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(09/09/03 12:00pm)
It is Tuesday night at the College. Where is everyone?
At a party off-campus? Drinking in their residence hall? Apparently not. Well, at least not everyone. It seems that when most students at the College say they just like to go out and have a good time, they really mean it. No keg stands, no drunk driving and no hangovers.
Now that may sound inaccurate for a college campus, but at the College, it is the truth. But some students feel the common perception that college means drinking and partying every night is not necessarily true.
Departments at the College are working hard to combat the "College equals alcohol theory" in order to restore the reputation of the student. The Alcohol and Drug Education Program (ADEP), is responsible for the campaigns that educate students about alcohol use on campus. One of ADEP's main focuses is to clarify what the drinking habits are for "most" College students.
Joe Hadge, ADEP director, does not deny that alcohol is present at some parties. Hadge always corrects people who perpetuate the false stereotype that "everybody drinks."
Inexperienced first-year students are just one reason that the program is so concerned with safety. The ADEP program trains all Residence Life staff to recognize signs and symptoms of alcohol problems, as well as how to document any incidents. While this documentation may make the alcohol situation seem bigger than it really is, the purpose is to stop a potential problem before it turns into something more severe.
Hadge often refers to this situation on campus not as an alcohol problem but, instead, as a challenge. "Every year there are 1,200 new 18-year-olds," Hadge said, "and a large number of students may not be experienced or aren't knowledgeable about alcohol consumption." A lot of times, Hadge figures, "they just don't know what they are doing."
The training is interactive, including the use of "fatal vision goggles" that show the effects of impaired vision from alcohol. Hadge is impressed with the sense of teamwork he sees when working with organizations on campus, such as Residence Life, Greek life and athletics, which all participate in the education and training. He believes they help to eliminate the negative spin that an alcohol education program could potentially have.
"This is not a 'just say no' or a 'war on drugs' type of thing," Hadge said. The program's goals are to educate students on ways to make healthy decisions and to have responsibility when it comes to alcohol.
The staff at ADEP understands that alcohol can be used appropriately when students make informed decisions. The challenge is getting the message out there, working on correcting any misperceptions people may have and encouraging safe atmospheres. ADEP is confident that every year they are successful in reducing the amount of severe alcohol problems on campus.
"From notable mistakes and problems comes the best learning," Hadge said.
(04/29/03 12:00pm)
Nadia Gorski, former executive vice president, was sworn in by Chris Portera as the new executive president at Wednesday's meeing. Portera, former executive president, thanked many members individually, including his fellow executive board members and Gorski, saying, "without you I was nothing." Laughter, memories and tears were shared by members of the SGA at the last official meeting for the 2002-03 board.
Portera also said he was proud to have "served students the best way (we) knew how."
All new members were then sworn in by Gorski.
She finally called the first official meeting of the 2003-2004 academic term to order.
As the new members took their seats around the table, Gorski gave her inaugural speech, saying, "it is time to envision our future goals."
She welcomed the new members as "part of the SGA team," and the remaining agenda was tabled for next week.
Wednesday was the last good-bye for members who will be graduating in May, so some gave speeches.
Sophomore Jesse Place, speaker of the senate, set the tone with a prepared speech turned roast, where he teased fellow members with recollections from the past year.
Junior Monique Manfra, alternate student trustee, thanked friends in SGA, especially senior Rohit Thawani, student trustee, for all the wisdom he has given her.
Junior Christina Puglia, vice president of community relations, said she had "never hated and loved a group so much."
The three members of the senior class council, Tracy Lomax, Ema Puskas and Karin Martin, also thanked SGA .
Portera recounted accomplishments of SGA from his time as president, including the revamped Web site, the summer retreat and the Florida conference.
In tradition, he left Gorski a list of 10 goals for the next academic year.
Before the meeting was adjourned, there were two constitutions that were approved.
One of the organizations, Vox, is the 'voice of Planned Parenthood' and has the purpose of educating the campus about reproductive rights.
The other is club softball, which gives the opportunity for students on campus to play more competitively.
Both VOX and club softball are now official organizations on campus.
(04/22/03 12:00pm)
The Developmental Advising Task Force asked SGA for input regarding its draft of a proposed model of advisement. This draft will be submitted to College President R. Barbara Gitenstein as a representation of the students' wishes and suggestions.
Lauren LeBano, senator of education and student representative of the Developmental Advisement Council, heard opinions from SGA members regarding the taskforce's draft.
LeBano will take those remarks back to the council where any appropriate modifications will be made to the draft.
Tracy Lomax, senior class treasurer, was concerned with a potential lack of communication between advisers.
Under the proposed model there would be a team of three advisers for each student: a peer adviser, a faculty adviser and an academic services adviser.
Lomax's concern was that the advisers would offer conflicting advice. LeBano said she would bring this issue to the Task Force, and also suggest that maybe the model also propose some form of mandatory meetings between the three advisers.
Another aspect would mandate that every student see his or her adviser before registering. Holds would be placed in the registration system that could only be removed by the department after a student saw his or her adviser.
After the document is modified it will be submitted to the president. After that, the proposal will be sent to the Steering Committee for final revising and then implementation.
The First Year Experience also approached the SGA for input on their new proposals for the program.
The proposal, presented by Thea Schoenberg, senator at large, includes changes to programs like orientation and welcome week.
The proposal also includes the recommendation that students do not declare majors as incoming freshman, and instead declare an area of interest. Students felt freshmen in many departments would fall behind in the course study if they didn't start from the first semester.
SGA members also questioned the Task Force's recommendation for freshman students to live in floors with other students from their specific topic class.
With this arrangement, Special Interest Housing (SI), such as the wellness or all-female floors, would not be factored in.
LeBano said the Task Force understands that living situations are an important concern to freshman, and that the SI situation would probably remain.
(04/15/03 12:00pm)
SGA impeachment trials will not be taking place this semester because of time constraints.
SGA President, Christopher Portera, announced the decision at the meeting on Wednesday. Portera explained that because of the upcoming SGA elections and the newly elected SGA members that will be in position in upcoming weeks, he feels he "cannot mandate that these trials take place."
Those members being impeached must be notified at least one week prior to the trials, and Portera felt there would be no appropriate time for these trials to happen.
This decision comes after the choice two weeks ago to postpone the trial hearings because of internal communication issues within SGA.
Portera made this decision with the input of many of his fellow leaders and advisers, who all agreed that this was the best solution given the circumstances.
To aid students in the registration process, "Pick-a-Prof," a new professor evaluation program similar to "Virtual Ratings," will be introduced as part of records and registration.
This new program is being put together by the academic affairs committee and has already received start-up funding from the Student Finance Board.
Jamie Gusrang, vice president of academic affairs, and Marc Cichocki, senator of engineering, said the program, will have professor ratings, average grades and professor teaching styles similar to "Virtual Ratings," but will provide more accurate and reliable information.
The purpose of "Pick-a-Prof" is so that students can find professors that will best match their learning style.
The information on the site will come directly from students, although there will be some censorship of ranting or expletives. Professors at the College will have no say over what goes on the site.
According to Nadia Gorski, executive vice president, the recent campaign opposing the budget cuts has been very successful thus far.
The rally and the letter writing campaign sponsored by SGA have been a good start, and now members are encouraged to participate further by contacting legislatures directly to oppose the budget cuts.
Joe Urbanski, associate member, informed SGA that the SGA Rally was recognized by the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) as program of the month for March.
This is the second SGA program this year that has been recognized by the NRHH.
(04/08/03 12:00pm)
Representatives from Sodexho Dining Services attended the SGA meeting on Wednesday to gather input on its proposed Carte Blanche system.
The carte blanche system is an "all you care to eat" dining program that is being considered for implementation next year. It was sampled at the College in February.
SGA members offered suggestions on the program. Ema Puskas, vice president of the senior class council, was concerned that with this new program students couldn't leave with food, which could be a problem for the many students that are always "on the go."
While this was a concern for many, members did agree that they were happy with the unlimited access part of the program.
Joe Ganci, Sodexho district manager at the College, said that students could also expect to see an influx of "a higher-level of qualified staff," if this program is implemented. He added that there may be more managers up front as well.
When asked about the excessive amount of waste that was generated during the two-day sample program, Steven Hugg, Sodexho marketing director, responded that it was common to see at first, but was not likely to continue throughout the year.
Sodexho will use the suggestions and comments when considering the new program, and will most likely make a decision for the upcoming academic year.
Debrorah Compte, chair of the Cross Cultural Experience Taskforce, asked for comments or suggestions from SGA members on a proposed program that would "afford each student a cross cultural experience during college."
It would also connect with some aspects of what the Committee on Academic Programs (CAP) has proposed.
During the open public forum, Tracy Lomax, treasurer of senior class council, gave a speech urging fellow SGA members to put the internal issues of the SGA aside and collectively do the job that they were elected to do. Lomax said "we call ourselves the umbrella organization, yet do not put other organizations before us."
Her speech, which reminded members of some of the things the SGA has accomplished in the past, was well received by other members.
John Titus, Meagan Johnson and Jaclyn Kotler were welcomed into the SGA at the meeting, all with a unanimous vote of 42-0-0. The three new members are now official associate members of the SGA.
(04/01/03 12:00pm)
A bill amending the bylaws for the Spring 2003 SGA elections passed by a vote of 24-6-4, despite advice from Campus Life Director Wanda Anderson that SGA did not have jurisdiction for some of the regulations.
The original bill, presented by Monique Manfra, alternate student trustee, was met with disagreement and was voted down and amended twice before it was voted on again and passed.
The only changes made were that "no candidate may use campus computer labs to make copies for campaigning purposes," and "no candidate may have any campaigning materials visible inside the Brower Student Center, whether worn or posted, during election days."
New restrictions regarding postings and campaigning in the student center were included in the bylaws.
Manfra said the purpose of the new bylaws were to make sure elections this year would be "fair to all candidates."
One of the original proposed changes was the rule that no student campaigning could "hang any posters or signs on any property in the Brower Student Center, which includes offices, walls, windows, etc."
Members had a problem with this new regulation, suggesting that some students campaigning may have support from a particular organization that has office space within the student center.
Anderson especially disagreed with these proposed changes, since it is the right of an organization to choose who they support, and therefore it is their right to post campaign material within their designated space. She said that these amendments are violations since SGA has no authority over people's personal office space.
Diana Deckman, senator of science, questioned whether SGA could override the campus life rules with their own regulations.
President Chris Portera said that even if these amendments were passed in a bill, they would most likely be unenforceable rules.
Anderson said that if the SGA wanted to charge anyone for violating this bylaw, it would have to go through an appeal. However, since Anderson is SGA adviser and sits on the appeals board, the charge would most likely not go forward since it could not be enforced due to the overriding Campus Life policy.
Despite Anderson's warnings and concerns from members, SGA continued to debate and vote on this bill.
Once the changes were approved in the bill, the election packet was then voted on and approved by a vote of 22-5-2.
The interest sessions for SGA elections will be held over the next week.
(03/25/03 12:00pm)
Tension filled the room last Wednesday at the Student Government Association (SGA) meeting. SGA discussed the possible impeachment of five members for attendance violations.
Nadia Gorski, SGA executive vice president and acting vice president of legal and governmental affairs, presented five bills of legislation "to impeach and move to impeachment trial" of five SGA members.
The five members - Joseph Faulknor, freshman class president, Roy Dean Johnson, junior senator-at large, Tiffany Meredith, sophomore class secretary, LaTasha Riddick, freshman class vice president and Octavia Smith, senator of culture and society - will be tried.
According to SGA's constitution, "impeachment shall be defined as a formal process of bringing charges to a member of the SGA in order to remove that member from his/her office."
Chris Portera, SGA president, and Gorski stressed that the bills to be voted on during the meeting were only to agree that there was enough evidence to go to a trial, and that the vote was not to remove any member from office.
Once a bill was passed, the member in question would then have an impeachment trial. At this time, evidence will be presented and discussions will take place on the violations.
During the trial, a vote will be held for the potential removal of the member from his/her position.
Despite these repeated explanations from Gorski and Portera that this was not the time for evidence to be debated, each impeachment bill was met with disagreement.
Many SGA members questioned the specifics of each bill, as well as the general impeachment process.
Jesse Place, speaker of the senate, informed members that those who were being brought to an impeachment trial were notified that they had accumulated the maximum number of absences.
After an additional absence, members were then notified a second time and asked to resign (which is at the discretion of the president), and then, if another absence was accumulated, a third notification was sent out to the member, this time informing them of the impeachment.
In addition to these notifications, SGA established a new system online where members could monitor their attendance, giving them an additional way to know if and when they were approaching any violations.
Place and Gorski said that the new record-keeping system, in effect this semester, allowed the executive board to be absolutely certain of general body and internal committee meeting absences.
Place said that last semester every member was given "the benefit of the doubt" that they were not violating any attendance bylaws, since they did acknowledge that the records kept were "less than perfect."
Johnson had another question regarding the validity over what SGA considered excused versus unexcused absences.
His claim was that because he, for example, was switched to an internal committee that was only his second choice, it did not fit in with his schedule which prevented him for attending meetings.
Place said that it was up to the discretion of the executive board or internal committee chair to decide if missed meetings were excused or unexcused.
Portera said that since he has been with SGA, no member has been removed from office following a verdict in an impeachment trial.
All five members in question will face an impeachment trial at an upcoming meeting.
(03/25/03 12:00pm)
SGA held an emergency meeting Thursday night after the Student Finance Board (SFB)'s 2003-04 budget request approval was tabled at its meeting Wednesday.
Due to the lengthy discussions surrounding SGA impeachments, SFB members were unable to start their presentation until nearly the end of the normal Wednesday meeting. Their resolution, along with the rest of the meeting, was tabled by a role call vote of 16-14-0.
Before the agenda was finally tabled, SFB requested a recount of the vote. Janelle Williams, SFB assistant chair, said that they were under time constraints to get the budget approved and they did not want to postpone the vote.
At the Thursday meeting in Norsworthy lounge, the first motion was to open the discussion to approve the SFB budget. After lengthy deliberation, the resolution for the proposed budget passed by a role call vote of 28-5-2.
Jesse Place, speaker of the senate, urged members not to approve the budget because many organizations have said they were unhappy with their budgets. He said, "This warrants us to look into it more."
Ren?e Marchioni, SFB chairperson, said that in order for SGA members to have more information than just the conclusions, they would have had to be working with them the whole year and would have attended the budget retreat where most of the budget was decided.
She also reminded members that the reason SGA and SFB are separate is to have a "check and balance system," and that SGA and SFB should trust each other since both organizations are working together for the students.
Mike Cilia, vice president of administration and finance, had the advantage of being a member of both organizations and told SGA members, "(SFB) has done our job."
Cilia explained that the responsibility of SFB is to decide the appropriate budget for each organization and to determine which organizations would be best deserving of any additional funds based on what they have done with their budgets in the past and what they plan to do for the upcoming year. SGA members debated whether the budgets appropriated for each organization were fair. Members wanted to know the amount that organizations received as compared to the amount they asked for.
By a vote of 29-2-0, the discussion was then called to question. This means that all discussions were closed, there would be no further questions and the final vote would be taken.
After the resolution passed, Portera thanked all SFB members for attending, and also apologized for the hassle, since a debate like that had never happened before.
(02/25/03 12:00pm)
An uncommon emotional moment occurred for SGA on Wednesday as Marco Zelaya, vice president of legal and governmental affairs, surprised members by announcing his resignation from his position for personal reasons.
Delivering a heartfelt speech to fellow members, Zelaya recalled memories and achievements he had in his time spent with SGA. He then spoke personally to each member of the executive board.
After Zelaya's speech, Chris Portera, SGA president, informed members that Nadia Gorski, executive vice president, would fill the position until the next elections.
A Registration and Transcript Holds Bill, brought forward by the academic affairs committee, was passed at the meeting. The bill suggested changing in the way students are notified about holds during the registration period.
One suggestion the bill offers is to "encourage the implementation of clearly defining holds on TESS" to eliminate future student confusion.
Another point of the bill, was to "encourage the implementation of notifying students at least one week prior to registration" so that students affected by holds have time to either pay their bills or get the problem sorted out.
Christina Puglia, vice president of community relations, announced that TCNJ Holiday was recognized for the National Community Service Program of the Month for Dec. 2002.
TCNJ Holiday previously won the Regional Community Service Program of the Month award by the National Residence Hall Honorary.
Puglia said this national recognition is a great honor for her, the community relations committee and all who organized the event. Puglia thanked everyone who participated and helped to organize this holiday tradition at the College.
Portera announced that SGA would be addressing Gov. McGreevey's recent N.J. budget cuts, which slashed higher education funding.
The 14 percent cut at the College has threatened the OSRP scholarship program, which is the program that provides scholarships for many incoming students based on SAT scores and GPA on entry.
President R. Barbara Gitenstein has given SGA full support for taking on this concern and to act as student advocates. Nadia Gorski will be organizing students to write letters expressing concerns about the budget cuts, as well as lobbying for changes.
(02/18/03 12:00pm)
SGA held a workshop meeting this Wednesday in place of the traditional general body meeting.
The topic of this month's workshop was a Committee on Academic Programming (CAP) liberal learning document.
SGA wanted to formulate some responses to the CAP document, which will be voted on in March by the committee.
The workshop consisted of small groups that were given a copy of the document. They were also given a list of topic questions for discussion.
The groups were mostly SGA members, but there were also about a dozen attendees from the general student body.
Every group had at least one executive board member to help facilitate the discussions. The overall goal was to gather criticism and praise for the CAP document.
Jamie Gusrang, vice president of academic affairs and overall facilitator of the workshop, said that SGA was looking for "constructive feedback" on the issue.
Overall, she said she thinks it "achieved their goal."
It also obtained many specific suggestions, which is exactly what it was hoping for.
Some of the points that were the biggest concerns were the new diversity goals, the community engaged learning programs and the new writing proficiency requirements.
Overall, there were six topics discussed within the groups.
From the information gathered at this workshop, the academic affairs committee will decide the best way to present its findings to CAP.
They are contemplating doing this using a bill or an advising document.
Gusrang said that the "goal is to have a response to the CAP document by March 1."
Eleonora Teplinsky, senator-at-large, sits on CAP and felt the workshop provided a "good opportunity to talk with others about ideas and concerns."
Teplinsky felt it was good that several students attended the workshop.
"It was important for the administration to see that the campus was interested," she said.
"It shows the students care," she added.