Officers present: Chair Bill Jordan; Assistant Chair Eric A. Adelizzi; Parliamentary Secretary Leonard F. Pease III; Corresponding Secretary Nicole Esparza; Press Secretary Meredith Safran; Recording Secretary João Pedro Boavida; Treasurer Eitan Bonderover; Social Chair Sinéad Mac Namara.
Representatives present: Aleksandar Donev, ACM; Anita Adhitya, AOS; Sinéad Mac Namara, CEE; Jack Tinsley, CHE; Jia Su, CHM; Jessica H. Clark, CLA; Brigitta A. Lee, EAS; Gregory D. O'Mullan, EEB; Fei Sun, ELE; Meredith Safran, proxy for Kerry Bystrom, ENG; Meredith Galanter Hastings, GEO; Michael K. House, GER; Chris Wyckham, MAE; João Pedro Boavida, proxy for Lior Silberman, MAT; David R. Smith, PPL; Kim Montgomery, PSY; Cole M. Crittenden, SLA; Nicole Esparza, SOC; Leslie A. Medema, WWS.
Delegates present: Fei Sun, Association of Chinese Students and Scholars (ACSS); Huiyan Yang, Butler Apartments; Eric Adelizzi, proxy for Lior Silberman, Graduate College (GC); Radhika Wijetunge, Lawrence Apartments; Leonard F. Pease III, Off-Campus.
Councilors present: Bill Jordan, CPUC, CPUC Executive Committee; Brigitta Lee, CPUC; Leslie A. Medema, CPUC, CPUC Priorities Committee; Ian Parrish (PPL), CPUC, CPUC Executive Committee; Leonard F. Pease III, CPUC, CPUC Priorities Committee; Fei Sun, CPUC Governance Committee; Meredith Galanter Hastings, CPUC Judicial Committee; David Smith, CPUC Rights and Rules Committee.
Others present: Lei Xu (ELE), chair of the International Students' Concerns Committee; Lisa M. Sherov, GC residence life coordinator; Beth McKeown, community programs coordinator; Kathleen Mannheimer, Career Services; Keith Vallerio (ELE), Intervarsity; Karin Sigloch (GEO); Fengyun Cao (COS), Association of Chinese Students and Scholars; Donnell Butler (SOC).
Representatives absent: Riaz Tejani, ANT; Tanjim Hossain, ECO; Valerie Dionne, FIT; Karoline Cook, HIS; David Shrom, MOL; Tamar Friedmann, PHY; Patrick Gerland, OPR; Michael Ludkovski, ORF; Andrew Erickson, POL; Philippa Townsend, REL.
Delegates absent: Aderemi Artis, Black Graduate Caucus (BGC); Weining Man, Council of International Graduate Students (CIGS); Heather White, Women's Center.
These representative seats were vacant: ARC; ART; AST; COM; COS; MUS; NES; PHI; SPO.
These delegate seats were vacant: Hibben/Magie Apartments; Millstone Apartments.
The Assembly of the Graduate Student Government held its regular monthly meeting on September 10, 2003, at Frist 309. Chair Bill Jordan called the meeting to order at about 6:10pm.
Parliamentary Secretary Leonard F. Pease III introduced four new Representatives: Valerie Dionne (FIT), Chris Wyckham (MAE), Jonathan Eastvold (POL, effective next month), Karin Sigloch (GEO, effective next month). Mr. Pease also introduced Beth McKeown, the community programs coordinator, who will come to GSG meetings.
Kathleen Mannheimer (graduate student counselor, at Career Services), thanked the Assembly for the invitation to come to the GSG Assembly meeting and expressed her desire to come once a year.
The office of career services organizes workshops, career counseling services, and alumni panels about careers. They provide advice both on academic and non-academic jobs. Recently, they partnered with the McGraw center to provide an academic job search workshop (which will be held this fall), to which they will invite faculty. The office also provides individual counseling (networking, filmed mock interviews, job search strategies, CVs, etc.). As to non-academic positions, career services tries to help students recognize their transferable skills; and many students go for jobs in industry, non-profit organizations, consulting, or in research labs.
The office of career services also organizes career week activities, which include panels on diverse careers with alumni and other professions representing those careers. There are also collaborative programs with the International Center and the Women's Center.
Ms. Mannheimer stated that an email with upcoming career activities was about to be sent to all students, as well as to graduate administrators. She invited suggestions of speakers or programs. Maybe students in the departments could have ideas as well. Ms. Mannheimer can be contacted at <kmann@>.
Mr. Jordan asked whether career services were available to post-enrolled students. Ms. Mannheimer said all services are available to post-enrolled students. In fact, career services is available even to alumni (except for on-campus recruiting, which would likely not be useful anyway).
Mr. Pease asked whether Ms. Mannheimer thought the job market for advanced degrees was better. Ms. Mannheimer said so: there had been more on-campus recruiting of Ph.D. this year (as compared to last year). However, she didn't see any relation with the economic situation, but rather with an increasing awareness about Ph.D. programs, and the skills that students with advanced degrees can provide.
Fei Sun asked whether there were distinct email lists for graduate and undergraduate students, and whether graduate students can sign up for the undergraduate mailing list. Ms. Mannheimer said that it is indeed possible to sign up for the undergraduate list, but it would not be as useful as the graduate newsletter. Both the undergraduate and graduate mailing lists are accessible in the career services website.
Leslie A. Medema asked whether there is an alumni directory. Ms. Mannheimer stated that the Graduate Alumni Career Network (coordinated by career services) is a group a over 6000 alumni who volunteer to help current students and alumni in their job searches. Moreover, TigerNet (coordinated by the alumni council) includes a directory of all Princeton alumni (including non-terminal degrees). However, the information in both databases needs to be updated regularly by alumni.
There being no more questions, Mr. Jordan thanked Ms. Mannheimer for coming to the meeting.
Recording Secretary João Pedro Boavida stated three minor mistakes had been detected (two of them by Meredith Galanter Hastings) in the draft minutes. Meredith Safran moved to accept the correction of these mistakes, in what she was seconded by David Smith. Mr. Sun stated he had decided not to read the minutes, in order to avoid a long debate. He wished it recorded that he thought Assembly members should be encouraged to read the minutes and contribute, rather than discouraged. A vote on Ms. Safran's motion was held, and the motion was passed by unanimity. There being no more suggestions, Mr. Pease moved that the minutes be approved (with the corrections already made), Mr. Smith seconded, a vote was held, and the motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Pease announced that the graduate CPUC delegation would hold a short meeting after the Assembly meeting. Answering a question, he clarified that the meeting was only of members of the council itself, and not for the nominees to the CPUC committees.
Corresponding Secretary Nicole Esparza reported that 16 letters had been sent by the end of July to several administrators, about the GSG's PriComm proposals discussed in July [Minutes 7.9.2003, IV.B]. There had been several replies, and proposals for meetings to discuss the concerns raised. Lisa Sherov added that the Graduate School had asked her to report that Stuart Orefice (director of dining services) wished to set up a meeting (in late-September/early-October) with the GSG and Paul Breitman (director of University Services, and director of Frist Center) to discuss dining at Frist.
Ms. Esparza also reminded Assembly that the Executive Committee had recently approved a global email policy [included in the standing rules of the Executive Committee, sent to Assembly together with the proposal of GSG standing rules]. She observed that ordinarily globals will be sent for events funded by the GSG (unless they are sent by other means), and recommended that members of Assembly look at the funding webpage. Answering a question, she observed that, after a request is submitted, a majority of the Executive Committee needs to agree; as that may take time, the Executive Committee recommends that requests be submitted 72 hours in advance.
Treasurer Eitan Bonderover had sent his report in advance of the meeting.
The first request had been submitted by ACSS. Fengyun Cao explained that the Moon Festival is a very important event in Chinese culture. The party will be held at the Carl A. Fields Center, and over 300 students are expected. Ms. Cao invited all to come. The total budget was $1,870, and ACSS was asking $350 from the GSG. Mr. Bonderover thought the budget was detailed, and recommended funding the event. Sinéad Mac Namara moved to fund by the amount requested.
MOTION: to fund the ACSS "Moon Festival Party" by $350. PASSED unanimously.
Mr. Sun asked whether the requirement (in the standing rules) to submit original receipts could be waived. Mr. Bonderover stated that he would prefer to discuss that later, when the reimbursement was requested. Ms. Mac Namara further observed that Assembly need not waive the requirement, for the treasurer could waive it at his discretion [Standing Rules of Assembly, III.2]. Mr. Bonderover stated that he would prefer to discuss the details of each case outside the meeting.
The next request was for the Intervarsity "Opening Picnic". Keith Vallerio explained that the picnic was held every year (at least for the past 5 years, he didn't know before), and advertised in the whole campus. All graduate students and their families are welcome. The picnic will be held off-campus, within walking distance of the GC, at Marquand Park. About 35 graduate students are expected, and $100 was being requested from the GSG. Mr. Bonderover observed that the event had been sponsored in the previous year, and recommended that it be funded. Ms. Esparza moved to fund by the amount requested.
MOTION: to fund the Intervarsity "Opening Picnic" by $100. PASSED unanimously.
The next request had been submitted by the QGC. Mr. Bonderover reminded Assembly members that some months before [Minutes 4.9.2003, IX.B] the QGC was organizing a "Sex-positive workshop". However, the Graduate School had not approved the event as it was. The QGC revised the workshop, with the support of University Health Services. The revised event had been approved by the University, and the QGC had submitted a new funding request. Mr. Bonderover praised the detailed plans and budget. The QGC had requested $200. However, in accordance with the current practice of funding at $3/graduate student, Mr. Bonderover had asked whether the QGC would accept $150 (50 graduate students were expected). The QGC had agreed, and had also promised to use the GSG funding in the last place (as they do customarily). Mr. Bonderover asked Aleksandar Donev whether they had gotten confirmation from other funding sources. Mr. Donev stated that, as the academic year was just starting, he had received no confirmation yet, besides the $25 pledged by Health Services. Ms. Mac Namara moved to fund the event by $150.
MOTION: to fund the QGC "Sex Toys for Safer Sex Workshop" by $150. PASSED unanimously.
Mr. Bonderover concluded his report by stating that, upon receiving the statements from the GSG's University account, he had reconciled the books up to the end of July. Everything was in order. However, he observed that the surplus was shrinking, and that next year less money will be available for co-sponsorships.
Social Chair Ms. Mac Namara said that the First Chance Dance would be held on Friday September 19, at 10pm, in the Carl A. Fields Center. Public Safety will be present, and the Graduate School has already approved the event. There will a DJ. Eric Adelizzi asked Ms. Mac Namara to comment on the door policy; Ms. Mac Namara added that all graduate students and their guests are welcome, if over 21 (due to alcohol policies). In previous years, there were volunteers to check IDs, this year, Ms. Mac Namara will hire trained people. There will be free food and drinks. Building Services will be hired for clean-up, in accordance with the requirements of Fields center.
Ms. Mac Namara also wished to thank ACSS's kind invitation for the Moon Festival Party.
Mr. Jordan reported on a meeting about the itemization of student bills, in consequence of one of the PriComm letters. Although it's not possible to include details of the deductions in the paychecks, the treasurer's office is willing to work on that. They are changing their software during this year, and this is the right time to try to solve the problem with the student bills. They will work on providing better itemization online.
Mr. Jordan then moved on to discuss the committees. He stated that it is important to have non-GSG people involved in the committees. The Executive Committee is also looking forward to have committee chairs who are not officers. Ms. Safran observed that, as the Executive Committee makes up for a large part of committee membership, there is an information gap between officers and other students. However, if many more people get involved with the committees' work, then more people will know enough about new issues.
Mr. Jordan also wished to welcome new members of the GSG Assembly, and welcome all to a new academic year. He asked that Representatives send a synopsis of each meeting to their constituents. He also asked that Representatives send a proxy to meetings that they can not attend.
Mr. Jordan stated that, during the previous six months, he had tried to streamline the processes in the GSG, and keep the GSG focused on the issues. His goal was that as much as possible be accomplished, taking each person as little time as possible. He added that, although rules are important, they shouldn't stand in the way to solve the real problems.
Mr. Jordan concluded his report by stating that he would be forced to resign. His resignation would be effective later in the meeting. At that point [By-Laws, III.8.d] Assistant Chair Mr. Adelizzi would take office as acting chair, and would describe the procedure for by-elections, which are to be held in the next Assembly meeting.
Anita Adhitya thanked Mr. Jordan for his service on the GSG. She stated that Assembly appreciated his efforts and understood that the work of the Executive Committee is time-consuming.
Ms. Esparza reported that Huiyan Yang had had to leave earlier. However, she had left some fliers with information on consolidation of student loans, for interested members to take.
Brigitta Lee reported that two student activities fairs would be held in the following days. Graduate student organizations would be present in the GC Coffee House, while undergraduate student organizations would be present in Dillon gym. She emphasized that although those organizations are registered separately, membership is always open to both graduate and undergraduate students. There are some restrictions: the president and treasurer of undergraduate organizations must be undergraduate student and the president and treasurer of graduate organizations must be graduate students. Moreover, undergraduate organizations with more than half of its members being graduate students, must register with the Graduate School. Mr. Bonderover stated that he knew of several exceptions to those policies, and Mr. Donev stated that he thought the division was related mainly with funding sources.
Mr. Adelizzi stated that he was still looking for a chair for the committee. He reported that there had been a second meeting to discuss draw. Everyone is in favor of the new system, but there are some technical difficulties computerizing the process. The main goal of the proposal was to simplify the process, by having only one draw. Mr. Donev asked whether the process would be submitted to review. Mr. Adelizzi stated that the draw was being discussed in the scope of the graduate housing policy group, who had representatives from all residential committees, as well as the GSG. Mr. Donev thought some aspects of the draw were still vague; for example, whether domestic partners would be allowed to leave in 1-bedroom apartments. Mr. Adelizzi stated that it was the consensus of the group that domestic partners should be treated as married couples in all respects. Mr. Donev asked whether there could be an informal review by the student body. Mr. Adelizzi thought that could be easily implemented, and added that he intended to post the minutes of the meetings (as soon as they are ready) in the GSG website.
Mr. Adelizzi reported on recent renovations in the GC. The New GC kitchen had just been completed, and the Coffee House renovation was underway. He also reported that the singles converted to walk-through doubles two years ago were to be unconverted at the end of this year. As to the new Lawrence construction, he had no news about the schedule. Radhika Wijetunge stated that the Lawrence Committee had no news either.
Mr. Adelizzi further reported that, in order to restripe the parking lots, facilities had recently towed several cars at Lawrence, Butler, and the GC. However, many residents hadn't been warned that they had to move their cars. In fact, the cars of several administrators had been towed too, and the operation was done in August, when many students are not in town. Mr. Adelizzi and Lior Silberman (assistant chair of the GC House Committee) had talked with Mark Bianchi (facilities manager, at housing). Mr. Bianchi apologized, but stated that it had been a non-traditional towing: a platform had been put under the cars, and rolled to the new parking spots, thereby avoiding the damage to cars that ordinary towing can cause. A meeting had been set up (within 3 or 4 weeks) with housing, planning, and the different facilities shops to discuss a notification system that works. Ms. Mac Namara observed that even Donald Reichling (acting associate director at public safety) had not been informed of the operation.
Mr. Adelizzi closed his report by observing that the facilities department was being reorganized. Chad Klaus had been appointed general manager for services, a position in which he will oversee housing and dining.
Mr. Bonderover reported that the wiring of Butler was complete. However, there were reports of spotty service. As to the service fee [Minutes 8.13.2003, V.B], it turned out that the University had prorated the fee over the entire duration of the lease. So, some people had started to pay it earlier, but the total would be the same. Also, only the time connected would be charged. Nevertheless, Mr. Bonderover suggested that residents be advised to check their bills.
Lei Xu stated that the survey on the Princeton Oral Proficiency Test [Minutes 8.13.2003, V.D] had started a few days ago. McGraw center had provided a list of all participants in the English Language Program, and emails had been sent to those students, inviting them to participate. Only those students can take the survey. There have been about 120 students in the program; of those, 60 have already filled in the survey. Ms. Mac Namara congratulated the committee for such success, and compared it with the shuttle survey (which had been deemed a success), in which 600 out of the 2000 graduate students had participated. She also suggested extending the survey to current years. Mr. Xu stated that the committee was planning to do that later in the academic year.
Mr. Pease reported that he is looking for a new committee chair.
Mr. Jordan reported on the housing/post-enrollment survey, mentioned in the previous meeting [Minutes 8.13.2003, IV.B]. In the dinner (July 29) with President Tilghman, the Executive Committee discussed mainly housing and post-enrollment. She expressed interest in knowing about graduate student housing preferences (e.g., what fraction of students would be interested in University housing, or what students are looking for in new housing). She also expressed that one the University's priorities is to assure short times to degree. So, the Executive Committee decided to conduct a survey (or two distinct surveys) on housing and post-enrollment. As to post-enrollment, the goal is to gather more information on time to degree, on whether the introduction of DCC status was an improvement, and whether it is sufficient. The original plan was to have it in September, but it's not clear whether it is possible. Assembly will be kept informed, and the survey will likely take place some time in the Fall.
Mr. Wyckham asked how post-enrolled students could be reached. Mr. Jordan stated that ideally people would not be removed from the mailing lists. However, the mailing lists of graduate students (pu-grads, allgs, and gsg-global) are automatically updated every few days, by the Registrar's office. However, there are mailing lists of DCC students (graddcc and gsg-dcc), and the Graduate School is working on getting a mailing list of ETDCC students. Mr. Adelizzi explained that a list of post-enrolled students had been obtained for the previous post-enrollment survey [Minutes 2.20.2002, IV], by getting a list of all students with Unix accounts in the group grad. This includes almost all students. The exceptions are students who have been in Princeton long enough (so that when they started their programs there were no email accounts yet), or who started as undergraduates. That would also include former visiting students and people who graduated or quit.
Cole Crittenden asked whether DCC students can register for classes or get a transcript. Mr. Adelizzi stated that only enrolled students can register for classes. Ms. Safran stated that DCC are not enrolled, although the comparison with the acronym ETDCC (where ET stands for "Enrollment Terminated") suggests otherwise. She stated that some agencies require people to be students, and despite the Graduate School claiming that ETDCC people are still working toward their degree, some agencies think that if enrollment terminated, such people can not be considered students.
Ms. Mac Namara reported that the P-Rides shuttle had started service again. The new parking policy had been implemented too, and there had been no complaints yet.
As to the ZIPcars [Minutes 8.13.2003, II], the negotiations had been completed, and the advertising was to start soon. The University will have a group account, and Princeton people could enroll in the program for $20. ZIPcar is a car-rental service: cars may be rented on a hourly basis. Currently (in Princeton), there are cars at the Dinky, at Hulfish Street, and at the Institute for Advanced Study. Soon, there will be a car at Butler. If there is enough interest, it may be possible to get cars at the GC, Lawrence, and Hibben-Magie. The program includes insurance and gas. Moreover, it's not necessary to have a U.S. driver's license; international licenses are accepted too.
Ms. Mac Namara concluded her report by thanking, on her behalf on behalf of the other officers, Mr. Jordan for his service as GSG chair.
Jack Tinsley asked whether the ZIPcars are to be advertised in the departments, or if there are details to be finalized. Ms. Mac Namara stated that it's almost ready, and a global email will be sent soon. In fact, the University has a press release ready to be issued. Ms. Adhitya asked whether there is a payment system in alternative to a credit card. Ms. Mac Namara stated she had asked that. She thought debit cards could work too. Ms. Medema asked how a car can be booked. Ms. Mac Namara stated that all members get a card, which serves as a prox-card. People can book a specific car in the internet, for a specific period of time, and during that period only that prox-card will open the car. Mr. Jordan asked what happened if people don't return the car in time. Mr. Donev stated it was a self-policing system, which seemed to work. Ms. Mac Namara stated that if people don't respect the rules, their membership can be revoked.
Ms. Wijetunge provided a brief report of the topic at hand. GESO of Yale had contacted the GSG, asking for endorsement of a petition [Minutes 8.13.2003, VI.C]. The petition is to be sent to the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the University Presidents, and addresses visa restrictions for international students. Although the international students' concerns committee thinks the concerns are valid (e.g., some students leaving the U.S. are subjected to considerable delays because of background checks), the committee also thinks the requests are not appropriate to our situation. The petition calls for University presidents to speak publicly about these issues, but President Tilghman as already spoken to the Congress. The petition mentions a SEVIS fee; the committee contacted the office of visa services, and was told that some universities are charging that fee, but Princeton is not. Also, GESO is a political organization, and endorsement could be construed as political activity. In sum, the committee thought there was no problem in circulating the petition, but recommended against GSG's endorsement. It would be more appropriate to write a different letter.
Mr. Tinsley observed that we have no obligation to sign a petition from an outside organization, but thought that individuals were free to sign the petition.
Mr. Wyckham stated that he had already signed the petition. He thought that risk of an endorsement being considered political activity was not a real concern; for it would be clear that we merely endorsed the petition, and no more. He agreed that some of the proposals weakened the petition. However, he knew of at least two students in his department who were delayed due to visa problems, and that would have effects on funding— later in the meeting, Mr. Boavida stated that he had asked Jennifer McNabb (graduate student advisor in the office of visa services) how many Princeton students were affected by this, and she told him that 4 returning students and 2 incoming students were affected; Ms. Mac Namara expressed her surprise, for she also knew of two students in this situation. Mr. Wyckham suggested that we could write a letter to President Tilghman, but also observed that the petition was directed at all university presidents, and not only ours. Mr. Pease moved to accept the committee's recommendation, and to ask them to prepare our own letter. Mr. Tinsley observed that the Assembly should direct the committee to whom to address the letter. Ms. Safran stated that after the previous meeting she had talked with Mr. Xu and Ms. Wijetunge, and they had thought about writing a letter to GESO, outlining which specific aspects with support. Mr. Pease changed his motion according to Ms. Safran's idea, and was seconded by Ms. Safran. Mr. Tinsley thought that it should be decided what issues to address. Mr. Donev observed that we had already deferred this decision in the last meeting, and thought that we should decide what is our stance and avoid further delays. Ms. Mac Namara observed that the petition asks for changes in legislation, and that may be construed as a political activity. She was under the impression that the ultimate reason why our Constitution [IX.9] excludes political activity is related to our non-profit status; and she didn't think that would be an issue in this particular case. Mr. Adelizzi suggested that in the letter we recognize there is a problem and support the broad outline of the petition, praise President Tilghman's support, but leave out the specific suggestions with which we disagree. Mr. Pease took Mr. Adelizzi's suggestion as part of his motion. Mr. Tinsley clarified that we were not officially endorsing the petition, but merely agreeing with the general cause.
MOTION: to refer the drafting of a letter (with the content just discussed) to the international students' concerns committee. PASSED unanimously.
Mr. Jordan's resignation was effective at this point. He thanked all for their cooperation, and expressed his pleasure at having served the graduate student body and the GSG. Even if it was a lot of work, it was also enjoyable and fun.
Mr. Pease, in his capacity as parliamentary secretary, accepted Mr. Jordan's resignation. Mr. Adelizzi, in his capacity as assistant chair, accepted to be acting chair, which acceptance Mr. Pease also recognized.
Mr. Adelizzi thanked Mr. Jordan for his service, and stated that the GSG had continued to grow under Mr. Jordan's direction. Mr. Adelizzi observed that several administrators had expressed their regret at Mr. Jordan's resignation.
Mr. Adelizzi explained that he would continue in the post till the October meeting, when a by-election would be held. [By-Laws, III.8] Any member of the graduate student body can nominate any member, contacting either Mr. Pease <lpease@> or <gsg@>. A voice vote will be conducted, unless there are objections, in which case the vote will be by secret ballot. The deadline for nominations is the meeting itself. Candidates can also simply show up at the meeting. Nominees will be contacted to ascertain whether they accept their nomination. Candidates are expected to come, and will given a chance to address the Assembly. Mr. Smith suggested that a global email be sent. Mr. Adelizzi had not thought about that, and had planned to ask Representatives to contact their constituents. Ms. Mac Namara encouraged members of Assembly to consider running. Ms. Wijetunge asked whether delegates would vote on the by-election, Mr. Adelizzi explained that only voting delegates have a vote. Mr. Adelizzi asked whether there were objections to sending a global. There being none, he deemed it approved by unanimous consent.
Mr. Adelizzi observed that President Tilghman would be the guest in the October meeting, and asked Assembly members to arrive promptly at 6pm. He also stated that a presentation would be prepared. Mr. Donev asked whether there were any ideas for such presentation. Mr. Jordan suggested focusing on one or two issues. It was suggested that an outline of the presentation could be sent to Assembly in advance. Someone suggested that it might be useful to bring up the visa issues. Mr. Adelizzi stated that the last time President Tilghman had visited the Assembly [Minutes 2.20.2002, IV], the main themes had been post-enrollment and transportation and parking. He said the Executive Committee would meet to plan a presentation and would announce the time of this meeting to the Assembly, so interested Assembly members could come.
On the topic of communication with administrators, Ms. Lee asked about the status of the 2003 GSLI. Mr. Adelizzi stated that four committees (health-care, international students' concerns, housing, campus relations) had already prepared their reports. Mr. Bonderover stated that the information technology committee was reviewing the draft. Ms. Mac Namara stated that the transportation and parking committee report would be prepared soon. Mr. Jordan stated that it was not clear whether the post-enrollment report should wait for the results of the survey or not. It all depended on how soon the survey was done. Ms. Lee suggested that, when ready, the GSLI would be an useful instrument for our representatives in the CPUC.
As Mr. Sun had asked for some time to express his opinions, Mr. Adelizzi yielded him the floor. Mr. Sun stated that the Constitution defines the rights and duties of Representatives and Delegates [Constitution, IV.5 and IV.6]. The Representatives are elected and have voting power, and as such they should be fully involved. They should be able to form their opinions beforehand, and should ask questions about the contents of reports. Delegates don't have such responsibilities, and act just as ambassadors to the GSG. If the GSG discusses some issue that affects the group their represent, they may or may not talk, but they needn't come to the meetings. Representatives can not do anything if there are no reports, and those reports should be prepared by the standing committees and the Executive Committee. Assembly members can not do word-by-word amendments. Under the current Constitution there are many people reviewing the reports, but no one to write them. Moreover, volunteers have little time...
At this point, Mr. Smith asked whether Mr. Sun had a motion, stating that he would move to adjourn the meeting unless a motion was forthcoming. Mr. Sun stated he was presenting a report. Mr. Smith objected, on the grounds that Mr. Sun should not have the floor without first making a motion. Mr. Adelizzi observed that the main point to be addressed was the judicial opinion [Minutes 5.14.2003, III.A], for it had been successively delayed, and should be handled. Mr. Sun asked consent to include his "report" in the minutes, but Mr. Pease objected. Mr. Adelizzi asked Mr. Sun whether he wished to move that his comments be included in the minutes, but Mr. Sun did not respond. Mr. Adelizzi asked whether he wanted to appeal the judicial decision. Mr. Sun said he didn't know what was the procedure. Ms. Mac Namara disagreed, for (when Mr. Sun had been at office hours) she had explained the procedure in detail. Mr. Sun moved for Assembly to review the judicial opinion; Mr. Adelizzi accepted the motion. There was an objection, on the grounds that the motion was not seconded, but Mr. Adelizzi overruled the objection, on the grounds that an appeal by a petitioner on a ruling of the Executive Committee should not require a second; Mr. Adelizzi was uncertain whether a second was officially required, but he said he was inclined to be generous on the point. Mr. Adelizzi stated that he considered a motion for the Assembly to begin review of a judicial decision of the Executive Committee undebatable.
MOTION: to review the judicial opinion. FAILED unanimously.
Mr. Sun stated that he wanted to present more business. He thought the standing rule on submission of original receipts [Standing Rules of Assembly, III.2] could not be enforced, and thought that waiving the rule shouldn't be left at the treasurer's discretion. Mr. Smith asked whether he had a motion. Mr. Sun moved to add "or copies" to the text of the rule. There was no second, and so the question was not considered.
Mr. Sun stated he had more questions to ask the Executive Committee. Mr. Adelizzi stated he can ask directly to the Executive Committee, come to office hours, or send email. Mr. Sun wished to ask whether the minutes are important. Mr. Smith stated they are. Mr. Sun asked whether discussion is important. Mr. Smith stated it is. Mr. Sun moved that Assembly members be required to be in at least one committee. There was no second. At this point, Ms. Medema moved to adjourn, and was seconded by several members of Assembly.
Mr. Adelizzi announced that, unless there were objections, the next meeting would be on October 8, at 6pm, in Frist 309. There were no objections. The motion to adjourn was put to a vote, and passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at about 8:05pm.