SGA Minutes
August 25, 2015
Call to order: 3:38pm. In attendance, President Martin, Vice-President Belk, Senators Gunter,
Springs, Vagott, Tait. Minutes recorded by Senator Tait.
Continuing Business:

Constitution Day: 9/17. SGA on board for sponsoring the essay writing contest; how
else to get students involved? Gift cards—Dr. Mann
*Planning continues for Constitution Day. The essay writing contest to be posted by September
1, rules on ABAC website, SGA page, and flyers on campus (to be approved by Dean Hughes).
Over $75 in gift cards have been collected so far; SGA’s goal is $200 in gift cards for the award.
President Bridges to invite Judge Ellington to speak and present the award. History and Political
Science faculty will read anonymous essays and declare a winner. Also discussion about a trivia
bowl held on Constitution Day; some clubs interested in hosting, dining hall a good venue. SGA
officers to work with clubs to organize. President Bridges in favor of the idea.

CAP Project—student involvement without a formal proposal/addition to the SGA
Constitution
*No formal proposal to be made in changing the current SGA Constitution. Officers discussed
that the goals of CAP can be achieved informally by identifying leaders in clubs and
organizations to assist SGA in campus wide goals. Officers of Greek Council present at meeting
and agreed to form a partnership. SGA to work in forming more partnerships on campus.

Meet and Greet Banquet (Date, Time, etc.--# guests, food, keeping track of guest #s
*Date and time set for the meet and greet: Thursday, September 10 at 6:30 in Branch Student
Center. Dean Hughes and Dr. Mann to work on reserving the space. Roughly 200 invites, but #
fluid. Dr. Mann suggested that SGA use Evite to keep track of RSVPs and asked President
Martin to assign jobs to officers to help plan event—the Evite being one of them. Senator
Springs to prepare written invites as well. Dean Hughes mentioned Sodexo has to be approached
first as food vendor, but if declined SGA can approach outside businesses to cater—discussions
about Hermanos Chavez, Rancheros, Chick-Fil-A etc. as possibilities.

Name of Music Building Discussion—vote needed whether or not to press forward as an
SGA campus initiative
*SGA voted to move forward with the proposal. Senator Springs did extensive research into
what the proposal would entail, based on Board of Regents policy. Dr. Bridges in favor of the
idea and officers to move forward with a formal proposal to name the Music Building in Honor
of former ABAC faculty member Don Coates. Dr. Bridges confirmed that Mr. Coates meets all
the BOR requirements and the building can be named Coates Hall.

Possible Presentation to CTL (Center for Teaching and Learning): Dr. Schmeisser
looking for a student to serve as rep on a faculty committee. Andrew to discuss.
Director of CTL, Dr. Hans Schmeisser, approached Vice-President Belk to inquire if an officer
would be interested in serving as student rep of a newly formed CTL committee. Objective of
student rep is to give CTL student input on CTL’s programs. VP Belk agreed to serve on
committee and will be working with CTL. CTL also looking for an SGA officer to present for
CTL, dates and what CTL is looking for to be determined.

Updates from SGA President
*President Martin met formally with Dr. Bridges and informally with Senators Springs and
Gunter over lunch to discuss SGA initiatives and goals. Martin reiterated her L3 Summit goals
as: community involvement, student collaboration between schools, and retention of students for
4 year programs. She stated that Senators are working on projects to help accomplish these goals
and that President Bridges supports them.

Updates from Senators and VP
*Senator Gunter reported on the success of the Ag mentorship program and discussed what
worked and what did not. She reported that the Ag picnic last week was a phenomenal success
and with Dean Baker’s assistance, that dozens of incoming students had been paired with
mentors. This will also help to encourage student retention, as upper classmen can inform
incoming students about the benefits of 4 year programs at ABAC. Gunter stated that that next
year the program should not be conducted via email, as many incoming students do not check
their emails over the summer and may not know how to access their ABAC email address. To
solve this problem, students will be paired with a mentor at orientation. Dr. Bridges would like
to see this mentorship program be implemented in all schools at orientation and will discuss with
Deans of schools.
*VP Belk reported his intent to strengthen ABAC community ties throughout the semester with
an immediate goal of promoting Stallion Days in the local newspaper and possibly some news
coverage about ABAC events. The success of Town and Gown was discussed and SGA hopes to
encourage more community involvement during Homecoming week in the spring.
*Senator Vagott reported that he is working on meeting with Dean Evans to implement a similar
mentorship program in Math & Science. Dr. Mann directed Senator Vagott to inquire among
students what 4 year degrees they would be interested in taking at ABAC, as the current degree
is in Biology. Discussion of how 4 year degrees between Ag & Math & Science could possibly
be of interest as much of current jobs in Ag require a strong scientific background. Possible
suggests for curriculum in the future, based upon what students would like to see at ABAC for a
4 year degree.
*President Martin reported that she had spoken with Dr. Bridges about the sexual assault
awareness initiative and the possibility of obtaining an app—called SNAP—for ABAC students
to have on their phones. Martin stated call boxes around campus can be inconvenient and that
students need a quicker way to call for help. An app would achieve this objective. Dean Hughes
asked about students taking the alcohol and sexual awareness online required course. Dean
Hughes stated that over 1000 students had completed it, and reiterated that it is not a punishment
for students, but to empower them on these serious issues facing college campuses. President
Martin pointed out that another part of this awareness initiative is to instruct students to report
incidents. She said that too often something can be stopped but no one gets involved, pointing
out this statistic: for every 1 assault occurring on campus, 40 people could have stopped it. She
wishes to make this the main focus—if you see something, say something! Greek Council
members present volunteered to help with this important awareness initiative. Discussion about
how SGA will plan for a week of Alcohol and Sexual Harassment Awareness Week, which will
include a day focused on bullying, still a problem on college campuses. Week has not be
decided, but November suggested. Dean Hughes said she has a grant to help fund an event, but
that funding would have to be used in October. No decisions on date for awareness week, but
decided that each day of the week would be about a different awareness; day for alcohol, day for
sexual harassment, day for bullying, and a day for fire and emergency safety. Dean Hughes
stated that Housing is working on fire safety awareness and suggested SGA reach out to Dr.
Kinsey to discuss partnering. Dean Hughes also stated that the new AAMI director, Mandrel
Drake, is former military and has taught preventative sexual assault classes. He could be a great
resource for students.
New Business:

