The Student Association held its 12th meeting of the academic year Tuesday evening. The number of senators needed to make quorum was satisfied.
The minutes from last meeting and the agenda for the current meeting were both approved.
There was one guest to the senate. Kimberly Bracken, a representative from the Students for Global Change Club, made a presentation about putting on an event to fundraise money for Big Cat Rescue, a not-for-profit organization that provides a permanent home for unwanted, abused and neglected exotic cats. It houses 16 different species of exotic cats with at least 100 cats in each species. There is a table in the Marano Campus Center on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. that accepts donations to this cause. Bracken also informed the senate about a dodgeball tournament on April 12th. Bracken requested SA to fund $10 for water, $50 for raffles, $28 for magnets to advertise, $150 for T-shirts that students will pay for partially out of pocket and $25 for decorations, which is a total of $263 for the event. Sen. Sarah Woods volunteered to write up a bill for the proposal.
There was no public comment.
In executive reports, SA Vice President Jillian Kranz announced her excitement as the new vice president.
“I know I haven’t been a senator that long, this would have been my fourth semester as senator, but I am really excited to try and I am looking forward to working with you guys in a different aspect,” Kranz said.
Kranz told the senate she got the opportunity to meet with President Deborah Stanley on Friday, which was a great experience and throughout the past week as the new vice president of SA, she has been getting organized and working with Neely Laufer, the former vice president of SA. Kranz plans to continue some of the things that were left off last semester like bringing in new speakers to provide more information on campus. Something that she wants to work on during her short time as SA vice president is quicker turnaround time on bills. She doesn’t want to wait two to three weeks for a bill proposal and wants them to be taken care of as soon as possible.
Elena Sanchez, director of finance, presented the final draft of SA’s Conflict of Interest Policy. This document was written in order to ensure that all members act in the best interest of SA with no conflict of interest. It states how conflict of interest must be handled in the senate. They must later discuss whether they will agree on having electronic signatures to keep better track of who agreed to sign the policy. The SA Conflict of Interest Policy was moved to the Rules and Judiciary Committee for a period of one week.
In committee reports, Josh Pascucci presented the idea of SA apparel. The reason for this idea was to offer branding and a more professional look for SA, so students can recognize who the people are that represent them. Style, design and pricing were discussed. Kranz also stated that after the apparel is out, it would be appropriate for senators to either wear the apparel to meetings or continue dressing in business causal. Sholtes mentioned that the senators would be expected to pay half price like any other club but going forward maybe it could be budgeted so the SA apparel would be incentive to join SA. The design and orders should be finalized by the end of February.
It was also mentioned how there is a position available for director of academics for anyone who is interested.
Christopher Collins-McNeil, civic engagement director, spoke about upcoming events as a part of the Spring Action Campaign, which is a semester long campaign featuring green and gold bands. Students, faculty and staff will be encouraged to participate and wear bands that promote discussion about race, gender, class and other social identity groups. On Feb. 5 the Race, Place and Being Campaign was held in the Sheldon Ballroom. Its purpose was to discuss Ferguson and recent trials concerning race.
Ryan Hopf, President Sholtes’ chief of staff announced the spring Off-Campus Fair. There will be 10 to 15 landlords to discuss different housing options available for off-campus students.
Sholtes ended the committee reports by welcoming Kranz to her new position and was thankful for the “seamless” transition.
Sholtes also mentioned that Campus Technology Services came to him with a proposal to create a service agreement between CTS and SA. They presented for SA to go under contract with them to get on a four-year replacement cycle, meaning all SA computers will eventually become their computers which they can update. Sholtes is looking to incorporate the media organization in order to save budgeted money for computers.
Sholtes said that during their meeting with President Stanley last week, she mentioned that the college has shown a great interest in giving a big upgrade to WTOP-10. Sholtes said SA has to decide whether they will be a part of this upgrade. They have to weigh the pros and cons of fixing old and potentially damaged equipment or making the investment now for new equipment.
Also, Sholtes said the contracts are still being worked out for the spring concert including three different acts and that there will be more discussion next meeting.
Sholtes told the senate that two to three weeks ago he, along with a couple of senators, went to Albany for the SUNY chancellor, Nancy Zimpher’s State of the University Address. He mentioned that she came up with a lot of initiatives. According to Sholtes, Zimpher made a mandate for all students to have an internship before they graduate and it is mandatory all campuses have a chief diversity officer.
Sen. Woods was elected director of the Rules and Judiciary Committee to replace Kranz and Sen. Emily Nassir replaced Sen. Woods as the director of the Elections committee.
SA introduced Oswego Student Discount Cards that are now available for all students with an Oswego State I.D. They are for students who are looking for discounts to local businesses. It is also available on the app “College Discounts.” There was a discussion that began in the senate about whether or not to continue to allow the public access to the app, even though they might not be a student.
With new legislation, the philosophy club requested funds for $300 for pizza. The bill was moved to the Finance Committee for discussion. Also, the Oswego film club requested funds to put on its Mixed Emotions Film Festival. The bill was moved to the Finance Committee.
There were no hall council or special reports.
The SA senate meets every Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Lanigan 102. All meetings are open to the public.
