RR-01-11
A Request to Provide a Tuition Stipend for the Assistant Commissioner of Public Relations

Whereas, The passage of SB-05-11 created the position of Assistant Commissioner of Public Relations as stated in the Student Government Code section 3-06-01.1 and 3-06-01, and
Whereas, The Assistant Commissioner of Public Relations will assume significant responsibilities and duties in their role, and
Whereas, the expectations of time and energy for the Assistant Commissioner of Public Relations justifies monetary compensation, and
Whereas, a stipend is necessary to recruit, retain, and attract qualified candidates for the position of the Assistant Commissioner of Public Relations.

Enacted, that $2,385.00 be reallocated to a tuition stipend for the Assistant Commissioner of Public Relations effective immediately upon confirmation of the Student Senate.

Let's get some discussion started on this.

I am in support in support of this request.  We've already established that we are going to have this position.  I think we will be able to attract more candidates if there is a stipend.  This is a trial year for the position, so I don't think it counts as a continuing expense, yet.  I will only support doing this through the reserve fund once.  If we decide to renew this position, the stipend shold be in next year's budget.

Thanks for posting this Mike.  I encourage the Senate to support this unanimously as these programs as crucial to NDSU keeping to our mission as a land grant institution.

Sincerely,
Brock W. Schmeling
Senator of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Use resources purchased with the Student Activity Fee wisely. 
Do not use such resources for personal purposes (i.e. printer paper)

Perhaps a compromise would be to give the Finance Commission veto power.

As I said in my email, I would like to see us vote on this on Sunday.  Please post any question, criticisms, suggestions, comments, or concerns here.


WHEREAS, the Cardinal Muench Seminary is closing, and

WHEREAS, four of the professors employed by Cardinal Muench Seminary are adjunct lecturers at North Dakota State University, and

WHEREAS, this has provided NDSU with a cost-saving opportunity, and

WHEREAS, philosophy provides reasoning that is helpful in everyday life, and

WHEREAS, classical languages provide us with an understanding of Western Heritage and
is helpful in linguistics, and

WHEREAS, the humanities, including philosophy and classical languages, have a central role in the Land Grant Mission as defined in the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Acts, which states “at least one college whose leading object shall be, without excluding other classical and scientific studies, and including military tactics – to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal education of the industrial classes and professions of life.” (North Dakota Agricultural College, First Annual Catalogue, May 1892); therefore, be it

Resolved, That the North Dakota State University Student Government supports funding the Philosophy and Classical Languages programs.


Respectfully Submitted,





Brock Schmeling
College of Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences



Mike Nagel
College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

the enacted clause reads:

Enacted, that section 8-02-01 of the Guidleines be amended to read:

8-02-01 The Commission can amend these Guidelines as needed with an affirmative vote.  Amendments to the Finance Guidelines shall require two reads of the Commission.  The Senators serving on the Commission shall inform the Senate of any potential changes and report back to the Commission with any feedback.  If a Senator wishes to bring forth a potential amendment, the Senator will present the proposed change and supporting rationale to the Commission.  The Senate does not have the power to amend the Finance Guidelines on its own.

First, let me state that I don't have access to the text of the bill.

However, I don't think this is a good idea for a more practical reason. It lessens the effective power of the Finance Commission. Currently, when the Finance Commission acts out the Finance Guidelines, it is acting in the interest of the Senate. This allows basic funding requests (CR, TORFF) to be passed by the Senate with little or no debate. If the Finance Commission writes its own guidelines, it would be acting in its own interest instead of the interest of the senate. In other words, it would not be a senate committee. Whether that is the students' interest is a different matter. Now the senate would need to decide on its own guidelines to approve funding requests (or create a committee to do so) - generating a similar amont of debate as Special Projects.

btw, the TechnologyPublic Relations Commission and CSO Commission also have guidelines that are written by the senate. It makes sense that the legislative body writes the laws.

This entire paragraph is a huge joke. You would have to amend every single Tier II budget?? Are you serious? Oh, wow, that sounds like a lot of work, right? How about calculating, hearing, and compiling every single Tier II budget? You spent 6 hours on budgets. I spent over 100. You had every single thing handed to you on a platter at that meeting. I spent 6 hours before the meeting just calculating Judging Club things so you wouldn't have to. Every time you decided to break to figure out calculations (aka eat pizza and joke around) I DID THOSE CALCULATIONS. I DID EVERY SINGLE CALCULATION THAT WAS PASSED FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. let me ask you something: how many times did you check my calculations on contingency requests throughout the year? do you know how to calculate mileage rates or gsa rates? if not, then you'd better worry about a lot more than having to take of 15% of $350.

This is an ignoratio elenchi argument, or irrelevant conclusion.  Most of it has absolutely nothing to do with the subject.

I think the purpose of the Fiance Commission is partly to make those calculations. 

The Finance Guidelines belong the student because the Fiance Commission, as part of Student Government, derives its power from the Senate.

The application of the Finance Guidelines affects students who receive funding, since the Senate follows them most of the time.

Even when senators are appointed, they are responsible directly to their constituents, unlike the Finance Commission.

For example, say I wanted to add a 15% fundraising requirement for operating expenses.  Under the current system, I could get the Finance Guidelines amended, and if the Senate rejected the amendment or the President vetoed it, I would realize that there is not support for funding organizations in that way, and I would not try to amend the budget.  If this bill passes, the Senate has no say in the Finance Guidelines, and if a senator doesn't like something in them, he/she is supposed to amend everything on the floor.  I would have to amend every single Tier II budget.

This entire paragraph is a huge joke. You would have to amend every single Tier II budget?? Are you serious? Oh, wow, that sounds like a lot of work, right? How about calculating, hearing, and compiling every single Tier II budget? You spent 6 hours on budgets. I spent over 100. You had every single thing handed to you on a platter at that meeting. I spent 6 hours before the meeting just calculating Judging Club things so you wouldn't have to. Every time you decided to break to figure out calculations (aka eat pizza and joke around) I DID THOSE CALCULATIONS. I DID EVERY SINGLE CALCULATION THAT WAS PASSED FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. let me ask you something: how many times did you check my calculations on contingency requests throughout the year? do you know how to calculate mileage rates or gsa rates? if not, then you'd better worry about a lot more than having to take of 15% of $350.

I'll say this again: if you want rules, make some. If you want a 15% deduction on standard expenses, go ahead and try to make that rule. Don't force an organization that doesn't want that rule to apply it.

In fact, if you don't support giving the Finance Commission the power to change its own rules, why even have a Finance Commission? I honestly would like to see 1 meeting where you have to actually hear the requests and calculate them. We'll just have a treasurer and asst treasurer and Senate meetings will take 6 hours at a minimum.

The third whereas clause certainly does assert ownership. They are the Finance Commission's guidelines solely. No other group is bound by them. It is similar to any other group's guidelines. The guidelines do not belong to the students at all. The money belongs to the students, the guidelines belong only to the commission to apply rules to the money. The organization that allocates the funds are not even bound by those guidelines, and can disburse money in any way they want. Thus, the students are not limited by the guidelines in any way, nor should they assume ownership.

You then say that the power to set rules for the allocation of fees should only be the Senate. I agree. Go ahead and make rules for that. But you aren't bound by these rules, so make your own.

Also, by saying "elected" representatives should only have that power, does that preclude any senator who goes through appointments? I don't think you can concretely distinguish these two ideals by any means.

The Finance Commission does not have absolute power over reallocating money. Please, before you make assertions like that, you should really talk to an advisor or legal counsel or something. The Senate has absolute power over all financial issues, so you have that power. We've continuously run into that this past year, whether you noticed or not.

If a senator wants to ACTUALLY APPLY rules on which organizations should be funded, he/she should write some. The Finance Guidelines are not the rules for the Senate, they are the rules for the Finance Commission.

This whole argument is based of what your supposed summary of your argument is. The Finance Guidelines are not legislation, they are guidelines. The Senate shouldn't have the power to change things that don't apply to them at all. Recommendations are just recommendations, and the Senate should consider them. The Senate should make its own rules if it wants them. Don't borrow someone else's rules and think they're your own.