SGA Meeting 09/08/13
Natalie calls the meeting to order at 7:10 PM.
Absent: Karina Siu, Lindsey Crowe, Sofia Oleas, Rosie McInnes
SGA 101:
Natalie Kato ‘14: Welcome to the weekly SGA meeting. We are so happy to have all of you guys here, especially the class of 2017. We are going to do a brief SGA 101, go through what you can expect out of a typical SGA meeting and the language that is used. Before we start, we are going to introduce ourselves. My name is Natalie and I am SGA president.
Rebecca Cook ’15: I’m Rebecca and I am SGA vice-president.
Syona Arora ’15: My name is Syona and I’m the secretary of SGA.
Amy Chen ’14: I’m Amy, I’m the SGA treasurer.
Amani Chowdhury ’14: I’m Amani, I’m head of the honor board.
Natalie Kato ’14: The people up here are the SGA Executive Board. The people who were called during roll call make up the SGA assembly, also known as the representative council. They are voting members of the assembly. Other committees and boards are listed on the screen. We have the appointments committee, etc. many different types of committees. A lot of them go through the appointments process. The assembly meets every Sunday at 7 PM in the Campus Center main lounge. In order to speak into the mic or contribute, you need to be on the Campus Center main lounge floor. If you are in the balcony, you are not considered to be a part of the meeting. You must be on the Campus Center main lounge in order to participate. Also listed on the screen are the different representatives called during roll call that have voting positions and are here in the audience. Some of them will be elected later this month.
What typically happens on a Sunday night: roll call, and then we have announcements and Your 2 Cents and agenda items for discussion and old business and new business. We are going to briefly go through what each of these mean. At this meeting, we are not going in order – we wanted to do SGA 101 before we get to announcements and Your 2 Cents. Syona did roll call; announcements – anyone can come up to the mic and make any announcements of events or forums that they think the community should hear about. Your 2 cents – any community member can bring something to discuss, bring forward a question to the community, or hold a straw poll. Assembly members – you are not representing your position during that time. After that, agenda items, which could include discussion in small groups, bringing administrators or people from campus to discuss different things that are happening, things like that. Old business is a time when assembly members can come forward and bring information that has been previously discussed. Last semester we had discussed Haffner construction, so during old business someone could bring back Haffner construction and we could discuss or bring solutions to these questions. After that is new business, which is a time when representatives can bring up new business on behalf of their constituents. Assembly members, you are representing of their position. For example, traditions will talk about something traditions related.
We want to encourage discussion, especially at SGA meetings. We want to hear everyone’s opinion. Voices should be heard, and you shouldn’t be judged for what you are going to bring to this community. We are all self-governing. We want to encourage this sort of discussion and foster a community in which we feel safe and comfortable.
Motions! Almost all motions must be made and then seconded and then voted on by assembly members. Community members must ask an assembly member to motion for you. A good example is “motion to extend time”. Say that we have come to a time period for doing SGA 101 that we have allotted and we wanted to continue the discussion of SGA 101. An assembly member would say “motion to extend time”, somebody would second it, and then there must be a 2/3rds majority that wishes to extend time.
Colin Baumann’14: Is the 2/3rds vote open to all assembly members or for co-positions is it only one vote per co-held positions?
Natalie Kato ‘14: When you are going to speak at an SGA meeting, it is helpful for Syona if you say your name and class year.
SGA slang. There are the different motions that are used during SGA meetings. All of these are available on the SGA website: sga.blogs.brynmawr.edu. Main motion – motion to discuss, extend time, call the question (we are going to vote), table (talking about it at a later time), point of order (out of line), point of information (contribute information or ask to clarify), motion to adjourn, friendly amendment, unfriendly amendment – let’s change this, let’s vote on the change. A friendly or unfriendly amendment is determined by who is presenting the information.
Voting – done by a hand count by the executive board. Only assembly members are allowed to vote except in straw polls. A straw poll is open to anyone in the Bryn Mawr community. I am going to hold a straw poll for everyone who likes peanut butter. If you are in favor of having peanut butter forever in the dining hall, raise your hand. Anyone in favor of not having peanut butter ever in the dining halls, raise your hand. Abstain means that you do not necessarily care one way or another in a straw poll; during an assembly member vote you have to think about who you are representing. You may not think that your position necessarily has representation in what we are voting on so you might abstain.
Next we have some important and exciting dates. Plenary is September 29th at noon in Goodhart – mark your calendars! Assembly members are expected to come and hang out early; you’ll get a cool shirt. Anyone and everyone is welcome to help out and get a cool t-shirt. Stay in the loop with everything SGA – come to SGA meetings, visit the blog, like us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Email us with question at sga@brynmawr.edu.
Now that we have gone through SGA 101 we are going to start the more formal agenda.
Announcements:
Natalie Zamora ’14: So as you already know, fall plenary is September 29th at 12 PM in Goodhart. There are rad shirts if you volunteer. Assembly members, you automatically get shirts. If you want to make a resolution, you must attend at least one of the plenary resolution writing workshops. Here are the dates:
Monday September 9 at 8 PM
Wednesday September 11 at 7 PM
Thursday September 12 at 8 PM
Saturday September 14 at 2 PM
Monday September 16 at 8 PM
They are all in Taylor seminar room.
Also, support choom boom at Fall Frolic this Friday at 3.
Syona Arora ‘15: The SGA listserv is up and running. I will be sending out weekly emails containing minutes and agendas. Additionally, plenary will be advertised through the SGA listserv, though this is the only event that will be advertised. All Assembly members and selected appointed positions – Board of Trustees representatives, Customs Committee co-heads, Grad School representatives, and the Outreach and Communications Committee – can submit updates about their respective positions to the listserv and, biweekly, along with the minutes and agendas, a newsletter email will be sent out with your updates. For example, if the Board of Trustees rep wants to inform the student body about something that happened at a meeting, they can send a sentence or two to me directly at sarora@brynmawr.edu, and it will be sent out to the entire student body. Please feel free to submit. Once members-at-large are elected, this process will change slightly.
Amy Chen ‘14: For clubs, the budget is due this Friday the 13th at noon in the SGA house and on Moodle. Sign up for your budget interviews. Bi-co budgets are due on Wednesday.
Natalie Kato ‘14: For seniors in the room, if you are interested in being on the Leadership Working Group who decides who and what the process is going to be about going about deciding who is the next president of Bryn Mawr, email sga@brynmawr.edu. We are looking for undergraduate representative. It should be fun!
Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: elections are coming up! Nominations started tonight, and they will be open until September 15 at 9 PM. Positions up for election are:
Faculty representative
COPS head
Pensby Center representative
2017 president
Members-at-large (six positions available)
Haverford representative
Off-campus representative
2014 1-year honor board member
If you have questions about voting, which will be on Moodle from September 23-24th, all of your answers will be on the elections blog, or email elections@brynmawr.edu.
Aleja Newman ’17: Where do we send our nominations to?
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: elections@brynmawr.edu.
Your 2 Cents:
Aleja Newman ’17: This is a controversial thing. I would like to talk about bringing paper towels into the bathrooms and having them in the dorms. I like paper towels. I think they should be brought back into the bathrooms.
Natalie Kato ‘14: Any questions?
Natalie Zamora ’14: Point of information, Haverford did a plenary resolution discussing this. Does anyone know if that passed?
Rebecca Cook ‘15: It passed.
Natalie Zamora ‘14: if you are interested in making a resolution, plenary would be the biggest step you could take.
Emma Rosenblum ’14: It might be interesting to think about potentially thinking about – eco friendliness – a way to have a recycling representative start a weekly hand-towel for each floor and wash it once a week.
Aleja Newman ’17: What is the opinion on hand-dryers.
Anna Kalinsky ‘14: Point of information – hand dryers are less eco friendly than paper towels.
Nkechi Ampah ’16: They also bacteria and not good for our bodies.
Jennifer Mendez ’16: Last year in Haffner we had a community towel like what Emma said. That worked. If you want to bring that to your dorm president (me…) we can talk about that.
Natalie Kato ‘14: Any other comments or suggestions?
Colin Baumann ’14: if you are thinking a bout a resolution, run it by housekeeping, facilities, and res-co before you make a resolution to get their feedback.
Anna Kalinsky ‘14: Emma and I can talk about that at Tuesday group. Can you come up to me after this and we can exchange info?
Icebreaker:
Natalie Kato ‘14: Fun icebreaker! If we could have all assembly members come up and introduce themselves with their name, class year, and position, that would be awesome.
Colin Baumann ‘14: Social Committee head.
Sarah Lovegren ’14: Civic Engagement Office representative.
Carolyn Jacoby ’14: Student Curriculum Committee Head.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ’15: Elections Head.
Pamudu Tennakoon ’15: Traditions Mistress.
Anna Sargeant ’15: Traditions Mistress.
Jancy Munguia ’14: Class of 2014 co-president.
Phoebe Jordan ’15: Rockefeller dorm co-president.
Meg Sumner-Moore ’15: Pem East dorm co-president with Sofia Oleas who isn’t here.
