[In these minutes: Reports, U Mart Task Force Update, Regents Selection Discussion, Committee on Committees' matters, Future SLC Agenda Items

STUDENT SENATE CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (SSCC) MINUTES

NOVEMBER 30, 2000

[These minutes reflect discussion and debate at a committee of the University of Minnesota Senate or Twin Cities Campus Assembly; none of the comments, conclusions, or actions reported in these minutes represent the views of, nor are they binding on, the Senate or Assembly, the Administration, or the Board of Regents.]

PRESENT: Jason Reed (chair), Sabeen Altaf, Amber Benning, Percy Chaby, Khaled Dajani, Tim Dunn, Meggan Ellingboe, Paul Enever, Reid LeBeau, Adam Lyche, Chris Shulstad.

1. REPORTS

CHAIR
Jason Reed reported that Meggan Ellingboe has accepted an internship in Washington D.C. for spring semester, so she will be replaced on the committee.

STUDENT SENATE CHAIR
Percy Chaby noted that since the Student Senate was not meeting, his efforts were being focused on Student Affairs Committee matters. The first item was campus lighting. A working group, including members from the police, facilities management, sexual violence, and the residence halls, was being formed to set safety standards that can be applied across campuses in response to rapes and other attacks. An implementation schedule is being developed to replace sodium bulbs with newer, brighter metal hydride bulbs. The hope is to increase lighting in specified areas, such as to parking lots, and then publicize these lighted walkways. A campus walkthrough will be done after break to assess the current situation. An e-mail address, lightout@umn.edu, is also being developed for people to report burnt-out bulbs.

A committee member then suggested that pictures of rapists should be posted in the parking ramps and bus shelters to make more students aware.

Chris Shulstad mentioned that this was a concern at Crookston last year but the students were able to work with facilities management to replace lights and reduce the number of dark areas on campus.

Percy Chaby then noted that the Student Affairs Committee has also been working on the price of student athletic tickets and light rail transit. If there are other issues, please forward them.

He then mentioned that attendance at Student Advisory Council (SAC) meetings, held by HESO, has not been his priority this fall because the meeting details do not arrive until the day before and the meetings take place in St. Paul during the day.

CROOKSTON
Chris Shulstad reported that Crookston has formed a paper recycling committee to look at prices and ideas for paper recycling on campus. The Student Rep to Regent is graduating so candidates were interviewed and Rudolph Stith was appointed to fill the position.

DULUTH
Amber Benning noted that the campus is still working on students evaluations of teaching, but since the faculty are unionized, a compromise is hard to reach.

MSA
Jason Reed said that MSA will be approving the fees committee slate, less any contentions, and looking at the Regents selection process.

GAPSA
Paul Enever noted that GAPSA will be approving the fees committee slate, receiving an SLC update, and voicing concerns regarding Boynton and Coffman.

3. U MART TASK FORCE UPDATE

Percy Chaby noted that some students and Shih-Pau Yen, Director of ADCS, had discussed the possibility of having an e-commerce portal for students to use which would provide them with discounts on local and national retailers. In July, SSCC formed a task force, with ADCS and OIT, on this topic. After meeting fall semester, OIT decided that they did not want to undertake this project since it was not proven. Instead, a student business enterprise will be formed to continue with the plans. Once the web site is up and running, any proceeds will be donations to ADCS for IT infrastructure.

4. STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES TO THE BOARD OF REGENTS DISCUSSION

Jason Reed noted that the Regents policy states that while each campus elects its own representatives, each campus government is supposed to submit their election procedures to an ad hoc working group, composed of SSCC members and Student Reps to Regents, for review. Because of vacancy issues in MSA and policy changes, this ad hoc group will be convened in the spring to solidify the process for next year.

5. COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES' MATTERS

Jason Reed noted that the Student Committee on Committees has discussed these items at its last meeting, but asked for feedback from the SSCC. The first item was that there is no committee term limit specified in the Senate Constitution for students. Faculty have a term limit of six years on committees and in the Senate. Student have a three year Senate term limit.

Committee members made the following comments:

  • Committee term limits should be the same as student senators term limits, three years
  • Student senator term should be increased to four years
  • Clock should restart when a student moves between colleges
  • Student should be able to build-up expertise in an area
  • Turn-over needs to be ensured for committee service
  • Committee on Committees turns-over too and cannot gauge ability from year to year
  • It takes students time to learn to interact with faculty
  • Student needs change drastically
  • Sometimes there are problems finding students to fill positions and other times there is an overflow
  • Why should returning members be discouraged?
  • Faculty are at the University for many years and therefore should have a longer term limit The committee then decided that term limits for all student positions should be set at four years. This recommendation will be forwarded to the Student Committee on Committees.

    A second issue involves student eligibility for service on the Committee on Committees. The constitution states that Committee on Committees members must by student senators from amongst their numbers. This limits the number of eligible students considerably for the coordinate campuses. The committee decided to recommend to the Student Committee on Committees that coordinate campuses be exempt from this stipulation.

    6. FUTURE SLC AGENDA ITEMS

    Percy Chaby said that he wants Student Senate support for future SLC agendas, so would like to know what issues SSCC would like SLC to research. Additionally, an on-line survey is being created to develop SLC's five year plan.

    Q: What are the incentives for students to complete the survey?

    A: The only incentive will be that students will get to voice their opinion.

    A committee member noted that one issue might be the definition of graduate assistant in terms of the state bargaining unit definition which groups research assistants and graduate assistants together, even though each group has different needs.

    7. OTHER BUSINESS

    Jason Reed noted that a suggestion to the Student Service Fees Task Force is that the Student Senate approve the slate, since it does not receive funding from the Fees Committee. He expressed concern that students may join the Student Senate simply to approve the fees slate.

    Committee members noted that it is highly unlikely that this proposed change would be implemented. Instead, a standing committee is being proposed to deal with issues as they arise and eliminate the need for future task forces.

    With no further comments, Jason Reed thanked everyone for attending and adjourned the meeting.

    Becky Hippert
    University Senate