Oleville

After a relaxing spring break, Senate returned and immediately hit the ground running. Even though emotions ran high, discussion remained professional and productive. That’s just how Senate rolls.

First up was a discussion brought forward by Vice President Kneser regarding media on campus.

Senators remain busy as ever in the Johnson Board room! The week of March 13th found us having some very interesting discussions about substance abuse on campus and what we as student leaders can do to help our fellow Oles stay healthy and safe. The Senate Subcommittee on Drugs and Alcohol gave us a full report of their research and activities this year. Earlier in the semester they hosted a very successful panel event that allowed leaders from Res life, the Wellness Center, SGA and the student body to discuss hot topics surrounding drug and alcohol use on campus. The questions they heard at the panel event meshed well with student feedback they had gotten from tabling earlier in the year. Their gathered information solidified the fact that many students don’t always take the time to learn as much as the can about the alcohol policy on campus. Students need leaders to whom they can look for guidance and support when it comes to the use of alcohol and drugs on campus. While the subcommittee was mainly a research subcommittee, they did come away with a suggestion for the future: student leaders should help the administration provide education for the student body. Along those lines, the subcommittee is considering another panel event in May.

Also on the docket for the evening was discussion of a new proposal brought forward by Senator Riley. Following his work on the Drugs and Alcohol subcommittee, he decided to bring forward a recommendation for Residence Life director Pamela McDowell that would put clearly defined limits on when an RA or JC could enter a room or search through personal possession. It would also further clarify existing guidelines for Res Life workers. There were mixed feelings about the proposal in the board room- many were for further clarification of rules that already existed and were all for better education for students about their rights, but many were opposed to the limitations the recommendation would suggest be placed on RA’s and JC’s who often must respond quickly to potentially dangerous situations with gut reactions. It was feared that the newly-clarified set of guidelines would take those gut reactions out of the picture. In the end, the proposal was tabled for further discussion.

Next, Senators Wilkerson and Obermann brought forward their revised Syllabi Resolution Proposal. Their suggestion for giving students more course information during registration sat well with professors, and the two Senator’s addition of multiple options for information presentation (the addition of an old syllabi for students to see and/or a form the professor would fill out giving more information about their course) seemed to satisfy the needs of students and faculty alike. The proposal passed with little opposition.

What a great meeting! We had some awesome discussions- I’ll highlight them briefly:
1. Mary Cisar, our esteemed Registrar, joined us to discuss all thing registration and SIS. She’s got quite the list of projects aimed at making our SIS experiences more intuitive and more useful. What a great thing to hear for such a technology-focused Senate!
2. Listen up! Registration is coming up fast. Here’s how to make it easier for yourself:
a. DON’T PROCRASTINATE. Hate when you get bumped out of a class right at the last minute? Then don’t be that person who registers right before it closes. This is a community event; the more people that register, the easier it is to see what your projected class schedule will be and the easier it is for Mary and her gang to figure out how to help students get in the classes they need and want. It’s simple. Tell your friends! If we all register early enough, we can have the time to get the schedules we want! Do it!!!
b. ASK QUESTIONS. Confused? Ask! Your JC, your Senator, your older sister or brother, Mary Cisar. Registration doesn’t have to be stressful. Keep your eyes peeled for Peer Advisor events centered around registration.

We had TWO Senate meetings on Tuesday! If you think things couldn’t get more exciting than that, wait ’til you hear what Senate accomplished…

According to our bylaws, all budget-related proposals must be tabled once before being brought to a vote. Usually that means we just wait until our next meeting to pass a proposal. However, TIME WAS OF THE ESSENCE on Tuesday! The Lutefest Subcommittee has been working hard all year to plan a kick-a$$ Lutefest, but, fun fact- they don’t have a budget. And currently, the Lutefest subcommittee has a big-name act on the line for Lute-night. So, Senate voted to temporarily transfer $24,000 to the SAC budget to get their big-name act. Bet you can’t wait to hear who it is!

During our second meeting (in which the Lutefest budget transfer was approved after tabling from the first meeting), Take Back the Tap, a subcommittee of the Environmental Coalition, presented a proposal for a vote on a campus-wide bottled water ban. After a short presentation to Senate and some really good discussion, their proposal was passed and the referendum will subsequently be brought before the student body for a vote. Here’s what it’ll say:

“We, as a student body, support eliminating the sale and distribution of bottled water at St. Olaf College with certain exceptions deemed necessary by the administration to accommodate special circumstances.”

Interested in the reasoning behind the referendum? Keep reading, and keep an eye out for their educational materials soon!

“We want to hold a referendum to let students voice their opinion on this issue. It is a campus wide issue, and the students should have the opportunity to weigh in on how our institution handles it. Our college’s decision to sell or not to sell bottled water sends a message to the wider community of what our operational values are. As students, we have right and responsibility to influence the values system of this college, and voting on the above referendum would give students this chance. From now until the vote is taken, Environmental Coalition will continue to educate the student body about this issue through tabling, discussion groups, a documentary screening, art demonstrations and special talks. The passage of this referendum would not immediately eliminate bottled water from campus; a student referendum does not have that power. However, it would be a powerful statement from the student body to the administration. The student led ‘Take Back the Tap’ group and Environmental Coalition will continue our efforts to make the elimination of bottled water on campus a reality after the vote with our final goal of eliminating bottled water completely by Earth Day 2013.”

Get ready to voice your opinions, Olaf!

Until next time,

Klara

Another long meeting on Tuesday, but we got a lot of work done! The DCC Bylaws changes were passed unanimously, ensuring the bylaws match reality and that DCC can continue to work efficiently. Kristell Cabellero-Saucedo, the DCC coordinator, seemed pleased with the changes made!