Natalie Zamora ’14: Pem West dorm co-president with Ali Krusinski who is on her way.
Jessica Ferriera ’14: Denbigh dorm co-president.
Ivy Drexel ’14: Denbigh dorm co-president.
Anna Kalinsky ’14: Residence Council co-head.
Emma Rosenblum ’14: Residence Council co-head.
Lucy Gleysteen ’14: Radnor dorm co-president.
Sam Terry ’14: Radnor dorm co-president.
Jennifer Mendez ’16: Rhoads South dorm co-president.
Jessica Arbon ’14: Rhoads North dorm president.
Emily Garcia ’14: Perry House president.
Chrystyna Colon ’15: Erdman dorm co-president.
Sarah Lesser ’15: Erdman dorm co-president.
Dani Weismann ’15: Rockefeller dorm co-president.
Alex Francendese ’15: Class of 2015 co-president.
Kaeun Bae ’15: Class of 2015 co-president.
Hannah Hastings ‘16: Brecon dorm co-president.
Alex Beda ‘16: Brecon dorm co-president.
Karunya Venugopal ’16: Class of 2016 co-president.
Angela Blatz ’16: Class of 2016 co-president.
Sarah Gilmour ’14: Merion dorm co-president.
Kayla Bondi ’14: Merion dorm co-president.
Natalie Kato ‘14: If you have questions or comments or concerns that you think that people who just introduced themselves could address, feel free to go up to them and introduce yourself and say hey.
*Icebreaker*. It was fun.
Natalie Kato ’14: Thank you! We want to encourage collaboration, getting to know each other within the assembly. We think it will make an exciting and powerful environment if you get to know each other.
Voting on Meeting Procedure:
Natalie Kato ’14: The procedure should have been emailed to the assembly members. Does anyone want me to read it? Yes. Ok. Here we go.
SGA Meeting Procedure 2013-2014
The following guidelines are presented for adoption by the Assembly. These guidelines are made under the auspices of the SGA Constitution and in no way prelude or replace any stipulations in the Constitution, in particular those under Article II, relating to the Assembly. They were formed as part of the Assembly’s right to use Roberts Rule of Order as a basis for parliamentary procedure. (Article II, Section II)
Meeting Time:
· Meetings convene at 7pm. Meetings are officially called to order at that time by the President. The official start time of the meeting will be recorded by the President.
· Meetings end approximately one-hour and a half (90 minutes) from the time the meeting is called to order by the President. Unless a motion to extend time is made and passed or a motion to adjourn the meeting is made and passed before the end of the meeting, all discussion will cease at the end of 90 minutes and the meeting will be adjourned.
Attendance:
· Attendance at all SGA meetings will be taken by roll call at the start of the meeting by the Secretary. Members who arrive after roll call has been taken must inform the Secretary of their presence at the meeting.
· Quorum is the official number of Assembly members who must be present in order for any voting to occur; this is two-thirds of the voting members of the Assembly.
· Individuals occupying co-positions are both expected to be at every meeting.
· Only two excused and two unexcused absences will be allowed during each semester that you are serving.
· Missing Plenary counts as 2 absences.
· Whenever a meeting is missed (including Plenary), it is the student’s responsibility to email the Secretary within one week of the missed meeting, preferably before the meeting, stating the reason for the absence. Whether or not the absence is excused/unexcused is at the discretion of the Secretary. (Emailing the secretary does not guarantee that the absence will be excused.)
· An Assembly member with more than the allotted absences will be asked to step down from their position and if they choose not to, are subject to removal from office specified in Article IX, Section II, under the grounds of “neglect of duty.”
· Those occupying co-positions are permitted no more than two meetings where the vote for the position is lost; that is, occupants of a co-positions may be absent from the same meeting no more than twice in a semester, or they will be asked to step down from their position.
· The attendance policy for the McBride Representative(s) is as follows: If at least one McBride Representative is present at an SGA Meeting, then the position is considered to be in attendance. All McBride Representative(s) must be absent in order to receive one excused/unexcused absence. If all McBride Representative(s) simultaneously miss four SGA Meetings, they will be asked to step down from their position and if they choose not to, are subject to removal from office specified in Article IX, Section II, under the grounds of “neglect of duty.”
