2008 Woodie Awards
Senate cuts $10,000 check, hustles through legislation
CHARLOTTE TAYLOR & DUSTIN LAPRAY
Arbiter Staff
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
In the final weeks of its term, the 2006-07 Associated Students of Boise State University Senate has made a push to accomplish what it can before time runs out.
The Senate passed four pieces of legislation at its meeting Thursday in the Forum in the Student Union Building. It placed two other new pieces of legislation into committees.
The motivation to pass legislation seems to have coincided with the end of the term and the rush toward the ASBSU elections this week.
Most of the legislation was brought to the table by Senate members currently running for president and vice president of ASBSU. The Senate spent $10,000 Thursday and could spend $5,000 more next week.
A step toward greener living
Perhaps the most eco-friendly piece of legislation passed by the Senate Thursday was a Senate Bill which proposed that one of the residence halls on campus be powered by wind energy.
“We’re not talking about putting a wind turbine on top of Morrison Hall,” Manager of Facility and Space Planning Whitney Rearick said.
The hall would be powered by three wind turbines at the Lewindowsky wind farm located near Mountain Home, which was purchased recently by three Boise State graduates.
These former students recently offered to sell wind energy credits to BSU, enough to provide electricity for a dormitory about the size of Morrison Hall.
“It would be the first wind powered residence hall in Idaho and possibly in the Northwest,” Rearick said. “Everything about this is trying something new.”
The bill asked for $1,000 to help fund the project. Other methods of renewable energy for BSU, such as geothermal heating, have had a hard time getting off the ground due to lack of funding.
The bill was moved to the Budget and Finance Committee Tuesday and was passed unanimously Thursday.
Although the project is going to cost the university more than it will save, students from Morrison Hall will be allowed to tour the energy farm and be a part of the process. Those involved are hoping the new power source will generate energy awareness on campus.
Veterans’ Memorial
The costliest and possibly most important piece of legislation passed was a bill contributing $10,000 to help construct a new Veterans’ Memorial at BSU. The memorial would be built near the current SUB Patio when the building undergoes renovation.
The old memorial was torn down in 1993 when the Alberstons Library was expanded.
The Senate previously passed a resolution in support of the memorial, but Thursday was the day to help foot the bill. The bill for the memorial was authored by Sen. Katie Jo Rupert and presidential candidate Britton J. Holdaway. It passed unanimously.
“I know it’s a lot of money, but it is also a great thing to be done,” Sen. Rupert said.
The SUB considered two different designs for the memorial and decided to follow the Kay Kirkpatrick design, which uses silhouettes.
“It has a huge impact visually; I think it will be a good addition to the campus,” Holdaway said. “Your contribution will be very helpful, but it won’t be alone.”
The memorial will need more contributions to be fully funded. Its total cost should be about $25,000.
“I think this is a great way to leave a legacy on campus,” Sen. Jonathan Sawmiller said. “I think it’s a great project and we should fund it with the full $10,000.”
Hate Crime Legislation
The Senate also unanimously approved a resolution, which would ask the state legislature to define a hate crime in Idaho.
Idaho currently has a malicious harassment statute that directly responds to crimes created on the basis of prejudice, but does not give heavier penalties to criminals found guilty of crimes against victims based on race, ancestry, religion, national origin or sexual orientation.
The resolution will be taken to the Faculty Senate, which is rumored to be writing similar legislation. The two documents will be taken together to the statehouse for consideration.
“We do have a bad reputation of having hate groups, even though we do not have that many compared to other states,” Sen. Cyndi Blue said. “That’s a really bad thing to stand for.”
Idaho is only one of two states without hate crime legislation.
The legislation came with a petition with more than 500 names written on it in support of hate crime legislation.
“For 500 students to stand up and speak against something really means something,” Sen. Blue said. “This is still an issue in Idaho. [Visitors to Idaho] need to feel comfortable coming to our communities. It will also help tourism.”
Again, the legislation passed unopposed through the Senate.
Diversity Day Defined
The Senate sent a bill to the Business and Finance Committee, which would allocate $5,000 to help sponsor “D3,” or Diversity Day Defined Festival.
This is the second year for the event, which was funded solely by the Cultural Center last spring.
This year organizers want to expand the event to make it more like Art in the Park or The Hyde Park Street Fair.
This year it would stretch across the SUB Patio and into the Intramural Field in tents.
“Our hope is that D3 will reach out to the entire student population,” organizer of the event Kate Neal said. “We need the supports of ASBSU, especially in financial support.”
The Cultural Center and the Women’s Center offered about $1,500 to help pay the cost of the festival. Neal said the Cultural Center paid about $5,000 last year.
Neal said that themes of the festival would be acceptance, diversity and inclusion.
The expected date for the festival is April 20, 2007.
Expansion requires extra funds. Sen. Mark Getecha, Sen. Amy Ortman, Sen. Ryan Cooper and Sen. Bakh Mirkasimov each sponsored the bill.
The money would go into the festival’s general fund. It would help buy water stations, pay performers and poets and help student organizations wanting to be involved.
“It’s a good way for students to wind down the semester,” Sen. Getecha said. “It’s open to all students with a theme of diversity. It’s an event for students. With the additional funds we have, this will be a good way to put it back to student hands, give them an opportunity to … experience diversity.”
The bill could be brought to third reading this Thursday.
Absences
*The numbers in this section were tallied by the ASBSU secretary and may or may not be fully accurate.*
In the last few weeks, The Arbiter has made a great fuss over the lack of attendance in Senate meetings, but the actual number of missed meetings was not tallied, until now.
Stephanie Moran, secretary for ASBSU, and Senate Pro Tempore Amy Ortmann checked the minutes from every meeting this year and created a spreadsheet detailing the attendance record of every senator.
“At this point, it is just to clarify any confusion that may have resulted from this issue,” Sen. Ortmann said.
This “issue” turned out to be quite advantageous for Sen. Ortmann, because she has an impeccable record. She only missed three meetings all year and all were excused (she excuses senators but must speak to Vice President Molly George and the assistant pro tempore if she is to miss a meeting). Ortmann was also late three times.
The mass of absences were acquired by her opponents - Sen. Cooper, Sen. Mirkasimov and former Sen. Britton Holdaway.
Sen. Cooper missed seven meetings; five were unexcused (a senator with more than three unexcused absences is impeachable). He was also late five times.
He debated the validity of the attendance numbers and said he didn’t believe he has missed those days and voted on some of the days that were marked as an unexcused absence.
Sen. Mirkasimov is listed as having nine excused absences, but The Arbiter can vouch Sen. Mirkasimov was present four of those nine. Sen. Mary Dawson has seven absences; all but one were excused.
Holdaway will argue his absences because he took a position as a lobbyist in the spring semester and resigned as senator.
He only attended four meetings (two weeks worth) before resigning.
By far the senator with the most absences is Sen. Cyndi Blue, who missed 14 meetings; most of the absences excused. She was late for two others. Sen. Blue has only attended three meetings this semester.
The last two meetings all senators were present, except Sen. Jim Musser, who was appointed two weeks ago and only attended three meetings. Sen. Ortmann has yet to release an official statement about Sen. Musser’s status within the Senate.
Online Faculty Evaluations
Sen. Bakh Mirkasimov introduced a Senate directive, which suggests a way to cut down on paperwork for professors and students.
The directive asks for university staff to consider making faculty evaluations available online. A directive merely brings an idea to the table and does not contain any details on cost or implementation.
“It’s more centralized and more timely,” Sen. Mirkasimov said. “It serves as a catalyst for higher education.”
Several senators seemed to approve of the idea. Having online faculty evaluations would save paper and, as implied by the legislation, be more fiscally responsible.
“It decreases overhead in the long run for storage and archiving,” said Sen. Ryan Cooper, who is co-sponsoring the directive.
There was some doubt as to whether or not students would voluntarily fill out electronic evaluations on their own time.
Many students already don’t take the evaluations seriously. An online system is currently used by the Department of Engineering.
“The problem they have is that the students don’t actually vote,” Sen. Terry Gorseth said.
Sen. Getecha suggested a stipulation, which would require students to fill out the evaluations before they could get their grades.
Sen. Blue also suggested professors take students to computer labs to fill out the evaluations.
The directive was sent to the University Affairs/Public Liaison Committee, which hasn’t met since September.
Sen. Getecha was appointed the chair of that committee at Thursday’s meeting. Sen. Blue, the former chair, resigned her seat but still sits on the committee.
The Senate meets every Tuesday and Thursday in the SUB Forum at 4 p.m.
The Senate passed four pieces of legislation at its meeting Thursday in the Forum in the Student Union Building. It placed two other new pieces of legislation into committees.
The motivation to pass legislation seems to have coincided with the end of the term and the rush toward the ASBSU elections this week.
Most of the legislation was brought to the table by Senate members currently running for president and vice president of ASBSU. The Senate spent $10,000 Thursday and could spend $5,000 more next week.
A step toward greener living
Perhaps the most eco-friendly piece of legislation passed by the Senate Thursday was a Senate Bill which proposed that one of the residence halls on campus be powered by wind energy.
“We’re not talking about putting a wind turbine on top of Morrison Hall,” Manager of Facility and Space Planning Whitney Rearick said.
The hall would be powered by three wind turbines at the Lewindowsky wind farm located near Mountain Home, which was purchased recently by three Boise State graduates.
These former students recently offered to sell wind energy credits to BSU, enough to provide electricity for a dormitory about the size of Morrison Hall.
“It would be the first wind powered residence hall in Idaho and possibly in the Northwest,” Rearick said. “Everything about this is trying something new.”
The bill asked for $1,000 to help fund the project. Other methods of renewable energy for BSU, such as geothermal heating, have had a hard time getting off the ground due to lack of funding.
The bill was moved to the Budget and Finance Committee Tuesday and was passed unanimously Thursday.
Although the project is going to cost the university more than it will save, students from Morrison Hall will be allowed to tour the energy farm and be a part of the process. Those involved are hoping the new power source will generate energy awareness on campus.
Veterans’ Memorial
The costliest and possibly most important piece of legislation passed was a bill contributing $10,000 to help construct a new Veterans’ Memorial at BSU. The memorial would be built near the current SUB Patio when the building undergoes renovation.
The old memorial was torn down in 1993 when the Alberstons Library was expanded.
The Senate previously passed a resolution in support of the memorial, but Thursday was the day to help foot the bill. The bill for the memorial was authored by Sen. Katie Jo Rupert and presidential candidate Britton J. Holdaway. It passed unanimously.
“I know it’s a lot of money, but it is also a great thing to be done,” Sen. Rupert said.
The SUB considered two different designs for the memorial and decided to follow the Kay Kirkpatrick design, which uses silhouettes.
“It has a huge impact visually; I think it will be a good addition to the campus,” Holdaway said. “Your contribution will be very helpful, but it won’t be alone.”
The memorial will need more contributions to be fully funded. Its total cost should be about $25,000.
“I think this is a great way to leave a legacy on campus,” Sen. Jonathan Sawmiller said. “I think it’s a great project and we should fund it with the full $10,000.”
Hate Crime Legislation
The Senate also unanimously approved a resolution, which would ask the state legislature to define a hate crime in Idaho.
Idaho currently has a malicious harassment statute that directly responds to crimes created on the basis of prejudice, but does not give heavier penalties to criminals found guilty of crimes against victims based on race, ancestry, religion, national origin or sexual orientation.
The resolution will be taken to the Faculty Senate, which is rumored to be writing similar legislation. The two documents will be taken together to the statehouse for consideration.
“We do have a bad reputation of having hate groups, even though we do not have that many compared to other states,” Sen. Cyndi Blue said. “That’s a really bad thing to stand for.”
Idaho is only one of two states without hate crime legislation.
The legislation came with a petition with more than 500 names written on it in support of hate crime legislation.
“For 500 students to stand up and speak against something really means something,” Sen. Blue said. “This is still an issue in Idaho. [Visitors to Idaho] need to feel comfortable coming to our communities. It will also help tourism.”
Again, the legislation passed unopposed through the Senate.
Diversity Day Defined
The Senate sent a bill to the Business and Finance Committee, which would allocate $5,000 to help sponsor “D3,” or Diversity Day Defined Festival.
This is the second year for the event, which was funded solely by the Cultural Center last spring.
This year organizers want to expand the event to make it more like Art in the Park or The Hyde Park Street Fair.
This year it would stretch across the SUB Patio and into the Intramural Field in tents.
