Here are the Student Senate minutes from the Nov. 2, 2023, meeting.
Thursday, November 2, 2023, 4:30 PM-6:30 PM
Microsoft Teams| Truax: C2402
Chairperson: Senate President Jovhany Michaud
Order of Business
I. Call to Order – VP Joof called the meeting to order at 4:30 PM Central Time
II. Roll Call – VP completed the roll call. Refer to the attendance document in SharePoint.
III. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes – VP Joof Motion made by VP Crowder to approve the previous meeting minutes, seconded by Sen. Her. Motion passed unanimously.
IV. Reading & Approval of Meeting Agenda – VP Joof
Motion made by Sen. Malone to amend the meeting agenda to add under new business Bill #002-DEIAB, seconded by VP Crowder. Motion passed unanimously.
Motion made by VP Crowder to approve the amended agenda, seconded by Sen. Her. Motion passed unanimously.
V. Public Comments
a. Dr. Sylvia Ramirez, Executive VP Administration & Finance (20 min)
Dr. Sylvia Ramirez, Executive VP of Administration & Finance, runs Madison College’s Finance & Administration Division. This includes a lot of back-end things that we do here at the college like Facilities, the Budget Office, the bookstore, and the textbook rental program.
Madison College is going to have a Technology Access Program which is classified as a valid laptop and hotspot loan program. There will be a retreat that will take a deep dive into the program looking at eligibility and how we manage it. The retreat is scheduled for next Friday, November 17th, 2023. It starts at 9am and is Health Building Room 309 where you can attend in-person or virtually.
In October, Madison College hosted a site visit with FamilyU which included a panel of student parents speaking about their experiences at Madison College. Currently, we employ two student parents. There is also a proposal for college community days, which is the employee kick off of the semester. This will take place on January 9th, 2024. They are going to submit a proposal to do a student parent session as part of college community days. This would occur a week before classes start. The sessions will be 45 minutes and we are working with Wayne McMillan, who is one of our student parents at the college, on the structure of that.
Madison College Public Safety Director, John Flannery has reconvened the Public Safety Advisory Committee. This is a student committee that helps advise our Public Safety Department. Senator Koessl is the Co-Chair of that committee. Our first meeting will be held on Friday, November 3rd, 2023, from 11am-11:45am in B1260J which is located in the Student Life Office.
Dr. Sylvia Ramirez is responsible for our auxiliary services, which include dining, the Truax Welcome Center, Bookstore, Textbook Rental Program, Technology Access Program, Print & Mail Services, Facility Services, Public Safety, Finance, Event Services, Budget Office, and Finance & Administration Shared Support Team.
VP Crowder inquired if it was possible to extend the hours of the bookstore during the peak season of having one night a week. Dr Sylvia Ramirez specified that Kim Henderson is the Senior Manager of Auxiliary Services. As of right now, they are working with the team to figure out staffing, but the goal is to be open consistently one night evening during the full rush period. The end goal is to get to the point where we can make that the full semester. There is also an online option which is available 24/7.
Motion by Sen. Malone to extend the time by 5 minutes, seconded by VP Crowder. Motion passed unanimously.
VP Brito to know if there was any way that students can have input on outcomes that would affect dining services and the bookstore? More specifically, is there any way for us to have direct input for those areas of the budget and operations?
b. Updates from the ACCT Conference, Mackenzie Carstens, Student Liaison to the District Board (20 min.)
Mackenzie Carstens is the Student Liaison to the District Board where he does a lot of advocating but leaves the representing to Student Senate. ACCT is the Association of Community College Trustees. It was held October 9th-12th, 2023 in Las Vegas, NV. There were 1,900 attendees which equates to roughly 100 community colleges.
The Student Support Ecosystem for Austin Community College in Austin, TX which focuses on parenting, food services, transportation, housing, and student success inside and outside the classroom. HOV stands for High Occupancy Vehicles vs. SOV which stands for Single Occupancy Vehicles.
Madison College has a 40% six-year graduation rate. Community College Smart used to be called Community College Stigma. It is important to note that 50% of transfer students are from community colleges. There are also 50% of new students at four-year colleges who are transfer students.
When it comes to the food pantry at Madison College, it is close to $20,000 worth of food for this fiscal year since there are so many students who need food. This equates to 6,400 lbs. of food per week. There is another foodbank called Riverside which is only for Madison, UW Madison, & Madison College students.
Motion by VP Crowder to extend the time by 5 minutes, seconded by VP Brito. Motion passed unanimously.
VI. Reports of Officers, Advisors, & Standing Committees
a. Executive Council & President Report (5 min)-Pres. Michaud
b. Administration & Finance Committee (3 min)-VP Brito
No Report
c. Legislative Affairs Committee (3 min)-VP Joof .
VP Joof stated that they met three times to make some adjustments to the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility & Belonging (DEIAB) Bill.
d. Team Development Committee (3 min)-VP Crowder
VP Crowder specified that the Team Development Committee met on Wednesday 11/1/23 from 10am- 11am where one of our Team Development Goals is to involve Senate members in at least one activity every month. We would like to support our women’s and men’s basketball teams by attending their games against Western Technical College. The women’s game will start at 5:30 p.m. with the men’s game following at 7:30pm.
The final Senate meeting for the fall semester will be held on Thursday, December 7th, 2023. We will be reserving the Wolfpack Den for karaoke and a pizza party. We will consider one of the Madison Challenge Courses or Virtual Team Building Option. There will also be training in cultural sensitivity, and professionalism which will occur both in-person and in writing. VP Brito will also do his presentation on deadnames. Sen. Willis will also go over her presentation as it pertains to Wisconsin Student Government.
e. Public Relations Committee (3 min)-VP Shulman
VP Shulman stated that we are just working on the website.
f. Advisor Report (7 min)-Advisor Rome
Please see an email for details on interviews for Student Life: Volunteer Center Advisor 11/8-11/9 and Director 11/28-11/29
• Please remember to sign up and complete Referendum tabling & Classroom Presentations
• See your email for details about the TAP (Technology Access Program) Retreat on 11/17, and email Ben Monty if you want to attend
VII. Reports from Special & Select Committees
a. Student Activities Board (3 min)-VP Brito
• SAB (Student Activities Board) finalized marketing campaign materials, including an official website, flyer, “trading cards” and classroom presentation,
• Do not forget to ask your classrooms if you can present to them on the Activity Fee Referendum – this also counts towards your semester requirement of presenting in class.
• Please sign up for referendum tabling in the coming weeks
b. Textbook Affordability Committee (3 min)-Sen. Sierra Brunner
No report
c. Regional Outreach & Engagement Committee (3 min)-Sen. Malone
Malone specified that he reached out to the Commercial Avenue Campus and as of right now there are no students who are expressing any concerns about their experience over there. In addition, I want to do a Goodman South Townhall Debrief. There is also an update on the Watertown Regional Senator position where there is somebody who is interested in that position out there and I will be connecting with them in person soon. I would also like to state that there is an event out at the Watertown Campus on November 15th, 2023, from 10:30am-12:30pm. The final thing that I am going to add is that I am gonna be looking into setting up a meeting with Dr. Grady to discuss cultural sensitivity training to see if there is any background information I need to know or how something like that could potentially proceed.
d. Transportation Analysis Committee (3 min)-Sen. Maung Maung
Maung Maung specified that they are going to meet with the Roundtrip team next week Tuesday. He also sent out an email for a few requests on Sunday, October 28th, 2023. They are going to compile all the inputs and present what the issues we have with the project platform and how to make it more friendly to install correctly.
e. Student Parent Support (3 min)-VP Crowder, Sen. Okumagba, Sen. Pickelsimer
VP Crowder specified that they discussed the proper parties that needed to be invited to the table in order to make our initiative successful. They also discussed how not to get many hands in the pot as well as the data information we should collect. In addition, they are looking at legal facilities as well as representatives from each of the schools.
VIII. Reports from Regional & Metro Campuses
a. Reedsburg (3 min)-Sen. Staci Brunner
b. Watertown-Vacant
c. Portage-Vacant
d. Fort Atkinson (3 min)-Sen. Pickelsimer
Sen. Pickelsimer is going to be at the campus on Tuesdays from 3pm-6pm.
e. Goodman South-Vacant
IX. Reports from College Assembly & Shared Governance Councils
a. College Assembly (5 min) – Sen Her
Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 8th, 2023, from 2pm-4:30pm.
b. Academic Council (3 min) – _Sen Pickelsimer
Pickelsimer stated that they had their meeting on Thursday, October 26th, 2023, where we went over the student perspective on course feedback policy. The questions that we were asking is how has the tension between flexibility and accountability impacted the effectiveness of the feedback policy, how to find out if the feedback policy is being implemented, how to find out how well it is being implemented, and where we can go, whom we can ask to find out how it’s being implemented, and what questions we can ask and find that out. Finally, how do we go about getting the student voice in this process?
Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, November 9th, 2023, from 2:30pm-3:30pm.
c. Diversity & Community Relations Council (3 min) – VP Crowder
VP Crowder stated that several faculty members who are on the committee focused on why the committee’s direction was changing. The fact that there is going to be a new President of the College at some point and when that President comes in, that everything would change as far as committees exist in the college. The task that got voted on the most was accountability.
VP Crowder stated that Sen. Malone is looking into cultural sensitivity and suggested I hook up with Susanne Schreiber in the Writing Center since she is the one who presented it.
d. Facilities, Planning, & Investment Council (3 min) – Sen Willis
The members of the Facilities, Planning, & Investment Council (FPIC) used our November 1st meeting as a working meeting where we again reviewed and worked on the revisions of the facility strategic plan. Our final edits are due next week. The final draft of the facilities strategic plan and compilation of the presentation will be looped out at the November 8th, 2023, College Assembly meeting.
e. Finance Council (3 min) – VP Brito
No Report
f. Information Technology Council (3 min) – VP Maung Maung
No Report
Our next meeting will be held in December.
g. Institutional Effectiveness Council (3 min) – Sen Koessl
h. Student Affairs Council (3 min) – _Sen Okumagba
No Report
X. Unfinished Business
XI. New Business
a. Bill #002: DEIAB Coordinator (15 min.)-Legislative Affairs Committee
Her had a question for Advisor Rome with regards to #8 where it says to maintain regular students that and the meeting according to all required Committee and Council meetings. Will this be a designated position for Student Senate?
VP Brito stated that the intention was to be a coordinator position currently because this will allow us to set up the infrastructure to potentially turn it into a Vice President role in the future. To make this change, you would have to change the bylaws. This means you would have to get a vote from the students to allow that to happen, which is something that could potentially happen in spring.
Advisor Rome specified that there is some clean up that needs to occur with regards to formatting. In addition, the initial description should only be one sentence. Our whereas statements need a little bit of work to ensure that there is one sentence, that it is fact based, to the point, and have strong reasoning around why this should be approved. The motion also needs to be one sentence.
Sen. Her inquired about what the timeline is for this new position. The deadline to get this passed would be by December of 2023.
XII. Non-Business | Housekeeping
a. Town Hall Review (10 min.) – Pres. Michaud
VP Crowder moves to table the Town Hall Review until our Thursday, November 9th, 2023, Meeting, seconded by VP Brito. Motion passed unanimously.
Malone specified that he would have materials available on Thursday, November 9th, 2023, at 4:30pm.
b. Referendum Update (3 min.)-Advisor Rome
Advisor Rome is excited to share that the translation of the ballot will happen into Spanish by next Wednesday, November 8th, 2023. SAB (Student Activities Board) also approved the final language for the ballot.
c. WSG (Wisconsin Student Government) Meeting November 10th (5 min.)-Advisor Rome
Advisor Rome shared what the agenda for the Wisconsin Student Government Meeting on Friday, November 10th, 2023, at Goodman South Campus entails. If anyone is interested in presenting, I need to know by the end of the day on Friday, November 3rd, 2023. It will begin at 10am and conclude at 2:30pm.
Dr. Daniels will be giving the Welcome. There will also be a land acknowledgement, Veteran’s Day Reading, and WSG Reports from all 16 technical colleges. In addition, to describe the way Wisconsin Student Government is functioning, Brandon Trujillo who works for the Wisconsin Technical College System will provide us with this update. They will also finalize the priorities for the legislative seminar which will occur in February. Finally, Representative Francesca Hong and her chief of staff Nada Elmikashfi have been invited to present for us.
XIII. Announcements
a. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, November 9th in room C2402 at 4:30PM
b. Adjournment
Motion made by Sen. Her to adjourn the meeting, seconded by VP Brito. The motion was carried out unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned at 6:38PM Central Time.