Course Project Data Observation #1
Data: 02-14-01
Site: ASU-Newport SGA Meeting
(North-end, Student Center, noon)
In entered the meeting room. There were tables set up in the shape of a "U" with students sitting around the tables. Two sponsors were sitting at the end of one of the tables. The sponsors were talking to each other and the students were talking quietly.
A girl at the center of the students called the meeting to order. She then called for the minutes from the previous meeting. A second girl sitting next to the first girl (the first girl was the one who called the meeting to order) read the minutes for the previous meeting. Other students in the room appeared to be listening but continued to eat. A couple of people whispered quietly for a few seconds. The first girl called for the treasure's report. The sponsor said that the treasurer was not present so she would read the status of the finances of the club. She did that and the first girl asked if anyone had old business to discuss.
She then called for the results from the officers election which was read by the sponsor. The first girl suggested that the club decide on a new meeting time. A man asked if they needed to choose a new time or a new day. The first girl answered by saying that it didn't matter as long as it was not the current time of noon each week because the treasure couldn't attend the meetings at that time. Discussion followed about the date and time of future meetings and the members decided that future meetings would be held every other Wednesday. This was voted on and passed. There was no one opposed to it.
The man that had asked about the date and time of the meetings then asked when the dance was scheduled and a discussion of the dance followed. The first girl said she needed everyone who was on a sub-committee to get the results of their sub-committees to her. The man then suggested that the dance be moved forward one week so that it would be the following Saturday. A motion was made by another girl who was sitting by the man to move the date of the dance up one week and seconded by the girl sitting beside the first girl who had read the minutes. The members voted in favor of moving the dance up.
The man began talking about the music to be at the dance. He said he had talked with a DJ who had committed to come work the dance. He said he would call him and see if he could do it on the new date for the dance. Discussion followed about the DJ and how he would be paid. The man indicated that the club would have to put down a deposit. The sponsor then asked if the DJ understood that he would have to accept a purchase order. The man asked what a purchase order was and was told by the sponsor that it meant he would get his money for working the dance but that he would get it at a later date. The man said he would discuss this with the DJ when he called him.
The first girl said that she had gone to The Golden Grotto to look for decorations for the dance. She said that they had nothing they could use for the theme of the dance which was Mardi Gras.
The first girl then announced that the officers would travel to Jonesboro to visit with the SGA officers at ASU-Jonesboro. The sponsor then gave directions concerning the trip and said that the officers in the Jonesboro SGA were going to help the Newport organization move to more of a governmental organization so that the ASUN SGA could be recognized by the ASU board of trusties. The man then mentioned that the SGA officers in Jonesboro got paid for their service. The other sponsor said that one of the reasons the ASUN SGA was working with the Jonesboro SGA was so that they could become more like them.
The first girl then asked if anyone had any other old business. No one responded. The first girl then asked if anyone had any new business. She then said that someone needed to work on creating a brochure for the Newport SGA. She then asked who would like to do the brochure. The sponsor then said that she had an old brochure that wasn't very good and that she thought the members should start from scratch and make a new one.
The man asked who would be fixing our web page and the sponsor said that we will now be allowed to edit our web page ourselves using her computer. The sponsor said that she had talked with the person in charge of the server on campus and it would be set up so that they would have access to the web page from her office. The second sponsor suggested that members look at the web page of the Jonesboro SGA to get some ideas of what they want on the page.
The first girl mentioned that the ASUN SGA was trying to get an ATM machine put on campus. She said that someone needed to check into it and get information on what it would entail. The girl sitting beside her said that she would volunteer to check on it and bring information she acquired to a future meeting.
The sponsor then announced that the faculty had committees that needed students to be on them. She asked for SGA students to help with this. The sponsor said she would email the SGA members a list of committees that needed students serving on them and the students could choose which committee they wanted to serve on.
The first girl announced that there was a need to set a date and time for officer training and that this needed to be done as soon as possible. Discussion followed to choose a date and time and the SGA members choose next Thursday at 4:30 P.M. The first girl suggested that SGA set up a booth at registration so that students on campus would see that the SGA was in existence and active. Several people agreed that this was a good idea.
The first girl asked if there was any other new business. Most of the members shook their heads and no one said anything. The first girl then announced that the meeting was adjourned. Everyone got up and walked out the door talking with each other as the left.