“Our hope is that D3 will reach out to the entire student population,” organizer of the event Kate Neal said. “We need the supports of ASBSU, especially in financial support.”
The Cultural Center and the Women’s Center offered about $1,500 to help pay the cost of the festival. Neal said the Cultural Center paid about $5,000 last year.
Neal said that themes of the festival would be acceptance, diversity and inclusion.
The expected date for the festival is April 20, 2007.
Expansion requires extra funds. Sen. Mark Getecha, Sen. Amy Ortman, Sen. Ryan Cooper and Sen. Bakh Mirkasimov each sponsored the bill.
The money would go into the festival’s general fund. It would help buy water stations, pay performers and poets and help student organizations wanting to be involved.
“It’s a good way for students to wind down the semester,” Sen. Getecha said. “It’s open to all students with a theme of diversity. It’s an event for students. With the additional funds we have, this will be a good way to put it back to student hands, give them an opportunity to … experience diversity.”
The bill could be brought to third reading this Thursday.
Absences
*The numbers in this section were tallied by the ASBSU secretary and may or may not be fully accurate.*
In the last few weeks, The Arbiter has made a great fuss over the lack of attendance in Senate meetings, but the actual number of missed meetings was not tallied, until now.
Stephanie Moran, secretary for ASBSU, and Senate Pro Tempore Amy Ortmann checked the minutes from every meeting this year and created a spreadsheet detailing the attendance record of every senator.
“At this point, it is just to clarify any confusion that may have resulted from this issue,” Sen. Ortmann said.
This “issue” turned out to be quite advantageous for Sen. Ortmann, because she has an impeccable record. She only missed three meetings all year and all were excused (she excuses senators but must speak to Vice President Molly George and the assistant pro tempore if she is to miss a meeting). Ortmann was also late three times.
The mass of absences were acquired by her opponents - Sen. Cooper, Sen. Mirkasimov and former Sen. Britton Holdaway.
Sen. Cooper missed seven meetings; five were unexcused (a senator with more than three unexcused absences is impeachable). He was also late five times.
He debated the validity of the attendance numbers and said he didn’t believe he has missed those days and voted on some of the days that were marked as an unexcused absence.
Sen. Mirkasimov is listed as having nine excused absences, but The Arbiter can vouch Sen. Mirkasimov was present four of those nine. Sen. Mary Dawson has seven absences; all but one were excused.
Holdaway will argue his absences because he took a position as a lobbyist in the spring semester and resigned as senator.
He only attended four meetings (two weeks worth) before resigning.
By far the senator with the most absences is Sen. Cyndi Blue, who missed 14 meetings; most of the absences excused. She was late for two others. Sen. Blue has only attended three meetings this semester.
The last two meetings all senators were present, except Sen. Jim Musser, who was appointed two weeks ago and only attended three meetings. Sen. Ortmann has yet to release an official statement about Sen. Musser’s status within the Senate.
Online Faculty Evaluations
Sen. Bakh Mirkasimov introduced a Senate directive, which suggests a way to cut down on paperwork for professors and students.
The directive asks for university staff to consider making faculty evaluations available online. A directive merely brings an idea to the table and does not contain any details on cost or implementation.
“It’s more centralized and more timely,” Sen. Mirkasimov said. “It serves as a catalyst for higher education.”
Several senators seemed to approve of the idea. Having online faculty evaluations would save paper and, as implied by the legislation, be more fiscally responsible.
“It decreases overhead in the long run for storage and archiving,” said Sen. Ryan Cooper, who is co-sponsoring the directive.
There was some doubt as to whether or not students would voluntarily fill out electronic evaluations on their own time.
Many students already don’t take the evaluations seriously. An online system is currently used by the Department of Engineering.
“The problem they have is that the students don’t actually vote,” Sen. Terry Gorseth said.
Sen. Getecha suggested a stipulation, which would require students to fill out the evaluations before they could get their grades.
Sen. Blue also suggested professors take students to computer labs to fill out the evaluations.
The directive was sent to the University Affairs/Public Liaison Committee, which hasn’t met since September.
Sen. Getecha was appointed the chair of that committee at Thursday’s meeting. Sen. Blue, the former chair, resigned her seat but still sits on the committee.
The Senate meets every Tuesday and Thursday in the SUB Forum at 4 p.m.
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