SGA Meeting March 22, 2010 8PM

Roll Call

Senators Present: Beovich, Guy, Perry, Reed, Gessner, Kuyk, MacCants, Macon, Sanders, Smith, Stewart, Fowler, Jones, King, Tanner, Schneider, Sells, Carlson, Youngblood, Broach, Ramsey, Richardson, Thomas, Lebron, Wolf, Langan, Pearson, Hillard, and Hall

Senators Absent: Miner, Riner, Kapadia

Senator Sells – Makes motion to approve the Minutes from March 8

PASSED BY ACCLIMATION

Officer Reports

President Gardner - Applications have been laid out for elections. They will be sent out to students tomorrow. Just a reminder, in case you didn’t know, if you are on senate you must rerun!

Vice President Proctor-I want to make as my personal project to re-work the senate collaboration. I will be working on the communication between committees and chairs. I will be working on this on Thursday at 3:30 in my office. I want some of your ideas. I think that some of the chairs feel left out because they don’t get to work with the committees. Also please note on the Agenda that Senator Guy’s senate project is supposed to be 1300 dollars instead of 130.

Treasurer Baldwin – RLC student project and Special Student Services Project. The balance is: $14004.25 for senate projects.

Attorney General Bettis – no report

Chief Justice Al-Greene –I just want to welcome everyone back from spring break!

Student at Large Pittman – no report

Committee Reports:

Multicultural Committee chair – We are hosting a talent show at 7:30 this Friday. We need people to man the tables, give out raffle tickets, popcorn, and work the snow cone stand. We are also hosting a Luau before the show.

Senator Guy – This counts as office hours for anyone who helps. Also office hours are due on April 30^th.

Special Orders

Dean Mitchell – The Greek Life assessment will happen this Thursday. Please meet in the terrace. If there is anyone else who like to attend be there at 7:30.Also, six of you signed up for the Fresh Food demo at Southern Miss. If anyone else would like to come we will leave here at 2:30 and be back at 7:30. Also, heads up on special guest for next week. Dr. Delmis is coming to talk about a new program in the college of education.

Senator Calhoun – I was on the committee for gumbo chili. We have a plaque for gumbo chili thanking for all the support (presents plaque to senate)!

Senator Perry – I am a member of mortar board, which is an honors society for seniors. We have three numbers from SGA: Ashley Guy, Kim Proctor, and Carly Hall. Congratulations!

Old Business – N/A

New Business

Senator Hillard –Makes a movement to open the floor for discussion of the JagTran.

Jag Tran Representative– My name is Dennis Gessner, facility management of the JagTran. My operations are all over campus, including the JagTran. The superintendent, Charles Montgomery, takes care of day to day and sports transportation. I am going to let him do most of the talking.

Jag Tran Representative - Good evening. Thank you for letting me come speak to you all. What I would like to discuss is the Tan route. In 2009 we have about 265 students a week take the tan route. Now we only have about 100. The expense is huge- about 2500 a week in driver pay and vehicle expense. The red, blue, purple, and green – the cost is about 78 cents per student per month. Tan is about $25. It is completely cost inefficient. Tan leaves student center to ILB to computer services and back. The tan route has no feed. The administration building isn’t full of people anymore. At one point we were running 4 red trans - All the way around campus. Kaitlin Collins, the last SGA president, made altercations. We now serve both the back and front of humanities. We split the green route to elevate time. We now would like to eliminate the tan route. We want to work with ya’ll with what you need. Kaitlin came with the facts and figures that were extremely accurate. The Tan route is costing us money that we could spend in other places. We wouldn’t make such a large change without the input of the senate.

Senator Guy – I know we had talked about this at summer workshop. And honestly, we came to the census that the Tan Route was pretty much useless.

Senator Sells – We do need to consider what the percentage of handicapped people use this route.

Jag Tran Representative – I went to the special services office and we will still honor our policy that if you have a disability we will take you to your desired destination. We took a specific student with a disability to where ever she needed to go: class, lunch, back to her room ect. I need a list of students with disabilities, but unfortunately I cannot have this list because the privacy of these names are protected by HIPAA. But, basically, the handicapped students will be taken care of.

Senator Schneider – What would you do with that extra bus?

Jag Tran Representative – It was my job at my previous job to create routes. I have the attitude thatif you are not changing and adapting you are wasting time. Every class has a problem and we need to talk about moving forward. We really are doing the best we can. With the extra bus I would like to complete a double route that the buses go in opposite directions. It would take time and effort. If you create the perfect systems, you will still have problems. The first thing that happened this year is that the health services students were late because they couldn’t get from the Humanites building and Health Services between classes. It would be advisable to change the time between classes to 30 minutes instead of just 15.

Vice President Proctor– We talked to Vice President Johnson about 30 min offset in the past.

Jag Tran Representative – That would be helpful. I would also like to have students be able to ride the backside of the circle to UCON which we don’t have right now. I am very open to any senate ideas.

Senator Hillard- I have a suggestion. I think maybe you should advertise your services for the handicapped because I’m not sure how many of them actually know about their JagTran benefits. Also, as far as Greek Row, it seems to be full by the time it gets to Delta. I always have a problem with being able to squeeze on.

Jag Tran Representative – I would love to have larger buses, but unfortunately that is not a possibility. The issue with Greek row was supposed to be solved with the split route with the Groove.

Senator Hillard– I live in Epsilon and by the time it gets to Delta it always seems to be full.

Vice President Proctor –I agree with Senator Hillard. I come across the same issue.

Jag Tran Representative – We can add the 5^th bus to green route. That is a possibility.

Senator Guy- I work in special student services. I know physically handicapped students get special parking where they can park anywhere on campus. I haven’t heard any complaints about parking. That is one way they can get around using the JagTran. WE could definitely use our office to advertise for the JagTran.

Jag Tran Representative - Last year I talked to the Vanguard twice. Both times I gave them the scenarios of a special needs student that I will pickup. The longer the notice the easier it is. One hour would be optimal.

Senator Youngblood – Maybe you could get ideas from the trial period. I feel that if we had a trail month we could figure all of the best routes for the campus based on use and feedback. I feel that sometimes that the JagTran is misused.

Jag Tran Representative – We missed tan route for 5 days because of construction and we didn’t hear a single complaint! If I don’t hear the problem I don’t know there is a problem. My office is always open and I want to hear your complaints.

Senator Youngblood – I just feel that sometimes on the long routes students misuse the Tran. I have even seen students just kind of hang out and sleep on it!

Jag Tran Representative – The trams are here because we don’t have enough buses. These trams are quiet expensive and we obtain them through grants. We have to uses these trams to complete the system. I know they are slow. I know that the red route and the purple route will have 40 people on it at one time. So they are used. It causes complaints if you don’t have them. One the North side of campus the buses are used – which are the shorter routes. On the South side of campus the trams are used – which are the longer routes.

Senator Wolf- I use the green route and I always need to use a second bus. It is just so full. Maybe they should just serve the Greek Row and another one just for Delta.

Jag Tran Representative - The problem would be that it would take too long for the buses to come back around.

Senator Ramsey – I use the Green Route early in the morning and I am always on just fine. I believe that at certain times that traffic flow will simply be higher – just like road traffic. Going back to the issue at hand, I think that eliminating the Tan route is a good idea.

Senator Sells – You mentioned buses going from UCON to traffic center?

Jag Tran Representative – It would have to go from the traffic circle to the student center and take UCON off blue route. It would increase the distance around. We can take away the extra mileage.

Jag Tran Representative – I take Blue and it would be great for education majors. I move to close the floor for discussion.

Senator Smith – objection. We are concerned about when 2:30 in the afternoon comes around and UCON merges with all the other route and you are waiting 25-30 minutes.

Jag Tran Representative – We don’t have enough riders to create the extra route and it would be too cost ineffective.

Vice President Proctor– I think that another route from housing to the Student Center would be great.

Jag Tran Representative – The Vice President and President need to sit down with me and I’ll show you the routes and then we can have a coalition on deciding what to do. The JagTran number is 251-460-7735.

Senator Sells – Makes a movement to open the floor for discussion for the RLC Senate Project.

RLC Representative– I appreciate you all coming tonight. RLC is a governing council of all the housing. We are basically the SGA of housing. We would like to replace the televisions in the common rooms. They are extremely out of date. It would definitely give the place a facelift.

Vice President – The majority of us in here live on campus and I feel that it would be much appreciated for the housing department to be updating.

Senator Hillard – I would also agree with this. I think that it would help new students choose South because they see all of our up-to-date technology.

Senator Sells – New student orientations use these rooms and it would give them a good impression.

Senator Stewart – What would you do with the old tvs? And

Senator Jones - They would go to surplus and I would rather put them to good use such as in the student center.

Senator Gessner –I think that the TVs are a nice idea but, I have lived on campus all through college and I don’t see too many students using the rooms.

RLC Representative– I have worked in housing for two years and you would be surprised at how many students use the rooms. I really want to encourage students to get out of their room and into a community setting.

Senator Gessner – I think that RLC should really push involvement and hopefully that would push students to use these new TVs.

Senator Perry – What is housing paying for and what percentage is SGA accountable?

RLC Representative– I had the impression that SGA was funding all of this.

Vice President – This would be us completely funding it and we would receive a plaque saying that we funded it post on the wall.

RLC Representative– The TV will go on the wall inside a protective case.

Senator Reid – This is a great idea but I don’t feel like SGA should have to pay for all of this. Housing should have money.

RLC Representative– Housing really doesn’t have any money. Basically if SGA doesn’t fund this it won’t happen.

Senator Reid- I would really like to see Housing out more. I mean I barely see my RA except during room inspections.

RLC Representative– Housing puts on so many programs. It is just really the students prerogative to show up.

Senator Youngblood – I really feel the dorms are boring and I think that campus is looking a lot better these days. I think that the dorms need someplace to also look better. I think that the TVs would look great.

Senator Guy – Makes a movement to close the floor for discussion.

Senator Wolf- Objection. Would these TVs have DVD or Xbox access.

RLC Representative– Yes there will be a cable box assessable.

Senator Ramsey – This is a good senate project that will affect a large part of the student body.

RLC Representative– There are 1625 on campus residents. The cost would be pennies per student for these TVs. If you don’t take advantage that is your fault.

Senator Guy– Makes a motion to approve TVs for RLC

Senator Perry – Makes a motion to table the vote for next week.

Senator Reid – I think tabling is a good idea.

MOTION TO TABLE VOTE PASSES

Senator Jones – Makes a movement to open the floor for the Special Student Services Senate Project.

Senator Guy- Last year the SGA sponsored 2 computers and they were highly appreciated. Presents letter from SSS(paraphrased): The rising number of special students and testing services expenses have sky rocketed. We really need new filing cabinets to cater to these higher numbers. We are willing to donate the old ones to where ever they are needed.

Senator Guy- There is a long process for the whole student administered test. It is overwhelming. There is so much documentation. The files are huge. It would be a huge help and we need all the extra space we can get. If ya’ll would help that would be amazing.

Senator Jones – We have a lot of stuff in surplus. I believe we have dozens of vertical filing cabinets and you could have them for free.

Senator Guy- That would be fantastic.

Senator Ramsey – If you can get it for free we should wait till next week to discuss this.

Senator Mahan – Makes a movement to close the floor for discussion.

Announcements

Vice President Proctor –Any announcements?

Dean Mitchell – Some of the officers have lunch with the computer sciences dean at 12:30. If anyone has anything to be discussed please get with them this week.

Senator Hall - I want to invite everyone to Wesley for the Toms Party next Wednesday at 7pm. You didn’t have to buy TOMS to come. Just come and hang out!

Senator Youngblood – Tasty Tuesday 9pm at Sabora. On Friday TKE is hosting tekeapalooza for St. Jude. We are having a cookout then an after party from 10-2am.

Senator Pierson – The cookout is at SGA pavilion from 4-8.

Senator Guy – Elections Committee please meet for 5-10 minutes.

Senator LeBron – Phi Mu’s Hoopalazua is at St. Mary’s from 10-3. It is a free throwing completion where all the donations go to Children’s Miracle Network

Multicultural affairs Representative– There will be an upcoming dorm room step off! If you need a step-master just let me know.

Senator Schneider – Makes movement to adjourn the meeting

MEETING ADJOURNED 9:05 PM