Minutes of the GSG Meeting, 11 December 2002

Summary of the Minutes

1. Call to order
2. Approval of previous minutes
3. Officer reports
   • Parliamentary Secretary's report
   • Social Chair's report
   • Treasurer's report
   • Chair's report
4. Old Business
   • Parking & Transportation Committee Report
   • International Student Concerns Committee Report
   • Healthcare Committee Report
   • Report of Graduate Student Members of the Priorities Committee
5. New Business
   • Setting up Elections Committee
   • Other Items: Library Committee, Princetonian Articles, DCC Problems, CPUC Charter
6. Scheduling of next meeting
7. Adjournment

MINUTES OF THE GSG MEETING, 11 December 2002

ATTENDANCE

Representatives Present: AOS Anita Adhitya; CEE Sinéad MacNamara; CHE Eric Adelizzi; CLA Meredith Safran; EAS Brigitta Lee; EEB Gregory O'Mullan; MAE Brendan McAndrew; MAT Scott Miller, proxy for Lior Silberman; MUS Emily Snow; ORFE Mike Ludkovski; OPR Patrick Gerland; POL Andrew Erickson; REL Philippa Townsend SOC Nicole Esparza; WWS Tony Fiori

Delegates Present: GCHC Eric Adelizzi, proxy for Lior Silberman; Lawrence Radhika Wijetunge; ACSS Fei Sun

Councillors Present: CPUC, Exec Scott Miller (CHE); CPUC, Exec Brigitta Lee (EAS); CPUC Leonard Pease (CHE); Gov Anita Adhitya (AOS)

Others Present:

Officers Absent: Parl. Sec'y Lior Silberman; Soc. Chair Kerry Bystrom

Representatives Absent: ACM Cynthia Rudin; ANT Riaz Tejani; ARC Zach Ridley; ECO Tanjim Hossain; ELE Bill Jordan; ENG Kerry Bystrom; FIT Juliet O'Brien; GEO Meredith Galanter Hastings; GER Michael House; HIS Karoline Cook; MOL Dave Shrom; PHY Tamar Friedmann; PPPL Ethan Schartman; PSY Cara Talaska

Delegates Absent: Butler Huiyan Yang; BGC Ade Artis; CIGS Rahul Deshpande; Women's Centre Heather White

The following representative seats were vacant: ART, AST, CHM, COM, COS, HOS, NES, PHI, SLA, SPO

The following delegate seats were vacant: Hibben-Maggie, Millstone, Off-Campus.

1. CALL TO ORDER
   • Scott Miller, Chair, called the meeting to order at 6:09pm.

2. APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES
   • Sinéad MacNamara made a motion to approve the minutes. The motion passed with none opposed.

3. OFFICER REPORTS

   3.1 Parliamentary Secretary's Report -- Eric Adelizzi, for Lior Silberman

   • Eric Adelizzi informed the Assembly that there was one new representative, Karoline Cook HIS, who was filling the seat that Joseph November was vacated of earlier this year.
   • Mr. Adelizzi informed the Assembly that Officer elections would be held in March. He stated that, by the By-laws, the election must be held by the close of the March meeting. Mr. Adelizzi stated that the election would probably be held on-line again, in the week before the March meeting. Further discussion of the Officer elections was postponed until later in the meeting, under New Business.

   3.2 Social Chair's Report -- Scott Miller, for Kerry Bystrom

   • Mr. Miller reported that a date and location for International Games Night were yet to be determined.
   • Mr. Miller informed the Assembly that Kerry Bystrom is looking for a substitute Social Chair for the Valentines Day party, as Ms. Bystrom will be away next semester. Mike Ludkovski asked if a new social chair was needed. Mr. Adelizzi noted that the current Officers' term of office ends on 12 March. Mr. Miller said that the V-Day party was the only major event remaining. Mr. Ludkovski asked if there was any provision for the above-mentioned situation of an unavailable Officer. Mr. Adelizzi stated that, in the event that an Officer resigns, the Assembly elects someone to finish the term.
   • Mr. Miller noted that discussions were still taking place as to the venue for the V-Day party and solicited feedback from the Assembly. Options included the Carl A. Fields Center, the D-Bar, and Frist. Brigitta Lee asked where the event would be held if it were in Frist, to which Mr. Miller replied that the Multipurpose room would be the likely venue. Mr. Adelizzi noted that the event had been held in Frist two years ago; in the previous year it was at Stevenson, which is now closed.
   • Mr. Miller noted that there were advantages and disadvantages to all the proposed venues. For example, Frist requires Frist catering and this is expensive. However, Mr. Miller noted that Frist may be able to help offset costs. Brendan McAndrew considered Frist to be a nicer venue than the D-Bar.
   • Mr. Adelizzi suggested that 'branding' should be considered, and that in light of that the GSG should consider against holding the event in the D-Bar as it might be seen as 'another D-Bar party' as opposed to a GSG event.
   • Ms. Lee asked what the turnout for the event when it had been held at Frist. Mr. Miller replied that it was well attended. Donnell Butler suggested that the V-Day party was well attended every year. He also noted that overcrowding at the D-Bar had impeded dancing last year.
   • Mr. Ludkovski suggested holding the event at the Carl A. Fields Center if branding was a consideration. He suggested that, since the First Chance Dance had been held there, this choice of venue might signal that this was a GSG event. No other opinions were forthcoming.

   3.3 Treasurer's Report -- Donnell Butler

   • Mr. Butler stated that he had received something that was possibly a funding request. He asked if there was to be a CIGS Indian dance this week, for which funding was being requested. Radhika Wijetunge informed him that the event had been cancelled as the performer is currently out of the country.
   • Mr. Butler reported that the current balance is $13240.86.

   3.4 Chair's Report -- Scott Miller

   • Mr. Miller reported that the Executive Committee had met twice in the past month. Topics that had been discussed included: the agenda for this meeting, sending a letter to Directors of Graduate Study alerting them to the fact that elections are in order for departmental GSG representatives, re-organising the Healthcare standing committee, and GSG office hours.
   • Mr. Miller announced that GSG office hours would be starting next Monday 16 December. Office hours will be Monday 12-2pm and Wednesdays 6-8pm, and will be publicised soon. Meredith Safran clarified that they would be open drop-in hours for any graduate students who may have concerns etc. She noted that office hours would be supplementary to the Assembly and may be useful for those whose departments don't have representatives.

4. OLD BUSINESS

   4.1 Parking & Transportation Committee Report

   • Ms. MacNamara reported that the Parking & Transportation Committee had met with Dean F. Joy Montero, Associate Dean for Student Affairs; Pam Hersh, Director of Community and State Affairs; Donald Reichling, Acting Director of Public Saftey; and Laurel Harvey, General Manager for Administration.
   • Ms. MacNamara informed the Assembly that the Forrestal issue had been raised again. Ms. Harvey had seemed anxious to put it aside but Dean Montero and Ms. Hersh saw no reason why something couldn't be done.
   • Ms. MacNamara reported that mid-late January is the proposed start date. She explained that the reason for this choice is so that the shuttle can start while not everyone is around, problems can be worked out, and the shuttle can then be ready to start when spring semester starts.
   • Ms. MacNamara informed the Assembly that the first proposal put to Administration was for 4 shuttles every 10 minutes in peak times and 2 every 20 minutes off-peak. Due to the high cost of this, this plan had been revised to 2 vehicles, every 20 minutes.
   • Ms. MacNamara stated that an idea that Ms. Harvey had was to put a GPS system on both shuttles and link this to a website so that people can check the position of the shuttle before they leave. She noted that, although this might currently sound ridiculous, it was possible and a good selling point for the shuttle.
   • Ms. MacNamara informed the Assembly that a contract with A1-Limousine, who are to run shuttle, is currently being negotiated. She noted that the University was considering a financial penalty whereby if the shuttle does not run within 5 minutes of the scheduled time, A1-Limousine don't get paid for that half hour.
   • Ms. MacNamara recalled that, at the last meeting, a question had arisen about how to evaluate whether the shuttle was worth running. Ms. MacNamara stated that this will be established through a survey of parking, presumably before and after. She noted that Public Safety can tell from decals where the cars are from. Ms. MacNamara commented that she was not sure how this will work out, since the break is coming up and therefore a survey taken any time during this would not accurately represent how many parking spaces graduate students usually take up. Andrew Erickson suggested this was a silly way to measure whether or not to run the shuttle. He asked if A1-Limousine could estimate average ridership instead. Ms. MacNamara suggested that they don't care just as long as it is running, and that the University just wants to know that the number of parking spaces taken up will decrease as a result of implementing the shuttle.
   • Mr. Miller commented that the graduate parking lots are full every day, and very early. He noted that students then park illegally, for example in other lots, or in short-term parking. Mr. Miller stated that there was a need to account for this instead of just looking at the graduate student parking lot; and a need for another means for assessing how many students were driving, for example by checking how many cars were away from apartment parking lots.
   • Ms. MacNamara informed the Assembly that she had received an email with a proposed route and timetable. Every 20 minutes has now become every 30 minutes. In the proposal, one shuttle starts at the Graduate College and the other at Butler, with a crossover in the middle. She said that this was positive. Ms. MacNamara noted that the trip time looks like 10 minutes and 15 minutes to the E-Quad and centre of campus, respectively, from Butler, and 15-20 minutes to the centre of campus from the Graduate College.
   • Mr. Miller informed the Assembly that the shuttle meeting had been largely organisational, and work for putting together the shuttle had been divided up. For example, Ms. MacNamara was assigned to work on the GPS idea and signage. Mr. Miller, Ms. Hersh, and Ms. Safran were responsible for publicising the shuttle.
   • It seemed that route planning lay with Laurel Harvey and someone from GMTMA. Mr. Adelizzi noted his disappointment: the GSG had gone through routes and their advantages and disadvantages last year. Ms. MacNamara noted there could be flexibility in changing the route for the first 6 months.
   • Ms. Safran noted that the GSG had originally suggested a route that included Nassau Street; Public Safety was not happy with this. Ms. Safran didn't understand what the problem was if the 605 and 606 buses, etc. used Nassau Street. Ms. MacNamara stated that her feeling was that the town not happy with graduate students parking in town and suggested that, if the shuttle went down Nassau Street, we would be more visible. Mr. Miller suggested that it seems to be a University objection; a previous route involving Nassau Street was approved by GMTMA. Ms. MacNamara said that she would bring this topic up again at the next meeting.
   • Radhika Wijetunge asked how flexible the start time would be. She informed the Assembly that part of the Lawrence construction plan hinges on the shuttle being there in January, as part of bike path will be shut down then.

   4.2 International Student Concerns Committee Report

   • Mr. Miller informed the Assembly that the International Student Concerns Committee had met twice in the past month. In the first meeting, the Committee had defined concerns the Committee was planning to start working on. The purpose of the second meeting had been to elect a chair. Lei Xu was elected chair of the Committee, but unfortunately could not attend tonight's meeting.
   • Mr. Miller informed the Assembly that the Committee had come up with a fairly long list of things to look into and that they would try to understand the problems and consider how to make progress on these. Issues included the POPT programme, visa issues and cultural sharing ideas.
   • Ms. MacNamara asked what whether there was any plan of action regarding the POPT. Mr. Miller said that they would talk to people from McGraw. Ms. MacNamara suggested Dean E. David Mendez, Assistant Dean of Graduate Affairs in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, was a good person to talk to. She noted that, in SEAS, there were six different departmental policies related to when students have to pass the POPT.

   4.3 Healthcare Committee Report

   • Mr. Butler informed the Assembly that Dr. Daniel Silverman, Executive Director for Princeton University Health Services, would be attending the January meeting. He also reported that he was setting up a meeting between Dr. Silverman and the Healthcare Committee that would be held prior to the January Assembly meeting. The pre-meeting date looks like it will be 20 December. Mr. Butler stated that he would send out a formal email to the Assembly 1) alerting them of this meeting, and 2) as a formal call to attend the meeting or join Healthcare Committee. Mr. Butler invited anyone interested in serving on Committee to contact him (djbutler@).
   • Mr. Butler informed the Assembly that the issues the Healthcare Committee would raise would be as per discussed at the last meeting, and referred those interested to the minutes.
   • Mr. Miller solicited any other concerns. Ms. MacNamara suggested clarification of prescriptions policy since, at the last meeting, there was dispute about what the policy was. Mr. Butler asked if there was anything that hadn't been discussed that needs to be brought up with Dr. Silverman. Mr. Miller suggested that, if we want to ask about a particular issue in January, we should give him prior warning so that he would be prepared.
   • Leonard Pease suggested that waiting times for appointments should be shorter, noting that it could take a week to get an appointment. Anita Adhitya stated that she had once gotten an appointment the next day. Mr. Pease suggested that the waiting time might depend on when one asked. Ms. Adhitya suggested it would depend on how busy McCosh was, etc.
   • Ms. Safran suggested that, if we have questions about what exactly our coverage is, we would need specific questions so that Dr. Silverman can answer questions specifically. She suggested that we would otherwise be referred to the Student Health Plan book. Mr. Miller suggested that the SHP book was not always easy to understand.
   • Mr. Butler informed the Assembly that two copies of the SHP books are available in the GSG office.

