Student Senate Minutes

I. General meeting of the Student Senate was called to order by Speaker Hogan at 6:00 PM.
	A. Absent from the meeting were members:
	B. Also attending the meeting was: Casey Millburg from Kirksville Socialite, 	Index
II. Preliminary Items
	A. Roll Call
	B. Corrections/Approval of the minutes
	C. Gallery introductions/business
	D. Guests of Honor
	E. Membership Issues
	F. Appointments/Administration of the Oath
		A. Hogan – Kelly Sitter as associate senator
	G. Changes/Approval of the agenda
III. Executive Reports
	A. Secretary – None.
	B. Treasurer – None.
	C. President – Charles Tomlinson as Senator of the Week for his work with 	curriculum. FAC slate is finished. Senate no longer approves the slate but she will 	email it out for reference. Tuesday at 7 PM, you are invited to come to the 	Executive Staff meeting in SUB3204 to discuss changes to the BOG 	representative selection process. Student Affairs has an awesome blog. All 	committee chairs should update their own. Met with SAB, FAC leadership last 	week and decided to do a newsletter at the beginning of next semester. Working 	with SAB and FAC for a presentation on how we work together and spend money 	as a body. Started one on ones with the executive committee. Staff Council 	Wednesday and UGC on Thursday. Please take the SAB survey. Family Feud is 	Wednesday and TSODA recital is Friday. “Leo” showing Saturday as well as 	Regina Specktor and the PRISM dance. 
	D. Vice President – Sat on FAC selections last week. Ordered nametags on 	Friday.
IV. Auxiliary Reports
	A. Faculty Advisor – None.
	B. Staff Advisor – None. 
	C. BOG – Names for BOG representative have been given to the governor. 	Presidential Search is going well. 
	D. Speaker – Anything said in closed session must remain in closed session. 
V. Committee Reports
	A. Academic Affairs – December 2 at 5 PM in the Spanish Room will be the 	Academic Roundtable. Working on getting in touch with the Romance Language 	majors.
	B. External Affairs – Storm the Capitol may be the 1st or 2nd week of February on 	a Tuesday. On Truman Institute Committee. If you have any ideas email Joey. 	Census stuff is the last week of January. 
	C. Student Affairs – Planning an all campus forum in January. Working on 	external blog. Working on a resolution concerning the proximity badges and a 	resolution bringing the Freedom Writers to campus.
		i. Campus Diversity – Sad defeat for LGBT community in the elections. 			Have a diverse day.
		ii. Campus Environment – None.
	D. Technology
	E. Other Reports
		i. Historian
		ii. Communications – Going to start visiting every organization on campus 		by winter break. Senators will be required to do this. This will be for 			publicity and to tell them about upcoming events as well as answer any 			questions they have. 
		iii. Webmaster
		iv. Ethics Justice
		v. Recruitment
		vi. Legislative Director
		vii. Constitutional Review
VI. Old Business
	A. Tomlinson – Second reading of Freshmen Seminar resolution.
		- Tomlinson – Big concern is that students supported continuing to have 			COMM 170 and the support for getting rid of WACT was lukewarm. In 			general, students thought it would add to the curricular community.
		- Buckler – Was it overwhelming support for public speaking and WACT 			or was it marginal? (64% said WACT did not improve their writing. 			52.5% 	said COMM 170 imporved their speaking skills).
		- Esfeld – Is not comfortable getting these resolutions five minutes before 			the meeting began. Sitting on the committee for three years, thinks this 			course, if successful, will benefit the students. Based on Arete, this has 			been supported by the body for years.
		- Heagney – Could we keep COMM 170 and just add speaking enhanced 			sections of other courses?
		- Esfeld – This would not completely remove COMM 170. It would still 			be a speaking enhanced option for students. Would like to see speaking 			enhanced courses throughout the curriculum.
		- Gyawali – Spoke with international students at the ISAO. They feel 			having a writing enhanced and a speaking enhanced for a non-native 			English speaker their first semester is too much. Will not vote in favor of 			this.
		- Sato – Would this be during freshman week?
		- Tomlinson – It would start during Truman week and continue throughout 		the semester.
		- Marshall – Will WACT still be offered also? (Yes but it would be up to 			the English department).
		- Sumter – In support of this. Hear majority of students do not take 			anything away from COM 170 and WACT.
