Minutes 11.18.08

Agenda

Tuesday November 18^th, 2008

6:30 p.m. Mills Library

I. Call to Order

II. Special Business           

III. Announcements and Constituent Concerns

• Why are the leaves being blown away? It is a safety issue because they get wet and slippery and you are more likely to fall. It is also easier to blow them away before they decompose and get too nasty.
• Galloway girls want access to open the third door closest to campus!
• No vending machines in Mills St apartments
• Instead of paper towel dispensers in the library, can we get air dryers? How about everywhere?
• Fold out ironing board in Martin laundry room?
• Can we get confiscated items back? When RAs confiscate something, generally drugs and alcohol are not given back; extension cords or candles and etc. can be re-obtained though. Just keep your confiscation receipt and go see your head RA.
• Why isn’t Odyssey funding done blindly? Lydia heard that if you get funding once or twice before, they are less likely to give you funding for the next time.
• Derek asked sophomores “How do you feel about the laundry situation, how we pay for it and such?” Derek and Karla will visit and talk it out.
• Meal plan for off-campus students: can we change how many meals you get in a week or a semester? We’ll continue to talk with Rob and Dining Services about that. Just keep this in mind though: the more flexible the meal plans get, the more expensive they will get as well. We want to get it just right.
• There are still some kids who cannot open the KHDX office. Tell them to shoot Becca an e-mail.

IV. Departmental Liaison Reports

• WAC advisory meeting on Thursday! Holler at Mac with your opinions.
• Nick has a meeting with Senator Gilbert Baker this week. If you have any concerns with Faulkner County or anything in the community, holler at Nick.
• Oh hey! That sidewalk that doesn’t really lead to anywhere was not put there by Hendrix. The city did that.
• Light walk: there are a couple of dark places around campus and these will be worked on. Tree limbs, other lamps, and etc. have been observed and will also be adjusted.
• Couch trash can???

V. Committee Reports

• Media Committee with Fraser Holmes           
  • Several complaints about Troubadour Editor by workers.
  • Media needs to meet as soon as we get back from Thanksgiving break.
• Multicultural Development Committee with Ashley Easter
  • Soul Karaoke! Burrow tomorrow (Nov. 19) at 7:00 PM! There will be food and refreshments!
  • Instead of T-shirts, they want boxers (with writing on the behind)!
• Social Committee with Jake Eddington 
  • Spent about half of what they received for their retreat, so the other half will be given back to Senate
  • The retreat went well and they have composed many goals!
    • They want to go green and want to start with getting organic T-shirts and the such
    • More creative publicity
    • Be open to other committees and organizations on “how-to” for various things they may not know how to do or need more help on
  • SOCO 54 SATURDAY AT 9:00 PM in Hulen Ballroom. Get your wristbands during lunch! Are you ready???
• Volunteer Action Committee with Larnie Campbell
  • Last two service Saturdays:
    Friday Bingo went well, and Saturday’s Care Caps was great with CHANNEL 11 NEWS COVERAGE!
  • T-shirts are on sale now!
  • Canned food drive for Thanksgiving Basket give-away. Bring 5 cans and you can get half off on your shirt (that means you’ll only have to pay 5 bucks!). There are boxes in the sun porch where you can drop your cans off.
  • Pancake breakfast Dec. 6 Service Saturday. More details to come.
• Residence Life Committee With Mac Barnes
  • Informal meeting with all the hall council presidents occurred
  • They’ll meet twice a month when we come back
  • Constitution revisions will be made.
• Campus Kitty with Alex Graddy-Reed     
  • Faculty/Staff Talent show: Dec 8 at 8 PM in the Burrow!
  • Holiday Bazaar! Tuesday (Reading Day) Dec 9 from 10-6. Give Alex a holler if you want a table.
• Environmental Concerns Committee with Wendell Cathcart and Katherine Roehm
  • Glass recycling signs have been painted on the receptacles. High five!
  • Making headway on biodegradable cups in the burrow! Pilot program being worked out with Mr. Flory in dining services.
• Academic Policy with Samantha Bode
• Student and Academic Concerns Committee with Samantha Bode and Jayce Hafner
  • Road Clean up: 7 people showed and it was a success!
• Finance Committee with Alex Graddy-Reed
  • See below for the full proposals.
  • ECC: Collegiate Green Building Challenge. PASSED: $462.00!
  • VAC—PASSED: $1200.00!
  • Raney Hall— Debate and discussion occurred and it PASSED: $250.00!
  • Auditing: CK, ACS, Phi Beta Lambda, Sociology/Anthropology, AED, RLC, Alpha Psi Omega, Bee Keeping, ECC, FCA, CCM, Jewish Student Organization, Classics Club, Senate, Hendrix Knitting Circle. If your name is NOT on this list, Alex will be asking you questions. No worries though!
• Communications Committee with Kristi Vo
  • We’ll meet this week and discuss the deadline for notes and maybe make revisions to our bylaws.
  • A Senate Profile article for every publication in the future? Thanks for the inspiration, Jacob.
  • Table Talk is on after this break with a chance for a student to "Guess that Senator" at the meeting and win cool prizes [including the HUGE senate cup and 5 Burrow Bucks that will go directly into their account]!
  • Complaint box in the burrow on the way!
  • Facebook group. Is there already one? Should we have one?
  • Lydia's cool senator project idea: every senator should have their own project (especially since each of you definitely have an interest in improving Hendrix in specific ways and whatnot) that they seek to complete throughout their term; could possibly be one of their platforms!
  • Rotational meeting: Umm... everyone liked the Burrow meeting the most and don't really want to go to everyone's dorms anymore. We're not having a December location either. So we’ll just meet in the Burrow once a month next semester!
  • Shirts should be in by Monday! I’ll send an e-mail after I pick them up if you want to receive yours before Thanksgiving break.
• Committee on Committees with Nick Balée
  • Meeting with Dean Jim Wiltgen to work on the student handbook.
  • If you have any concerns/ideas/complaints, holler at Nick
• Executive Committee with BJ Fogleman
  • If people feel they have been ticketed unnecessarily, tell them to holler at Annie.
  • Printed notes are no different than e-mailed notes. Get them out on time please.
  • Student Life Committee met today: revisions about appeals process in the works
  • No meeting next week (the 25^th), but we will meet on the following week (the 2^nd) and Reading Day (the 9^th)

VI. Unfinished Business

• Football Amendment: forbid senate to use student activity fee to promote football (tailgating, other football related events) to minimize impact of football on the campus and our social life. We’ve got about 400 signatures. Looks like there is a lot of campus support.
  • Are we specifically picking on football? Why do we have the right to have such a significant effect in the future? But hey, if the future senates disagree with it, they have the power to amend it again.
  • Chance has had an overwhelming amount of pages on this issue. However, 70% of us who took the football survey said they did not want football here. A professor even walked by and said he/she was glad Chance, Jacob, and Co. were doing this.
  • Becca and several others were torn in extending this to all athletics. The athletics department will take care of football. Remember Friday Night Styx? Our sports are indeed being funded. However, it may take away from us having spirit filled activities (homecoming, hellraisers, etc.).
  • Alex says it is making a statement, but at the end of the day it is a funding issue. Why not make an amendment to the bylaws instead of the constitution?
  • Nick agrees with Alex and says it should go under the FinCom document.
  • Will Green says the constitution is indeed not the right place to put this. He believes this is a slippery slope. Many students are involved in varsity sports. This amendment would ostracize a number of students. The job of this organization is public relations. We have to maintain good relations with the student body and such an amendment will prohibit this; even with faculty and board of trustees. Although he thought bringing football was a poor decision, he believes if we want to maintain a good relationship with students, faculty, and board of trustees, this will be a bad public move. He strongly recommends for us to consider all of these things as we vote.
  • Mac agrees and disagrees with Will. Hendrix has been here and has attracted the same type of students for that amount of time. He doesn’t believe that football will make a huge change besides maybe taking away from other fall sports. The number one priority is to teach students. If the students don’t want something, then you should listen to them. The majority of the type of person who come here will be the same nonetheless (whether football is funded/supported by us or not). Why can’t we just agree on making this amendment and show them that we can get around anything they [the board of trustees] decide?
  • Fraser: I resent football being passed. Not so much because 70% of the students didn’t want it, but because 80% of the faculty didn’t want it. We dedicate 4 years to this institution, and the faculty probably dedicate 30+ years to this institution. This amendment may not be a positive concrete solution to this; it is vague and early. For us to pass an amendment right now while we may not have football until 3 Septembers from now… what defines us as Hendrix students is that we are open and welcoming to the community. It is in our best interests to treat them as we would want to be treated as students and not as athletes. I think this is a damaging statement to make. Think about the implications; what does this justify.
  • BJ: initially he was very for this amendment. He is not against it now either, just a bit indifferent. He doesn’t think it should be geared towards all sports either now. It will be limiting the programming. It is hard for a college to be innovative and draw more people. Should we be taking this away? Yes, we should make a statement, but this may not be the right way to do so. Yes Will, this is indeed a slippery slope and has become dangerous ground. We funded Ultimate Frisbee in full. So if this is passed, we would be taking that away. However, if  passed, future senates can check and vote on it annually.
  • Ashley Easter: it does open the door to discrimination to other organizations. We need to reach a compromise and sit on this for a few months. Football is not here yet, we won’t know what kind of impact it will make until it gets here. The [Hendrix] environment is changing all the time; there is even a difference between the class of 2012 and 2009. We need to be very specific if we are going to pass this and say that we are not meaning to put forth that slippery slope. We need to allow future senates to vote on this as often as necessary if it does pass.
  • Nick brought up the Hendrix Senate Preamble earlier. Will says it may sound silly but in the future it may still be discriminatory since it is an all male sport. We are a campus that is open. This is discrimination; it opens up the door to such in the future. Future senates may look back on this football amendment and if they disagree with one organization, this may happen again. He just doesn’t think this makes any sense. Future senates will probably not want to vote on this year after year.
  • Nick moves to deny this amendment and make an ad hoc committee to define senate’s role in football. Chance thinks we should openly discuss this here and not in some committee. As a group, how are we going to respond to this? Maybe not completely tonight, but let’s keep talking about it.
  • Mac and Lauren both received e-mails by their constituents telling them how they should vote and letting them know their opinion. So did Thomas. Most were all very against the football team, but they were also concerned about the discrimination it would bring. Thomas doesn’t see how we have the right to hold what the board of trustees did to us in such a way. He reads several e-mails from his constituents. We will not be directly affected by the football team.
  • Nick’s motion fails. [Check out the voting track online]
  • Chance: We must consider the ramifications of our actions—that’s for certain. We are in a college that listens to our people. We need to figure out, as a senate, what are we going to do, how are we going to prepare for it, and what kind of relationship we will have with faculty/staff/board of trustees; let’s not lose sight of what we are here to do which is represent our students.
  •  Will says we’ll be plugging these students into boxes before we even meet them. He feels really uncomfortable stereotyping these football players before we meet them. We want to address all the needs and expressions of the student [unto the whole person] whether it be by football, senate, etc.
  • Jacob: We want to still stay positive with the administration; we can still openly disagree with them and be positive. We are answering what our students want. The faculty won’t necessarily disagree with this. The slippery slope argument: we’re just creating one without a good basis. I’m not trying to discriminate; they have the right to play the sport because the school is bringing them. They can have their own events; we’ll just be minimizing the impact and making them less dominant. They still have every right to go play. I don’t think they’ll think we don’t like them. Future senates will be able to interpret this however they like. This is only a prevention measure. Becca: We can verbally set it up to explain why the amendment is there too.
  • Mac agrees with the petition. Maybe we can write some formal letter and send it with the petition to the athletic department instead of putting it into the constitution.
  • Alex: it is a funding policy. I don’t think this has a lasting effect.
  • Jake: If we pass this amendment, we’re saying we do not have control on the football events. They will still be there since the athletic department will make them happen. If we can still fund events for football, we can make it into something that is Hendrix. We can make a new tradition out of football that says this is who we are, we’re adaptable, we make the best of situations and not sit around and complain. Will likes this idea; instead of us becoming football, football can totally become Hendrix.
  • Becca doesn’t think this amendment is the best way—this issue here is that we can’t really make an impact on the future Hendrix based on this. Why not just take the graduates name off of any solicitor’s list so they won’t give back in response to this? She was going to give the WAC a waterslide with her name on it, but not anymore!
  • Jayce: the fact that you are trying to represent the student body is great. But we really don’t know the students who are coming with football. Regardless, it doesn’t seem fair since we have not yet met them. It is discriminatory and there is a better way to do this.
  • Jim: other sports have a history here. Doesn’t football too? Yes!
  • Derek: students deserve a chance to say what they feel. This is something important—that we give the students a say. That’s why we’re doing with this.
  • Keep this in mind when sending your notes: Faculty said no; administration (which includes faculty) did not make the decision, the board of trustees made the decision.
  • Jacob: I’ll have enough signatures so we will have to vote. This is our opportunity to shape football (to make it ours and not us). I think this is the way to keep Hendrix the way it is and will be.
  • The vote: did not pass [Check out the voting track online]. Great discussion though!
• Proposed Impeachments [articles of impeachment being motioned per violations; see violations below]
  • Nick has missed 3 executive meetings. Exec meetings were established last semester. (Sorry, these were not on the sheet I printed off for you, but the dates are as follows: 8/31, 9/14, and 10/12). No motion to put Nick up for impeachment. He thanks everyone for not impeaching him!
  • Jacob: No motion to put Jacob up for impeachment.
  • Corey: No motion to put Corey up for impeachment.
  • Lauren: No motion to put Lauren up for impeachment.
  • Derek: No motion to put Derek up for impeachment.
  • Chance: No motion to put Chance up for impeachment. He is making the changes necessary to improve in regulation. His notes are lovely. Take a look sometime!
  • Jacob: No motion to put Jacob up for impeachment.
  • Lydia: No motion to put Lydia up for impeachment.
  • Jake says (from a SoCo chair standpoint): if we have an event on Saturday and you send your notes on Sunday, it does us no good. Getting them out on time is important. He loves Chance’s notes too, by the way. 

