GSS Meeting March 7, 2001 Minutes 1. Attendance 2. Postdoctoral Association 3. Announcements / Committee Briefs A) Activities B) Food Service Contract C) VP of Information Services D) Vfund E) Security Task Force F) International Buddy Program G) University Counseling Services 4. Vacant Dean Position 5. Motions 1. Attendance Colleen Nardi Sathaporn Laksanacharoen Susan Tullai-McGuinness Carrie Coutts Pamela Maimer Cari Corrigan Emily Dakin Juilee Decker Jon Silva Gayathri Krishnamoorthy Brian Hock Wendy Nikdorf Siobhan Conaty Peter Karagiannis Tom Hund Rich Charnigo John Martin Mike Grossner Tammy DelVallie 2. Postdoctoral Association Wendy Nixdorf and Brian Hock from the new Postdoctoral Association spoke briefly about their group. After a year of getting started, the association is now official. We anticipate some combined activities with the group, since the interests of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers are similar. One idea is a mentoring program, where postdocs would share experiences with grad students. For more inforfation, email Leslie at lxm24@po.cwru.edu. 3. Announcements / Committee Briefs A) Activities Plans continue for the upcoming GSS Dinner/Dance, which takes place on April 21. There are a few very specific volunteer jobs that need to be filled. Please contact John (jcm2@po.cwru.edu) if you'd like to help. B) Food Service Contract Aramark's contract is up soon, so CWRU is taking bids for a campus food service company. The recent dining services survey revealed that people were willing to pay more for high quality food and that graduate students, faculty and staff had the highest profit margins. So look for some improvements when the new dining services begins. It can't get any worse, can it? C) VP of Information Services John reports on the progress of the search for a new IS VP. Well, not really progress, more like a year and a half of no progress. The search committee has passed on a name to the administration, but it looks like they won't be moving on this any time soon. D) Vfund Plans are underway for soliciting money for the Vfund account. The source of funding for the fundraiser has yet to be determined. (Kind of ironic, huh?) E) Security Task Force Cari Corrigan went to the Security Task Force meeting last month. There was a question raised about email notification of person to person crimes on campus. The GSS unanimously voted for Motion 2001.02, which indicates that graduate students support campus-wide emails concerning crimes. F) International Buddy Program International Buddy Program coordinators will meet Wednesday, March 21, at noon in the basement of Crawford. A few programs don't have coordinators yet, so keep recruiting! Coordinators will arrange buddies for new international students in their department. Please contact Noom (sxl39@po.cwru.edu) if you can be a coordinator. There will be food at the meeting! G) University Counseling Services UCS is holding a "think tank" meeting for programming ideas on April 11 from 9am-Noon. Breakfast will be provided. We need a graduate student to attend and represent GSS. Contact Rich (rjc12@po.cwru.edu) if you're interested. 4. Vacant Dean Position The biggest issue of the meeting is what's happening with the administration in the Graduate Studies Office. Apparently, the position of Assistant Dean will no longer exist, giving the staff more work and responsibility. But even of more concern to graduate students is that the Provost's office is considering appointing a part-time Dean who is a current faculty member at CWRU. Since one of the roles of the Dean of Graduate Students is to facilitate disputes between faculty and students, this appointment would be a conflict of interests. Motion 2000.02 was passed UNANIMOUSLY and states the attitude of the graduate student body toward this recent development. Please read the motion for more details about the situation. Provost Wagner has agreed to be present at the next meeting to discuss this issue. The meeting will be held at the Guilford House Dining Room on Wednesday, April 11. Please be there to express your concerns and those of your constituents. 5. Motions ===================== Motion #2001.02 Title: Sense of the Senate on the Graduate Dean job description (to be reported to the Provost and President) Sponsor: John C. Martin Whereas: In the past the Dean of Graduate Studies was a part-time position split with the provost office. And the Dean delegated a good deal of authority to the full-time assistant dean who represented the graduate school on most University committees, over saw day-to-day operations of the Graduate School, and exercised the graduate dean's authority as ombudsman for graduate students. & Whereas: The Assistant Dean position is to be eliminated. & Whereas: It is common for faculty interests to run counter to graduate student interests and in many crucial situations graduate students rely on the Dean and Assistant Dean to mediate the differences between faculty and graduate students and protect graduate student interests over faculty. & Whereas: It is crucial that graduate students can trust the administration of the graduate school to act on their behalf as ombudsman and policy advocate because this trust does not extend to the faculty. & Whereas: Decentralizing the graduate school administration into each of the cost centers could lead to even more inequity in the way graduate students in different programs are treated across campus. Decentralization also makes it difficult for the Graduate Student Senate to keep up with and effect policy changes by effectively increasing the number of fronts to fight on. Let it be resolved that the sense of the Senate is as follows: - It is unacceptable to the Senate that a part- time dean who is also an active faculty member in a program with graduate students act in the roll of ombudsman for graduate students. - It is unacceptable to the Senate that any of the current ombudsman or policy setting functions of the Graduate Studies office be removed from that office and placed into the individual cost centers. - The Senate is concerned that the administration of the Graduate School cannot be condensed from one part-time dean and one full-time assistant dean into one part-time dean without adversely effecting the quality of service offered by the Graduate Studies office. - The Senate is concerned that condensing the administration of the Graduate School signals a diminished emphasis on graduate education by CWRU. - The Senate suggests if it is not possible to make the Dean of Graduate Studies a full-time position, that another full-time university administrator be given the role of ombudsman for graduate students. - The Senate recommends that all effort be made to relieve the part-time dean of any responsibility as an active faculty member in order to avoid a conflict of interest and appearance of bias in favor the faculty. =========================== Motion #2001.03 Title: Security Incident Notification By E-mail Sponsor: Cari Corrigan Whereas: Graduate students are very concerned about campus security and like to be notified of incidents and time critical security concerns on campus. Let it be resolved that the sense of the Senate is: -The Senate supports emailing security notices and safety advisories directly to all students. === Another reminder: The next GSS meeting is on April 11, 2001, at noon in the Guilford House Dining Room. --- Michael Grossner CWRU Chemical Engineering Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7217 (216)368-4425