S.G.A. SENATE MEETING
September 15, 2014
NOTE: THE MEETING AGENDA ITEMS TOOK PLACE OUT OF THE TRADITIONAL ORDER BUT
THE MINUTES WILL APPEAR IN TRADITIONAL ORDER FOR THE RECORD.
The meeting was called to order in the Leaders Suite of the Donald G.
Bollinger Student Union at 4:00 p.m.
Presiding officer was Vice President
Mary Sauce. The Recording Secretary was Dolly McGeever.
The pledge was led by Senator Adam Doucet and the prayer was given by Senator
Lawrence Arceneaux, III.
The Nicholls Student Government Association Mission Statement was read by
Senator Meghan Hanley and Senator Patrick Zeringue read the first value of
the Nicholls Creed.
The following Executive Board members were present:
President Adam Lefort,
Vice President Mary Sauce, Treasurer Bobby Dufrene, Director of Student
Rights and Grievances Carolanne Moore, Director of Public Relations Lillie
Bourgeois and Secretary Dolly McGeever.
The following Senators were present:
Lawrence Arceneaux, III, Yaye Ba,
Sarabeth Theriot, Meah Johnson, Brandon Polkey, Les Theriot, Josie St.
Pierre, Chante’ Singleton, Grant Ordoyne, Sarah Zeringue, Meghan Hanley,
Lindsey Loupe, Markos Picou, Adam Doucet, Trey Clark, Anne-Laure Janicot,
Tiffany Lefort, Peyton Chiasson, Austin Wendt, Tommy Thibodeaux, Patrick
Zeringue, Justin Bueche, Blake Whitehead and Emily Sauce (appointed).
The following Senators were absent:
Finales and Charles Johns.
Evan Villemez, Brendon Gros, Ernesto
Web Tech was represented by Senator Sarabeth Theriot.
Student Supreme Court was represented by Justice Richard Grabert.
Election Commission was represented
Commission Member Anthony Naquin.
by
Commissioner
Cera
Boatwright
and
The following guests were present: Dr. Eugene A. Dial, Jr., Vice President of
Student Affairs and Enrollment Services and SGA Advisor.
Minutes of September 8, 2014 were approved as printed.
GUEST SPEAKERS:
None.
OFFICER REPORTS
PRESIDENT’S REPORT – ADAM LEFORT
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Last week I was in Natchitoches for their Presidential Search. We
narrowed it down to two people, Dr. Henderson and Dr. Abney. They’re
both from the area. Dr. Henderson is a post graduate from Northwestern
and Dr. Abney is a faculty member there. Next Tuesday, September 23rd,
the Board of Supervisors will vote one of them through.
This week all the meetings are taking place. We have Food Advisory
every Wednesday so if anyone has any concerns, send them to Senators
Josie S. and Markos P. or I and we’ll get them to the committee.
Honorary Degree and Athletic Council will meet Wednesday at 3:00 p.m.
I’ll meet with Dr. Murphy and Dr. Dial this week to talk about SGA
matters and will give you an update of what we discussed.
This past Saturday, we had our home football game. We had a good turn
out with one of the largest student section that we’ve had over the
last few years. Athletics noted that so thank you for promoting it and
getting all the students there. Coach Stubbs resigned as football
coach.
OFFICER REPORTS CONTINUED:
PRESIDENT’S REPORT CONTINUED:
 Reminder about my Corollary, the dress is business professional for
committee meetings and general meetings. This applies to Supreme Court
and Election Officials and all others. Also, if you have any meetings
with faculty or staff, let me know in advance. No phones or laptops
should be used during meetings.
 Last week we had our second round of interviews for the Chief Financial
Officer with the faculty and staff. The search committee has given its
recommendation to Dr. Murphy who is in the process of negotiating with
the person. One of them is from Delgado.
DIRECTOR OF STUDENT RIGHTS & GRIEVANCES’ REPORT – CAROLANNE MOORE
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
I received my first grievance and will work on it this week.
Remember that the “What I’ve Done/Heard.” forms are due this week.
We’re giving out Scantrons and listening to people voicing their
concerns.
