September 2003 Assembly Meeting
GSG Assembly Meeting
September 10, 2003
Outline and Summary
- Call to Order and Introductions:
Four new Representatives were introduced to Assembly, as well as the
new Community Programs Coordinator. - Guest: Kathleen Mannheimer
(overview of career services, call for ideas) - Approval of Previous Minutes
- Officers' Reports
- Parliamentary Secretary's Report
- Corresponding Secretary's Report
(PriComm letters, global emails policies) - Treasurer's Report:
Three funding requests were granted: $350 for the "Moon Festival
Party" organized by the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars
(ACSS), $100 for the Intervarsity "Opening Picnic",
$150 for the "Sex Toys for Safer Sex Workshop" organized by the Queer
Graduate Caucus (QGC). - Social Chair's Report
(First Chance Dance) - Chair's Report
(recommendations; chair resignation)
- Committee Reports
- Campus Relations
(upcoming student activities fairs) - Housing
(room draw, reconversion of GC doubles, towing of cars, reorganization
of facilities department) - Information Technology
(wiring of Butler) - International Students' Concerns
(POPT
survey) - Library
- Post-Enrollment
(housing/post-enrollment survey, mailing lists) - Transportation and Parking
(shuttle, ZIPcars)
- Campus Relations
- Other Business
- Scheduling of Next Meeting and Adjournment:
The next meeting will be on October 8.
Attendance
Officers present:
Chair Bill Jordan;
Assistant Chair Eric A. Adelizzi;
Parliamentary Secretary Leonard F. Pease III;
Corresponding Secretary Nicole Esparza;
Press Secretary Meredith Safran;
Recording Secretary João Pedro Boavida;
Treasurer Eitan Bonderover;
Social Chair Sinéad Mac Namara.
Representatives present:
Aleksandar Donev,
ACM;
Anita Adhitya,
AOS;
Sinéad Mac Namara,
CEE;
Jack Tinsley,
CHE;
Jia Su,
CHM;
Jessica H. Clark,
CLA;
Brigitta A. Lee,
EAS;
Gregory D. O'Mullan,
EEB;
Fei Sun,
ELE;
Meredith Safran, proxy for Kerry Bystrom,
ENG;
Meredith Galanter Hastings,
GEO;
Michael K. House,
GER;
Chris Wyckham,
MAE;
João Pedro Boavida, proxy for Lior Silberman,
MAT;
David R. Smith,
PPL;
Kim Montgomery,
PSY;
Cole M. Crittenden,
SLA;
Nicole Esparza,
SOC;
Leslie A. Medema,
WWS.
Delegates present:
Fei Sun,
Association of Chinese Students and Scholars (ACSS);
Huiyan Yang, Butler Apartments;
Eric Adelizzi, proxy for Lior Silberman,
Graduate College (GC);
Radhika Wijetunge, Lawrence Apartments;
Leonard F. Pease III, Off-Campus.
Councilors present:
Bill Jordan, CPUC, CPUC Executive Committee;
Brigitta Lee, CPUC;
Leslie A. Medema, CPUC, CPUC Priorities Committee;
Ian Parrish (PPL), CPUC, CPUC Executive Committee;
Leonard F. Pease III, CPUC, CPUC Priorities Committee;
Fei Sun, CPUC Governance Committee;
Meredith Galanter Hastings, CPUC Judicial Committee;
David Smith, CPUC Rights and Rules Committee.
Others present:
Lei Xu (ELE), chair of the International Students' Concerns Committee;
Lisa M. Sherov, GC residence life coordinator;
Beth McKeown, community programs coordinator;
Kathleen Mannheimer, Career Services;
Keith Vallerio (ELE), Intervarsity;
Karin Sigloch (GEO);
Fengyun Cao (COS), Association of Chinese Students and Scholars;
Donnell Butler (SOC).
Representatives absent:
Riaz Tejani,
ANT;
Tanjim Hossain,
ECO;
Valerie Dionne,
FIT;
Karoline Cook,
HIS;
David Shrom,
MOL;
Tamar Friedmann,
PHY;
Patrick Gerland,
OPR;
Michael Ludkovski,
ORF;
Andrew Erickson,
POL;
Philippa Townsend,
REL.
Delegates absent:
Aderemi Artis, Black Graduate Caucus (BGC);
Weining Man,
Council of International Graduate Students (CIGS);
Heather White, Women's Center.
These representative seats were vacant:
ARC;
ART;
AST;
COM;
COS;
MUS;
NES;
PHI;
SPO.
These delegate seats were vacant:
Hibben/Magie Apartments; Millstone Apartments.
Minutes
I. Call to Order and Introductions
The Assembly of the Graduate Student Government held its regular
monthly meeting on September 10, 2003, at Frist 309. Chair
Bill Jordan called the meeting to order at about 6:10pm.
Parliamentary Secretary Leonard F. Pease III introduced four new
Representatives: Valerie Dionne (FIT), Chris Wyckham (MAE), Jonathan
Eastvold (POL, effective next month), Karin Sigloch (GEO, effective
next month). Mr. Pease also introduced Beth McKeown, the community
programs coordinator, who will come to GSG meetings.
II. Guest: Kathleen Mannheimer
Kathleen Mannheimer (graduate student counselor, at Career Services),
thanked the Assembly for the invitation to come to the GSG Assembly
meeting and expressed her desire to come once a year.
The office of career services organizes workshops, career counseling
services, and alumni panels about careers. They provide advice both on
academic and non-academic jobs. Recently, they partnered with the McGraw
center to provide an academic job search workshop (which will be held this
fall), to which they will invite faculty. The office also provides
individual counseling (networking, filmed mock interviews, job search
strategies, CVs, etc.). As to non-academic positions, career services
tries to help students recognize their transferable skills; and many
students go for jobs in industry, non-profit organizations, consulting, or
in research labs.
The office of career services also organizes career week activities, which
include panels on diverse careers with alumni and other professions
representing those careers. There are also collaborative programs with
the International Center and the Women's Center.
Ms. Mannheimer stated that an email with upcoming career activities
was about to be sent to all students, as well as to graduate
administrators. She invited suggestions of speakers or programs.
Maybe students in the departments could have ideas as well.
Ms. Mannheimer can be contacted at <kmann@>.
Mr. Jordan asked whether career services were available to
post-enrolled students. Ms. Mannheimer said all services are
available to post-enrolled students. In fact, career services is
available even to alumni (except for on-campus recruiting, which would
likely not be useful anyway).
Mr. Pease asked whether Ms. Mannheimer thought the job market for
advanced degrees was better. Ms. Mannheimer said so: there had been
more on-campus recruiting of Ph.D. this year (as compared to last
year). However, she didn't see any relation with the economic
situation, but rather with an increasing awareness about
Ph.D. programs, and the skills that students with advanced degrees can
provide.
Fei Sun asked whether there were distinct email lists for graduate and
undergraduate students, and whether graduate students can sign up for the
undergraduate mailing list. Ms. Mannheimer said that it is indeed
possible to sign up for the undergraduate list, but it would not be as
useful as the graduate newsletter. Both the undergraduate and graduate
mailing lists are accessible in the career services website.
Leslie A. Medema asked whether there is an alumni directory. Ms.
Mannheimer stated that the Graduate Alumni Career Network (coordinated by
career services) is a group a over 6000 alumni who volunteer to help
current students and alumni in their job searches. Moreover, TigerNet
(coordinated by the alumni council) includes a directory of all Princeton
alumni (including non-terminal degrees). However, the information in both
databases needs to be updated regularly by alumni.
There being no more questions, Mr. Jordan thanked Ms. Mannheimer for
coming to the meeting.
III. Approval of Previous Minutes
Recording Secretary João Pedro Boavida stated three minor
mistakes had been detected (two of them by Meredith Galanter Hastings)
in the draft minutes. Meredith Safran moved to accept the correction
of these mistakes, in what she was seconded by David Smith. Mr. Sun
stated he had decided not to read the minutes, in order to avoid a
long debate. He wished it recorded that he thought Assembly members
should be encouraged to read the minutes and contribute, rather than
discouraged. A vote on Ms. Safran's motion was held, and the motion
was passed by unanimity. There being no more suggestions, Mr. Pease
moved that the minutes be approved (with the corrections already
made), Mr. Smith seconded, a vote was held, and the motion passed
unanimously.
IV. Officers' Reports
A. Parliamentary Secretary's Report
Mr. Pease announced that the graduate
title="Council of the Princeton University Community">CPUC
delegation would hold a short meeting after the Assembly meeting.
Answering a question, he clarified that the meeting was only of members of
the council itself, and not for the nominees to the CPUC committees.
B. Corresponding Secretary's Report
Corresponding Secretary Nicole Esparza reported that 16 letters had
been sent by the end of July to several administrators, about the
GSG's PriComm proposals discussed in July [
href="../07/#IVb">Minutes 7.9.2003, IV.B]. There had been several
replies, and proposals for meetings to discuss the concerns raised.
Lisa Sherov added that the Graduate School had asked her to report
that Stuart Orefice (director of dining services) wished to set up a
meeting (in late-September/early-October) with the GSG and Paul
Breitman (director of University Services, and director of Frist
Center) to discuss dining at Frist.
Ms. Esparza also reminded Assembly that the Executive Committee had
recently approved a global email policy [included in the standing
rules of the Executive Committee, sent to Assembly together with the
proposal of GSG standing rules]. She
observed that ordinarily globals will be sent for events funded by the
GSG (unless they are sent by other means), and recommended that
members of Assembly look at the funding webpage. Answering a
question, she observed that, after a request is submitted, a majority of the
Executive Committee needs to agree; as that may take time, the
Executive Committee recommends that requests be submitted 72 hours in
advance.
C. Treasurer's Report
Treasurer Eitan Bonderover had sent his report
in advance of the meeting.
The first request had been submitted by ACSS. Fengyun Cao explained
that the Moon Festival is a very important event in Chinese culture.
The party will be held at the Carl A. Fields Center, and over 300
students are expected. Ms. Cao invited all to come. The total
budget was $1,870, and ACSS was asking $350 from the GSG.
Mr. Bonderover thought the budget was detailed, and recommended
funding the event. Sinéad Mac Namara moved to fund by the
amount requested.
MOTION: to fund the ACSS "Moon Festival Party" by $350. PASSED
unanimously.
Mr. Sun asked whether the requirement (in the standing rules) to
submit original receipts could be waived. Mr. Bonderover stated that
he would prefer to discuss that later, when the reimbursement was
requested. Ms. Mac Namara further observed that Assembly need not waive
the requirement, for the treasurer could waive it at his discretion
[Standing Rules of Assembly, III.2]. Mr. Bonderover stated that he
would prefer to discuss the details of each case outside the
meeting.
The next request was for the Intervarsity "Opening Picnic". Keith
Vallerio explained that the picnic was held every year (at least for
the past 5 years, he didn't know before), and advertised in the whole
campus. All graduate students and their families are welcome. The
picnic will be held off-campus, within walking distance of the GC, at
Marquand Park.
About 35 graduate students are expected, and $100 was being requested
from the GSG. Mr. Bonderover observed that the event had been sponsored
in the previous year, and recommended that it be funded. Ms. Esparza
moved to fund by the amount requested.
MOTION: to fund the Intervarsity "Opening Picnic" by $100. PASSED
unanimously.
The next request had been submitted by the QGC. Mr. Bonderover reminded Assembly
members that some months before [Minutes
4.9.2003, IX.B] the QGC was organizing a "Sex-positive workshop".
However, the Graduate School had not approved the event as it was.
The QGC revised the workshop, with the support of University Health
Services. The revised event had been approved by the University, and
the QGC had submitted a new funding request. Mr. Bonderover praised
the detailed plans and budget. The QGC had requested $200. However, in
accordance with the current practice of funding at $3/graduate
student, Mr. Bonderover had asked whether the QGC would accept $150
(50 graduate students were expected). The QGC had agreed, and had
also promised to use the GSG funding in the last place (as they do
customarily). Mr. Bonderover asked Aleksandar Donev whether they had
gotten confirmation from other funding sources. Mr. Donev stated
that, as the academic year was just starting, he had received no
confirmation yet, besides the $25 pledged by Health Services. Ms. Mac
Namara moved to fund the event by $150.
MOTION: to fund the QGC "Sex Toys for Safer Sex Workshop" by $150.
