SASgov, General Body Meeting January 20, 2009 5:30-7:30 pm, 1st floor, 3619 Locust

Next Meeting: February 3, 2009, 5:30-7:30, Location: 3619 Locust Walk

Reps Present: Miriam Clinton, Kevin Funderburk, Serena Rezny, Melissa Venator, Jonathan Johnnidis, Charles Ham, Jacob Uriel, Allison Sullivan, Madeleine Wilcox, Raleigh Martin, Matthew Closter (Sub), Linda Lee, Kristen Sincavage, Andrew Hogan, Mary French, Robert Lannon, Mirko Visontai (sub), Levi Thompson, Sarah Abichandani, Patrick Brown, Junhow Wei, Tim Shokair, Wenting Li

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

Agenda:

1. Dinner/Committees (5:30-6:30)
2. Approval of the Minutes (6:30-6:35)
3. Tuition Change Overview (6:35-6:55)
4. Executive Board Fall Reports (6:55-7:20)
5. Committee Reports (7:20-7:30)
6. New Business (7:30)

Details:

1. Dinner/Committees (5:30-6:30)

2. Approval of the Minutes (6:30-6:35)

Brian needs to be changed to Bryan. Approved.

3. Tuition Change Overview (6:35-6:55)

Before tuition change overview, Amy Fuller will no longer be able to be a representative for SASgov and GAPSA and we will be holding an election at the next general body meeting which is February 3rd 2009.

Change in the structure of the tuition happened over the summer. About 10 people in the room knew that there was a tuition reform. Tuition was charged by course unit beforehand with three years or 20 credits. Tution was very different from year to year. In the fourth and fifth year you were switched to “high dissertation” where you paid $3,000 a semester for three years and then were switched to “low dissertation” where you paid $600 a month. Many people paid very different tuitions. In order to make it simple he did a tuition reform. We are now on a “full time school” model. It doesn’t matter how many courses you take but if you are taking classes, you all pay the same amount. Fourth and fifth year students now pay the general body fee. After year 5, students move to a reduced rate tuition. Now there is a cut-off date of ten years. If you go past year 10 you have to petition to get back into your graduate group. All of the 6+ students are paying about $3,500 a year which is more than the “low dissertation” status that they used to pay before. People that were most affected were 7+ affected but SAS helped out by subsidizing some of the additional costs. The change has affected a great number of events as many programs have a number of 6+ year students.

Rafael: Three prong plan. 1.) Talk with the grad chairs to see how they reacted to the change and how students are going to get out in 5 years. Face to face interviews will be done. 2.) Do a survey of existing surveys to help get funding for summer or 6th year without having to teach. 3.) Get a sense of how students feel about the new changes. Most likely a survey will be handed out. There will be some focus groups to get at what is not in the survey.

Caroline: You can continually audit classes into your fourth and fifth years because now all tuition, with or without classes, will be the same.

4. Executive Board Fall Reports (6:55-7:20)

Caroline: Executive board has had great participation in university wide committees. This is exemplified in Rafael’s participation in SHIAC and the survey done. This is important so that SASgov stays informed about university wide issues. LPS listserves are still being sought.

Rafael: Discussions are still going for grievance procedure. Research materials-concern for the rising cost of books has led to the library task force. He is also a member of SHIA and been able to relay key information regarding SAS students wants back to the committee. We will be selecting a new plan or changing plans by March. Master Student initiative: The survey has not been put out yet. We might wait til the LPS listserves are up and running.

Carla: We have a better number of reps this year!

Deidre (absent): We have lots more money than last year and no longer have to ask for subsidies from the graduate dean. Deidre’s initiative is interdisciplinary event funding which is any event planned by more than one grad group. Budget: Our total operating costs are about $60,000 and we have spent about $24,000 as of November 30.

Chris: Website was his big project. First there was communication with the executive board. It was up and running in November and should be our best way of communication. You can go straight to the website in order to apply for funding. Advertising for social events is a big part of what his committee does.

Andrew: Last week’s event had 238 people which was very well attended. More happy hours and Phillies game to come! Social committee might look into a service project or perhaps a Habitat for Humanity project.

5. Committee Reports (7:20-7:30)

Policy: We are holding off on Masters student survey. We will be working mostly on the tuition reform policy and the library task force committee. Rafael is meeting with SHIAC soon to listen to the new bids and consulting more the results of the survey.

Social: Tied in with Andrew’s report above.

Public Relations: Sweatshirts still on sale.

Finance: Deidre is absent.

6. New Business (7:30)

Miriam: The university’s response to the economic crisis will most likely affect the students. Can we get a representative on that committee?

Sarah: Is there any funding for terminal master’s students?