Instead of being in the LBC auditorium, room 108, Stetson University's SGA met in library room 25L for Senate on February 1.

Traffic court will be happening again this semester. SGA is currently speaking with Public Safety over what dates they can have traffic court. It will take place on a Friday and most likely be in the LBC.

Electric car parking is being looked into at Stetson's DeLand campus. It is being led by the Values Steering Committee, one of the school's committees. They are looking into the prices for charging cars. At Stetson, it costs $1 per kilowatthour. This is extremely high compared to the national average of $0.15 per kilowatthour. The only other places where it costs so much to charge electric cars are airports, and with only four electric car charging spaces, Stetson University is not an airport. Lowering the price of charging cars will take some time; the Values Committee is in the middle of restructuring and is very willing to work with SGA on the matter.

There is a new Title IX Coordinator. She is working to become more acute in Stetson University's Title IX process. She plans to speak with SGA in person, but before then, she is meeting with the SGA Policy and Finance Committee. Students are highly encouraged to come to Senate in order to ask her any questions. Senate takes place on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. in the LBC auditorium, room 108.

Hatter Green Bikes are up and running for this semester! Because SGA had to move into Elizabeth 112, the keys were lost. They have since been found. However, the bike pump is currently missing. Some bikes have flat tires, so remember your ABCs (air, breaks, chain) when selecting your bike. To apply for a bike, either search "Green Bike Reservation Form" into HatterSync. Bikes can be chosen between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Fridays after the form has been approved.

SGA met with Melissa Peters over the break to discuss next year's finances and expenses for the students, such as Chartwells, housing, meal plans, and tuition. SGA asked for an expense breakdown to be put out for more transparency. The school can do it, however, it is unlikely that the school will do it. As a private school, Stetson does not want to give out information that they are not legally obligated to provide. SGA has many projects working to make the school more financially transparent.

Do you want to be an SGA Senator? Elections for the 2017-2018 school year are now open! In order to be a Senator, one must have at least a 2.5 GPA. Anyone applying for the Vice President position must have a 2.7 GPA, a full year in Senate, and must be available over the summer. Anyone applying for the President position must have a 3.0 GPA, a full year in Senate, and must be available over the summer. All 44 seats are open. Class of 2019, please apply to be a Senator for your class; it's not easy to represent the school when no one in the Class of 2019 wants to represent their class. Candidate declarations close on Wednesday, February 8, 2017. To declare, you must go to HatterSync, join the Elections group, search "Fall 2017 SGA Candidate Declarations," and complete the application. Voting will be across the campus on Wednesday, February 22 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.. The author of this article would like the reader to vote for Ashley Allensworth, Class of 2020, for one of the ten Senator At Large positions. She has been an SGA Senator since August 2016 and wants to continue helping her constituents--the every other student--with any problems they have on campus.

Two new resolutions were brought before Senate. The first was "S.6: A Resolution to Provide Additional Student Resources to the Report It Page." It is written as follows:

"The Committee of Diversity and Inclusion introduces the following resolution, presented by Senator Faison

Resolution: To hyperlink the official www.stetson.edu/reportit page to the my.stetson.edu page under “resources” under the tab “reporting an incident,” along with a link to an additional resource notating how to report and incident, what incidents should be reported, and an example of an incident report in pdf file link written jointly by the members of Housing and Residential Life, the Director of Community Standards and the Title IX coordinator.

Whereas students can access the report page more readily via their personal my.stetson.edu accounts (seeing as the link is provided only through the www.stetson.edu page which students do not predominantly use or navigate often)

Whereas in order to ensure that the report being formatted to best serve the investigation’s follow up, a guideline will be offered with how one should approach writing an incident report (a “how to report it” page) with step-by-step instructions

Whereas in order to decrease the amount of students not reporting incidents due to unsureness of whether the incident is “worth” reporting, a guideline into “what should you report” will be provided, so students aren’t discouraged to report certain instances

Whereas in order to give the reporter clarity (especially if the reporter is the victim of the incident), an example of a well-formatted incident report will be provided

Whereas by addressing issues of clarity and navigation of the report site, students will be encouraged to use it as a resource, restoring some belief in the system’s effectiveness, and creating clearer and useable reports to assist in investigations launched after the report.

Be it Resolved Stetson University:

1. To hyperlink the report-it page to the student’s main page of my.stetson.edu under “resources”

2. Creating (jointly through Housing and Res Life, the office of Community Standards and the Title IX additional resources to the report-it page, addressing the following concerns

a. “how-to report it”

b. “what should be reported”

c. an example of a well-formatted report

3. Implementing those written resources to the my.stetson.edu page under resources with the report it page hyperlink (under the created branch “safety”)"

The normal rules of Senate were suspended for this Resolution and it was voted upon that night. It passed unanimously. This resolution will be sent to the appropriate people in order to add the links to the My Stetson pages and to be updated accordingly. There will be a followup on at Senate on February 8.

The second resolution was "S.7: A Resolution to provide each Stetson student with the option to have a tuition guarantee program." It is written as follows:

The Academic Affairs and Policy and Finance Reform committee introduces the following resolution, presented by Senator Katz

Whereas Stetson does not have a program in place that would provide a set tuition rate for matriculating students.

Whereas A tuition guarantee program will lock in the tuition rates of matriculating Stetson students for four years.

Whereas Stetson tuition has increased by a total of $11,516.00 since 2010.

WhereasStetson tuition has increased by an average of 5.41% or an average of $1,934.33 per year since 2010.

WhereasStetson’s rate of increasing tuition would set the price at $50,716 for the year 2020.

Whereas Stetson’s increasing tuition rates are not being addressed by increases in financial aid packages.

Whereas92 percent of Stetson’s incoming students received some form of financial aid.

Whereas Stetson’s peer institutions: Sewanee, Columbia College, The George Washington University, Capitol College, the University of Kansas, Immaculata University, and the University of Texas at Austin all have a form of tuition guarantee programs.

WhereasThere are around seventy other academic institution with a tuition guarantee program.

Whereas a tuition guarantee program would provide financial security to current and future Stetson students.

Whereas Academic institutions that implement a tuition guarantee program typically exhibit higher retention and graduation rates.

Be it Resolved:

1. The University will begin research and planning for the implementation of the option for a tuition guarantee program.

2. This option for a tuition guarantee program will be implemented by the academic year 2018-2019.

3. The tuition guarantee program will ensure that the price of tuition paid upon matriculation shall remain the same over the next four years.

4. Any increases in the cost of tuition will only be applicable to the next matriculating class.

As per Senate rules, this resolution has been tabled and will be voted upon on February 8. A lot of research went into this, most of it outside of Stetson University's Financial Aid. This is due to Financial Aid not being financially transparent and not providing SGA with information such as previous years' tuition prices and tuition percentage increases. Stetson University itself still is not helping SGA find out this information. The main goal of this resolution is to show the school that the students really want more financial transparency and that students and teachers are tired of not knowing what the next year will cost and what the money in the yearly budget is being used for. (Only four people know where the money goes in the budget and none of them are willing to share.)

To clarify some confusion this resolution may have, this resolution is only asking for the option of a guaranteed tuition program. There are schools around the country that provide the students the option of having a locked tuition or a tuition price that could change. This resolution is only referring to tuition price; price of housing and meal plans are not included in the tuition lock. It is not likely that this resolution will pass with the faculty of Stetson University should it pass in SGA. Again, this resolution will be voted upon at the next Senate on February 8.

On February 15, there will be an opportunity for constituents to meet their SGA Senators. While the location is not yet confirmed, students can meet their Senators in a speed-dating style. More information on this to come.

Last year, SGA passed a resolution on cultural credit. UCAAP, the committee which presides over many things at Stetson including the Cultural Credit Committee, is almost ready to discuss cultural credit. Earlier in the week when UCAAP met, they ran out of time to discuss cultural credit. More information will be provided as it develops.

The SGA Academics Committee is meeting with the Dean of the Library this week. If any students have any questions for the Dean, please email them to lspratt@stetson.edu. They will most likely be discussing study spaces on campus.

The SGA Policy and Finance Committee is working on creating a new pathway for students between Sampson and the Hand Arts Center. For students who are unaware, the pathways around Stetson are a bit ridiculous and even though the Hand Arts Center and Sampson are right next to each other, there is no quick pathway between them.

The SGA Campus Life Committee has several school improvements in the works. Besides approving of new clubs and organizations, Campus Life is also accrediting the organizations. Org leaders, please fill out the accreditation form on HatterSync in order to continue being an organization next year. The deadline to complete it is at the end of March. Campus Life is planning on having a monthly open door committee lasting 30 minutes in order to help students create, start, organize, and accredit new clubs and organizations. Campus Life is also planning on adding more dog poop bags around campus, providing better condoms (Trojan brand) for students and putting dispensers around campus (the only ones currently are in the Hollis Center), providing more WiFi routers around campus and better connection for them, and investigating the sprinkler system to find out why the sprinklers water not only the grass but also the sidewalks and concrete and if it is possible to make them use less water, thus saving the school money.

For any questions or suggestions for SGA, please stop by the new SGA office in Elizabeth 112. It is on the first floor of Elizabeth Hall next to the side stairs. If you would like to sit in on Senate and hear everything in person, Senate takes place in LBC 108 every Wednesday night at 7:30.