Board is working on an “RU1” campaign to work on town gown issues.
b. Committee Updates:
i. Issues:
E. McDonald went over the minutes from her last meeting.
ii. Public Relations:
PR will be planning events, maybe partnering with CAB, to make
sure that our name is out there.
iii. Internal:
The Internal retreat will be Friday, November 8th from 5-7 PM. All
Senators must attend unless there is a proper excuse. It is a Mystery
Night theme.. The Senate largely approved the idea of having pizza
and wings for the meal.
iv. BAM:
M. Hicks went over the minutes from his last meeting. In order to
lessen the cost, BAM is allowing more students to go to local
conferences and this saves money. Social Justice Club, and the Black
Student Union are in the process of forming. We are waiting on West
Indian Society to attend a general board meeting so that we can fully
approve them.
BAM has already allocated $170,000/$175,000 and will probably
close for allocations soon.
Motion # 15 (E. Drouin, A. Bullard) Motion to move to close
session. (25-0-0). Motion Carries.
Motion # 16 (E. Drouin, K. Chrzanowska) Motion to approve the
Fishing Club. (25-0-0) Motion Carries.
S. Ramsay asked if the licenses are provided. They are part of the
budget.
J. Reid asked what the fish will be done with after. They are returned
to the water.
E. Drouin asked about the location. The club-sponsored locations are
all legal.
E. Pelletier asked about the penalty of not having a license and
getting caught. Members have to have a license in order to join and
fish.
4. Treasurer’s Report:
5. Secretary’s Report:
6. Advisor’s Report:
7. Open Floor:
M. Hicks gave an update on his external committee. As far as Eastern’s budget is
concerned, we are going to break even this year. Typically we have a surplus, so this
is not the best situation, but we still have an overall surplus. However, our
enrollment is down 5.4% over 5 years. However, our graduation rate is much higher
than the other CSUs, being more than double some of them with our 43%.
Meeting adjourned at 4:08 PM.