SG Update 10/12

Campus Groups Training

Sara Bayerl, an application administrator and business analyst for Student Affairs, provided a training session for Student Government (SG) that explained the use of new functionalities on CampusGroups, such as distribution management. The updated site is a project led by Bayerl and Bobby Moakley, SG president and fourth year Environmental Science major. They have been working with CampusGroups to make communication easier for SG senators.

“In the past, Student Government has used distribution lists. Distribution lists are [not] fun to manage. They’re not great, and they’re not pretty when you send out emails. They’re very difficult to keep up-to-date," said Bayerl. "So, one of the things Bobby and I worked on is actually making it so that you as Student Government can email your constituents from CampusGroups from your SG email in a much more pretty and design-oriented way."

The new functionalities allow for senators to send emails to a large population of students or the entire student body. Moakley warned that if any SG senators misuse these updates, punitive actions will be taken.

Policy C23

Erika Duthiers, assistant vice president for compliance and ethics and deputy general counsel in the Office of Legal Affairs, and Judy Bender, the assistant vice president and director of Human Resources, returned to present an update for Policy C23, the policy on consensual and sexual relationships. After receiving feedback from SG senators at the unveiling of the policy on Sept. 21, 2018, they clarified the language and specified who will be affected by the policy. They also inserted a definition for “supervisory responsibility,” added a disclosure procedure section and added information on the consequences for policy violation.

Their goal was to move the policy from an interim to a formal position, with SG’s endorsement. However, the policy was tabled. Duthiers and Bender received extensive feedback, a sign that the senators were not ready to make the policy official. Tayler Ruggero, director of programming and Criminal Justice master’s student, disapproved of the policy’s wording.

“A lot of student employees [have supervisory authority]. [For example,] Student Government here, ... residence life. So, basically this policy is saying an RA can’t date anybody that lives in [residence halls] housing because they have the power of an RA and I have the power to write up and put disciplinary action on students which means I cannot date any student that lives in [residence halls] housing which is unacceptable,” said Ruggero. “That’s about 300 students ... in these kinds of student leadership positions, and that’s you guys basically policing student-to-student relationships — which is a problem.”

Jacob Ellis, academics and co-ops committee chair and second year International Business and Finance double major, agreed with Ruggero.

“[As an RA], if I am on grounds ... and I am in a building that is completely separate from my own, I have ... authority over any student on that floor. So, I think that the way the policy’s worded ... it leaves students in positions like being an RA really vulnerable to prosecution. And I think just like that it would be hard for me personally and I think a lot of the students in ResLife to support a policy like this,” said Ellis.

Duthiers and Bender will work to further clarify the policy, taking into consideration the suggestions and criticisms made by the SG senators.

 NTID Bylaw Change

The new bylaw presented to SG last week was passed by the senate. The bylaw allows for cross-registered students to run for NTID senator as long as they have completed at least two semesters at NTID. The bylaw will become official once the minutes of the SG meeting are approved.

“All of the candidates will be reviewed by [SG vice president] Corinne, myself and the president and vice president of NTID Student Congress (NSC). The finalists will go to a debate on Tuesday night in NSCA and then there will be one candidate determined by a vote of NSCA and we’ll bring that candidate to senate next week to confirm,” explained Moakley.

Petition Updates

Several petitions were responded to during this meeting.

A response was given to a petition that asked for a sidewalk to be constructed on Farnum Lane, making clear that the project is already in progress.

Another response was given to a petition asking for handicap buttons on doors to be fixed. Students were encouraged to contact Facility Management Services if they noticed a non-functional button.

A petition to speed up the construction currently blocking Wiltsie Drive was responded to, pointing out that the construction cannot be hastened since it is being done by Monroe County, not RIT.

A response was provided to a petition that asked for furniture in B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences (GCCIS). Some furniture has been added that is durable and collaborative for students. More furniture will continue to be added.

SG also responded to a petition asking to "put the dots back" in RIT. The response explained the research was done before the rebranding decision was made. Ashley Kosak, KGCOE senator and fifth year Mechanical Engineering major, motioned to table the response until more information or data can be collected and provided to students on how research was done for the rebranding.

A response was given to a petition that asked for the Microsoft Surface Pro to be available for rent at the library. The library has no plans to add the Microsoft Surface devices but has added other lightweight and low power devices that are available for rent.

A response to a petition asking for additional security on university IDs was approved. A policy is currently underway that will help address the issue.

New Charges

Several new petitions were also discussed, their missions being charged to various committees and individuals. 

A petition asking for the RIT network to be upgraded was charged to the Tech Committee.

A new petition asking that Pearson Online Education services no longer be used in classes was charged to Academics and Co-Ops committee.

A petition asking for the Student Health Center to be open on weekends was charged to Student Affairs. Research will be done into the usage of the Student Health Center and whether it has the resources to remain open on weekends.

A petition asking to expand interpreting services hasn’t reached threshold but will be researched to improve the learning experiences of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The petition was charged to NSC, the Deaf Advocacy Committee, and the first year senator.

A petition asking for the removal of an ableist mural in GCCIS was charged to the GCCIS senator and cross-registered senator. A discussion will be held with the Aesthetics Committee and Tom Golisano’s sister about how to better represent the work of Tom Golisano.

Reports

Moakley announced that RIT will be introducing outdoor Wi-Fi soon, but the locations are yet to be determined.