‘It’s On Us’ sexual assault prevention resolution passed
The “It’s On Us” Sexual Assault Prevention resolution was passed at the SGA’s Monday, April 20, meeting.
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The “It’s On Us” Sexual Assault Prevention resolution was passed at the SGA’s Monday, April 20, meeting.
SGA’s Monday, April 27, meeting saw the unanimous passing of two reserve fund requests as well as the passing of two commendations in support of Auburn faculty.
SGA’s Monday, April 20, meeting saw the unanimous passing of a resolution introduced during last week’s senate meeting, as well as a change in the Code of Laws and a recognition of a faculty member.
SGA’s Monday, April 13 meeting saw the unanimous passing of a resolution that was introduced during last week’s senate meeting as well as the confirmation of the SGA cabinet and the SGA cabinet assistant vice presidents.
The Student Government Association’s on Monday, April 6, saw the appointment of a new president and vice president for the graduate school and also provided members of SGA exec the opportunity to discuss goals for the upcoming year.
The SGA’s Monday, March 30 meeting saw new orders of business in the form of a program expansion fund and the confirmation of the student senate chairpersons.
The SGA's Monday, Dec. 1, senate meeting had three new orders of business following a week off for Thanksgiving break. According to Patrick Michael, senator for the College of Science and Mathematics, the Student Activity Portfolios will have access to a golf cart once the purchase of one is made. The senate approved a reserve fund request of $14,266 to purchase a golf cart with a bed for loading and unloading items. "This will be available to all Student Activity Portfolios, being all the people we saw money allocated to through the budget and finance process," Michael said. "That's SGA, UPC, BSU, ISO, student media for whatever reason." Michael said he wanted to pass the request in time to pair up with the Division of Student Affairs in buying the golf carts. The Division of Student Affairs is purchasing a passenger golf cart over the winter break for its own purposes. "The golf cart they are purchasing is a passenger golf cart for touring people around campus or to escort people," Michael said. "This golf cart has to do with loading items and materials on to it, which there has been an expressed need by many SAPs over the last couple of years." Michael said SAPs used to have a golf cart, but when the golf cart broke down, SGA funds were dry. Therefore, the golf cart could not be maintained. "Five-plus years ago, we did in fact have a golf cart for SAP use, and it was used very heavily and it broke down and, at the time, there wasn't funding available to replace it," Michael said. In other news: * The senate heard from Elizabeth Moody, senator at-large, and Walker Byrd, senator at-large, on a referendum for campus dining options that will take place during the spring SGA elections. According to Walker and Moody, there will be three on-campus dining options, represented by one person just like the normal SGA elections. "It's all based on President Powell's initial campaign platform in which he said he wants to give the students a voice pertaining to the new dining options, so we're trying to get these three options to be put on the ballot in the spring elections," Moody said. The potential dining options have yet to be released. * The senate recognized Benjamin Andrews. Andrews has been an SGA graduate adviser for the past two years.
