Sonoma State University

Senate Meeting Minutes 09/25/23

Minutes

Sonoma State University
Senate Meeting
Associated Students
12:00pm- Monday, September 25, 2023
Sonoma Valley Room – 2nd Floor Student Center

Minutes

  1. Call to Order & reading of the Land acknowledgement- The meeting was called to order at: 12:03 pm
  2. Roll Call- Cassandra Garcia, Vanessa Sanchez, Clayton Trent, Greta Fast, Angelina Lopez, Taylor Frickman, Ellie Orona, India Garcia, Taneesha Porter, Salvador Garcia Vigil, Erik Dickson, Dr. Lee, Jocelyn McMillian are present.
  3. Public Comment – pursuant to California Education Code 89306, the AS Senate provides this time for any member of the public to address the AS Senate on any item affecting higher education. Pursuant to California Education Code 89306(b), each speaker will be allowed no more than three (3) minutes to address the AS Senate.
  4. Special Guest
    1. Dr. Lee - Sonoma State President- President Lee discussed about the semester being busy, but good things have come; Saturday afternoon, visited Rancho Cotati on Saturday and saw the Commander of the NASA space station, and wanted to build that relationship between high school and college; Madame Mayor was also there and also graduated from there as well; Dr. Lee have been here a year now, and a lot of events have happened; CSU Foundation meeting last week, the campus is more lively; frisbee; new Chancellor Mildred Garcia, first Latina chancellor in the CSU system, was president at Dominguez Hills and Fullerton and president to 3 other colleges; The tuition increase was approved by the CSU Board of Trustees meeting and making sure that money will be going to student focus; enrollment decline is also being spotlighted, spread the word out and encourage family and relatives to come to SSU; retention rate has been doing well along with transfers being on track to graduate; SSU still has some work to do since there is still a gap; Senator Frickman is asking what is the major goals for the academic year? Dr. Lee said enrollment is a major thing to focus on, because the budget is connected with the enrollment and retention, the second thing is focusing on the good accomplishments so far through SSU and making sure in order to keep on the graduation track; Other thing is fixing the electricity system since the system that SSU relies was made back in the 60s’. The next thing is fixing the water system as well; Senator Sanchez asked where the money would be allocated since Student Government was tabling and students asked the question where it will actually go as well, since it was a bit vague; Dr. Lee said that the budget is on the website and the money is coming from a big chunk of student enrollment, also paying back other bonds of borrowed in order to build and improve infrastructure; there are also negotiations between staff unions, there are about 14 unions in the CSU; focusing on what is the best for the students here at SSU? It is not easy to predict on what with the 6% multi year tuition increase, since SSU in the past has not been the best of the spending so trying to dial back on it and stay within the budget and also to contact Monir Ahmed; President Garcia discussed to bring Laura Lupe to get the breakdown; Senator Sanchez asked if the tuition increase is going to impact certain ethnic groups? Dr. Lee said he doesn’t have all of the details yet, with the precise numbers. Director Dickson said there is discussion of FAFSA and how to make it more accessible and helpful for students to be more qualified; Dr. Lee also added on how the current grants are not being so accessible and working to see how the grants can be more accessible and affordable; President Garcia asked about SSU having the highest incomplete collection size for Indian artifacts for repatriation act; Dr. Lee said it is an act for any lands on being on Native land and in this case, this CSU has over 180,000 pieces and having to bring the best expert to exhibit about the preservation of the Native artifacts; hiring 2 physicians right now, full time with preservation and the second one will work with the different various Native tribes; the position has been posted for 2 weeks now and should be meeting up and finalized soon; Senator Frickman is what the biggest challenge in higher education? Dr. Lee discussed the issue/decline of enrollment, due to various reasons of why college and went into detail onhis backstory. President Garcia asked about any advice? Dr. Lee saying keep on doing what you are doing as student leaders and showing caring about others and advocating for other people; encourage to continue and encourage people to engage and working with others and learn and appreciate people’s skills and strengths; it is a learning experience and lucky to do it at a university rather than the real world, be a sponge and learn everything;
  5. Reports
    1. ​University President’s designee- discussing confidentiality advocate interim; already took 4 cases; Student Housing got an email from Health to start masking again; flu shots being administrating in the Health Center; office for  disability for students cases; 100 students with the technology; support animals and DSS overall is busy; Athletics is now in Student Affairs; sports are doing well; CSU Bakersfield coming in November to consult with our Athletic program to reshape and help on the perspective; VP Finance chair of Student Advisory Committee;
    2. Academic Senate Representative- discussing;Senate meeting on 28th, Chief Nader report, provost on status reorganization; Academic Advising subcommittee; 2 student reps on that committee;
    3. AS President -
    4. Executive Vice President - 
    5. Vice President of Finance- Meeting last friday; orientation; grants, letters to 8 clubs, 35,000, 50-60% of our expected budget, small hiccup for the grant for Chalk the Plaza;
    6. Senator of Diversity- 

    7. Senator of Student Resources- Senator Fast; updates for Open Forum; Bennett Valley Room due to schedule conflict; need to table and promote the event; tentative schedule on who will be at the Open Forum(each); Student Affairs;

    8. Senator of Government Affairs - 

    9. JUMP Representative- discussed about: Events ; H&H week Oct 2-6th, Resource Fair, Instagram Takeover, COTS, partnering with Campus Police, Study Buddies started last week on Tuesday; LOBOS pantry was open, but only 2 volunteers showed up;

    10. Basic Needs Representative - 

    11. ASP Representative- discussed: 7 events; Tuesday Night Trivia, feedback: loud and could not hear; liked the themes and; cost is 450,$ 3.75/per student(100 in attendance); Chalk the Plaza, 50 participants , feedback: clear rules, student organizations came later; cost: $340, $7/per student; Boards and Brew, (65 participants), feedback: prizes; Paint and Sip; 80 people signed up, total is 104; enough food, but turn some people a way, new ticketing system, all the package included and keep track on people who have tickets;$ 438 total;$ 5.86/per student. Va VA Bloom, both sessions booked(148 participants), changing vendors, TC : 1094, $13/student; RC Race, 54 participants, feedback: different time, more often; TC:
      $605.68; $11.21/ student; Rolling with LOBO, 200 people came, great turnout, TC: 5,075.43; $25/student; feedback: bigger rink, more skates, possibly having it in the ballrooms; 8 total events; 2900 students impacted, Total Budget: 86,460; about 48%; however, ASP spending will go down since the team will be different next semester, along with proposals already in plan;

    12. Children's School Representative - 

    13. Student Government Representative- discussed about scheduling interview progress, tabling as a whole, 6 hours/week; SG continues to collect constituency reports: 70 reports and counting; currently having 2 drafts of the survey: Accessibility and feedback ; raise awareness for CASL program

    14. Executive director -

  6. Business

    1. ​Corporate Resolution of the AS Senate Outreach Hours 2023/24 (ACTION)

      1. Discussion- Senator Sanchez is going over the Corporate Resolution on what to do for the AS Senate Outreach Hours; Senator Frickman asked about accountability and Senator Sanchez said there is a Google form to keep track of the hours and put it in an entire different folder; Senator Sanchez asked if there is anything to change or rearrange, let her know; Director Dickson discussed about ARC will be making the AS Accountability Report and sent to the Senate;

      2. Action- Senator Sanchez moved to approve the the Corporate Resolution of the AS Outreach Hours 23/24; Senator Frickman seconded the motion; Senator Sanchez amend to have the volunteer event in 15 minutes increments; Senator Fast seconded the new motion; The resolution passed;

  7. Items for the Good of the Order- Student Bill of Rights Committee, difficulty on finding students to sit on this Committee and finding the perfect time of scheduling; AS branch weekly reports; updates on ED search; Open Mic Night This Thursday; Black and Blue;

  8. Adjournment- The meeting was adjourned at : 1:53 pm

Posted in accordance with the Gloria Romero Open Meeting Law of 2000 by: President Cassandra Garcia

The Associated Students of Sonoma State University acknowledges Indigenous Peoples as the traditional stewards of the land. Let it be acknowledged that the Associated Students and Sonoma State University is located within the traditional homelands of the indigenous peoples collectively known as Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo.