The New School

2008 10 15 Minutes

New School University Student Senate Meeting
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Minutes
Present: Ida Benedetto, Peter Ian Cummings, Catherine Griffin, Elizabeth Loran, Aleks Malejs, Atlee McFellin, Daniel Schulman, Heather Sheridan, Yoni Sunshine, and Barbara Teed
Absent: Stephanie Cohen, Sarah Cunningham, Ben Fox, Sarah (Slim) Lopez, Jason Mellow
Guests: NSU students Helene Wasserman and Ryan Wood

President Peter Cummings called the meeting to order at 8:10 p.m. in the 5th floor conference room of 66 west 12th street.

Approved: Oct. 15 agenda with additional items added: USS office hours; Talloires Declaration.

Due to time constraints and presidential debate, the LGBT/ALANA and SDS items postponed to Nov. 5.

Approved: Minutes from Oct. 1 USS meeting.

Luncheon with administrators changed to Friday, Nov. 14 from 12 to 2 p.m. President Cummings listed the NSU administrators attending.

There will be an all-night election party Tues. Nov. 4. The USS is sponsoring it but does not pay for it. The election party will be at the Theresa Lang center.

Roger Ward, Vice President for Student Affairs, will be attending the Nov. 19 USS meeting.

Future USS meeting dates: Wed. Nov. 5, Wed. Nov. 19, and Wed. Dec. 3. Meetings begin at 8 p.m. Media Studies department.

Voting Amendment: President Cummings presented a proposal for “Constitutional Amendment on Voting Percentages.” Please contact Peter if you were absent from the meeting and would like a copy. Peter explained the current and proposed language of Quorum and Voting. Peter withdrew the provision regarding reducing the required total by the number of abstentions. 75% of the quorum is required to pass an amendment (before this amendment).

PASSED: Peter moves to replace old quorum with new quorum rules.  Motion 2nd by Elizabeth Loran. 9 voted yes, 0 voted no. Amendment passes on a 90% vote.  See Bottom Of This Page For Final Text of The Amendment.

President Cummings explained the USS office hours. 20 hours per week, work study funds available. Pay rate is $10/hour. Peter will report back at the Nov. 5 meeting.

Resolution of USS in Support of the Talloires Declaration. NSU students Helene Wasserman and Ryan Wood of Renew School gave a presentation of the Talloires Declaration. Please contact Peter if you were absent from the meeting and would like a copy. Basically, the Declaration asks for University action in a number of areas regarding renewable energy and sustainability. There are ten action steps requested of the University. Included in the presentation was a hand-out of current U.S. Universities supporting the Declaration. The Declaration is going to be presented to the NSU Board of Trustees on Oct. 22 and Declaration supporters would like the USS support. Declaration supporters were told the USS is the official avenue of grievance for students.

PASSED: The University Student Senate supports the Talloires Declaration. 10 voted yes, 0 voted no. Motion passes.

Senate member Atlee McFellin gave a presentation on Socially Responsible Investing. Atlee gave a brief overview of NSU investments. Atlee has requested President Bob Kerrey disclose NSU investments and the University budget. He feels the USS should have this information. Atlee said President Kerrey denied his request. Discussion on NSU investment procedures. More discussion at the Nov. 5 meeting.

Guest and NSU student Ryan Wood brought up the new spending freeze declared by NSU President Kerrey. Discussion on the spending freeze. Cuts are in the student activities budget as well. Student Activities are not going to consider any more student proposals. Discussion on drafting a letter requesting information on the spending freeze.

PASSED: The USS will draft a letter to formally request information about the spending freeze. The letter will be approved at the Nov. 5 meeting. 10 vote yes, 0 vote no. Motion passes.

A letter to the NSU Free Press student newspaper will be written to say the USS is investigating the spending freeze and is formally requesting information from NSU President Bob Kerrey.

President Cummings adjourned the meeting at 9 p.m. and all were in agreement.

Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Teed, Secretary

=====================

University Student Senate
Passed Constitutional Amendment on Voting Percentages
October 15, 2008 — v.4

Purposes: (a) replace quorum and proxy voting, with a requirement for an absolute total of members to vote to pass a motion;  (b) provide for temporary removal of members from the required voting total if they repeatedly do not show up for meetings; (c) deal with stand-asides (abstentions).

. . . . . . . . .

The Chair proposes to replace these paragraphs:

ARTICLE V(a): QUORUM
4. A minimum of nine (9) Representatives from at least four (4) schools must be present to establish quorum and to vote on any matter.

ARTICLE XII: VOTING AND ALTERNATES
A. All motions including motions of no confidence shall be passed, take effect, and become policy with a two-thirds majority show of hands.
B. Motions can be proposed by any member attending a meeting, but must be seconded by a voting member of the USS.
C. No proxy voting is permitted, though when electing Representatives a school is permitted to also elect the same number of alternates that are allowed to vote in the case of absence of a regular voting member.
With this new paragraph:

ARTICLE XII: VOTING
A. TYPES OF MOTIONS. There shall be three types of motions at meetings:
(a) Constitutional Amendments.
(a) Special Motions: Political statements, changes to an established annual or semester budget, or funding proposals when no established budget exists.
(b) Regular Motions:  All motions not described elsewhere in this Constitution.
B. VOTING. An absolute vote of: 75% of all qualified members is required to pass an amendment; 60% of all qualified members is required to pass a special motion; and 51% of all qualified members is required to pass a regular motion.
C. QUALIFIED VOTER TOTAL. Following debate on a motion, The Secretary will announce the number of qualified voters required under this Article to pass the motion, and will then record the number of votes of present qualified members.
D. INTERNET VOTING. If a measure receives a majority vote of present qualified members, but there are not sufficient yes votes present to pass the measure, The Chair may email the meaure to all absent members, and may notify The Secretary to add their votes to the vote tally within 48 hours of the end of the meeting. The Secretary will add these votes to the minutes, noting that said voters “voted by internet.”
E. PROXY VOTING. There is no proxy voting.
F. SUSPENSION.  Qualified members are the duly elected members of the University Student Senate.  The Representative Board may suspend a Member from the Qualified Voter Total for voting purposes if the member misses three consecutive USS representative board meetings.  Suspended members will be reinstated to the total if they subsequently attend a meeting.