SASgov

General Body Meeting, 9/29/09

Next Meeting: 10/13/09, Amado Recital Hall in Irvine Auditorium

Present: President, VPs Finance, Policy, Public Affairs, Social, Communications. Reps: AAMW, Ancient History, Anthro, Applied Math, Art History, Bio, Chem, Classical Studies, Comp Lit, Criminology, Demography, EALC, Earth & ES, English, Fels, HSS, History, Internat’l Studies, Linguistics, MES, Math, Music, NELC, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Sociology

Agenda
1. Committees and Dinner (5:30-6:30)
2. Approval of the Minutes (6:30-6:35)
3. Grievance Committee Elections (6:35-6:45)
4. GAPSA elections (6:45-7:05)
5. SASgov Budget (7:05-7:20)
5. GAPSA report (7:20-7:25)
6. Officer/Committee Reports (7:25-7:30)
7. New Business (7:30)

Committees (5:30-6:30)

Approval of the minutes (6:30)

Minutes approved; one nay. J

Grievance committee elections (6:35-6:50)

Arthur introduced the committed

Amitai Ben-Nun, from Physics & Astronomy.

Gotten a lot out of GAPSA (a GAPSA travel grant, for example.) As he is a 4^th year, he wants to give back.

The Grievance Committee appointment would suit his experience & temperament. Has had experience with setting up external advisor, funding; & has “run afoul” of certain departmental procedures. Leave of absence, etc. Understands that sometimes it’s not as easy for everyone; Penn should not let the rules come in the way, unfairly, for good scholars, but rules must be maintained. Balance these two issues w/ humanity & compassion. Sympathetic listener. Good w/ confidentiality.

Caroline Bishop. 5^th year in Classical Studies. Served in government for 3 years; classics rep for GSAC; first VP communications; president of SASgov last year. Sat last year on the Graduate Council of the Faculties. Would like to be able to take the experience from this service & follow through w/ Grievance committee.

Deirdre asks 2 to leave. Arthur opens floor up for debate. Q: these aren’t SASgov reps, are they? No: they would come to one GC meeting, as determined by faculty chair; committee meets on ad hoc basis. Arthur outlines procedure of appeals. They’re not part of SASgov General Body. Q = actually, why are we electing them, and how are they affecting us? Q: who will the faculty be? A: Dean Rosen will choose (Faculty chair). Motion to vote; seconded. Hand vote.

Amitai: elected unanimously. Caroline: elected unanimously

Deidre: this is the first year the GC exists – if you know students who have issues that need to be addressed in a formal manner, then let them know that GC is there.

GAPSA elections (6:45-7:00)

Deirdre asks for GAPSA research representatives. Allows Raleigh to speak. Raleigh describes importance of GAPSA rep positions. You’d be involved in admin. VERY large budget. Travel grants. Meetings every other week; three hours; happy hours afterwards.

Najat Khan – Chemistry, 4^th year

Bronwyn Wallace – 2^nd year in English;

Scott Ordway – 1^st year composer, Music

Madeline Boyer – 1^st year Anthropology; proxy for Jules, Anthro rep.

SASgov Budget (6:55-7:05)

Bryan outlined numbers that we will be voting on. $ that we got from GAPSA has gone done; & we put petty cash in Social. Bryan took percentages from numbers that we voted on in April and what are present now; - comparison. Q: “Projected” is actually “Actual”. Increase in Social? Clarify = largest increase in Public Affairs. Bryan announced that computer was stolen; we haven’t put it into budget yet. Time given to look at budget. Motion to vote; seconded. Motion to vote passed.

Budget passed.

GAPSA meeting report. (7:05-10)

General: Matt Closter & Cara from Crim – professional students. Want a professional rep lists. First meeting had lots of introductions. Council, GB, individual committees. Matt has signed up for finance. We’re going to vote on the budget, & look at the loophole that Deirdre caught.

Professional Council is working to get events going, look for common resources, get professional development & social mixers in place. Heard a pitch from History of Art, for Animals and Animality, this Friday. Interdisciplinary. Thinking of various social events that have to do with professionalism; i.e. etiquette dinner.

Research: 10-year limit mentioned. Travel funding also emphasized.

Officer reports (7:10-7:25)

Bryan in Finance. 4 Interdisciplinary requests for funding; we decided to fund all of them. 2 requests, both from Chemistry & Physics. Wanted to fly in speakers from CA. Nate Lewis (Energy research). Cindy Solomon as a motivational speaker. Each $1K; $800, $600. Women in science. Lots of interest. Smaller events. Applied Math game night. History and Political Science ongoing workshop series. $300 (full funding granted to each.)

Raleigh in Public Affairs. 2 arms: 1 = publicity for events. Flyers, sasgov.org web page. Will work w/ social committee to promote events this year. 2 = events that will promote professional advancement for SAS students. Series of dinners? Invite a faculty member to come & talk about a topic relevant to different departments. Easy to organize, low budget. One area/event we’d like to do. Another = workshops oriented toward how to apply for an academic job, teaching skills, etc. Lots of these events would be collaborative.

Claudia in Social. Planning Halloween party (! As promised from election.) In place of a happy hour, right before Halloween. If you don’t come in costume, you have to pay. Contest w/ cash prizes? _nice_ prizes. Discussed what to do with our money, how to do things that are not crazy expensive, but are still good. Next happy hour = next Thursday. We can always use more people. Congrats on last happy hour, which was great.

Arthur in Policy. Set out agenda, things that we’d like to cover this year. What’s going on w/ student health insurance – inclusion of dental? Working w/ environmental sustainability plan that Pres. Gutman has put forward; educating students about what they can do. Responding to LPS student needs; conveying information to Raleigh. Getting word out to LPS directors, and making sure that they send representatives to us. First thing to be addressed = how to address tuition reform. Changes affecting SAS have been in effect for a year, but programs haven’t necessarily responded to how to enable students to finish w/in however many years of funding they have. (Touched on same issues that Melinda brought up at GAPSA.)

Deirdre: Library event to announce. Library staff want to make sure there is good communication b/w area specialists & their students.

4:30 – 6, on Tuesday, 10/6, 2^nd floor of Van Pelt – event just for SASgov reps. If you can’t attend event, please send someone else from your department. Will demo online tools, & want to hear from us if we have questions, or issues.

Announced University plan on H1N1 flu; namely, describe your symptoms over the phone; don’t come in or circulate until 24 hours after your fever breaks. Number of Student Health Services: 215-746-3535. Pass it on to your students.

New business?

Q: SASgov happy hour. 5-7 next Thursday!

Weekly – not getting it? Tell Suzanne!

Motion to adjourn; seconded. Meeting adjourned.