Note: Due to an error in the final issue of Horizons for the Fall of 2009, the original version of this article was not printed in full. The complete version is posted here.
By Brandon T. Bisceglia
Co-Editor in Chief
New Standards Committee Forms, Finds Footing
November 5, 2009 - HCC’s newly created Standards Committee convened for the first time on Thursday to review its mission, assign positions, and consider specific tasks for the future.
Though long enshrined in and mandated by the Senate’s Constitution and Bylaws, the committee has not existed at the college in recent memory. It is the third of five committees meant to handle facets of the Senate’s duties that too complex for the general meetings to spend significant amounts of time tackling.
The other two up and running are the executive committee, which has never been inactive for long, and the activities committee, which started having regular meetings last semester.
The four Senators chosen for the Standards Committee are Treasurer Konrad Mazurek, Secretary Michael Belletzkie, Meoba Nsenga, and Alain Cesar.
Before it could make headway through the many issues pressing upon it, the committee first had to choose a chair to oversee proceedings. Belletzkie offered himself for the task, and was quickly accepted by the others.
Next, to make sure that everyone was on the same page, the committee reviewed its guiding principles according to the Bylaws. As listed in Article III, Section A, their purpose is threefold:
1. To review and recommend changes to constitutions, bylaws, rules governing the Student Senate and or affiliated organizations.
2. To provide the Student Senate with a quasi-legal committee that will investigate and recommend to the Student Senate disposition of cases involving infraction of its rules by members of the Senate.
3. To assist individuals and groups affiliated with the Senate in complying with the rules of the organization.
“Not only do we have to try and correct any wrongs that are done,” said Belletzkie after reading the third mandate to the group. “We should prevent them, if possible.”
The committee resolved to correct the small typographical errors in the Constitution and Bylaws as its first task. The original documents are currently riddled with misspellings and grammatical inconsistencies. This action does not require any changes to the meaning of any clauses, and therefore could go forward without a vote from the student body. It also gave the committee members a chance to better familiarize themselves with their own guidelines, presumably leaving them better prepared for future meetings.
Acting Director of Student Activities suggested the committee begin enforcing several other policies. These included a swifter, broader dissemination of information to parties within and outside of the Student Senate; updating the Senate’s bulletin board; and making sure that clubs fill out event evaluation forms after trips and events occur.
Mazurek touched on the pending club audits that needed to be performed to ensure that Student Activity Funds were not abused. Belletzkie noted that this would be a joint effort with the Finance Committee (the only Standing Committee yet to be enacted) once it had been formed.
The initial meeting’s other primary focus was to develop a regular schedule. It was agreed that Acting Parliamentarian Jacqueline Leo should be present as often as she could, which limited their options. Nsenga also mentioned that she was only available on Thursdays. The group came to the conclusion that they would meet bi-weekly on the Thursdays that larger Senate did not meet, with the option to hold emergency meetings as needed.
Robert’s Rules of Order, written in 1876, is the Student Senate’s guide to parliamentary procedure.
Image courtesy of www.bioteams.com.
As Wesley Resigns, Senate Moves Forward
November 12, 2009 – The Student Senate lost one of its key members on Thursday with the resignation of President Kirk Wesley.
Wesley claimed that the primary reason was because of the work he was doing for the college’s You Can Do It program, which is geared towards assisting minority males from local schools (and some who were recently incarcerated) make a successful transition into college.
“I’m sad to be resigning,” he said, “but I feel like my time and attention is needed elsewhere.”
Wesley said that he was having difficulty juggling both the Student Senate and his other obligations, and that his decision was due in part to the fact that the Senate had gotten to a point where it would “be okay without me.”
Other Senators praised Wesley’s performance during his time of service. Acting Vice President Chad Hunter said to him, “Some people spend their entire lifetime wondering if they’ve made a difference. You shouldn’t have that problem.”
Treasurer Konrad Mazurek, who, aside from Senator Meoba Nsenga, has been a part of the group longer than anyone else currently serving, looked back to his early days working with Wesley as the Senate attempted to reestablish itself.
“Through your work we were given the vehicle to represent ourselves as students again,” he said. “Until those three individuals [Wesley and former presidents Kaitlyn Shake and Lillie Nguyen] went to the school President and said that this student body really needs to be allowed to use its own constitution to represent itself; up until they decided to get somebody involved to teach us Parliamentary procedure, it was a relatively authoritarian environment in this office…what they achieved in that year going into this semester is fabulous, considering they had to rebuild it from scratch.”
“I want to thank you for your time,” concluded Mazurek, “and I’m looking forward to being friends with you for a long, long time to come.”
In his absence, a new president will have to be appointed until a school-wide vote can be held in the spring. Hunter would normally be next in line. However, he has not yet spent a whole semester on the Senate, and was himself reluctant to accept the position, given his lack of experience. Acting Parliamentarian Jacqueline Leo told the senators that he could technically take the position on the same grounds that he now acts as Vice President. However, the issue was left unclear, as Hunter felt he needed a few days to consider whether he was ready for the new role.
Senator Joy James also resigned on the grounds that she was no longer attending HCC.
As if to confirm Wesley’s hope that the governing body could get along on its own, the Student Senate ran through the rest of its agenda with the ease that has become typical of most meetings, even though Acting Director of Student Activities Linda Bayusik was absent. Most notably, they approved the newly assembled Healthstyle club, which had had its consideration tabled previously because of a missing clause – specifically, the clause that obliges members to follow the policies of the Office of Student Life.
The Senate also discussed creating a policy to review IDs at student events. The initiative was brought in reaction to a recent stabbing at UCONN. Some of the details, such as whether to collect IDs and return them on the way out and how to handle guests, required more investigation, so the issue was tabled until the following meeting.
Another proposed trip to see the lighting of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center in New York City was rejected, because the matter had not been discussed with Bayusik, and she would not return in time to make the trip feasible.
In the very last moments of the meeting, Wesley faced one last moment of contention. Senator Vincent Schiavone began complaining about a personal issue he had had at the Senate-sponsored Halloween party. When Wesley and several other senators attempted to end the discussion, Schiavone kept talking. Wesley pounded his gavel for silence, and reprimanded his fellow senator.
“Please excuse yourself,” he said. “This is not the appropriate time to bring it up. If you want to talk about it, talk about what happened to your stuff at the executive meeting. This is the general assembly; you’re complaining in front of everybody about something that nobody knows what you’re talking about.”
With the mood thus soured, the meeting was adjourned.
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