LiveBlog: 4/2 LSU Student Government Senate Meeting

Election Day

6:31 p.m. - Eric W. Freeman, Jr., here broadcasting live from the Student Government Senate meeting. Because of lack of a quorum, the meeting hasn’t started yet. Quorum is half of the senate body plus one, and the meeting won’t start until quorum is achieved. Until then, I guess I’ll just look at my Fantasy Baseball team.

Call to order

6:34 p.m. - With quorum achieved, we start tonight’s meeting, actually being held in the Cotillion Ballroom.

Sen. Matt McEntire

6:35 p.m. - Sen. Matt McEntire begins commenting on an email sent out by Donald Hodge about his statements in front of the Senate body about expenditures. He begins lackadaisically: “I was called a liar.” McEntire draws a blank for a minute, saying, “Furthermore…..” He says the only body allowed to spend money is the Executive Branch, and McEntire goes on to say that we have been promised that we can review all emails and phone calls between Donald Hodge and Mary James, the member of the Exec Staff in question. He asks why chancellors and vice chancellors were not contacted to investigate these matters. He asks forgiveness for not investigating the matter as a member of the Finance Committee.

This matter will be further investigated.

Anna Dearmon

6:41 p.m. - Anna Dearmon lets me know that without quorum achieved, the Student Government is not allowed to conduct business, but public input isn’t technically business. Since then, I believe we’ve achieved quorum. It will be announced whether or not it is achieved.

General Richard

6:43 p.m. - The chairman of the Tiger Athletic Foundation, General Richard, formerly of the Marine Corps, comes in to talk about his Foundation. He was the head of the Foundation for seven years, and oversaw the building of the Academic Centers as well as the upper deck of Tiger Stadium. Five years ago, the policy overseeing Mike the Tiger stated that when he died, LSU would not replace him with a live mascot. People petition the chancellor about building a state of the art facility. “The mission of Tiger Athletic Foundation, first and foremost, is to ensure the student athlete has a chance to graduate. We want to make sure he or she has the finest facilities to help them graduate.” He makes a big deal over our two BCS Championships, telling us we’re the only school with two crystal balls. “We, as a school, have borrowed $162 million dollars, and we pay down that debt every year.” He says that $890,000 was used to build a new golf clubhouse, and TAF alone contributes $100,000 to scholarships and teacher salaries.

Pardon me for speaking out of turn, but I am, and remain, on the side of misplaced priorities. It’s great that LSU is spending so much to ensure that our student athletes graduate. But we have been, and continue to be, in dire need of a TSF, or a Tiger Student Foundation. The students outnumber the student athletes by way too much to focus so much time and energy on state of the art facilities for purely the student athletes. Their name is the Tiger Athletic Foundation, but in the term “student athlete,” the word “student” comes first. We’re here to learn, not watch football, and this won’t stop me from cheering on the Tigers in every sport. I just wish our priorities didn’t start on Stadium Drive.

General Richard takes a question as to what to do with the debt TAF accumulates each year, and replies “The debt doesn’t go away.” He mentions 3,000 requests to build premium seating in Tiger Stadium, and addresses building an upper deck on the south side, connecting the east side to the west. He says “discretionary money is used not to go skiing, but to watch LSU football on Saturdays.”

Another question, “What if the football program takes a dive? What if we wake up and 20,000 people go to Tiger Stadium instead of 92,600?” He says TAF would have to scramble, because bills still have to be paid. “Our reputation is such that lending agencies would in fact view favorably on a certain situation if you deal with them.”

Another question about increasing attendance at other sports, the answer is almost predictable. “It’s two fold. First, you build a state of the art facility. Then you go talk to the students and promote, like in Free Speech Alley.” He then asks how many of the senators have ever been to a soccer match. About half of the hands go up. Then he asks the same about golf, and a quarter of the hands go up. Swimming? I think I see three.

The solution provided to increase attendance, which, according to the reaction from the Senate, is lackluster, is to spend an inordinate amount of money to build a fancy new institution, furthering the perception that we are an athletic school first and an institution of higher learning second. I know the student body loves watching their sports, but I will keep in the mindset of increasing our academic standards, becoming a top tier University and acting like the Flagship school we claim to be. There should be no room for the athletic department of this school to increase spending on state of the art athletic venues until the conditions on campus — and by that, I mean in the residence halls, classrooms and cafeterias — are drastically improved.

So I ask the student body right now, what do you want to be: A drinking town with a football problem, or an institution of higher learning? If you answered the latter, it looks like you’re out of luck.

Roll call

7:09 p.m. - Whitney Breaux is absent.

7:10 p.m. - Kristen Oaks is absent.

How funny things work.

The Cotillion Ballroom

7:11 p.m. - The meetings should be held in here from now on. This room is bigger, and as soon as student interest peaks, there will be more room for them to fit. Down with the Atchafalaya Room!

Executive Officer Reports

7:15 p.m. - A lull in the crowd. I didn’t expect anything less, because this is election day. But really, this is boring. I’ve been told by people before that I have the worst job at LSU, but I defended it. Now, for the first time, I can almost see their point.

Sen. Remson

7:17 p.m. - He just yawned. I’m feeling him.

Birthday Boy Parker Wishik

7:19 p.m. - Parker commends SG for their tactfulness during election season. He’s also 21 today, so he might not remember this later.

Bus routes

7:22 p.m. - Conversation begins about reworking the bus routes behind sorority row, specifically on the Greek line. Surprised?

Also, it’s been brought to SG’s attention about specific bus drivers, and we’ve apparently begun talking about a new GPS system, as students would be able to check the status of their buses online and on their cell phones.

The topic of additional parking spaces comes up. Greenhouses behind Miller and Herget aren’t being used, and there’s more land by river road. Also, a large wooden shop with maintenance repair is held behind fencing at the REC. It doesn’t seem like an adequate solution, but more will be spoken in the future.

No Gridiron Bash

7:27 p.m. - The Gridiron Bash was cancelled. Apparently, Kid Rock is upset about our W policy.

Pizza

7:30 p.m. - Natalie is upset that I just bought her pizza. Well, I handed my Tiger Card to our photographer to get us food. She can just deal with it.
7:31 p.m. - Sen. McEntire just came back with McDonald’s.

Busted

7:32 p.m. - After Speaker Robertson told people earlier to silence their cell phones, Anna Dearmon is openly texting Matt McEntire, probably about McDonald’s. She gets up and sits next to him to munch on his fries.

7:34 p.m. - Sen. Blanco is now standing two feet behind me, drinking soy sauce. She didn’t want me to know.

Jacob Gower

7:35 p.m. - I’ve trailed off quite a bit. Tomorrow from 6-8 p.m., the election results will be announced, and I’ll be blogging live from the clock tower. Limited seating will be had, and I’ll be covering it in tomorrow’s blog.

The Ensminger Award

7:38 p.m. - The ballots for the Ensminger Award for dedication to SG was screwed up, so the senators will re-vote tonight. The Dustin “DC” Clemons Award went off without a hitch, but all three SG branches will be monitoring this.

SGB No. 7

7:47 p.m. - A bill, written by Sen. Sellers, would appropriate $1500 to the Computer Aided Design Geographic Information Systems (CADGIS) Research Laboratory to aid in the cost of producing a new campus map. “We want to do this now to let them know that they have our full backing in this measure. This bill has been pulled out of committee so the Senate itself can debate it.

Confusion arises about when the money would be appropriated and how, and Sen. Blanco argues that this bill should be sent back to the Finance Committee to examine.

Speaker Pro-Temp Clark argues that if the bill goes back to committee, the Lab wouldn’t be able to budget properly, and as Sen. Sellers puts it, “They asked for this money, so I think we should give it to them.”

Committee Reports

7:53 p.m. - Sen. Hanna reports on the Academics, Athletics and Administration, as they debated three bills.

7:54 p.m. - Sen. Sellers reports the Finance Committee will meet Tuesday.

7:55 p.m. - Governmental Relations, Housing, Infrastructure & Technology, and Rules Committees did not report.

7:56 p.m. - Sens. Breaux and Cortina were not here to report on the Students’ Rights and Welfare Committee meeting, but another senator says “I wasn’t there at the meeting, but I’m sure it went OK.” Good to see SG continues to neglect STUDENTS’ RIGHTS AND WELFARE.

The Main Event

7:57 p.m. - It’s time to rumble. Sens. Palermo, Gammon and Hanna have written a resolution “to urge and request Louisiana State University to change the Academic Calendar. The resolution would essentially end class at 12:30 p.m. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to allow travel time for students to make it home for Thanksgiving.

7:59 p.m. - Moving to a vote, Sen. McEntire abstains, but the rest of the body votes “I.” I guess classes will end at 12:30 p.m. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

The Main Event Continued

8:00 p.m. - Another resolution to change the academic calendar to make the Spring Break Holiday more in line with some of our peer institutions and schools in the East Baton Rouge School System. This would essentially move Spring Break to the week after Easter. This doesn’t work, because Good Friday is a state and postal holiday.

8:01 p.m. - Sen. Palermo asks that this resolution be tables until they can re-work the resolution. We will see it back next week.

A new campus map?

8:06 p.m. - Should we or shouldn’t we give $1500 to create a new campus map?

I’ve seen the current LSU campus map online, and it does look like a giant cartoon. This new map would essentially give SG a new, Google Earth-style campus map. A new issue arises through money spent from the Initiatives account, but this money spent would affect the entire University, making it OK to spend from Initiatives. Or so they say. I’m not sure about any of this, so don’t be surprised if I contact Donald Hodge about this.

8:09 p.m. - Loud heels click behind me, as this room is overly echoed. I turn around to see SG President Cassie Alsfeld come to the meeting.

8:10 p.m. - Moving to a vote, the bill passes unanimously. A new campus map will be created with $1500 from the Initiatives account.

Secretary Chambers

8:12 p.m. - The secretary commends Sens. Jackson and Sellers for admirably worded bills this week, and reminds the senators that they should be held personally responsible for submitting “clean bills.” It’s now the undersecretary’s job to proofread bills before they hit the Senate, but the senators should focus on writing good, readable bills.

Nominations

8:14 p.m. - Confusion arises as to whether or not nominations for the Ensminger Award should be held in the open or by ballot. We’re about to open the floor for nominations.

After former Speaker Pro-Temp Jacqueline Delery was nominated, the question is asked as to whether or not this award can be given to a former senator. It was said earlier that the nominee had to be present in the room, but people are being nominated left and right. After Sen. Sellers moves to close the floor for nominations, Sen. O’Malley seconds it, but wasn’t present in roll call, and technically can’t do that. Nominations are closed anyway, by a senator who wasn’t here. He is technically not recognized by the body and by Secretary Chambers, but I don’t expect SG to care very much about this. This room has been so focused in the past about procedure, and with this voting, which doesn’t pertain to the students IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM, they have made a mockery of the very procedure they claim to exemplify. I will now invoke Sen. Hanna’s favorite word: nonchalance. The senators are so confused as to what they are supposed to do, speaking out of turn and looking perplexed. You’d think that a body looking to vote to give an award to their own would know the proper procedure, but it looks like everyone is asleep tonight. This is sad beyond sad, even more so that today is Election Day, and the student body just voted for senators to serve this body that doesn’t know how to properly give themselves an award.

Booster Club

8:24 p.m. - This is looking more and more like a booster club meeting. There’s no sense of order or caring. There’s literally, again, no students in here not in SG except for Natalie Messina and myself. No one cares anymore, not even the Senate. It has been a long day, and we’re all tired. But shouldn’t the senators care about what they’re doing and who they represent? I expect another barrage of statements at next week’s meeting about this semi-diatribe I’ve seemingly gone off on, and I know SG will claim to care, but fair warning to the senator who brings up this blog again: you’re only hurting yourself. By focusing your attention on me and what I say, you’ve ignored the voice of the student body, clamoring at the top of their lungs, “WE DON’T CARE!” I’m obviously not speaking for every single person on campus, but SG’s primary goal at this juncture is to make the students care. This is our campus. All of us. We’re in it together regardless of what degree we individually pursue, and LSU will remain divided until the students and SG can feasibly work together.

Make us care.

Petitions, Memorials, and other Communications

8:34 p.m. - Sen. Remson commends and thanks the members of AAA, meeting everything they said they would do, and he’s honestly done a great job this year. Also, the TAF Crawfish Boil will be held, for $10, with new people signing up to become part of the TAF Collegiate Club.

8:36 p.m. - Sen. McEntire thanks the four major candidates for president and vice president, as well as Natalie and myself for our combined service. The body gives polite applause.

8:37 p.m. - Sen. Hanna thanks Natalie and myself for our well-written articles this week, and mentions it’s all over tomorrow night.

8:38 p.m. - Sen. Elliot works at TAF, but is looking for a replacement.

8:39 p.m. - Sen. O’Malley announces he’s here, and gets nostalgic about Moving Forward. Pluckers, anyone?

We're done

8:40 p.m. - We’re adjourned. It really doesn’t matter. Good night. Freeman out.



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