Normandale's Nugatory News-spot

Voting, voting, voting!

2010-04-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

This April, the student senate has made ample use of democracy. New executive board members were voted in, to assist Neal Olmstead, the President of the senate. A new position on the executive board was created, the director of technology. Also, the diversity director's job was shifted to a more PR-oriented obligation, though still keeping the diversity duties intact. Tom Torkelson was elected Legislative Director, Michelle Bauer was elected Public Relations & Diversity Director, Dozie Okpara was elected Technology Director, Adaku Okpara was elected Treasurer, and, as the senate had lost quorum, there is yet to be a secretary elected.

Also, the Student Senate voted on the Teacher of the Year award. The candidates were Jay Anderson, Jack Norton, Esele Ignatius, Joseph McCulloch, Gregory Schou, Heidi Kruetzer, and Jack Stack. The winner has not yet been publicly released.

Officer Position Modifications

2010-04-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

Today, the student senate held the elections for their President and Vice President positions. All three students running were very nervous.

Previously this semester, we learned that Liz Sabel is going on maternity leave in October through November, and that the Diversity and Communications Directors' jobs have been joined. There was contested debate over the name of the position, but not the content.

We learned that the Student Life Budget Committee lowered the Student Life fee $0.50 a credit. We learned that the school is in good financial waters for next year, but could be in trouble a few years out, if our funding continues to be cut.

2010-02-05T12:46:00.000-08:00

Hullo readers off in internet land. This week's senate meeting brings us lots of newsy news! Yay!

Liz Sabel made an announcement regarding the Student Life Recognition Awards. These awards are given to outstanding students who work in or out of separate or united clubs to help make the campus a better place, or for outstanding service learning work, and some are awarded with cash prizes.

Secondly, the senate is planning two field trips of sorts to the capital to talk with lobbyists and other government-y folk about things like increased funding for textbooks, larger bus pass student discounts, etc, and call this field trip experience Advocacy Days. They've alloted enough money to send 12 senators.

Senator Katie Touran has moved to create and chair a Scholarship committee-- this is intended to help with students looking for scholarships, or just awareness of what scholarships are available to Normandale students in general.

Finally, Advocate Bill Preston brought up some an on-campus event called Campus Fued. This would be similar to the set-up on the T.V. show Family Feud: two teams of five people compete to answer questions the best they can. Our twist? We'd be pitting Normandale Clubs against each other. Sounds like fun!

Double Header: First two meetings of the new year

2010-01-20T06:07:00.001-08:00

Good day, readers in internet land. Hopefully, your transition to the new decade went smoothly.

The first two sessions of the student senate went smoothly and without much ado. Advocacy days are coming up, and over the first student support day (February 25), a trip to the capital is planned. The spring schedule for next year has been settled-upon, and it includes three more instructional days, where faculty duty days had been before.

Money for a small thank-you gift was approved for the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, as they graciously allowed the senate to use their space for a senate retreat.

The second session brought forth the approvals of both the Japanese club for re-activation, and the activation of the Law-Enforcement club, whose constitution had been met with some controversy earlier. The controversial bit had since been muffled, and both clubs are now active.

The second session ended early, as there was an opportunity to meet with a potential replacement for Ralph Anderson. Once the senate no longer had quorum, things were quickly wrapped up and dismissed.

Student Senate Sustenance

2009-12-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, the student senate met. As I was late for the meeting (due to my chemistry lab taking more time than I'd have liked), I didn't get a full shot of the action, but what I did see was a lot of student clubs. There was a re-reinstatement of the French club, the Spanish club, the Latter-day Saints club was also approved, as well as a new STEM club.

The rest of the meeting was more or less eaten (no pun intended) up by a debate over whether or not refreshments should be served at the last meeting of the semester. In the end, the senate decided that yes, there should be food, and that we should spend no more than $150 on it.

Also, a senate retreat was discussed. The senators decided that yes, a senate retreat over winter break would be a good idea.

...That's all for now!

Second Succinct Senate Session

2009-11-14T14:56:00.000-08:00

Hullo all, sorry for the brief absence.

At the meeting this week, a program, herein titled 'Lunch with Senators' was suggested. Years ago, Normandale's Student Senate had it to raise awareness of what the senate was, and what it did. Basically, it entails a senator or two approaching a student or two around lunchtime, buying them a meal, and talking about what they do in the senate, and what sorts of things get done. Apparently, it was a very successful program, and the senate seems relatively receptive to the idea.

