Student Government Association Meeting Minutes: March 29, 2004 Call to Order: 5:15 pm I. Welcome, Reading of the University Creed, Motion to Approve the Minutes A. Motion seconded and passed. II. Guest: Mr. Dave Hayes, Final Candidate for University Librarian Search A. Mr. Hayes came to introduce himself to the students and invite them to attend his presentation about his vision for RU’s library tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 pm in McConnell. B. If you have any questions for Mr. Hayes, please email him at dhayes@radford.edu. III. President’s Report A. Donated Land at St. Albans 1. Dr. Covington sent a campus wide email on March 11 informing students that construction of the new Fine Arts building will remain adjacent to Powell Hall. The University must inform Carilion of its new plans for the St. Albans property ASAP or risk losing the land donation. 2. An idea of moving some instruction for students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts to the St. Albans property is being discussed. Students could take a shuttle to their classes. Feedback is needed on this issue. 3. If we use some of the money allocated for construction of instructional facilities to upgrade existing buildings on the St. Albans property, then leftover monies from this fund could possibly be used for other capital upgrades B. Memo to AP&P Committee 1. A memo was drafted to the AP&P committee outlining student opinion on the proposed changes to the add/drop dates. No response from the committee has been received. C. UEC: No Fall Break 1. The UEC has made the decision to eliminate fall break in future terms based on feedback about academic concerns from faculty, administration, and staff. The University will now close for one week for Thanksgiving. During discussion, students expressed their disappointment that SGA’s previous vote to keep the break schedule the same was not considered in this change. D. SMC & SMSC, Consolidation of Committees 1. The Student Media Committee and the Student Media Steering Committee were consolidated into one committee last week. The number of students sitting on this committee will remain unchanged. E. Cords for Graduation 1. A count of seniors graduating in May or December was taken. SGA cords have been ordered. If you are interested in receiving a cord, please contact Matt. F. Office Maintenance – please make sure to off the lights and shut the windows in the SGA office when you leave so mosquitoes and gnats do not eat Matt or other people who are working in the office. :) IV. Executive Vice President’s Report (given by Brie) A. Forum Update 1. The City/University forum is planned for April 13, 2004 at 6:30 pm in Lounge A. Please make every effort to attend. B. Banquet Information 1. IMPORTANT – all council chairs need to email Lindsay with the names of all council members so certificates can be printed for banquet. This needs to be done by April 9th. 2. Please RSVP for banquet ASAP. A sign up sheet was passed around. V. Legislative Vice President’s Report A. Elections 1. Dates of the elections were announced again. All candidates who are running should check their information on the website. Good luck to everyone running. VI. Vice President of Student Finance Report A. 2004-2005 SFC Budget Approval 1. Please look over the budget proposal for next year. Comments and questions were discussed. We will vote to approve the budget in new business. VII. Advisor’s Report A. The Planning and Budget Advisory Committee met last week and several important issues were discussed: 1. A draft of the revised vision statement was approved and sent to Dr. Covington and the Board of Visitors for review. The submitted draft was read. 2. A subcommittee has been formed to make a recommendation to the Planning and Budget Advisory Committee about the appropriate use of the St. Albans land grant. It would be a good idea for SGA to draft a resolution that defines student stance on this issue. 3. A subcommittee has been formed to discuss the potential increase in funds that RU is expected to receive from the General Assembly. The committee will address issues that are most important to students, such as trying to get class sizes back down and the feasibility of a tuition increase. VIII. Cabinet/Staff Reports A. Honors Promotions – Meredith Henderson 1. Last week Meredith spoke with the Faculty Senate about the plans to promote the Honor Code on campus and asked for their support. A formal presentation on this topic will be presented to the Faculty Senate on Thursday. We hope to gain their formal support on this issue. B. Secretary – Kelly Snead 1. Please make sure to check your mailboxes in the office as several of them are getting very full. Also make sure to throw away your own trash when you leave the office and pick up your printouts so we don’t waste so much paper. C. Chief of Staff – Ross Holberg 1. Volunteers are needed to help with the interest table at Open House events. A sign up sheet was passed around. D. Director of Communication – Ashley Mezyk 1. Given the great success of last month’s newsletter, plans for an April newsletter are now in progress. A list asking for topic ideas was passed around. If you have ideas, suggestions, or would like to write an article, contact Ashley at amezyk@radford.edu. IX. Council Reports A. LAC – Shawn Healy 1. Shawn spoke with several legislators during a trip to Richmond this weekend who expressed their interest in voting to provide more financial support for Radford. B. OCSC – Colin Fletcher 1. Clean with the Dean is scheduled for April 17. All college senators are asked to recruit a minimum of three to four people from their college to attend this event. C. ISAC – Bemnet Zeleke 1. The International Dinner is planned for Saturday, April 3 at 6:00 pm in Muse Banquet Hall. Get your tickets today! Other events are planned each day of the week; check out the ISAC website for more details. X. Committee Reports A. Safe Ride Committee – Brandon Covey 1. In response to the memo that asked about extending the hours of operation, Bill Dalton reported that he would send the information to his advisors. No response from them has been received yet. B. Commencement Committee Proposal – Ryan Dillard 1. David Horton and other members of the Commencement Committee have decided to open up a spot for a graduating senior to speak at the Pinning Ceremony that is held the eve of graduation. Interested students will be asked to submit a draft of a 4-8 minute speech entitled, “My Radford Experience” for review by a committee who will choose a speaker. A draft of an email asking for student volunteers was read and discussed. This email will go out sometime this week, and submissions are due by Sunday, April 4. 2. Ryan feels that it is necessary for students to have more input on the Commencement Committee decisions about graduation speakers, etc. and will make a motion in new business to add another student representative to this committee. C. AP&P Committee – Andrew Kirby 1. At this committee meeting, Dr. Lerch again provided support for the realignment of the add/drop dates in future terms. Other proposals discussed included an idea to combine the grades graduate students earn for supplementary undergraduate classes into their overall GPA, and discussion about changing punishments for students who fail to earn a 2.0 was held. XI. Unfinished Business – in the interest of time, discussion about the proposal on Alcohol on Campus will be postponed until next week. XII. New Business A. SFC Budget Approval 1. Motion to approve the 2004-2005 SFC Budget as presented. Motion seconded, discussed, and passed. B. Additional Commencement Committee Representative 1. Motion to add an additional student representative to the commencement committee for a one-year appointment. Motion seconded, discussed, amended several times, and passed. C. Student Speaker at Pinning Ceremony 1. Motion to approve the creation of a contest for a student speaker to speak at the Pinning Ceremony. Motion seconded, discussed, and passed. XIII. Announcements A. Sorenson Institute on Political Leadership 1. Matt has information on this conference designed for students with political aspirations. The conference is held from June 5 to July 3. The cost of attendance is $1500. If interested, please see Matt for more details. Meeting adjourned at 6:25 pm.