BSUSA Student Senate Weblog

2006-02-06T23:14:00.000-06:00

Lobbying in DC

2005-10-11T17:36:00.000-05:00

Well I've finally entered the world of the Senate Blog. I realize I needed to talk about my trip to DC.
The trip was very productive and I think we did a lot of good work. After meeting with Senator Dayton, Senator Coleman, Rep. McCollum, and Rep. Peterson I had a very good overall feeling. I feel the HR 609 should be defeated if it ever reaches the house floor. As of now it's been pushed back until at least the beginning of next year. HR 609 would cut federal student aid by almost 11 billion dollars. Bemidji State alone would lose $633,000 in campus based aid programs. The work the directors did in DC will help curb this loss.
The fight still isn't over and won't be until we know the final vote. I urge all students to call their Reps. and tell them to vote no on HR 609.

September Conference 05

2005-09-18T21:18:00.000-05:00

For whatever it's worth, lets try to get this thing started. What better way to begin than by posting a bit about the conference we just returned from.

Needless to say, It was interesting. Every MSUSA event is in one way or another. I think we did a lot of good work and began to make some important decisions about things like the DC Summit 2006 and the Monitor. There were of course other things I won't list in this short post.

People were really surprised at the small size of our delegation this month: 3. Let's shoot for at least 8 in October, everyone.

Another Year Begins

2005-08-31T08:49:00.000-05:00

And I think we should revive this blog.

2005-08-01T14:03:00.000-05:00

To Whom it May Concern

2005-02-17T17:35:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to say (for whatever its worth on the blog that no one reads) that the PR committee ROCKED THE HOUSE tonight at our meeting. In less than two hours we made enough inserts for ALL the res halls on campus, cut them, addressed them where necessary, and separated them out for each of the dorms according to the numbers we got from Res Life. We also made enough flyers for all the corkboards on campus, and those will be up tomorrow. So, a big shout out to everyone who helped. You guys made my day!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nicole :)

2005-02-13T14:51:00.000-06:00

Check this out...

Lawmakers urged to support tuition freeze, fund programs that help rural health care

Rally Day

2005-02-10T22:51:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was MSUSA Rally Day, and it was great! We had the most students of any University, decent weather and lots of fun. We may have even picked up a couple of Senate applicants!

Read more on the subject on Nicole's blog.

Absolutely!

2005-02-02T19:17:00.000-06:00

I agree with Julie's assessment in a recent post on her blog...Senate has more passion these days, and it's GREAT!

Let's all keep up this momentum...ROCK ON!

A Strange Feeling

2005-01-22T16:28:00.000-06:00

It felt strange to sleep in today...to even be sitting here blogging, watching TV, and reading. Maybe there is a silver lining to bad weather costing us a conference??

New Semester

2005-01-19T01:17:00.000-06:00

Well, the new semester is underway after a very short break.

I hope this semester goes smoothly for everyone. We got some new people coming into Senate, which is good. We need more people.

I think the semester will be fun. There should be good times for everyone!

Michelle

HolIday "PAR-TAY"

2004-12-15T23:36:00.000-06:00

So, this blog seems to have been neglected for a while. Time to bring it back to life!

We had our Senate Christmas party (or Par-tay, as some say it) tonight at Nicole's house. It was a grand old time. Most of the Senate was there, although we certainly missed the ones who weren't.

One small house + 15 or so Senators (and one spouse)+ Two dogs and a couple of cats=Plenty of fun to be had!

Some highlights:

Interaction between Nicole and Adam's dog and Gregg's dog...not sure they liked each other much
Josh throwing coins at me-AGAIN!
Michelle and Angie and their new camera...I wonder how many embarassing photos they took while we weren't looking
Lt. Extreme-we exchanged "white eleaphant" gifts that the PR committee had gotten, and Gregg and Adam ended up with some 'well built' action figures...were those pecs or man-breasts?
Julie argues with Paige (Gregg's dog) over some sort of noisy baton toy
Jake writes a silly string message on Julie's car before departing....at least we think it was him...maybe it was the bogeyman.

It was just an overall fun time...a chance to relax before finals. What a crew!

Power

2004-11-28T09:28:00.000-06:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/28/international/europe/28ukraine.html?pagewanted=1

This article is proof that government listens to young people if our voice is loud enough.
If you've been following the Ukraine elections at all you know how important the youth have been in the process. Camping out in tents, cancelling college classes...organizing peaceful civil disobedience. They're passionate - do we exude the same passion in what we do?

I wasn't very clear...

2004-11-12T21:08:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to make my previous post clearer;I really didn't mean that its silly that no one came to our meeting, (ie bitch about it) but rather, to say that everyone is so busy that we just need to find some new people for senate and/or our committees so that we can get more done in the future, but also so that more people are represented. However, this is the plauge of being involved - trying to get others excited about it too - but I must say that I LOVE working with all of you, and I'm very proud of what we have all been doing since I've joined senate. So, sorry if I made anyone feel that they're not doing enough. Geez, it's exactly the opposite!
Nicole :)

Good Job

2004-11-12T20:54:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to tell Berne that he did a good job on the senate web pages!

Kudos to you :)

Michelle

PR needs...

2004-11-12T17:35:00.000-06:00

Hey guys. We just had another PR meeting, with the three (currently) active members:
Kate
Me
Tracy
This is getting a little silly, especially since we are looking at waging a pretty big, intense tuition freeze campaign next semester. We need more help; its not that what we are currently doing is all that labor intensive (we could do more if we had more peeps) but next semester if we really want to accomplish this tuition freeze (which I think we all do) we are going to need more help.

We talked about some ideas about recruiting new committee members and or senators, but it all seems so played out. We need fresh ideas and some fresh people. SO, does anyone have any suggestions for us? We know that most of those already on senate are doing more than their fair share, but we really are going to need some more help on the PR committee - so we need fresh blood. How can we more effectivly get what we want? We have one very good (as in fun, new, and yummy) idea for getting people into the senate office - it involves a treat, frosting, and hot chocolate, but that's not going to be enough.

OBVIOUSLY, unless you skipped the bulk of this e-mail, I'm asking if anyone has any good ideas for us? You can either write back here, e-mail me at nicole_edith@hotmail.com, or post on the senate message board (not too many post here, but I do read it every day, just in case).
Thanks in advance, and just for reading,
Nicole :)

Its me

2004-11-10T15:47:00.000-06:00

wooohoooo i got on the blog!! i'm in now lol

Welcoming New Blog Members

2004-11-08T20:35:00.000-06:00

Just thought I'd post quickly to welcome Angie and Nicole to the blog. I love being an enabler when it comes to blogging. It's fun, and gives us the opportunity to share a little of the inner workings of Senate with the students, community and others who may be reading.

Hot diggidy dog

2004-11-08T19:39:00.000-06:00

Yay! Berne is an enabler...to my new Blogging addiction! Thanks...
So, when I stopped by the office earlier today (I couldn't remember exactly why I stopped in, I was just drawn there...errie) Sasina, Josh, and Berne were all there. What a silly time I had. I am really enjoying myself on Senate. Thanks guys. Not much official for me to talk about...maybe our meeting time for PR this week? I should actually e-mail Kate about that. I'm applying for the University Bookstore Committee. Is there anyone else? I'm looking forward to the December Conference. Without delegates it should actually be a very good time...not that Fall Conference wasn't - just a 14 hour day kind of fun. I like these...they are fun...can't stop...
Nicole :)

Wallys

2004-11-08T18:16:00.000-06:00

So Berne and I have talked about this and I'm frustrated, and I think Berne is too. St. Olaf was rated 9th in the nation for their food service. Yes, they're private, but you can't tell me they don't have a food vendor...and they're in Minnesota!
I feel like we're being pushed around. We have an opportunity to make a change - will we take the opportunity, and is it what's best for students?

Bienvenue Au Togo!

2004-11-07T15:17:00.000-06:00

Today, Sarah, Michelle, Angie, Josh and I cheered on runners at World Run Day. Runners were raising money for United Way.

As the name implies, different nations were represented at each mile marker along the route. Stationed at marker # 3, we represented the country of Togo. We even greeted runners in French as they passed, as French is Togo's official language.

The Gold Star for the day went to Josh. As we stood around waiting, (we were at our station by 10, and weren't set to see runners for quite a while), he mentioned that it would be an ideal time for a picnic.

Crazy people that we are, we decided to go for it. Michelle called Sarah, who had already run to get batteries for the CD player (We had Toganese music too) and had her pick up some hot dogs, chips and cookies, while Josh and I went to pick up his trusty Smokey Joe.

An impromptu picnic on the side of old Birchmont Drive while helping out a great cause. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Saturday At The Office

2004-11-06T19:58:00.000-06:00

Spent the afternoon in the office working on the website and the next draft of the conference code. Also decided to clean the refrigerator... Julie had been saying lately that it was kinda gross.

Angie, Michelle, and Sarah deserve mad props...they worked like crazy on stuff for World Run Day tomorrow, and the Diversity News board in the lower union.

Senators are busy bees, even on Saturdays.

Energy

2004-11-04T21:19:00.000-06:00

The energy in the office the past few days has been awesome! People are working extra hours and always asking how they can help. With the 'superman list' getting longer every day, this is something Jake and I really appreciate! Keep up the good work and enthusiasm!

MSUSA Fall Conference

2004-10-28T22:46:00.000-05:00

Julie said to blog about the Conference, so here you go. I'm Campus Rep, so I suppose it's kinda my job anyhow... I'm a blogaholic, so it fits.

This past weekend was the MSUSA Fall Conference. 12 of us went down to St Paul for it. It was a busy weekend, we did a lot and learned a lot, and I think we had some fun too.

Friday was cool. Most of the group went to the Penny Fellowship Dinner that MSUSA puts on every year to raise money for a scholarship of the same name. Afterwords, we all went to my house (a mile from the hotel) where Mom had baked cookies and cake for everybody. A couple former Senators, Brent and Melissa, also joined us. They are totally awesome, and we miss having both of them around. It was cool to get everyone together and just hang out, tell stories, and have a good time. My Mom must have thought we were all nuts! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

Saturday was crazy busy. We had a full day of committee meetings, issue briefings and trainings. Topics included media, HEA Reauthorization, Grassroots organizing and lobbying, coalition building, recruitment and retention, and planning for the tuition freeze campaign. I think all the meetings went very well, and I think people got a lot from them. All told, it was a 14 hour day for us. (16 for Julie...Thanks Pres!) That night we all just kind of hung out. Angie, Michelle, Sarah, Nicole and I ate pizza, talked, and we're generally silly until turning in about 1:30 AM.

Delegates went well on Sunday morning. We passed the MSUSA budget in less than a half hour...record time. We didn't start going through Articles of Operation because they need to be worked on more. So, we'll be considering those over the next few months, and they will come up at the regular Delegate Assembly the first weekend of April.

I think a good time was had by all. Conferences can be long and tiring sometimes. But they are also fun...great learning and bonding experiences. Any BSU student can go, so if you're reading this and it sounds interesting let us know. We're pretty cool, and so are most of the other delegations. Give conferences a try , I think you'll like them.

I'd like to conclude by once again saying THANKS to the BSUSA participants! You rock! Next up on the conference calendar: December 3-5 at Metropolitan State University!

Conference

2004-10-27T22:46:00.000-05:00

Somebody should blog about the conference - not me - I'm delegating it :)

WoooHooo

2004-10-13T23:53:00.000-05:00

Yea!!!!! I can post too, lol

Lookout blogger, here I come

Michelle

Welcome Julie

2004-10-13T23:29:00.000-05:00

Our Prez rocks! But I'm still teaching her how to link things haha!

A Day in the Life

2004-10-13T22:52:00.000-05:00

So today was a great day...one of those days where I love being Prez and dread the end of the year. Everybody was super goofy and didn't seemed bogged down by all the other commitments I know they have. Berne was talking like a girl, P was having spasms, and Angie laughed so hard she had to leave our meeting. The office had a fun vibe today - let's work on keeping that.
I felt productive today, met with HUPB to plan a get out the vote drive - I feel like our relationship with them is better than it has been since I've been on Senate, thanks in part to their Prez coming to us with ideas.
Also met with a dean and two professors to plan a conference on international issues. If all goes well it will be here at BSU in the spring. Overall it was one of the best meetings I've ever been to. Productive, efficient, and thought provoking. I left thinking about students and what we're being taught. Do we give back as much as the generation before us did? Do we contribute to our communities or simply sit back and worry about ourselves? The argument is that we're the most selfish generation that's existed in a long time. Well I am a part of this generation and I will not be like that. Neither will the 15 people that spend their Wednesday nights representing other BSU students or the people on HUPB, or my roomie, or my friends. There are many of us who believe in giving back and in helping others. Focus on us, believe in us, then sit back and watch us do incredible things :)

Welcome Jake!

2004-10-13T21:50:00.000-05:00

Glad to see you've ventured into the blogsphere! Yeah, I changed the name again.

here's Jake

2004-10-13T21:28:00.000-05:00

Hey-

This is Jake, and, as I think is the cliche, I'm supposed to say something like, "well, this is my first blog, i'm not sure if this is going to work, but if you're reading this, it worked". Now that I have that out of the way, I hope that students check back now and again just to see what we have to say. I'm going to leave it at that for now, as I have a thesis to work on.

Bye

Jake Overgaard

Welcome!

2004-10-07T08:36:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the new weblog of the Student Senate. You may notice that this blog has replaced the Latest News/President and VP pages. Well, we thought this would be an easier way to do more frequent updates, so we're giving it a shot.

Watch this space for updates, Presidential ramblings, and whatever else we might post. Into the blogsphere we go!

-Web Coordinator Berne

Test

2004-09-30T09:37:00.000-05:00

test post