Call to Order: 8:00
Attendance: Wilding, Howard, Blewitt, McWeeney, Sardinha, Evers, Gall, Morabito, Nelson, Straube, Taylor (Committee)
Absent: Kohl (excused), Barnes
Announcements:
Morabito: Academic cosponsorship possibly coming soon (CCEE, JC Penney)
Taylor: Should’ve been shared on the floor, but Finance won’t be doing handbook revisions until next semester. The current handbook will stand until then.
Morabito: Make sure that the last handbook doesn’t have an expiration date
Wilding: why no revisions yet?
Taylor: It is advisable not to rush heavy bills like this, especially with so much going on right now. Also, organizations are just beginning to get used to the current handbook, and it would be rude to throw them all up in the air. It is not related to FIRE.
Reports from the President:
Wilding: Student Alumni Association Awards are happening. Also, TD (talent development) 50th anniversary event is this year, so do we want to attend as a committee?
Evers: What is it, where is it?
Wilding: Formal, but not formally-formal. In Providence. I can take 4 people. Saturday, Oct.6, 7pm, Sept.21 deadline to register. Dinner included. Drinking allowed. Can register as a group.
Morabito: Who else will be attending?
Wilding: Everybody in the TD office, all of Student Affairs, TD alums, faculty, students, and staff from across campus. Also, it’s $50/person.
All: If we have to pay, then no.
Gall: Could we use Senate funds for this?
Wilding didn’t know, Taylor responded possibly from committee expense. Blewitt confirmed that there is enough in that line to pay for it.
Wilding (Responding to Morabito): There is a group discount; it’s size dependent.
Howard: What do we get out of this?
Wilding: We’ve never been to a TD event before, so that’s a big deal. Also, we get to talk to TD and various faculty and people here at URI, like President Dooley.
Gall: Can we just end discussion now that it’s only relevant to a few members?
Concurrence with Gall’s request spreads around the table.
Wilding: FIRE response is in draft, due on the 21st of September. I will share It with all of you soon, after which I will share it with the URI General Counsel.
Evers: When did the last letter arrive?
Wilding: September 7th.
Howard: Why are there multiple responses?
Wilding: There’s one from Carl’s office, and one from the Senate.
Wilding: My agenda has been complete for a while, but since the committee was up in the air, it hasn’t really been shared. First up is Sexual Assault education, next is improvement of diversity in the Senate, and finally, advancement of women in leadership. In attaining these goals, I intend to work not only with student orgs, but also other student governments in RI.
Gall: Do you intend to pursue funding for the Women’s Center?
Wilding: yes.
Other Reports:
Gall (introducing the Homepage Project): This is sort of a pet project; I’d like to have a bit of our history on the Senate’s website homepage, to make it more interesting. I’d like to give this to the general Senate so that somebody can adopt the project and get a better understanding of our organization.
Wilding: Have you talked to Zack Yip about it?
Gall: Not yet, I wanted to ask Exec first.
Morabito: Ask Sardinha, because she’s the DOC, who is sort of in charge of the website.
Wilding: WordPress is not easy to use, so pay attention to how other websites are coded.
Elections Handbook:
Howard moves that the Elections Committee be required to submit all resolutions that would be necessary to enact an Elections Handbook to the Senate. Seconded by Taylor.
Gall: Is there a time limit?
Howard moves to amend the motion so that the resolutions are introduced on Oct.26th. Seconded by Taylor. The motion passes.
Taylor moves to limit debate to 5 minutes. The motion is seconded and passes.
Taylor moves to amend the resolution so that the Spring elections committee be required to submit the resolutions rather than the current elections committee. Seconded by Morabito. The motion passes (9-0-1); the main motion passes by the same vote, the Senate thus adopting the following resolution:
Resolved, that the Elections Committee formed to oversee the Spring Elections will be further required to develop an Elections Handbook, submitting all resolutions necessary for implementation to the floor before the committee’s dissolution.
Debate ends.
Amendments to Article VIII:
Howard speaks to the changes, opens for questions.
Taylor moves to limit debate to 10 minutes, seconded by Blewitt. The motion passes.
Gall: In the proposed Section C, item one on the list speaks to crimes. Do these only apply to crimes committed during a term?
Howard: That would be a question for the Rules and Ethics Committee as the cases arise.
Taylor moves to amend the first sentence of the proposed Section C to read “Members may be impeached for actions which fall into one of the following definitions.” Seconded by Gall.
Howard: I included the adjective “egregious” to make sure that it is clear that impeachment is not to be taken lightly.
Taylor: The adjective has no legal value.
Nelson: I don’t know what “egregious” means, can we use a better word?
Gall moves to amend the amendment to read “Members may be impeached for actions considered egregious, which fit into the following definitions:” seconded by Blewitt.
Morabito: So does that basically negate Taylor’s motion?
Gall: I liked the adjective, it sort of fit.
Taylor: The sentence is awkward, and I agree with Nelson that the adjective is awkward. That said, point 2 is more important, as it allows members to submit complaints against members for minor, minor infractions.
Morabito: I think we’re debating interpretations, which is the scope of the Rules and Ethics Committee after it passes, and not us beforehand.
McWeeney: isn’t this sort of a piddling thing to argue about?
Taylor withdraws his motion, thus killing Gall’s.
Ten minutes having expired, debate ends. No motion is made to extend debate.
Howard: Assume that people are reasonable.
Evers: The average person reads at the 8th grade level, so be careful with vocabulary.
Meeting times:
Wilding: When does Exec want to meet? Does Thursdays at 7:00 work?
Taylor proposes that the Executive Committee keep the post-General meetings, to encourage efficiency.
The membership objects to Thursdays at 7:00.
Discussion ensues, and evolves into a discussion on making General more efficient.
The committee settles on Wednesday nights after General.
Gall appoints Senator Blanchflower to the position of Vice-Chair of the Campus Affairs Committee. The appointment is confirmed with no debate (10-0-0)
Straube appoints Senator Shrivastava to the position of Vice-Chair of the External Affairs Committee
Taylor: He’s failed this position before, I’m not sure I want him there now. He specifically declined to do a part of his job, while maintaining the title.
Straube: Based on committee morale, I don’t really have many good options. I think that he’d do the best job. Rock and a hard place, here, so what do I do?
Howard (responding to Straube): You appoint anybody else unless you have confirmed that he can fulfill his obligations. I can’t currently support his appointment.
McWeeney: I think we should wait until we have more information or better options.
Nelson: Who is on the committee?
Straube names the membership.
Gall: The reality is that the Vice-Chair is a pretty relaxed position. You basically just take minutes. It’s not that hard, and pretty much anybody can do it.
Taylor (responding to Gall): That’s a pretty low standard for a vice-chair, and frankly, I hope they’re all doing more than that.
Wilding: What about Houtz?
Straube: I didn’t think I’d have to nominate anybody tonight.
Straube withdraws the nomination.
Howard: Everybody please swear in your vice-chairs, if you have one.
9:00 Morabito moves that the committee adjourn, and the motion is seconded. The motion passes (8-1-1), and the meeting is adjourned.