Need a job? Senate and Finance board need a secretary!

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:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASTNyWW58iVtZGc3eDI4em1fMjFmbnI0NDljNg&hl=e

Applications are due by September 3rd!

So hurry!

Victory: Library hours extended May 4th – May 19th

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 4^th – May 19^th. 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.

Here are the exact dates and hours of services:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	May 4th 8am – 2am	May 5th 8am – 2am	May 6th 8am – 2am	May 7th 8am – 2am	May 8th 8am – 10pm	May 9th 10am –10pm
May 10th Noon – 2am	May 11th 8am – 2am	May 12th 8am – 2am	May 13th 8am – 2am	May 14th EXAM DAY 8am – 2am	May 15th EXAM DAY 8am – 10pm	May 16th 10am– 10pm
May 17th Noon – 2am	May 18th EXAM DAY 8am – 2am	May 19th EXAM DAY 8am – 2am	May 20th EXAM DAY 8am – 9pm	May 21st 8am – 5pm

The atrium is still open 24/7

Hours of service desks

Library Media

Monday-Thursday 8:30am – 11pm

Friday 8:30am – 6pm

Saturday 11am – 6pm

Sunday Noon – 11pm

Reference/Information

Monday – Thursday 9am – 9pm

Friday - 9am – 6pm

Saturday Noon – 6pm

Sunday Noon – 8pm

Gallery

M,Tu,W,F Noon – 4pm

Th Noon – 8pm

Serials

Monday – Thursday 8am – 10:30pm

Friday 8am – 6pm

Saturday 10am – 6pm

Sunday Noon–10:30pm

Slide Library – in room 216 in Fine Arts Building

Monday – Friday 9pm – 4pm

Special Collections

Monday – Friday 1pm – 4pm

Thursday, May 14^th 1pm – 8pm

Buses Available for Binghamton!

After going through the Senate and Finance Board, the SGA has approved of $12,000 towards 4 fan buses going up to Binghamton for the Men's Basketball game. Right now, 2 buses are about full, so if you are interested in going for just $12 a day, go to the Commons Info Desk to reserve your spot on one of the buses.

Binghampton Trip Update

From Steve's update on a previous post:

The SGA Senate voted unanimously to provide $12,000 towards 4 fan buses for the Binghamton trip this weekend! The legislation will go through the Finance Board tonight at 5:30pm, and if passed there, we will have the capacity to send over 200 UMBC students to support our Men's Basketball team.

Keep in mind that the Office of Student Life has guaranteed funding for at least two of the buses, so if you know you're interested you can buy tickets now.

Go Dogs!

Retention and Woolies

This was a busy day for me. I attended a 3-hour Retention Working Group meeting this morning with faculty, staff, and administrators from across campus, and I was amazed to see a bunch of statistics comparing entering freshmen and transfers from 1995 up to the present. However, the discussion after the presentation really impressed me. People came to the conclusion that we have all of this data about which students are more likely to have struggles at UMBC and have a greater chance of not graduating, but helping to prevent that is a challenge in itself. How do you advise a student to take a lesser course load without sending the message that you don't believe they can make it? A lot of students don't realize that there are some good people trying to improve the undergraduate experience and truly care about student success.

This afternoon, I met with Lee Calizo, Cindy Paige, and Jackie Wilson about possibly moving the SGA Retreat earlier so that SGA members can go through Woolie training for Welcome Week. It seems like on the housing end, this would definitely be feasible. Woolies bring so much energy for the start of the school year, and I'm hoping that by adding numbers, Welcome Week can be even better for new students. If you are interested in being a Woolie (or an Orientation Peer Advisor, shameless plug), follow the link below.


http://www.umbc.edu/orientation/leaders.html

Hooray Seniors!

So I've been really interested in the idea of a senior gift for a little while now. My original vision was something similar to the inner harbor crabs (if you've ever seen them). I really wanted each class to be able to paint/decorate a statue that would be displayed somewhere on campus. Not only would this be fun, but it would also increase school spirit and retention (two issues I'm very interested in).

After thinking about it further, however, I realized a lot of potential issues with this idea.

1) What are we going to do in 60 years when there is an overcrowding of statues?

2) Who would pay for the materials?
And a few more problems. So that kind of put a hold on things.

Anyways, that's where I was at the end of last semester. Fast forward to this semester:

I met with Phil Recchio of the Alumni Association a couple of weeks ago about this idea. The meeting was really interesting; he had a completely different vision for a senior gift than I did. Phil wanted to do a literal "gift"- he would like to see the senior class raise money that would go towards a scholarship for a needy student.

The details haven't been worked out or anything, but the basic idea is this:

Seniors would donate money (through basic donations or admission fees to various events), and recieve prizes (t-shirts, mugs, etc.). There would be a selection process, and that money that was raised would go to one (or potentially more) needy students. Apparently there are other institutions that do a similar program, so it does work.

While I do think that this is a cool idea, I'm not sure if it is something that the SGA should be involved in. This idea would really only benefit a few students, and would only involve the senior class. The reason that I think an actual, physical senior gift is an okay project for the SGA to take on in that it does have a bigger effect- it could increase school spirit, improve campus, and/or increase retention rates depending on the gift.

I'm still thinking about this idea, and will try to get some program in place if not this year, definitely next year. For this year, I at least want to do some sort of senior week, with discounts and prizes, and anything else that I can think of. Any suggestions?

More on Food Services

While I can't really say anything about the actual proceedings, the food services recontracting process has been positive so far. I want to assure people, especially the students whom I represent, that no matter which provider is ultimately selected, we are going to see some radical change in food services at our university. Students who return for the Fall 2008 semester are going to be pleasantly surprised.

Vindication

A while back I went with representatives from UMBC and EDUCAUSE to discuss ongoing legislation concerning college campuses and filesharing (Student Government Meets Federal Government). This recent article from Ars Technica vindicates my contentions to fellow students, campus administrators, and on Capitol Hill that the music business is changing. The solution to the "problem" is not to ask colleges to "develop a plan" to fight filesharing, nor is it to force colleges to "encourage the use of legal alternatives" by sinking money into abominable startups like Ruckus. Rather, it is the music industry's responsibility to embrace the digital era and eliminate filesharing not through force, but by providing a quality product.

This article is an excellent read and contains the numbers to back it up - numbers I am inclined to believe as opposed to some of the outrageous claims being haphazardly slung around by some.


A brave new world: the music biz at the dawn of 2008

Student Government Meets Federal Government

This past Friday I had the unique opportunity to take a trip to Washington, D.C. with several members of EDUCAUSE, a higher education organization dedicated to the "intelligent use of information technology." Representing UMBC students and the UMBC Student Government Association along with SGA President Jay Lagorio, we presented a student perspective on a very significant issue: sharing of copyrighted materials on college and university campuses. More specifically, we were advocating against Section 494(a)(2) from H.R. 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007.

Steve from EDUCAUSE connected us with some people over at Digital Freedom and I got to write a guest blog for their site. Head over there and check it out, along with the rest of the information and news they have about protecting your Digital Rights.

Stress Free Zone

I am sure everyone has heard about the Stress Free Zone by now. I went to my first Stress Free Zone today and it was absolutely awesome. There is free food, t-shirts, stress balls ( or paws should I say) and all the games in the world. I did not think it would be much fun, but a ton of people were present. Whether you go alone and just relax for a little while with food and completing a puzzle or go with a group of friends and beat them at "Guess Who", it is a great place to take a load off and forget about all the finals coming up over this next week.

Props to Heather Kopf and Jen Kent (and everyone else who has been working on it) who have been working on the Stress Free Zone for awhile now and were there when I arrived at 7:40 in the morning setting up!

Why Ruckus is Not a Solution

There has been some talk recently about Ruckus, a subscription-based service that has struck a deal with the UMD system to provide its content to students "free" of charge (student tuition and fees notwithstanding). Services like this one continue to be lauded as the "legal alternative to downloading", and indeed this particular incarnation has been endorsed by SGA.
However, services like this one come up short in some key areas which is why to the music enthusiast or serious downloader, they will never compare to what is available on torrent trackers.

• Music can only be played via their software, not your music player of choice and not on your operating system of choice.

• While there is considerable selection, it is nowhere near complete and nowhere near what is available on elite music trackers.

• The DRM-laden songs prevent transfer to a portable music device, like my iPod. Even if you do use software to (illegally) remove the DRM, the files are not .mp3 but .wma, a format that is not compatible with iPods.

• Even after going through all the trouble of freeing the songs, they are still in poor quality. If you decide to transcode to .mp3 to put the songs on an iPod, your quality will go down even further.

The final blow to this model is that using programs like SoundTaxi or TuneBite (programs that actually charge you to use them!) to remove the DRM from these songs is illegal. If one is going to be operating in this gray area anyway, why not just go for the best and get high quality, usable music via bittorrent and torrent trackers?

Sorry, Senate

I missed the Senate meeting tonight, which really sucks because as Assistant Speaker I don't really get excuses. That being said, it's totally not my fault!

A bit of explanation. The Senate meetings start at 5:30, so months ago when I scheduled this particular doctor's appointment I figured I would have plenty of time to get there, have the appointment, and return. Especially when the offices are only about 20 minutes away, right?

No, it wasn't even traffic. It was the office itself. I was there early for the appointment, signed my name, waited a long time, got the pre-evaluation, waited even longer, and then began to wonder exactly how long this was going to take. When the other doctors and employees started packing up and leaving, I began to get worried. Despite the sign reading "cell phone use prohibited", I finally gave up hope of making the meeting and messaged several folks in SGA hoping that at least one of them would get it and realize where I was. I didn't get seen until a quarter after six. I was literally one of the last patients in the office.

Makes me wonder what happened earlier that day to get him so behind. And for once, I'll actually have to read the minutes for the sole purpose of figuring out what happened. Ouch.

Homecoming!

One thing I realized people might not have checked out yet - the titles of these entries are links, so you can either click on them to read the entry on its own page, or, as I often do, be directed to something related to the post. Check it out and see what kinds of stuff we've been looking at!