TREASURER’S REPORT – BOBBY DUFRENE
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I gave everyone an Expense Report from the Summer.
We spent about
$16,000. The majority of it came from new computers for the Vice
President and the Director of Student Rights & Grievances.
I counted the money received from the locked box of the Powell/White
copy machine. There was $40 in it.
I attended a Homecoming Committee meeting this past week with the
President.
Alive @5 will be held at the Rec Center this year. It’s on the side of
it and we’ll get the bonfire to follow it.
We’re also hosting the
bonfire.
Homecoming t-shirts are on sale in the Union. You can get one online
but you can’t pay for it online. Rather, you can pay it in the Office
of Student Affairs.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS’ REPORT – LILLIE BOURGEOIS
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Thanks to everyone who came out to the tailgate last Saturday before
the football game. We will likely have another one for the next home
game, which is on October 11th at 6:00 p.m. against Stephen F. Austin,
so keep that day cleared.
Tuesday and Wednesday, September 16th and 17th, are our scantron
giveaways in the Student Union from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. We’ll serve
lemonade and coffee cake both days. Since Wednesday is Constitution Day
we will give out pocket-sized Constitutions and our stress ball gavels
will be in. If a student answers a trivia question correctly about the
Constitution, he or she will get one of our new SGA stress ball gavels.
Also, Wednesday we’ll host a Town Hall Meeting in the Snack Bar of the
Student Union from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to address any problems
students have on campus. Please make an effort to attend to get
possible motion ideas and to report on your "What I've Done, What I've
Heard." form for the week.
This is something you should go to if
you’re free.
With COSBP last weekend, the UL System is getting together to put a new
service learning project together. It’s the ULS. It stands for Unity,
Leadership and Service. If you have any ideas about a service learning
project that SGA can host around campus, get back to me on that. It can
be done on different dates like alternate semesters. I think November
might be better than now.
It will have to be started in October
because it’ll take some planning. If you are free during the week or
if you have any ideas, please get back to me on that.
VICE PRESIDENT'S REPORT – MARY SAUCE
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I attended both Vice President Search Committee meetings this week, the
tailgate and football game this weekend.
This weekend I’ll be at the Academic Grievance Committee meeting with
Treasurer Bobby D. and Director Carolanne M.
The “What I’ve Done/Heard.” form is due this Friday. Freshmen, please
send me an email at sga.vpresident@nicholls.edu so I can add you to
Moodle.
OFFICER REPORTS CONTINUED:
VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT CONTINUED:
 The Senator Workshop is on Friday from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.. Dress
casually and bring your own picnic blanket. (The food order was
confirmed).
 Motions: please remember the deadline to submit motions is noon on
Fridays prior to meetings. Make sure your motion has a second and have
that SAME person second the motion in meetings.
 Please look into motions to improve our campus, etc.
ACTIONS TAKEN ON OLD BILLS
Two motions were tabled and three motions were passed and signed by SGA
President Adam Lefort at the meeting of September 8, 2014.
STUDENT SUPREME COURT REPORT – Justice Richard Grabert
We held our first Supreme Court meeting on Friday and assigned the Justices
who will attend the SGA and SPA meetings.
ELECTION COMMISSION REPORT – Commissioner Cera Boatwright
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Homecoming nominations are due on October 1st.
Homecoming elections will be from October 12th to 15th.
Homecoming Display locations will be chosen at a meeting on October
15th.
Vice President Mary S. encouraged everyone to spread the word that student
organizations should come by the SGA office to pick up a packet.
WEB TECH REPORT – Sarabeth Theriot
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I updated the Senate list with the Freshman Senators.
I updated the Parking Lot closures
SGA SENATE COMMITTEE REPORTS
Finance Committee – Tiffany Lefort, Chair
Present:
Senators Tiffany Lefort, Trey Clark, Meghan Hanley, Meah Johnson,
Brandon Polkey, Les Theriot, Sarabeth Theriot, Sarah Zeringue,
Lindsey Loupe and Patrick Zeringue.
Guest:
Treasurer Bobby Dufrene and Mike Matherne, Director of Campus
Recreation.
Today we discussed the following:
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Mike Matherne, Director of Campus Recreation, attended the meeting and
explained the Bike Share Program the Rec Center is starting later this
semester.
The program will allow students to rent bikes to travel
around Thibodaux and campus. He asked that we purchase two red bikes,
2 helmets and 2 locks.
We decided to amend the allocation amount for the “Voices of
Possibilities” event from $2,000 to $1,500.
We Reviewed the final Expense Report from Summer 2014.
Judiciary Committee – Adam Doucet, Chair; Lawrence Arceneaux, III, Co-Chair
Present:
Absent:
Senators Adam Doucet, Lawrence Arceneaux, III, Yaye Ba, Trey
Clark, Ernesto Finales, Meghan Hanley, Meah Johnson, Grant
Ordoyne, Markos Picou, Brandon Polkey, Josie St. Pierre, Chante’
Singleton, Sarabeth Theriot and Anne-Laure Janicot.
Senators Brendon Gros and Evan Villemez.
We reviewed three absences and excused all of them.
SGA SENATE COMMITTEE REPORTS CONTINUED:
Meet the SGA/Social Events: Homecoming/Christmas (Mr/Ms Nicholls/Banquet) –
Sarah Zeringue, Chair
Present:
Senators Sarah Zeringue, Trey Clark, Lindsey Loupe, Les Theriot,
Sarabeth Theriot, Patrick Zeringue, Peyton Chiasson and Tommy
Thibodeaux.
Absent:
Senators Anne-Laure Janicot and Chante’ Singleton.
We discussed the following:
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Next tailgate will be on October 11th at 6:00 p.m. Senator Tommy T.
mentioned that we should brainstorm games and other ideas to attract
students to the tailgate.
Tuesday, September 16, and Wednesday, September 17, we’re hosting our
Scantron Giveaways in the Union from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The signup sheet will be distributed. This is a mandatory event.
Campus Improvements Committee – Josie St. Pierre, Chair; Markos Picou, CoChair
Present:
Senators Josie St. Pierre, Markos Picou, Lawrence Arceneaux, Yaye
Ba, Trey Clark, Adam Doucet, Anne-Laura Janicot, Tiffany Lefort,
Lindsey Loupe, Grant Ordoyne, Sarabeth Theriot, Sarah Zeringue,
Peyton Chiasson, Tommy Thibodeaux and Patrick Zeringue.
Absent:
Senators Ernesto Finales and Brendon Gros.
We discussed the following:
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We received a suggestion about having a small and large salad options
at the salad bar in the Union.
Senator Trey C. is working on a motion for bike helmets and locks for
the Rec Center.
Senators Markos P. and Adam D. and I will schedule a meeting with Mike
Davis either this week or next week to discuss complaints.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
F1415-008a
I move to take the “Voices of Possibilities” off the table.
1.
2.
Question: Move into vote
Passed For-23
Against-0
Les Theriot
Lawrence Arceneaux, III
Abstained-0
Vice President Mary S. read the motion:
F1415-008
I move that the Senate allocate up to $2,000 to assist the Dept. of Mass
Communication (MACO) in hosting “Voices of Possibilities” in commemoration of
Black History Month 2015. The funds would cover the cost of fuel, airfare,
lodging, dinner and honorarium and will be taken from the Professional
Services line item of the budget.
1. Les Theriot
2. Meah Johnson
F1415-008b
I move to amend the motion to reduce
removing the cost of the honorariums.
the
amount
1.
2.
from
$2,000
to
Les Theriot
Josie St. Pierre
Vice President Mary S. said the motion to amend now reads as follows:
$1,500
UNFINISHED BUSINESS CONTINUED
F1415-008b
I move that the Senate allocate up to $1,500 to assist the Dept. of Mass
Communication (MACO) in hosting “Voices of Possibilities” in commemoration of
Black History Month 2015. The funds would cover the cost of fuel, airfare,
lodging and dinner and will be taken from the Professional Services line item
of the budget.
