GSA Minutes Feb. 3, 05
Attendance
Officers: Kai Pommerenke (president); Allison Luengen (secretary); Ian Dobbs Dixon (external vice president)
Department Reps: Nick Konidaris (astro); Ignacio Solis (CE); Gerardo Palafox (edu); Jesse Saba Kirchner (ling); Amy Dexter (psych); Sina Farsiu (EE); Luke Winstrom (physics); Alex Hutko (earth); Scott Calvert (alternate hiscon); Dave Machledt (anthro); Sara Bothwell (ENVS); Kivanh Bilecen (etox); Berra Yazar (MCDB); Brooke Crowly (earth); Sheila Willey (music);
Others: Julia Lonergan (psy); Hope Ishak (psy); Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (astro); Avik Chaudhuri (CS); Leandro Dias (CE); Susy Zepeda (socy); Elisa Huerta (anthro); Susi Altermann (EEB); Sarah Clifthorne (earth); Liam Welcher (College 9).
A. Several student fee referenda are under consideration. They are based on a
survey of UCSC students and comparisons with other universities, and will be put to a referendum if enough students, SUA and GSA support them. Projected
increases in quarterly fees are given in parentheses. These fees would mostly be indefinite. The proposed referenda are:
1) a multi-use event center (144)
2) remodeling the health center (26)
3) college student life improvement (12)
4) funding for sports (22)
5) improvements for the quarry amphitheater (36).
6) an outdoor event venue (36).
B. Graduate Student Research Symposium. Lisa Sloan is organizing a graduate student research symposium, with the goal of present graduate student research to a wider audience, to be held June 2. She is looking for input from the GSA and volunteers
to help with the event.
We approved the following department reps: Dave Machledt (anthro) and Scott Calvert (alternate hiscon).
We approved a resolution to thank Marti Chemers for his work with the GSA. Kai will make minor wording changes to it, and email it out to the council for final comments.
A. Brooke from graduate housing requested $600 for a computer for grad housing. We agreed to give $300 and write a letter to Tim from grad housing and to Lisa Sloan asking the university to contribute the remaining money. We stipulated that all grads would have to be able to use the computer.
B. Susy Zepeda
<szepeda@ucsc.edu> presented a request for the GSA to fund the Women of
Color Film Festival for $1,500. We
agreed to fund the request in full. The
festival will be held
We agreed that in future years, we would make the film festival a line-item in our budget and that we would let the film festival organizers know in advance how much money we had appropriated for them.
C. We had a debate regarding the budget and how much we could afford to spend on the computer and the film festival. It seemed likely that the Graduate Commons would contribute $1,000 or half the cost, of our winter party. There was concern by some department reps, that we were spending too much money. Nacho in particular, wanted to make sure that we continue to roll-over enough money so that we do not have to make severe cuts next year. In the end, we voted to spend the money on the film festival and computer: 11 in favor, 4 opposed, and 1 abstention.
A. The Graduate Student Solidarity Network (GSSN) prepared a letter for the Chancellor and the donors in support of ASFCME, CUE, and UPTE. The letter emphasized respect, fair wages, and good working conditions for those workers. Also, the letter stated that grads will not cross picket lines. GSA agreed to sign-on to the letter, with 15 in favor, 0 opposed, and 1 abstention.
Chanda also announced that Feb 14 is Denice Denton’s first day. Labor will be on-hand to welcome her and let her know about the current situation.
B. Chanda wanted to write a letter of support for the Hindi and Arabic language classes, which are slated to be cut. Many of these classes are taught by lecturers whose job is 100% teaching. Supporting such programs protects the lecturers, and these programs also have high teacher/student ratios. The discussion expanded to include language programs in general. Nick motioned to send a letter to the Chair of the language program and the
Chancellor, stating that we are opposed to cuts in the language programs, and the motion passed.
Committee and Officer
Reports
A. President’s report (Kai). The officers met with Lisa Sloan, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, on Feb. 2, 05. Lisa is interested in putting on 1 workshop per quarter for graduate students. The workshops would cover topics such as grant writing in the fall, how to be a good grad student in the winter, and life after a Ph.D. in the spring. The grad division will also be starting a poster symposium, to be held June 2. The symposium would help grad students present their work to the rest of the world and explain why graduate student research matters. A job fair is not in the near future.
Kai will set up a meeting about housing with Jean Marie Scott.
Kai presented results from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) review. That process recommended creating multi-year funding packages for graduate students. Also, they recommended hiring a distinct graduate dean. They also saw a need for more professional schools.
Kai met Denice Denton, and she will be seeking input from students.
B. External Vice President (Ian). Ian passed out fake checks, where students could write down the amount of money that they are in-debt as a result of their education. These fake checks will be sent to the governor to demonstrate the amount of debt that students are incurring.
C. Outdoor Committee (Dave). Dave is planning 3 trips:
1. Mushroom foraging. Feb 13, Sunday. $7 per student.
2. Day hike to Pinnacles. Feb 26, Saturday. $7 per student.
3. GSA wine tasting. $15 per student.
Sign-up for these trips will be through the rec department, and after Feb 8, graduate students will also be allowed to sign up guests. These events will cost $275 for mushrooming, $150 for the day hike, and $300 for the wine tasting. However, Dave expects to recoup some of these costs from the money charged to students.
D. Tax Seminar
(Nick). The first tax seminar will be
held Feb 9 from
E. Campus Earth
F. Party. The party will be held Feb 25. Nacho needs volunteers.
G. Parking. Allison motioned to send another letter to TAPS restating our opposition to the extended parking enforcement and reiterating that the enforcement would cause great hardship to graduate students. The motion passed.