GSS Meeting – November 14, 2001 Minutes 1. Attendance 2. Committee Reports 3. Ad-hoc Committee to Assist the Dean 4. Student Group Funding 5. RTA Proposal Status 6. Health Insurance Discussion 7. Motions and Funding Report 1. Attendance Colleen Nardi Carrie Coutts Cari Corrigan Juilee Decker Jon Silva Didier Alexandre James Laird Angela Ciccia Jenny Swiatek Kim Hyde Will Millhiser Angela Curl Doug Fries Raja Ghanem Tom Hund Rich Charnigo John Martin Mike Grossner Dean Lenore Kola 2. Committee Reports A) Activities The big activity for this semester is the Jillian's Canned Food Drive Party. Up for next semester are Spring Fest and the Graduate Student Dinner/Dance. Mark your calendars for April 20; that's the date that Thwing Ballroom has been reserved for the dance. The Activities Committee is open to new ideas and input. Please contact Mike (mtg4@po.cwru.edu). B) NAGPS This year, the NAGPS (National Association of Graduate and Professional Students) annual conference was held in Tucson, Arizona, and was attended by three students from CWRU: Colleen Nardi, Carrie Coutts, and Mike Grossner. Among important concerns this year at the national meeting were rights of international students. Several new pieces of legislation are being considered that may be detrimental. One such bill would institute a tracking program funded by the students themselves. Another would put an automatic six month hold on all student visa applications. The lobbying effort of NAGPS will continue to support the rights of all graduate students. More information about Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) was obtained at this year's conference. PFF would help instruct those graduate students interested in academia, from simple ideas such as “What is tenure and how do I get it?” to more complex issues such as “How do I become an effective teacher?” or “How do I write a proposal”. Another aspect of the program is to bring together a “cluster” of colleges and universities that are inherently dissimilar, such as a large research school, a state school, a small liberal arts school, and a community college. The motivation behind this is to give students exposure to other types of institutions. Over 80% of all PhD degrees in the US are awarded to students at 100 major research universities. But these new PhD’s may become instructors at any of the 3600 higher education schools across the country. This program would help prepare graduate students for work at all types of schools. Besides the obvious benefits to students, PFF could also aid the Cleveland community with more open communication between area colleges. Another benefit to CWRU would be recruitment of new students. We're trying to get this started at CWRU. If you'd like to help with this, email Mike (mtg4@po.cwru.edu). C) GAinS The food drive is underway to benefit the Cleveland Food Bank. D) International Buddy Program There will most likely be one more Coffee/Talk get-together this semester for people involved in the IBP. More activities are anticipated for next semester. Email Carrie (cac33@po.cwru.edu) for more information. E) VFund It looks like the Vfund appeal will be ready to launch at the beginning of next semester. Just in time--the requests for funding have been on the rise. For more information about the Vfund appeal, contact Raja at rng@po.cwru.edu. F) Volunteers for University Committees Carrie Coutts has volunteered to serve on the UUF Computing Committee and Colleen Nardi will join the Commencement Speaker Committee. 3. Ad-hoc Committee to Assist the Dean The GSS unanimously approved motion 2001.10, which establishes an ad-hoc committee to assist the Dean on planning the future structure of the Graduate Studies Office. Many people were interested in serving on this committee. Please email Rich (rjc12@po.cwru.edu) if you'd like to help with this. 4. Student Group Funding Motion 2001.09 to support funding for the Korean Graduate Student Association was approved unanimously. Also, there were no objections to the report of the Organizations and Allocations committee concerning funding for the Student Association of Graduate Anthropologists. See item 7 for the full report and the text of motion 2001.09 5. RTA Proposal Status There wasn't too much to report here. Rich is determining if we'll be able to opt-in to the RTA plan on a per student basis. Jim continues to solicit opinions on the issue; you may email him at jxl122@po.cwru.edu. 6. Health Insurance Discussion Students are concerned over the rising cost of the University's health plan. In the past two years, the fee for insurance has risen from $300 per semester to $380 per semester. After some discussion, it was decided that our best course of action is to schedule someone to speak about the reasons for the increases. Most likely this will occur at our second meeting next semester. 7. Motions =================== Motion #2001.10 Title: Formation of an Ad-hoc committee to assist the Graduate Dean with assessing the future of the CWRU Graduate School Sponsors: Rich Charnigo (Prez), John Martin (CorSec) Whereas Graduate Dean Kola has requested the help of graduate students with assessing the state and future direction of the CWRU Graduate School and the Graduate Student Senate wants to encourage formal graduate student participation in this process. Let it be resolved pursuant to GSS Bylaws Article II, Section E, Part 4 that an ad-hoc Committee to Assist the Dean (CAD) be formed. =================== Motion # 2000.09 Approval of GSS Funding for the Korean Graduate Student Assn Community Service Project Sponsors: GSS Student Organizations and Allocations Committee Whereas: The CWRU Korea Graduate Student Assn is a recognized graduate student group who has applied for funding under Article 6, Section G of the GSS Bylaws in the amount of $100 for a community service project to print Korean language pamphlets for University Hospitals. AND Whereas: GSS Organizations and Allocations Committee has reviewed the KGSA petition for funding and found: 1. The books of the organization to be in good order and standing, 2. There is a demonstrated need for Korean language pamphlets at University Hospitals, 3. GSS financial support needed to carry out the project, and 4. This is the type of service project which the GSS might consider funding out of its own budget. As a result of these findings the committee recommends that this funding request be approved by the full Senate. Let it be resolved that: The Graduate Student Senate approves funding in the amount of $100 for the Korean Graduate Student Assn to print Korean language pamphlets for use at University Hospitals. ================================================================== ===== Report on the Funding Request Made by Graduate Discourse: Student Association of Graduate Anthropologists ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Graduate Discourse: Student Association of Graduate Anthropologists (a recognized graduate student group) applied for funding in the amount of $250 nominally for the purpose of funding food at operating lectures, forums, and events. By majority vote with one vote dissenting, the Orgs and Allocs Committee recommends that the Senate should not approve this request for funding. The majority of the committee found that these forums and events (some of which occurred in October) were not advertised in GradNews, the Observer, or any other media that regularly reaches graduate students. While they were nominally open to all graduate students and meant to "share with the CWRU community valuable knowledge gained from anthropological research" the majority of the committee did not see these events effectively serving a need in the greater CWRU graduate student community. The committee majority feels that the priorities (budgetary and otherwise) of the Senate do not lie with funding refreshments for department seminars or colloquia even if they are open to the general public, especially when there has been no concentrated effort made to advertise these events to the entire graduate student community. We recommend that the Senate should not approve the funding request from Graduate Discourse: Student Association of Graduate Anthropologists. The Senate need only accept our report and do nothing further to carry out the recommendation of the committee majority.