Treasurer Jessica Darst began the board meeting with allocations of $4,372.00 to Beyond the Numbers club who asked for the coverage of registration fees for a conference for the Boys and Girls Club of America. After no questions, the motion was passed.
Darst then allocated $4,623.00 to College Panhellenic Council (CPC) who asked for money to send seven members to a CPC conference. Motion passed.
High Street Harmony asked for allocations of $662.48 for four student registrations, hotel and gas mileage coverage. Motion passed.
Lambda Pi Eta asked for money to cover flight, airport parking and hotel costs for total allocations of $4,374.56. Motion passed.
Allocations were then given of $120.19 to the College of Republicans to cover mileage to and from an event. Motion passed.
Moving into Special Orders Day, the Presentation of the ROW award was given to Sophomore Class President, Connor Wheeler.
President Joseph Gills picked up last meeting’s discussion regarding student fees and tuition rates that were questioned by the senate members. Gills introduced Ken Copeland, vice president for Administration and Finance, and Susan Sullivan, director of the office of Student Union and Involvement to aid discussion and answer questions about student fees and Longwood’s budgets.
Copeland stated that housing and dining are “auxiliary” student fees.“We have to separate tuition from comprehensive fees. The state requires us to report increases in tuition and mandatory fees,” said Copeland, explaining that comprehensive fees and student fees are mandatory. Comprehensive fees cover all things done outside of class.
“Anything that has to do with you, not being in a classroom, is typically going to be an auxiliary fee,” said Copeland. He also explained that every faculty member on-campus that runs an office has an operating budget.
“We don’t know what next year’s budgets are going to look like yet,” added Copeland. “We anticipate an increase” on next year’s budgets.
Senator Savannah Barnett called to question Longwood’s very high athletic fees, asking how Longwood’s athletic budget compares to other state schools. Copeland answered, stating that Division Three state schools “[have] no requirements for athletic scholarships.” Comparing Radford’s student body is similar to Longwood’s. Also, VMI has the “highest comprehensive fee.” Copeland also mentioned that “comparatively speaking,” Longwood’s athletic fees are high in Virginia state schools. “We had to look at D3 or D1,” the likelihood of D1 was the only choice “that we really had,” said Copeland. “The Big South made the most sense all the way back to 2001.” Copeland also added that making the transition from D1 to D2 “had a price tag,that price tag is being passed down to you guys.”
Questions over on-campus music licensing were also raised, as this year SGA voted to cover those costs. Sullivan explained her research on who paid prior for the music license. “SGA came up most,” Sullivan added.
Further discussion of on-campus costs continued, including lighting left on in corridors for safety reasons from on-campus and area police, it is a measure of precaution. Copeland also added the recently added motion detectors to help with costs, clarifying that the real energy consumption comes from technology system costs, instead of lighting.
With the new athletics bill seeing to change fees or adjust funding, Copeland answered that the resolution will be made “to combat that, to be much more philanthropic in funding.”
Copeland also added that student funding is given the ability to spend money, allocating money “by student’s priorities” in which senate members in the Student Government vote on money allocations of clubs and events on-campus. “There will always be more potential uses than you have the funds to commit to,” said Copeland.
SGA then moved into open forum where senator Chelsea Carroll mentioned that Outta Here apparently does not allow the use of gust swipes, in lieu of recent “abuses.”Carroll suggested that be made clear for students.
Discussion over budget processes concluded that Gills should come back and revisit processes in further board meetings.
Executive senator Natalie Joseph was recently approached by a student who goes through Disability Resources. With concerns, Joseph was told that there were no back up plans for weather and fire emergences in apartment buildings near and around campus, in events, and was told due to recent snow, the student could not get out of the apartment building for the period of last week’s weather cancelations.
RCL training was then mentioned, when pointed out by senate members who were told not to touch anyone with physical disability. However, fire and police departments can properly handle the situations.
Gills then moved to the Orders of the Day, mentioning the upcoming Big Event will be held on March 28. He encouraged board members and students to register for the event. Gills also added that the SGA’s office will have a phone for students to register, reserve spots and set up events.
In the week following Spring break, SGA will hold open houses set for March 10 from 8-9pm and March 12 from 5-6pm.
The LiveSafe app will also be ready to distribute following the week of break.
Gills moved to close the meeting.
Ken Copeland, vice president for Administration and Finance, aided discussion and answered questions about student fees and Longwood’s budgets.
The SGA representatives and members listen intently as Pres. Joe Gills address the congregation.
