7 senators resign at Monday meeting

Six senators and one executive board member resigned their positions on Senate at Monday’s meeting.
School senators Sen. Jessica Hartman of B.E.A.M.S.S. resigned because she has another opportunity to further her professional development next semester; Sen. Tileen Sullivan also of B.E.A.M.S.S. resigned because of an overload of classes next semester; and Sen. Annie Johnson of E.H.P.C.P.S.W. resigned as because she will be “very busy” next semester.
At large senator Josh Mayer resigned his position because next semester he would “like to relax.”
Dorm Hall senators Denae Schillings of Kent Hall resigned due to transferring schools next semester, and Sen. Lukas Klueber of Brooks Halls resigned to take over the vice president of finance position. Current Vice President of Finance Curtis Stevens will be student teaching next semester and will not be able to remain in his position, so he resigned.
Chief Justice Sam Merrill said that Sen. Anas Haddahi has missed five meetings and has not turned in a letter of appeal.
A letter sent to CSC Senate from Wayne State Student Senate was shared with all the senators. Senate President Katrina Hurley brought a letter from Wayne State Student Senate that asked for CSC Student Senate to support changing the Nebraska State College System’s Policy 2000 to allow student trustees the power to vote on the NSCS Board. Hurley made it clear that Senate had not expressed support before discussing with senators.
“As of right now, we have not put our support behind any of this and this is not any of our wording,” Hurley said. “This is Wayne State College’s wording as of right now.”
Hurley will have a conference call with both Wayne State and Peru State to discuss this letter and the policy change.
“The Wayne State College Student Senate requests, with the support of the Chadron State College Student Senate and the Peru State College Student Senate, that the Nebraska State College System Board of Trustees amend policy 2000 to explicitly guarantee voting power to all future Student Trustees,” the letter states.
The letter explains that because the NSCS is partially funded by students’ tuition, the students should have “legitimate representation on the Board of Trustees and in all executive sessions.”
Student Trustee Coy Clark said he spoke with Wayne State’s president and trustee and said that Board Policy 2000 does not deal with voting for the NSCS.
The Board is composed of seven members—six appointed by the Governor and the Secretary of Education. There would have to be an amendment to the Nebraska State Constitution to amend the number of members on the Board.
Clark said he is not opposed to letting trustees have a vote, but he disagrees with the way Wayne State went about it.
“Quite frankly, I find that letter insulting,” Clark said. “It’s demanding that we get a vote, as opposed to requesting the support of the Board, which is what it would actually take. Going off of that letter would shoot any chance of a working relationship we have with the Board because it’s demanding, stop-pretending-to-care type language.”
Clark said he wouldn’t object to earning a vote, but he didn’t know if the reward is worth the effort and the continuation of the effort that will have to go behind it.
Schilling said that she didn’t think this letter was professional and recommended that Senate did not support this exact letter.
Clark and Hurley both commented on the number of errors in the letter as well.
Former Student Trustee Mikayla Gallagher, current Liberal Arts senator said that if the Board didn’t care, they wouldn’t allow student trustees to be there.
“Knowing the Board, and being on the Board, this is not the way to go about it,” Gallagher said.
Clark agreed with Gallagher’s statements saying the Board members do take into account what the student trustees have to say.
There was a concern that this letter had already been sent to the Board without first getting CSC’s approval.
Hurley said that if that is the case, they are prepared to send an email saying they have not shown support.
“If they sent this to the Board,” Clark said. “We will have an emergency meeting and Katrina and I will draft a letter saying we did not support it.”
The final nine Senate bylaws revisions were passed. These revisions mainly dealt with wording revisions and spelling mistakes. There was a bylaws added to require senators to serve on at least one Senate Committee, CSC Presidential Committee or CSC Faculty Senate Committee.
The Campus Improvement Committee also revised their bylaws. All dorm senators are now required to serve on the committee. Other changes include the agenda being set by the chairperson now instead of the committee secretary, meetings will be at least biweekly, and the chairperson will not vote unless there is a tie, and the committee now has the power to create ad hoc sub committees.
The Student Health and Well-being Committee also presented bylaws to be approved. Committee Chair Konery Klueber will make corrections to the bylaws and present at the next Senate meeting in January.
Lukas Kluebert also mentioned incentives for senators again and wanted to be brought up again. Hurley said she the incentives are still being researched.
Student Trustee Coy Clark said he, Hartman and Hurley met with administration about the coffee shop concerning changes to make it more reputable.
“The way I see it now, personally, is I see it as people who are already in the library go to the coffee shop to get something to drink and snacks,” Clark said. “I don’t see it as people leaving their dorms to go to the coffee shop to get coffee. So be thinking of ways that we can make that a destination that is set apart others.”
The coffee shop is ran 1/3 by student fees, 1/3 by revenue bonds and 1/3 by faculty, Hurley said, and the money is made back through cash sales only, Hurley said.
Hartman said that there are chalkboards in two of the classrooms and wanted to look into getting whiteboards as replacements. The issue was moved to the campus improvement committee.
Lukas Kluebert also mentioned that Brooks Hall’s stove does not work properly and Carly Slaugt commented that all the halls have that issue. That issue was moved to the campus improvement committee.
Stevens reported $58,701.33 in unallocated projected funds.