SENATE MEETING MINUTES

30th LEGISLATURE

MARCH 13, 2007

I. Call to Order

Roll Call

II. Corrections to the Minutes

A. Approval of Minutes

B. Approval of Agenda
- President Levin-Stankevich strikes AVP Dapaah's report. I will add NFTA and Senator Pro Tem Jueckstock report to EVP Brady's report. Under New Business we will add NYPIRG Resolution Introduction.

III. President Levin-Stankevich Report:

A. College Council was today some brief reports were given at this meeting. I have a book that I will send around that will show you what College Council is all about. The President gave an update on her State of the College address. A technology report was given on Banner.

B. Trustee Hearing is next week I will not be at the Senate meeting on Tuesday.

IV. EVP Brady Report:

A. Brittnee Abbey is our new Judicial Applicant. Brittnee is recognized to say a few words and answer questions. Vote is taken to recognize Brittnee Alley as a Justice and passes 18 yeas, 0 nays and 4 abstentions. President Levin-Stankevich swears Brittnee in.

B. Reminder to please check you mailboxes.

C. We had a Game Room Committee meeting today. There was only 1 committee member there all the rest of the members will be marked as an absence. We talked about extending hours of operation to open on Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm or 2:00 pm - 10:00 pm. If we extend the hours it will not happen until next semester.

D. Student at Large Rina Nowel will move up to Senator. President Levin-Stankevich swears Rina in.

E. This Thursday at 5:00 pm the NFTA committee will meet in our Senate Chambers. President Levin-Stankevich states that this meeting is very important because they will be talking about the referendum, and the commitment that NFTA needs to make during the referendum. We want NFTA to be here participating and to show our students what a benefit NFTA is. They will also be talking about routes for next year. NFTA gets about 25% of our activity fee right now and it is about a $300,000 service which is a contracted service. It's been forwarded to the Administration by fall of 2008 that NFTA will be under the college and will not be part of the student activity fee. Administratively it makes more sense if you look at a lot of college models. This committee will be helping NFTA to communicate with the administration on how we need to set up meetings to handle this. There is a lot of paper work and state policies that we need to put forth. This was in the original design of NFTA however, was never implemented due to time and other reasons. There will be a lot of different things this committee is going to have to handle so I urge anyone to go to this committee meeting.

F. Liaison Reports - with the reports you needed to hand in agendas and attendance sheets. This is really important so please hand these in.

G. We had a Food Service Committee meeting on Monday. At this meeting we discussed issues that we had with food service, meal plans and what they are proposing. Also discussed was Staff Appreciation for Sodexho that we feel go above and beyond their duties.

V. Treasurer St. Rose Report:

A. Budget Process is done. Budgets will be put in the Organization mailboxes tomorrow and Hearings will be scheduled for next week.

B. I received a Budget Request for SUB. SUB has not been active this semester and I wanted to work with SUB in regards to the And 1 Basketball Tournament. The Budget Committee would like to make a motion to allocate $9,000 to fund the And 1 Basketball Tournament. President Levin-Stankevich reads Article VI #3 Letter H of the Constitution regarding the motion. Rule Chair McKay is recognized to discuss what exactly happened to SUB. Rules Chair McKay states that he was approached by the acting President of SUB and was told that the entire E-Board was fired by the past President who then left. Right now they have no E-Board except for the acting President. I have explained to her the process of electing new officers. Treasurer St. Rose states That he was given a letter by the past Treasurer of SUB stating that we could use their money for this event. President Levin-Stankevich asks Treasurer St. Rose for the letter so he can read it. Treasurer St. Rose states he needs to go back in his office to get it. President Levin-Stankevich states that there will be a 5 minute recess.

President Levin-Stankevich calls the meeting to order. The formal motion will be that the Budget Committee proposes a line item change for SUB for all there lines going to Nights & Weekends. This line will be utilized for night and weekend programming. They currently do not have a Treasurer which allows the USG Treasurer to be the signee on their P.O.'s. We are bringing this to the Senate because any line item change over 20% needs to get the Senate's approval. President Levin-Stankevich reads the letter from the former SUB Treasurer. The first step we will take is for the line item change. Floor is open for questions. Senator Anderson asks what 3 lines are you taking the money out of? President Levin-Stankevich states the Bengal Pause line, Union Bash line, Travel line and Promotion line. Senator Perez calls previous question. AVP Ammirato 2nd. Vote is taken to vote on the motion and passes 20 yeas, 2 nays and 0 abstentions. We will now vote on the motion for the Budget Committee to approve the line item changes. Vote is taken and passes 22 yeas, 0 nays and 2 abstentions.

VI. Standing Committee Reports

A. AVP Janik Academic Report:

B. AVP Ammirato Community Relations Report:
- This is you last chance to sign up for the 5K run/walk.
- I sent an updated list of Senator names to Rockwell in case you are interested in getting tickets for "Betty's Summer Vacation".

C. Rules Chair McKay Report:
- I am sending around Student Bill #9 you will have a week to review it and we will vote on it next week. If you have any comments or questions you can e-mail me. President Levin-Stankevich states this is an important bill and urges the Senate to read it over and talk to the Rules Committee this week. He would prefer that the debate does not happen in Senate but if it does it should be a formed debate not just off the cuff statements. Senator Manzione asks Rules Chair McKay to review the bill. Rules Chair McKay states that it would fall under Article VIII - The USG Organizations letter G Budget allocations of USG clubs and organizations.

VII. Unfinished Business

A. President Levin-Stankevich asks for 6 Senators to help Michelle Curtis with the Focus Group. Senator Manzione, Senator Anderson, EVP Brady, Senator Greco, Senator Hirsch and Senator Stewart volunteer.

VIII. New Business

A. Ann from NYPIRG is recognized. Ann asks the Senate to help support the Cell Phone Users for Safety Coalition and Cell Phone Bill of Rights. Ann passes around a sheet explaining this.

IX. Constituents Questions/Announcements

A. Senator Otero asks what is going on with Sports & Rec? President Levin-Stankevich says that this will be answered in EVP Brady's report next week.

B. Senator Boateng asks about the secretary position. President Levin-Stankevich says he only received 2 letters. Senator Shedrick will be the new secretary. If you want to get involved there are other opportunities please see me.

C. AVP Ammirato reminds everyone that Student Life is tabling tomorrow.

D. AVP Janik would like to meet with his committee after the meeting.

E. Rules Chair McKay would like to meet with his committee after the meeting.

F. Ann from NYPIRG gives an update.

X. 2nd Roll Call

XI. Meeting adjourned.