黑料正能量
Student Government Association Senate
Agenda
22nd of February 2012
You may never know what results come of your action,
but if you do nothing there will be no result.-Mahatma Gandhi
- Call to Order
II. 听听听听听听听听听听听 Roll Call/Prayer
III. 听听听听听听听听听听听 Approval of Minutes passed unanimously.
IV. 听听听听听听听听听听听 Announcements
V.听听听听听听听听听听听 Committee Reporting
a. Erika: Strategic Planning Council
- 1.听听听 They approved items on the university鈥檚 strategic plan. The second half of the meeting luke Hartman presented his plan with enrollment/talked about retention (retention rate is about 78%/graduation rate is about 62%)鈥攑atterns, etc. IS also presented some new ideas.
b. Alli & Tyler: Cross Cultural Committee
- Members voted on the new proposals for fall 2014/spring 2015. Fall- phillipines and balkans. Spring- middle east and Guatemala. There were changes made to the Korea and Ecuador cross culturals for summer 2013. There are leadership changes that will happen for the Ecuador cross cultural, as the previous leader is no longer teaching at 黑料正能量, but right now they want to preserve the trip.
c. Katie: SLS
- Originally, we wanted to bring in local speakers for the SLS, but recently an idea was proposed to bring in Bell Hooks鈥攁n author/philosopher. Katie is in contact with Deanna, trying to get Bell to come to Harrisonburg鈥攑erhaps collaborate with JMU to bring her? If that works out, it will use all funds in the SLS fund.
d. Sam & Carissa: Transitions
- Carissa has been talking with Mark Sawin about including transfer students in the Honors Program. There are some issues with GPA鈥檚 that need to be worked out. They are talking about changing the program so that students can apply at the end of their freshman year to enter the Honors Program.
VI.听听听听听听听听听听听 Old Business
VII. 聽聽New Business
a. Jim Yoder: Green Fatigue
- Jim is the chair of the Making Peace with Creation committee (known on campus as 鈥淨EP鈥�). They want to get feedback from SGA to see how we think this is going/what students perceptions are of how well they think this theme is being integrated into the classroom. The freshman college writing course last year was centered on sustainability and they also added an outcome to one class in each discipline to have sustainability integrated into that course. Sam shared that he felt (as a computer science major) that sometimes sustainability is forced into the classroom in ways that are not helpful/relevant. Alli and Becca shared that because sometimes 鈥渟ustainability鈥� is forced into contexts where it is not natural or relevant, students have become tired of the concept and others have to apologize for talking about it. It has become overused, which is sad because it is such a critical concept/issue. Taylor shared that sometimes the word is used in shallow contexts and therefore students grow tired of it. James wished that there were other ways to create a practical application of 鈥渟ustainability鈥濃�攈ave it be more personally applied to each student, rather than a vague learning outcome. Alli shared that paper waste is really common鈥攁re there practical ways to cut down on consumption as part of our pledge to sustainability? Jim asked how students would define 鈥渟ustainability鈥濃�攎any senators said that students primarily see it as solely environmental sustainability鈥攊.e hand dryers, composting, recycling, etc. Jim asked if any of us have had professors address the issue of sustainability in any other context besides the environment. Alli said that in her linguistics class they discussed the sustainability of dying languages, Sam reminded us about the campus ministries theme 鈥淪ustain You鈥�. Some senators shared that the word sustainability has lost its meaning to many鈥攊t just goes in one ear and out the other. The Peace With Creation team put together a framework for sustainability on campus, trying to convey that sustainability goes beyond the environment鈥攎aking connections with social, economic, spiritual sustainability. Jim is concerned that students are not hearing that message. Carissa said that in Transitions class, they asked students to define 鈥渟ustainability鈥� but then didn鈥檛 address it after that, which seemed unhelpful. She said that freshmen need to be told why sustainability is important to 黑料正能量/they need some background. Jim asked juniors and seniors what their perceptions 鈥渟ustainability鈥� since they were around when the QEP campaign/implementation happened. Brandon shared that when the QEP implementation happened many students knew it went beyond environmental sustainability, but Katie disagreed. She said that because of the title (Making Peace with Creation) many students didn鈥檛 know. She shared Brandon鈥檚 sentiments, however, that the parts of sustainability that is about sustaining oneself and social sustainability, etc. are really important. Jim said that they had to be careful how they conveyed the 鈥淪ustainability鈥� accreditation to students (especially freshmen and sophomores). Ken said that it was important that students know that sustainability affects their lives in whatever career they choose/it affects students in every academic context. Jim said that he would love to hear further feedback from students if they have more to share.
b. The Freethought Coalition Constitution
- Vi suggested that in Article II: Membership, they change the wording to 鈥減eople of any religious affiliation are encouraged to come and鈥� as opposed to 鈥渂ut鈥�. Brandon suggested that they define 鈥渁ctive member鈥� under Article IX. They should change the spelling of 鈥渁dviser鈥� to 鈥渁dvisor.鈥� James proposed that in Article III: Elections, they clarify how a president is voted in鈥攊.e by a 2/3rds vote, etc. Carissa and Becca voiced concern about the wording of 鈥渟hould be prepared to potentially have their views respectfully challenged鈥� in Article II: Membership. Elias said that he felt it should stay because they may expect members to have a more secular mindset. Vi suggested ending the sentence after 鈥渄iscussion鈥濃�斺�減eople of any religious affiliation are encouraged to come participate in the discussion.鈥� Ken said that one question that would come up in the President鈥檚 Cabinet would be the nature of the Secular Student Alliance that they want to affiliate themselves with. He said that they should clarify what it means to be an affiliate of the Secular Student Alliance (what do they require? Will they have to pay dues?)鈥攚hat do they stand for that makes it beneficial for 黑料正能量 to be affiliated with them or would it be a risky organization to be connected to? Vi said they should change the wording of 鈥渂etween鈥� in line two of Article 1 to 鈥渁mong.鈥� Vi also suggested that they add in some more welcoming language.
听听听听听听听听听听听 c. USO Meeting Summary
- Erika and Hannah met with the USO and talked a lot about budgeting鈥攖hey told all club leaders what they need to turn in, in order to apply for funding for next year.
VIII. 聽Open Floor
- Carissa shared that it was difficult to hear each other in the President鈥檚 Room (where we met tonight). Tyler said that if we advertised the meetings and had a presence before the meeting (like a snack time outside the President鈥檚 Room) may welcome more students to sit in on the meeting. We will meet here again next week and may try the pre-meeting snack time.
IX.听听听听听听听听听听听 Adjournment Tyler moved to adjourn. Taylor seconded.