SGA Fall 2018 update

Hello Augustana Community,
Happy Halloween! Reflecting on the commitment we have made to the student body to be as transparent as possible, members of the Student Government Association have been making every effort to keep detail records of our activity and share that in formation with our peers. Below is a brief statement regarding the flow of our contingency funds, reports from the standing committees of our student government and on the activity of senators, and a timeline of recent happenings for our organization and the work of your student representatives. This is by no means the full picture—many more small steps are being taken behind the scenes!

Contingency Information
The granting of contingency funds is the responsibility of the Student Senate, comprised of 39 students from various constituencies across campus. Below are all requests presented before the Student Senate throughout fall term. Funds are granted to groups based on fiscal responsibility, contribution to the campus community, organization of the request, and a variety of other factors as outlined in our Constitution and Bylaws. Student groups requesting funds have the opportunity to prepare themselves for the presentation of contingency requests by working with members of the Executive Board or liaisons in the Student Senate. For questions regarding our most recently granted contingency funds, the path to funding, or the Senates practices for deciding on funding requests, feel free to reach out to any member of Student Government.

SGA—FLOW OF CONTINGENCY FUNDS TO DATE
Fall 2018—August 21 to October 29
Beginning Balance $44,560
Date, Group, Purpose, Requested, Awarded
Sept. 6, Campus Kitchens, National affiliate fee, $600, $600
Sept. 6, Biology Club, Science Night, $540, $0
Sept. 13, Little Happenings, T-shirts, $293.10, $1
Sept. 30, Global Engagement, Team Diwali, $2,400, $2,400
Oct. 4, Advertising Developers, Competition fees and transport, $2,000, $2,000
Oct. 4 Varsity Swimming, lane rental, $3,300, $1,600
Oct. 25 Dance Company, show costumes, general expenses, food, competition fees $6,040 $1,440
Oct. 25 African Student Association, transportation, $500, $0
Current Balance $36,519

Senator Responsibilities
Excluding mandatory attendance at weekly meetings, only 33% of senators have completed their responsibilities as outlined by the Bylaws. 50% of senators have completed less than half of their responsibilities for the term. These tasks include reaching out to assigned student groups to survey their concerns and assist them in preparing contingencies, attending campus events to capture the voice of the student body, and spending time working on projects which will improve the student experience. We encourage you to reach out to your representatives and hold them to a higher standard.

Timeline of Noteworthy Happenings

Aug. 17: Members of our executive board met with student government leaders from Suffolk to discuss issues facing both student bodies and actions being taken to address these concerns, internal documents, funding, and much more. This was all in an effort to improve our own association’s practices.

Aug. 20: Senate Speaker Verlinden, a junior, led newly elected senators in a training event to brief them on their responsibilities as representatives and the practices of SGA. 20% of elected representatives did not attend. S.G.A. leadership finalized their appointments to policy committees of Augustana College.

Aug. 23: President Gronewold and Vice President Hartman sat down with the newly hired Dean of Students Dr. Wes Brooks to discuss his role and outlook on the position. Since then, Gronewold and Hartman have been in weekly consultation with him. He serves as the S.G.A. advisor and has demonstrated a firm commitment to the student body in his few first weeks.
The Student Government Association hosted its first weekly meeting where Vice President Hartman and President Gronewold recommended the adoption of organizational core values to ground S.G.A. in its purpose. Following drafting by the Documents Committee and unanimous vote by the Senate, transparency, advocacy, inclusivity, & commitment were established as our organizations core values. They now serve as a preamble to our bylaws.

Aug. 26: Members of the Executive Board hosted a sit down brunch with leaders of cultural oriented student groups to directly address their concerns as we move into the academic year. Concerns addressed include the procedures for budget allocations, cameras on campus, the representation present in student government, and more.
Aug. 30 Senior Senator Zammuto authored and proposed a formal resolution for dining policy outlining recommendations students have for improving catering. Since then, President Gronewold and Vice President Hartman have been working diligently to address this and more concerns related to meal plans.

Sept. 3: Fall voting began for open positions, which included the six residential hall positions, four freshman positions, an academic position and the newly established, second International Senator seat. A formal appointment was made to fill the Varsity Athletics seat. Later in the term, the Student Senate nominated student to open seats and the several seats were filled by appointment, in accordance with the Student Government Bylaws.

Sept. 12: Several members of the Executive Board met with leaders of Title IX Student Advisory Committee to discuss our role with the committee, their plans moving forward, advice for next steps, and more. The Executive Board is thoroughly impressed with the work of this committee, and they are excited to collaborate in the future.

Sept. 15: Vice President Hartman and President Gronewold appointed sophomore, Secretary Frasor as voting representative for Illinois Board of Higher Education Student Advisory Committee. At the Committee of the Whole meeting, Carl Frasor was elected chair of the Committee by leaders from institutions across the state.

Sept. 17: The S.G.A. Executive Board met, over dinner, with President Steven Bahls and Dean Brooks to reflect upon the state of Augustana College, capital projects in the works, and major developments for the institution. The Executive Board eagerly advocated for the student body by openly voicing concerns they have for the various directions of the College.

Sept. 20: The Student Senate voted to approve several bills, amending the organizations bylaws. Two authored by Speaker Verlinden and sponsored by Senator Zammuto, made the Commuter Senator position a more accessible position for those who wish to serve there, and decreased the amount of training required by senators. Two additional amendments to the Bylaws, authored by President Gronewold and sponsored by Senator Zammuto, formalized practices already adopted by our organization and established more clear paths to funding for student groups.

Oct. 9: SGA leaders met with Wes Brooks and Ken Brill to begin redesigning student group approval and funding policy and to address concerns with institutional funding of student groups.

Oct. 12: Adam Gronewold and Belle Hartman attended the Board of Trustees meeting to provide insight on the state of the student body and to weigh in on current happenings at the administrative level, including tuition, NCAA compli ance, financial aid at Augustana, and more.

Oct. 17: The Executive Board attended a student government conference in Washington D.C. We are comparing our prac tices with other top institutions nationally to provide the best service to our peers as possible, in all aspects of our governance.
Committee Reports Student Wellness Committee - Chaired by Junior Senator, Haley DeGreve
• Met with Greek Council's wellness committee to collaborate on a Self-Care Fair in December
• Distributed SGA's first Wellness Talk Sheet around campus that provided information and tips on how to stay healthy for finals week and more info on the ACES app
• Assisted NAMI on their "DIY Stress Ball Night"; Hosted a yoga session with an instructor open to the entire campus.
• Met with Dean Brooks to discuss the continued search for the Director of Student Wellness position, a possible wellness room on campus, and more information on administration's position for an on campus clinic.
Campus Improvements Committee - Chaired by Junior Senator, William Bailey
• Working on adding a one-way arrow to the road outside of the Gerber Center.
• Purchased light switch stickers to remind students to turn off lights when leaving a room.
• Assisting in planning the annual tree lighting ceremony in the quad during winter term.
Documents Committee - Chaired by Religion & Philosophy Senator, Nicholas Zammuto
• Had a hand in drafting Core Values for our organization.
• Authored and proposed a dining policy resolution to encourage the administration to adapt its catering policies.
• Formalizing SGA practices by sponsoring five amendment bills to revise our organization’s bylaws.
• Working with the Observer to improve the relationship between our organizations.
Administrative Liaison Committee - Chaired by International Senator, Nadia Ayensah.
• In the process of working with Dining Services to draft a cohesive meal plan system that will take into account student meal plan preferences and the students' ability to afford meal plans once we transition to the semester system.
• Working with the semester transition coordinators to see what concerns students have with the transition and the best way to disseminate information on the process.
Rotating Committee - Chaired by Chief of Staff, Kaitlyn Watkins
• Meeting with Vice President Monica Smith discussing improvements to conversations about inclusion and diversity on campus.
• Meetings with Chief Financial Officer, Kirk Anderson, to advocate for more open information about Augustana's budget. Members are currently working with the Business Office to create an annual chart that will be sent out to students provid ing information about the revenue and spending of the college.
• Meeting with Director of Residential Life, Chris Beyer, to improve the housing sign up process and improve communica tion resources between Residential Life and campus.
• Other projects include researching apps that can be brought to campus to improve student life, ways to make crosswalk signage more noticeable on 7th Avenue and conversations on ways to improve class registration.
Campus Outreach Committee - Chaired by Varsity Athletics Senator, Kasia Mucha
• Hosted a Meet and Greet in the Brew by the Slough to introduce the Student Senate to the study body.
If you have any questions or concerns, we strongly encourage you to reach out to any member of Student Government Association. If you would like to become more engaged in our work, our meetings are open to the student body and occur regularly on Thursdays at 7 p.m. in the Wilson Center. Likewise, our office is housed in the basement of the College Center next to the multimedia lab. If we are ever inside, feel free to stop in and voice your concerns! Student Government is here to serve the students of Augustana College, and we hope to continue developing projects and programs that are in the best interest of our peers.
Enjoy fall break,
Student Government Association of Augustana College


STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION