SENATE MEETING MINUTES
31st LEGISLATURE
APRIL 1, 2008
I. Call to Order
Roll Call
II. Approval of Agenda
A. President Brady motions to approve the minutes. Senator Manz so moved.
B. President Brady motions to approve the agenda. Senator O’Grady so moved. President Brady asks if there are any objections for Rules & Regulations Greco to give his report first then continue to the order of the day. There are no objections.
III. Rules & Regulations Greco Report:
A. The Rules & Regulations Committee would like to make a motion to re-recognize Black Active Minds (BAM) and Dead Economist Society. President Brady asks if the representatives from Black Active Minds and Dead Economist Society could please stand up and state their name, position and why their organizations should be re-recognized. Representing Dead Economist Society is Crystal the Vice President. Crystal states that Dead Economists do a lot for students, economic majors and those who are interested. This semester we have focused on academics by setting up tutoring, and collaborating with the Professors of our department to bring in employment opportunities and Grad School Representatives. Representing BAM is LeeVaughn the President. BAM should be re-recognized for the work that we do for the students, and not just black students. We talk about American Society as a whole, Black Culture, and our place in Society. I would like anybody and everybody to come out, BAM is for the future of Black America, and the leaders of Black America aren’t just black. BAM has a strong history of events that we do on campus like our Karaoke Contest, Women’s History month and several years ago we brought Maya Angelou to campus. This year we have our history book for future members and leaders. Since BSC is a unique campus with children on campus, we had a Halloween program with face painting for the children. We are focused on knowledge, and have a lot of programs to impart our knowledge with ours. President Brady opens the floor for questions. Senator Dann asks how many people are in your organizations and what future plans do you have. LeeVaughn states that for BAM you need to attend 3 straight meetings to be a member, so to date we have about 33 members. Our future plans are to continue the tradition of BAM to keep having on campus events. Crystal states that Dead Economists focuses on consistency more than numbers, but we have about 14-15 members. We are trying to collaborate more with other organizations, do more community outreach and book a trip to the Federal Reserve. Being that Economics carries a scary stigma, we are trying to raise awareness and open up more. President Brady asks when and where are your meetings? LeeVaugh states BAM meets every Tuesday during Bengal Pause in the Game Room 105H. Crystal states that Dead Economist meets on Tuesday in the Economics Department or on Thursday in Class Building B221. Senator Lane asks if Dead Economists are looking for funding. Crystals states that we are asking for the same budget that we had this semester. LeeVaugh states that BAM is a funded organization and we do a lot with the funding provided. Senator Cawthon asks how much BAM’s budget is and if we are going to fund you... President Brady states that this question is out of order and does not pertain to recognition. Senator Lane asks how will you plan to cater to students who are not economics majors. Crystal states that economics in general is a study of our society; it is much more than fiscal and money matters. These things affect everyone, and if you don’t have an understanding of economics life would be very difficult. Senator Dobney asks Crystal that in the future you could offer tutoring on economics. BAM has truly stepped up this year and are a great example for other organizations to follow. Crystal states that Economics does offer tutoring. Senator Cawthon asks if Economics considered offering counseling and tutoring for the community? Crystal states that I personally feel the reason we haven’t done this is because you have to be very careful when giving advice because you don’t want to send people the wrong way. Before we do something like that we need to educate ourselves. President Brady asks if there are any more questions; seeing there are none we will move into vote. Vote is taken to re-recognize BAM and passes 22 yeas, 0 nays and 0 abstentions. Vote is taken to re-recognize Dead Economists Society and passes 21 yeas, 1 nay and 0 abstentions.
B. Rules & Regulations Greco states that Elections are going on, so please go out and vote and tell your friends to vote.
IV. President Brady Report:
A. On May 2nd at noon there will be a campus wide Memorial Day to recognize Faculty, Students, and Staff that have passed this year. I am also giving Senator Pro Tem Nunez's report, Liaison reports are due next week. There is a Food Service Committee meeting next Tuesday in the Senate Chambers during Bengal Pause. Also, the Intercollegiate Athletic Board will have an open Forum on Thursday during Bengal Pause in Bulger West. They will be discussing the Colleges Athletic budget and everyone is welcome to attend.
V. EVP Perez Report:
A. All of you should have received your invitations to the Banquet; I tried my best to give them to everyone in person but those I couldn’t get to will be receiving theirs tonight. The banquet is pretty much finalized and most of the details will be kept under wraps as I want this to be a special night for everyone. Spring Fest is still under construction and Senior Week is pretty much done. I am asking everyone to keep an eye out for volunteer sign ups and details; we will need all the help we can get.
VI. Treasurer Gabriel Report:
A. Questions & Comments. Senator O’Grady asks when the budget process will start. Treasurer Gabriel states it will start April 15th.
VII. Standing Committee Reports
A. AVP Jueckstock Communications Report:
- Bi-Semester meeting is Friday April 18th; please make sure your constituent organizations know this.
- Senior Giving program is coming again; the Senior Giving program is where we reach out to seniors where they donate money to help improve the school. Last year they purchased newer chairs for the library. If you’re interested in calling and tabling tomorrow please let me know. Commencement kickoff is April 9th in the Barnes and Noble bookstore, registration begins at 10 am and runs to 7 pm. We need the manpower of the Senate to help advertise our Senior Week events.
- At the last meeting I spoke about Take Back the Night, it is Friday April 11th. We have the felt patches for the quilts, so if any of your organizations want to make a part of the quilt, please let me know and I can give you the patch. They can do whatever they want to do and it is to support Take Back the Night. On the day of the 11th in Bulger North at 3 pm they will be conducting training for all student leaders on sexual assault. The speaker is Steven Thompson and he will talk about all issues dealing with this topic. It is a great event to go to. Monday April 7th we will be meeting as a Committee in Weigel if anyone is interested. Senator Kennedy asks what the day of Take Back the Night was. AVP Jueckstock states it is in the Social Hall at 6 pm on the 11th. Senator Mirsky asks if fliers could be put in our mailboxes to remind us. AVP Jueckstock states it will be on the website, in your mailboxes and on Facebook.
B. AVP Hassan Community Affairs Report:
- I would like to thank my Committee for helping with Greek Feud.
- Earth Day is coming up and I would like to help clean up the campus and hopefully plant some trees. We will also try and clean the 198, so keep an eye out for volunteer sheets.
VIII. Old Business: None
IX. New Business: None
X. Constituents Questions/Announcements
A. Senator Yazicilar announces that Thursday Model UN Committee for UNICEF will be in the Assembly Hall at 5 o'clock. They will be presenting information on human trafficking and there will be food, I hope to see you there.
B. Senator Cawthon announces that the Student Political Society will be holding its second debate on torture, if anyone would like to help us please let me know. We meet on Thursday during Bengal Pause. In Buffalo, the meeting of the Buffalo Anarchist will be meeting at the Buffalo Pride Center. We are a discussion group that meets at 7 pm on Thursdays who talk about the ideology of anarchy and leftist ideologies.
C. EVP Perez announces that Student Life will be tabling tomorrow at 11 am, please meet in the Union. Student life and Academics will also be meeting later that day at 1 pm.
D. AVP Jueckstock announces that the Day Care will be holding their book fair.
E. AVP Hassan announces that Community Affairs will be tabling on Thursday.
F. Senator Alinur states that at the last meeting I brought up that employees at Taco Bell were using drugs, it was investigated, and one employee was fired. If you see anything please bring it to the attention of the managers.
G. Senator Cawthon addresses the Senate that there are a lot of issues on campus which we don’t know about. I want to vent as an individual endeavor to send out letters to dorms to see what kind of issues come up. I wanted to do this with the aid of USG, and I think it is something that we should all do. Please meet with me afterwards if interested.
H. Erin from NYPIRG gives an update. We will be doing exit polling for your Elections; we did about 20 surveys today. Rules & Regulations Greco has the results for those of you who are interested to see where you are standing. We only poll those who vote that very day. This weekend is our annual spring conference in Albany, and we have Reps going to represent Buffalo State College. Tuesday April 8th we are having a press conference about textbooks because you pay way too much and we should get some insight as to what we can do to help lower the prices.
XI. 2nd Roll Call
XII. Meeting adjourned.