Megan Kaszuba (BORSC) and Dean Kneser just got back from the Board of Regents meetings in California. They gave us a powerpoint presentation about the discussions and meetings they observed. The Regents were very impressed by the BORSC report, which was presented as a poignant video about student finances on campus.

The Caf Cam Proposal, brought forward by Kyle Obermann, has sparked a great deal of discussion amongst the student body. Kyle’s survey (sent out to several dorms) gave a clear message, however: the students don’t want a caf cam. With that information, Senate failed the proposal. However, this was a great learning opportunity for what has been a somewhat slow Senate this year. Even though the proposal failed, it elicited the kind of student response and Senate creativity we’ve been looking for all year. Hopefully people (students and Senators alike!) will stop being so afraid to be innovative, and Senate will see lots more interesting ideas in the coming months. I look forward to seeing what pops up next.

What’s on Senate’s radar?

March 8th: Day at the Capitol

Spring Elections!

Take Back the Tap (stay tuned!)

Thanks for reading,

Klara

You know your Senator loves you when they spend almost three hours debating business in the Johnson Board Room on Valentine’s day! Tuesday found us at our longest meeting yet. With a wonderful presentation by representatives from the Student Support Services Executive Committee and not one but four new proposals on the agenda, we had a lot on our proverbial plates!  Here’s a rundown of what we talked about:

Lutefest- What steps can we take to begin changing the dangerous binge-drinking atmosphere of the day?

Proposal 1- Appointment of the Election Commissioner for Spring Elections, Scott Krepsky

Proposal 2- Necessary DCC bylaws changes to make the bylaws truly reflect the workings of the committee. Tabled until next week, as is customary for bylaws-related proposals.

Proposal 3- Place a web cam in the Caf with help from IIT and using funds from the SGA Budget less than or equal to $300. The camera will link to Oleville and will work to show the status of the Caf: Busy? Not busy? This proposal generated a fair amount of discussion. Some Senators thought the camera was a great idea and would help increase traffic to Oleville while also allowing parents or prospective students to get a glimpse of life at St. Olaf. Some Senators thought it was an interesting idea but questioned the necessity of it, especially in regards to funding. Some Senators thought it was kinda creepy. The proposal was tabled until next week, when the discussion will pick up where it left off before hopefully reaching a conclusion.

Proposal 4- Publicly endorse a letter to the Provost of the College and the head of the IIT Department (along with others in the administration) written by President Laven and addressing several issues regarding technology on campus. St. Olaf is a great school; why doesn’t our technology reflect that? The proposal was passed, and a memo is in the works documenting Senate’s support of Laven’s letter.

Once our business was complete, the meeting wrapped up with reports and announcements. I know we’re all excited to finish our lingering discussions next week, and hopefully some interested students will join the deliberations!

Until next time,

Klara

In perhaps the shortest Senate meeting of the year (a relief for hardworking Senators, unfortunate for the visiting students!), Senators had a chance to catch each other up on the activities of their constituencies and the events they had hosted before they looked to the future. Here were some highlights:

-Ellingson “Pie Fridays”

-Hoyme Cuddle-Fest

-Environmental Coalition campus-wide energy saving competition in February

-PAC is now on twitter! @olepac

A short but interesting conversation was also conducted regarding the recent use of the St. Olaf Homepage to plug the CEL and students who have successfully landed corporate jobs. A vocal majority within Senate expressed a desire to see more diversity in the stories being displayed on the webpage. In an effort to better represent the student population, the desire for more diversity was brought directly to President Anderson during a breakfast meeting Wednesday morning. He was very receptive to the student feedback, and since that meeting the website has been updated to include the Peace Corps ranking of the College.

Senate will resume again Feb. 14th. Stay tuned!

Klara Wagnild
Chair of Student Senate
SGA Vice President

After a rather relaxing break, Senate is back up and running with some fresh
faces and fresh ideas! What sort of fresh ideas, you ask? Well, ideas like this new
weekly update, that’s what! What new faces, you may also ask? I’ll tell you. This
month, many of our regular Senators chose to take advantage of St. Olaf’s excellent
Interim study abroad opportunities. In their absence, a handpicked group of
qualified and dynamic proxies have joined our ranks, adding their valuable insights
to discussion during our first Interim meeting of the New Year.
To start 2012 off right, we were given the ever-exciting opportunity to speak
candidly with Kris Vatter, the Director of Student Activities and a member of the
Week One Planning Committee. Kris and the rest of her committee are interested
in hearing directly from students what does and does not work for first years and
transfers during those first few days on campus. What do new students need toknow? What makes them comfortable? What makes them uncomfortable? How
can those first few days become even more effective? After receiving some great
feedback from Senators about their own personal Week One experiences (the good
and the bad), Kris sat back down with a request to return to Senate further along in
the planning process. We look forward to hearing from her again!
We were also lucky to start 2012 with a snappy presentation on the SGA
budget by financial officer Noah Anderson and esteemed President Jon Laven.
Noah ran through each branch’s account activities and numbers and ended the
presentation on a financial high note, indicating that SGA will end the year well. The
floor was then opened to Senators for questions and comments, and some good ideas were set forth for future discussions of budget allocations. If you have any questions about the budget, be sure to email andersnr@stolaf.edu.
Well, that about does it for the first Interim Senate meeting! Be sure to
check back here after our next meeting on Tuesday, January 24th for more info. Or,
feel free to stop by the meeting yourself at 6:30 pm in the Johnson Board Room!
We’re always open and always excited to have visitors. If you have any questions
regarding this update (or about SGA in general!), don’t hesitate to get in touch with
me (Vice President Klara Wagnild), President Jon Laven, or any other member of
Senate. We’re all here for you, 24-7. Have a great day!
Klara Wagnild
Chair of Student Senate
SGA Vice President

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