The Auburn City Council heard a number of complaints from Auburn residents pertaining to Auburn High School student parking at the Tuesday, Nov. 18 council meeting. Citizens from surrounding neighborhoods such as Terrace Acres Drive, Terrace Acres Circle, Green Street, Eagle Circle, Tisdale Circle, Oak Street, Flowers Avenue and Flowers Circle voiced their concerns of the some seemingly 60 to 65 cars that are parked in their neighborhood every day before school, which has caused a number of traffic concerns. The ordinance proposed at the council meeting would require signage to be posted in places where parking will no longer be allowed. Perry Oaks of East Samford Drive said he is highly in favor of an ordinance which would require parking signage to be erected in the affected areas but also felt the signage would only temporarily fix a problem which can simply move from one place to another. "As a city I feel like we are only treating a symptom and not a problem," Oaks said. "Once these signs go up, if they do, that issue is going to go somewhere else and we will be right back here again discussing where we need to put signs. The problem as I see it and it is well known is the lack of parking at Auburn High School." Oaks, who said he knows Mayor Bill Ham Jr. likes to hear not only problems, but solutions, proposed a solution to the problem which would allow for a residential radius to figuratively be put around the school where students are not allowed to park. "Why not just say within a certain radius of the school is residential parking only, whatever that radius may be," Oaks said. "Now, that could be enforced on a complaint basis. If I, the resident, have people parking in front of my house and I don't know who they are and I don't like it, I could complain to the city and then the city could deal with it" Jannett Smith, a close resident to Oaks, said she did not have a problem with students parking in front of her house until last year when she witnessed drug use and an increase of liter on her street. "We didn't have a problem with it until last year and they sit out on the front or side of the corner and they sell drugs and they smoke and they have done that for about a year or so now," Smith said. "We have trash in our yard and every day after work we have to pick it up and I am just at my wits end." Ham said he felt like timing was a big issue seeing as Auburn High School is only three years away from changing locations. "The timing I think is the big issue here," Ham said. "Hopefully once the new high school is built this problem will no longer exist and the parking will be there." Until then, the council voted to amend the ordinance to shut parking down on those streets from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Monday-Friday, a 30 minute increase from the previous time of 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.. "The second block begins at 9:45 so if we change it to 10:00 a.m., I think it will cut back on students moving their cars to these areas and ultimately help the situation," said Councilwoman Lynda Tremaine of Ward 5.
The Student Government Association's senate Council meeting had four new orders of business at its Monday, Nov. 17 meeting, all of which were carryover requests. Richmond Gunter, SGA treasurer, said the carryover request comes from excess money organizations have on campus that they may not have had the chance to spend during the previous financial year. "Basically, the carryover process is any excess money that groups did not have a chance to spend during the previous fiscal year that they have looked into the budget in the future and said we have specific areas of need where we could use the excess money in those areas," Gunter said. The Center for Community Service was granted a carryover request of $2,848.09. The Intercultural Programs received a total of $33,312.26, with $6,096.95 going toward the International Student Organization and $27,215.31 going toward the Black Student Organization. Student Media was allowed a carryover request of $31,992.79, which will be divided among Auburn's student media outlets, which are The Auburn Circle, The Glomerata, Eagle Eye TV and WEGL Radio Station. The final carryover request came from the Center for Leadership and Ethics in which the senate approved the request for $3,975.13. Gunter said these organizations are responsible for using the money in a way that will benefit the Auburn students, even if it is money left over from the previous year. "These different groups that are carrying it over are going to use that in a strategic way that will ultimately benefit students because they have specific purposes for that money," Gunter said. Because of Thanksgiving break, SGA senate will resume Dec. 1 with new orders of business.
A week after the Student Government Association senate tabled a bill that favored the implementation of unisex restrooms in future buildings on campus, the senate revisited the matter Monday, Nov. 10 at its weekly meeting. The bill passed. India Napier, senator for the College of Veterinary Medicine, who sponsored the bill, cited unisex bathrooms could benefit a variety of people including families and transgender people in last week's Nov. 3 meeting. At this senate meeting, a number of students and faculty showed up to voice their concerns and needs for unisex restrooms. "This bill will not affect a majority of the student body," said Elizabeth Beasley, sophomore in forestry. "If anything, for the people it would affect, it is probably very important to actually have these be implemented across campus. Most of the unisex restrooms are not available to the students or if they are, they are extremely out of the way." The Diversity and Multicultural Affairs Committee's bill will make it University protocol to implement unisex restrooms in newly constructed buildings across the campus. Last week, Jeremy Wiley, director of the Diversity and Multicultural Affairs Committee, said the University had 178 unisex restrooms. However, Wiley's numbers were corrected by Elizabeth Moody, senator at-large, whose research showed the University actually has 235 unisex restrooms, 178 of which are available to students and visitors. The numbers did not change how senators voted as the bill passed with less discussion than was held the week before. Napier, who said she was not pleased with last week's results, said the bill being tabled was the best thing that could have happened because it gave senators the opportunity to hear the student body. "What's a slap in the face to you is another moment to triumph, that's how I see it," Napier said. "We had a lot of people show up this time and had more voices to support the bill, which is better than what we did last week. (The bill) being tabled was actually the best thing that could have happened." Although Napier said she is happy the bill finally passed, she expressed concern about her fellow SGA senators after they voted to remove Max Zinner, political director of Spectrum, Auburn's LGBT community, from the bill. "I am so happy that it passed and that's all that matters, but I am disappointed with the modifications that were made," Napier said. "It was clear that the modifications, such as the lack of the gender identity line and the removal of the individual Max Zinner, really indicates that there is a discomfort in regard to gender identity with senators in SGA and that's something that they're going to have to deal with, not me." In other SGA news: * The senate passed two carryover requests. * SGA currently holds $138,513.23 from last academic year, which was approved to be carried over to the 2014-2015 academic year. * The University Program Council currently holds $23,506.16 from last academic year, which was approved to be carried over to the 2014-2015 academic year.
Edzard Van Santen, professor in the crop soil and environmental science department, has dedicated more than a decade to the growth of a new creeping bentgrass, a grass that has long been used for putting golf green surfaces. According to Van Santen, the new grass, named AU Victory, is a cool-season species with origins in 1999, when putting greens in the southeastern region of the United States suffered in the prolonged heat and humidity of summer, causing the grass to become too thin and resulting in poor golf greens. Van Santen said he was first called to the Montgomery Country Club where he found only five or six good patches of grass on a 2,000-square-foot green. "These plants had a characteristic that made them, at least to that point, survive the draught," Van Santen said. "Ultimately, if they had gone on they would have died, because a plant needs water to survive. So I picked up those survivors, took out the core and put them in a bag, transported them to the greenhouse here in Auburn and then took them to the Tennessee Valley, where we have another research center." After the two-year waiting period passed, Van Santen said he was ready to initiate a breeding program, which involved working with a collaborator in Oregon, Virginia Lehman, who owned a private breeding company. According to Van Santen, Lehman planted the plugs in a field and continually looked for turf quality, which is normally rated on a one to nine scale, six being an acceptable turf quality. "What you want is leaves and not many stems," Van Santen said. "With the quality, we were looking for the fineness of leaf and uniformity. Uniformity is important because you want this average characteristic and each seed from the same mother has potentially a different father, and so there are slight differences, but on the average you want the stuff to look similar to each other." After years of sending plants to and from Oregon and comparing their turf grass to other commercial cultivars, Van Santen and Lehman put populations of grass together, which they said they believed could be a thriving type of bentgrass, ultimately finding one population that stood above the rest. "We eliminated a number of populations and then we allowed the remaining plants to flower together," Van Santen said. "We came up with two populations of bentgrass, and we had them here in our turf grass research unit. We put them under draught stress to see how they compared to commercial cultivars if you don't irrigate as much, and these did really well." Bent Brook Golf Club in Birmingham was one of the first golf courses to plant its greens with the AU Victory Bentgras Mickey Smith, director of golf at Bent Brook Golf Club, said he expects the greens on his Graveyard nine to be playable by December at the latest. The Country Club of Birmingham assisted Van Santen early in his research, allowing him to plant AU Victory Bentgrass on the golf course years ago. Today, Lee McLemore, director of golf course operations, said there are still a few bentgrass plots left thriving through heat and disease, a huge advantage over a number of other bentgrasses. "This bentgrass has great draught tolerance, as well as disease tolerance," McLemore said. "Edzard gave it tough love in a survival-of-the-fittest setting and came away with a grass which could withstand heat and draught that would devastate other putting surfaces." McLemore and Van Santen said they view draught and disease tolerance as an advantage. McLemore said he believes the biggest advantage of the grass is that it was developed in the state of Alabama. "They are born and bred here in Alabama, and that's big," McLemore said. "Bentgrasses are not supposed to be very well adapted to this region, but this bentgrass had adapted well. It's really the ultimate putting surface."
After nearly an hour of debate at the Monday, Nov. 3 Student Government Association Senate meeting, the senate tabled a bill that favored the implementation of unisex restrooms in future buildings on campus. Senator India Napier, senator for the College of Veterinary Medicine, sponsored the bill, citing unisex bathrooms could benefit a variety of people including families and transgender people. "These restrooms give privacy to those people who need it," Napier said. " If a baby vomits on itself or a child with a disability needs to use a restroom, these unisex restrooms are perfect for that, especially in the family setting." The diversity and multicultural affairs committee's bill would make it University protocol to implement unisex restrooms in newly constructed buildings across the campus. According to Jeremy Wiley, director of the diversity and multicultural affairs committee, campus currently only has 178 unisex restrooms, eight of which are in the Auburn University Medical Clinic. "Yes, it is a fact that there are 178 unisex bathrooms on Auburn's campus," Wiley said. "However, eight of those alone are in the medical clinic and only faculty are allowed to use those. Most of the unisex restrooms on this campus are for faculty use only and students are not authorized to use them." When the debate turned monetary, Wiley said SGA approved bills in the past, which called for larger funds for not as good of a cause, using SGA senate approval of the funds to bring author Steve Forbes to campus as his example. "Last year, we approved a bill that spent $5,000 of student tuition money to bring Steve Forbes to campus," Wiley said. "We can pay that kind of money for something which has little or no impact on my education, but we cannot approve something that would better the lives of Auburn students as a whole. That's not right." Daniel Hess, senator for the College of Engineering, was one member who opposed the implementation of unisex restrooms citing there were no numbers to back up Napier's claim that unisex bathrooms benefit families. "It talks about families and disabled persons and there are no numbers right now to back up the idea that this is actually a demand for families and disabled people," Hess said. "If there are, I would like to see them." After the bill was tabled, Max Zinner, political director of Spectrum, said SGA senators appeared to not have enough information despite having ample amount of time to review the bill. "I am concerned that there seems to be a lack of information," Zinner said. "They had at least a week since this was essentially read and the bill did not change significantly like they said in there. They had plenty of time to look it up and they failed to do so yet they still come here to debate against it. It seems kind of wrong in my opinion. If they don't care enough to look into it they should not have a problem with it." Will Youngblood, director of event planning for Spectrum, said his peers' actions are disrespectful. "I feel in many ways that it is kind of disrespectful to those members of the Auburn Family," Youngblood said. "We are supposed to be a family. It is very exclusionary." In the end, Zinner said there could be reasons behind why some senators did not want the bill to go through, but in his mind, he did not hear a good enough reason. "It's possible someone had a good reason to be against it, but I did not hear one in there," Zinner said. "Those that are against it should maybe be doing a better job." \0x200B
A University professor has received a grant to continue his research in medication management for people with mental health issues. Richard Hansen, department head in health outcomes research and policy in the Harrison School of Pharmacy, is the recipient of a grant subaward from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to continue his research in medication management for people with mental health issues. The first grant, which expired in 2012, focused on veterans and whether having a bad healthcare experience is because they had chronic conditions or because they saw several doctors. "In our prior work, we found that for patients with multiple conditions and taking multiple medications, the most important predictor of having poor treatment outcomes was how many different providers were involved in the patients' care," Hansen said. Hansen said confusion is created when patients see multiple doctors at the same time. "So, you get one doctor prescribing one thing and another doctor prescribing another and no one is talking to each other, which creates a big old mess," Hansen said. Hansen said the biggest surprise to him in the first study was how adding one doctor to a handful of others increases the risk of making an emergency room visit. "We thought that the number of doctors would be an important point, but we were surprised by the fact that each doctor you add on, you increase that risk by about 50 percent," Hansen said. The second study, which adds mental health issues, will allow Hansen and his team of researchers to test the impact of having a medical care coordinator for patients with multiple illnesses. Hansen said this should improve patients and doctors ability to balance all the illnesses. "This study will allow us to further explore this phenomenon, specifically in a mental health population and test the impact of a medical home-care coordination model on outcomes," Hansen said. "This work can help guide the re-design of healthcare for better care coordination and better outcomes." Hansen's work suggests there is evidence some healthcare providers poorly manage the existence of simultaneous but independent medical conditions in patients with schizophrenia. One reason for the mismanagement is poor care coordination between psychiatric specialists treating the mental health needs of patients and primary care providers managing other symptoms. The lack of coordination can result in inappropriate prescribing, duplication of medication therapy, medication non-adherence and more aggressive health service utilization for high expenditure intensive resources, according to Hansen. "In some previous work that we did, we found that one of the biggest challenges with psychiatry and in particular with patients with schizophrenia is that they often get their primary point of care from psychiatrists, but psychiatrists are usually not comfortable managing the other chronic healthcare condition," Hansen said. Hansen said this is especially difficult for people with multiple conditions. "So, let's say that you have schizophrenia, but you also have diabetes and congestive heart failure," Hansen said. "The psychiatrist, in many cases, won't manage the other conditions. The primary care doctors or the other specialist won't manage the psychiatric aspect." Hansen said the study results will improve the understanding of medication care coordination, the role of mental health in care coordination, and the benefits of the medical home model at improving care for patients with multiple chronic conditions.
The Student Government Association approved a proposal at the Oct. 27 meeting that will affect final exam schedules beginning in fall 2017. The recommendation of alterations to the final exam schedule were proposed by Walker Byrd, Senator at-large, and Caroline Beauchaine, senator for academic affairs and mandated that teachers must have all tests, projects and assignments finished for that class the last Friday of the semester. The proposal also creates two review days, which would be a Monday and Tuesday, as well as one dead day, which would be Wednesday prior to beginning exams on Thursday. The University would then hold exams that Thursday and Friday as well as the following Monday and Tuesday, essentially making finals week a two week long event, Byrd acknowledged. Byrd said the academic affairs committee have been working for nearly a year and a half to find a better way to accommodate students and the issues they have with the current finals week schedule. "For the past year and a half the academic affairs committee and senate has done research and gathered data and data mind to try and figure out how we can propose a better final exam structure that will better serve students and better serve Auburn," Byrd said. "This is the culmination of a lot of effort, a lot of time, and a lot of surveying." Byrd continued on to say that the schedule will improve an array of areas, especially the four year graduation rate, something which President Jay Gogue recognized as diminishing in his State of the University address this past February. "Our committee feels strongly that this is what's best for Auburn," Byrd said. "It is going to improve retention rate, improve graduation rate, improve four year graduation rate, going to improve GPAs and going to reduce stress levels." The motion passed unanimously. The calendar committee must now decide how the schedule will be implemented in 2017. In other SGA news, Logan Powell stood before the SGA senate Oct. 27 to clarify the sanctions that Senator Weir and Colson Smith, executive vice president of programs, would face for taking 1,000 issues of the Aug. 28 issue of The Auburn Plainsman. "The first was an $800 fine that both parties have agreed to pay and will be submitted," Powell said. "The second is a written apology which has been written and submitted to The Plainsman and the third is an internal membership review of both Kohl and Colson. Those will be one-on-one meetings where we review their membership and how that act may affect their membership." In more SGA news, Senators Kohl Weir, Patrick Michael and Charlie Welch asked for the amount of $25,000 to be allocated to the Organizations Board Fund as a Program Expansion Fund. "Through reaching out to our constituents at O-Days, we saw a great need for greater funding to these different organizations on campus and we felt like this money could be sent wisely over on this side of campus," Weir said. The motion passed.
Many classes available today have three or four tests to make up the final grade. Study tools can ease the pain of stressing over doing well on a test. Study guides are often utilized by students to prepare for upcoming quizzes or exams. Some study guides come in the form of specific questions, while some come in the form of bullet points and tend to point students toward some of the topics on the exam. Whether or not a teacher gives a study guide is completely up to that teacher. Johnathon Hefner, freshman in business, said transitioning from a place where study guides are the norm to a place where study sessions are popular is difficult because study sessions tend to be vague. According to Hefner, in his high school, study guides were common. "In high school, my teachers handed out study guides and it made things easier," Hefner said. "Now, some of my professors here hold review sessions instead, and those can be vague, and people leave without knowing what to focus on." Some teachers are in agreement that study guides help students prepare for tests. However, others said they believe study guides are more of a list of topics that will be on the exam, rather than a guide through topics covered in class. Susan Brinson, professor in the School of Communication and Journalism, said she will no longer be handing out study guides to some of her classes after she researched study guides and the effects on students. "What I found was that a study guide was simply a list of things that will be on the exam," Brinson said. Brinson said she believes study guides do more harm than good. "From what I've found, a study guide excludes other things taught during the class that are still important to know down the road," Brinson said. According to Brinson, everything she teaches serves a purpose. "It would be a huge waste of time, so obviously there is some importance behind me teaching everything I teach," Brinson said. Study guides, which Brinson acknowledged have been around for many years, have harmed students ability to learn as students gained knowledge that what was on the study guide was going to be on the exam, Brinson said. "In some ways, yes, I think they have hurt students," Brinson said. "Since you guys were in middle school and all the way up, you were probably given study guides and you probably learned that what's on the study guide is what's going to be on the exam. Now, in college, the assumption is what's going to be on the study guide is going to be on the exam and in my class that's not accurate." Brinson said she believes study guides that point too much toward what will be on the exam is the fault of the United States educational system. "This I think is just a general failure of the educational system in the United States," Brinson said. "What we're teaching in the United States is what you're going to be tested on. There is so much emphasis and pressure on standardized exams and schools are trying to perform at the highest levels."
Huddled below Tichenor Hall, in the back halls of the basement, you can find a group of teachers on hard at work. However, these teachers are not your average college teachers, they're also students. The day of a graduate teaching assistant is one filled with plenty of time for work and little time for play. Sarah Anne Adamson's, a graduate teaching assistant for Communication 1000, or Public Speaking, day begins early and often with frustration because of the lack of on campus parking. Adamson, whose first class begins at 8 a.m., said Auburn Parking Services do not give graduate students parking decals, leaving them with the same frustration as undergraduate students. "We don't get parking decals, so we have to walk and have just as many parking problems as students even though we are teaching the classes," Adamson said. Once Adamson arrives on campus, she teaches public speaking at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. in the same room in Lowder Hall before a break at 10 a.m. Adamson calls this hour the coffee hour, since she uses to refuel with coffee from Starbucks for the class she teaches at 11 a.m. Adamson's responsibilities as a graduate teaching assistant include setting up the lectures for the day, getting the classroom in order and pulling up whatever visual aids are necessary. Adamson plays music before her classes to lighten the mood as she finds pre-class time to be awkward for everyone in class. "It's just really awkward when its silent and everyone is really trying to not make eye contact with you, and I'm just standing there by myself," Adamson said. Following the conclusion of their classes, Adamson and the other TAs meet in a room in Tichenor Hall to host their office hours, which typically last from 12-4 p.m. During this time, they either do work for their nighttime classes or help students who come for help. This time is also used to have a little bit of fun. Adamson admitted that the TAs often have sing-alongs during their office hours. "We are a weird group of people," Adamson said jokingly. "We usually tell students that the best way to find us is to go to the basement of Tichenor and listen for us because we have to leave the door open and we're normally really loud, but it can be fun." Students can find office hours to be intimidating when they walk into a room filled with older people Adamson said, which is why they try and keep the mood relaxed. After the conclusion of the office hours, the TAs for the School of Communication and Journalism prepare for their evening classes, which begin at 4 p.m. and last until 5:30 or 8 p.m., depending on the circumstances. "So it makes for a long day," Adamson said. "Some days I'm on campus from 8 a.m. or maybe a little earlier to 8 p.m. That is 12 hours so it obviously can be exhausting."
The Student Government Associations Oct. 13 meeting was a short one, with the only thing on the agenda being the confirmation of six freshmen senators. Last week, the code of laws saw a change when John LeMaster, a senator for the college of engineering, and Caroline Beauchine, a senator for the college of liberal arts presented an amendment to chapter 300 of the code of laws. Now, chapter 300 of the code of laws allows the Vice President of SGA to choose the senators and deal with issues pertaining to them. The six freshmen senators confirmed at the nights meeting were Ashley Archer, Hannah Clarke, Jacqueline Keck, Taylor Johnston, Brock Hendon, and David Facteau. Facteau, a freshman in psychology, said he is looking forward to being involved in an organization that has the power to help out students where they need it. "I'm looking forward to being involved in something that directly impacts students," Facteau said "So like being able to deal with funding and being able to pass laws that allow us to see changes on campus that we know will effect a lot of people is what I am really looking forward to the rest of the school year." In the meetings he has sat in on, Facteau said the experience has been enjoyable as he has learned a lot about what goes on behind the scenes at Auburn, something he had wondered about prior to attending the university. "I love the structure of all of this," Facteau said. "You know, before coming to Auburn I didn't know how allocation of funding works and now coming here I see how all of it works and how structured it is and how seriously it is taken. It's really cool to see." In other SGA news, Senator Dillon Nettles, a senior in political science, spoke of his upcoming bill which would create a Diversity Learning Community. Nettles bill will come to the floor next week.
Huddled below Tichenor Hall, in the back halls of the basement, you can find a group of teachers on hard at work. However, these teachers are not your average college teachers, they're also students. The day of a graduate teaching assistant is one filled with plenty of time for work and little time for play. Sarah Anne Adamson's, a graduate teaching assistant for Communication 1000, or Public Speaking, day begins early and often with frustration because of the lack of on campus parking. Adamson, whose first class begins at 8 a.m., said Auburn Parking Services do not give graduate students parking decals, leaving them with the same frustration as undergraduate students. "We don't get parking decals, so we have to walk and have just as many parking problems as students even though we are teaching the classes," Adamson said. Once Adamson arrives on campus, she teaches public speaking at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. in the same room in Lowder Hall before a break at 10 a.m. Adamson calls this hour the coffee hour, since she uses to refuel with coffee from Starbucks for the class she teaches at 11 a.m. Adamson's responsibilities as a graduate teaching assistant include setting up the lectures for the day, getting the classroom in order and pulling up whatever visual aids are necessary. Adamson plays music before her classes to lighten the mood as she finds pre-class time to be awkward for everyone in class. "It's just really awkward when its silent and everyone is really trying to not make eye contact with you, and I'm just standing there by myself," Adamson said. Following the conclusion of their classes, Adamson and the other TAs meet in a room in Tichenor Hall to host their office hours, which typically last from 12-4 p.m. During this time, they either do work for their nighttime classes or help students who come for help. This time is also used to have a little bit of fun. Adamson admitted that the TAs often have sing-alongs during their office hours. "We are a weird group of people," Adamson said jokingly. "We usually tell students that the best way to find us is to go to the basement of Tichenor and listen for us because we have to leave the door open and we're normally really loud, but it can be fun." Students can find office hours to be intimidating when they walk into a room filled with older people Adamson said, which is why they try and keep the mood relaxed. After the conclusion of the office hours, the TAs for the School of Communication and Journalism prepare for their evening classes, which begin at 4 p.m. and last until 5:30 or 8 p.m., depending on the circumstances. "So it makes for a long day," Adamson said. "Some days I'm on campus from 8 a.m. or maybe a little earlier to 8 p.m. That is 12 hours so it obviously can be exhausting."
The Student Government Associations Oct. 6 meeting dealt with an amendment to a chapter in the SGA Code of Laws and the ratification of one schools constitution. John LeMaster, a senator for the college of engineering, and Caroline Beauchine, a senator for the college of liberal arts brought an amendment in front of the senate, which would amend chapter 300 of the SGA code of laws. Prior to the amendment being passed, chapter 300.2 of the code of laws read "there shall be five members of the freshmen class selected to serve as Freshmen Senators from the time of their appointment until the Senate term expires. Only members of the freshmen class are to be selected as Freshmen Senators. Freshmen Senators will represent the freshmen class in the Student Senate." Now, following the approval of the amendment, chapter 300.2 of the code of laws reads "there shall be a representation of the Freshmen Class selected to serve as Freshmen Senators." LeMaster said the amendment gives the vice president of SGA the ability to work with Freshmen Senators and decide the process in which the number of senators and senators themselves are chosen. "This bill allows the Vice President, other wise knows as the chairman of senate, to choose and select the freshmen senators and deal with all of that work at his will," LeMaster said. In other news, senators for the college of business shared their ratification to the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business schools council constitution. The ratification comes after years of having the same constitution. Next week, six freshmen will face confirmation as freshmen senators. Ashley Archer, Hannah Clarke, Jacqueline Keck, Taylor Johnston, Brock Hendon and David Facteau will then be divided up to observe how each committee works within SGA senate.
The Student Government Associations Sep. 29 meeting had two new orders of business on the night's agenda. The first new order of business was a piece of legislation dealing with the Center of Student Organizations and Welcome Week Organizational Boards guidelines. The legislation, presented by Katie Nell, Senator at-Large, asked for the approval of the funding for the Organizations' Board, effective for the 2014-2015 year. Each year, the Center for Student Organizations makes available a limited amount of funds to each Permanent Status student organization to cover some of their operating expenses. Student Organizations may apply for up to $300 a year for their annual operating expenses beginning in August on a first come, first serve basis. "The $300 is applied for by the organization and the first ones that apply and are fundable programs get it," said Olabode Anise, vice president of SGA. "Then there is the $8,000 that a fundable program can apply for and that has to be approved by the SGA senate." Organizations must prepare a sample budget for what they would like to receive funding for at the time of the request. The sample budget will include the amount of money the organization plans to spend on advertising and promotion printing, books and subscriptions, food, or office supplies. According to the legislation, a fundable program, for the purpose of student activity fee funding, is defined as an educational or service activity held on campus or a service/outreach activity held off-campus. Fundable programs should: be open to all fee-paying students beyond the membership of the sponsoring student organization(s), provide developmental and educational outcomes for all participants, be broadly marketed, and abide by all guidelines and policies set forth by Auburn University. Minutes after Nell presented her legislation to the senate, John LeMaster, a senator for the college of engineering, presented an amendment to chapter 808 of the SGA Code of Laws. The amendment would require the available funds in the Organizations Fund at the beginning of a fiscal year to be no less than $60,000 instead of the current mark of $50,000. However, the amendment was tabled after Patrick Michael, the senator for the Budget and Finance committee, said the amendment needed to be worked on and that it was not a pressing issue seeing as that money cannot be allocated until the coming Spring. "I think it may be a little rash to pass this as it stands now," Michael said. " I think that we can make it better for student organizations and according to the code of laws, only a certain percentage of the money can be allocated at this point in the year so we wouldn't put any student organization at a disadvantage right now anyways."