SSCC

[In these minutes: Reports, Student Committee on Committees change, Student Representatives on Committees, Roles and Responsibilities Statement]

STUDENT SENATE CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (SSCC) MINUTES

APRIL 4, 2002

[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, Anthony Heryla, Kari Lindeman, Matt McBlair, Jason Stingl.

REGRETS: Nick Cecconi, Trevor Ewanochko, Scott Ferguson, Christina Frazier, Shawn Lavelle, Ryan Osero.

GUESTS: Yev Garif.

1. REPORTS

SSCC Chair
Khaled Dajani reported that the withdrawal issue will be discussed again by SCEP, with a potential policy at the April Senate meeting. He said that the 13 credit minimum will be implemented for the Twin Cities. The Council of Undergraduate Deans (CUD) has put together an implementation team. The student representatives are Venora Hung, Josh LaBau, and Brian Wiedenmeier. The policy will only affect freshmen and transfer students next fall. Tuition banding will also be implemented to compliment the 13 credit minimum.

The registration queue is also changing for the Twin Cities campus. It will be phased-in, starting with Spring 2003 registration. The new queue will make a distinction by credits earned and by full-time/part-time status. He noted that new student senators will be sent an e-mail regarding the early registration option available through the University Senate.

Khaled Dajani then said that the stadium issue is still active. He is meeting with Vice President Pfutzenreuter next week and invited other SSCC members to attend if they were interested. He then asked members to read the stadium statement that SSCC and the Student Senate approved last spring, which list many conditions that would need to be met before students would support a joint-use on-campus stadium.

He then reminded SSCC members that the Research Committee would be discussing the issue of increased student members at their next meeting. SSCC members are invited to attend if they are interested.

Lastly he said that Dan Kelly, MSA President, has raised a question regarding SSCC members’ terms on SSCC. He sent an e-mail that these students would complete their service on April 14 and new members would be elected April 15. Becky Hippert wrote a response back that Senate terms run through June 30, but the issue is not resolved. If needed, the Senate Parliamentarian will be asked to make a ruling. All members will be kept informed of the progress on this issue.

Crookston
Matt McBlair said that interviews for CSA positions were conducted last Monday and all positions except for the Student Representative to the Regent was appointed. Nate Fahey was appointed as the SSCC representative for next year. The CSA President and Vice President will be decided next week.

GAPSA
Yev Garif said that last week was graduate and professional student appreciation week for the state as declared by Governor Ventura last year. Cake and ice cream were served one day along with other events during the week. He noted that GAPSA supports the revised SSCC membership so that it would have two representatives each year, instead of the rotating system which is now in place. Last week, he and Tom Walsh were elected the two new SSCC representatives. Lastly he noted that the housing survey is continuing.

MSA
Anthony Heryla reported that elections were recently completed and Joshua Colburn and Eric Dyer were elected MSA President and Vice President. The other issue for MSA is a late night bus to bring students around campus until 2 a.m. MSA will also be completing a website with information on local landlords. The website will debut during Spring Jam. The Crookston 10% Society recently visited campus to see how the QSCC here interacts with student governance. It was a positive experience for both organizations.

Morris
Ryan Brux reported that Reid LeBeau finally received an answer from President Yudof on where the University fee money is spent. The explanation is that the tax base is not high enough at some campuses to pay for projects, new departments, and new admissions procedures. Therefore, central administration needs to be able to provide funding to some projects. The only way for central to receive funds is through this University fee. In reality, it means that all students are supporting all projects, not just those on their own campus. Reid expressed the need to have this fee included in tuition so that students can receive loans for it.

Khaled Dajani said that this fee will never become part of tuition because then central administration will not receive it. Through the University’s funding structure, IMG, tuition goes directly to the colleges without first going to central administration. Colleges and departments already pay a tax on IMG funding, but they would not want a higher tax rate. This is why the fee was instituted. It is also easier for central administration to raise a fee than tuition.