PASSED unanimously.
Mr. Bonderover concluded his report by stating that, upon receiving
the statements from the GSG's University account, he had reconciled
the books up to the end of July. Everything was in order. However,
he observed that the surplus was shrinking, and that next year less
money will be available for co-sponsorships.
D. Social Chair's Report
Social Chair Ms. Mac Namara said that the First Chance Dance would be held
on Friday September 19, at 10pm, in the Carl A. Fields Center. Public
Safety will be present, and the Graduate School has already approved
the event. There will a DJ. Eric Adelizzi asked Ms. Mac Namara to
comment on the door policy; Ms. Mac Namara added that all graduate
students and their guests are welcome, if over 21 (due to alcohol
policies). In previous years, there were volunteers to check IDs,
this year, Ms. Mac Namara will hire trained people. There will be
free food and drinks. Building Services will be hired for clean-up, in
accordance with the requirements of Fields center.
Ms. Mac Namara also wished to thank ACSS's kind invitation for the
Moon Festival Party.
E. Chair's Report
Mr. Jordan reported on a meeting about the itemization of student
bills, in consequence of one of the PriComm letters. Although it's
not possible to include details of the deductions in the paychecks,
the treasurer's office is willing to work on that. They are changing
their software during this year, and this is the right time to try to
solve the problem with the student bills. They will work on providing
better itemization online.
Mr. Jordan then moved on to discuss the committees. He stated that it
is important to have non-GSG people involved in the committees. The
Executive Committee is also looking forward to have committee chairs
who are not officers. Ms. Safran observed that, as the Executive
Committee makes up for a large part of committee membership, there is
an information gap between officers and other students. However, if
many more people get involved with the committees' work, then more
people will know enough about new issues.
Mr. Jordan also wished to welcome new members of the GSG Assembly, and
welcome all to a new academic year. He asked that Representatives
send a synopsis of each meeting to their constituents. He also asked
that Representatives send a proxy to meetings that they can not
attend.
Mr. Jordan stated that, during the previous six months, he had tried
to streamline the processes in the GSG, and keep the GSG focused on
the issues. His goal was that as much as possible be accomplished,
taking each person as little time as possible. He added that,
although rules are important, they shouldn't stand in the way to solve
the real problems.
Mr. Jordan concluded his report by stating that he would be forced to
resign. His resignation would be effective later in the meeting. At
that point [By-Laws, III.8.d] Assistant Chair Mr. Adelizzi would take
office as acting chair, and would describe the procedure for
by-elections, which are to be held in the next Assembly meeting.
Anita Adhitya thanked Mr. Jordan for his service on the GSG. She
stated that Assembly appreciated his efforts and understood
that the work of the Executive Committee is time-consuming.
V. Committees' Reports
Ms. Esparza reported that Huiyan Yang had had to leave earlier.
However, she had left some fliers with information on consolidation of
student loans, for interested members to take.
A. Campus Relations
Brigitta Lee reported that two student activities fairs would be held
in the following days. Graduate student organizations would be
present in the GC Coffee House, while undergraduate student
organizations would be present in Dillon gym. She emphasized that
although those organizations are registered separately, membership is
always open to both graduate and undergraduate students. There are
some restrictions: the president and treasurer of undergraduate
organizations must be undergraduate student and the president and
treasurer of graduate organizations must be graduate students.
Moreover, undergraduate organizations with more than half of its
members being graduate students, must register with the Graduate
School. Mr. Bonderover stated that he knew of several exceptions to
those policies, and Mr. Donev stated that he thought the division was
related mainly with funding sources.
B. Housing
Mr. Adelizzi stated that he was still looking for a chair for the
committee. He reported that there had been a second meeting to
discuss draw. Everyone is in favor of the new system, but there are
some technical difficulties computerizing the process. The main goal
of the proposal was to simplify the process, by having only one draw.
Mr. Donev asked whether the process would be submitted to review.
Mr. Adelizzi stated that the draw was being discussed in the scope of
the graduate housing policy group, who had representatives from all
residential committees, as well as the GSG. Mr. Donev thought some
aspects of the draw were still vague; for example, whether domestic
partners would be allowed to leave in 1-bedroom apartments.
Mr. Adelizzi stated that it was the consensus of the group that
domestic partners should be treated as married couples in all
respects. Mr. Donev asked whether there could be an informal review
by the student body. Mr. Adelizzi thought that could be easily
implemented, and added that he intended to post the minutes of the
meetings (as soon as they are ready) in the GSG website.
Mr. Adelizzi reported on recent renovations in the GC. The New GC
kitchen had just been completed, and the Coffee House renovation was
underway. He also reported that the singles converted to walk-through
doubles two years ago were to be unconverted at the end of this year.
As to the new Lawrence construction, he had no news about the
schedule. Radhika Wijetunge stated that the Lawrence Committee had no
news either.
Mr. Adelizzi further reported that, in order to restripe the parking
lots, facilities had recently towed several cars at Lawrence, Butler,
and the GC. However, many residents hadn't been warned that they had
to move their cars. In fact, the cars of several administrators had
been towed too, and the operation was done in August, when many
students are not in town. Mr. Adelizzi and Lior Silberman (assistant
chair of the GC House Committee) had talked with Mark Bianchi
(facilities manager, at housing). Mr. Bianchi apologized, but stated
that it had been a non-traditional towing: a platform had been put
under the cars, and rolled to the new parking spots, thereby avoiding the
damage to cars that ordinary towing can cause. A meeting had
been set up (within 3 or 4 weeks) with housing, planning, and the
different facilities shops to discuss a notification system that
works. Ms. Mac Namara observed that even Donald Reichling (acting
associate director at public safety) had not been informed of the
operation.
Mr. Adelizzi closed his report by observing that the facilities
department was being reorganized. Chad Klaus had been appointed
general manager for services, a position in which he will oversee
housing and dining.
C. Information Technology
Mr. Bonderover reported that the wiring of Butler was complete. However,
there were reports of spotty service. As to the service fee [
href="../08/#Vb">Minutes 8.13.2003, V.B], it turned out that the
University had prorated the fee over the entire duration of the lease.
So, some people had started to pay it earlier, but the total would be the
same. Also, only the time connected would be charged. Nevertheless, Mr.
Bonderover suggested that residents be advised to check their bills.
D. International Students' Concerns
Lei Xu stated that the survey on the Princeton Oral Proficiency Test [
href="../08/#Vd">Minutes 8.13.2003, V.D] had started a few days ago.
McGraw center had provided a list of all participants in the English
Language Program, and emails had been sent to those students, inviting
them to participate. Only those students can take the survey. There have
been about 120 students in the program; of those, 60 have already filled in
the survey. Ms. Mac Namara congratulated the committee for such success,
and compared it with the shuttle survey (which had been deemed a success), in
which 600 out of the 2000 graduate students had participated. She also
suggested extending the survey to current years. Mr. Xu stated that the
committee was planning to do that later in the academic year.
E. Library
Mr. Pease reported that he is looking for a new committee chair.
F. Post-Enrollment
Mr. Jordan reported on the housing/post-enrollment survey, mentioned in
the previous meeting [Minutes 8.13.2003, IV.B].
In the dinner (July 29) with President Tilghman, the Executive Committee
discussed mainly housing and post-enrollment. She expressed interest in
knowing about graduate student housing preferences (e.g., what fraction of
students would be interested in University housing, or what students are
looking for in new housing). She also expressed that one the University's
priorities is to assure short times to degree. So, the Executive
Committee decided to conduct a survey (or two distinct surveys) on housing
and post-enrollment. As to post-enrollment, the goal is to gather more
information on time to degree, on whether the introduction of DCC status
was an improvement, and whether it is sufficient. The original plan was
to have it in September, but it's not clear whether it is possible.
Assembly will be kept informed, and the survey will likely take place some
time in the Fall.
Mr. Wyckham asked how post-enrolled students could be reached. Mr. Jordan
stated that ideally people would not be removed from the mailing lists.
However, the mailing lists of graduate students (pu-grads,
allgs, and gsg-global) are automatically updated every
few days, by the Registrar's office. However, there are mailing lists of
DCC students
(graddcc and gsg-dcc), and the Graduate School is
working on getting a mailing list of
title="Enrollment Terminated, Degree Candidacy Continued">ETDCC
students. Mr. Adelizzi explained that a list of post-enrolled students
had been obtained for the previous post-enrollment survey [Minutes
2.20.2002, IV], by getting a list of all students with Unix accounts in
the group grad. This includes almost all students. The
exceptions are students who have been in Princeton long enough (so that
when they started their programs there were no email accounts yet), or who
started as undergraduates. That would also include former visiting
students and people who graduated or quit.
Cole Crittenden asked whether DCC students can register for classes or get
a transcript. Mr. Adelizzi stated that only enrolled students can
register for classes. Ms. Safran stated that DCC are not enrolled,
although the comparison with the acronym ETDCC (where ET stands for
"Enrollment Terminated") suggests otherwise. She stated that some
agencies require people to be students, and despite the Graduate School
claiming that ETDCC people are still working toward their degree, some
agencies think that if enrollment terminated, such people can not be
considered students.
G. Transportation and Parking
Ms. Mac Namara reported that the P-Rides shuttle had started service
again. The new parking policy had been implemented too, and there had
been no complaints yet.
As to the ZIPcars [Minutes 8.13.2003, II], the
negotiations had been completed, and the advertising was to start soon.
The University will have a group account, and Princeton people could
enroll in the program for $20. ZIPcar is a car-rental service: cars may
be rented on a hourly basis. Currently (in Princeton), there are cars at
the Dinky, at Hulfish Street, and at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Soon, there will be a car at Butler. If there is enough interest, it may
be possible to get cars at the GC, Lawrence, and Hibben-Magie. The
program includes insurance and gas. Moreover, it's not necessary to have
a U.S. driver's license; international licenses are accepted too.
Ms. Mac Namara concluded her report by thanking, on her behalf on behalf
of the other officers, Mr. Jordan for his service as GSG chair.
Jack Tinsley asked whether the ZIPcars are to be advertised in the
departments, or if there are details to be finalized. Ms. Mac Namara
stated that it's almost ready, and a global email will be sent soon. In
fact, the University has a press release ready to be issued. Ms. Adhitya
asked whether there is a payment system in alternative to a credit card.
Ms. Mac Namara stated she had asked that. She thought debit cards could
work too. Ms. Medema asked how a car can be booked. Ms. Mac Namara
stated that all members get a card, which serves as a prox-card. People
can book a specific car in the internet, for a specific period of time,
and during that period only that prox-card will open the car. Mr. Jordan
asked what happened if people don't return the car in time. Mr. Donev
stated it was a self-policing system, which seemed to work. Ms. Mac
Namara stated that if people don't respect the rules, their membership can
be revoked.
VI. Other Business
A. GESO petition
Ms. Wijetunge provided a brief report of the topic at hand.
title="Graduate Student and Employee Organization">GESO of Yale
had contacted the GSG, asking for endorsement of a petition [
href="../08/#VIc">Minutes 8.13.2003, VI.C]. The petition is to be
sent to the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the
Secretary of Homeland Security, and the University Presidents, and
addresses visa restrictions for international students. Although the
international students' concerns committee thinks the concerns are valid
(e.g., some students leaving the U.S. are subjected to considerable delays
because of background checks), the committee also thinks the requests are
not appropriate to our situation. The petition calls for University
presidents to speak publicly about these issues, but President Tilghman as
already spoken to the Congress. The petition mentions a SEVIS fee; the
committee contacted the office of visa services, and was told that some
universities are charging that fee, but Princeton is not. Also, GESO is a
political organization, and endorsement could be construed as political
activity. In sum, the committee thought there was no problem in
circulating the petition, but recommended against GSG's endorsement. It
would be more appropriate to write a different letter.
Mr. Tinsley observed that we have no obligation to sign a petition from an
outside organization, but thought that individuals were free to sign the
petition.
Mr. Wyckham stated that he had already signed the petition. He thought
that risk of an endorsement being considered political activity was not a
real concern; for it would be clear that we merely endorsed the petition,
and no more. He agreed that some of the proposals weakened the petition.
However, he knew of at least two students in his department who were
delayed due to visa problems, and that would have effects on
funding— later in the meeting, Mr. Boavida stated that he had asked
Jennifer McNabb (graduate student advisor in the office of visa services)
how many Princeton students were affected by this, and she told him that 4
returning students and 2 incoming students were affected; Ms. Mac Namara
expressed her surprise, for she also knew of two students in this
situation. Mr. Wyckham suggested that we could write a letter to
President Tilghman, but also observed that the petition was directed at
all university presidents, and not only ours.
Mr. Pease moved to accept the committee's recommendation, and to ask them
to prepare our own letter. Mr. Tinsley observed that the Assembly should
direct the committee to whom to address the letter. Ms. Safran stated that
after the previous meeting she had talked with Mr. Xu and Ms. Wijetunge,
and they had thought about writing a letter to GESO, outlining which
specific aspects with support. Mr. Pease changed his motion according to
Ms. Safran's idea, and was seconded by Ms. Safran. Mr. Tinsley thought
that it should be decided what issues to address. Mr. Donev observed that
we had already deferred this decision in the last meeting, and thought that
we should decide what is our stance and avoid further delays. Ms. Mac
Namara observed that the petition asks for changes in legislation, and
that may be construed as a political activity. She was under the
impression that the ultimate reason why our Constitution [IX.9] excludes
political activity is related to our non-profit status; and she didn't
think that would be an issue in this particular case. Mr. Adelizzi
suggested that in the letter we recognize there is a problem and support
the broad outline of the petition, praise President Tilghman's support,
but leave out the specific suggestions with which we disagree. Mr. Pease
took Mr. Adelizzi's suggestion as part of his motion. Mr. Tinsley
clarified that we were not officially endorsing the petition, but merely
agreeing with the general cause.
MOTION: to refer the drafting of a letter (with the content just discussed)
to the international students' concerns committee. PASSED
unanimously.
B. By-Election for GSG Chair
Mr. Jordan's resignation was effective at this point. He thanked all for
their cooperation, and expressed his pleasure at having served the
graduate student body and the GSG. Even if it was a lot of work, it was
also enjoyable and fun.
Mr. Pease, in his capacity as parliamentary secretary, accepted Mr.
Jordan's resignation. Mr. Adelizzi, in his capacity as assistant chair,
accepted to be acting chair, which acceptance Mr. Pease also
recognized.
Mr. Adelizzi thanked Mr. Jordan for his service, and stated that the GSG
had continued to grow under Mr. Jordan's direction. Mr. Adelizzi observed
that several administrators had expressed their regret at Mr. Jordan's
resignation.
Mr. Adelizzi explained that he would continue in the post till the
October meeting, when a by-election would be held. [By-Laws, III.8]
Any member of the
graduate student body can nominate any member, contacting either Mr.
Pease <lpease@> or <gsg@>. A voice vote
will be conducted, unless there are objections, in which case the vote
will be by secret ballot. The deadline for nominations is the meeting
itself. Candidates can also simply show up at the meeting. Nominees will
be contacted to ascertain whether they accept their nomination.
Candidates are expected to come, and will given a chance to address the
Assembly. Mr. Smith suggested that a global email be sent. Mr. Adelizzi
had not thought about that,
and had planned to ask Representatives to contact their constituents. Ms.
Mac Namara encouraged members of Assembly to consider running. Ms.
Wijetunge asked whether delegates would vote on the by-election, Mr.
Adelizzi explained that only voting delegates have a vote. Mr. Adelizzi
asked whether there were objections to sending a global. There being
none, he deemed it approved by unanimous consent.
Mr. Adelizzi observed that President Tilghman would be the guest in the
October meeting, and asked Assembly members to arrive promptly at 6pm. He
also stated that a presentation would be prepared. Mr. Donev asked
whether there were any ideas for such presentation. Mr. Jordan suggested
focusing on one or two issues. It was suggested that an outline of the
presentation could be sent to Assembly in advance. Someone suggested that
it might be useful to bring up the visa issues. Mr. Adelizzi stated
that the last time President Tilghman had visited the Assembly [Minutes
2.20.2002, IV], the
main themes had been post-enrollment and transportation and parking. He
said the Executive Committee would meet to plan a presentation and
would announce the time of this meeting to the Assembly, so interested
Assembly members could come.
On the topic of communication with administrators, Ms. Lee asked about the
status of the 2003
title="Graduate Student Life Initiative">GSLI. Mr. Adelizzi
stated that four committees (health-care, international students'
concerns, housing, campus relations) had already prepared their reports.
Mr. Bonderover stated that the information technology committee was
reviewing the draft. Ms. Mac Namara stated that the transportation and
parking committee report would be prepared soon. Mr. Jordan stated that
it was not clear whether the post-enrollment report should wait for the
results of the survey or not. It all depended on how soon the survey was
done. Ms. Lee suggested that, when ready, the GSLI would be an useful
instrument for our representatives in the CPUC.
C. Judicial Opinion, etc.
As Mr. Sun had asked for some time to express his opinions, Mr. Adelizzi
yielded him the floor. Mr. Sun stated that the Constitution defines the
rights and duties of Representatives and Delegates [Constitution, IV.5
and IV.6]. The Representatives are elected and have voting power, and as
such they should be fully involved. They should be able to form their
opinions beforehand, and should ask questions about the contents of
reports. Delegates don't have such responsibilities, and act just as
ambassadors to the GSG. If the GSG discusses some issue that affects the
group their represent, they may or may not talk, but they needn't come to
the meetings. Representatives can not do anything if there are no
reports, and those reports should be prepared by the standing committees
and the Executive Committee. Assembly members can not do word-by-word
amendments. Under the current Constitution there are many people reviewing
the reports, but no one to write them. Moreover, volunteers have little
time...
At this point, Mr. Smith asked whether Mr. Sun had a motion, stating that
he would move to adjourn the meeting unless a motion was forthcoming. Mr.
Sun stated he was presenting a report. Mr. Smith objected, on the grounds
that Mr. Sun should not have the floor without first making a motion. Mr.
Adelizzi observed that the main point to be addressed was the judicial
opinion [Minutes 5.14.2003, III.A], for it had been
successively delayed, and should be handled. Mr. Sun asked consent to
include his "report" in the minutes, but Mr. Pease objected. Mr. Adelizzi
asked Mr. Sun whether he wished to move that his comments be included in
the minutes, but Mr. Sun did not respond. Mr. Adelizzi asked whether he
wanted to appeal the judicial decision. Mr. Sun said he didn't know what
was the procedure. Ms. Mac Namara disagreed, for (when Mr. Sun
had been at office hours) she had explained the procedure in detail. Mr.
Sun moved for Assembly to review the judicial opinion; Mr. Adelizzi
accepted the motion. There was an objection, on the grounds that the
motion was not seconded, but Mr. Adelizzi overruled the objection, on the
grounds that an appeal by a petitioner on a ruling of the Executive
Committee should not require a second; Mr. Adelizzi was uncertain whether
a second was officially required, but he said he was inclined to be
generous on the point. Mr. Adelizzi stated that he considered a motion
for the Assembly to begin review of a judicial decision of the Executive
Committee undebatable.
MOTION: to review the judicial opinion. FAILED unanimously.
Mr. Sun stated that he wanted to present more business. He thought the
standing rule on submission of original receipts [Standing Rules of
Assembly, III.2] could not be enforced, and thought that waiving the rule
shouldn't be left at the treasurer's discretion. Mr. Smith asked whether
he had a motion. Mr. Sun moved to add "or copies" to the text of the
rule. There was no second, and so the question was not considered.
Mr. Sun stated he had more questions to ask the Executive Committee. Mr.
Adelizzi stated he can ask directly to the Executive Committee, come to
office hours, or send email. Mr. Sun wished to ask whether the minutes are
important. Mr. Smith stated they are. Mr. Sun asked whether discussion
is important. Mr. Smith stated it is. Mr. Sun moved that Assembly
members be required to be in at least one committee. There was no second.
At this point, Ms. Medema moved to adjourn, and was seconded by several
members of Assembly.
VII. Scheduling of Next Meeting and Adjournment
Mr. Adelizzi announced that, unless there were objections, the next
meeting would be on October 8, at 6pm, in Frist 309. There were no
objections. The motion to adjourn was put to a vote, and passed
unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at about 8:05pm.
João Pedro Boavida
Recording Secretary
