GSA COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

April 1, 2004

Attendance

Officers and others: Emily Robinson (President), Vicky Tarumoto (External Vice President), Susanne Altermann (Secretary), Allison Luengen (Treasurer).

Department Reps: Karen Artiles (MCD Biology), Abhijit Sen Gupta (Economics), Nicholas Konidaris (Astronomy), Sina Farsiu (Electrical Engineering), Ignacio (Nacho) Solis (Computer Engineering), Sajeemas Pasakdee (Environmental Studies), Kelly Reiner (Education).

Others: Roseann Cohen (Environmental Studies), Erik Dedini (Physics), Anand Chondhuri (Economics), Pascha Bueno Hansen (Politics), Delia Santiago (Earth Sciences) David Pheng (Anthropology), Teresa Betts (Psychology).

Approval of Minutes and Agenda

Agenda and minutes approved with the addition of a Board Rep election and UAW announcement to the agenda.

Election

Motion: Sina Farsiu was approved as the Electrical Engineering Representative, replacing Dirk Robinson.

Announcements

Union. UAW Representative Jeremy Campbell is replacing Aarti Iyer in her role as Unit Chair. He passed out a form that allows union members to deduct money from our paychecks to support union political activities. The union won the right, in the last contract, to provide orientation to new TAs, and this will be going on in April. The union has on-going negotiations with the university about how the contract is to be interpreted. The union would like to play a role in all pedagogical contexts where TAing is the topic.

Defined Contribution Plan (Allison Luengen). The university no longer sends out paper mail about payroll deductions from summer earnings (for those grads who are NOT enrolled in any units). It would be a good idea to inform grads better that they have money in this retirement system. Susi pointed out that when we graduate, we have the option to withdraw the money or leave it there.

Federal Financial Aid Lack of Privacy (Susanne Altermann). Grads may not be aware that when you fill out federal financial aid forms (FAFSA), all that information goes on to the web with minimal privacy. All you need is a social security number and birth date to invade someone's financial privacy. Susi wrote a letter to the feds in November with no response.

GSA Officer Elections are coming up in May (Emily Robinson). We elect next year's officers at the first May meeting.

Money

Motion: GSA will not get a refrigerator maintenance agreement.

Funding Requests

Pascha Bueno Hansen and Roseanne Cohen requested and were awarded $300 to help sponsor a speaker from Columbia May 6th or 10th.

GSA granted $300 to support the Multicultural Festival May 22nd. David Pheng presented the request.

Committee/Officer Reports

Grad Housing (Teresa Betts)

Grad Housing is not moving this year. Rent will be $776/month for a 12 month agreement, $832/month for a 10 month agreement. RAs have been cut, and much is in transition. (There was some talk that meal plans were being forced on the grads, but Emily later clarified, by email, that this was not so.) Susi confirmed that GSA council previously allocated $300 for grad housing computers.

External Vice President (Vicky Tarumoto)

Vicky reported on the dinner with President Dynes and said she felt Dynes was vague on support for grads with respect to the proposed increase in fees. Allison, who was also at the dinner, interpreted Dynes' words differently and found him to be supportive of grads.

GSHIP (Insurance, Allison Luengen)

See written report submitted with agenda.

Transportation (Susanne Altermann)

See written report submitted with agenda.

Social Committee (Emily Robinson)

Emily said that we should do an End of the Year Party. Margaritas were a big hit at the last party. Sina suggested that happy hours are a better, more cost-effective way of having social events for grads. Nacho and Teresa volunteered for the social committee.

International Student Fees (Emily Robinson)

The Berkeley GSA President is very interested in international student fees. The UC-wide grad council is also interested in international and out of state fees. There may be some progress on this topic!

Adjourn