		- Hogan – This course would establish a baseline of proficiency for 			students before they move on to upper level courses. This class is designed 		to make sure students can operate on the level Truman requires.
		- Tomlinson – Possibility of an ESL version of the class. Our friends may 			be a poor example of opinion on WACT and COMM 170. Most likely that 		we didn’t feel it was necessary but other students may need it.
		- Buckler – Three speaking enhanced courses. Would these be brand new 			courses or incorporated into existing courses?
		- Tomlinson – It would be included in existing courses. There would be a 			substantial speaking component. 
		- Gyawali – So much “enhancing” in the description could scare away 			international students. Likes the idea but thinks it may be too difficult.
		- Potter – As a comm. major, has never had problems with writing or 			speaking. WACT helped her decide what to do with her future.
		- Kwon – If it is supposed to be distinguished from writing enhanced 			courses like JINS, maybe it should not be called writing enhanced. 
		- Troop – this might contribute to a sense of community for Freshmen that 		would normally be instilled by Truman Week which is now significantly 			shorter.
		- Esfeld – Wants to address issues with international students. Talked 			about the issues within the committee. Feels like the current system is 			sometimes discriminatory to international students. This new course could 		do so many awesome things. The difference between the current and new 			system wasn’t significant to pass this up. Hopes it could help everyone to 			have more Truman spirit and benefit the community.	
		- Passes 11 – 4 – 0 
	B. Tomlinson – Second reading of experiential learning.
		- Tomlinson – This will help distinguish Truman. Implementation 				concerns are somewhat unfounded. The school will have to commit 			resources to this. 
		- Passes 14 – 0 – 1 
	C. Tomlinson – Second reading of resolution endorsing 7 of 8 modes curricular 	model
		- Tomlinson – This was the model that by far received the most support 			from students.	 There was no majority issue driving us away from it.
		- Esfeld – Upset about this resolution being sent out so early. Big concerns 		about continuity within it. Was your goal to include all statistics from the 			survey? Finds it unnecessary.
		- Tomlinson – Recognizes there are dead ends within the resolution. They 			can be taken out.
		- Esfeld – Would take them out because they are confusing to outsiders. 			Can’t support this resolution. Spent too many years on the curriculum 			commission discussing how to keep Truman on the cutting edge. This 			does not fulfill that goal. This model keeps us stagnant. Understands 			where students are coming from and feels they vote on what they are 			comfortable with/understand.
		- Serroque – Does not see the practicality in keeping the same model when 		the school is thinking about changing the number of required modes 			anyway.
		- Marshall – While the survey may show the majority supporting the 			current LSP, it may be due to uninformed students not knowing the 			benefits of other models.
		- Tomlinson – If the decision is made that students got it wrong, it was not 		his decision to make. It should be by a vote of the body. 
		- Sumter – Going forth and saying this is voted down makes it more 			impactful than changing the resolution.
		- Resolution fails 1 – 12 – 2 
VII. Money Motions
VIII. First Readings
IX. Discussion Items 
	A. Tomlinson – Moves fifteen minutes of discussion time to discuss the core of 	the next curriculum.
		- Tomlinson – What would you like to see?
		- Heagney – The other two were shaped by student opinion. It is hard to 			say what he wants because there isn’t a model that is drastically different 			from what we currently have. Can you explain the other two models?
		- Tomlinson – Community of Discourse Model combines pairs of modes. 			Symbolic systems, creative systems, natural world and human world. The 			idea being the categories of thinking are broader than we currently portray 		them and would allow for more depth and choice in the curriculum. The 			606 model creates 6 modes and requires students to take all of them. 			students should benefit from a mandatory breadth in the curriculum.
		- Esfeld – Likes the discourse model the best out of what is left but liked 			other older models better. Maybe it would be better for the body to just 			endorse what we want to see in the curriculum. Challenging, 				innovative, and embodies a true Liberal Arts curriculum. We should make 		a bold statement as opposed to supporting one model.
		- Williams – Feels as though the 606 model is the same thing just 				reworded.
		- Hogan – What is this Thursday?
		- Tomlinson – First UGC meeting where they will discuss the faculty 			survey results. 
		- Hogan – Do we expect a decision this Thursday? (No). Someone will 			have to write this bold statement. Everyone should pitch in. Charles did 			his part by bringing us a resolution and we decided we wanted something 			different. 
		- Tomlinson – Would like to have some direction now so it doesn’t just 			come from him and his committee. 
		- Flanagan – On Thursday, they will be asked during UGC which model 			students endorse.
		- Sumter – Is we hate all three a valid statement? (Yes).
		- Potter – Likes the way the curriculum is now based on her experiences. 			Has gotten a lot out of it and appreciates her Truman experience.
		- Heagney – Are the faculty in favor of the models that are shown or is 			there a general dissatisfaction there as well? What is the deadline?
		- Tomlinson – We have to do something or else three years of work will 			continue to stretch on.
		- Heagney – It’s better to do the right thing than just put something out 			there.
		- Esfeld – Should we force change or let the status quo continue?
		- Marshall – the 606 is more like what we already have. If we want a 			change it is more likely to occur.
		- Shelton – Disagrees with Kristen. Thinks 606 is the best one. It 				acknowledges that the liberal studies program is not just about learning 			material. It embraces a specific way of thinking.
		- Kwon – Only has one major and hasn’t taken but a few classes outside 			her major. Feels like 606 is too limiting and does not allow for the full 			liberal arts education.
	B. Robinson – Moves no more than fifteen minutes of discussion time on the 	budget.
		- Robinson – President Krueger has formed the 2012 Budget Task Force. 			Moving into the phase of discussing what are the fundamental programs 			that make up a university. What needs to be maintained and what can be 			downsized. Opinions?
		- Heagney – Get rid of some athletics. Would hate to see money taken out 			of education type things when a lot is given to things that have nothing to 			do with our education.
		- Tomlinson – Thinks athletics are important because they attract minority 		and out of state students.
		- Gilmor – talk of cutting athletics comes up a lot but it is a small drop in 			the large bucket of budget. Cutting it would not help stop budget issues. 			The solution will have to be a lot larger.
		- Marshall – What are some of the major things the university spends 			money on?
		- Robinson – Faculty payment, benefits and retirement. Scholarship is also 		a large chunk. 
		- Williams – What kind of things are the committee considering cutting?
		- Robinson – Nothing is off limits.
		- Heagney – What is the possible budget shortfall we can come across?			- Robinson – Still waiting for reports to come in. Looking at a 4 million 			dollar cut from the state not to mention enrollment decreases and other 			things.
		- Heagney – Maybe raising tuition by $300-$500 per student could take a 			chunk out of the issue. It seems to be a fair trade off.
		- Sumter – This is not just hitting us. It will affect every public university 			in the state. 
		- Gilmor – Tuition increases are capped by law. We can vote to raise fees 			though.
		- Kwon – Cut amount of automatic scholarships.
		- Heagney – Any cut to Sociology/Anthropology would be too drastic.
		- Gilmor – Keeping class sizes small will be difficult. 
		- Tomlinson – Would hope to continue having professors teach lower level 		courses. 
		- Marshall – If classes that have 50 students go up to 100 it would change 			the average class size. Detriment to what makes Truman special.
		- Tomlinson – Would not have a substantial impact on the average. 
		- Flanagan – Continue talking to students.
	C. Flangan – Moves ten minutes of discussion time for Student Senate Survey
		- Flanagan – It has been a few years since our last survey. What would you 		like to see on the survey?
		- Tomlinson – Why aren’t you on student senate?
		- Esfeld – What are we hoping to gain?
		- Flanagan – How informed they are about what we’re doing. The best 			way to communicate with students. 
		- Tomlinson – Do you pay attention to what we do? Do you even know 			how to pay attention to what we do? (Blog, Index, Website).
		- Troop – What would you like to see us do?
		- Serroque – How informed are you in current university issues? How do 			you get the most information about student Senate?
		- Shoun – Do you understand how Senate works?
		- Marshall – Do you know a representative?
		- Hogan – In a public policy course that requires making a survey. There is 		one surveying Senate’s efficiency. Should have results soon. Try to make 			the questions closed ended. 
		- Flanagan – Thinking about a spectrum for the answers with a few open 			ended questions.
		- Beard – Email minutes to a list of interested students.
		- Potter – What is student Senate doing well? What can we work on?
		- Heagney – Would you come to  campus wide forum? Would it be 			beneficial? 
		- Serroque – How do you feel your voice counts in university policy?
XI. Announcements

Respectfully submitted by Secretary Piel on