VII. New Business

• Changing the impeachment process. BJ feels that this is very ineffective. Once you violate this, you are gone and you’ll have to fight to get back on. We’ll look into this. Becca motions to make a committee; Karla suggests that it just goes to Contitutional Review Committee.
  • Execs will draft it and the Constitutional Review Committee can review it.
  • We’re not trying to single you out.
• Learn the Hustle!!! 

VIII. Adjournment until December 2^nd, 2008 

Clean up:  Apartments, Houses, Off-Campus 

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Proposals for Discretionary for November 18, 2008 

1.) ECC, Requesting $462.00, Fin Com Recommends: $462.00

For: Green Tour of Sustainable Development in Little Rock and North Little Rock on 11/22/2008 from 11 am to 3:30 pm

At Various sites throughout Little Rock

2.) VAC, Requesting $1,200, Fin Com Recommends; $1,200

VAC Hump Night with Band the Damn Bullets, on December 3, 2009 from 8:30-11
VAC will baby sit faculty/staff kids from 6-8 and then VAC will have the Damn Bullets perform.  The cost for the band is $1,200

3.) Raney Hall, Requesting $1,085.09, Fin Com Recommends $250

Unlike most of the other residence halls, Raney Hall has not had a campus-wide event in previous years. In an effort to change this, we are throwing a “Winter Wonderland Banquet” on December 6. We need your help to fund this event. The event is meant to provide an alternative for students looking for dinner on a Saturday night. The banquet would be open to all students, and a recently created Facebook event has already shown widespread interest beyond Raney members. This event would not only be a fun way for students to get a free dinner on Saturday night but represents a conscious effort on the part of the Raney Hall Council to make the residence hall a more visible presence on campus. In obtaining funding for the Raney Winter Wonderland Banquet, we would give all Hendrix students the chance for a free Saturday dinner, as well as a social event before the start of finals. It would also be an important step toward achieving our continuing goal of being more actively involved in the Hendrix community. Attached you will find an Excel spreadsheet detailing the items we would like to purchase for this event. We appreciate your consideration of our proposal and hope

