Senate allocates $10k at first meeting

At the first meeting of the semester, Student Senate allocated no more than $3,500 for an inflatable outdoor movie screen for CAB and no more than $7,000 for The Week of Welcome.

Senate President Katrina Hurley said the reason the money for The Week of Welcome was allocated after the fact was because Senate forgot to allocate money for The Week of Welcome before the Spring 2015 semester ended. Hurley said usually any allocation of more than $5,000 would be brought up in a public forum before voting on the allocation at Senate so senators and constituents would have an opportunity to discuss.

Senate discussed the allocation for the movie screen at the last meeting of the Spring 2015 semester and waited to vote until after senators were able to talk to constituents about the screen.

The movie screen is between 16 and 18 feet and will be available for any student to use via a club.

Student Senate Treasurer Nathaniel Jones reported that Senate’s budget has about $141,000 in rollover from last year’s funds. He said they are projecting to have $179,000 in student fees. He said only half of that will come this semester and he said so far they have collected $83,000. Jones said after the allocations for the movie screen, The Week of Welcome, $20,000 for the pool, and $154,000 for clubs last year, the Senate budget is sitting at about $135,000.

Hurley said the $20,000 for the pool had to be allocated because it was something that was agreed on between the college and the city a couple years ago.

Hurley said there are still positions on Senate that need filled. She reported that all the dorm representatives are open and elections will be within the first three weeks. A petition form is available on the senate webpage, www.csc.edu/senate, to apply for a dorm representatives position. Chief Justice Coy Clark said petition are due to him by 5 p.m., Sunday.

There is also one liberal arts position open, two B.E.A.M.S.S. positions, three E.H.P.C.P.S.W. positions, two at-large positions, and two chief justices positions.

To apply for a school representative or at-large representative, a resume, cover letter, and three letters of recommendations are due to Hurley by Monday.  Chief justices have to be a full time student with at least a 3.0 GPA. They cannot hold any other position on Senate, CAB executive board, nor any other subcommittee of Senate. A resume, cover letter and three recommendations are also due Monday.

CSC President Randy Rhine attended the meeting to tell senators that he appreciated their efforts and to let them know his door is always open. The administration wants to hear their opinions so things can change for the better for the students on campus.

Senior Director of Student Affairs and Senate Adviser Pat Beu told senators to look for important issues and set goals for the year. He also introduced Chris Green, who is the new director of student activities and affairs.

Adviser Deena Kennell said she wants senators to take advantage of the opportunity that is presented to them by being placed in the roles they are in. She also said the advisers of Student Senate have taken a pledge to take a more active role in Senate.

Susan Schaeffer, adviser to Student Senate, passed out handouts of “Robert’s Rules for Participating in Meetings” for all those present at the meeting. She also included “Robert’s Rules Process for Handling a Main Motion.” She reminded senators that it says in their constitution that they will follow Robert’s Rules of Order.