Holly Trogdon, Executive Vice President Stefanie Ackerman, Secretary of the Senate I. Eating of the Pizza II. Call to Order: [8:13] III. Roll Call: Senate Meeting Agenda Tuesday, October 23, 2012 8:10pm in L202 a. Present: Chris Bell, Alfredo, Michael, Dean, AJ Sutton, AJ Huber, b. Proxy: c. Absent: Mike Williams, Grant, Charlie, Chris, IV. Announcement re: Supreme Court Mike Lueptow Mike: We still have five justices. All of them are either 3 or 4Les. The two individuals from last week were approached and told that they should be involved with the SBA, but the SBA judiciary is filled to its capacity. They can bring more things to our court or bring more students. My apologies, sorry that I brought them up. There was no bill drafted or signature anything, and I m okay if you would like to withdraw previous nominations. Alfredo: Can you set it up so that they become judges when the next class graduates? Mike: I can vouch for them to be nominated. We can draft a joint resolution. AJ Sutton: can we only have five? Mike: yes AJ Huber: Does the C. say that they have permanent positions as long as they are students? Mike: Yes, it does. If the sitting individuals would like to step down, then I will vouch for them. V. Approval of Minutes from October 9, 2012 a. Holly: approval of minutes b. Mike J.: motion to amend. c. nobody opposes d. Holly: community comments from non senate? e. [no response] VI. Community Comment #1
VII. Brief Ad Hoc Process Overview Shirley Liang a. Shirley: [introduction] I want to go through this with you guys especially to first time senators. You can reach out to me about how money is spent. The reason I want to talk to you guys about this is because all the processes I follow on my side, I make payments for [events]. You role in passing the budget at the beginning of the year and your role in approving ad hoc allocations is the most tangible thing that you do. We can talk about this later or go over it at another time. Just a brief over view of who is involved people at the University level are involved in students getting paid out. We do not need to get too technical about all of that. b. David G: Does LS have PayPal acct that can be used? c. Shirley: We have revenue accounts and all of the SBAs money rolls over. PayPal is linked to these accounts. We get money from white student association (undergrads) and they give us money back that we pay for students fees. We also get money from the Dean s that is spent towards student s organizations. We ended up issuing more money to the students groups. Thirsty Thursday was taken out of the SBA side. Everything else that is alcohol related is covered by our expenses. There is a whole process... things that happen in the summer but you should pay attention to ad hoc requests. Once organizations are approved, they are on a probationary period and can only receive money from the ad hoc funds. The one prohibition on ad hoc funds that does not apply to general funding it must be spent on exactly what it is funded for. If they do not spend all o fit then we reclaim it. The group submits their request, the email goes to Mike, and I get a copy for the record. Mike and his team will look over it and have a recommendation. You guys have the power to recommend based on what you think. You may have questions about what student groups received last year this year. Questions? Feel free to reach out to me. d. Question: do student organizations have to submit receipts e. Shirley: yes, they do. We have comptrollers. f. Questions? i. AJ Sutton: motion for discussion re: ad hocs ii. Holly: second? iii. Holly: motion fails VIII. Ad Hocs Mike Johnson a. GWLS GW Law Softball i. Request: $2000; ii. FCR: 2,000 iii. Holly: second? Oppose? softball is approved b. GRN Gulf Recovery Network i. Req: 9,500 ii. Req: 3,500
iii. Mike J: as a standing policy we do not fund travel and lodging. The amt that the finance committee is recommending is 10k. We have 16k left. On the GRN request we cut half of the transportation out and lodging. Then, we were concerned about lack of student contribution. If you want to go on a trip, you should make some financial contribution. Once we cut transportation and lodging in half, each student would have to spend 70 for transportation and lodging. All that we ask student to do is pick up half of their travel and lodging. iv. Charlene: our policy has received complete funding. We do require $20 from each student and volunteering. It s really difficult to travel. It s a financial burden for all of us to go on trips. Our request is so high b/c I ve already done my math our trip has been full (40 people); four people per room; we are trying to be cost effective. We are not going for a weekend where there is a [holiday] or football games. v. Paul Waters treasurer: Questions? vi. Angela: it s a weak long? vii. Holly: Tommy had his hand up viii. Tommy: how much are students putting in? ix. Paul: students pay for their flights and we put in a reimbursement. Hotel is 6,230. Reimbly $190/s $130 x. Rob: everyone spends money and gets reimbursed xi. Charlene: if we are reimbursed for 40 people [at that rate], each person would only get $40. xii. Mike J: increase of $150 p/ student? xiii. Paul: yes, but let me back up a bit. We have always paid for the hotel. We always do this during winter break. The reason why we are truly going for more than this is because last year we were able to tell people it would be $190 so they will be surprised if it is only $40. xiv. Dean: if someone says I don t want to pay to do community service, what would you do? xv. Charlene: I think that if you wanted to take an approach like this in the future, then we should use tickets. xvi. Mike J: last year they got 6.5k in c fund and 5,050k in ad hoc. Our proposal puts them in a positive $450. xvii. Paul: prices of hotels and tickets have increased. xviii. Mike J: who put together the document why was document edited? xix. Paul: mathematical error xx. David G: what you guys do is great work, but our funds did not increase. We have six new groups to the law school.
xxi. Tommy: good point. People have bought their tickets and are waiting for reimbursements? xxii. Charlene: yes. We tell them that they are signed up but there is a waitlist. xxiii. Rob: comment. I want us to run out of money and have more money. If we run out of money, we have a case for more money. Is anyone proposing an alternative? xxiv. AJ Sutton: I would like to vote to give them 1.5k more xxv. Angela: is there a reason xxvi. Holly: in favor? xxvii. Alfredo: how much have you guys raised through fund raising? xxviii. Charlene: we prompted 750 800 dollars. xxix. Alfredo: so you don t know what you raised so far? xxx. Charlene: nothing I could give you. xxxi. David G: do you have a more cautious way? xxxii. Holly: motion to vote? 1. Y: 13 in favor of finance committee recommendation. 2. N: 5 3. A: 3 c. ESPLA Entertainment and Sports Law Association i. R $220 ii. FC $220 1. Abstain: AJ Huber d. FLS Family Law Society i. R 200 ii. FC 200 iii. e. APALSA/SALSA Asian Pacific American Law Students Association & South Asian Law Students Association i. APALSA 1. R 5,424 2. FC 2,713 3. Mike J: this is for bar membership fees. If they register early, class is 175 and membership fee is 25 to bar association. This is based on private benefit argument: yea we want students to network and opportunity to join this association, but there is a private benefit derived to students. We do not believe that we should provide in full. 4. AJ Sutton: we have to charge the 25 to get 100 off the total cost so it makes it cheaper.