The point of low committee attendance was raised. The senate is beginning work on a platform document, and hopes to come up with something that is relatively easy to adapt to the senate as it changes as well as fit the senate as it is now.

...That's about it. It was another short meeting, and I'm looking forward to updating you again soon.

Serendipidously Succinct Senate Session

2009-11-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

Salutations, sangfroid subscribers.

During this week's senate meeting, not much happened. It lasted a grand total of less than forty minutes.

A new club was approved for temporary status, named "Normandale Athiests, Skeptics, and Humanists" (NASH). In my opinion, it seems to be a club of people gathering to answer the strong religious presence in many other student clubs.

A textbook awareness campaign was also launched-- no, not telling you about them, but instead, other places in which they may be bought. Sites other then Amazon and the Normandale Bookstore offer texts for class, at considerably reduced prices. The idea was brought up by a student who had led a similar campaign at her last school, and met strong support with the rest of the senate.

For now, the campaign is in the abstract phase, not quite beginning to form. I suspect, however, this won't be the last you'll hear about the idea.

2009-10-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

Hello, my rum and acquisitive readers. Firstly, I apologize for disappearing from the intertrons for so long-- I wish I had swine flu as an excuse. Schoolwork simply caught up. In any case, I have news to feed your hungry minds. Not much, mind you.

The changes in the senate by-laws went through-- most were nuances of minor wording, intended to clarify the intended rule.

The stream of new senators is still relatively steady. This time of the year, however, I have noticed a difference in the apparent motives of the elected senators: from genuine interest in the beginning of the year, to students who are simply interested in putting it on their resume. I find this shift amusing.

Since my last post, a Secretary, Communications Director and Legislative Director have also been elected. The elections for all three of the positions were relatively close, with no clear victor evident before-hand. All chair positions appear to be qualified and capable individuals.

...And with that, I bid you adieu.

Student Summit News

2009-09-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

Hey there. After a brief conversation with the president of the Student Senate, Lyman Hawbaker, I have news for the waiting eyes of you nousy folks.

At a recent small meeting of Student Senators in MNSCU colleges, the Students First initiative moved further along the legislative process. The Students First initiative is basically an attempt to streamline the application and payment process, as well as some other things. The main goal is to make students' lives simpler with one bill, regardless of the number of MNSCU colleges attended, and one application for all MNSCU colleges. These steps are in attempt to save time and processing money for students and colleges in the MNSCU system.

For what it's worth, MNSCU has been around since about 1996, and serves as an over-arching union of sorts between public two and four-year colleges in Minnesota. MNSCU makes public funding easier to organize, as legislature only needs to fund MNSCU instead of worrying about what funds should be allocated to which state colleges. The money is simply allocated to MNSCU, who distributes the funds as they see fit. The head of MNSCU is an appointed by the governor, and has the final say in what all of the public colleges in the state do.

That's the long and the short of it today. Good luck in managing to immix while staying healthy-- lack of either would constitute lack of both (or at least really ought to).

Tuesday, September 15th

2009-09-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hullo to you few readers out there in internet land. This week's meeting was filled past the one-hour brim (thirty minutes past it, in fact).

The Paintball club was raised to active status, as well as a new club, the Normandale Gun club was promoted to temporary status. There was a little debate regarding this, as some folk were nervous about violence and the potential for it encouraging campus-wide killing sprees, but these mumblings were quickly quaffed once the club's future president's assurances that there would be a heavy emphasis on sport, rather than hunting.

There was also some time spent on considering bylaw revision, because, as Adam Hines put it, "Whoever wrote these obviously wasn't in college yet."

There were also three new senators elected, bringing fresh faces and new perspectives to the table.

Finally, a new program, called the Normandale Ambassador Program, came up. It involves a pool of Normandale students willing to attend informational meetings at other schools to give the potential students a glimpse of the 'typical Normandale student'. For what it's worth, the Student Senate seems very fond of this program.

A Brief Introduction

2009-09-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Meredith, with the Normandale Lions' Roar, and I'll be reporting the happenings of the Normandale Student Senate this year.

I'll make every attempt to update this blog weekly, and let all associated folk (and those of you out in internet land) know what went down around the oval table.

For those of you interested in attending Student Senate meetings, they occur every Tuesday afternoon, starting at 2 p.m., and can be found in room SC1431, in the back of the Student Center (right next to the clubs room). If you can't make a meeting, or would rather stop by for a more casual encounter (not that kind), their office is in room SC1427, which is also in the Kopp Center.