Student Forum Report 4-19-2017
Last Wednesday’s MSSA meeting was the longest regular business meeting of the semester, clocking in at around three hours.
First came a presentation on changes to the Student Allocation Committee (SAC) guidelines. SAC chair Cristian Perez noted a few of the proposed changes, which were included in a motion later in the meeting. One change was to increase the per-person travel limit for student group allocation requests in an effort to “put money back in students’ hands.”
Taylor Heid, organizer of the bee-friendly campus initiative, went into depth on that issue. She noted that MNSU president Richard Davenport will ultimately need to sign off on a Bee City USA application in order for the movement to continue.
A presentation was given explaining the MSSA election postponement situation and the Constitution Commission’s decision to uphold the postponement last Tuesday.
MNSU student Leanna Moy represented the American Lung Association in warning of the dangers of flavored tobacco and myths surrounding it.
The senate allocated $1,385 for trips put on by student groups: $85 to the RANGE Geography Club, $500 to the Sport Management Association, $550 to MavHouse Records, and $250 to Alpha Sigma Alpha.
Five motions were presented and all of them passed.
MM/84/04/19/01 was the motion containing the SAC guidelines changes.
MM/84/04/19/02 was the long-awaited bee-friendly motion. It was moved by President Faical Rayani and affirms that MSSA advocates for the bee-friendly campus initiative and encourages President Davenport to support it as well.
MM/84/04/19/03 was the motion containing all proposed changes to the MSSA by-laws. What ensued was a massive discussion, generally focused on very technical issues. One piece worth noting is that the motion established a new MSSA position: Public Relations and Marketing Chair.
MM/84/04/19/04 was a motion moved by Senator Jacob Royce that declares that MSSA publicly supports the Homecoming Committee’s decision to change the terms “homecoming king” and “homecoming queen” to “homecoming royals.” The motion passed with unanimous approval.
MM/84/04/19/05 was a motion that will require the senate to write a transition report after their term for the incoming senate.
Many reports were given as senators met their report quotas. In his report, President Rayani said he would like to see a bike-friendly campus motion passed before the end of the semester. Senator Smith gave a report on an issue he has worked on for a long time: campus security. His idea is to expand the Safe Walk program to off-campus locations adjacent to campus. In his report, Senator D’Silva proposed that the new dining hall be equipped with resources for studying, including a printer.