TEMPLE LAW�STUDENT BAR ASSOCIATION

SENATE MEETING

09.14.21

WELCOME!��TAKE A SEAT & SIGN IN!

SIGN-IN: https://bit.ly/sbasignin-sept

TONIGHT’S AGENDA

Call to Order

• Welcome
• SBA 101
• Robert’s Rules of Order
• Installation of Class Officers
• Senate Meeting Times

​

BOG Update

• BOG Roles
• BOG Office Hours
• Advocacy re: COVID Policies

​

Committee Reports

• Constitutional Committee
• Org Review Committee
• Budget Committee
• Social Committee – Barrister’s Ball
• Elections Committee
• Student/Faculty Committees

​

Resolutions

• Budget
• BOG Appointments (Secretary, Parliamentarian, ABA Rep)

​

New Business

SBA 101

PURPOSE OF THE SBA

• A student-run system of self-governance that:
• Fosters a sustainable environment to allow students to attain the highest level of scholastic, ethical, and personal advancement
• Promote our general welfare
• Develops and encourages scholastic attainment
• Facilitates communication with the faculty, students, and alumni
• Furthers professional and social interests
• Cooperates with other law schools through the American Bar Association—Law Student Division
• Secures to the Association and Temple Law the good will of the members of the legal profession

​

Adapted from the Preamble of the SBA Constitution

SBA BASICS

• What is the SBA?
• The Student Bar Association is Temple Law's student-run system of self-governance. The SBA oversees all student organizations.
• Who is in the SBA?
• All Temple Law students are automatically SBA members!
• What are the benefits of SBA membership?
• Electoral Power: to elect the Board of Governors (BOG) and Class Officers
• Initiative Power: to directly propose an amendment to the SBA Constitution or corresponding SBA Bylaws to the BOG
• Referendum Power: to approve or reject all proposed Amendments to the SBA Constitution
• Recall Power: to recall any elected SBA officer for severe misuse of authority or neglect of office
• What is the Student Senate?
• The governing body of the SBA
• Votes on matters and changes affecting all parts of Temple Law student life
• The representation provided by the Senate is a critical part of ensuring that the SBA continues to serve the student body
• When are SBA Senate Meetings?
• Once a month, excluding December and May, during the Fall and Spring Semesters of the school year
• All students are welcome to attend

SBA STUDENT SENATE

• The Student Senate consists of:
• The Board of Governors (7)
• Executive body of the SBA
• Formulates plan of activities and performs functions to execute the SBA Constitution
• Elected Class Officers (32)
• Represents interests of their classes
• Required to serve on an SBA committee
• Student Organization Representatives (1 per organization; ~38 total)
• Represents interests of their organization
• The Senate requires a quorum consisting of a majority of all voting members to conduct business (~38)
• Students should sit in the seating section based on their position

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

• BOG Elections occur at the end of the Spring Semester; new BOG Officers are installed in the last SBA meeting of the academic year
• After the Spring BOG elections, newly elected BOG members cannot seek Class Officer positions in the following Fall elections
• The BOG is made up of 7 positions:

CLASS OFFICER POSITIONS

• Class Officer Elections occur every Fall semester
• There are 32 total positions to represent students in the SBA Senate

​

ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVES

• Each student organization is required to be represented by one of its members at each SBA meeting
• Orgs may designate their representative through whatever policy the organization chooses
• Rep does not need to be an executive board member
• Do not need to send the same representative to each Senate meeting

VOTING

• The full SBA membership votes on any proposed amendments to the constitution
• On all other matters, only members of the Student Senate vote:
• Class Officers have two (2) votes
• BOG members have two (2) votes
• Org reps have one (1) vote
• Exception: all members of the Student Senate receive only one vote on the passage of the fall and spring budgets
• A voting member of the Student Senate may vote in only one capacity (either as an org rep or class officer)
• A class officer cannot also represent an org, even as a proxy
• An org rep cannot be a proxy for a class officer
• An org rep can be a proxy for only one other org rep

​

NOTES ON ATTENDANCE

Class Officers

• Cannot have more than three (3) absences, without proxy, over the course of the academic year
• Grounds for removal and result in preclusion from seeking further SBA office
• Can elect a proxy that is another class officer, but not an org rep

​

Org Representatives

• Cannot have more than two (2) absences, without proxy, over the course of the academic year
• Grounds for losing portions of, or full, budget allocation
• Can elect a proxy that is another org rep, but not a class officer
• No individual can represent more than two (2) organizations during a session of the Student Senate, including proxy representation

If you are unable to attend, you need to email sbamail@temple.edu ahead of the meeting with the reason for your absence and the name of your proxy.

SBA COMMITTEES

• Reminder: elected Class Officers must join at least one committee
• Organization representatives and other students are welcome to join
• Current Standing Committees:

​

STUDENT/FACULTY COMMITTEES

• Joining as a student member is a great way to have a direct influence on the way our law school operates, as well as work face-to-face with our esteemed and wonderful faculty
• Time commitment varies, but most committees will only require a few hours of participation per semester
• Students on Student/Faculty Committees are expected to provide reports at SBA Senate Meetings regarding the activities and meetings of the committee
• Positions are filled through SBA BOG selection; subject to a ratification of the Student Senate

SBA SENATE MEETING PROCEDURE

SENATE MEETINGS – WHAT WE DO

• Typical Meeting Structure
• Welcome / Sign-In
• Old Business
• BOG Report
• Committee Reports
• Resolutions
• New Business
• Any meeting attendee - elected reps, org reps, or student attendees - may raise issues, concerns, or ideas during the “New Business” portion of the meeting
• If we run out of time to address something, or something comes up between meetings, any elected Senate member may put in a request for a non-scheduled meeting or reach out to the Board
• If an issue does not get resolved at a meeting, we can table it for a future meeting

SENATE MEETINGS – HOW WE DO IT

• Robert’s Rules of Order
• www.robertsrules.com
• www.rulesonline.com

ROBERT’S RULES - BASICS

Be Recognized:

• A member raises hand when no one else has the floor.
• The chair recognizes the member by name.

Make Motion:

• A member makes the motion: “I move that . . . ” (or “to”) and resumes their seat.

Motion is Seconded:

• Another member seconds the motion (i.e., “I second the motion” or “I second” or “second”).
• The chair will state: “it is moved and seconded that . . . are you ready for the question?”

ROBERT’S RULES – BASICS (CONT.)

Discussion:

• Members can now debate the motion.
• Before speaking, obtain the floor by being recognized.
• The maker of the motion has the first right to the floor if they claim it properly.
• Remember:
• Be polite.
• Listen to the other side.
• Focus on issues, not personalities.
• Avoid questioning motives.
• Debate can only be closed by a 2/3 assembly vote, or by the chair if no one seeks the floor for further debate.

ROBERT’S RULES – BASICS (CONT.)

Result:

• After discussion has closed, the chair puts the motion to a vote.
• Most motions require a simple quorum majority to pass.
• The chair will announce the result—
• If enough “yea” votes 🡪 motion carries.
• Else 🡪 motion fails.

​

REPEAT!

​

Contact the Parliamentarian with any questions ☺

​

SAY HI TO BRITT!

Britt Walden, Esq. (she/her)

Director of Student Services and Academic Records

NEW CLASS OFFICER INSTALLATION

DAY DIVISION CLASS OFFICERS

1L Day

• Section 1 Senator: Shelby Dolch
• Section 2 Senator: Chelsea Sissom
• Section 3 Senator: Elizabeth Lilly
• Honor Code Rep: Fleur de Jong

2L Day

• President: Austin H. Duebel
• Vice President: Dominique Holly
• Senators:
• Angel Ekpo
• Chris Taffe*
• Harry Morris*
• Honor Code Rep: Carleigh Belardo*

3L Day

• President: Aaron Freedman
• Vice President: Sasha Phillips*
• Senators:
• Eric Grady
• Lorenzo Riboni*
• Jake O’Donnell*
• Honor Code Rep: Sarina Aghazadeh-Alavi*

​

​

​

EVENING DIVISION CLASS OFFICERS

1L Evening

• President: Nicole Williams
• Vice President: Bradley Sinkaus
• Senator: Jacqueline McCann
• Honor Code Rep: Carlos Thillet

2L Evening

• President: Billy Nam
• Vice President: Joseph Campbell*
• Senator: Patrick Long
• Honor Code Rep: Renaud Vann

3L Evening

• President: Frankie Hess
• Vice President: Caitlin Dolan
• Senator: Joe Hogan
• Honor Code Rep: Candice Johnson

4L Evening

• President: Meghan McLaughlin
• Vice President: Christina Wagner
• Senator: Jamie Carpino
• Honor Code Rep: Joan Taylor

CLASS OFFICER RESPONSIBILITIES

• Attend SBA Meetings, or email sbamail@temple.edu to elect a proxy
• Join an SBA Committee
• We’ll come back to this
• Be our eyes & ears!
• We want to know what students are concerned about
• Class Officer Outlook Group & BOG GroupMe

LOGISTICS

SENATE MEETING DAYS / TIMES

• Start time for future meetings will be 5PM
• Meetings will be kept to one hour
• Meetings occur once every month
• We will do a poll each semester to see what works for the most people
• This semester’s meeting times: https://bit.ly/sbameetingtimes

BOARD OF GOVERNORS’ UPDATE

BOG UPDATE

• Current BOG
• President: Laura Wojcik (she/her)
• VP-Day: Lina Ruth Duiker (she/her)
• VP-Evening: Sarah Martinez (she/her)
• Treasurer: Timmy Miller (he/him/they/them)
• 3 BOG members were unable to serve in their positions this semester
• Constitution says in event of vacancy, president appoints with senate majority ratification
• Appointments
• Secretary: Maggie Nealon (she/her)
• Parliamentarian: Jonah Levinson (he/him)
• ABA Rep: Elaine Barton (she/her)

BOG ACTIVITIES THUS FAR

• Org Office Clean-Out; Reassignment
• 8/27-8/28 – Office spaces cleaned out
• Week of 9/1 – Reassignments sent; orgs able to move in
• 9/12 – communicated lock box codes; set up request form
• Weekly Brief – please submit all events and announcements by Sunday at Noon
• COVID Advocacy
• 8/13 – Communicated concerns to Dean B regarding student ambiguity on law school COVID policies
• 8/18 – BOG met with Dean B and Britt seeking additional clarification; discussed a student-lead Pledge
• 8/22 – BOG sent further questions to Dean B that we needed answers to before crafting a Pledge
• 8/23 – Highlighted the COVID policies in the Weekly Brief
• 8/24 – Requested guidance on food at student org events
• 8/30 – Treasurer sent guidance to student leaders re: how to navigate student org event food policy
• 9/08 – BOG met with Dean B; relayed student concerns and on-campus observations
• Current: still waiting on answers to questions, additional university guidance before crafting Pledge language

​

​

BOG OFFICE HOURS

• Laura Wojcik, President
• Tuesdays, 1:00-3:00PM in SBA Office (301-L Barrack) or Zoom
• laura.wojcik@temple.edu / sbapres@temple.edu
• Lina Ruth Duiker, VP-Day
• Thursdays, 3:00-5:00pm in SBA Office (301-L Barrack) or Zoom
• lina.duiker@temple.edu
• Sarah Martinez, VP-Evening
• Ad-hoc, please contact to arrange meeting time
• sarah.martinez@temple.edu
• Timmy Miller, Treasurer
• Mondays 1:00-3:00PM via Zoom
• sbatreas@temple.edu / timothymiller@temple.edu

Office Hours Zoom

ID: 985 0988 2810

https://temple.zoom.us/j/98509882810

• Maggie Nealon, Secretary (Appointee)
• Wednesdays, 12:00-2:00PM in SBA Office (301-L Barrack)
• margaret.nealon@temple.edu
• Jonah Levinson, Parliamentarian (Appointee)
• Thursdays, 3:00-5:00PM in SBA Office (301-L Barrack) or Zoom
• jonah.s.levinson@temple.edu
• Elaine Barton, ABA Rep (Appointee)
• Mondays, 8:30 – 10:30AM, fourth floor of library
• tue67012@temple.edu

COMMITTEE REPORTS

OVERVIEW

Community Outreach Committee

Constitutional Committee

Election Committee

Org Review Committee

Social Committee

Budget Committee

Chair:

ABA Rep

Chair: Parliamentarian

Chair:

President

Chair:

Secretary

Chair:

Day & Evening VPs

Chair:

Treasurer

CONSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE

• Current Situation
• Multiple copies from 2019
• Reached out to president at that time for meeting agendas to see resolutions passed
• Once we confirm 2019 version, need to incorporate all passed last year
• Once we have a starting point…
• Resolve structural impossibilities, inconsistencies
• Document traditional practice/interpretation of the rules
• Make clearer
• Incorporate any changes made by this senate

ORG REVIEW COMMITTEE

• Results of April 2021 Org Review Resolutions
• Temple Law Republicans’ charter no longer active (free to reapply)
• Brehons on probation
• First Gen Night Owls were granted their probationary charter by SBA vote
• Justinians did not participate in org review, should have been placed on probation – annual process, can’t make recommendations now
• Anyone looking to revive, please email laura.wojcik@temple.edu

AND NOW…���A BUDGET COMMITTEE UPDATE

TREASURER UPDATE

• Coordinated Board of Governors budget to help lower Barrister’s Ball costs
• Created new SBA forms that are fillable PDFs and give more important info – we are entirely virtual/paperless!
• Keeping better records of finances – having virtual forms makes that easier, organizing a better Google Drive
• Developing better spreadsheets for record-keeping
• Reviewed SBA policies over the summer to identify improvement areas / where policies conflict / where policies can be found– planning to do a Budget Committee project consolidating these
• Creating new SBA forms in compliance with our policies to help us do more with the money we have:
• A “budget variance” request – if you are allocated money via 105 but want to change what you are spending it on
• A “fundraising report” form – in the past, orgs have been discouraged from fundraising for charitable causes because they have to provide certain, so this will help make this process somewhat easier by letting people know what they must track
• Class officer spending request and reimbursement forms – the 105/106/109 processes are geared towards organizations, and it has not been clear to officers in the past how they can spend money, so this should help remedy that issue. Class Officers, look forward to receiving these ☺
• Guidance went to all Presidents and Treasurers on the most up-to-date policies on 8/30 regarding food and events. Please abide by these! If your event is not in compliance, that carries serious ramifications.

BUDGET COMMITTEE

• The Budget Committee is now ready to go! They are an amazing group and participated in an engaged and thoughtful approach to funding orgs this year with our 105 approvals.
• Were able to approve most requests in full – there are always some that we need further clarification on that can be resubmitted through a 106 form.
• Total Requested: $31, 786.49
• Total Approved: $27,731.93
• Hoping to work on tracking all of our policies, consolidating overlap and clarifying inconsistencies, and potentially creating a specific “Funding Code.”
• For next semester, we’ll create a “model budget” 105 request to distribute to orgs and additional guides.
• And drumroll, here’s your….

BUDGET COMMITTEE LIAISONS

Note from Timmy: When you submit 106/109 requests, you will send them to your liaison for consideration, then to me. I’ll be sending out some further guidance on how to fill out some of the forms to prevent issues with the editable PDFs.

FY 22 – �OPERATING BUDGET

https://bit.ly/FY22SBABudget

FY 22 – �SBA ORG ALLOCATIONS

https://bit.ly/FY22SBABudget

SOCIAL COMMITTEE

• BOG met this summer to discuss how we can make the ticket price accessible given cost increases ($125/p)
• Decided (and got admin approval) to increase $6k contribution to $14k, creating a total of $20k from the BOG to subsidize ticket costs
• Ticket Pricing Options:
• Apply subsidy to all tickets
• Apply subsidy to student tickets only (no limit on amount of guests)
• Offer tickets to students first, leftover offered to guests (at same or increased price)
• Initial Feedback Form: https://bit.ly/bballticketoptions
• Tentative Details: January 21, 2022 at Vie
• Status: contract negotiations / university requirements

ELECTIONS COMMITTEE

• Fall 2021 Election Committee Report
• 8 write-in races without any balloted candidates
• 32 class officers have been elected and installed
• Elections Committee was replaced before voting to ensure a fair election
• Currently staffed by 5 graduating students: 3 Day Division, 2 Evening Division through President’s appointment
• The Elections Committee did not make any finding of misconduct or rule breaking by any candidates during the course of this elections cycle

ELECTIONS COMMITTEE (CONT.)

• Notes on the process:
• Need to reform the constitution and this process
• Rules are not clear as written, also conflicting versions of constitution, lack of incorporation, no parliamentarian, inconsistencies between past practice vs. policy
• No-slate rule had been considered in past, think it should be considered for the future
• Might be better to have class officer elections in spring following BOG elections, with only 1L elections in fall
• If you’re passionate about helping to craft a better process, sign up for elections committee and/or constitutional committee!
• We want to hear your feedback, and because it is such an important/big topic, we are scheduling a dedicated Q&A/Feedback session

SIGN UP FOR COMMITTEES

• Required of class officers
• Anyone can join most committees, some have restrictions
• Exceptions: Honor Code; Elections Committee; Budget Committee has already been appointed
• Available Committees:

Sign-Up Due:

Friday, 9/17 by 5PM

https://bit.ly/sbacommittees

STUDENT/FACULTY COMMITTEE APPLICATIONS

Application Due:

Tuesday, 9/21 by 5PM

https://bit.ly/studentfacultyapp

RESOLUTIONS

VOTING PROCEDURE

https://bit.ly/sept-resolutions

RESOLUTION #1

Resolved:

The BOG President’s appointment of Maggie Nealon as Secretary is approved.

RESOLUTION #2

Resolved:

The BOG President’s appointment of Jonah Levinson as Parliamentarian is approved.

RESOLUTION #3

Resolved:

The BOG President’s appointment of Elaine Barton as ABA Representative is approved.

RESOLUTION #4

Resolved:

The budget allocations as proposed by the Budget Committee are approved.

NEW BUSINESS

PUBLIC COMMENT FROM ANDY METZGER, 2L

OPEN DISCUSSION

THANKS EVERYONE!

Learn More / Contact Us: