STUDENT SENATE Meeting of April 23, 1998 Unofficial Meeting was called to order at 4:50 PM. Roll was taken at 4:50 PM. Senators Present: Betz (SCS) -0.5, Brown (HSS) -1, Chang (MCS) - 0, Christoforatos (MISC) - 2, Devine (HSS) - 0, Ditterline (CIT) - 1, Gray (HSS) - 0, Gross (HSS) - 1, Hardjanto (SCS) - 1, Hunt (CIT) - 1.5, Hutsko (MCS) - 2, Jones (CFA) - 2, Joshi (MCS) - 0.5, McCartin (CIT) - 2.5, Meier (CIT) - 0, Merry (SAL) - 2, Ng (CIT) - 0, Phelps (SCS) - 2, Rothschild (CIT) - 0, Rumpf (CIT) - 1, Schneider (CIT) - 0.5, Sinnamohideen (SAL) -2, Stovall (MCS) - 2, Tassone (SCS) - 0. Senators Absent: Ablak (SIA) - 2.5, Butler (CIT) - 1, Candela (CFA) - 2.5, Falso (SAL) - 2, Guerra (CIT) - 1, Guzy (HSS) - 2, Mingo (SIA) - 2, Shah (SIA) - 2, Tham (SIA) -2. Approval of the Minutes: Minutes for April 9, 1998 were amended and approved. Minutes for April 21, 1998 were amended and approved. New Business: S98-034 - Approval of Recommendations from the CEO first reading. New Business from Committee: S98-035 - Adoption of revised Bylaws first reading. Ex-Officio Reports: Activities Board (Shubo Mookerjee): not present. Graduate Student Assembly (Grant Bromhal): not present. Greek Council (Cyndi Vuong): Congratulations to the new members of Greek Council. We are happy to have the positions filled by the various houses to represent the Greek Community. The following new members are: President - Lou Cohen from Alpha Epsilon Pi, Vice President/Programming - Al Kao from Theta Xi, Treasurer/Secretary - Krista Contino from Zeta Psi Sigma, Greek Sing Chairs - Matt Linder from Delta Tau Delta and Becky Weaver from Delta Gamma, Public Relations and Senate Representative - Cyndi Vuong from Kappa Alpha Theta. We~re looking forward to upcoming semesters filled with philanthropies and Greek community involvement. Upcoming events: (1)Delta Delta Delta will be hosting their annual philantrophy Batter~s Up this coming Saturday from 10-11pm to benefit the Children~s Cancer Association. They invite everybody to come on out and join the fun. For those who are interested in participating in this worthy event, contact kruglak@andrew. (2)Kappa Alpha Theta will be joining the community in helping to raise money against diabetes through the ~Walk for America~ this following Sunday morning. (3)Beta Theta Pi will be hosting a basketball tournament this Saturday. All proceeds go towards the Make a Wish Foundation. (4)Panhellenic Council will be hosting a Margaret Morrison Block BBQ Party this Sunday at 3:30pm. It will be full of fun, food and sorority women. (5)Panhellenic Council would also like to invite the entire student body to attend the annual Almost Midnight Breakfast that will be held on May 5th. More information will be given at a later date. (6)The Greek Awards Ceremony is scheduled for May 6th. It~s purpose will be to give recognition to all of the outstanding Greek individuals and organizations. Special Acknowledgments: (1)We would like to thank all the fraternities and the sororities for their great work at Carnival. Congratulations to all the winners of Booth and Buggy. (2)We would also like to recognize Zeta Psi Sigma~s Fifth Year Anniversary. Division of Student Affairs (Barbara Prevost): no report. Student Dormitory Council (Rob Migliore): We will be sponsoring a bagels and doughnuts event, one of our last. Fliers will be posted with the times and dates. Student Body President (Bryon Krug): I~m sure that some of you will be glad to hear that this will be my final report to Student Senate. I will be unable to attend next week~s meeting as I will be in California finishing up my job search. During my three years in Student Government, I have watched Student Government go through many highs and lows. The highlights include implementing a new system of government to ensure graduate participation in Student Government, getting the administration to agree to expand the CampusXpress system to off campus locations, working with the administration to make the final exam policy more student friendly, using the Activities Fee for special projects like the McConomy Projector and increasing the amount of money that will be available for projects like this in the future, convincing the administration to make more course information available to students on line, stopping the administration~s plans to move Spring Break and midsemester breaks against students~ wishes, and convincing the administration to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with an afternoon of no classes. The things that you will notice about all of these successes is that they are all things that directly affect the student body. We succeed when we improve the quality of student life on this campus. That is why student government exists, to represent student opinion to the administration and to work on projects that will benefit the student body. Sometimes we have had a tendency to forget about this and get caught up in little rules and concepts that do not affect students. While it good that we take the time to ensure that we are not making rash, ill-advised decisions, please remember that the rules and concepts like ~separation of power~ exist as guidelines. However, what is most important is that we are working to make life on this campus better for students. Students do not care who in student government is doing things. All they care is that things get done. While I am admittedly biased in claiming this, I think that Student Government has made significant progress over the last three years at improving the quality of life for students on this campus. Although I hate to leave behind unfinished business, there are five projects that I will be leaving unfinished: (1)Morewood Basement project - Last week, you heard the status of this project. When this session of Student Government ends next Thursday, the Presidential Committee that was formed will automatically be dissolved. As there is work left to do, I am sure that Sarah, who has been involved in this project tremendously, will exercise her power to reform this presidential committee. (2)Expansion of Course Information - Amy will be sharing the progress that was made on this since the last meeting on her report. Phase II of this project still remains to be implemented, I hope that Amy or whoever is academic affairs chair will continue to work the administration to make sure that this project reaches a conclusion next Fall. (3)The weight room and old gymnasium renovations - I have given you a copy of the report that Matt Phelps and I presented to the administration on this subject. I hope that Sarah or the Campus Affairs chair will pick up where this work was left off and will continue to lobby the administration to make this necessary investment in the quality of life on campus. (4)The Commission on Exclusive Organizations - This presidential commission presented its thoughtful recommendations last week. I hope that you will approve their recommendations for the changes to the Constitution and Bylaws at the next meeting, as their recommendations have my full support. If they are approved, this will be one less item of business left unfinished. (5)New public relations strategy - Margot Bloomstein and the PR Committee considered your comments on her proposed strategy. She developed a new logo that she will hopefully be able to present at next week~s meeting. I hope that Sarah and Michelle (or whoever is the next PR Chair) will implement her strategy for keeping the campus informed. (6)Martin Luther King Day - As many of you know, this was one of my pet projects. I was very pleased that we were able to convince the administration to make the first step towards giving this day the full recognition that it deserves. Next year, it will be critical to have high levels of student attendance at the events that will commemorate this day. This will prove to the administration that this day really is important to us students and will make it easier for Student Government to convince them to make this a full day of no classes. (7)CampusXpress Expansion to off-campus locations - I have been told by Business Services that a new system will be implemented for next Fall that will allow students to use CampusXpress at off-campus locations. If Business Services does not follow through on this commitment, I hope that Sarah and the Campus Affairs committee will do whatever they can to make sure this happens. Thank you for all of the support you have given me and the hard work that you have put into making the campus a better place. I~ll miss Student Government, but I have faith that it will make progress in the years. Student Body Treasurer (Avinash Jain): No report. Committee Reports: Academic Affairs (Amy Ng): Campus Affairs (Sarah Gross): We didn~t have a meeting this week because I was sick. However, we all met individually. We will be doing surveys in front of DH tomorrow from 10:30-4:30 about possible UC improvements. Please sign up to help. We will be giving a presentation of our results next week. Squirrel Hill Shuttle Committee received a proposal from PAT, but due to it~s high expense, Josh is working on a counter proposal. Funding and Recognition (Drew Stovall): We didn~t have a meeting this week due to a lack of quorum. We will be presenting four proposals next week. Sen McCartin will complete work by next semester for on-line allocation and recognition forms. This should make the process noticeably easier. Human Resources (Jamie Chang): HR had a meeting last week and conducted its final meeting for the session last Tuesday. We made a few final changes to the Bylaws proposal, in light of some new ideas and recent events. The proposal was read earlier in this meeting. We had a lot of help on this project. I would like to give a special thank you to Susan Campbell, sophomore cognitive psychology major, who proofread the motion and synopsis for us. Justin Cina and Allen Lu have been removed from their positions as Senators from CFA and H&SS, respectively, because of too many absences from regular HR meetings. The Senator List has been updated and is available; make sure that you pick it up. A fall SIA seat has been replaced by a fall H&SS seat; after the seating of the new spring Senators, the reapportioning of Senate seats will be complete. I am preparing an end-of-session questionnaire. This will be used to solicit ideas from Senators about how to better run the next session. Be expecting it at next week~s meeting, as it is a good way to voice your comments on how we did this session. Please direct any questions concerning the Human Resources Committee to me at pet@cmu.edu, or call x2-3593. Public Relations (Michelle Brown): We did not have a meeting this week, but we did meet last week. Margot designed a new logo and will present it at the next meeting. Friday will be our last WRCT show for this semester. We are inviting CEO members and Committee chairs to talk about their accomplishments. Chair (Jen Gray): Our last meeting is next week at 5:30 in Hamerslag Hall B103. We will be going over Bylaws revisions, F&R presentations, final reports, and election validations. Please attend this meeting in it~s entirety. Announcements: Sen Chang - Please post any comments about the Bylaws to the bboard. Ben Kutler - If you have any comments about CEO~s recommendations please e-mail me. Sen Ng - If you think I have overstepped my duties as AA Chair, please talk to me about it. Meeting adjourned at 5:18pm. Respectfully Submitted, Lori Lee