Report from AdministrationPresident Wharton and Vice President Hage came to speak to Senate about a new prerogative that the town of Plymouth has begun working on. The selectmen of the town of Plymouth put out a warrant article at the town meeting. They are asking the town to hire a consultant to consider the merger of campus and town police. There was no communication with the University about this. This study was not to see how the town may better collaborate with the University Police but rather it is a move designed to have the Plymouth Police department take over the University police. The University of Vermont did an excellent job through an outside agency to contrast the city of Burlington police against the University of Vermont police. It puts into perspective the differences in training and skills and responsibilities that the different departments require to do the job that each department does. If students have any questions of comments about the matter please contact the senate.
Michelle’s LawMichelle’s Law passed 19-0-0 in the commerce committee! It is going before the house as early as the second week in January. For more information contact Katie Saraiva at kasaraiva@plymouth.edu
Congratulations Vice President Hage! A few weeks ago Vice President Hage received the Scott Goodnight award at NASPA. A resolution was passed by Senate congratulating the Vice President for all the time and effort he puts into working with the student body and Student Senate. Congratulations Vice President Hage!
Equal Employment ResolutionThe Equal Employment Resolution was tabled until the last week in March. This resolution was introduced November 13th and stated that any employer wishing to come on campus must sign a contract that abides with the Plymouth State University non-discrimination clause. The resolution was tabled in order to broaden this resolution to apply to all organizations. Senate will be working with members of the HUB staff to produce a document so that all organizations as well as employers on campus must comply with the non-discrimination clause before coming on campus.
Transportation for the Ski Package There may be transportation to the ski package mountains this year! There would be one bus to and from each mountain on either Friday Saturday and Sunday or perhaps just Saturday and Sunday’s due to financial constraints. In the morning between 8 and 9 the buses would pick students up and in the afternoon they would pick up at 4:00 at Canon, and 4:30 at Ragged. .Tentatively buses would run one weekend in December, all of February, and the first two weeks in March. The Senate is currently trying to work out a satisfactory financial plan to best serve the students transportation needs. Any insight as to which days would be most beneficial is greatly appreciated.
Four Credit System at Plymouth?There has been some preliminary discussion in the curriculum committee about having Plymouth switch to a four credit system. Currently we are on a three credit system for the majority of majors. Keene State College has just decided to switch to a four credit system in the coming years. Some differences with a four credit system would be that students would generally take four classes a semester instead of five and the class meeting times would be longer. Students would be able to focus more on those four classes and the course material would be more in depth. The Senate is asking for feed back on this issue as well. House Bill 406Recently a new bill was introduced in the New Hampshire Legislature. House Bill 406 would cut 4.3 billion dollars of federal financial aid for students. Check out the full story in the article on the Raid on Student Aid. Contact InformationCall: x2298E-mail: senate@plymouth.eduCome: Sunday December 4th 6pm HUB 119 (Last meeting of the semester!)