September 2023 General Body Meeting

September 4th, 2023, 6:00-7:30 PM
Newcomb Commonwealth Meeting Room

     1.          Call to Order and Remarks (Max Schnidman, 5 minutes)

     2.          Introductions and Background to GSASC (Max Schnidman, 5 minutes)

a.     Goals discussed during introductions:

                                                    i.     Follow up on promises from Deans

                                                   ii.     Get finance info out to departments and grad students

                                                 iii.     Share info from departments, meet people from different departments

                                                 iv.     Improving working conditions for grad students

                                                   v.     Advocate on behalf of departments

                                                 vi.     Make grant review process more equitable for Huskey & grants

                                                vii.     Improve grad student well-being with small changes

                                              viii.     Work on DEI, understand attrition a little better

b.     Intro from Max

                                                    i.     Discuss issues from departments

                                                   ii.     Handle funding requests, disbursement of research funds

                                                 iii.     Most of the action happens at committee meetings

                                                 iv.     Larger issues of grad student life discussed by the whole council

     3.          Committee Overviews (5-10 minutes)

a.     Finance Committee (Tyler Barnes, 2-3 Minutes): postponed until Overview

b.     Research Committee (Zoe Robertson, 2-3 Minutes): distributing research grant funds each semester, spring research exhibition (HUSKEY), interdepartmental research-focused workshops and professional development opportunities

c.      Graduate Education Committee (Ian Winchester and Aaron Thompson, 2-3 minutes): concentrating on DEI events, advocate for reinstatement/institutionalization of Bridge Program, event highlighting research by/about underrepresented groups, protect smaller departments from getting eliminated (e.g. Slavic Language), improving student parent benefits, understand nuts and bolts of how people get paid.

d.     Social Committee: social chair tbd/tba! Overview from Max: organize regular social events open to all of GSAS. Past events: Halloween party, tailgates, Valentines day ballroom dancing, orientation mixer at NASB. Budget of ~$3500, reach out if interested in chairing!

     4.  Overview of the Funding Process (Tyler Barnes, 10 Minutes)

a.     [slides will be attached later]

b.     Went over what we do and don’t fund

c.      If you have an event or an idea, contact and work with Tyler, who will help people navigate bureaucracy. If funding policy is unclear, Tyler is here to help.

d.     Action item: Tyler will forward follow-up email. Circulate to your department’s graduate student association if you have one.

     5.          GSAS Business

a.     6th & 7th-Year Funding (Natalie Thompson, 5 minutes)

                                                    i.     Seems to be a new policy that 7th and 8th years cannot have TAships, but no official/clear communication. DGS’s have indicated this is a GSAS-wide policy rather than department decisions.

                                                   ii.     Max will bring this question to Dean China.

                                                 iii.     Any other departments have similar situations?

1.     Philosophy: no 7th year funding, even when people have requested/needed it.

2.     History: has 7th and 8th years, hasn’t heard anyone mention that they aren’t getting funding, but can follow up

3.     Departments without 6th year funding: History, Poli Sci, Psych, Math, Econ

4.     Physics has departmental restrictions on how much you can TA

b.     TA Support Needs Discussion (Natalie Thompson, 10 minutes)

                                                    i.     Filled in the spreadsheet (see spreadsheet)

                                                   ii.     More departments require TAGS than do not!

c.      UJC Bylaw Amendments (Viranga Wimalasiri, 5 minutes)

                                                    i.     Proposed amendment: gives UJC exec committee the authority to choose reps for schools that can provide both grad students and undergrad (so, NOT us), and they may just choose undergrads. Reasoning: We need judges; there are lots of cases.

                                                   ii.     Recommendations of grad council, broadly: don’t vote for this. We want to make sure grad students are on UJC so that we are represented

                                                 iii.     Throwback to issues with honor: undergraduate student who was going to be a graduate student in the following year, ran for honor and won, but we had not nominated our Honor reps yet.

                                                 iv.     Cautious because of past attempts to circumvent having grads on committees

                                                   v.     Aaron: if it did ever happen to GSAS this would be a violation from our bylaws.

                                                 vi.     Viranga will send the text of the bylaw. Max proposes that, at that point, we can choose to take a stand/make a statement and vote on it

     6.          For the Good of the Order

a.     UNC situation: remind us to take care of ourslves and each other. Use resources we have. We have CAPS, TimelyCare, they are free. Stay in touch with each other.

     7.          Meet with Committees, exchange contact information