Senate Minutes
Day, Date
I.
Call to Order:
II.
Roll Call: Quorum
Vikasini Mahalingam, Sarah Kubick, Caleb Carr, Johnnie Nguyen, Pedro Ramos, Will Card,
Tiffany Cung, Avneet Chauhan, Akshay Kumar, Alex Pong, William Mundo, Leo Harmon,
Ryan Brody, Aaron Blahut, Shubeksha Shrestha, Ernesto Rodriguez, Jaclyn Fields, Ryan
Duong, Amanda Ta, Joe Halter, Zach Lubline, Allie Kriese, Scott Cao, David Heisler, Omer
Sarwana
Guests: Morgan from the Advocate
III.
Adoption of Agenda: The agenda has been approved. So moved by Scott.
IV.
Approval/Correction of Minutes: The minutes of the 8.21.15 meeting were approved.
V.
Guest Speaker(s): Katherine Greenwood, OMBUDS
They have a new office in the Lawrence Street Center. OMBUDS (Swedish for representative)
works to help students brainstorm through conflict and different parts of the university.
OMBUDS are impartial help for students, faculty, or staff that feel like they have hit a wall in
problem solving. They cannot make something happen, but can find policies or people that
can help. They do confidential walking meetings, as well as meet with students at other
universities if they prefer. They do not make new policies or do investigations, but they are
not an office of notice. They are an independent office that reports directly to the Provost..
They are not counselors, but they understand policies and academia. If they see a lot of
patterns and trends, they can go to the provost to report certain topics. They help people find
their voice and empower people to make choices to be self-empowered.
The term OMBUDS is not well known so that can cause some confusion with students, so we
try to make sure they know. Students often get frustrated that they do not make changes.
VI.
Financial report: Scott Cao
a. Previous Balance: $33, 890.05
b. Current Balance: $31,740.85
VII. Unfinished Business: None
VIII. New Business:
a. College Council Confirmation of Will Mundo:
i. He has been involved with college council, but we have not had time to swear him
in yet.
ii. He is involved on campus and has an understanding of SGA and CU Denver.
iii. SLAS had several applicants, but Will was selected because of his connectivity to
the school and his involvement. His passion is also notable.
Vote to Appoint Will Mundo onto College Council: Approved
He was then sworn in.
b. SB-004-CU 411 Town Hall Budget
i. Event on September 10th that is a casino information night for students. There are
food, games, and information. We thought this would be a good way to get
student interest in SGA and a way to hear their thoughts with a “complaint box”
with a form asking what is going on and what SGA can do. It’s to let students
know we are a support.
ii. Asking for food, drinks, SWAG, and supplies. We want clipboards to make it
more organized. We will need help from SGA members. Expecting 200 students.
We know we need to be thrifty since these are student funds, but this program will
be very important for us to get student’s knowledge for them to know that we can
help them. The chapstick and stickers are to have creative SWAG for students to
subliminally remember that SGA is there.
iii. Discussion
1. Do you have a proof of the sticker?
a. No, it’s through a company in which we submit a logo (the one on
the glass pane in the office)
2. What is the plan for the easel and foam board?
a. Afterwards, it will have lots of use at different tabling events. It’s a
small easel so it’s portable.
3. What’s the date and time of the event?
a. It’s on Sep. 10th from 4:45-6:45 in Tivoli Turnhalle.
4. I know we want to be creative and have different SWAG, but several
offices will probably have chapstick.
a. Do you have a recommendation?
i. Well, what SWAG do we have left over or will the T-Shirts
be in?
1. The shirts will be in next week hopefully,
depending on shipping. We do have socks though.
5. There was some discussion of amending to discard the chapstick, but
discussion continued without an amendment.
6. There was some dissension on getting rid of chapstick since they have
some from other departments, and think it is a good way to get SGA’s
name out there.
7. There was some upset since this was discussed last year and even the
possibility of car decals, so this should be thought of in the future.
8. How many socks do we have left and how many t-shirts did we order?
a. Half the box in the office, and 750 total shirts.
9. We did car decals in the past, and people tend to put them on their laptop.
No matter the things we have on our table, we need to focus on engaging
students instead. You should also check on bringing food since there will
probably be a full meal there. You should check to see if we already have
these supplies since we might.
10. In terms of the design for the sticker, is that flexible?
a. Yes as long as it’s simple.
11. We also thought about notebooks with the stickers on it and that might be
a way to attract students.
Scott motioned to amend the budget to cut out chapstick from the budget.
1. The chapstick will be used as an everyday item as opposed to Frisbees or
other items. In the future we should definitely diversify, but it’s not a bad
product.
2. It’s more about engagement than giveaways, so these are not necessary.
3. Is there another option of something people use every day like hand
sanitizer or lotion?
4. If you were to propose a new item, we could say to say to find something
else for the same amount.
Scott motioned to retract his amendment, and the second was also retracted.
Scott motioned to amend the budget to change the 100 logo chapsticks to undetermined swag
with the same $109 budget
5. There needs to be a clarification that chapstick would be okay if they do
not find another item.
6. The event is also in 12 days, so we may need to make sure the shipping
will be here in time
7. Fall Fest could also use extra chapstick leftovers
8. Looking at the budget breakdown, it would be $1 per chapstick
Caleb motioned to call the question: Approved
Vote to approve the amendment to change the chapstick line item to undecided SWAG: Denied
Vote to approve SB-004: Approved
IX.
Presidential Update:
We just had our SPA College Council interview and will soon pick a chair. We will be
doing professional pictures on the 18th of September after the senate meeting unless we
have too much to do. Otherwise, we will do it at 10:30 am. So come dressed as you want
to be seen on the website.
X.
Vice-Presidential Update:
Freshman Council apps are due on Monday so we will be interviewing soon. Our goal is
to appoint them two weeks from now. The Auraria Library Committee is looking for
SGA representatives. It’s a great way to help make change in an area that hasn’t
necessarily seen much in the past. They also cater typically. It’s only two times a
semester maximum. Next week we will have budgets coming up, so make sure you are
at meetings. The amount of laptops and phones in the room have increased significantly
today. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but remember that it is your responsibility to be
focused and pay attention. If you’re here and not paying attention, then why are you
here?
XI. SACAB Update:
Had their first meeting last week, and are getting started. They will be doing a couple of
things to get their name out over the next month or so. The new brewery can be an event
space for certain things. They want to have musicians and other entertainment in the
space, but you would need to plan very far in advance. There is likely to never have
speakers in the biergarten in order to have no competition with the tap room. There will
be open mic nights at the tap room. Look out for further improvements with the
construction on campus. The tobacco policy will be in effect in January, so we want to
bring in a speaker to help SGA find out how to be a leader for this policy on campus. Joe
requested that they schedule Jerry Mason to come into SGA. There is also a tobacco
taskforce to help with this enforcement. Tivoli Park should hopefully be done in October.
The Food Services Advisory Committee- meet at 11 on Fridays in the SACAB room to
meet with vendors to discuss their presence on campus. They are looking for one person
to represent CU Denver. Email Zach by Wednesday at noon if interested. He may do
interviews if necessary. These meetings are open to the public as well.
XII. From the Floor:
A.
Standing Committee updates
a. Events & Planning: Thanks for help with lemonade day. The volleyball event is
now September 10th and we will have our tank tops by then. We will have
more budgets next week!
b. Legislative & Drafting: Expect a doodle poll to sign up for CU 411.
c. Finance & Funding: Thank you for sending your receipts so we can keep it
organized. Email Scott your final receipts in the future as well! We also want
to go to events in the future so feel free to come as an SGA representative.
B.
Judicial update:
There’s a lot going on. Please turn in your bylaws. We are also looking for an
Associate Justice. The application ends on September 4th, so please get the
word out. We talked to other offices about a uniform complaint system across
campus. Our website is officially up, but want to get a better URL first.
We’ve already helped some students get connected. On attendance, we know
it’s the beginning of the semester. You have to report your absence because
soon here, we may have to have conversations about absences.
C.
Outside committee updates
a. SFRC: First meeting this morning with a presentation from Lisa Douglas. We
will also have our four new student at larges coming into the office and
introducing them. So make them feel welcome. We start to hear presentations
next week, and will have a presentation from Raul next week. The meetings
are open to the public. 8:30 am on Fridays. Will has changed the way we are
organizing presentations so if you know there is an office you want to hear,
come to that meeting. They will send out a schedule.
b. Freshman Council: None
c. College Council: We had our first meeting on Wednesday and are looking at
how to make advising better. We have Brett helping us with the survey that
will be sent out. Someone mentioned that the university is also conducting a
survey that partially includes advising. Maybe check in with them to make
sure it’s not repetitive.
d. Greek Life: They met with Lindsey Miller and are working to see if Greek
Life will be feasible for our campus. They have a meeting Sep. 21st to
organize a presentation and will have more updates after that. If you have a
strong interest, you can come to the meeting, but it will be very logistical. We
may possibly present it to you before the Student Affairs team.
e. Wellness Center: Thank you for those of you who came to the focus groups
and helped at block party! We went through the feedback today and although
nothing is necessarily space changing, it was good information to know. The
focus groups will be recurring, so keep a look out for those. There will
probably be another two this semester.
D.
Ex-officio: Friendly reminder to do new hire paperwork before they start working. They
cannot be paid until they are in the system. We’re thinking about not getting the planners
next year. If you have strong opinions please let us know.
E.
General business from the floor:
a. The celebration of excellence is next Friday. There will be many budgets, so
we need to make quorum. Vikasini will buy you food if that’s what it takes.
b. Timesheets are due today.
c. Johnnie: We have new fish! We are debating names. The two are Kim or
North Classroom 3105. Vote on fish name please. The other fish is named
Yeezus. This debate is going to be made after senate.
d. Morgan said you just need to submit a letter to the editor if you are interested
in writing an article for the Advocate. This is the actual piece. It is a 300 word
maximum. If you want to write something longer, work with Maddie. If you
don’t want to write the piece, send an idea or go to pitch night on Thursday at
6. There is food.
e.
Alex let people know that there is a budget proposal next week to buy mini
cupcakes. Do people want fall or CU Denver? The consensus was CU
Denver.
f. Rachel will have purchasing power soon, appreciates the cleanliness in the
office and needs ideas for prizes, needs bios from people when pictures are
due, and thanked everyone for helping her move her desk.
g. Omer said that if you have an informal poll to please do that outside of senate
since technical votes have to be in new business. Joe recommended we use
the white board in the office.
XIII. Thought for the day: Johnnie Nguyen
“Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them”
“Me and Jenny go together like peas and carrots”
“Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it,
broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan
fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp,
pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp
burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.”
–Forest Gump and Bubba
XIV. Adjournment: 1:37 pm
Office Manager Signature
Date Minutes Approved