Attendance: Kilduff, Kempler, Rode, Sim, Solomon, Sit, Cicero, St. Jean, Zawatsky, Weinreich, Lanoie, Stuart
START TIME: 5:01 PM
Kilduff: We’re going to have Bruce write one of our letters of recommendation for our Rainville award and the other one can be Dr. Dugan. Now we’re looking at this new bill. Single Report Discussing Bill:
SS –13/14 – XX BILL CALLING FOR AMENDMENTS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND STUDENT SENATE CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS

Whereas, The Student Senate bylaws require occasional revision and amendment to the by-laws, and
Whereas, the Executive Committee would like to clarify some the by-laws’ ambiguity, change archaic senate practices, and correct the grammatical and spelling errors of the by-laws, therefore be it,
Resolved that, the University of Rhode Island Student Senate bylaws be amended to reflect the following charges, and be it further
Resolved, that these amendments affect the 2013-2014 academic year going forward

The format for the document of The Constitution and Bylaws of the University of Rhode Island Student Senate, Inc. shall use Times New Roman as the font, and have 12pt as the size, and have the pages numbered

Page 3, Article III. Membership, Section B. Rights, Privileges and Obligation change from: “Each person who is an officer or representative in the Senate, excluding the President, Vice-President, and Executive Officers appointed by the President of the Senate, shall for the purposes of this section be termed a ‘Senator.’ Senators shall have the right and the obligation to be present for the duration of all the general meetings of the Senate, to serve as a member of at least one (1) standing committee by attending and participating for the duration of all its general meetings, and to post and maintain at least one (1) office hour per week unless a higher minimum is indicated under the section regarding specific duties of that particular member.” to:

“Each person who is an officer or representative in the Senate shall be considered a member of the Senate. In addition, any member of the Senate, excluding the President, Vice-President, and Executive Officers appointed by the President of the Senate, shall be referred to as ‘Senator.’ Senators shall have the right and the obligation to be present for the duration of all the general meetings of the Senate, to serve as a member of at least one (1) standing committee by attending and participating for the duration of all its general meetings, and to post and maintain at least one (1) office hour per week unless a higher minimum is indicated under the section regarding specific duties of that particular member.”

Page 3, Article III. Membership, Section B. Rights, Privileges and Obligation change from: “Senators shall have the right to engage in commentary, debate, make and second motions, and vote, in the general body as well as appointed committee, in conformance with the general form
and structure of the rules of order the Senate has adopted (see Article XI) as adjudicated by the moderator. The person occupying the moderator shall, regardless of other position or contrary language, not enjoy the ability to engage in commentary, debate, make and second motions, nor vote.” to:

“Members of the Senate shall have the right to engage in commentary and debate. Only Senators shall have the additional rights to make and second motions and nominations. Senators have the exclusive right to vote in the general body as well as appointed committee, in conformance with the general form and structure of the rules of order the Senate has adopted (see Article XI) as adjudicated by the moderator. The person occupying the moderator shall, regardless of other position or contrary language, not enjoy the ability to engage in commentary, debate, make and second motions, nor vote.”

Page 7, Article IV. Meetings, Section F. Open Meetings to be removed from the by-laws: “The Senate is a public body bound by the open meeting laws of the state (RIGL 42-46-1 to RIGL 42-46-14 inclusive), except insofar as financial penalties may be concerned or as such laws may conflict with the provisions contained herein.”

Page 26, Article VI. Standing and Special Committees, Section B, Part 2, Subpart b. Composition (of the Committee of Elections) change from:
“This committee will be comprised of five (5) Senators, all of whom shall be elected internally by the Senate. The committee members at the first elections meeting shall elect their own chairperson. No person who is a declared candidate or a member of Rules and Ethics Committee may serve as a member of the Committee on Elections for that specific election.” to:

“This committee will be comprised of five (5) members of the Senate, all of whom shall be elected internally by the Senate. The committee members at the first elections meeting shall elect their own chairperson. No person who is a declared candidate or a member of Rules and Ethics Committee may serve as a member of the Committee on Elections for that specific election.”

Page 27, Article VII. Elections and Referenda Section A, Part 1, Subpart a. Representatives from:
“The annual election for academic college representatives shall be held within the first three weeks of the second semester, and the annual election for residence group representatives shall be held at least two weeks later but shall be completed by no later than the Friday prior to Spring Break. The annual election for Freshman Representatives shall be held as early as practical each autumn.” to:

“The annual election for academic college representatives and at-large representatives shall be held within the first three weeks of the second semester, and the annual election for residence group representatives shall be held at least two weeks later but shall be completed by no later than the Friday prior to Spring Break. The annual election for Freshman Representatives shall be held as early as practical each autumn.

Page 31, Article VII. Elections and Referenda, Section B, Part 2 Nominations (for Internal Elections) from:
“Except in cases where the procedure of internal election is used to resolve a tie vote in a popular election, nominations shall be opened at the Senate meeting immediately preceding the meeting where the election is to be held, and must be made and seconded by members of the Senate, provided that no election may be held unless nominations have been open for at least one week…” to:

“Except in cases where the procedure of internal election is used to resolve a tie vote in a popular election, nominations shall be opened at the Senate meeting immediately preceding the meeting where the election is to be held, and must be made and seconded by Senators or elected officials, provided that no election may be held unless nominations have been open for at least one week…”

Page 47, Line 11, Article XI. Parliamentary Procedure, Section A. Legislation have an “and” added between “between” and “All” and lowercase the “A” in “And”

Page 47, Line 13, Article XI. Parliamentary Procedure, Section A. Legislation have “Sponsor” appear on a separate line right before “Bill Handler”, located on line 14

Page 47, Line 15, Article XI. Parliamentary Procedure, Section A. Legislation have “Date” appear on the line right before “Introduced”, located on line 16

Page 49, Article XI. Parliamentary Procedure, Section G. Order of Business have an the indent before “Section G. Order of Business” removed

Page 49, Article XI. Parliamentary Procedure, Section G. Order of Business add a line saying “H. Reports of Liaisons” after “G. Reports of Standing Committee” and change all following letters to the appropriate alphabetical order

• Sim: It defines that everyone on student senate is considered a part of senate and everyone elected are considered senators. The wording of senators and members of the senate have been changed. Senators have exclusive rights to vote in the general body. The elections committee has been changed to 5 members of the senate instead of 5 senators. I also included that elected members of senate can second and nominate. We’re also giving Bruce the right to speak.
• Weinreich: I love Bruce but he isn’t an elected member of the senate so giving him powers worries me because I think that might be overstepping the bounds of what we should do.
• Sit: He’s our advisor. On that, he can be called upon instead.
• Kilduff: We have to remember that we have a lot of people who don’t have the power to speak. Even though he is our advisor, he shouldn’t have a say in what we do. Part of it is just the line that has to be drawn
• Rode: I completely agree and I don’t think this is necessary. Also, if we were to ever get a new advisor, we might think differently.
• Sit: If we choose an advisor after this that we wouldn’t want to have this power, we’d be looking at things differently
• Kilduff: I don’t think the cost is worth the small gain of not having to yield time.
• Cicero: Pitu ran this by me first and I was in favor it but after hearing this I think we should leave it.
• Kilduff: This would take away the senate’s power to decide whether or not Bruce talks.
• Rode: Bruce also includes his opinion when he speaks on the floor. I think he’s really supportive but he doesn’t necessarily agree with us. It worries me that he can speak and influence the floor.
• Kilduff: His opinion is irrelevant to our decision. I move to cut that last addition from the exec committee to members of the senate.

Moved
• Sim: I also changed that the committee of elections should be organized at least two weeks before the end of the fall semester. Also, that’s also for spring semester.
• Weinreich: I personally disagree with changing it so appointed members can make motions because it is a conflict of interest. Also, the word shall is a very strong word to use about the new law having the elections committee to be formed two weeks before the end of the semester. I think we should keep it to the first meeting of December because that always exists.
• Kilduff: Move to take out all changes from page 25 except for the D.
• Weinreich: We also need to strike the “otherwise necessary” on page 2.

Vote to approve
9-0-2
• Kilduff: We agreed that we’re going to have Dr. Dugan and Bruce write our Rainville recommendations and Kyle will write the things we’ve done. Include qualifiers about how successful our events were. Please get that in ASAP.
• St.Jean: My email is kstjean2@gmail.com

CULTURAL REPORT
• Solomon: I was talking to Kyle and I was thinking about trying to do an event like Waterfire but instead we’d get together a bunch of groups and have a performance. I was thinking we could get food from off campus and he said it’s possible and I’m not sure about price.

ADJOURNMENT: 5:43 PM