Senate Corner
Senate considers future possibilities
December 5, 2013
Whenever Student Senate has a long agenda and everyone anticipates a long meeting, we joke with the phrase, “Well, we do have the room until midnight.”
A long meeting is exactly what happened at the last meeting which went from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., or 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., for Executive Board members. So here is three and a half hours of information for all the students and other people interested in Senate. Don’t worry. It is paraphrased.
How about some lighter miscellaneous information to start off? Alexander Carr and Alexandra Mikle have finally filled the remaining At-Large position and the Military Representative positions on Senate, respectively.
Also, there is a good chance that senators will have scheduled office hours. In this manner, a senator will always be in the office to answer questions or to pass on a message to a specific senator for students. On a last note, the Senate section of the Involvement Center area will only be available to Senate and members of certain committees, starting on Dec. 9. Please check the poster near the entrance of the Student Senate section of the Involvement Center to see if a committee you are in is able to use the area.
There are a few interesting ideas stirring around in Senate. One is the potential of having a TEDx conference here at UW–River Falls. Both Student Life and the Allocable Fee and Appropriations Board (AFAB) have been collaborating to research and plan it; however, everything is still in the very early planning stages. If everything goes according to plan for Student Life and AFAB though, this campus will throw a TEDx event the spring semester of the 2014-2015 school year. Taking a step toward this event actually happening: Senate recently passed motions to partially fund the event from the Student Senate Funding Pool and the Organized Activity Account. If anyone wishes to know more about TED or TEDx, just Google them or go to their website.
Another event that has come to the attention of Senate is the changing parking policy coming into affect by this summer. When summer starts, parking enforcements will extend into J Term, summer term and all academic breaks for all student parking spaces. Basically, no more free parking during breaks unless you have a parking permit.
Senate is currently collaborating with the Parking Office to get more concrete information about the situation to ensure that students are fully informed.
While on the theme of future possibilities, Anthony Sumnicht, the vice president of Senate, has introduced a motion that will potentially modernize the Student Shared Governance Structure. There is not much to report on it until the information is more certain. However, the new structure seems promising and Sumnicht has researched other University structures to find a way to increase the effectiveness of Student Shared Governance
Finally, the Involvement Center reception is on Jan. 29. There will be cookies and lemonade from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. All are invited to attend.