********************************************************************** NOTE: No minutes were recorded for the September 2006 Meeting, the following is the agenda sent out to the GSG Assembly via email by GSG Chair Shin-Yi Lin prior to the meeting ********************************************************************** GRADUATE STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSEMBLY AGENDA Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 6pm (1 hr 30 min) Frist Campus Center Room 309 I. Call to Order and Assembly Business (5 min.) A. Seating of New Assembly Members - Dan Raburn B. Approval of Minutes (Aug) - Dan Raburn II. Decision Items (30 min.) A. Funding Requests -- Alex Ntelekos B. Projects Board -- Kenneth Jamieson III. New Business (10 min.) IV. Reports (15 min.) A. Chair - Shin-Yi Lin V. Discussion (30 min.) B. Ivy Summit -- Shin-Yi Lin C. Departmental town meetings -- Shin-Yi Lin V. Adjournment (Next meeting October 11, 2006 at 6pm in Frist TBD) *************************************************** Assembly, At our September meeting, we will be discussing a new possible way of handling funding requests for graduate student social events. Kenneth Jamison (SOC rep) will be leading this discussion. Some Assembly members -- Brookes Brown, Dante Ricci, Kenneth Jamison, Xiaoling Ang, Alex Ntelekos, Jeff Dwoskin, Shin-Yi Lin -- got together in August to discuss this possiblity in detail. And what follows is a summary of what we came up with. Please skim through the information below so that we are ready to discuss whether or not this is an attractive option for us to try out. Thanks, Shin-Yi Lin GSG Chair 1) Why was it being considered? Current status: Students have to go to each group (eg, GSG, Graduate School, VP Dickerson, APGA) separately and ask for co-sponsorship funds. The GSG Assembly has to approve funding requests during each Assembly meeting. Projects Board goal: Idea is to parallel USG Projects Board. Help graduate students and graduate student organizations organize student events by streamlining the process of finding co-sponsorship funds. This would help existing groups and also reduce the barrier to other groups wanting to organize events. Additional goals: Have a centralized group that can provide organizational support for event planning (eg, give suggestions on venues, publicity, etc). Reduce time spent during Assembly meetings for funding requests. Potential drawbacks: A small number of people would be in control of the majority of co-sponsorship funds. Less oversight over the funds. How will participating groups get appropriate publicity for their co-sponsorship? 2) Possible format * Funds from GSG (~$10,000, includes VP Dickerson's match of our GSG fee), Graduate School (~$3,000), and any other interested groups (eg, APGA) * Meet biweekly, but meetings could be canceled if there are no requests * Members: GSG Treasurer would be chair (1 vote), Tara/Lisa (1 vote), 2 other graduate students (elected by the Assembly per semester, 1 vote each). Treasurer breaks any ties. * Report to Assembly at least once a semester * Appeals process: GSG Treasurer is obliged to bring any appeals to the Executive Committee. If the Exec deems it appropriate, the matter will be brought up at the next Assembly meeting. * Unresolved issue: Should we allow restrictions on the funds? - Pros: We could possibly get more funds if groups felt like they had some control over the funds. - Cons: Added complication to distribution of funds. 3) Constraints rule-wise Dan (Parliamentary Secretary) has gone through the constitution, by-laws, and standing rules to look at what constraints we have on that level. Here's a quick review of the relevant sections: Const. IX 8 - Can't support a political cause. Const. XII 7 - Can't support a labor union. ByLaw IV 2 - Any budget item which is more than 5% of the total budget has to have a vote specifically for it. ByLaw IV 3 - Request must be given to the Treasure at least one week before it is to be discussed by Assembly. StandRule III has a number of constraints: 1. Must advertise supported by GSG. (But, if you consider the "Projects Board" to be part of the GSG, then they can just advertise supported by the Projects Board.) 7. Same as ByLawIV3, but two weeks instead. 8. The Treas. shall present each request to the Assembly. 9. Event must be open to entire GSB. 10. Once funding has been approved for an event, new funding cannot be allocated for it unless a majority of Assembly allows it. Fyi, The Constitution limits are the hardest limits. Changes require a 2/3 vote or through a referendum brought directly to the graduate student body. The Bylaws can be changed by 2/3 vote. The Standing Rules can be changed with a majority vote (with notice) or a 2/3 vote (without notice). If we want to try the Projects Board out: Many of these rules would not need to be changed. For those that need to be changed, we may want to consider suspending them until we know whether or not that we want the change to be permanent.