CSUN Senate Meeting 11/28/11 

5 comments on “CSUN Senate Meeting 11/28/11”

1. Amicus Lee on November 30, 2011 at 10:57 pm said:

   @UNLV Student,

   I agree. Believe me, I have watched CSUN and before they used to put on events and they still do thanks to people like Senator Washington, Director Kaneshiro, Director Shadid and President Saenz. CSUN does a lot for students, but students do not always know about it. I was only trying to state a point that if people like Senator Stephens, Senator Ciavola and others oppose using our fees for outreach, planning and event sponsoring, I then would want my money back. It is not illegal to question where the money will go but why doesn’t CSUN require that anyone who shows up to them have a budget? I have been to a couple of meetings and they sit there asking questions with nothing in front of them, no real note taking and the only person who does research is Senator Ciavola who only wants to tell people they could have done it cheaper if they did it his way (which is not the way the school does it). I feel that more times than not, the Senate already has its position before an item is even presented. If I have to hear our Student Body President say during a meeting that 1/16 of the CSUN Senate asked questions before hand, I might not be able to defend anyone in the Senate.

   Too many times, it proves a challenge to show solutions when one does not like the item at hand, but enough is enough. Senator’s need to stay informed and up to date on their own agendas. If they don’t, then I do not see the point in paying them for their “time.” Showing up with no information in regards to your own meeting is not worthy of pay. That my friends, is called an unpaid obligation. Like a survey research.
2. UNLV student on November 29, 2011 at 3:23 pm said:

   @Amicus

   Not everyone benefitted from CSUN? Try anybody. As the CSUN person said, only 54 people applied for free money. CSUN’s flagship program, their scholarships, only attract a smattering of students out of a population of 30,000.

   The Rebel Yell may not have a huge circulation but get real, it’s UNLV. It’s hard enough to get students to care about the massive tuition increases they face, imagine having to get them to actually read on a consistent basis.

   I think it goes without saying that CSUN is even less well known than the Yell, which is just tragic. So nobody in CSUN is at all justified in pulling the “it does nothing for students card,” because the organization they are in does absolutely nothing for students and the statistics prove it.

   Maybe when Rachel Stephens and every other “fiscal conservative” at CSUN stops blowing hot air around about unnecessary spending, they’d realize that the best thing they can do for their constituents is make a motion to abolish CSUN and give that money directly back to the student body.
3. Amicus Lee on November 29, 2011 at 12:03 pm said:

   Senator Ciavola,

   I understand your points up to a certain degree. You state that you want to use the CSUN Reserves Budget as opposed to the CSUN Sponsorship Budget. I think you can agree that just because you budget one dollar to go to a particular budget, it does not stay in that budget forever. The CSUN Senate Ways and Means Committee sets the budget and I think if you wanted to transfer fifteen thousand, one could. I understand your meaning of what a “Reserves” account is.

   Also, I read the minutes here and I am pretty sure it is impossible to do what you said. As a former Parliamentarian for a club, I can assure you that a person who voted “nay” for an agenda item that passed can not make a motion to reconsider. That is listed in Roberts Rules of Order.

   CSUN Fees are CSUN Fees and I think it is wrong to label money in accounts as priveldged or not. I whole heartedly agree with GPSA Michael Gordon when he said that this item is preserving history. Not everyone who goes to UNLV this semester benefited from CSUN Student Government, but it is still collected $29.64 from me.
4. Mark Ciavola on November 29, 2011 at 10:53 am said:

   Clarification: The reason I support having the $15k come from the CSUN Reserves budget instead of the CSUN Sponsorship budget is as follows:

   The CSUN Sponsorship budget, which has roughly $44k left, is for CSUN to sponsor events in the 2011-12 school year for students who are currently paying into CSUN. Each student pays $2.47 per credit to CSUN, and that money should be spent on them – or in ways that directly benefit them. Digitizing the Rebel Yell from 1954 to 2008 (note: not 2009, 2010, 2011 or forward) does not directly benefit students currently attending UNLV to any measurable degree.

   (NOTE: The Lied Library claims that a couple of people per week ask to see archived Rebel Yells on microfilm — hardly a clamoring throng of readers. Yet oddly, the people this measure benefits most – former students, alumni, etc. – have pledged ZERO dollars in support of this project. This leads many senators to fear that the library will return to CSUN for the additional $20,000 it will cost to complete this project.)

   Meanwhile, the CSUN Reserves budget represents funds that were not spent from previous CSUN sessions. It is literally excess funds that weren’t spent on the students who paid into CSUN during those years. It is the perfect budget with which to pay for a project which so disproportionally benefits former students.

   I am always available to students who wish to speak with me about this, or any other issue, via email at: ciavolam@unlv.nevada.edu, or by phone at 702.289.8592.