Graduate Student Senate General Body Meeting October 19, :30pm Walter Hall 145

Transcription

1 Graduate Student Senate General Body Meeting October 19, :30pm Walter Hall 145

2 Meeting Agenda I. Call to Order II. Roll Call III. Approval of Previous Meeting s Minutes IV. Student Speak Out V. Presentations a. Tasha Attaway --- UCM: Events Calendar b. Hillery Glasby --- Graduate Writing & Research Center c. GSS History and Institutional Knowledge VI. Officer s Reports a. President Carl Edward Smith III b. Interim Vice President of Legislative Affairs Alex Sargent c. Vice President for Administration and Finance Liudmilla Pestun d. Vice President for Communication Sarah Kaplan e. Advisor Report VII. Committee and Commission Reports As necessary to provide updates VIII. Old Business a. Resolution : A Resolution to Boycott All Presidential and University Committees until the Office of the President Addresses General Fee Concerns b. Resolution : Resolution to Appoint and Finance Graduate Employment Public Awareness Campaign Director IX. New Business a. Resolution : A Resolution to Appoint New Members to the Graduate Student Senate b. Resolution : A Resolution to Remove Rules and Procedures Section 1.04(C) c. Resolution : A Resolution to Establish Budget Request Procedure X. Announcements XI. Adjournment

3 Resolution Resolution to Boycott All Presidential and University Committees until the Office of the President Addresses General Fee Concerns 1. Whereas, the Office of the President of Ohio University is responsible for responding to concerns from Ohio University community members, including budgetary concerns regarding low value spending; and, 2. Whereas, the Office of the President of Ohio University is responsible for improving the Ohio University graduate student experience, including balancing extra-curricular opportunities with financial well-being; and, 3. Whereas, the Office of the President of Ohio University has received numerous concerns from university community members regarding the high costs and low value of general fee spending for graduate students, including (1) the 1969 Ohio Board of Regents general fee charter, (2) the 2007 report from the Graduate Priorities Implementation Team, (3) the General Fee Committee report, and (4) the General Fee Committee report, all stating that graduate students do not receive much benefit from the general fee and should pay a significantly lower rate than the present fee; and, 4. Whereas, the Ohio University Board of Trustees recognizes the Ohio University Graduate Student Senate as the official administrative body representing graduate student concerns and interests; and, 5. Whereas, the Office of the President of Ohio University has received numerous resolutions from Graduate Student Senate supporting a lower graduate student general fee, including GSS Resolution , GSS Resolution , GSS Resolution , and GSS Resolutions , , and ; and, 6. Whereas, the Office of the President of Ohio University has not lowered the graduate student general fee in response to any of these concerns from graduate students, student government, and university committees; and, 7. Whereas, the Office of the President of Ohio University has received numerous requests to attend a Graduate Student Senate meeting (Appendix A) to answer questions related to the graduate student general fee and its spending, but has failed to attend these meetings; therefore, be it 8. Resolved, that the Graduate Student Senate refuses to waste the time of its graduate student members and officially boycotts all Presidential and University Standing Committees that act as stakeholder advisory committees to the Office of the President of Ohio University, including, but not limited to, the General Fee Committee, Budget Planning Council, the

4 Committee on Committees, and Graduate Council, if President McDavis does not attend the Graduate Student Senate November meeting held on November 16, 2015; and be it also, 9. Resolved, that this boycott will continue until (1) the President of Ohio University attends a Graduate Student Senate general body meeting in which the President, (2) explains and answers questions from the voting body regarding why the Office of the President has not responded to the above mentioned concerns with a lower graduate student general fee, and (3) a majority vote is reached that the President of Ohio University has sufficiently answered all questions regarding the general fee from voting members; and be it also, 10. Resolved, that the Vice President of Communications will forward this resolution to the editors of The Athens News, The Athens Messenger, The Post, and The New Political. Sponsors: Carl Edward Smith III President Sarah Kaplan Vice President of Communications Liudmila Pestun Vice President of Finance and Administration Shaneil Taylor Senator for the Center for International Studies

5 Resolution Resolution to Appoint and Finance Graduate Employment Public Awareness Campaign Director 1. Whereas, the implementation strategies for solving many graduate employment policy and spending issues require greater public awareness; and, 2. Whereas, the planning and execution of an effective public awareness campaign requires significant investments of time, research, speaking, and outreach efforts; therefore, be it, 3. Resolved, that the Graduate Student Senate establishes the position of Graduate Employment Public Awareness Campaign Director for the academic year; be it further, 4. Resolved, that the position of Graduate Employment Public Awareness Campaign Director is subject to all Graduate Student Senate membership rules and procedures, and will deliver monthly progress reports at general body meetings concerning public awareness campaign efforts and their measured effects; be it further, 5. Resolved, that the Graduate Student Senate approves a one thousand dollar ($1,000) fellowship for the position of Graduate Employment Public Awareness Campaign Director for the academic year, divided into two five hundred dollar ($500) awards dispersed at the beginning of Fall and Spring semesters; be it further, 6. Resolved, that after providing a two week application window and reviewing all applicants, the executive council recommends Shezhad Ahmed to serve as the Graduate Employment Public Awareness Campaign Director for the academic year. Sponsors: Sarah Kaplan Vice President of Communications Carl Edward Smith III President

6 Resolution Resolution to Appoint New Members 1. Whereas, the executive council has exercised from the beginning of the Fall term no fewer than four weeks solicitation of applications and nominations for Graduate Student Senate membership for the academic year; and, 2. Whereas, the application materials have been made electronic and publicized on the Graduate Student Senate website; and, 3. Whereas, the application materials were ed to the graduate directors within each academic department and requested to be forwarded to all graduate students within each program; and, 4. Whereas, the Graduate Student Senate announced its call for applications for membership during the 2015 Graduate Student Orientation; and, 5. Whereas, upon receipt of applications, the executive council only examined and compared the academic department, year in program, experience, and essay content for each applicant; therefore, be it, 6. Resolved, that the Graduate Student Senate fostered an open and inclusive application process; and be it further, 7. Resolved, that upon review and recommendation from the executive council, applicants listed in Appendix B will be appointed as members of the Graduate Student Senate. Sponsors: Sarah Kaplan Vice President of Communications Carl Edward Smith III President

7 Resolution Resolution to Remove Rules and Procedures Section 1.04(C) 1. Whereas the Graduate Student Senate operates based upon established principles and customs of representative democracy; and, 2. Whereas decision making in bodies so constructed requires the unfiltered and expedient exchange of ideas among members of the body; and, 3. Whereas Section 1.04(c) of the Graduate Student Senate Rules and Procedures states that, Due to the vast involvement by the President, the President may speak at anytime they feel like they have information that the body needs to hear in order to make informed decisions, impinging upon this unfiltered and expedient exchange of ideas; and, 4. Whereas Section 1.04(a) of the Graduate Student Senate Rules and Procedures, which states that Meetings of the GSS shall be conducted with reference to the most recent edition of Robert s Rules of Order Newly Revised, already allows for the short-term suspension of the rules in unusual circumstances, such as the first meeting of the year, with a two-thirds vote; therefore, be it, 5. Resolved, that Section 1.04(c) be removed from the Graduate Student Senate Rules and Procedures. Sponsors: Ken Ward Department of Journalism Katy Ross Department of Communication Carl Edward Smith III President

8 Resolution Resolution to Establish Budget Request Procedure 1. Whereas, there is no established procedure to request financial support from Graduate Student Senate budget; and, 2. Whereas, Graduate Student Senate budget is limited and does not have enough capacity to provide funding for every graduate student event or initiative happening on campus; therefore, be it, 3. Resolved, that budget request should be submitted to Graduate Student Senate by interested parties before the established deadline; and be it further, 4. Resolved, that Budget Committee shall review budget requests twice per term, excluding summer, starting Spring semester ; and be it also, 5. Resolved, that there will be only one meeting of Budget Committee during Fall semester ; and be it also, 6. Resolved, that all the eligible budget requests shall be approved at the closest General Body meeting of Graduate Student Senate; and be it also, 7. Resolved, that information on Graduate Student Senate funding opportunities and respective deadlines shall be disseminated by the Graduate Student Senators and Representatives as well as via other communication tools available to Graduate Student Senate. Sponsors: Liudmila Pestun Vice President of Finance and Administration Sarah Kaplan Vice President of Communications

9 Appendix A Communications with Office of the President: Attending October GSS Meeting From: <Tackett>, Kelli <tackettk@ohio.edu> Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at 9:38 AM To: Sarah Kaplan <kaplans1@ohio.edu> Cc: "Shields, Joseph" <shieldj1@ohio.edu> Subject: Invitation from President McDavis Good morning, Sarah President McDavis regrets that university-related commitments will prevent him from joining you for the Graduate Student Senate meeting on October 19 th. Instead, he would like to invite the Graduate Senate executive committee to meet with him in the Cutler Hall Conference Room on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 at either 2:00pm or 4:00pm. Provost Benoit and Vice President Shields will also be in attendance. Please let me know which meeting time works for the executive committee and Iwill be happy to add the meeting to the calendar of each member. I look forward to hearing from you. Cordially, Kelli Kelli Tackett Presidential Assistant Ohio University tackettk@ohio.edu

10 Appendix B New Member Appointments Representative for the Department of Human and Consumer Science Representative for the Department of Economics-MFE Representative for the Department of Plant Biology Representative for the Department of History H M Rakib Ul Hasan Gayane Sargsyan Yuli Hu Robert James