Anyway, UMBC's Homecoming celebration was amazing. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to attend the bonfire, as I had a test to study for that was Friday morning (which I ended up doing rather well on, if you'll forgive me tooting my own horn a bit). I spent a good part of Friday looking forward to the free ice cream and talent show, which also impressed. I am proud to say that Daniel Roberts, maser guitarist, is a fellow graduate of my high school. This man is probably going to be the greatest musician to graduate from UMBC. If you missed him at the talent show, you can see a few of last year's videos on his YouTube page - hopefully he'll put up some videos from this year soon.

Saturday night was Jim Gaffigan, which was also a great use of $10. I took the risk and invited my mom and brother to the show and he didn't disappoint. Both of them laughed heartily throughout the show which makes me happy. Maybe now my brother will show up for the Festivus Accappellius in November.

Today began yet another busy week as I attended a meeting discussing the changing environment of UMBC's Food Services. I'm confident we'll be seeing a lot of positive efforts come out of this. We also spent a good amount of time both before and after the Senate meeting planning the advertising campaign for the upcoming Prove It! initiative. Since many of us involved don't have the time to put into designing a good logo, we put out a request to some groups replete with such "artsy folk" to see what kind of a design they can cook up. Of course, we need it by Friday, so we're throwing in $75 for the winning designer to sweeten the pot a little. This is kind of a little test of the ideas behind the Prove It! initiative itself, so I'm excited to see how it works out. The folks across the hall in SEB sure seemed excited when we told them about it, so I'm hopeful for a good response with some excellent designs to choose from.

That's it for now, but be sure we'll be keeping you updated as these things continue to develop. Believe me, before you know it you won't be able to get away from the Prove It! initiative...

Meetings

I have been having a load of meetings lately!

Today was my first time attending the IT Steering Committee, where I learned a lot about future plans for campus technology implementation. Interestingly, my boss's boss at AV Services was there presenting a rather lengthly bit on future strategy. Apparently we'll also be upgrading to a newer version of Blackboard this January that will hopefully solve some of the unreliability issues.

I also got a chance to meet Nancy Young, the Interim Vice President of Student Affairs (I think that's her title). She's quite passionate about what she does and the meeting was interesting. I think my (and, I daresay, the SGA's) goal for the year about building community is right in line with the kinds of things she was saying, but I'm not quite sure if I was able to get that across to her or not. Her view is that you can change the campus culture by focusing on the good things and correcting the erroneous "conventional wisdom" that often floats around, like the oh-so-popular "There's nothing to do on campus!" While I think she has a point, there is also something to be said for harnessing that negative energy and trying to redirect it to something positive, as we are trying to do with the upcoming imPROVEit campaign (provided everything goes through). That idea is saying, "You have a problem with UMBC? Fine. Let us provide you with the tools you need to do something about it."

I think we need to be encouraging each other to take a real ownership in the UMBC community. We have a very unique culture here and our university is something I think we all have a right to be proud of. In the same vein, why sit around and accept things as being okay the way they are? A college community is a dynamic thing and it should always be kept moving forward, and who better to influence that process than the students who are immersed in it?

There's going to be some interesting developments in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully we'll be seeing the new SGA Newsletter circulate both internally and externally, giving everybody a clearer picture of what exactly we are doing on a day to day basis. So much of the work involves meeting with people and information gathering, looking for the right time to inject a particular student concern. Often a lot of the larger changes are in progress but will be a long time in coming, so you are working for the students of 2009.

At the Senate meeting tonight we got a chance to talk to Dr. Baron, the Director of Academic Advising. Now there's an issue I'll bet a lot of us have something to say about! He had some interesting survey results that he had taken over the summer about how the faculty members view advising. I was surprised to see how few of them actually get recognized for what they do to advise students, when that is such an important part of having a good experience at the university. He'll be presenting a whitepaper on these findings, along with the results of a later student survey, sometime this year.

Along the lines of future improvements, my meetings began to converge when Dr. Baron started talking about the new Student Administration system that is going to be put in place, that they also happened to be discussing at IT Steering. Basically it's going to make the whole Undergraduate Progress Report (try finding that, it's buried in myUMBC) thing something actually usable. You'll be able to see exactly how you're measuring up with your GEPs (since by the time it rolls out, GFRs will have been phased out), so the whole advising experience will be a lot less, "help me make sure I take the right classes" and more, "help me prepare for graduate school or a post-graduate career". I think that's the real direction advising should be moving as well, and it will help take a lot of the frustration out of the course selection process.

For the short term, he's looking at doing things like extending the period during which you can register for classes, so there can be more time for advising and planning, and also getting people's UPRs actually updated before the last minute, so we don't have seniors realizing they've missed the boat on one class and can't graduate for another semester.

On a more personal note, I forgot to update my Oracle calendar with my latest work times for AV services, so it still has me getting off at 7 PM. So, I got scheduled for a meeting tomorrow at seven to prepare for meeting Governor O'Malley on Wednesday. That's kind of a big deal, so I'm just going to have to see if I can leave work and come back later. Hopefully they'll be cool with that!