The Student Association Senate met for the fourth time this semester. No new senators were added this week. The number of senators is currently 23.
Both the minutes and agenda were approved at the beginning of the meeting.
Lisa Evaneski, Oswego State’s Title IX coordinator and associate dean of students, was a guest to the senate. Evaneski explained what Title IX is to the senate and what her office aims to do for campus. She asked for their help to spread the word about Title IX informational sessions that are held for anyone on campus. While some students who work on campus are required to attend these sessions, the majority of students are never required to learn more about Title IX.
Another guest to the senate was Bridget Jackson, who is managing the #OzMyStory social media campaign for Career Services. Jackson showed a video to introduce the concept of the campaign. Jackson asked the senators to participate in the movement by sending her a picture of themselves holding up the #OzMyStory sign that said what they are doing to help advance their career.
President Anthony Smith told the senators that an open forum on fees would be held Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Lanigan Hall. Smith said the forum would be an in-depth and detailed breakdown of fees. Smith said he, along with some other members of SA and presidential candidate Tucker Sholtes, will be attending the SUNY SA conference from April 4-6 in Saratoga Springs. Smith also mentioned how he will be giving a presentation at the Future Student Leaders Conference held on campus beginning today.
Vice President Francisco Perez said he was working closely with Senator Jillian Kranz to organize the debate held in Johnson Hall on Wednesday night. Perez asked the senators to attend the debate and that they were not required to attend, but “it would be awesome if you guys go.”
Director of Finance Hassan Al-Shareffi told the senate that the first real weekend of budget council would commence this weekend. They will go over budget requests made by all the clubs and organizations. Al-Shareffi plans to be done by mid-April for a presentation to the senate.
Al-Shareffi’s search committee for his replacement had nine applicants at the time of the senate meeting. Applications were due Wednesday and candidates would be broken down to a select few who would be interviewed. He continued to tell the senators there are computers on campus in the responsibility of SA that need updating. Al-Shareffi would like to establish a plan to replace computers over the next few years.
The Rules and Judiciary committee came up with questions for the debate and discussed the debate itself. The Finance committee went over the legislation that would be voted on at the meeting. The Involvement committee did not meet due to weather and miscommunication, but have been talking about their posters to allow students to know their senators.
A bill for Enactus was presented to SA. The bill asked for approval for the transfer of funds from within the club’s own accounts in order to fund their attendance at the Enactus national competition in Cincinnati. Normally, these transfers are not brought to the senate for approval, but Al-Shareffi felt that because the amount of $4,350 was such a large amount, he wanted backing from the senate if the auditors question the movement of funds.
DECA requested funds for a guest speaker to come to campus on April 16. Craig Capurso is a former Wall Street Commodities trader turned professional fitness body builder and entrepreneur. DECA is a newly-approved club which does not have a budget. The senate approved to give the club $249.99 to be used for train, hotel and car rental costs.
A bill for a five-organizational mental wellness conference was presented to the senate. They requested $1,300 in the original bill and an amendment was proposed to change this amount to $900. Items were cut from the funding that were not a necessity. Confusion among the senators lead to the withdrawing of the amendment and a motion was made to table the bill in order to discuss the bill more with the organizations involved.
The Oswego State Paintball club asked for funding to attend its national competition. The finance committee suggested that $915 be provided for the club. The team was hoping to be able to attend one more regional tournament to help its ranking in the national tournament. The bill was passed by a vote of 16-0-2.
The Red Cross club proposed new legislation asking for $1200 to fund a Disaster Training and Relief Run 5k to be held on March 29. The legislation was referred to the Finance committe for one week.
The SA Senate meets every Tuesday in Lanigan 102 at 6 p.m.
