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Get a closer look at SGA! Here are the minutes from our meeting on Monday, October 26th!
Ithaca College Student Government Association Senate Meeting Agenda Monday, October 26, 2015 7:30pm – Taughannock Falls Room
I. Call to Order.
II. Roll Call: Absent: Seandre, TJ, Eli Late: Left Early:
III. Approval of the minutes. Jonathan Couce Lanise
IV. Guest Speakers A. No Guest Speakers.
Motion to open to New Business Matilda Charlotte
V. New Business A. No Confidence Bill (Recckio) ü Unprecedented situation where we as the student body would be calling to initiate a vote of no confidence in President Rochon. ü SGA believing that a vote should happen ü Everyone is entitled to an opinion on president Rochon. ü Voting this bill in is initiating the vote, not saying that you have no confidence. ü This bill was initiated because people have no confidence. ü Passed through E-Board first. ü Administration is aware that this has happened. ü Bill will be made public after tonight’s meeting. ü The president’s duties include without limitation, fundraising and development, public and alumni relations etc. ü Protest while the Board of Trustees was on campus to expressed no confidence in Rochon’s leadership. ü Student Body president and faculty has written letters to the community denouncing to the Blue Skies event. ü Rochon has overseen unstable leadership. ü Administration is seeking a VP for Human Resources to add to president’s council. ü Students are asked to give $250 for special interaction with President Rochon and college leadership. ü Campus climate survey wasn’t effective last time. ü They are doing a new one. ü Vote of no confidence is “an occasion when most of the members of parliament or other organizations say that they do not support the people in authority and that they disagree with their actions.” ü We call for a vote of no confidence in President Rochon. ü Will be confidential. ü Will be sent to every student at Ithaca College via email. ü Vote will be initiated by Wednesday November 4th. ü Results will be released in an SGA meeting on November 30th. ü SGA recommends the faculty moves to initiate a similar vote of no confidence. ü Assessing confidence in President Rochon. ü Will then project that confidence assessment out to the campus community. ü Assessing values. Gather members of campus community to figure out what they value in a campus president. ü Going to work on assessing the current governance. ü Bringing forward our ideas and student’s ideas for new structures of governance.
Move to 5 minutes of Q&A
Kyle: Under the moment where we have no interactions, would you be able to site the fact that president and provost have no time for students at their meeting? Dom: I don’t want to site something that only happened at one point in time. Lanise: How long has President Rochon been here? Dom: 7 years. Lanise: Has this been constant? Dom: Yes, hard thing to site. Not going to site emails or personal conversations. Can assure you that inaccessibility has been pretty clear for a long time. Don’t want to speak for former SGA presidents or members. Ezeka: Is this going to be something that is brought up tomorrow, or for more of a long run? Dom: No this is not going to be brought up tomorrow, as far as I know I don’t know what president Rochon’s opening comments will be. While I assume that, it is for the long run, and tomorrow the immediacy of both. Luke: Have you found any critiques of his fundraising abilities? Dom: I have not. In terms of fundraising the endowment has gone up over the past four years.
Motion extend Q&A by 5 minutes Luke Second: Jonathan
Luke: Is it possible to say that the tuition has increased? Dom: I have not heard much about tuition being a student issue when things are talked about so I have left that out. Carlie: Do we have a budget for how much this vote will cost? Dom: Kyle Stewart, has communications committee, so as long as you talk to Evan to see how much has gone out to Facebook Ads. I think we should put some budget behind it but that isn’t necessarily my call. Jonathan: For the blue and gold society event, was that something introduced by Rochon? Dom: Probably designed by institutional advancement. The wording on there stays the same.
Motion to extend Q&A by 2 minutes Ezeka Second: Jonathon Couce
Lanise: Blue and Gold society, talks about senior class gift committee, does that mean that mainly the senior class knows about it? Dom: Senior class gift committee tries to get seniors to give money to the college before they leave. All students are welcome to give $250 to join blue and gold society. Ezeka: What is the vote? Dom: The vote has to be done in conjunction with additional research. There will be two options, “I do not have confidence in President Rochon” “I do have confidence in President Rochon”
Motion to extend Q&A by 5 minutes Luke Second: Ezeka
Jonathan: What do they mean by special interaction? Dom: Online it talks about a blog or communication, it is vague, troubling to me that it is presented as special interaction. That is something that we don’t get. Charles: If he is ousted, is there someone within administration who gets his position? Dom: That is decided by the Board of Trustees. Ezeka: For the vote, is there going to be more information? Dom: I would take any suggestions on that as well. This bill will have context to it, but there are a lot of media source that students can consult. Megan: Do you plan on holding any type of communication event with student body, to get information out there? Dom: I don’t think I will be able to do that. I want to make sure we present SGA as unbiased. Luke: Will student organizations be campaigning? Dom: We can’t control that at all.
