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GSA Meeting Minutes--May 1, 2003

Attendance:

Officers: Emily Moberg Robinson (President), Joni Wajnryb (EVP), Yan Zhang (IVP)

Department Reps: Meredith Armstrong (Ocean Sciences), Susanne Altermann (Biology), Dirk Robinson (EE), Ian Dobbs-Dixon (Astronomy), Oona Besman (History), Dave Machledt (Anthropology), Pete Alrenga (Linguistics), Lee Ritscher (Literature)

Visitors: Wen Minkoff (HistCon), Rudy Gilmore (Physics)

I. Approval of Agenda and Minutes

Agenda and minutes approved.

II. Funding Requests

A. Deb Abbott and Wen Minkoff--Rainbow Ceremony 2003
Requested $500 to help fund the 5th Annual Rainbow Ceremony, held at the Women's Center on June 12th, 2003. This event will recognize GLBT/All graduates receiving high school diplomas, A.A., B.A, M.A., and Ph.D. degrees. They anticipate that 10-15 graduate students will participate in the ceremony itself, and the event usually draws 200-250 friends.

B. Roshanak Kheshti--Performance by Azita Youssefi
After further reserach, Roshi came back to the GSA to request additional funding and a reallocation of funds for the performance put on by Azita, an Iranian musician. The event will be held June 11, 2003 in performance studio 131 In the UCSC Music Center. Roshi asked for $200 in addition to the $500 the GSA allocated in April so she could pay for accomodations for Azita. Previous funds had been allocated for airfare, publicity and room costs.

After discussions among grad council members,
Rainbow Ceremony 2003--motion approved to fund $500 to co-sponsor the event.

Azita Youssefi Performance--motion approved to fund an additional $100 with receipts, approved for travel, advertisement and performance room rent.

III. Officer Elections

President Emily Moberg Robinson nominated and elected by unanimous consent.
IVP Oona Besman nominated and elected by unanimous consent.
EVP Joni Wajnryb nominated and elected by unanimous consent.
Secretary Rudy Gilmore and Susanne Altermann nominated. Susanne was elected in a runoff.
Treasurer Allison Luengen nominated and elected by unanimous consent.
CPB Iaan Dobbs Dixon nominated and elected by unanimous consent.

 

IV. Strategy for Accumulated Funds

After a brainstorming session on how to spend our accumulated funds, a motion was approved to write a letter detailing how we will utilizethese accumulated funds over the next four years. The following ideas were presented as possibilities:

  • Increase officer stipends
  • Increase travel grant maximum
  • Organize a GSA speaker series/invite comedians
  • Hold more parties
  • Organize a tax workshop or a series of professional skills workshops
  • Double the social budget
  • Organize a GSA ski trip
  • Purchase a wireless network for the Grad Commons
  • Offer a $2000 fellowship for an event scholarship, dissertation writing, a TA sabbatical or a paper prize
  • Organize a dissertation workshop
  • Hire a benefits person for health care
  • Hire a fellowship intern for the summer to work for the GSA

A second discussion session led to a series of ideas for establishing guidelines for grants and funding. These included:

  • Max of $500 for a social event
  • Emphasis on number of grad students involved
  • Cost of the event for participants
  • Cross-department focus
  • Social events get less priority than academic events
  • Lower priority for last minute requests
  • Quality of presentation including: Plan for publicity, other organizations being approached and completeness of budget

Oona, Ian and Meredith agreed to draft a statement of funding priorities for the next meeting.

V. Committee Reports

Ian

Committee on Academic Freedom--This committee was organized in the wake of the Patriot Act and concerns itself with concerns (for faculty and grad students) about privacy and integrity of academic research. Concerns include access by the FBI of library lending lists and the privacy of applicants information (for both citizens and non-citizens.) The university's charter on academic freedom was put into place in 1934, but is currently being rewritten. It seems at this point that the revision is going well, but Ian raised questions about how membership in the TA union affected a grad students claim to academic freedom.
Dave

Social Committee--Meredith, Oona, Yan, Dave and Wendy will work on the end of the year party

VI. Adjourn

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