TRUSTEE CORNER
By Cassie Fuller
IVCC Student Trustee and Staff Columnist, Oct. 16, 2008
Student Government Association has been very busy since my last report. Freshmen elections took place in mid-September and with 181 total ballots, Kyle Wineinger was elected Freshmen Representative. Kati Tunget and Cheyanne Smith were elected to the Programming Board. I would like to thank all who voted in this election and also all who helped work at the voting table, especially Sandy Beard.
Shortly after the election, SGA approved the Student Activities Budget, which divides the money in the Student Activities Fund to the clubs and organizations at a fair amount (considering need, amount of activity and history of spending).
The Illinois Community College Student Activities Association has a Conference in Springfield on Oct. 24 and 25—Student Government will attend this conference, as it does every year. This is a really beneficial conference for SGA to go to because we learn about a variety of things and we get a lot of ideas about campus safety, advertising and governance.
Student Government is also endorsing “Bras for a Cause” again this fall in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. What this charity does is that for every bra donated, The Miller Group and Gary Dahl will donate $5 to breast cancer research.
The bras will then be cleaned and donated to various women’s shelters. Donation boxes are placed around the school and will be available until Oct. 30.
Last year, IVCC alone raised almost 400 bras—this year our goal is 600. Bras can be new or used and any kinds are accepted. Some students from the Honors Program are also taking on this project.
The board met on Sept. 24 and transferred some funds to the Athletics, Operation and Maintenance and Education funds. We also approved some protection, health and safety projects,which include restroom modifications, elevator repair, exterior door replacement to Building G and security surveillance improvements.
The board also discussed contracts and compensation, approving the new faculty contract, increasing the part-time faculty pay scale, concluding the vice president contract and wrapping up compensation for faculty not affected by the negotiation agreements.
IVCC President Jerry Corcoran thanked the students and faculty for being cooperative with the process of building the new parking lot. There was also a presentation on the TIF distribution, which will be reviewed by the board in the near future.
On Oct. 7, the board met for an Audit/Finance Committee meeting. Here, the Audit for FY08 was presented and it came back with excellent results.
What this means is that we are spending our money wisely, and also, our tuition is reasonably priced compared to other community colleges in our peer group.
The 2008 Tentative Tax Levy was also presented to the board with a projection that taxes should be lower this year, based on the 6 percent increase from the previous year. The exact figures for this will not be finalized until later this year and it is likely there will be a public hearing about the subject.
Athletics was also discussed at this meeting and it was found that there was a large decrease in spending this past year. There were also some possible plans for the future regarding the role of the Athletic Director and the sports available for students.