1. Les Theriot
2. Meah Johnson
Discussion: Senator Les T. said we aren’t paying for honorariums anymore and
they are considered an optional tip.
Question: Move into vote
Vice President Mary S. said we will now vote on amending the motion.
Passed For-23
Against-0
Abstained-0
Vice President Mary S. said we will now vote on accepting the amended motion.
Move into vote
Passed For-23
Against-0
Abstained-0
F1415-009a
I move to remove the Brake Bike motion from the table.
1.
2.
Question: Move into vote
Passed For-23
Against-0
Lindsey Loupe
Lawrence Arceneaux, III
Abstained-0
F1415-009
I move that the Senate purchase two Gray Sun Drifter Coaster Brake Bikes.
The cost of the bikes is $295.99 each, totaling $591.98. This will be taken
out of the Senator Projects line item of the budget.
1.
2.
Lindsey Loupe
Sarah Zeringue
Discussion: Senator Lindsey L. said we would like to change it.
gray, we’d like them in red.
Instead of
Question: Move into vote
Vice President Mary S. said we’ll now vote to amend it, changing the color
from gray to red.
Passed For-23
Against-0
Abstained-0
Vice President Mary S. said we’ll now vote on the amendment to change the
color from gray to red:
Move into vote
Passed For-23
Against-0
Abstained-0
Vice President Mary S. said the motion now reads:
F1415-009a
I move that the Senate purchase two Red Sun Drifter Coaster Brake Bikes. The
cost of the bikes is $295.99 each, totaling $591.98. This will be taken out
of the Senator Projects line item of the budget.
1.
2.
Question: Move into vote
Passed For-23
Against-0
NEW BUSINESS
None.
UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE REPORTS
None.
Abstained-0
Lindsey Loupe
Sarah Zeringue
DISCUSSION PERIOD:
Reminders:
Vice President Mary S. reminded everyone:
 No meeting will be held on Monday due to Fall Break.
 Make every effort to attend University committee meetings.
They are
important.
 President’s dinner will be next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Be sure to
attend if you said you would.
Be sure to dress Business Professional
casual and be on time or early would be better.
We’ll probably take
photos before or after eating so be prepared to do so.
Selection of SGA Homecoming Nominees:
Vice President Mary S. deferred to Secretary Dolly M.
The qualifications for Homecoming Court nominees are:
2.5 GPA
A Full Time Student carrying 12 or more hours
Earned 60 hours
Junior, Senior or Graduate Status
The person that you should nominate should be someone that’s worked with SGA
for a while, someone who has worked very hard, someone who has done a great
job and someone who represents SGA well.
The person who puts in the work
deserves the honor. (A roster was distributed for the vote.)
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Lawrence A.
It is election season and Nicholls College of Republicans
and Young Democrats have become active again. If anyone is
interested in joining the Republicans, the meetings are
every other week on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. beginning next
week.
If you want more information you can speak to Dr.
David Whitney whose office is located in Peltier.
If
you’re interested in the Young Democrats, Dr. Rusty Thysell
is the Advisor who is also in Peltier.
There are also
opportunities for internships if you want to work for a
candidate.
Adam D.
Congratulations to Trey Clark, Josie St. Pierre, Meghan
Hanley, Sarah Zeringue and Richard Grabert on making the
Orientation Team this year.
Anne-Laure J.
International Students are serving snowballs on Wednesday
as a fundraiser for the Nicholls International Community
Banquet.
Sarah Z.
Tri Sigma is having our annual Run for Robbie on October
18th. Check-in is 5:30 p.m. and the run starts at 7:00 p.m.
It’s a “glow in the dark” setting.
It’s $20 for students
and $25 for adults.
You get a t-shirt, glow stick, food
ticket and drink ticket.
I don’t have applications but
hopefully by tomorrow we’ll have online registration.
Blake W.
Congratulations to Logan Parker for winning the Culinary
Cook-Off Challenge on Thursday.
Dolly M.
Congratulations to SGA’s Homecoming
Lefort and Lillie Bourgeois.
Court
nominees,
The following officer was sworn in by Vice President Mary Sauce:
Emily Sauce – Freshman Senator
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Adam