New information from SGA President; communication with administration
*President Martin gave updates from Dr. Bridges: the dining hall hours are to be extended to
midnight as of 9/1 (believe this is during the week only but need clarification on this). There
will be no food service, but student will have access to drinks. Pizza Hut and Sub Station to
remain open until midnight as well. Idea is to have a place students can meet, study, and meet
with clubs. Dining hall will be monitored for security. Dr. Bridges also asked Deans to have at
least one room open in a building until midnight for students. This is to be accomplished no later
than September 1.
The coffee shop in Branch is being moved to the dining hall in early September.
President Bridges would like the SGA to speak to the Chamber of Commerce. One speaker from
SGA will do this (unless a conflict will be President Martin). Idea is to foster positive ideas
about ABAC within the community and contradict any erroneous negative stereotypes held about
ABAC students by Tifton residents and/or business owners. President Martin asked Senators to
send her ideas for the presentation.
President Martin addressed the problem of students not knowing who their advisors are. Martin
asked President Bridges to see if advisors names and contact information can be put on Banner
for the students to see when they access their schedules. As of now, students have to go into
Degreeworks to view their advisors and students unfamiliar with the system do not know how to
do that. President Bridges to look into this.
In order for students to be able to communicate more effectively with faculty and staff—and vice
versa—the email address of stallions.abac.edu will no longer be used as of spring 2016. All
ABAC community: faculty, staff, students will have an abac.edu address and will share a
common contact directory.
Ag students approached President Martin about a dove shoot, and Martin relayed this to Dr.
Bridges. Dr. Bridges supports this, but it cannot be done on ABAC grounds. He knows a
landowner who may be willing to sponsor a dove shoot on his property. This would be a
ticketed event sponsored by SGA and the proceeds would go to a charity organization.
Phone charging stations will be available around campus very soon.
Officers gave their constituency hours which will be posted on the SGA website and around
Branch.
Future problems to be addressed: commuter parking—a perpetual problem. Senator Gunter
asked Dr. Bridges if commuter stickers can be issued for a commuter-only parking lot. Dr.
Bridges said yes, he will look into this. Also for Dr. Bridges to consider is the CAs at Lakeside.
They are upper classmen who are restricted to Lakeside only and being prohibited from parking
anywhere else on campus.
Dates of events announced: Family Weekend, October 2 & 3, SGA asked to help. ABAC
campus Relay for Life, spring 2016. Redneck Relay, September 3; Ms. ABAC, October 8,
applications available soon; ABAC Truck Pull, October 1,2,3. Ag Expo in Moultrie, week of
Fall Break.

Non-traditional student enrollment—day care? Dr. Mann
Dr. Mann mentioned the great success of the opening of the Veterans’ Center in Branch. Dr.
Mann pointed out that statistics most likely show that the # of high schoolers entering college
within the next 5 years will take a downward dip, and that the students filling that gap will
probably be non-traditional students. These are students who may have completed some college
and are ready to resume their studies, or students who delayed entry into college. As these
students are older, they may have small children. Currently, many ABAC students have small
children as well. Dr. Mann asked SGA if they would be willing to investigate putting forth a
proposal for a childcare center. Not only would this benefit current students, future students,
faculty and staff, but it would also serve as an opportunity to increase participation in degrees
focused on early childhood education. Dr. Mann asked Human Sciences Senator Tait to speak
with Dean Sewell about this idea. SGA agreed to look into this proposal further.

Stallion Days—booth must be manned by SGA reps; handout materials?
Next Stallion Day is November 13 and SGA members must attend and man a booth. Discussion
over what kind of materials to distribute, how the booth should be set up.
Comments from Greek Council reps—excited to partner with SGA on various initiatives. A
major point they are working on is inclusion of more female students into Greek life as they
currently are under some prohibitions to do so based upon percentages that need to come from
Ag School. The Greek Council is set to discuss ideas and will keep SGA and the campus
community informed.
FYI:

If an SGA member would like to attend, the ICC meeting is 8/26, 4-5, Bowen 100. SGA
attendance is not mandatory.
Meeting adjourned without setting next meeting date. TBD