APRIL 20, 2000
The third meeting of the Student Senate for 1999-00 was convened in 25 Law Building, Minneapolis campus, on Thursday, April 20, 2000, at 11:36 a.m. Coordinate campuses were linked by telephone. Checking or signing the roll as present were 22 voting student members. Mr. Reid LeBeau, Student Senate Chair, presided.
NONE
2. APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 24 STUDENT SENATE MINUTES
MOTION:
To approve the Student Senate minutes, which are available on the Web at the following URL. A simple majority is required for approval.
DISCUSSION:
With no discussion, a vote was taken and the motion was approved.
APPROVED
3. ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSES TO STUDENT SENATE ACTIONS
Student Legislative Resolution
(http://www1.umn.edu/usenate/resolutions/slcres.html)
| Approved by the: | Student Senate February 24, 2000 Administration PENDING Board of Regents - no action required |
| Approved by the: | Student Senate February 24, 2000 Administration PENDING Board of Regents - no action required |
Meggan Ellingboe reported that the bonding bill is still in conference committee, but no work is being done since both houses are on Easter Break.
Crookston - Kevin Poppel, the SSCC representative, reported that activities are winding down since it is the end of the semester. Chris Shulstad has been elected as the 2000-01 SSCC representative for the campus.
Duluth - Mark Uszenski, the SSCC representative, stated elections are scheduled for April 25 -27, which was a postponement to allow restructuring of UMDSA. The SSCC will be visiting UMD on April 27. Earth Day is also being celebrated on campus this week.
Morris - Reid LeBeau, Student Senate Chair, announced that three new senators have been elected and the SSCC representative will be named next Monday.
Minnesota Student Association - Jason Reid, SSCC Chair, said that Matt Clark and Rachel Boeke were elected MSA President and Vice President. All other positions were elected this past Tuesday. Work is also being done on bylaw changes.
Graduate and Professional Student Assembly - Paul Enever, 2000-01 SSCC representative, stated that, in conjunction with MSA, an ad hoc Fees Reform Committee has completed recommendations for bylaw changes. GAPSA will also be working with SLC to encourage more support for faculty and graduate assistant pay increases next year.
Council of Graduate Students - Mike Pawson, COGS President, announced that after last night's election, Michael Jacobs was elected next year's President. Barbara Van Drasek has been working on the health care bid process for graduate assistants and teaching assistants.
Jason Reed, Student Senate Consultative Committee (SSCC) Chair, started by congratulating next year's newly-elected senators. He noted that the Graduation Proficiency Test (GPT) resolution is still pending with the administration. Regarding the U Pass, resolutions were presented to the SSCC and the Student Affairs Committee (SCSA). Both committees had questions and reservations about the current proposal, so a resolution was passed instead which states that the committees support an initiative for U Pass, but not any specific plan. While most students were opposed to the class notes policy, it did pass the University Senate at the February meeting. At an SSCC meeting in March, President Yudof thought that the policy might be overkill on this issue and said that he is talking to other people before he approves the policy.
Later today, the grade change policy involving repeating a course will be up for action at the University Senate meeting. The proposed policy states that a student can only repeat a course once, that both grades would appear on the transcript, but that only the second grade would count in a student's GPA. He stated that he will be nominating Senator Khaled Dajani to serve as the Twin Cities Campus Assembly Vice Chair. Also at today's meeting under new business, the SSCC is proposing to add the Student Affairs Committee Chair as an ex officio, non-voting member. Lastly, he mentioned the Academic Integrity report which will be acted upon at the University Senate meeting. He thanked Senators Mike Sweeney and Barbara Van Drasek for their hard work on this issue. The Student Senate then gave them a round of applause.
Mike Sweeney then provided a recap of the Academic Integrity report, by stating that the report is not concerned with the penalties for cheating. Instead, the report tries to create a culture of academic integrity at the University by making it known to students that cheating is unacceptable. Everyone needs to be involved in the effort because cheating affects everyone by de-valuing the University.
The report asks that a statement by placed on blue books stating that a student has not cheated and will report anyone they see cheating. An amendment was made to this statement removing the requirement to report anyone seen cheating. He noted that various colleges within the University already operate under this type of system. In closing, he asked senators to read the preamble to understand the intent of the report, since there are many misconceptions.
Reid LeBeau, Student Senate Chair, reported that the SSCC will be traveling to Duluth on April 27 and the SLC will be meeting in Duluth on April 28. The Student Advisory Council will be electing a new chair for the upcoming year.
President Yudof started by expressing concern with the bonding bill. The latest news revealed that the Studio Arts Building would be included along with many other University projects, although it is not clear if there will even be a bonding bill before adjournment this year. Representatives were sent to the founding meeting of the Workers Rights' Consortium (WRC). He stated that the University will see how the WRC evolves, since it is a new organization. Lastly, he noted that the U Pass could help with the campus parking situation as well as the environment.
Q: What will the tuition increase be for next year?
A: An increase has not been approved yet, but the recommendation is for a 5.5% increase. At the end of 1999 legislative session, both MnSCU and the University each lost $20 million from their projected budgets. This money was instead put into scholarships, but structured in a way so that most University students would not benefit from this money. Therefore, in order to give staff and faculty members raises to keep up morale, tuition would need to be raised more than 3%. He stated that it is a terrible public policy to rebate so much money, primarily to the middle and upper classes, and then to tax students who are working their way through school. This process needs to be reversed in the legislature. A final increase will be voted on at the May Board of Regents meeting, after having been discussed at two previous meetings.
Q: Are this year's faculty and staff raises a one-time only raise or will they be recurring?
A: At this point, it is too early to tell. He stated that students should not pay for these increases. Instead taxpayers should shoulder some of this cost.
Q: The House majority leader said that the Morris renovations are included on the House bonding bill. Do you know what the Morris situation is in the Senate?
A: He has been told that Morris appears in both versions, along with the Molecular and Cellular Biology Building and Crookston renovations. The Studio Arts Building is only funded for $2 million for planning in the House, but fully funded in the Senate. The Plant Genomics Building is also fully funded by the Senate, but had not received anything from the House.
Q: What are your feelings on the Academic Integrity report and initiatives contained within it?
A: He said that he has read the report and feels that its initiatives should be implemented.
Q: Is the University planning on pushing for anymore policy changes, such as freshmen ineligibility, within the NCAA?
A: He has tried to make changes at the NCAA level. Within the Big Ten, the universities have agreed to reduce the number of basketball scholarships for students who leave the universities for academic reasons. This change is also being discussed within the NCAA. Big Ten schools are almost unanimous also on freshmen ineligibility. At this point, the University is working through the conference regarding freshmen ineligibility, but he does not think that this change will be implemented through the NCAA because the proposal is being out-voted by other conferences.
Q: In the future, will there be a push to have undergraduate students enroll at the coordinate campuses and only have graduate and professional students in the Twin Cities?
A: The Twin Cities will not become a completely graduate school since the current undergraduate population will be maintained. Growth might even occur in some specific areas that have a great demand. Growth has been programmed for the coordinate campuses and additional strengthening needs to happen between the coordinate campuses. By tying together admission procedures, it enables incoming students to choose the campus that fits them the best.
Percy Chaby, a student senator from the Carlson School of Management, was elected Student Senate Chair.
Since most coordinate campuses had not completed their 2000-01 senator elections, a motion was made to postpone the Vice Chair election until the fall. A vote was taken and the motion was approved.
NONE
12. NEW BUSINESS
NONE
13. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 12:19 p.m.
Rebecca Hippert
Abstractor