Move to Discussion Kyle James: Blue and Gold society has existed, name was changed this year, according to one member it has been around since 2008 at least. You keep donating every year to be a part of it. You get special access to a portal, and special events. Done to recognize people who donate higher amounts to a college. Garret: Encourage good discussion on this bill, this is important business. Dom: Blue and Gold society is not like things at other colleges, they are going on about talking about what you get and phrasing of special interaction with leadership. Matilda: When a vote of no confidence has been issued by faculty it is in purpose of getting the president fired. Kaitlin: For those of you who haven’t been there, works hard to build good relationship with administration, recognize the gravity if we do go through with this and if it doesn’t pass and he stays here we are possibly risking the relationship we have with administration. Personally I feel like by not voting for this, that I am silencing the voices that I am here to represent. Kyle Stewart: If this bill passes and we do the vote, in terms of the communications part, SGA is promoting the vote and we need to make sure we have a lot of students voting on this to make it legitimate. I like the idea at the bottom of the system that Dom created, that will have to do a lot with our communication strategy. I like the system Dom created.
Motion to extend Discussion by 5 minutes Charlotte Second: Matilda
Matilda: We are lucky to be able to have a campus to make a huge difference. We are customers here and we can actually use this voice to make a difference. If this passes, this could be a huge step. It should be taken seriously. Dom: There is a thing in our constitution called committee of the whole, that would be everyone discussing in a non-timed discussion. Potential to do. Ezeka: For tomorrow, in the A&E center he is having a presentation, what he is going to say that would affect what we think of this bill? He is presenting something and maybe he has done this before. If he is presenting something, should we hear what he has to say. I don’t know if he has done this before and nothing has happened. Kyle James: I can’t motion, but if I could I would encourage someone to make a friendly amendment for spelling and grammar. Charlotte: I will motion for friendly amendment. Also, I think on the part of should we hear what he has to say--perhaps, but also this is not the first time students have taken issues with him. This is not the first time students have tried to rally around him to make a change. Seeing last year’s campus climate does not give me hope for him to change or not change.
Motion to extend discussion by 5 minutes Jonathan Second: Matilda Dom: Move to committee of the whole.
Motion to move to committee of the whole Luke Second: Kaitlin
Dom: You can ask questions and have discussion. Luke: When would the entire student body be aware of this. Dom: They will be getting an email on November 4th. Kaitlin: SGA’s minutes go out. Ciara: Response to Ezeka, I have the same concern, I don’t want people to feel pressured, don’t feel like you need to sway for yes or no. Make the decision on your own. Jonathan: For the voting on the survey, is there a certain percentage for a minimum the college needs? Dom: There is no technical structure other than the board of trustees in place to remove the president. I feel we will get a large number. No matter what happens we should present it. Matilda: If this bill passes this isn’t saying that we as SGA don’t have confidence, it is just to get the vote out there so students can have a voice. The event shouldn’t prevent us in passing the bill tonight. Charlotte: also mention that I believe you have the choice to abstain. I’ve had the opportunity to speak with faculty about this and there are a lot of faculty who do not have confidence in President Rochon. Dom: Yes, I think that is true, I have talked to faculty as well. We have reasons to assess whether students have confidence in President Rochon. I think this bill and concept transcends the people in this room, to the people in this room who have sat here before. Matilda: Rochon wrote a book, in that book he talks about institutions of higher learning as leaders in culture and he basically said if those institutions are not being leaders and if those leaders of those institutions are not listening to the people than that leader should be removed. So he is outlining what we are asking for in this bill. He shouldn’t be shocked that this is happening.
Motion to close committee of the whole Lanise Second: Matilda
Motion to move to previous question Ezeka Second Luke
Voting on Bill In favor of passing bill as is: 11 Opposed: 0 Abstaining:
ü Bill is passed.
Motion to open continuing business: Kaitlin Second: Charlotte
VI. Continuing Business A. LGBT Studies Bill (James) ü Expect some more things next week. ü Yes, I will contact you about the bill.
B. FAFSA Bill (Allen) ü Had my meeting with assistant director of multi-cultural affairs. ü Gave me some ideas on how to move forward. ü Have to meet with other people to know how else to move forward. C. SOTSA Bill (Stewart) ü We will work on that next week at communications meeting. D. Committee Representation Bill (James) ü Met with Sean Riley, head of staff council, was extremely supportive of this bill. ü Trying to figure out what committees we should be going on first. ü Slowly add more as time goes on. ü If you all see a committee that you want to be on you can talk to me about that.
Motion to move to officer reports: Luke Second: Charles
Dom: ü This has consumed my Student Government Life. ü This is a huge moment and I am nervous to see how things go, I am so excited that we are able to move forward with this because this is a big step forward for students. ü There was no lack of discussion for what will happen tomorrow. ü I did my best to represent the student voice in those meetings. ü While they want action and while we want action, that action is not desired to come from President Rochon and that is part of why the bill is so important. ü Bill will go up as PDF on the SGA page and the Intercom. ü Have a radio interview tomorrow after the A&E Center event. Kyle will be there with me. ü I will be reading a slide tomorrow at the presentation in the A&E center. ü The slide is a student action.
Kyle Stewart: ü We want one location where all of the committees are accessible. ü In terms of communications committee, the bill passed so if you all can stay after this meeting for a bit to determine what we are going to do communication wise.
Yena: ü Met with people working on Elect Her last Friday. ü Glad that is getting started. ü I want to meet with people getting involved in Elect Her, I have some updates. ü General note: for this bill, a lot of us are in the same friend group, make sure you really reach out to your constituencies. ü A lot of campus doesn’t know what is going on.
Kyle James: ü A couple bills. ü Things might change slightly with everything going on. ü As someone who has been contacted, and talked about in the media about things happening in SGA, I will say you do not have to speak to anyone that you don’t feel comfortable. ü If you feel like you should respond but don’t want to, say you would prefer to talk to SGA Communications. ü If this does get into national media, save yourself and do not read the comments. ü If you do, have a good nature about it. ü Be ready to be engaged with the community here.
Evan: ü At last week appropriations meeting we spent time talking about policy changes. ü I am not prepared this week to talk about those just yet. ü Next week there will be a lot of events that are forth coming.
Marieme: ü Take care of yourselves. ü Take time to look after yourself. ü I know this has been stressful. ü We will be doing all of the organizational stuff next meeting. ü Have a Happy Halloween.
Ciara: ü Last week at Board of Trustee meetings a lot of the time we spent explaining and having trustees understand what the campus climate is like right now. ü They were given articles to truly understand. ü I was pleased with how the meetings went. ü Big overall question was What specific actions need to happen now? ü We have actions that need to happen, but not under Rochon’s leadership. ü I don’t think it will come as a surprise. ü I can’t say what will happen next. ü I believe that it is on all of us, and there needs to be a joint responsibility to make things happen.
Laura: ü Going to regional conference. ü Interacting with other RHAs. ü I will have more to report back on next week.
Lima: ü There has been a lot of student alumni interactions that haven’t been positive. ü Alumni board of directors are an advisory council but they don’t advise on student issues. ü Board of directors and a group of alumni’s have expressed their support.
Motion to close officer reports Charlotte Second: Matilda
Motion to open Open Agenda Luke Second: Lanise
Kyle: Last week at a class meeting, we discussed crisis communications. If you are interested. Matilda: Academic Calendar met last week, for 2020-2021, the question of should religious holidays be on the academic Calendar. The committee wants your opinions. Kyle: I think a separate Calendar is a good idea. Jonathan Gould: I agree. We do need to put them out there, so professors have a resource. Kaitlin: I think we should have a Calendar about awareness months. Luke: What is the primary purpose in having holidays on there? I feel like most people who these holidays pertain to would be aware. Matilda: So the professors are aware. Kyle James: To my knowledge, it is illegal for a professor to hold a graded test/ in class assignment when there is a religious holiday. Yena: In terms of programming, when we were planning executive board, we had to look at calendar to see if there were any religious holidays. Marieme: Stay engaged in the community. Yena: See A Chorus Line. Dom: Does anyone have any suggestions to who I should send this bill to? Carlie: You should send it to President Rochon, because it would be respectful. Marieme: I am sending it to the entire mailing list. Charlotte: Dom and I met with members of Cornell University. I am interested in talking to other senators who are interested in talking to Cornell to create a bridge between the two communities. Ezeka: This week is professions week. Marieme: Go at 5pm, to A&E.
Motion to close Open Agenda Charlotte Second: Ezeka
Motion to adjourn the meeting Charlotte Second: Lanise
Call for acclamation.
End Time: 9:13 |
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