5. Angela? I understand what you re saying. But fine, I understand what FC is saying. 6. AJ Sutton: we are going for 50/50? 7. AJ: I have a presentation. We pay registration fees. We have specific precedent. [Going through slides rapidly]. LAMBDA received full funding for 30 students. 8. Saurabri Prabhakes: A lot of students attending are not doing this for a private purpose. While that is a private benefit, in some sense, we are trying to help them get a job. Second thing, I want to point out is especially SALSA we want to increase opportunities for students. We want to continue bring in gin practitioners into school. It is not entirely a private benefit. 9. Mike J: I know AJ will respond re: LAMBDA but that was last spring. If we spend one dollar more, we are already through half of it. 10. David G: we look into facts of each case; I know LAMDA received full funding I m sure GRN wants to bring 50 people is it a case that every member is active? 11. Saurabri: the request would come down to $150 p/person. We are okay with that. 12. David G: have you guys considered not taking a full group? 13. Saurabri: we have considered privatization 14. David G: if you get the FC right now, what will you do? 15. AJ Sutton: the amount will still be more people. 16. Angela: I understand 25, but if we give you an ad hoc, I know your ad hoc has to be spent directly. Motion for conversation no longer than five minutes? 17. Holly: [motion granted] 18. Mike J: they can always come back later after the FC 19. AJ Sutton: but this is happening in November. 20. Saurabri: we will be able to raise 8-900 in fundraising. We have taken efforts. 21. AJ Sutton: yes, there were opportunities to volunteer. 22. Bobby: reducing the # defeats the purpose. 23. Shirley: POI LAMDA members paid their own fees, and we paid discounted rate in full. Full disclosure I am on the list of students who want to go. 24. Rob: alternative proposal anyone? 25. Bobby: I would advise to give them 4k a. FC: 11
b. Opposed: 7 c. Abstain: 5 d. Holly: motion to reconsider? e. AJ Huber: withdrawn f. SBA (VITA) SBA Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program i. Mike J: help low income client to file income tax returns and give advice with income tax questions. Credits and all that type of stuff. A lot of law schools have this. We only cut publication materials. All organizations can have free copies done at the copy center. 1. R: 1k 2. FC 650 ii. Angela: this is a consistent job that you have. But I think we need a fact sheet. We need some sort of precedent. People do not know when they cannot do. iii. Mike J: whoever came to annual budgeting, we gave them information. During these two meetings this is the best opportunity to get the information out. iv. Angela: motion to vote v. Holly 1. Abstain: Kyle g. ILA Immigration Law Association i. R: 11,800 ii. FC: $0 iii. David G: we are supposed to speak about fundraising goals. We didn t feel that there was enough fundraising at this point. We didn t want to say here is 1k when you have to put up ad hoc for something completely concrete. iv. Mike J: they had no additional fundraising plan they had a really small bake sale. There was about 100-200 student contribution for 10-12. We see it as not right when there is no fundraising. v. Jenna: we are in a better place tonight. We want to have an alternative spring break trip to have some service done down there. That is not the amount we want to spend in total. We also have a car wash planned. We wrote a letter to law firms that they will sponsor us. We will give them credit for the trip and alumni association in Arizona. Our trip would be educational. There is a clinic that is going on that would be helpful. I do not know if all of this was discussed during initially. vi. David G: are there alternative options? Some of these charges seemed expensive. vii. Jenna: It is cheap - - $20 per night. Meals are $5. I do not know how much cheaper we can go. A guide will have to take us along the border. viii. Alfredo: can we get a better break down of these expenses?
ix. Mike J: 6k in travel. 4680 professional tour guide, service. 720 lodging. 684 food. 720. 200 miscellaneous expenses. x. Jenna: The amount requested was the max just our total expenses. We took out a hundred per person student volunteer. The 720 is for transportation within Tucson. xi. Alfredo: it s unfair to give a FC of 0 b/c of fundraising efforts. We shouldn t give 0, we should try harder. xii. Mike J: it s not that we can t fund it later for this much money there should be at least 3 fundraising organizations. You need to do your fundraising and speak to your sources, and then we can approach it again. xiii. Holly: POI was ad hoc for 11,800 xiv. Cydney: Yes xv. Tommy: the 0 shouldn t stand for we don t like the organization. 2k would not be worth anything. If you are concerned about fundraising we have a standard policy about travel and lodging. Use baselines. The FC is solid that there needs to be firming up. xvi. Jenna: we are here to work as students.we requested xvii. Cydney: the money we will get from tabling will be negligible. But we need momentum to go on this trip. We want corporate sponsorship. xviii. Jenna: we have interest exceeding the people who can go on this trip. xix. Mike J: I just want to confirm that once money is out the door, it s out the door. We cannot track the money. xx. David G: if we give you money, we know you wouldn t spend it, but we cannot give money that is not allocated. xxi. Cydney: Is there any way that money can be set aside for us? xxii. David G: hopefully you will be able to come back when you have a solid number. xxiii. Jenna: we can get to that number tonight. We need a deposit by the end of this month. We need to start getting our money now. xxiv. Charlie: First, you guys are not on trial or being grilled. We spoke a lot about your request. You can come back at a later time. Motion to limit debate. I don t foresee us funding a request tonight. Last year there was a huge chunk of money at the end of the year. From the finance committee perspective, we are having huge request already. We don t have a bylaw that says anything, but for big dollar request we will have a lot of students pissed off. xxv. [Dean leaves AJ H. is his proxy] xxvi. Y: xxvii. O: 2 xxviii. Abstain: 3
xxix. Alfredo: we will talk this next meeting. xxx. Rob: if you cannot wait until November eight, then we have an email process. xxxi. Holly: we can call a special meeting. xxxii. Charlie: we gave a recommendation so you can say whatever you want. h. PDP Phi Delta Phi TABLED i. Comment: i. Holly: [spreadsheet] IX. 2012-2013 Senate Business a. Chair Reports i. Angela Buckner Academic Policy Committee 1. Problems about bar fitness and briefing and we are looking at exam 4 software. ii. Rob Russo Rules & Constitution, Charter Committees 1. [stated that bills/legislation will be presented] iii. David Glanton Facilities & Technology Committee 1. Few meetings and will disclose as they unfold. We will have updated information requested items decision to get people more information about what is going on. iv. Mike Johnson Finance Committee 1. I want to apologize to everyone; I didn t have until Sunday night. I had Between Sunday until Monday to get all that done. v. Mike Williams Wellness Committee b. Senate Comment i. AJ: someone had recommendation about standing tables. ii. David G: working on it. iii. Marisa: something for senate to think about, after how things went tonight it may be hard for long term members to chew on. If we can consider bills being introduced at an earlier meeting. If we could have bills for all of us to see. For the rest of us to have something in front of us and for Holly not to have to write everything on the board and there will be less questions. All student groups will have thought through all their requests. If the bills are sponsored by student organizations there will be less confusion. Those are some things to think about. Committees are there for a check and balance. I don t think any one committee should decide the entire bill. The senate is here to be fully informed. iv. Holly: would it better if we received does it include every single rationale reason and analysis?
v. Holly: you don t break down the cost of the bills what better break down would you want? vi. Marisa: I recommend an estimate of costs given bill # tonight would pass through. vii. David G: what do you mean by bills? viii. Marisa: ix. Holly: you should draft legislation on bills. x. Marisa: it would have to be on the agenda. xi. Mike J: that would put a significant time delay for student orgs to get their decisions. By the time it gets approved we only have 9 gatherings. My suggestion would be an email debate before the debate. We can work out a drop box or something like that if there is ever a time where you want to see supporting documentation, you can always feel free to email me. xii. Chris: I personally feel like the kind of things like line items and this didn t serve everyone very well only if it s something really big. I wanted to go back to Angela s point; it could be that these groups are irresponsible. Even still we should make it easier. I went on the website for five minutes there should be a separate drop down. xiii. Holly: typical criteria a more user friendly way would be ok. xiv. Angela: it s not the process. X. Senate Legislation a. Student Organization Exception for Honors Societies Act AJ Huber i. AJ H: I thought of this last week when I thought to send this issue to the SBA S. Ct. It s unnecessary for us to ask them what the bylaws are when we can change them ourselves. Students who are higher achieving to meet famous alumni. Most schools have honor societies at every level there is nothing discriminatory that we need to be afraid of. We should change by laws to allow PDP to remain as a student org. ii. Mike J: I don t like it b/c if you pay in your dollar you should be able to get your dollar out through any student organization. They can get funding. I know David will argue that everyone has the potential to get on top of their class. I am against the bill and I urge others. iii. Shirley: its within your powers, you can recognize them and limit funding to meetings open to all students. iv. AJ Sutton: all funding they receive from school goes toward things they receive for meetings open to the school. v. Rob: I hear what mike is saying and I get the argument. The reason why groups should be open to all students is not for discriminatory purposes; that s not what is happening here. There is no history of students with lower
GPA s being discriminated against the point of the SBA is to allow students have a meaningful experience. We would be taking a very literal interpretation. vi. AJ H.: 1. Y 13 2. N 3 3. A 5 vii. Holly: passes viii. AJ H: S. Ct. can decide on mootness if they are so inclined. b. Election Reform Act of 2012 Rob Russo i. Rob: if we can have ten minutes for each amendment. Chris, can you start. ii. Chris: I don t think we need ten minutes iii. Amendments 1. Bell- Russo Amendment a. Rob: basically, the phrase egregious abuse is used three times and we do not have a definition. We will make an amendment to by laws to add definition. We will get rid of egregious and just call it abuse. b. Chris: I thought that this was referring to everything this just applies to social media so you can do whatever you want the only point is just that you cannot abuse it. c. Holly: all in favor i. A: David and AJ S ii. Holly: passes 2. Bell- Russo Amendment 2 a. Rob: after consultation w/ elections committee we just had fall election. We do not talk about certain candidates for EVP b/c not elected until spring. Website must be passive and no other pages or videos. What this does is say that they cannot put limitations. Only EVP and P can have the website, subject to abuse standard b. Alfredo: I m worried about saying to the elections committee that they cannot add any restriction. c. Rob: that doesn t address this amendment d. Alfredo: this creates tough standards do we want student elections to turn in e. Mike J: point of order that goes to overall bill f. Tommy: never mind g. Holly: all in favor
h. Opposed: Tommy i. Abstain: Dean, Alfredo j. Rob: I would like to reserve a couple of minutes and table this until next meeting. c. Rules & Constitution Committee Act Chris Bell i. Mike K: decreased civic participation, if we look at spending limits, senates can spend more, I m not suggesting that we go that high. $35 is pretty low. I would like to add an amendment for senate to spend 100, 200 for EVP, and 300 P. ii. David: 100 is a lot of money for people. I don t see what benefit it gives. In terms of the bill at large it is okay to campaign. It does not serve to making senate more responsible. iii. Charlie: I don t find this persuasive for anyone. We could look at opt in and opt out for social media. You can always defriend. Things can be considered abuse opt in/ opt out is fine. iv. Mike J: once you are here and see an SA you will see people meet their limit. Posters on campus are not something I want to see on the halls. v. Chris: I thought $35 was too high but I m in favor of this b/c as a transfer student I didn t know who else was one. It will be a popularity contest. You should actively reach out to people and see who talks person to person. I can see the value in hand to hand policy. vi. Tommy: piggybacking off of Mike comparing to SA limits is wrong. They are much larger. Those in law school are right in here. You don t need extra funding. vii. Rob: I do think that there is value on using social media it s the 21 st century this is how people communicate. From the perspective of an evening student, it is hard to campaign. Every time elections come around it would be hard to reach out to people individually. We should go through legislation having its breath. Before next meeting we should be armed w/ concrete amendments. With that I say let folks who are currently listed, let those listed speak. viii. AJ H: I prefer opting out option you want to be able to reach out of people. ix. Mike: the proposals I changed are not too high. People did not run b/c they thought they could not run effectively off of $35. This gives them another way to campaign more effectively. x. AJ S: I see some benefit to not increasing the limit but allowing people to use flyers. xi. Chris: the idea that people are running on FB - - I understand evening students but I don t see need for using FB. We are trying to get people active in student government.
xii. Rob: I ll go ahead and update the bill so everyone is working off the updated version. W/ amendments if you explain them to Holly and you explain them to me, that would be great for clear order. xiii. Holly: send them to me by next Tuesday at 8 xiv. Chris: this is a comprehensive idea of what we should do all that is done is rules are updated on the website. The general rules and procedure will be spelled out. We are not dictating the show here. xv. Mike: if any bills would have to be run by the committee it concerns me from a finance perspective. xvi. Rob: - - - for example, bills on reform act would go to our committee line such and such would be part of the bill. xvii. Chris: moving to table XI. Community Comment #2 XII. Adjournment: 10:19 PM