SASgov, General Body Meeting
February 17, 2009 6:00-7:30 pm, 1st floor, 3619 Locust
Next Meeting: March 3, 2009, 5:30-7:30, Location: 3619 Locust Walk

Reps Present: Miriam Clinton, Kevin Funderburk, Serena Rezny, Melissa Venator, Charles Ham, Jos Lavery, Jacob Uriel, Allison Sullivan, Madeleine Wilcox, Raleigh Martin, Jonathan Fedors, Matthew Closter, Linda Lee, Andrew Hogan, Mary French, Robert Lannon, Mirko Visontai, Suzanne Bratt, Levi Thompson, Sarah Abichandani, Elske Straver, Bryan Chen, David Bateman, Junhow Wei, Leslie Warden, Wenting Li, Jack Higgins

Exec Present: Caroline Bishop, Carla Cue, Chris Schaefer, Rafael Walker, Andrew Rupinski, Deidre Loughridge

Agenda:

I. Dinner and Committees (6:00-6:30)
II. Elections for GAPSA - research seat (6:30-6:40)
III. Approval of the Minutes (6:40-6:45)
IV. SAS response to economic downturn (6:45-7:05)
V. GAPSA report (7:05-7:10)
VI. Officer/Committee reports (7:10-7:25)
VII. New Business (7:25-7:30)

Details:

I. Dinner and Committees (6:00-6:30)

II. Elections for GAPSA - research seat (6:30-6:40)

We lost Stephanie Milk so we need to elect a new research seat. The GAPSA reps come to just the general body portion of the SASgov meeting every other Tuesday and then the GAPSA meetings on every other Wednesday. It needs to be someone in SAS but not necessarily a SASgov representative. No one was nominated and no election was done.

III. Approval of the Minutes (6:40-6:45)

Approved.

IV. SAS response to economic downturn (6:45-7:05)

An e-mail was sent from Caroline which was a forward from Rebecca Bushnell and was the school’s response to the economic downturn. This is a multi-pronged approach to the downturn. There are several things that will be done to reduce operating costs including a systematic downsizing of the faculty by 5-8%. Hopefully this will happen just through attrition. There is also a hiring freeze for faculty and staff. All searches have been frozen. The position is not being eliminated just being put on pause til the school is on good financial standing. All departments are also being required to reduce operating costs. These are the main steps to counteract the losses. Since no one knows when this will end, we do not yet know if further steps will need to be taken. Tuition drives our budget. Depending on whether or not the tuition goes up, we may or may not have more money.

Any questions?

Matt: How do these problems relate to other schools?
Are there specific time frames for these cuts?

Caroline: Historically, SAS tends to have more PhD students and not as much money. I think everyone is feeling the pain. It was the central endowment that lost 20% so it definitely hit other schools, too. This is going to be indefinite since we still don’t know what is going to happen with undergraduate tuition. Applicant pool stayed the same based on the DP’s story yesterday. This doesn’t really affect SASgov because our money comes from the student fees. SASgov will probably see the same or small increase in a budget next year. Only about $70 of the $2,000 actually comes to SASgov. I still don’t know how this is affect other 6th year fellowship students but I will be asking.

Leslie: What are admissions going to look like? Fewer people with fellowships, etc.

Caroline: I think the numbers are going to stay stable for the most part. Faculty cost more to keep around.

V. GAPSA report (7:05-7:10)

Leslie: We met two weeks ago. There was a speaker that came in from Penn Transit. They talked a lot about the new GPS available online. Upenn.edu/gps and will tell you where each of the buses are in real time. You can see the buses along all the routes and the shuttles along the Penn route but not when it is in West Philly. The GPS does not help if you are in West Philly. Tell the dispatcher if you cannot see the shuttle from where you are. There is no longer an SMS service. The Students with Children resolution was passed and was met favorably. Jorge Cham from PhD comics is coming on the 24th. More money was approved for both the finance and social committee. If you are research student there is a deadline coming up for travel grants. Leadership retreat application is due soon too and will be March 13th-14th. If you want summer money, think about the provost GAPSA interdisciplinary award. Professional conference grants are on a rolling submission.

VI. Officer/Committee reports (7:10-7:25)

Caroline: We are racing through the spring semester and are thinking about running for GAPSA or SASgov the election will be held April 7th at the general body meeting. If you are interested please contact Caroline or the member whose position you are interested in.

Deidre (Finance): Deadlines are March 27, 2009 for interdisciplinary funding and April 1, 2009 for department funding. You just have to apply for the funding by that point but you don’t have to use it by that time. Please apply for this! All of the forms are on the website under funding sasgov.org.

Chris (PR): We are working to get some signs and banners for our events to let people know what is going on and know what SASgov/GAPSA differences are. We have come up with an idea for a SASgov mascot. SAScot the SASgov mascot. We will be having a contest for a graduate student to draw a mascot. Bob suggest a sasquatch with an ascot. Be aware of this! Plexi-glass squirrels?

Rafael (Policy): Next week or next meeting we will have a survey from the library task force to get a feel for grad student library behavior. The language for the grievance procedure was finally approved. It is in a strange beurocratic thread…hard to explain. Ralph is trying to figure out what he needs to do to get it passed. There will be a grievance committee made up of both grad students and faculties. It is for grad students whose problems go beyond the grad department. SHIAC- Just had the last meeting with the last insurance bidder. Next week we will decide who will be our new carrier. If we renew with Aetna, the terms would be different.

Andrew (Social): We have a Mardi Gras happy hour next Tuesday!

VII. New Business (7:25-7:30)

None.