Eastern Connecticut State University
83 Windham Street, Willimantic, CT 06226 Phone: 860-465-0099
Student Government Association
General Board Meeting
October 21st, 2013
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, D. Dykstra, A. Fiducia, M. J. Garzone, C. Gosselin, R. Labrie, W.
Malcolm, E. McDonald, M. McFallGorman, E. Pelletier, R. Perry, S. Ramsay, J. Reid, M.
Styrczula
Meeting called to order at 3:03 PM
West Indian Society:
Modified their constitution to add in that alumni members are allowed to be voting
members but student activity fee money will not be used on them since they are not paying
the activity fee. Alumni would be welcome to the events. If BAM gives them money though,
the alumni would have to pay out of pocket. There were a lot of changes because the old
constitution was outdated. The President and the members now have the right to call for
impeachment.
Black Student Union:
The purpose of this club is to highlight academic excellence for African American students
and their achievements due to misrepresentation and discrepancy. Anybody is welcome at
the club, regardless of color of skin. There is a strong emphasis on academia, community
engagement, and service. The club members have predicted a worst-case scenario that
there would be no funds, so they have decided on either free events or having the members
subsidize the costs. They would not pay dues to the BSU chapter. They are willing to work
with other clubs and are thinking of teaming up with Pride Alliance for the AIDS walk. The
club has about 15 regular students attend their meetings.
Motion # 17 (A. Bullard, R. Perry) Motion to move to close session (25-0-0) Motion
carries.
We were unable to vote on the clubs as the constitutions were not distributed to the Senate.
1. Acceptance of Minutes for 10/14/13
a. Motion # 18 (E. Drouin, J. Reid) Motion to accept the minutes from
10/14/13 (25-0-0) Motion carries.
2. President’s Report:
a. Office Hours:
P. Bjornstad mentioned the importance of office hours. Don’t forget to sign
the book because we keep track that way.
Eastern Connecticut State University Student Government Association
“Students Serving Students”
b. One on Ones:
Make sure that you have signed up to have a one on one.
c. Long term Goals:
Keep in mind the goals that we made at the retreat when making committee
decisions!
3. Vice President’s Report:
a. Committees
i. Student Issues:
1. R. Perry informed that advising is letting SGA representatives
at their events in the residence halls to promote the 4 year
plans. There are 3 per week for the next 2 weeks. There will
be peer advisors and 2 SGA REPRESENTATIVES at each
meeting.
2. There is also no water fountain at the Mansfield Sports
Complex but the new building that is being built will have
water available in it. But the intramural students will not
have access, so E. McDonald is in contact with Athletics to
find some type of solution.
3. Ed Osborn is opposed to the ask.fm forum for getting student
issues.
4. There should be change machines in the laundry rooms. J.
Reid emailed the housing director and said that they got rid
of the change machines in the res halls when the card
swipers were initiated, however there is a student desire to
have them return.
5. E. McDonald suggested a Student Majors fair to help students
pick a major if they’re undecided. This returns to the larger
goal of improving 4 year graduation rates.
6. Chief Garewski was emailed by S. Ramsay that a particular
driver has had complaints about a specific shuttle driver. He
is looking into it, but there seems to be a 50% approval
rating because some students compliment the driver.
Senators agreed that 50% is not a good approval rating.
ii. Public Relations:
E. Drouin mentioned that SGA is looking to work with more clubs
this year and co-sponsor events, as well, have some of their own
smaller ones. J. Ahern mentioned the idea of using the SGA
Facebook/twitter to promote other club events. Finally, PR will be
working with Admissions so that prospective students can learn
more about our club.
iii. Internal:
The retreat is November 8th from 5-7 PM!! Some senators will be
bringing food too. Other Senators/E-Board members may not make
it through the night…..
E. Pelletier mentioned a possible informal get-together of senators
outside of the retreat for a Hurley get together or student center get
together. The majority of the Senate was in favor.
E. Pelletier stressed that the 4 year graduation rates are VERY
important and that we need to sign up for the info sessions in the
halls. C. Gosselin mentioned that while the info is gone over at
orientation, many students do not pay attention there.
iv. BAM:
1. No large allocations were handed out. They have $1872 left
to allocate for the rest of the semester to the clubs. However,
there is 100,000 that is “up in the air” they have only
committed to spending 88,000, not 173,000.
4. Treasurer’s Report:
Nothing to report at this time.
5. Secretary’s Report:
a. Evaluations:
Z. Yeager went over the meeting that M. Hicks, J. Ahern, and Z. Yeager had
with Provost Dr. Free about course evaluations. While some departments
require all professors to administer the evaluations and have the chairs read
them, others do not require chairs to read them, only if they are non-tenure
or adjunct. The suggestion of the members was to maybe fix the department
by-laws (as the Collective Bargaining Agreement of AAUP is set in stone),
guaranteeing that chairs must read evaluations from both tenure and nontenure professors.
6. Advisor’s Report:
M. Delaney mentioned that Senator Chris Murphy will be at eastern to get info on
the higher education bill that he is working on and going to pass through committee.
It is Tuesday at 3:30 in the SC theatre. There will be some SGA senators attending. It
pertains to financial aid and the funding of higher education.
7. Old Business:
8. New Business:
a. External committees:
i. Academic Affairs:
The committee is going to send the bill regarding class cancellations
to Executive Senate, then regular Senate. Classes that have 45
minutes or more of meeting time will meet in the event of an early
close or delayed opening IF the bill passes.
ii. Organization Committee:
The organization committee elects people to go on the standing and
at-large committees and organize the University Senate Committees.
They recently passed the elections onto University Senate but there
was not enough time to vote.
9. Open Floor:
P. Bjornstad stressed the dress code. Dress professionally. SGA polo or tie/no tie for
the men. No sneakers/jeans.
Meeting adjourned at 3:54 PM