Student Association Minutes, Mar. 12

3/14/12 7:00pm

The following were noted at the most recent meeting of the Student Association on March 12.

? SA Internal Vice President Maria Pickett stated that the SA's changeover will occur

next week, during which SA President Georgia Lagoudas will make a year-in-review

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presentation.

? SA External Vice President Sanjula Jain stated that Brochstein Pavilion will be open

until 11 p.m. on Sundays through Thursdays. She also reminded students that the

Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is hosting a student-athlete talent show on Sunday

from 7-9 p.m. in the RMC Grand Hall.

? SA Treasurer Ellen Liu presented a review of the blanket tax. Nine blanket tax organizations

were reviewed, including Rice Program Council, UCourt, Honor Council and

student media organizations. Each organization was deemed to be fulfilling its purpose

and using money efficiently. Based on feedback from the review, next year's

review will include a question on how rollover money will be used.

? Director of Elections Chance Marshall stated that election packets are currently available

sa.rice.edu/springelection and are due to the SA office by Friday at 11:59 p.m.

The ballot for the election will be up for approval at next week's meeting. The ballot

will go online Monday at 11:59 p.m. and will be open until Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.

Major positions on the ballot are eight Honor Council at-large representatives and

Sammy the Owl. There will also be a referendum about a blanket tax increase for Beer

Bike and a KTRU constitutional amendment.

? SA Secretary Yoonjin Min said applications for 2012-2013 appointed positions are

available now. These include SA committee chair positions, directors, parliamentarian,

historian and university representatives to university standing committees. More

information can be found at sa.rice.edu/spring2012.

? Tawfik Jarjour made a presentation about Centennial House, a project of Rice's Habitat

for Humanity chapter. He said the goal of the project was to build a low-cost ,

environmentally-efficient home. It will serve as the official community service component

of the Centennial. The family to live in the house will be a single mother with

young children. The build dates will be March 17, 22 and 23 and April 13, 14, 23 and

24. Students can sign up to volunteer to build by visiting habitat.rice.edu/rch. The

dedication for Centennial House will be September 2012.

? Thresher Editors in Chief Ryan Gupta and Seth Brown presented their goals. They

intend to improve the technological presence with a Thresher mobile application.

They also want to distribute the Thresher to off-campus locations, such as House of

Pies. They asked for feedback on the newspaper's content. One student suggested

including national and world news. Another student suggested adding Houston-area

news. Gupta and Brown said that all students can email thresher@rice.edu with their

thoughts and suggestions.

? Campus-wide Beer Bike Coordinators Philip Tarpley and Teddy Grodek presented a

proposal to increase RPC's blanket tax. Currently, RPC has a $18 blanket tax, $5 of

which is allocated to Beer Bike. Tarpley and Grodek stated that Rice Emergency Medical

Services and the Rice University Police Department require more staff with the

increased amount of EMS calls, and Beer Bike must pay more money to cover the staff

increases. Additionally, REMS personnel were volunteers in the past, but now Beer

Bike pays REMS for its services. Tarpley and Grodek asked that the RPC blanket tax

be increased so that Beer Bike would have a $8 blanket tax. A student raised a concern

that this increase would only allow Beer Bike to break even and not be sufficient

for future years. The bill was amended to read that RPC will receive $23 annually,

with Beer Bike receiving $10, to provide money for future years. The bill passed and

will appear as a referendum on the spring elections ballot. Tarpley and Grodek urged

students to vote because at least 20 percent of Rice students must vote to reach a

quorum; the referendum needs two-thirds of that vote to pass.

? Brown College SA Senator Shaurya Agarwal presented a proposal to create the

Committee for the Student Vision for the Second Century. This committee will be

the student contribution to the Centennial. The committee will consist of eight

members: the SA president, one college president and six representatives from

the student body. These representatives will be selected through an application

process. The committee will collect opinions from students all over campus and

define the priorities of students for the next century.

? SA Parliamentarian Jonathan Stewart announced that, in a closed meeting, the voting

body would be nominating candidates and selecting a recipient for the annual Student

Association Mentor Recognition Award, which goes to a current member of the

faculty or staff who exemplifies extraordinary service to the student body as a mentor

and friend. Last year's recipient was Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson.

The SA will next meet on Monday, March 19 at 9 p.m. in the Farnsworth Pavilion.

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