[In these minutes: 1. Discuss and Approve Graduation Proficiency Test Letter, 2. Discuss undergraduate student for the Health Plan Task Force]

STUDENT SENATE CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (SSCC) MINUTES

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1999
1:30 - 2:30
JOHNSTON HALL

[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), Meggan Ellingboe, Tiffany Stedman, Aaron Street, Kerstin Trimble, Mark Uszenski.

REGRETS: Sabeen Altaf, Jed Ipsen, Reid LeBeau, Chaz Rice.

GUESTS: Kelli Rusch.

1. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

The November 4 and 18 minutes were approved.

2. CHAIR'S REPORT

BUDGET SUBCOMMITTEE
Jason Reed and Aaron Street met earlier today with faculty leadership to discuss the Senate Office budget for 2000-01. The proposal developed at the last meeting was submitted and seemed to be approved, including the Orientation retreat to Duluth.

ATHLETICS
SCC is working on drafting charges for the two athletic committees to be formed. The first is the Faculty Oversight Committee which will deal exclusively with eligibility and compliance. Only faculty members will serve and will be responsible for reviewing transcripts for all student athletes. The second is the Athletics Advisory Committee whose role and composition will be similar to that of the current ACIA. It will focus on gender equity and athletic budgets. The next SCC meeting is Thursday at 11 a.m.

Faculty and student committee members have also been meeting with the coaches. Jason Reed said that his meeting was early in the morning and only a few ideas were shared with the SCC.

Meggan Ellingboe reported that her session was more productive. Coaches felt that they were disconnected from the University as a whole and wanted to be more integrated. They felt that meetings with faculty would help by giving them an outlet to express their concerns. Previously, when they met with ACIA, they were told what to say.

STUDENT SENATE MEETINGS
Jason Reed reported that there were only 29 students present at the Student Senate meeting last week. To increase attendance, he thought that all colleges should have to report to the Student Senate, thereby making their representative accountable to share information at the meeting. The other committee members felt that this would provide better communication between the colleges and campuses at the University and decrease repetitiveness between meetings.

DIVERSITY COMMITTEE
Jason Reed said that he attended the joint meeting of the Disabilities Issues and Equal Employment Opportunity Committee on Monday at which time they were discussing the possibility of a Senate Diversity Committee. Both current committee expressed concern over losing their committees identity under this larger umbrella committee. Jason Reed expressed concern to the SSCC regarding the possibility of only four student positions on the Diversity Committee. He did not feel that this was an adequate representation of student diversity among four campuses.

Therefore he proposed that the Student Senate establish its own Diversity Committee, made up of 12 - 16 students. The committee expressed their approval of this venture since students should not have to wait for these other committees to come together. If a University Senate committee was formed, then the already established student committee could be incorporated into it.

The committee also debated who should appoint the membership. It was decided that the Student Committee on Committees would officially appoint members, but that the SSCC would talk with the cultural centers to find willing and able students.

Jason Reed said that he work on drafting a charge and membership. This would be approved by the committee and hopefully appear on the Senate docket in February so that the committee could meet this year.

The committee then closed its meeting to discuss a recent student leadership meeting.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY FORUM
Jason Reed said that the forum went well, but he had hoped that more students would be present. With roughly 30 students, faculty, and administrators in attendance, the forum lasted almost the entire two hours and provided some useful comments and suggestions for the SAIC to use when it works on the next two parts of its charge.

3. STUDENT SENATE CHAIR'S REPORT

Since Reid LeBeau was not present, Jason Reed reported that the Student Senate meeting went well and students asked the President good questions during their time with him. He did note that he would be proposing a bylaw change for the February Senate meeting to make student body president plural in regards to the Twin Cities Campus Assembly.

4. DISCUSS AND APPROVE GRADUATION PROFICIENCY TEST (GPT) LETTER

Jason Reed distributed the draft letter and asked for members to suggest changes. The committee then discussed amendments to the document. A vote was then taken and the letter was approved as amended.

5. DISCUSS UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT FOR HEALTH PLAN TASK FORCE (HPTF)

Jason Reed asked if anyone on the committee carried University insurance. Since no one did, he thought that a coordinate campus student might bring a good perspective to the committee. He asked Mark Uszenski to look for a Duluth student to serve. Mark said that he would report back in February.

6. OTHER BUSINESS

DULUTH
Mark Uszenski reported that he has a SBE student senators named and is working on filling the rest of the colleges. He will notify Becky with information as soon as he appoints students.

He then stated that the administration is trying to change the computer fee structure on campus. Currently, students can choose between basic access for $57 per semester, which provides access to e-mail and modem use, or full access for $113 per semester, which provides lab computers and printers in addition to e-mail and modem use. The proposal is for every student to pay a $99 per semester fee which would allow the same access to all students. He then asked about the fee structure on each campus.

On the Twin Cities, each college has its own technology fee, which ranges in price. This fee, though, pays for refurbishing college computer labs and adding technology to classrooms. Modem use, e-mail, and most computer labs are provided as a free service to students.

For Crookston, students pay a $300 per semester fee, but this covers laptop rental, modem use, printing, and software.

Mark Uszenski said that association members have been stationed all over campus to collect student reactions on a survey. 800 were collected yesterday and now will need to be tabulated to gauge students' opinion. The administration will be making its decision next week and the association will present the view representing the input majority at that meeting.

Q: What is the incentive for changing the fee structure?

A: The administration states that it will no longer have to operate separate labs and then more computers will be accessible to all students. Computers upgrades will also be possible. Students will have the option of printing from a home computer to a lab printer and saving information on the network. Personally, he feels that if the system is not broke, then it does not need to be fixed.

Lastly, he reported that the conference that the student association attended went well.

CROOKSTON
Kerstin Trimble reported that a senator position has opened up on campus and that nine students have applied for the position, the largest turnout ever. Their student association will also be having its retreat soon in Duluth.

DULUTH TRIP
Mark Uszenski said that currently, the association meets on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. If this changes, he will let Becky know. Otherwise that day works well for most students present at the meeting, but nothing will be officially planned until next semester.

Jason Reed then thanked everyone for attending and adjourned the meeting.

Rebecca Hippert
University Senate