Unofficial Minutes for the meeting of October 31, 1995

I. Meeting called to order at 6:05 PM.

II. Attendance:

Executive Board:

Cathy Connelly, President; Kirsty Reidy, Vice President; Greg Snow, Treasurer.

Senate:

Glen Avery, Tara Carrie, Harish Chawla, Heather Cleary, Tanya Corrado, Matthew Defronzo, Simba Dutt-Mazumdar, Shannon Finley, Matthew Freimuth, Marni Hall, Ed Hallissey, Rebecca Hoffman, Seth Kintigh, Mickey Lacroix, Amy Plack, Jennifer Reese, Justin Sprague, Kristen Stagg, Cindy Vollaro, Kenneth Volock, Jason Willey, Adam Woodbury

Absent:

Eric Ammon, Alfred Andrade, Paula Brezniak(excused), Jason Mickey, Jeremy Olszewski(excused), Tim Tully(excused)

Parliamentarian:

Jennifer Yambert

III. Approval of Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held 10/10/95 were approved.

IV. President's Remarks:

President Connelly reported that the executive staff meeting met on October 31. Lisa Hastings will be returning to WPI as Director of Alumni Fund. John Heyle has accepted the position on Vice President of Development. The tentative start date is January. The Admissions Open House is November 10. The office is looking for help and anyone is welcome to go and volunteer. The Committee for the Provost Search has been finalized and has started. There will be a welcome home party for Al Sacco before the end of the term. Neil Norum is looking for the campus to create a Master Events calendar. There is a new director of Counseling and Student Development, Tom Balilistrari.

V. Vice-President's Remarks:

Vice President Reidy welcomed the new Senators and asked that all those who have not attended an office orientation to please contact her. The 1996 Senatorial Manual has been compiled and is currently being printed. They will be distributed at the retreat. Course reserve materials are arriving daily and are being placed in the course reserve drawer. VP Reidy will be creating a list of available materials once a majority of them are collected.

VI. Secretary's Remarks:

President Connelly noted that the office hours sign-up sheet is located in the SGA Informational Guide. The Senatorial information sheet should be updated.

VII. Treasurer's Remarks:

Treasurer Snow announced the opening of nominations for Assistant Treasurers. They must be current Senators. These nominations are open until Monday at 5pm. Budget packets have been distributed with changes to all organizations. There will be a meeting of all treasurers next week.

VIII. Committee on Policies and Procedures:

The committee has been working on the Standing Rules and the motion will be on the floor.

IX. Committee on Elections:

no report

X. Committee on Academic Initiatives:

Chair Hall announced that the letter regarding the sufficiency went to the Humanities department. The committee will be following its progress. The committee currently meets on Thursday.

XI. Committee on Public Relations:

Chair Stagg reported there will now be a form for the purpose of publicizing events in SGA. The building assignments are also available in the office.

XII. Committee on Student Life Issues:

Chair Plack announced that an agreement with DAKA will allow international students to eat at the Grill for dinner with their meal plan until 8pm.

XIII. Committee on Appropriations:

Treasurer Snow announced that the committee is waiting until after elections to handle the special funding requests from Hispanic Students Association and the Rugby team.

XIV. Institute Committee Reports:

Committee on Academic Operations:

Representative Rachel Butland reported that the committee will be meeting this term on Wednesday's at 11am. The meetings are closed but if there is an issue that is of interest please let her know. Everything that was in the packet for CAO passed at the last Faculty meeting with the exception of the Entrepreneurship minor. Some of the motions had amendments made to them so the final copy is not the one that is in the office. The committee is currently looking at ME and MFE concentrations, Biology lab modules, and once again the enterpreneurship minor. If you would like to see the proposals, please e-mail sail@wpi.

Web Design Committee:

Representative Plack noted the minutes from the last meeting will be placed in the book in the office. The request for funding was denied and the library will now be solely responsible. If there are any questions about the Web, please contact the web master.

XV. Bill S1 - Rules of the Student Government Association of WPI - Senator Sprague

Senator Sprague moved for the Senate to adopt the standing rules for this Senatorial Session. Senator Hallissey seconded. Senator Sprague remarked that this has gone through the Policies and Procedures Committee favorably. Senator Vollaro moved to amend Rule 3, Section 8 to include rules on sport conflicts. Senator Cleary seconded. Discussion ensued as to validity of sports as an excuse. Motion withdrawn at this time by Senator Vollaro. Discussion ensued regarding constitutionality of rules. Robert's Rules were suspended for a period of time to discuss informally. Motion was entertained by President Connelly to refer the rules back to committee. Senator Plack moved. Senator Stagg seconded. Discussion regarding constitutionality ensued. Motion to recess for 15 minutes moved by Senator Woodbury. Senator Dutt-Mazumbdar seconded. Motion passes. At 7:15 meeting continued. Senator Plack withdrew motion to refer back to committee. Motion made to amend Rule 3, Section 8, B by Senator Dutt-Mazumbdar. Senator Defronzo seconded. Discussion ensued regarding uncontrollable project meetings. Motion passed as stated. Motion made by Senator Hoffman to amend Rule 3, Section 4. Seconded Senator Cleary. Discussion ensued as to the limit of meeting time. Question called by Senator Hallissey. Motion failed. Senator Vollaro moved to amend Rule 3, Section 8 to include rules on sport conflicts. Senator Hoffman seconded. Discussion ensued as to validity of sports as an excuse. Senator Hallissey called question. Vote on the motion was tied (10-10). President Connelly votes in the affirmative. Motion to amend passes. Treasurer Snow motion to call the question on the main motion. Senator Dutt-Mazumbdar seconded. Motion passes. Main motion is voted upon. Motion passes by required two-thirds vote.

XVI. Bill S2 - An Act to Amend the Constitution (first vote) - Senator Woodbury

Senator Woodbury moved to amend the constitution Article II, Section 6, Item F. Senator Dutt-Mazumbdar seconded. A friendly amendment was accepted to correct grammatical errors. Senator Sprague called question. Motion S2 passed.

XVII. Motion to Reconsider of Bill S1 - Senator Sprague

Motion to reconsider vote on S1 moved by Senator Sprague. Senator Plack seconded. Treasurer Snow motion to lay the motion on the table. Senator Sprague seconded. Motion to lay on the table passed. Motion is now on the table. No further discussion at this time.

XVII. Announcements

Senator Freimuth announced the retreat planes for the upcoming weekend.

Senator Stagg asked that name tags be returned.

President Connelly asked that some of the hard work and enthusiasm that was shown to go into the standing rules be applied by everyone into getting issues form constituents.

XVIII. Adjournment

Motion to adjourned was moved by Senator Hallissey. Senator Woodbury seconded. Motion to adjourn passed at 8:10 PM.

For complete reports or for more information contact the Student Government Office located in Daniels Hall