Elections for executive board
Elections for the executive board of next year’s Student Senate were held at Friday’s meeting. The executive board members of the 31st Student Senate are as follows: Leah Wentworth, chair; Tyler Stanley, vice-chair; Jessica Roy, parliamentarian; Gretchen Chesley, secretary; and Mike Norton, treasurer.
In his nomination speech, Mike Norton said, “. the future of the USM Student Senate is brighter than ever and I’m happy to be a part of it.”
Senator Andrew Goodman was elected to the Appointments Chair. Appointments to various boards were decided as well.
Newly elected Senator Dorn McMahon was appointed to the Personnel Review Board. Senators Gorham, Hoffman and Morrazini were appointed to the Student Communications Board.
Normally, one of the senators on the SCB would have to be the Parliamentarian, but the SCB did not turn in their constitution, so it was not required.
Sarah Hines was voted on to the Board of Trustees as a non-voting student representative.
Kevin Chabot, Ben Hoffman, Patricia LaBay and Anthony Pergola were all voted on to the Violations Inquiry Committee.
House call
Senator Hoffman brought up his concerns that he was contacted by a member of The Free Press at his home. He felt that by being called at his house, he was not allowed privacy.
After Hoffman finished, it was mentioned that it was not the fault of the person who called him, but the fault of the person who gave him the number.
When asked about this after the meeting, Free Press Executive Editor Steve Peoples said a staff member was trying to get Hoffman’s side of the story for a recent article.
Senator Stanley brought up his concerns about a motion that was brought up in a meeting that he was unable to attend. Senator Hoffman made a motion at the last Senate meeting to withhold the paychecks of Free Press employees. Hoffman had justified last week’s motion by saying the staff had violated University policy by putting flyers on car windshields the day before the Senate elections.
Stanley said that he felt the idea of suspending paychecks was uncalled for, and to actually suspend someone’s paycheck is “blatantly illegal.”
Stanley asked that the motion be voted on and removed from the table, but no action was immediately taken on the issue.
Horseshoe pits need more money
Senators Stanley and Stamp have been organizing an effort to build horseshoe pits on both the Gorham and Portland campuses. Many of the supplies needed for the pits have been donated by Home Depot, and a small amount of money was needed to help get the program underway.
The Senate voted unanimously to allocate $120 for the supplies needed for the pits.
Smoking meeting
A meeting for student feedback on the proposal for a non-smoking campus is taking place on the Portland Campus in Campus Center A on Tuesday, May 2 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Pamela Clay-Storm and the other members of the task force that proposed banning smoking from all University property are looking for student feedback.
Senator removed
Senator Pertillar was removed from the rolls this week as she had outstanding absence violations. Secretary Stanley notes that Pertillar might not have known she was still a part of the Student Senate after the election for the 31st Student Senate.
Executive session
After the elections and reconvening of the 30th Student Senate, the members of the Senate called an executive session which forced all non-senators to leave the meeting.
In the session, the Senate decided to extend Student Legal Services lawyer Beth George’s contract for $22,200 for the 2002-2003 school year.
Absent
Senate Treasurer Justin LaBerge was absent from Friday’s meeting.
Next meeting
The next meeting of the Student Senate will be held Friday May 3 at 10:30 a.m in Luther Bonney Hall, Room 502, Portland.