Associated Students of Monmouth College Update

By Julie Trac
News Editor

The Associated Students of Monmouth College (ASMC) held its second meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 7. It was called to order by President Brandie Miller at 6:32 p.m. Attendance was taken and the approval of the minutes were passed.

President Miller was “loving the turnout,” since it was the “biggest meeting yet.”

The Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Parliamentarian had no reports.

Mollie Williams, Student Affairs representative, said extra salt will be put down if any snow returns. The flags on the International House will be replaced by the end of the year, since they are not in the best condition.

Williams addressed the campus wide lockdown situation. Mohsin Masood, associate dean of students, called 12 other schools in MC’s conference, and each school was on permanent lockdown. It is a precautionary measure that many schools utilize to prevent problems.

Dan Bliss gave the report for the Funding and Institutional Development (FID) committee which is chaired by Mark Willhardt, associate professor of English. Bliss was elected by ASMC’s executive board on Monday, Feb. 6.

Bliss explained FID appropriates funding on campus in regard to what the professors want. In addition, the FID committee considers new hires for the following year.

At this time, the committee is looking for one year hires in the chemistry department due to the void Jeffrey Draves, chair and professor of the department of chemistry and Patricia Draves, chair of the biochemistry program will leave.

Recently, Patricia Draves was named the new vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. Jeffrey Draves will take a position as a member of the science faculty at Mount Union as well.

Five to six other departments are considering new faculty members for a total of 12 new hires for the next academic year.

Emily Zvolanek is the ASMC representative for the Admissions and Academic Status committee. Howard Dwyer, assistant professor of the department of mathematics and computer science is the committee chair.

A new finals schedule will be implemented next year. The last day of classes will be on Wednesday, and Thursday will be reserved as a read and study day. Finals will begin on Friday and end on the following Wednesday.

Another topic from the Admissions and Academic Status committee is student petitions for students dismissed due to academic reasons. Also, the committee is trying to determine if the section in the college catalog to determine grade point averages and semester hours is confusing to read. If you would like to voice your opinion about this section in the catalog, contact Emily Zvolanek.

Committee breakouts were next. They lasted approximately 7 minutes.

Bruce Cvancara, director of food service, stated that the Dining Services website will be updated soon. The spring food service survey will be out soon, and there will be another chance to win an Apple iPod or iTunes dollars. There will be an international meal next Tuesday, Feb. 14 to celebrate Black History Month. Soul food will be served at one of the meal stations.

Cvancara has been working with the chefs to find new recipes for Scot’s Day, so it will not be barbeque style as in years past.

Whole wheat buns and pasta will be made available soon.

New soups were introduced this past week with some success.

Cvancara will look into improving the box lunch program for students.

Dining Services will sponsor Alternative Spring Break and the group of students helping in the Hurricane Katrina area.

Cvancara hopes the soft serve ice cream machine will be fixed by the end of this week.

Smaller meal plans were mentioned to Cvancara, and he will talk to the appropriate people to see if that can be a possibility next year.

The Student Affairs committee talked about the broken and lack of computers in Liedman and North Halls. The committee is looking into getting book lists for courses in the summer so students can have the flexibility to purchase books online before the semester starts.

In the Information Systems committee, someone asked if there can be an increase in e-mail memory.

The Scots’ Day committee had many new announcements. Some activities planned for the quad include a mechanical bull, a waterworks slide, a huge obstacle course, turbo trikes, a make-your-own-music video station, human bowling and a gladiator joust.

Water bottles and carabineers will be the give aways this year.

Also, the committee is trying to see if campus organizations would want to have booths with their information for students to read about much like the Involvement Fair at the beginning of every year.

The Scots’ Day committee meets every other Sunday in the conference room in the Stockdale Center. The meetings begin at 7 p.m. The next meeting will be on Sunday, Feb. 12. If you are interested, please go to the meetings with ideas for other activites and food.

There was no old business.

In new business, six representatives were approved. Bliss was approved for the FID committee.

Lindsay Bero, Matthew Faron and Luis Oviedo were approved for the Public Affairs committee.

Zvolanek was approved for the Admissions and Academic Status committee and Sylvia Puckett was approved as Co-chair for the Scots’ Day committee.

MC’s Conservative Coalition and Political Science department will sponsor “Happy Birthday Reagan!” this Sunday, Feb. 12 from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. in the Private Dining Room of the Stockdale Center. Food, refreshments and birthday cake will be served, free of charge. According to Benjamin Sauer, Conservative Coalition chairman, this party is to celebrate President Reagan as one of America’s greatest political figures.

The music house announced it will begin to offer music tutoring for advice or help by the end of this week. Contact Adam Drake for more information.

Bliss said attendance for the College Republicans was “stagnant last semester” but hopes it will increase as the semester continues.

La Raza will hold meetings on Wednesdays at 8 p.m at the International House. The group plans to provide free dance lessons. Contact Oviedo for more information.

The Coalition for Women’s Awareness is in need of new officers, since the current officers will be graduating or transferring at the end of the semester. Contact Zvolanek or Holly Sanders to get involved.

The meeting adjourned at 7:12 p.m.

The next ASMC meeting will be held Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Highlander Room.