ATTENDANCE:

Committee: Buck, Percy, Wilding, Taylor, Temple, Tate, St. Amand, Bertel, King, Cordova

Absent:

Non-Committee: Senators Alquirtas, Evers, Howard, Morabito, Watka

 

COMMITTEE DISCUSSION:

 

• President
  • I am inviting people to Public Forum to get the Senate informed on what the school is doing.
  • Employee Review for our Coordinator.
• Vice President
  • Switching Committees
    • Some members are having trouble attending their assigned committees.
    • They can contact me about this.
  • Commencement Committee is preparing.
    • Information about this will be distributed ultimately to seniors.
    • Talk to friends about getting seniors signed up. Use social media.
  • Formal
    • Pricing will not be determined until February 6^th.
    • A lot of members of Senate are going, which will help lower prices.
    • I am contacting bus companies in preparation.
  • Treasurer
    • Budgeting presentation for the Senate budget.
  • DOC
    • The newsletter is coming out this week for February.
    • Declarations are going on. If you are not re-running, we need more people to take pictures to advertise declarations.
    • Ace of Cakes: there is a Senate team.
    • Bulletin Boards: it will have a Senator of the Month theme. The other one will have a group of the month theme.
    • Goal: Senator of the Month changed by end of February. Group of the Month changed by beginning of February.
  • CIO
    • See agenda
  • Academic
    • Affordability:
      • We have thousands of dollars in a grant to make course materials more affordable.
      • Any ideas for how to use this money, please email me.
    • Faculty Senate is changing their constitution.
    • Our Inter-Disciplinary Majors ideas is ready to be discussed with Mark Connelly.
    • The Committee is looking at the Leadership Department.
  • Campus
    • No meeting this past Wednesday.
    • There will be a meeting as per usual.
    • We want to gear this semester to be similar to what we discussed last:
      • Security in the library.
      • Sexual Assault Awareness Week.
      • Parking at Public Forum.
        • Talking with External Committee about this.
      • Cultural
        • Not much going on.
        • Ace of Cakes registration on.
        • We sent an email to the listserv. Four groups signed up.
        • I talked with Dining to see if we can get a discount on cake.
      • External
        • Narragansett Town Council replied to my email about getting a liaison installed.
          • I am getting in contact with them to get more information on their position with this matter.
          • This is to help with future relations.
        • I met with Jacqui at Rhody Outpost. They are inviting us to come back.
          • We are interested in accountability in terms of attendance.
        • Sustainability Committee
      • Finance
        • Budgeting is going well. Every funded organization is assigned to a Finance Liaison. We have a student club listserv. This is to communicate better with the clubs. If you would like access, contact Zach Yip. It has been going well in terms of communication with clubs using their rhodysenate.org emails.
        • I am concerned with our Travel and Lodging line. This is a popular time of the year with that group. I foresee contingency line transfers. Be vocal about where you want student tax dollars going.
        • Finance is going through where assets are. Our assets still need to be checked out. A camera was missing. We found it, but the battery was missing. We had to buy new memory cards. We cannot keep paying for lost assets or parts.
        • I froze three stipends last Friday. I will be meeting with them soon.
          • Both Austin and I have the power to temporarily withhold stipends. I was reading correspondence of members with a stipend. There were major and minor offenses. I saw many things that were done wrong and little things done right. I am not comfortable with letting those members collect stipends tomorrow without sitting down with them and talking through what happened. These decisions are not final. We can work something out that could lead to un-freezing the stipend. The move can also be challenged and go to the floor. Everyone was notified if their stipends were frozen.
        • SOARC
          • Stipend Review
            • We are doing this next week. This Friday, I am having a preemptive meeting with anyone who receives a stipend from us to discuss what is expected and otherwise, how to be prepared before coming before the committee.
            • My intent is to have Senate go first. This will be addressed this Friday at 5:00 PM in 354.
            • This is not required, but I invite everybody to go to be on the same page.
          • Next Monday, at 7:00 PM, Sam and I have the President’s Meeting.
            • Let me know if you have anything you want me to include in my President’s Meeting Presentation.
          • Going back to URI Flow, the President if fine with letting the first two statements out of their Constitution.
        • New Business
          • See Bill
          • SOLC
            • Discussion on SOLC
          • Extra
            • Executive Committee Office Hours
            • Bylaws is considering Article V.

MEETING ADJOURNMENT TIME: