12/08/09

SASgov General Body

GSC Room 305

Present: President, VPs Finance, Policy, Public Affairs, Social, Communications. Reps: AAMW, Ancient History, Applied Math, Art History, Bio, Classical Studies, Comp Lit, Criminology, Demography, EALC, Earth & ES, English, Fels, German, HSS, History, Linguistics, Master of Environmental Studies, Math, NELC, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Romance Languages

Agenda

5:30-6:30 – Committee Meetings

6:30-6:32 – Approval of the Minutes

6:32 -6:40 – Town Hall for Science / Engineering Students

6:40-6:45 – GAPSA seats elections

6:45-6:55 – Tuition Reform Report

6:55-7:00 – Grievance Policy

7:00-7:20 – GAPSA & Officer reports

7:20-7:30 – New Business

5:30-6:30 Committee Meetings

6:32-6:35 Approval of the Minutes

NB For next meeting, agenda will be on whiteboard

Revise attendance.

Motion to approve the minutes; seconded.

Minutes approved

6:32-6:40 Town Hall for Science / Engineering Students

Raleigh passes out event description from GSC; asked to see if anyone in a science dept. is interested in seeing this happen, or in being involved w/ it. If you’re interested, let R. know after the meeting, or send an email.

6:40-6:45 GAPSA seats elections

Nominations: Carla! Claudia!! Nate!!

Effective beginning of next semester.

Nate speaks: wants to take constituents’ concerns to a larger forum

Carla: knows a lot of students & their needs, & is in touch w/ GAPSA rep from her

department; would like to bring to GAPSA’s attention everything dept. needs.

Claudia: you know me, now wants to represent fellow students in more policy-oriented

format. Questions: (R) – do you feel you’ll have enough time for everything? Claudia: absolutely!

Nominations are closed.

Deirdre opens discussion.

Raleigh plugs for Nate; Suzanne leads a mass cheer for the importance

Motion to hand vote? Second.

Nate confirmed, unanimous.

Carla confirmed, unanimous.

Claudia confirmed, unanimous.

6:45-6:55 Tuition Reform Report

Arthur walks us through the TRR, brought to us by the Policy Committee.

Major findings: lots of misinformation, & incomplete information, circulating about the tuition reform that was accomplished at the end of the 2009 academic year.

Also, there are few changes within programs to accommodate changes that University made in tuition structure.

10-year cap on finishing; you have to petition for readmission and retake qualifying exams after 10 years.

Problem: no “net” to make sure students finished w/in 10 years, even w/ the programs that take longer. SASgov found few changes or directives, in specific programs, designed to ensure that students feel empowered to finish.

Recommendations: make sure students know about grievance policy. [which delineates hierarchy for student to go through if he/she feels there is a specific grievance involving a grade/event, etc.]

We’ve started efforts to inform students of campus resources –“ways beyond your dept. listserv to find out how you can get money.” One conclusion is that there should be a SAS student handbook, with a “big picture” look at info that affects all SAS students.

Questions or comments?

Carla: did the change have any effect on the BFF cap?

A: didn’t seem to have any effect.

D: nb: we’re voting on whether or not to approve this document as indicative of our findings.

Motion to approve. Second

Motion approved unanimously.

6:55- Grievance Policy

Arthur draws attention to grievance policy, “getting the basic word out,” on back page of Tuition Reform Report. This will be sent out in the weekly, pending approval, w/ a link to relevant portion of website.

Question: does this apply to Masters students? (1^st part applies only to PhDs?)

Arthur listed: LPS, MLA, MS’s, terminal masters students all under this policy.

No vote necessary; Arthur just wanted to remind all of it.

7:00 GAPSA & Officer reports

Matt: re: Tuition Survey – other schools have had specific issues w/ this as well – in fact, it’s been put on GAPSA’s priorities list.

Informal poll / sharing – how well are you & your constituents getting GAPSA

information.

General observations: info comes from GAPSA weekly. Certain events are also extremely crowded.

Sometimes we only hear about them after they sell out. Answer: sometimes some schools will “buy out” all the tickets – but not now, given that they’re using ticketleap.

Deirdre: GAPSA has a new listserve about events

Matt – just keep in touch abt potential issues

Cara: last week GAPSA’s meeting took place @ the police precinct. RAD, for both men & women, SAFE – awareness of surroundings. FREE programs – pass the word along to your constituents.

Suzanne: Raleigh came to the Research Council, w/ idea of Grad Research Symposium. Wants to make sure people have the opportunity to share their research. Puchakucha!

Looking at Friday, Mar. 19 for date – with faculty judges.

It is brought to Raleigh’s attention that there are many conferences on that

weekend! R. thinks there’s going to be something no matter what … But: linguistics event involves entire department

Public affairs – nothing but GRS

Communications: nothing to report

Policy – been talking a bit abt handbook

Social: think about prom ideas!!

Deirdre: News – in January, there will be a center opening in Houston Hall, for grad students w/

children. Not a daycare center, but a space to be with your child, or to have someone (you bring) take care of your child.

Sweatshirts are handed out! To people who have helped at at least three happy hours!!

Recognized: Ellen, Cara, Scott O and Scott DO, Carla, Tugce, Nate, and Sam!

Applause

7:20 – New business

Deirdre: we are using 3619, & our office in it. We’ll figure out a way to handle the happy hours in the Terrace Room.

We’re waiting on GAPSA for the first meeting date; we want to make sure we meet in the same week!

Motion to adjourn, second.

Meeting adjourned!