EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN

[In these minutes: Reports, 2001-02 Issues]

STUDENT SENATE CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (SSCC) MINUTES

SEPTEMBER 6, 2001

[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: Khaled Dajani (chair), Judy Berning, Ryan Brux, Daniel Buechler, Trevor Ewanochko, YeeLeng Hang, Shawn Lavelle, Kari Lindeman, Matt McBlair, Ryan Osero, Jason Stingl, Matthew Wohlman.

GUESTS: Denny Olsen.

1. INTRODUCTIONS

Committee members introduced themselves.

2. REPORTS

CHAIR
Khaled Dajani reported that his goals this year is improved communication to empower the students. To achieve this goal, he is scheduling regular meetings with Vice Presidents and Provosts to attend SSCC meetings, will be trying ITV connections for meetings, and will be traveling to the coordinate campuses for visits.

This summer, several items were approved or discussed by the administration that he would like the committee to be aware of: tuition increase of 13.6%, academic fee in addition to tuition, and the pay plan for non-academic employees.

He then noted that it has been past practice for the administration to invite SSCC to one football game. Once a date has been finalized, invitations will be sent to members.

STUDENT SENATE CHAIR
Matthew Wohlman said that his goals are communication between the campuses and accessibility to information. He reminded SSCC members that they should be representing the collective views of the student body, not just their personal views. He looks forward to many great issues being discussed in the Student Senate

He then said that as Student Senate Chair, he is also a member of two other bodies: the Student Legislative Coalition (SLC) and the Student Advisory Committee (SAC). SLC is the lobbying arm of the students. The group is looking at what their specific role is and what their past accomplishments have been. SAC is an advisory committee to financial aid distribution; there has not been a meeting yet.

CROOKSTON
Matt McBlair reported that CSA will have its first meeting next Monday.

DULUTH
Shawn Lavelle said that UMDSA meets next week and will be working on writing a new constitution and filling its remaining Senate seats.

MORRIS
Ryan Brux stated that all the Morris Senate seats are filled although an SSCC alternate is yet to be elected. MCSA has its campus planning retreat this Friday and Saturday, with its first meeting Monday.

MSA
Khaled Dajani said that only the MSA Executive Committee met over the summer and its focus was convocation. MSA and the Student Senate had a student governance booth at the Pride and Spirit festival. Many new students were talked to about what the two groups do. He then stressed that Twin Cities undergraduate student senators are also members of MSA and must attend these meetings as well.

GAPSA
Trevor Ewanochko said that GAPSA is meeting next week and one issue will be tuition.

STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE (SCSA)
Jason Stingl, Chair of SCSA, said that the committee’s first meeting is next week, at which time a few items will be picked to focus on.

3. APPOINTMENT OF BUSINESS AND RULES COMMITTEE/BUDGET SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBER

SSCC voted to appoint Judy Berning as the second representative, with Khaled Dajani, on these two committees.

4. STUDENT SENATE ORIENTATION REPORT

Shawn Lavelle distributed the agenda for the orientation and walked through it with the committee.

5. ABTS DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Kari Lindeman said that Minnesota is hosting the ABTS Conference on October 5-6. The conference is a way for the Big Ten schools to talk about issues and get to know other student leaders.

6. UNIVERSITY SENATE RULES AMENDMENTS

Khaled Dajani distributed the amendments and walked through them with the committee in advance of the SCC meeting.

7. 2001-02 ISSUES

Khaled Dajani made the following comments on several issues:

TUITION

Q: Is the readership program only available in the residence halls?

A: The full program can be wherever the University chooses. The pilot program is only in the residence halls so that only a consistent student population has access to the paper for an accurate measure of use.

Q: Is USA Today the only paper in the program?

A: The school can pick any five papers to be placed in the boxes, and they can be changed depending on the location.

Jason Stingl noted that SCSA looked at last year and no members were in support of the program. Reasons were that 80% of housing residents have computers with ethernet access to download web versions, program would create more waste paper, students do not want more fees, would compete with the Daily, and many students do not care about reading the news paper.

A committee member said that students at schools with the program should be talked to about their thoughts on the program.

Denny Olsen said that the program is well-used at Penn State, but it creates much more waste lying around the union.

The committee then discussed taking a position on non-academic salary increases if they are funded by tuition increases. Issues for the employees are increased health care costs and a 3% salary increase. How will more to employees impact tuition since faculty salaries are already paid for by students? Balance is needed between salaries and tuition, in conjunction with the land-grant mission of the University. The administrative position should be reviewed to see if students support it or not.

8. OTHER BUSINESS

Committee members mentioned the following issues: