The Senate and Finance board are both looking for secretaries for the year/semester.
Your duties will mainly include taking proper minutes for the meetings, cleaning them up, distributing them and posting online along with organizing documents related to the meetings and legislation.
If you're free every Monday 5:30 - 8 (Senate) and/or every Tuesday 5:30 - 8(Finance Board) for the semester and need a easy/part time job, email dhoffman@umbc.edu for an application or follow this link to print it out:
That's right- we are still accepting applications for the 2009-2010 SGA Executive Branch. SGA is a great way to meet new people, learn more about your university and community, and make an impact on campus.
The 2009-2010 SGA Executive Application is up! Fill out the form (link is below) and turn it in to David Hoffman (2nd floor of the commons) by Wednesday, May 13 at 11:59pm.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email Jen Kent at jkent1@umbc.edu
The polls for this year's SGA elections are opening at 12:00 AM, and will run until 11:59 PM on Wednesday. There are a number of contested races for positions that have a lot of influence over how your student fees are spent and how policies are made at UMBC.
Information about all candidates is listed on the SGA website. Direct links to their official profiles are below.
Additionally, a number of candidates have participated in interviews and debates. A full video of the debates has been made available here, while the WMBC radio interview can be downloaded here. Ongoing coverage of the election has been provided by The Retriever Weekly.
Also on the ballot is Referendum A, a proposal supported by SGA that is explained here.
Be sure to take a short amount of time over the next few days to log in to Blackboard and cast your vote!
So the administration definitely listens. A week ago, Dr. Elliot Hirschman chose to present to the president and other members of the President Council, a pilot program (that extends the library hours by 2 hours one the week before final exam) to keep the library open for longer hours at least a week before the exams. He gave SGA senators who have been working towards this goal a chance to speak to the council and present our case. We did so and they were impressed. The President’s council decided to fund the extra $1500 cost of opening the library for later hours from May 4th – May 19th. They want to look at this two week test period and other statistics on library usage to decide whether or not to extend the library hours in the future.
So this two week period will be a test run. We as students need to show them that
1.We’re thankful that they paid attention to our needs.
2.We actually do need these longer hours, not only during the exam week but otherwise as well.
So, we need to make sure that every UMBC student is aware that the library will be open for longer hours during those two weeks. We need to use the space and show that we need the space.
The Student Activity supports campus activities, student advocacy, and student organizations. It is one of six fees that all UMBC students pay each semester. Currently it is the lowest of all the fees at $78 per year or $4 per credit for part time students and is the only fee that hasn’t increased in the last 6 years. Please see the chart below to see a brief history of fee increases for all the student fees at UMBC. To see the details of all current fees for the Spring 2008 semester visit http://www.umbc.edu/sbs/tuition_spring_2008.
What does the Student Activity Fee fund?
The Student Activity Fee is directed by the Student Government Association and it funds over 250 student organizations and hundreds of events on campus. For example: Free Newspapers (Collegiate Readership Program), Homecoming, Stress Free Zone, DVD’s in the library, Quadmania, Involvement Fest, and large student events such as Jambo Night, Norouz, ASIA, PakSA Night and many. many more. For a full breakdown of the current SGA budget for FY 2009 please visit: http://sga.umbc.edu/budgets/FY%2009%20SGA%20Budget.htm. You can also view SEB's budget at http://sga.umbc.edu/budgets/SEB%20Budget%20FY09.htm and The Retriever Weekly’s Budget at http://sga.umbc.edu/budgets/TRW%20Budget%20FY09.htm.
What Referendum A is asking for?
Referendum A is the question of whether or not students support a $10 yearly increase in the Student Activity Fee.
Why does the Student Activity Fee need to be increased?
The Student Activity Fee hasn’t received a fee increase since 2003. Currently it is $39 per semester for full time students and $4 per credit for part time students. Over the last several years, the SGA has been operating at a deficit because of the large fund account that was built up due to conservative SGA spending from prior years. Since the 2006-2007 school year, the SGA has been spending more money than we have been bringing in due to increased demand for services. Obviously this situation cannot exist forever, either the fee must be increased or costs must be cut causing a reduction in student life. Also as time goes on due to increasing salary costs, inflation, and other items that SGA has become responsible for have caused SGA’s costs to rise. With this $5 per semester increase, we will be able to continue providing the services and events that campus demands.
Why Should I Support Referendum A?
You should support Referendum A if you support student life at UMBC. The Student Activity Fee is the only fee on campus that is student controlled. It also directly supports student life at UMBC. If you want to support student life you should support Referendum A.
What will happen if Referendum A fails?
If this doesn’t pass, many of these events and organizations will be significantly impacted. Not only would next year’s budget be seriously impacted with a number of cuts which include: a decrease in the student organizations budget, free newspapers (NY Times, Baltimore Sun, and USA Today) any future chance of another Prove It, funding for Welcome Week, Commuter events, and the Etiquette Banquet. The future of all organizations and events that depends on the Student Activity Fee will be in jeopardy. As new student organizations continue to be created and old ones expand, the demands for funding will only increase. Campus life is continually expanding as well. Without this increase, the support for this increased demand of student life will not be met and the current level of student life will decrease.
As many students know, UMBC has found itself in the ongoing issue over screening adult films on University System of Maryland schools. Here are a few places to get informed about the debate:
If you're one of the people selected, take the five minutes to go and fill out the survey. In addition to helping benefit the school, if you complete it before May 1st, you'll be entered to win one of four $100 Amazon gift cards.
Funding for USM institutions is at risk! The House Appropriations Committee voted to decrease funding by $20.3 million last week. Take 2 minutes to let your elected representatives know how important it is to support higher education (if you are an out-of-state student, feel free to use your campus address).
Click this link to TAKE ACTION to send an email message to your legislators letting them know that you support full-funding of the Governor's budget. The sooner you send, the better. Forward this link to your friends, parents, neighbors, and professors so that legislators hear how important funding higher education is (they can use this specific link). It only takes a few minutes by simply entering your address and editing a pre-drafted message. Be sure to let your legislators know your role in the USM (student, faculty, etc.).
A cut of $20.3 million will ensure tuition is not frozen for in-state undergaduates, lower the quality of programs for all students, and could threaten pay/job security for faculty and staff.
If you have further questions, please email me ASAP at joshmichael@umbc.edu or call me at (410) 294-8581.
Read this message from the USM website:
Support Higher Education Funding Oppose Legislative Cuts to Higher Education
Governor O’Malley’s FY 2010 budget proposal for the University System of Maryland supports the overarching goals shared by the state and the University System of Maryland:
provide access to high-quality and affordable programs and services;
ensure that the state’s public higher education system sustains its critical role in advancing Marylanders’ quality of life—intellectually, economically, socially, culturally, and in areas related to health.
The Department of Legislative Services is reccomending the General Assembly cut the USM funding by $5.7 million dollars and possibly more. Ask your legislators to reject this cut and fully fund higher education to maintain the quality, affordability and accessability of our public universities.
Monday , Governor O'Malley stood with Senators Cardin and Mikulski at Bowie State University, explaining that the federal stimulus package would allow for greater investment in community colleges and for full-funding of a fourth year of an in-state, undergraduate tuition freeze. The dedication of federal stimulus dollars seemed to seal the deal a fourth tuition freeze...
But on Tuesday , Governor O'Malley instead sat with Budget Secretary Eloise Foster, legislative leaders, and budget analysts, explaining that revenue estimates came in even lower than the already deflated expectations. According to estimate, the Governor needs to fill an additional $516 million hole, tallying the total deficit to $1.1 billion. Further layoffs, furloughs, and pay cuts have been put back on the table. And of course, funding to support a funded tuition freeze has as well.
Updates are sure to come in future days. Recall that the Board of Regents (of which I am your student representative to) officially sets tuition rates, and will do so after the Legislative Session, which ends in mid-April.
After some inquiry from students, Residential Life clarified their interpretation of the smoking policy at a recent meeting of the Community Directors, affirming that the inclusion of designated smoking areas in the UMBC Smoking Policy is not meant to prohibit smoking everywhere else on campus.
A source in Residential Life confirmed that ResLife will only be enforcing the 20 foot policy henceforth.
A rumor had previously circulated leading CD's and RA's to believe that the policy meant that if students smoked anywhere on campus besides the designated smoking areas, they could be subject to punitive action. Emails claiming this interpretation were sent to residents, and fliers were posted in residence halls containing this false information.
Hopefully this clarification will alleviate undue restrictions on students and allow for accurate enforcement of the actual policy in place.
For a more detailed description of how this clarification came about, visit my personal blog entry on The Rainbow Road Less Travelled By.
The SGA is funding a FREE bus for students for the Championships. The space is limited so sign up ASAP.
1. Buy your game ticket at he Commons Information Desk for $10.
2. Email spirit.czar@umbc.edu to reserve your spot on the bus. Include your name, email address, and student id in the email. DO NOT REPLY ON FACEBOOK!!!
3. Show up at the RAC BEFORE 5am on Saturday. We will be leaving promptly. Game is at 11am. We should be back by 7pm.
4. GET READY TO OWN BINGHAMTON AND MAKE OUR 2ND APPEARANCE IN THE NCAA’S!!!GO DAWGS!!!
Quite a number of things have taken place since the Senate meeting last month where the transcript fee was discussed with Mrs. Yvette Mozie-Ross and Dr. Steve Robinson. A large number of students were in attendance, but for those who were not (or those interested in reviewing the discussion), the official minutes have been posted here.
The plan post-meeting has been for the SGA President to send a letter to President Hrabowski, a move that has been delayed by the recent shifts in SGA's leadership.
Last week, SGA President Gabe Rettaliata sent an official letter to President Hrabowski concerning this fee. At this point, it's been about 2 business days since the letter has been received and we are currently awaiting a response.
Relevant contact information is as follows:
Yvette Mozie-Ross: mozie@umbc.edu Dr. Steve Robinson: robinsos@umbc.edu SGA President Gabe Rettaliata: gabriel2@umbc.edu SGA Speaker of the Senate Rahilla Tarfa: rat1@umbc.edu Myself: michael.c@umbc.edu
Being a student leader is no easy task. It's easy to look someone in the eye and say let's make this happen. What is not easy is the amount of work that leads to that plan becoming a reality.
When I first joined SGA I did so in the hopes of becoming part of the student life experience that made my high school experience phenomenal. I didn't realize however that the organization I had joined consisted of a lot of meetings and brainstorming...or so I thought. Then, as a member of the Finance Board and let alone a First Year Ambassador I felt disconnected from the rest of the SGA and it took me a while to truly learn what was going on in the internal workings of student government. What people see, if any, of SGA is either the Finance Board for cash or posts on Umbc Underground/Retriever articles; nothing however about what we are doing for students. However as I began to integrate myself into this organization more and more, I realized that there is a lot of behind the scenes work involved in the process. Whether it was Elani working on ProveIt, or Indek working on the Financial system and many other people working on their projects as well, I realized that even though I was involved with SGA, I wasn't really doing my share of the work. There was so much to be done and those who would excel at it the most were too busy doing even more important things. That is why new leaders had to emerge to the scene and take on these responsibilities so that the torch does continue to be passed on. Losing the election was tough, but it offered me the opportunity to see what happens in the SGA executive cabinet. That was and still is one of the coolest experiences ever. I have been working with so many people on coming up with ideas and seeing them slowly evolve into reality, but nothing at the snap of your fingers. Working to change policy with the administration and create new things on campus is not easy. The infamous RED TAPE is something that while provides a safe net that protects the administration and the students, is in many cases detrimental to the progress of student life. Quoting Josh Michael on this one, "Fighting the RED TAPE is what we do at SGA every day." Its not creating projects or working on ideas or anything of that sort; we do that but its not our essential task because honestly anyone can come up with a great idea. It's all about making it happen. That is why I love this campus, because we have traversed through the fields of red tape and have made things happen and change on campus that has affected each and every students’ daily lives. Its tough sometimes to see the fruits of hard work, but when a group of students get together and say "We will do this!" it can make a powerful statement that if left dry will go back into the big book of ideas that no one cares enough to work on. Why? Sometimes being a student leader you forget you are a student. It can be awakening to see yourself say “wow, I want to do this rather than study.” That is where problems begin and when one must reflect and say to themselves that it’s important not to lose sight of your primary goal in search of change and improvement. Sometimes you need to delegate tasks and give projects up to others. What I'm trying to get at here is that even though I may want to see something happen on campus very badly, I can’t necessarily commit to it because of time constraints. But I'm sure there is a student out there who thinks that they want to see that change as well, have the time, and if given the right direction and help can make it happen and leave their mark at UMBC. That is what I would love to see happen: Students who are not elected officials or appointed officers, just walking into the SGA office saying "Hey! I saw you guys have this project and no one is able to work on it, I will! Teach me how I should approach this and help me assemble a team of several people who can work with me to make this happen!" A dream far away this is? I don't think so, so let's make it happen.
Being a student leader is no easy task. It's easy to look someone in the eye and say let's make this happen. What is not easy is the amount of work that leads to that plan becoming a reality.
Did you know what our school colors were when you first started at UMBC?
Think our campus can look more school spirited?
Want to get more involved with student life?
Want to get people excited about UMBC athletics, student life, greek life, theatre, or cultural orgs?
Here is YOUR chance:
Project Black and Gold is a student run initiative being done by the SGA to work towards getting people more excited about UMBC.
One of the major aspects of Black and Gold is the creation of campus lamppost banners that will be displayed for FIVE years around academic row and the library.
One side: we decided...was going to have our famous slogan "Retriever Fever"
BUT THE OTHER SIDE IS UP TO YOU:
We are looking for design submissions for our campus lamppost banners....
it can be anything that YOU think represents UMBC. pictures, drawings, sketches, ANYTHING. This is our campus, and its our project...to make it be know HOW excited we are about being at UMBC.
Your submissions should be able to fit on a banner which is 35' tall and 20' wide. There will be templates available for use on myUMBC and facebook.
We will be choosing three designs based on YOUR votes on MyUMBC.
One of your selections MAY even be the new design on the NEW campus "red" card, which will now be black and gold.
ALL SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE BY SUNDAY, MARCH 23rd at 5:00 PM.
UMBC students, get ready to have a say about the quality of campus life and the kinds of changes you’d like to see! Some freshmen and seniors have an opportunity to provide feedback in a forum that is taken very seriously by campus leaders. Freshmen and seniors are being invited at random by e-mail to participate in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) between now and the end of May. The NSSE is a yearly survey administered by UMBC and other private and public institutions across the U.S. UMBC’s Office of Institutional Research explains that NSSE
“gauges the extent to which colleges are providing experiences associated with a quality undergraduate education and the extent to which students are engaging in those educationally meaningful activities.”
Campus leaders have used the results with other information to make changes to curriculum, programs, and resources. In response to initial results, senior administration at UMBC implemented a number of initiatives designed to increase student engagement and success. Some examples include: first-year seminars, Introduction to an Honors University seminars, living learning communities, the new student book experience, and the faculty mentor program.
If you are one of the lucky invitees, please take the opportunity to tell UMBC’s leaders about your experiences. Students who complete the survey by May 1, 2009, will be eligible for one of four $100 Amazon.com gift certificates.
At Monday's Senate meeting, I was sworn in as the SGA President for the remainder of the year. Also at the meeting, my two choices for the vacant VP positions were confirmed. Dave Indek will be the new Executive Vice President and James McCauley will be the new VP for Student Orgs. In addition to this, Rahilla Tarfa was selected by the Senate to be the new Speaker, while Jen Kent retained her post as Assistant Speaker.
First off, I want to commend Steve for the courage and resolve he showed in handling the situation tonight. After all that's gone on, it was fitting that he left the room to a round of applause from those present. I hope everyone looks back on his time in the SGA and sees all the good he did for students, not what happened over the past week.
That said, I think everyone is ready to put all the unpleasantness of the past week behind us and move on to our plans for the spring semester. I know there will be a bit of a learning curve for those of us who have been put into new positions as we get used to our new responsibilities, and I ask that you have patience with us while we get adjusted to our new roles. However, that will not stop us from continuing to work for students, and I expect everyone in the SGA to continue to work on their projects and initiatives. I've held the Senate to a high standard in my time as Speaker, and as President I will hold the entire SGA to a high standard, because I know you are all good enough to be held to a higher standard than the average SGA. We have a lot of projects that are ongoing right now, and it needs to be our priority to finish those projects in the remaining three months of our terms.
I want to ensure everyone that the SGA is not going to go downhill from here. I won't let it. I sure as hell ain't going to coast for the rest of the year. Too many students have placed their faith in us that we will serve them and make this university the best that it can possibly be, and I would not be able to live with myself if I disappointed them by not doing the best job I can. We have a lot of talented and passionate people in this organization that are ready with ideas to serve students. We can show the people that have doubted the strength of the SGA over the past few days that we can rise above any pitfall that we come across and come out the other side stronger than ever.
The excitement from the retreat just two weeks ago gave me a huge burst of energy to finish out my time in the SGA at full blast. I hope everyone can channel that energy and make the spring semester one to remember. The folks at the Senate meeting tonight were very excited about the possibilities that await us in the upcoming weeks, and I hope all of you can feel that way too.
Change has obviously come to the SGA, but I hope we can move forward from here and continue to do our jobs for the students of UMBC and make for the best undergraduate experience possible. I am excited to work with all of you.
So some SGA Senators have been discussing the current operating hours of the AOK Library. UMBC seriously lacks a study place where students can study, what is considered, "after hours." Although the atrium is open 24/7, the library closes at 12 on school nights and earlier over the weekends except Sunday. Personally, I've always found the atrium space not big enough for all the students that head down there once the semester really starts back up. There aren't enough tables, and there surely don't seem to be enough outlets. Compared to our peer institutions as well, like U of Alabama or U of Arkansas and others, our library closes down 2-3 hours earlier every school night.
In an attempt to understand the situation better, we contacted Larry Wilt, Director of the Library and spoke to him about this issue. We talked about possibly only having one or two floors of the library open for an extended period of time - 2 to 3 hours every night. While the library understood the need to extend hours, he told us that the current budget could not possibly support such a venture. With this economy and the budget cuts, finding money to fund another 2 hours of running the library becomes much harder as well. According to Larry Wilt, Director fo the AOK library, research was done in 2003 to come up with estimated costs of extending the library hours by 2 hours every night of the week. For Fiscal Year 2003, costs came up to about $35,000. We can add inflation costs to that and come up with a rough idea for costs for now.
So here is our question:
1. Would longer library hours help us? Would you want to see the AOK library hours extended?
Tonight, the SGA Senate hosted an open discussion with Yvette Mozie-Ross (Vice Provost for Enrollment Management) and Dr. Steve Robinson (Registrar) about the $8 per transcript fee that students are being charged. This is a discussion that has been going on with administrators and SGA members for some time, but tonight involved both SGA members and about forty other concerned students.
I was very excited to see so many students take the time out of their evening to attend this meeting. Their commentary was both insightful and respectful, and those present demonstrated a willingness to work towards some kind of a compromise that would help alleviate the current burden on the student body. At this time, the sentiment of compromise was not reflected in the responses by Mozie-Ross and Robinson.
Because Credentials, Inc. charges only $2 for their transcript processing, many questions were raised by students about where the additional $6 was going. While no budgetary figures were presented by Mozie-Ross and Robinson, one area where money was described as going toward was the development of digital transcripts in a secure .pdf format, that would expire after a certain amount of time.
The minutes from this meeting will be posted as usual on SGA's announcements blog. I'm interested in hearing any further reactions to the meeting from students who had to leave early or were unable to attend.
Finally, it was stated by Mozie-Ross that when the transcript fee was still in the planning stages, she and Robinson consulted with then-SGA president, Jay Lagorio, along with the president of the Graduate Student Association. She said that a $10 fee was proposed to Jay, and after objections were voiced a "compromise" of $8 per transcript was reached.
I took the liberty of contacting Jay myself, and he said he was initially approached about a low per transcript fee that would be under $5. He raised objections to something that high, but agreed that $1-2 would be reasonable to pay for better transcript services (incidentially, $2/transcript is what Credentials charges). Jay also supported the development of a secure .pdf transcript format because that way, graduating students could get a single transcript and use it again and again, since there is no envelope to unseal and a digital signature would verify that the document had not been altered. Clearly, a .pdf with an "expiration date" runs contrary to this idea.
Hopefully this information will resolve any confusion in the minds of students about the role of last year's SGA administration in this process. Contact information for people involved is as follows:
Jay Lagorio: lagorio1@umbc.edu Yvette Mozie-Ross: mozie@umbc.edu Dr. Steve Robinson: robinsos@umbc.edu Gabe Rettaliata (current Speaker of the SGA Senate): gabriel2@umbc.edu Myself: michael.c@umbc.edu
Several of Zwybak's loyal readers sent in pictures of UMBC's Walter Sondheim having fun in the snow - including the awesome students who did it. Jordan, Mariah, Ian, and Ian's pals are welcome to come by the SGA office this week and collect your rewards.
I've added the pictures to the Zwybak gallery, so they should be showing up in "recent pictures" soon. Or, just click the link to go there now.
It looks like one of UMBC's patrons, Walter Sondheim, had some fun in the snow last night. He's been decked out in a crazy new outfit. If anybody reads this before the snow melts and sends me a picture I can put up here ( silversteelwolf@gmail.com ), come up to the SGA office in the Commons and I'll give you a prize.
Disclaimer: the prize is a five-pronged massager. That's two more prongs than your typical massager!
I just posted a follow-up to legislative lobbying that many of us participated in during the fall of 2007 over at USMstudents. I thought you might might enjoy a few photos...
(Never thought I would see Steelwolf so happy in the presence of the Governor...)
Despite some of the rough patches we've had with the food services transition, I admit I felt pretty darn good walking into the UC a few minutes ago and seeing the newly opened Chick-fil-a. After signing up for a 10-meal plan, I walked through the Commons to kill time while I waited for the "system to come back" so they could actually activate my meal plan - and saw the new pizza place with delicious-looking food.
I think we continue to make progress on food services, although we are still shackled to the archaic idea of meal zoning. Please continue to make both SGA and Food Services aware of ongoing issues, and remember that Chartwell's can be contacted directly via their feedback form.