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List of Senators with missed notes, unexcused absences, and notes sent after the deadline
Failure to send notes
9.9.2008: Lydia Nash
9.30.2008: Corey Nesbit
10.7.2008: Mac Barnes, Lydia Nash
10.14.2008: Derek Cash, Corey Nesbit

Unexcused absences
9.23.2008: Annie French
10.14.2008: Jacob Kauffman
10.28.2008: Jacob Kauffman

Total count
Lydia—2
Corey—2
Mac—1
Derek—1
Annie—1
Jacob—2

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LATE NOTES
9.2.2008
-DEREK: Saturday, 9.6.2008 at 4:38 PM [4 hours and 38 minutes overdue]
9.9.2008
-GREAT JOB EVERYBODY!  =)
9.16.2008
-CHANCE: Saturday, 9.20.2008 at 12:10 PM [10 minutes overdue]
9.23.2008
-CHANCE: Saturday, 9.27.2008 at 12:14 PM [14 minutes overdue]
9.30.2008
-CHANCE: Saturday, 10.4.2008 at 2:04 PM [2 hours and 4 minutes overdue]
-DEREK: Saturday, 10.4.2008 at 12:06 PM [6 minutes overdue]
-JACOB: Saturday, 10.4.2008 at 4:16 PM [4 hours and 16 minutes]
-LAUREN: Saturday, 10.4.2008 at 1:24 PM [1 hour and 24 minutes overdue]
-MAC: Sunday, 10.5.2008 at 3:49 PM [27 hours and 49 minutes overdue]
-LYDIA: Sunday, 10:51 AM [22 hours and 51 minutes overdue]
10.7.2008
-CHANCE: Saturday, 10.11.2008 at 12:32 PM [32 minutes overdue]
-JACOB: Saturday, 10.11.2008 at 4:55 PM [4 hours and 55 minutes overdue]
10.14.2008
-ANNIE: Saturday, 10.18.2008 at 3:44 PM [3 hours and 44 minutes overdue]
10.21.2008
-JACOB: Saturday, 10.25.2008 at 6:03 PM [6 hours and 3 minutes overdue]
-LAUREN: Saturday, 10.25.2008 at 2:18 PM [2 hours and 18 minutes overdue]
-COREY: * combined with the Halloween dorm dick
10.28.2008
-CHANCE: Saturday, 11.1.2008 at 12:17 PM [17 minutes overdue]
-DEREK: Saturday, 11.1.2008 at 12:21 PM [21 minutes overdue]
-JACOB: Saturday, 11.1.2008 at 8:15 PM [8 hours and 15 minutes overdue]
-LYDIA: Saturday, 11.1.2008 at 5:19 PM [5 hours and 19 minutes overdue]
11.4.2008
-CHANCE: TUESDAY, 11.11.2008 at 5:18 PM [41 hours and 18 minutes overdue]
-ANNIE: Sunday, 11.2.2008 at 1:40 PM [25 hours and 40 minutes overdue] certain date of when notes were sent out to constituents is questionable since she said, “These will be in the Vajayjay.” **
-JACOB: Saturday, 11.8.2008 at 4:32 PM [4 hours and 32 minutes overdue]
-LAUREN: Saturday, 11.8.2008 at 11:25 PM [11 hours and 25 minutes overdue]
-COREY: * combined with the following week’s dorm dick
11.11.2008
-LAUREN: Saturday, 11.15.2008 at 7:18 PM [7 hours and 18 minutes overdue]

Total count
Chance—6
Derek—4
Jacob—4
Lauren—4
Lydia—2
Mac—1
Annie—2 ** [time/date of notes sent for 9/19, 9/26, and 10/3 are ambiguous]
Corey—2 * When is the dorm dick normally published? We need to get on a regular basis or just send the senate notes weekly by e-mail

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TOTAL TOTALS
Chance—6
Derek—4
Jacob—6
Lauren—4
Lydia—4
Mac—2
Annie—3 **
Corey—4 *