With Student Senate President Hector Amaya sick and absent, Vice-President (acting President) David Reed, called the Oct. 24 meeting of Student Senate to order.

Reed reminded Senators that continued absences could decrease the size of Senate. Currently, there are six Senator positions to fill before January. These positions are open to be filled by all levels of undergraduates. If they are not filled, they will be left empty for the remainder of the 2007-2008 academic year.

The Treasurer’s report was given with the amount totaling $11,300. There are no appropriations requests for the next meeting.

The library committee was the first committee to report. Tyler Smith, sophomore bioinformatics major, reported that computers have been purchased for a technology lab on the second floor and staff trained. There is a possibility the microfilm will be moved from the third floor to the fourth floor.

The Constitution committee report, given by Melody Salzer, sophomore psychology major, discussed parliamentary guidelines for debate. Copies of “Robert’s Rules of Order” will be available for senators in January.

The community outreach committee, represented by Student Senate Secretary Ivy Love, announced that the YMCA appreciated all the help they received from the senators with their “Fright Night.”

Carolyn White, senior biology major, is Student Senate’s representative to the Presidential Search Committee. Applications for University President were due Nov. 1 and 25 applications had been received by the Oct. 24. If students have qualities they would like the future President to have, they should see White.

Senate’s representative to the Academic Policies Committee, Tim Fisher, senior history major, reported several classes have been approved.

The Senate then turned to its old business: eight resolutions.

“This is the first time [this year] we have gone through legislation: not through appropriations, but actual legislation we came up with for students,” Reed said.

The first resolution called for specific parking spots campus-wide to be allocated for hybrid cars by next semester. The need for such parking designations was questioned. “Basically, it’s the concept: if you build it, they will come,” said resolution sponsor, Rob Huffman, senior education major. Motion to approve the resolution failed.

The second resolution asked for students to be able to use campus television and radio stations “as they see fit” and “that a block of low-priority time be allotted for this as an experiment: such as Friday, 12:00 midnight to 3:00 a.m. and Saturday, 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. Motion to approve the resolution passed.

The third resolution called for students to be excused from classes on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day so they can attend the lectures that day. There was confusion as to whether there would be no classes that day or if students would simply be excused from classes if they so wished to attend these lectures. It was clarified that there would be class that day, but students would be excused if they desired to attend the lectures. Motion passed with discussion postponed until next meeting.

Resolution four questioned the increased coffee prices from last year and why those who have their own mugs don’t receive a discount like Starbuck’s gives. Motion to approve the resolution passed.

The fifth resolution requested creation of a link on the MSSU homepage for Student Activities. This link would be used as an open source for organizations and students to update and add events. It was mentioned there is already a link through LIONLINK and Senators discussed if students were aware of this link. Motion to approve the resolution passed.

Resolution six stated the majority of the student body and faculty wishes to “end” the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition. It also requested to know the MSIPC’s expense to the university. Motion to postpone discussion until next meeting passed.

The seventh resolution called for environmentally friendly course catalogs to be printed. There was inquiry about the cost difference between the previous and current formats of the catalog. A cost difference was requested by the Senate. Motion to table resolution approved.

“All legislation, regardless of whether it gets changed, the purpose is to stress more student-related issues rather than money for clubs,” Reed said. “I was told the Senate exists to be the administration’s ear; we are giving them something to talk about.”

The final resolution addressed the student body representative to the MSSU Board of Governors. Student Senate needs to present three nominees to Amaya as soon as possible. The nominees must be U.S. citizens, permanent residents of Missouri, full-time students for two more years, and able to serve as representative to the Board of Governors for those two years. The current representative is Eric Norris, who graduated in 2007 and therefore is no longer eligible for the position. Once the nominees are submitted, Amaya will forward their applications to Governor Matt Blunt. Motion to approve the resolution passed.

Reed felt the meeting was successful.

“We not only discussed eight total pieces of legislation, but we followed procedures,” he said.

Danielle Dunn, Resident Director and advisor to the senate, was also pleased with the orderliness and efficiency of the meeting. She encouraged the senators to do their own research on the outstanding resolutions.

Reed said he hoped Senate has provided more insight to the student body so the administration can possibly provide answers to the concerns of students.

The meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 31 was canceled. The next Student Senate meeting will be Wednesday, Nov. 7.

ober 24th meeting of Student Senate to order. Roll Call was taken and later in the meeting, a request by Reed was given to Senators who were present to remind those who were absent to come to meetings. Otherwise, their continued absence would result the forfeiture of their position as Senators.