Voting Members of the Assembly and Number of Votes:
| 11 | Dorm Representatives (Denbigh, Merion, Radnor, Pem East, Pem West, Erdman, Rhoads North, Rhoads South, Perry House, Brecon, Rockefeller) |
| 0 | Members-at-Large (6 not elected yet) |
| 0 | Haverford College Representative (not elected yet) |
| 0 | Off Campus Representative (not elected yet) |
| 0 | McBride Representative (not elected yet) |
| 3 | Class Presidents (1 not elected yet) |
| 1 | Elections Heads |
| 1 | Heads of Residence Council |
| 1 | Heads of Curriculum Committee |
| 1 | Traditions Mistresses |
| 0 | Representative to the Faculty (not elected yet) |
| 1 | Head of Social Committee |
| 0 | COPS Heads (not elected yet) |
| 1 | Athletic Association Representative |
| 1 | Civic Engagement Office Representative |
| 0 | Office of Intercultural Affairs/Pensby Center Representative (not elected yet) |
| 21 | Pre-election Total Votes |
| 14 | Quorum until elections |
Agenda:
After the meeting is called to order by the President, the first three agenda items will be as follows:
· Roll Call
· Announcements
· Your Two Cents: During this item, any new items for discussion, questions, or announcements can be made.
· Agenda items for discussion will be posted at the beginning of each meeting, as well as e-mailed to the Association prior to the Assembly meeting.
· Old business (Assembly members only): During this time, material that has already been presented may be revisited, questioned, or announced.
· New Business: (Assembly members only) any new items for discussion, questions, or announcements can be made that relate to the representative’s position.
Discussion:
· In order to participate in discussion, you must be on the floor level of the Campus Center main lounge. Individuals on the stairs or the balcony must come down to the floor to be added to the speaking order.
· Discussion length on each agenda item will be determined by the Executive Board, and will be announced before discussion begins. A motion to extend time may be made, upon receiving a two minute warning or a motion to table may also be made, if it is felt that this meeting time is not adequate to discuss the issue at hand.
· All timings in the meeting will be monitored by the Treasurer.
· Discussion is open to all individuals present at the meeting. Recommendations may also be made by any individual present at the meeting. Voting and the making of motions are restricted to Assembly members.
· At the end of discussion on an agenda item, the President will ask if there are any motions to be made on the topic.
Motions:
· Motions may be made, seconded, amended, and voted on only by members of the Assembly.
· All motions must be made by raising your hand and announcing that you have a motion. When acknowledged by the President you may state the motion.
· All motions with the exception of two noted below must be seconded. Seconds may be made by raising your hand and announcing your support for consideration of the motion.
· Motions may not interrupt a speaker or be presented while another motion is on the floor with the exception of those noted below.
· Voting on all motions is done by simple majority (50%+1) with the exception of calling the question and extending time, which require two-thirds.
· The following are types of motions that may be made:
Main Motion: A motion that is made for consideration during the discussion of an agenda item. When such a motion is made, discussion on the agenda item shall be suspended and five minutes of discussion will occur on only the motion. At the end of 5 minutes, unless time is extended, a vote will be taken on the motion and discussion of the agenda item will resume. Motions must be pertinent to the agenda item being discussed, and may not be made when another motion is on the floor or interrupt someone while they are speaking.
Motion to Extend Time: a priority motion which may be made while another motion is on the floor. Such motions may be made regarding discussion on an agenda item, discussion on a motion, and/or extend meeting time. They must be seconded and specify the amount of time for the extension. There is no discussion of the motion and a vote is immediately taken. It requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
Motion to Call the Question: a priority motion used to stop discussion and put whatever motion is on the floor up for an immediate vote. This motion may be made while another motion is on the floor, but may not interrupt another speaker. It must be seconded and voted on immediately requiring a 2/3 majority to pass. If this motion passes, then a vote will follow immediately on the previous motion on the floor, after a brief restatement of such motion.
Motion to Table Discussion: a motion used to stop discussion on an agenda item and move onto the next agenda item. It may be made while another motion is on the floor, but may not interrupt a speaker. The motion must be seconded and then immediately voted on. If the motion passes, the agenda item is tabled until a motion is made to reopen the discussion, postpone to a different time, or until the next meeting.
Point of Order: a motion used to protest a breach of rules, conduct of procedure. A point of order may interrupt a speaker and does not require a second or a vote. Once point of order is made, the President must take corrective action and if appropriate place speaker at the end of the speaking order, and resume discussion on the agenda item or the motion, depending on the point of order.
Anyone present can call a speaker out of order if the speaker is being disrespectful or fostering a gang mentality.
Point of Information: such a motion is used to request information in a discussion.
Motion to Adjourn: A motion to call the meeting to a close. Such a motion must be made if all business is finished before the 90 minute set meeting time in order for the meeting to be adjourned. It must be seconded and voted upon and may not interrupt a speaker or be made while another motion is on the floor.
Voting:
· All voting will be done by hand count, which will be tabulated by the President. Hand counts will be done of those “for” and “against” a motion as well as those “abstaining.” Most votes require a simple majority. A two-thirds majority requires that two-thirds of the voting members present vote and that two-thirds agree.
· Only Assembly members may vote in the meeting, and co-officers to any position have only one vote. The President may only vote in the case of a tie and certain Assembly positions are specified as non-voting.
· A roll call vote may be requested by any Assembly member, the results of which would be published in the minutes.
Speaking Order:
· Speaking order will be maintained by the Vice-President. In order to be put on the speaking order, raise your hand or make eye contact with the Vice-President until they acknowledge (nodding, thumbs up, etc.) that you are on the list.
· Speakers must be acknowledged by the President
· Direct responses to a speaker may be made if the response is from the presenter of the agenda item or if the speaker is asking a particular question of someone. Otherwise responses should be confined to your turn on the speaking order.
Big Cheese Forum:
· If the Big Cheese Forum is being held at an SGA Meeting, the Agenda will be as follows: Roll Call, Big Cheese Forum, Announcements, Your Two Cents, Old Business, New Business.
· Each Big Cheese in attendance will be given a certain amount of time, as decided on by the Executive Board, to speak to the posed question(s).
· Posed question(s) for the Big Cheeses will be decided on at least one week prior to the Big Cheese Forum at an SGA Meeting.
· After the Big Cheese has finished answering the posed question(s) or time has elapsed, students may ask questions about that topic, and that topic only. The time allotted for questions will be decided on by the Executive Board.
· The Assembly is able to extend time for a maximum of 1 minute. Once 1 minute has elapsed, a new topic may be brought up for discussion.
· Once all of the posed questions have been answered by the Big Cheeses, the President will open the discussion to a Question and Answer portion.
· During the Question and Answer portion, students may ask any questions they have for the Big Cheeses
We’re done!
Does anyone have any questions or comments?
Colin Baumann ‘14: Are we going to end meetings appropriately?
Natalie Kato ‘14: That is a good question. Colin’s question comes from – in the past, to end a meeting, we have had a motion, someone will second it, so like, “Motion”, “Second” and then it ends. The proper way is motion, second, vote that we will end the meeting. We will do it that way. People who can vote are elected voting assembly members who are called during roll call.
Emma Rosenblum? ‘14: Big Cheese extending time. Was that true in the past or is it new?
Natalie Kato ‘14: That has happened for the past three Big Cheese forums.
Aleja Newman ‘17: What exactly is big cheese?
Natalie Kato ‘14: So! Big cheese is once a semester. This semester it is on November 17th. We decide on questions that we want to ask administrators. What we usually try to do is present all the questions that we have and vote on the top 5. We give them to the administrators and whoever can answer them best will come. The admin/faculty/staff are the “big cheese” and we call it Big Cheese forum. Also, I think we’ll have one and a half hours this; usually we only have an hour with them.
The second one will happen after February. Any other questions?
Vote: Assembly member only. Who was called for roll call can vote. Do you need time to consult co-held positions?
No: 0
Abstain: 0
Yes: Everyone
The meeting procedure passes as is. We will continue to use it throughout 2013-2014 academic year.
Old Business:
New Business:
Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: Candidate’s forum will be on either Wednesday 18th or Thursday 19th, probably at 7. I want to do a straw poll to see which day works better.
Natalie Kato ‘14: Anyone and everyone can raise their hand.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ’16: Candidate’s forum is something that everyone running for an elected position must attend. It’s a question and answer forum for people who are running for a position; for example, why are you running?
Emma Rosenblum ‘14: Res-Co is on Thursday at 8.
Jennifer Mendez ‘16: Wednesday night there is a grad school admission panel in Thomas. This is a conflicting event that some people might want to attend. It is from 6 until 8.
Colin Baumann ‘14: Why aren’t we doing it in the campus center?
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: We are.
Colin Baumann ‘14: Then it doesn’t matter.
Carolyn Jacoby ’14: In the campus center you can walk in and out. No matter where we put it there will be conflicts. You can leave if you have to.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16: If you have a conflict I will change the speaking order.
Natalie Kato ‘14: Any other comments or questions? All those in favor of Wednesday 18th raise your hand now. 18 hands. Thursday 19th. 24 hands. 6 abstentions.
Elizabeth Vandenberg ‘16. See you on Thursday! Also, please nominate people.
Anna Kalinsky ‘14: You can nominate yourself.