LiveBlog: 3/26 LSU Student Government Senate Meeting

Let's roll

6:31 p.m. - The campus is abuzz tonight. LSU baseball is playing a priority point game against UNO, the Black Student Union has a debate tonight, and the Atchafalaya Room will be holding its final SG meeting before next week’s crucial election. Let’s light this firework stand!

Call to order

6:37 p.m. - Speaker Colorado Robertson is currently at the Black Student Union debate, meaning Speaker Pro-Temp Ben Clark is currently presiding. A lot of ado is expected tonight, as people will be running back and forth throughout the night.

Public Input

6:42 p.m. - The Chief of Staff announces awards for Student Government. The senators are currently voting for the Ensminger Award, for an “individual who has dedicated themselves to the principles of sincerity, dedication, and goodwill in his or her involvement with Student Government. Also being voted upon is the Dustin “DC” Clemons Memorial Award, for an “individual who has provided service and dedication to LSU Student Government. I personally have fond memories of DC. He always had a smile on his face on campus and was always willing to talk to anyone.

6:45 p.m. - Speaker Robertson has arrived.

Matt McEntire

6:47 p.m. - Senator Matt McEntire steps up to say that he loves the Senate. “I love the fact that we can bring ideas together and debate.” He cites the civil manner, behaving decently to each other. His good mood was sullied by concerned student Donald Hodge, saying “in an effort to influence the press, he told a bald faced lie to this body. Rather than having the integrity to say he lied, he sent an email listing several things, laying out massive things that SG has done wrong. In doing so, he overlooked a few things. We’ve assisted students to go to conferences, caucuses, and things in their field. We gave the debate team money to try to raise the woeful standards the University has for them at this point. He used someone battling for her life to segway into an attack against our president and vice president.”

Then it turns to me: “There are people that I respect highly in this body, and he knows that.” Speaker Robertson prevents him from addressing me directly, but Sen. McEntire addresses my idealism, challenging me to expose the truth about Donald Hodge, just as I have in the past about dipping in meetings or people checking Facebook.com statuses. He challenges me to expose the lies from Donald Hodge two weeks ago and adds that he holds respect for me in the highest regard.

Parker Wishik

6:57 p.m. - Director of Communications Parker Wishik mentions the TigerTV debate in the Journalism Room next week, in the Holliday Forum. This is a big deal for Tiger TV, it’s a big deal to broadcast live and cut to a remote location. The candidates will be in the TigerTV studio, while the Holliday Forum will be reserved for the public. It goes down this Monday at 7 p.m.’

He also mentions the Gridiron Bash again, as Kid Rock and Sara Evans will be performing in Tiger Stadium the day before the Spring Game. More information can be obtained at gridironbash.com and also the SG Web site.

Vice President Josh King

7:01 p.m. - King brings up the LSU-Ole Miss rivalry, saying a new tradition must be established, making our unofficial rivalry official. This should come 100% from the students, and a text messaging campaign has been started to submit an idea as to what will be exchanged for the victor of the rivalry game.

Second, a lot of work has been done over the past year about Homecoming. Working with past homecoming communities, a new Homecoming committee has been created, controlled by students. Homecoming will be much bigger than in the past, and big events will be targeted during the week, including a possible concert for the students.

CAS

7:08 p.m. - The Center for Academic Success has information on their Web site about help for students during exams. It can be found at cas.lsu.edu.

They finally got it right!

7:09 p.m. - Wyclef Jean and Chamillionaire will be at Groovin’ on the Grounds this year! Enough said. Dolla dolla bill, y’all.

The other three artists at Groovin'

7:12 p.m. - Who?

Sen. Whitney Breaux

7:14 p.m. - …just yawned before putting her hand in front of the face, giving the John Cena “You can’t see me” gesture.

Committee Reports

7:15 p.m. - After talking with Sen. McEntire on the side, Sen. Drew Prestridge is planning ‘Politics Day’ tomorrow, and it’s “mind-blowing.” An actual voting booth will be in Free Speech Alley for anyone who hasn’t voted before to see what it’s like. Voter registration booths and laptops will be set up to register to vote. Information will be on the SG Web site, and this seems overdue. College Democrats and Republicans will also be in Free Speech Alley to pass fliers out. Posters will be out asking for issues concerning the students, as they can make their voices heard about the things that affect them in Louisiana politics. Sen. Prestridge would love to decrease apathy about politics and get more students involved with the process, and he is to be commended for his efforts. Sincere kudos from the blog-o-sphere. He is literally giddy with excitement about the current bills presented at the State Legislature, many of which directly involve LSU. He mentions a possible bill that would raise the age of tobacco purchase from 18 to 21. More on this will surely be provided.

Sen. Andy Palermo

7:23 p.m. - Sen. Palermo is excited about the perfection involved with attempts to amend the Academic Calendar. Two meetings were held, and they both went swimmingly. He stresses the importance of student input, saying “anyway we can get to the students will help.” The theme of the night, student input, is direly appreciated. I won’t say SG doesn’t care, because they do. The legitimate attempt to reach out to the student body is shown more openly tonight, as many of the senators are showing interest in each speaker coming in front of the body.

It's just a bill

7:26 p.m. - In an attempt to get the students involved in the positions of Student Government, Sen. Palermo has written a bill, SGB No. 4, to “amend the Student Government By-Laws to provide for equal access and equal opportunity in accordance with University Policy Statement 01 as it relates to all Student Government appointed positions.” In a nutshell, any position filled through appointment by a Student Government member shall require advertisement. Sen. Palermo’s amendment comes after a broadcast e-mail sent to the senators, a posting on the SG homepage and Office. It states the announcement open positions should be in the form of “either a broadcast e-mail to the entire student body or an advertisement in the Daily Reveille.”

7:31 p.m. - Debate begins about whether or not an advertisement in the Daily Reveille is really necessary. Getting technical, the fourth stipulation, as stated above, will be amended and broken up into categories a, b, and c, as to be more easily read.

7:35 p.m. - Sen. O’Malley is in favor of the bill, but proposes another amendment about the technical nature of the Student Government listserv.

7:36 p.m. - Sen. Blanco has another amendment relating to a time period for advertisement of the open position. This may seem boring, but it deals with telling the students about open positions in SG, and there really isn’t anything more important than getting the students involved with their own government.

7:39 p.m. - Sen. Breaux moves to go to the previous question, which is approved almost unanimously, with Sen. Breaux herself being the only nay vote. After moving to a vote, the bill is passed unanimously.

Potholes

7:40 p.m. - Speaker Pro-Temp Ben Clark’s resolution to fill the potholes outside of Sorority Row is void, as the potholes have already been filled.

The Standing Committee Membership

7:42 p.m. - The Standing Committee Membership of the 27th LSU Student Senate was passed unanimously.

Speaker Robertson's Report

7:43 p.m. - Speaker Robertson thanks the Senate body for their good conduct for this week. It really shows. The body, while not completely professional, is certainly moving in the right direction, and I’m actually impressed with the decorum of the body.

Nominations

7:45 p.m. - The senators are nominating their own for outstanding membership in the body. I couldn’t keep track of the nominations, but there were a lot. Just trust me on this one. I’ll guide you through.

7:46 p.m. - Nominations are now being issued for outstanding committee chairman. Again, too quick to blog.

7:47 p.m. - Nominations are now being issued for outstanding new senators. Once again, too quick to blog.

7:48 p.m. - As far as achievement in SG is concerned, we’ve lost touch. I guess this is the meeting where SG is forced to recognize their own for “achievements in the overall field of excellence.” The quote is from me. SG is officially undergoing their own personal popularity contest. It has to happen at some point, but I’ll be right back.

PMC

7:58 p.m. - Sen. Palermo with a group met with Res Life to talk about the roommate matching committee. Res Life is into this suggestion, being enthused about this idea.

7:59 p.m. - Sen. Prestridge goes to Pluckers, and wants the Senate to go to Pluckers tonight.

Adjourn

8:00 p.m. - Concise meeting. Nothing dirty, just business. Good night, and good work SG. Man, how weird does that sound?



Read the original blog entries at The Daily Reveille...