Currently, there are six Senator positions to fill before January. These positions are open to be filled by all levels of undergraduates. If they are not filled, they will be left empty for the remainder of the 2007-2008 academic year.

The Treasurer’s report was given with the amount totaling $11,300. There are no appropriations requests for the next meeting.

The first of the committee reports was the library committee. Tyler Smith, __________, reported that computers have been purchased for a technology lab on the second floor. The staff for that floor has also been trained. In addition, there is a possibility the microfilm will be moved from the third floor to the fourth floor.

The Constitution committee report was given by Melody Salzer, sophomore psychology major. The committee has been discussing parliamentary guidelines for debate and copies of “Robert’s Rules of Order” will be available for senators in January.

The community outreach committee, represented by Student Senate Secretary Ivy Love, announced that the YMCA appreciated all the help they received from the senators with their “Fright Night.”

Carolyn White, senior biology major, then reported as the Student Senate’s representative to the presidential search committee. Applications for University President will be accepted until Nov. 1; 25 applications have been received so far. If students have qualities they would like the future President to have, they should see White.

Senate’s representative to the academic policies committee, Tim Fisher, senior history major, reported several classes have been approved. To obtain a list, see Fisher.

The Senate then turned to its old business: eight resolutions.

“This is the first time [this year] we have gone through legislation: not through appropriations, but actual legislation we came up with for students,” Reed said.

The first resolution called for specific parking spots campus-wide to be allocated for hybrid cars by next semester. The need for such parking designations was questioned and the sponsor of the resolution, Rob Huffman, senior education major, said, “Basically, it’s the concept: if you build it, they will come.” Motion to approve the resolution failed.

The second resolution asked for students to be able to use the Television and Radio stations “as they see fit” and “that a block of low-priority time be allotted for this as an experiment: such as Friday, 12:00 to 3:00 a.m.” and “Saturday, 11:00 to 3:00 a.m.” Motion to approve the resolution passed.

The third resolution called for students to be excused from classes on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day so they can attend the lectures that day. There was confusion as to whether there would be no classes that day or if students would simply be excused from classes if they so wished to attend these lectures. It was clarified that there would be class that day, but students would be excused if they desired to attend the lectures. Motion passed to postpone discussion until next meeting.

Resolution 4 inquired as to the raise in coffee prices from last year and why those who have their own mugs don’t receive a discount like Starbuck’s gives. Motion to approve the resolution passed.

The fifth resolution requests a link to be made on the MSSU homepage for Student Activities. This link would be used like an open source for organizations and students to update and add events. It was mentioned there is already a link through Lion Link and there was discussion of whether students were aware of this link. Then motion to approve the resolution passed.

Resolution 6 stated the majority of the student body and faculty wishes to “end” the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition. It also requested to know the MSIPC’s expense to the university. Motion to postpone the discussion until next meeting passed.

The seventh resolution called for environmentally friendly course catalogs to be printed. There was inquiry about the cost difference between the previous and current formats of the catalog. A cost difference was requested by the Senate. Motion to table resolution approved.

“All legislation, regardless of whether it gets changed, the purpose is to stress more student-related issues rather than money for clubs,” Reed said. “I was told the Senate exists to be the administration’s ear; we are giving them something to talk about.”

The final resolution addressed the student body representative to the MSSU Board of Governors. Student Senate needs to present three nominees for representation to Amaya as soon as possible. The nominees need to be U.S. citizens, permanent residents of Missouri, full-time students for two more years, and able to serve as representative to the Board of Governors for those two years. The current representative is still Eric Norris, who graduated in 2007. Since he graduated, he is no longer able to serve as the representative to the Board of Governors. Therefore, a new representative from the student body needs to be selected. Once Amaya receives the three nominees, he will send their applications to Governor Matt Blunt for selection. Motion to approve the resolution passed.

Announcements soon followed, as well as comments from the acting President and Advisors to the Senate.

Reed was quick to say the meeting went excellent.

“We not only discussed eight total pieces of legislation, but we followed procedures,” he said.

Danielle Dunn, Resident Director and advisor to the senate, also said she was pleased with the orderliness and efficiency of the meeting. As for the resolutions that were tabled or postponed for discussion, she encouraged the senators to do their own research on them.

Reed said he hoped Senate has provided more insight to the student body so the administration can possibly provide answers to the concerns of students.

The meeting was about an hour in duration.

Reed thanked the senators for their attendance and quality and orderly debate over resolutions.

The meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 31 was canceled. The next Student Senate meeting will be Wednesday, Nov. 7.