Ryan Brux then said that Morris is considering moving from Division II to Division III athletics since it has not won a game in almost five years. Chancellor Shuman is talking to all campus groups before he makes a decision. If the change is made it could hurt campus diversity since many minority students come to Morris so that they can participate in Division II athletics. If Morris switches to Division III, some students may leave and recruiting efforts many decrease.

Another issue is that the Vice Chancellor for Finance is an interim appointment. The Chancellor is considering whether it should be permanent but the person in the position only holds an associate degree. MCSA will be involved in the final decision.

Applications for the SSCC position are due tomorrow and interviews will be conducted next week. All elections this year are uncontested and only one student senator positions has been filled, so MCSA is dealing with the issue of campus apathy.

He thanked the administration for selecting a Morris student to serve on the University Services Vice President search committee.

Lastly, he asked SSCC members to convince the President to visit Morris in September rather than August since students will not be on campus if he comes in August.

SCEP
Scott Ferguson sent the following written report:
SCEP has recently talking about calendar conflicts because in 2004 and on, the University has some conflicts with getting in enough instruction days before Christmas. SCEP is considering starting classes before Labor Day, even with the state fair. Also, Martin Sampson has been chosen as chair for next year. W's will be returning to SCEP with a proposal that a student can drop any class s/he wants the first 3 weeks, and then s/he has to get permission. There is also a proposal that student athletes can only miss finals for a tournament or conference championship event.

SCSA
Jason Stingl said that the SCSA discussed the withdrawal issue at its last meeting. Tina Falkner from the Office of the Registrar brought figures on how many withdrawals occur in weeks three through eight. There are 500-700 withdrawals each week from three through seven, with another 1400 during the eighth week. SCEP has created a subcommittee to look into withdrawals, but the only student on the subcommittee is a graduate student. An undergraduate voice is needed since this is the group which will be affected.

The proposed policy is no withdrawals after the second week unless they are approved by the college scholastic committee. SCSA felt that this withdrawal policy was a band-aid to a much bigger problem. Many classes do not have graded assignments or mid-terms until later in the terms, and some classes have a final exam that is over 50% of the final grade. Many colleges might also not be able to handle the added administration for hundreds of withdrawals each semester. These issues need to be addressed before a withdrawal policy is put into place.

A committee member said that students will already be punished for taking less than 13 credits by paying more. Making withdrawing harder is too much at once, especially considering that the University’s current policy is consistent with other institutions.

It is not known whether this policy would apply to the coordinate campuses as well.

It was noted that Morris students can currently withdraw up to the tenth week without permission.

Q: How many students drop one class but add another at the same time?

A: Tina Falkner did not have that information.

A proposed policy has been drafted already, which will be forwarded to the committee. SCEP meets next week at 1 p.m. to address this issue. Jason Stingl said that he and Brittny McCarthy Barnes already plan on attending, but other interested students are welcome.

The other issue SCSA looked at this year was tuition payment by credit card. If the University were to accept credit cards, it would be a big cost to shoulder, on top of rising tuition and fees. Ed Ehlinger, Director of Boynton Health Services, said that debt counseling services are in demand on campus and many students carry over $3000 of debt. SCSA discussed a report saying the credit card payment should not be instituted and listed several alternatives for students, such as loans. The problem is that many students do not qualify for loans or grants when their parents’ income is included, but students are not considered independent until they are 25 years old. There are other options to find money, but students need to be aware of where to find these resources.

2. STUDENT COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES CHANGE

Khaled Dajani said that there is no provision in the current Bylaws to fill mid-year vacancies on the Student Committee on Committees. This amendment will allow vacancies to be filled. A motion was approved to place this amendment on the April University Senate agenda for approval.

3. STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES ON COMMITTEES

At the March Senate meeting, a motion was made to allow more academic professionals to serve on committees, as well as designating seats for them on Senate/Assembly committees. The changes to add academic professional seats though, did not decrease the number of faculty on committees. Therefore, to make sure that the student voice is not diminished, a similar increase in student positions is being considered. He distributed a list detailing how many positions were added to each committee.

Members made the following comments: