State of the Students by Michael Dodd

Five academic buildings are being rebuilt or expanded, said ASG President Michael Dodd.

As the resources of the UA improve, so does the value of being a Razorback alumni, Dodd said.

Almost 50 percent of the freshman class has gone through recruitment, he said.

“Sustainability has reached new heights this year,” Dodd said. UA members started a community garden this year.

Homecoming reached a new high point under the leadership of Leah Nichols and Lauren Waldrip.

“It also helped having the most energizing end-game experience,” Dodd said.

International students have brought new ideas to ASG this year too, he said.

“The presidents council scholarship has reached its second year,” he said.

The 90th anniversary was also successfully held this weekend, he said.

The SEC Exchance is being held in late January, with past ASG vice president Emily Evans leading that committee, he said.

“IF we can do anything better to serve the student body, we will certainly make it a priority,” Dodd said.

Message from Chancellor G. David Gearhart

“I think we’ve made some really solid progress [during the past year],” he said.

(Gearhart is talking about the scandal happening up at Penn State, and how it should be a reminder about how quickly everything can fall apart. “It’s so terribly important to always be as transparent and open as possible,” Gearhart said.

It just goes to show you that you can have a stellar institution and it can all fall apart in a matter of a few hours, he said.)

“I think we’re having a great year,” he said. “We had the highest increase in the number of students in the history of the institution.”

“We’re running about 30 percent of our admissions this year,” he said. ”It is very possible we could get very close to that 25,000 number.”

“We’re getting more students that are coming from the top 10 percent of their graduating high school classes,” he said.

The admissions office staff thinks the UA can hold more than 25,000 students, possibly as much as 28,000, he said.

“We’re very pleased that people across the state—students across the state— are looking at this institution as the institution of first choice,” he said.

“I hope that you’ll be patient as we get this projects finished and completed,” he said. “Most of the projects we have underway right now will be completed in two years.”

“We’re really pleased with the progress we’re making there,” he said.

We will probably need another classroom building, he said.

UA officials are looking at how they could finance that, they don’t have the resources to build a building in the middle of campus, he said.

They are looking at adding a building to the edge of campus, he said.

Also looking at the potential of a concert hall on campus, he said.

“We do have some issues. The biggest issue I think is right now, at this time in our history, would be state support,” he said.

The UA has not had an increase in the state legislative support in six years, he said.

The state, by its own admission, thinks that the UA if underfunded by $30-$40 million, he said.

Another problem facing the UA and the state, is the lack of a D.R.E.A.M. Act or similar legislation, he said.

Many students that have gone to high school in Arkansas graduate and are told that they can not go to school here, or cannot afford to go to school here, he said.

If you send a person back to the place of their birth, it would take an average of 12 years to go through the system to get back over here, he said.

“It’s very critical that people understand that there are certain permitters within the D.R.E.A.M. Act,” he said. “It’s a fairly stringent criteria.”

(Gearhart has been an adamant supporter of the D.R.E.A.M. Act, and I have to give him credit for speaking up on an issue that can be unpopular in this state.)

UA officials have talked about tightening up bottom-line admissions requirements that currently allow students that do not meet UA basic admissions standards to petition a committee for a final decision, he said.

 Rudy Trejo, ASG Advisor:

Gen. Wesley Clark will be at the Walton Arts Center at 7 p.m.

With finals coming up, please remember to destress after Thanksgiving Break.

ASG President Michael Dodd:

If you have some innovative ideas regarding scooter, bicycle, pedestrian safety send those to Dodd because they’re starting to put together a committee, he said.

ASG Treasurer Austin Reid:

Appropriations committee members spent 35 hours together this weekend reviewing all of the appropriations funding, and this week they are holding appeals rounds, he said.

The appropriations round will go before Senate next Tuesday with about $153,000 in funding.

“This has been the must competitive round,” he said. “We had to cut about $220,000.”

Normally in the past they would be able to cut about half of the budget because of procedural errors, but Reid gave RSO members a chance to correct their budgets, so that didn’t happen this year, he said.

The system we have right now doesn’t work, he said.

Funding a semester in advance is a very pressure-heavy situation, he said.

After this funding round, I’ll be exploring and pushing for a case-by-case funding process, he said.

Roxanne Hazelwood, ASG Chief of Staff: 

The reception for Clark is already full, she said, but students are still able to attend the question-and-answr session and lecture, she said.

Senate Chair Grant Hodges:

Thanks to the appropriations committee to giving up most of their weekend to go through RSO budgets, he said.

RIC President Cameron Mussar:

RIC has a constituency of about 5,000 students, he said.

Talking with the Housing officials about the restoration of Yocum and Hotz Hall, he said.

Old Business:

None

New Business:

ASG Senate Resolution Number Three: Resolution to Support the Development of an Annual ASG Sponsored Razorback Ball

A campus-wide social affair could be an outstanding new tradition, according to the legislation.

The legislation requires no funds from ASG, but passing legislation would allow for it to be called an ASG-sponosored event, said Tori Pohlner, assistant press secretary.

They are going to present the proposal to the Program Allocations Board (hopefully) on Nov. 17.

ASG Senate Resolution Number Two: A Resolution to Institute A Medical Amnesty Policy Into The Code Of Student Life

(This legislation is very, very similar to the legislation passed by last year’s ASG senate authored by current ASG President Michael Dodd.)

“We don’t want anyone to be scared to call for help,” said ASG Senator J.R. Baxter.

“A students life should be important to us than anything,” he said.

The only difference this year, compared to last year, is that last years ran into some administrative issue. This year, the legislation would form an ad-hoc committee that would draft a letter, and the committee will send the letter and the legislation to the Board of Trustees, he said.

To Baxter’s knowledge, Dean Daniel Pugh hasn’t said if he’s against it or for it, but there are a lot of complications and work to be done, Baxter said.

Announcements:

There are actually five spots left in the Clark reception, Dodd said. First five people to email him get those spots.