March 2011 Minutes
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Date March 2nd, 2011 Time: 6pm Location: Tidewater B (Sadler Center)
I. Call to order
II. Vice-President’s report a. Graduate Portfolio i. Still collecting submissions for the graduate portfolio. Please encourage people to submit the information themselves using the online form. GSA representatives can also collect the information, format it, and email it to Paul. It would be best to get the information up on the website by the end of this month. b. Health Insurance i. Have talked with the Dean and about the issues with health insurance. She is going to help address the issues with credit cards, when the first payment is due, and other issues. So the Dean will act as the liaison. Student Senate has a bill about the health insurance, and the senate representative will check on the bill’s status. c. Elections For Unfilled 2011-2012 Executive Positions i. See old business (moved during the meeting)
III. Treasurer’s report a. Please update everyone on the approved budget i. Our budget for next year is less because we don’t even spend the money we asked for this year. 1. Not going to appeal budget for next year 2. No fall or spring party funding for next year ii. There is over $1,000 left for colloquium funding, just remember to turn into your receipts within 1 month to the treasurer’s mailbox in the American Studies building.
IV. Secretary’s report a. Out sick; nothing to add
V. Social Chair’s report a. Spring semester social date i. Not present, but March 24th is a day with drink and food deals for graduate students at the green leaf. ii. Also investigating the possibility of organizing the Spring Party at Plaza Azteca. Requests further opinions/suggestions from grad. students about this plan.
VI. Senate Representative a. No updates b. Reports that the Health Insurance Bill has not been debated recently in the Student Senate – it remains in committee.
VII. Graduate Council a. Spring Grad Bash will be March 26 (only date that we could get) i. All graduate schools b. VIM Fish Fry/Spring Party April 16h i. Unsure about status of shuttle bus ii. Encourage people to go, especially if they provide a shuttle bus c. Graduate Newsletter—I hope you read it!
VIII. Old Business a. Graduate Research Symposium (Shaun Richards and Sarah Zimmet) i. Still need some volunteers to work as room proctors ii. The Symposium will occur on Friday March 25th and Saturday March 26th. iii. If you would like to attend, you need to RSVP on the Graduate Research Symposium website. It is free, but if you want to be part of the meals on Friday or Saturday you need to RSVP.
IX. New Business a. Word limit for conference fund applications (Chris Martin) i. Motion: Amend wording about conference funding applications: for each of the two essays on the funding applications, there will be a word limit of between 50 to 100 words for each essay (Passed) b. Elections For Unfilled 2011-2012 Executive Positions (Eric Aldrich) i. There have been some problems getting a correct list of students that should vote in the election and problems with the liaison for the company the school uses to run elections. ii. Needs to email the voting company 10 days prior to an election (in order to avoid a $495 rush fee), and needs several days with a list of final candidates before holding the election. It thus seems almost impossible to hold the election tomorrow as planned. iii. There are also a very low number of candidates and this raises problems if the 5 remaining Executive positions are to be merely selected by the 2 elected officials. iv. There was discussion of postponing the whole election until the Fall, but concerns were raised that this would leave the GSA without leadership in the new semester. v. Members discussed the advantages and disadvantages of holding the current election for two candidates and then holding a second election, versus reopening nominations and attempting once again to generate interest in running for positions. vi. It was decided that with the agreement of the current candidates nominations would be reopened and better publicized. The new close of nominations will be April 1st, speeches will be heard at the April 6th GSA meeting, and the election will be held on April 7th. A new email will be sent out and reps will promote the election in their departments. Eric will work with several contacts to properly format the ballot in time with the April 7th election. He will also update the GSA website as nominations come in. vii. Motion: Deadline for nominations pushed back to April 1st. The candidates will talk at the April 6th GSA meeting. The election will be held on April 7th. Emails sent out will detail that there are five officer positions without nominees. A link to the GSA website will be included in the email. The GSA website will be kept up-to-date with the various people running for different positions. (Passed)
X. Adjournment
Next meeting will be: April 6th, 6pm in Sadler Center James Room |