Unofficial Minutes of the Undergraduate Student Government Association

Held in the Lower Wedge

I. Meeting called to order at 6:00pm.

II. Roll Call

Executive Board: Matthew Freimuth, President; Cindy Vollaro, Vice-President; Jennx Yambert, Secretary; Mickey Lacroix, Treasurer.

Senate: Alfred Andrade, Jonathan Chaillet, Heather Cleary, Matthew Defronzo, Terry Fay, Marni Hall, Jennifer Johnson, Chris Mello, Jeremy Olszewski, James (Ben) Petro, Derek Sickman, Gregory Snow, Kristen Stagg, Tim Tully, Jason Willey, Adam Woodbury.

Absent: James Armitage, Shawn Ayube, Tanya Corrado, Michael Scott, Justin Sprague, Kenneth Volock (excused).

Needed for quorum were sixteen (16), nineteen (19) were present at the start of the meeting.

III. Approval of the minutes for April 2, 1996.

Senator Sickman pointed out that he is not the Chair of Policies and Procedures. The minutes were amended by crossing out the title of Chair in front of his name.

The minutes were approved as amended.

IV. President's Report

President Freimuth informed the Senate that he had appointed Senators Snow and Sickman to fill the vacant Class I and Class II (respectively) Assistant Treasurer positions. He then entertained a motion to approve his appointments. The approval was moved by Senator Defronzo and seconded by Senator Mello. The appointments were approved.

President Freimuth also informed the Senate that he had decided to appoint Timothy Adams to one of the open Senate seats, and he entertained a motion to approve that appointment. The approval was moved by Senator Defronzo and seconded by Senator Chaillet. The appointment was approved.

President Freimuth informed the Senate that Sundeep Reddy had resigned his Senate seat due to academic pressures, but assured the Senate that Sundeep plans to seek reappointment in A-term.

There are currently three (3) Senate seats open.

V. Committee Reports

SGA Committees

Committee on Academic Issues (CAI)

Chair Hall reported that the committee had discussed having CAI members seek appointments on Institute committees.

The committee also determined that CAI members should attend the meetings of the Institute's Academic Honesty Committee in light of the fact that both CAI and that committee are concerned with the issue of academic honesty. The committee decided that CAI should continue working on a student to student academic honesty code, even though there is an Institute committee to address the issue of academic honesty.

Chair Hall also told the Senate that the TA Survey results had been analyzed, and that the results will be presented to Dean Durgin soon.

Committee on Student Life Issues (CSLI)

Chair Woodbury informed the Senate of several issues that CSLI hopes to address before the end of this academic year, which include: looking into the on-campus housing process, overseeing the Trustee Mentor Program, acquiring a ride board for the first floor of Daniels Hall, examining the feasibility of more on-campus kiosks, acquiring a new change machine to supplement the one currently in the SGA office, having a microwave put into the Grill for use by the WPI community, and sponsoring an SGA Nap to give students a chance to relax during finals.

Chair Woodbury also told the Senate what goals CSLI has set for the upcoming school year. These include: addressing the Consortium Shuttle Bus schedule, questioning the need of a liquor license for Gompei's, looking at the Health Services absences policy, addressing room reservation policies for student groups, addressing the WPI Ambassador Program, and addressing the issue of students parking on Schussler Street.

Policies and Procedures (P&P)

Chair Olszewski informed the Senate that there had been no formal meeting, but that P&P plans to look at several issues, such as: creating a binder of office procedures so that senators can more effectively serve their office hours, and reanalyzing the required duties of Senators.

Public Relations (PR)

Chair Snow told the Senate that he hopes to give a full report of PR upcoming activities at the next Senate meeting.

Institute Committees

Committee on Student Advising (CSA)

Representative Hanson reported that the committee had discussed whether or not there is a better way to get student's grades to them during school breaks.

Committee on Academic Policy (CAP)

Representative Reidy said that committee had discussed the Academic Vision Statement, and that the discussion will continue at the next meeting.

Academic Honesty

Senator Hall reported that encouraged by the fact that the Institute committee seems interested in working with CAI concerning the development of an academic honesty policy.

Senator Woodbury stated that he was very pleased by the committee's focus on the faculty's responsibility to maintaining an academic honesty code.

VI. Old Business

Senator Woodbury moved to reconsider the motion to send Senate Bill 96S.35 to committee, and was seconded by Senator Chaillet. The motion to reconsider passed, and the motion to refer the bill to committee was brought to the floor.

Senator Woodbury withdrew his motion to refer Bill 96S.35 to Appropriations for the period of two weeks, and the bill was brought to the floor.

Senator Snow moved to amend the Wireless Association Special Funding Request to read the funding amount of $2, 099.00 instead of the proposed $4075.00, and was seconded by Senator Chaillet. Senator Defronzo moved to call the question and was seconded by Senator Chaillet. The question was called and the amendment was put to a vote. The amendment passed.

Senator Sickman moved to call the question on the main motion, and the question was called. The motion failed.

VII. New Business

S.37 Cheer Leading Special Funding Request

Senator Sickman moved the Bill and was seconded by Senator Chaillet. The Cheer Leaders were asked if they had made any efforts to raise the needed money for themselves. They responded that their efforts had not been successful in raising enough money.

Senator Defronzo moved to send the bill to P&P for a period of two weeks to consider the Cheer Leader's organizational classification. He raised the question of the organization's classification as Class II. He pointed out that their constitution limits the number of people that can be on the squad, and wondered if that was an exclusionary policy which would exclude them from Class II. Senator Woodbury proposed a friendly amendment to change the time period to one week, the amendment was accepted. Senator Hall moved to call the question and was seconded by Senator Woodbury. The question was called. The motion to refer the bill to committee failed.

Senator Woodbury proposed an amendment to add the contingency that no money will be given until the Cheer Leaders change their constitution so it no longer limits the number of people allowed on the squad, and was seconded by Senator Olszewski. The amendment failed.

Senator Snow moved to call the question on the main motion. The question was called, a roll call vote was called for. The main motion passed with 14 ayes, 2 nays and 4 abstentions.

Senator Snow called to hear further new business and was seconded by Senator Woodbury. The Senate voted to hear further New Business.

S.38 Sense of the Senate Resolution

Senator Snow moved to pass bill S.38, and was seconded by Senator Woodbury. The resolution stated that that P&P would examine the constitutional requirements for removal of Senators, and that the Secretary would not enforce the current rule until it had been explained or amended.

Senator Andrade moved to table the resolution indefinitely, and was seconded by Senator Sickman. The motion to table failed.

Senator Woodbury suggested a friendly amendment to reword the resolution so that P&P would be required to state a full rationalefor the policy if it did not propose an amendment to the policy. Senator Defronzo objected, and the amendment was dismissed.

Senator Hall proposed a friendly amendment to require a constitutional amendment instead of making it simply an option. The amendment was accepted.

Senator Olszewski moved to call the question. The question was called. The resolution passed.

VIII. Treasurer's Remarks

No remarks.

X. Secretary's Remarks

Secretary Yambert reminded the Senate that they are still responsible for fulfilling their duties as described by the SGA governing documents, even though removal from office policies will not be enforced for the next two weeks.

XI. Vice-President's Remarks

Vice-President Vollaro encouraged Senators and all interested to apply for appointment to Institute Committees.

Vice-President Vollaro also reminded Senators to sign up for the required two office hours.

XII. President's Remarks

President Freimuth informed the Senate that Paul Davis had requested that SGA members attend the 25th Anniversary Colloquium.

President Freimuth told the Senate to keep open the date of April 24 as a possible date for the SGA end of the year barbecue.

President Freimuth also told the Senate that the international students have started a petition that will be posted in the office.

XIII. Announcements

Senator Snow told the Senate that Newspeak had failed to print some announcements he sent them. He stated the concern that perhaps the omission was due to space constraints in the paper . He suggested that perhaps the minutes not be sent in to be printed when SGA has important announcements that need to get printed in the future, to help cut down on the space taken up in the paper.

Senator Sickman moved to dispense with the final roll call. The motion carried, and the roll call was dispensed with.

Sundeep Reddy announced that there will be a College Consortium event on April 20.

XIV. Roll Call & Adjournment

Senator Woodbury moved to adjourn and was seconded by Senator Defronzo. The motion carried.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:28pm.

Jennx Yambert, SGA Secretary

Agenda for the Meeting of April 16, 1996

I. Call to Order

II. Roll Call

III. Approval of the Minutes for April 9, 1996

IV. President's Report

V. Committee Reports

- SGA Committees

- Institute Committees

VI. Old Business

VII. New Business

- S.39 Student Response to Proposed Academic Vision Statement

VIII. Treasurer's Remarks

IX. Secretary's Remarks

X. Vice-President's Remarks

XI. President's Remarks

XII. Announcements

XIII. Roll Call & Adjournment