   4.4 Report of Graduate Student Members of the Priorities Committee

   • Mr. Pease, one of the two members of the Priorities Committee, informed the Assembly that PriComm had met a number of times since the last Assembly meeting. He reported that topics that had been raised included undergraduate financial aid, and benefits and salaries of staff. At a recent meeting, the budget had been discussed. He mentioned that the Provost had attended the CPUC meeting.
   • Mr. Pease listed a handful of items still on the funding list, noting that this list was tentative and not final. Some items currently on the list are requests for: funding for Public Safety to have access to a computer system that will allow them to access criminal information (Office of the Senior Vice President for Administration); funding for a psychologist, physician, plus other (McCosh); funding for PeopleSoft and Maximo upgrades so that the two systems can interact (Facilities); funding for a Residence Life Co-ordinator -like position and merit stipend increases (the Graduate School); funding for library collections and training and professional development (Library); funding for security staff and software to support this position (OIT). Mr. Pease noted that, whilst the last request was not critical, it would allow the new director of security to have a staff member and will also gives OIT the capability to be more proactive about such matters as spam prevention.
   • Mr. Pease informed the Assembly that there had been discussion about raising tuition by 0.5%. Upon questioning by Mr. Miller, Mr. Pease clarified that there would be an additional 0.5% increase in tuition, housing, and board combined. This would be on top of the usual 3.5% per annum increase, that is, the rate of increase will be increased. Mr. Adelizzi asked if the increase could be mainly in tuition side and less in room and board, suggesting that most graduate students would prefer this arrangement. Mr. Pease said he would raise this suggestion.
   • Ms. MacNamara asked about the two items the Graduate School has requested funding for. She recalled that people were more concerned about stipend increases in the humanities and social sciences than they were about the proposed Residence Life Co-ordinator -like positions. She suggested that the stipends funding request should be the priority. Mr. Pease said this view had been taken to the committee.
   • Mr. Erickson asked if the merit stipend was retroactive or only for incoming students. Mr. Pease said that Dean Russel's intent was for it to be applied to all students and stated that he understood this to be any graduate student who had been approved by their DGS, that is, those who pass the readmissions process.
   • Mr. Pease informed the Assembly that it appeared to be a 5 year implementation scheme, but that he didn't know which departments will be first/last in the process. Mr. Miller recalled that his understanding was that the change was to be phased in over time by increasing the amount every year rather than by distribution by department. Mr. Pease said that the former had been his first impression but that he was no longer sure if that was the case.
   • Mr. Adelizzi asked for an overview of where the process goes from here. Mr. Pease said that the process was rapidly converging and soon it would be known as to who will receive funding and how much. Some adjustment and details still remain to be settled. Mr. Pease reported that a public meeting has already been held, a CPUC meeting had been held, and that there had been some discussions with President Tilghman. Next there would be a meeting with the Board of Trustees, at which their input would be solicited. Mr. Pease informed the Assembly that the report process will begin in January, noting that it would be a very long report. This would be followed by a period for looking at projections for future years: for example, if financial matters were close to being on target, then funding requests decided on so far probably will be successful. On 24 January, the final report will be delivered to the Board of Trustees by President Tilghman and the Provost, and should be approved and announced shortly thereafter.
   • Mr. Miller asked if PriComm had the authority to approve funding over a series of years -- for example, a certain amount in one year and a certain amount the following year -- or if a request had to be made each year for the next instalment. Mr. Pease replied that there were two ways that a request can be made: 1) consecutive requests can be made, for example the Library had said last year that they would make three consecutive requests for their collections, or 2) instalments can be approved in one request, and once approved they will be in the budget and the requesting group will not have to return and make another request unless, for example, they had received less funding than desired and wished to request more. Mr. Pease said that his understanding was that the Graduate School's request for merit stipends fell into the second category.
   • Mr. Adelizzi pointed out that there were three GSG folks at last month's public meeting: Mr. Silberman, Nicole Esparza, and he. Mr. Adelizzi informed the Assembly that they had conveyed the Assembly's support for the Graduate School's proposals. Mr. Adelizzi stated that he had also expressed support for funding for additional staff for Housing for graduate student housing, and that Ms. Esparza had expressed concerns about rising health care costs. Mr. Pease added that a graduate student had request summer hours for SHARE at Monday's CPUC meeting.
   • Mr. Miller solicited comments from graduate students prior to the writing of the report, and directed these to Mr. Pease and Tony Fiori (lpease@, afiori@).

5. NEW BUSINESS

   5.1 Setting up Elections Committee

   • Mr. Adelizzi recapitulated that Officers must be in place by the 12 March meeting. This suggests that elections be held in, say, the first week in March. Nominations must be made three weeks prior to this. This would require the election to be planned by the January meeting, and so there was a need to form Elections Committee at this meeting.
   • Mr. Adelizzi stated that it was required by the By-laws to have at least 3 persons on the Elections Committee: Parliamentary Secretary Lior Silberman would serve ex officio as chair, and two other committee members who can be any members of graduate student body not standing for election. All seats will be up for election. Mr. Adelizzi informed the Assembly that the duties of the Elections Committee included: forming a timetable, reporting at the January meeting, publicising the election, compiling a list of candidates and candidate statements, traditionally holding a candidates night, running the election (the past two have been on-line), collecting the results, and reporting at the March meeting.
   • Ms. Lee and Mr. Miller volunteered to serve on the Elections Committee. A vote was held and Ms. Lee and Mr. Miller were elected to the Elections Committee with no opposition.

   5.2 Other Items: Library Committee, Princetonian Articles, DCC Problems, CPUC Charter

   • Mr. Miller solicited other items of New Business. Several were raised..
   • Mr. Pease informed the Assembly that the Library Committee had met twice since the last meeting and intended to compile a report by the middle of January. He solicited input for the report. Mr. Pease informed the Assembly that the layout etc. for the library would be decided in mid-April or May. He stated that the Library Committee's report therefore cannot wait for the Graduate Student Life Initiative if the GSG wants to give feedback to administrators before it's too late.
   • Ms. Safran informed the Assembly that there had been a couple of articles in the Daily Princetonian on Degree Candidacy Continues status in the last couple of weeks. She noted that she had spent hours speaking to reporters. She stated that they generally good intentions, though a recent 'Dean's Warning' column had been an exception. Ms. Safran reported that the second article was supposed to be about what graduate students thought about DCC, but had turned out to be about what President Tilghman and Provost Gutmann thought about DCC.
   • Ms. Safran informed the Assembly that she has been trying to tell the Princetonian that our main concern was not financial but about student status, for example for purposes relating to the Federal Government and the IRS. She stated that we want answer to why the University can't just say that students are students. Ms. Safran said that she was trying to shift discussion away from the financial burden and was disappointed that Joshua Brodie's article was bracketed by two comments on financial aid/burden. She said that the GSG won't make progress if the community thinks we just want money. Ms. Safran informed the Assembly that she wanted to report that these transactions have been going on, and to let representatives know of the position that the GSG has been taking.
   • Ms. MacNamara reported that a DCC student in her department could not get into any doors using the DCC card. She reported that the response from Administrators was that the Dean does not want DCC students to be able to get into buildings. Mr. Butler confirmed that DCC students could not access buildings using their card. Ms. MacNamara stated that the DCC student could not understand why he was not given access to the building. Mr. Butler suggested that it was because DCC students aren't considered students. Mr. Butler noted that we didn't know what DCC status gives graduate students, and that it does not mean rights or access to anything. In response to Ms. MacNamara's puzzlement as to why the University would not want to let DCC students into buildings, Mr. Butler called upon the University's standard argument: that it would increase time to degree.
   • Mr. Pease noted that, at the bottom of emails announcing Graduate School trips, it says that DCC students must pay within two days. Mr. Adelizzi suggested that this was because DCC students no longer have a student account.
   • Mr. Miller, returning to the original dilemma of DCC students not being able to access buildings, said that he would send an email to the Dean asking if this was indeed his decision; Mr. Miller noted that many things were attributed to the Dean, oftentimes incorrectly.
   • Mr. Adelizzi informed the Assembly that, in the CPUC charter, there was a small contradiction. He recalled that, in the past, graduate students did not elect their own CPUC representatives; this was done by Administrators. Mr. Adelizzi stated that the GSG had tried to change the charter, but there currently remains an inconsistency: the charter has been changed only in one part and, officially, only 3 out of the 7 graduate student CPUC representatives are elected by graduate students. Mr. Adelizzi noted that the charter does not say anything about how the other 4 are elected, though the GSG has been doing this. Mr. Adelizzi informed the Assembly that he had been contacting Ann Halliday, Secretary to the CPUC, and wanted to notify the Assembly of this.

6. SCHEDULING OF NEXT MEETING
   • The next meeting has been scheduled for 6pm, 8 January, Frist 307.

7. ADJOURNMENT
   • Scott Miller adjourned the meeting at 7:18pm.

   Respectfully submitted,

   Anita Adhitya
   Recording Secretary