Agenda for the Graduate Student Association General Council Meeting
March 9th, 2008
Meeting started at 7:12 03/09/2008.
Approval of agenda and meeting minutes for Feb. 2008. All in favor, no opposition, No abstention. Agenda and meeting minutes for Feb. 2008 approved.
New Business:
Proposals from the floor?
Resolution of walkout proposed by RAW (Rutgers Against War) (Resolution distributed). On March 27th, a coalition of student organizations at Rutgers University has called for a student walkout to protest the US military presence in Iraq and calls the students to leave their classes at 1:23pm and gather at Voorhees Mall. The council of GSA expresses its sentiment that the walkout is a valid form of protest and its hopes that the university administration, faculty and other instructors will not prevent students from participating in the walkout or penalize them for participating. Vote for approval of resolution: favor 19; opposition: 5 abstentions: 2.
Issues of the day
Budget cuts: The governor introduced a budget that would cut Rutgers budget by 11.6%, about 38 million dollars, which would make it the smallest State budget we have ever got. The proposal will be voted by legislators at some point. They will have a hearing this coming Tuesday (03/11/2008). The location of the hearing is to be determined. The budget cut this year is dramatic for the whole state of NJ. It would be good if any of the graduate students can attend the hearing. If some kind of budget cut will happen, even if it is less than 38 million, the university is going to form a committee, deciding internally how the cut will be distributed throughout the departments. We graduate students could have a say about how the cut is going to affect us. Once we obtain more details, we will send an email to everyone through the mailing list.
Douglass and Cook cafes: Mable's in Douglass will be moved and a Starbucks coffee shop will appear at its current location. Cook café is also facing similar fate, though we still need more information on this. Cook café is now managed by students and at this point, there is little information on how the new management will take over. The administrations promised that some kind of meetings or discussions will be held and GSA has been invited to send some representatives. We expect the change to occur during summer 2008. There has also been speculations that the health center on Douglass campus will be removed. If you are interested in being the GSA representative, please contact us.
Libraries Focus group: The libraries are going to have Focus group; lunch will be served. There will be surveys in the discussion, aiming mainly at Alexander library. The discussion will last for an hour and will take place right after spring break. If you are interested in participating the discussion, please contact us.
Future officers + Senate + BOT: Most of the executive committee members in GSA will be leaving (president, vice President, and secretary); as a result, we will need people to fulfill the work. We will start the discussion regarding the voting process and related issues starting in the next council meeting. It is very important for graduate students and will be very fulfilling for you. Right now we urgently need a senator, which means going to two extra meetings on some Friday afternoons. If you are interested, or are curious about the responsibilities of the executive committee members, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Reports
GSA Officers:
Internal Committees
TA/GA Steering Committee: (Charlotte) This coming Friday is the deadline for collecting the ballots for the increase in dues of TA/GAs. If you are a union member and have not sent in your ballot, we have a booth set up at the entrance/exit. Please visit us before you leave the meeting today. Also for current TA/GAs attending the meeting, please go back to your department, spread the words and urge your colleagues to vote.
Sustainability: (Naomi) Garden
plots for graduate housing students. We are currently working on a proposal for Housing to allow us to set up garden plots on Busch campus for Family Housing residents. We need help in the planning stage, and if we get approval will need lots of help setting everything up. If you are interested in getting involved please email Naomi at: sustainability@gsa.rutgers.edu.
External Committees
University Senate / BOT: (Alberto Garcia Raboso, Executive council); A few issues under discussion:
Convergence between Rutgers and UMDNJ – work in progress to have one common portal for admissions to joint RU/UMDNJ programs and share of data. The goal is to have this working for Fall 08.
Trial program -- Course of evaluation online instead of paper submission for joint courses in Biomedical Sciences.
Graduate students financial support: some programs are shrinking due to lack of financial support to new students and this has become a big concern for some departments. Acting dean encouraged departments to replace retiring faculty members with one new faculty member and one assistantship instead of two new faculties, but there were no takers.
TA summer/spring evaluations: TAs teaching evaluations in summer and winter sessions are protected under FERPA.
Creation of new masters degrees: Some people graduate, go to work and come back to school to take the MBA programs in order to take managerial positions, which might be a waste of time. The idea is to create degrees in which both the science and the administration aspects are taught, in line with what other universities are doing. Currently there are 10 degrees under study, mainly in Biomedical Sciences, that will begin developing over the next couple of years.
Administrative Assistant & Events Coordinator (Benjamin Peters and Ben Arenger): There are three groups which have not sent their representatives to sign for the Spring allocation. Also, there are six groups which have checks that will expire in the next few weeks. Please come forward after the meeting.
Questions and Announcements