The Student Association held its eighth meeting of the Senate for this semester on Tuesday evening. Following the meeting being called to order and quorum being satisfied, the meeting began swiftly. The meeting and agenda minutes were approved allowing the meeting to move to it’s first order of business, guests to the Senate.

The first guest to the Senate for the evening was the student organization Two and a Half. They have existed for nine years on campus and their main goal is to combat and raise awareness about sexual violence and assault. Two and a Half will be hosting their “Raise Your Voice” event, which has been taking place annually for the past nine years. The event will be taking place at the end of April corresponding with Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Although the organization does have funds in their budget, and they have paired up with SAPB, they requested funding to help with the costs for the rest of the event. Two senators offered to write the bill which will be voted and presented at a later meeting this semester.

The discussion of Broad Based Fees which include fees for health, technology and athletics, were presented so students were fully aware as to where their money was going. The Broad Based Fee for this upcoming school year will be $25, split three ways to cover the health, technology and athletics fee. The health fee includes everything from counseling services offered on campus, to the clinic/nurses office at Mary Walker. This fee in particular also allows the lifestyles center within Mary Walker to operate. This fee allows things such as toilet talk, open mic night, student health surveys and condom deals on Wednesdays to exist.  The technology fee is also essential to campus because of the prominent presence of technology in students’ daily lives. They are looking to increase the technology fee, but that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be any additional benefits that comes along with the increase. The increased technology fee would allow SUNY Oswego to increase network bandwidth and add close a million wireless access points around campus. The technology fee is put in place to ensure that all students have the best access to internet and assistance at all times. Finally, the athletics fee is also expected to increase. Since SUNY Oswego has had the second highest number of teams in the conference for the year, there is a greater need to help fund/support the various sports teams on campus.

The meeting moved smoothly onto executive reports seeing as there were was no one for public comment. Student Association President Emily Nassir was the first to give her executive report. There were no new updates on OzFest, however Nassir has been very busy with meetings to get the SA Food Pantry up and running. Nassir has attended several meetings and has another one coming up to discuss the plans and budget for the pantry. Nassir also stated that SA is currently in the process of working on the new contract with Centro, the bus that allows students to travel from one side of campus to the other as well as from campus to in town and vice versa.  Nassir will continue to update students and senators and new information arises.

Shelby Gallaro, SA Vice President was next to deliver her short and sweet executive report. Gallaro revealed that over 900 students voted in the elections on Monday and Tuesday. The election included the voting on the referendum to determine if the student registration fee should be mandatory or not, as well as the election of the new offices for President and Vice President of SA. Matthew Peters shortly followed Gallaro in executive reports, in which he informed senators he started to go through budget requests for the clubs and organizations. There will be more meetings throughout the week to work on and approve the budgets. So far, the process has been a success.

Committee Reports was the next order on the agenda for the evening. Rules and Judiciary revealed that they will now be meeting bi-weekly for the duration of the semester. Finance Committee did not meet this week, however they will meet next week with the several clubs and organizations whose budgets need to be written in order to be proposed and voted on. The Involvement Committee closed out committee reports by revealing that they are currently working on the “Miss-A-Meal” project for the end of the semester.

Hall Council reports were delivered after committee reports, there were however fewer reports. Johnson Hall has reviewed and made changes to their constitution which will then be put to a new vote to see if it passes or not.

The short and sweet hall council reports led to the adjournment of the meeting seeing as there we no general, nor special orders for the evening. The Student Association meets every Tuesday in Lanigan 106, at 6pm. The Senate meetings are all open to the public and students are encouraged to attend these meetings to voice their opinions and express their concerns.

SUNY OSWEGO, N.Y. – Tuesday evening marked the 5th Student Association Legislative Session of the spring semester. The number of senators required to begin the meeting was met and following the approval of the minutes and agenda, the meeting promptly began.

The Hip Hop Dance team was the first and only guest to the Senate for the evening. The new dance team, Adrenaline, was just started by students on campus here at SUNY Oswego and they presented to the Senate to request funding for next year. Adrenaline is a dance team dedicated to performing at campus events and eventually they wish to compete in competitions within the state. Their budget currently only supports the new club with advertising funds. Adrenaline turned to the Senate to propose that they receive more funds in the upcoming budget term in order to support the organization. They believe the Senate’s help will allow them to grow in number and allow them to get the word out about what Adrenaline is and the goals of the new organization. The funds request from the Senate are to help with advertising costs and bringing in choreographers to work with the members of the organization. Two senators offered to write a bill for the requested funds which will be voted on at a later date.

In executive reports Student Association President Emily Nassir, shared with senators that new applications are currently being accepted for executive positions within the cabinet on the Student Association Programming Board. Nassir encouraged anyone interested to apply, but also reminded them that they would be required to give up their seat on the Senate if and when accepted for the position. To finish her executive report Nassir also revealed that as of now, it appears that 4 students will be given the opportunity to travel to Saratoga for the SUNY SA conference. This number however does depend on budgeting, which she will keep senators updated as she receives new information. Following Nassir’s report, Matthew Peters, Director of Finance a short report in which he reminded senators that budget proposals for clubs and organizations on campus are due Monday.

In public comment, former senator Jillian Kranz spoke on behalf of SA and their goal to inform as many students as possible about the referendum coming up. This referendum gives students the chance to determine whether the student activity fee should mandatory or voluntary. SA will be tabling in the Marano Campus center for two weeks encouraging students to vote yes for a mandatory student fee, seeing as the student fee funds a great deal on campus. Kranz encouraged all senators to sign up for at least one tabeling time slot to help spread the word about the upcoming voting process for the referendum.

Committee reports followed public comment and The Involvement committee gave an update on Miss-A-Meal for this spring. Students have the opportunity to give up one of their meals for the day (lunch or dinner), and that meal will be donated to help those less fortunate in Oswego. They are currently contacting local businesses in order to gain sponsors for the event.

The meeting then moved swiftly on to Hall Council reports, where senators updated the Senate on events and programs taking place in their halls. Johnson just created and put in place a new constitutional committee who will be present during their Eboard and hall council meeting to ensure that the code is being followed. Waterbury held a “Pie Your RA” event to help raise money to fund programs and events for the hall. Cayuga will now be hosting movie night on a weekly basis, the first one being this Thursday at 7:30pm in the main lounge where they will be showing “Straight outta Compton”. Funnelle updated the Senate on their Male Beauty Pageant event which received an official date and will be held on Thursday April 28th. Closing out hall council reports, Riggs also revealed their plans to host a male beauty pageant called “Mr. Riggs”. The date and time for this event, along with it’s details will be revealed as planning progresses.

General orders for the meeting included four different budgets and bills to be voted on by the Senate.  Men’s Rugby Club was the first general order of the evening and their proposed budget included funds for entry fees that are mandatory in order for them to play in competitions and for the tournament they will be hosting here at SUNY Oswego, with the help of the Women’s Rugby team. The original budget also included funds for new jerseys and equipment, but was later taken out, seeing as the club can request funds for it, in the upcoming budget year. The proposed bill passed by general consent and the Men’s Rugby team will be receiving their requested funds.

The second general order for the evening was the National Broadcast Society, who requested funds to help them send three members to a convention in LA this month. They requested funds from the Senate to help with the travel and hotel costs for the students attending the event. While in debate on the bill, many senators expressed concerns with the budget in the proposed bill. Many senators felt that the amount of funds being asked for was too high considering only three students were attending the conference and those three students have already attended the conference last year. The goal of helping organizations with funds is to impact as many students as possible, yet the funds for the National Broadcast Society would only be helping three students. Other senators expressed concerns over the need to be mindful over the budget SA has to help fund organizations and many felt that due to the fact that the National Broadcast Society had stated that they would attend the conference whether they received the funding or not, was off putting since there are other organizations who don’t have the ability to fund their own events. Following the debate of the bill, the voting process began and revealed that the bill had failed, therefore the National Broadcast Society will not be receiving the funds they requested.

American Sign Language Club’s proposed bill and budget was the third general order. ASL Club requested funding to help with an event taking place in April, featuring a comedy show by comedian Keith Wann, the son of two deaf parents. The goal of this event is to teach students about the deaf culture in a fun and friendly way. ASL Club requested funds to help with ticket costs to ensure that event is not overbooked, and interpreters for the event to ensure that each audience member has the same experience. The proposed bill and budget passed by general consent and the club will be receiving the funds to help with the event.

The fourth and final general order for the evening was the proposed bill and budget for PRSSA, Public Relations Society of America. PRSSA requested funds to help purchase shirts and tie-dyeing supplies for their event taking place during “Comm Week”. Students will be given the chance to tie-dye their own tee shirt, in hopes to encourage more student involvement and promote the School of Communication. The bill also passed by general consent and they will receive their funds to help with their tie-dyeing event.

The meeting came to a close following the passing of three out of the four proposed bills and budgets. SA meets every Tuesday evening at 6pm, in Lanigan 106. All meetings are open to the public and students are encouraged to attend to express their views and concerns.

Reported By: Deirdra O’Boyle