GSG Minutes October 10, 2001 I. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:07 by chair Matt Fouse. Introductions were made, and pizza was served. II. Approval of Minutes The minutes from the September meeting were approved. III. Special Business: AAC Election The Assembly held an election to nominate one graduate student to serve on the University's Architectural Advisory Committee (AAC). The AAC is involved in planning changes in the University's architecture and making recommendations to the President. The seven candidates were Jeffrey Edelstein, Joseph Prud'homme, Juan Du, Stephen Phillips, Ludovico Beymonat, Nick Camerlenghi, and Lutz Robbers. Matt stressed that the nominated individual should be available for the first AAC meetings. The three candidates who were present (Jeff, Ludovico, and Nick) made statements. Matt read the written statements of the four candidates who were not present. The Assembly voted to nominate Stephen Phillips to the committee, with Nick and Jeff as alternates. Because of the high number of interested and qualified candidates, the Assembly decided to form an ad hoc committee for those who were interested in the University's architecture. Suggestions were also made to inform Dean Montero of the number of interested individuals and to request having two representatives on next year's committee. IV. Officer Reports A. Treasurer The GC House Committee requested that the GSG send a global email about the Halloween Ball. Lauren Hale suggested including it as an addendum to another message. Matt commented that more money may be available this year from the administration. A request was made for a written budget for the next GSG meeting. B. Social Chair Yesim Tozan is planning a Salsa dance party with a live band that will be co-sponsored by the Graduate School and the APGA. She is still working on finding a place to hold the dance. She did not favor Frist or the D-bar. Other possibilities include an outside location, Jadwin gym, or Dillon gym. Dean Montero had suggested a venue near the Dinky station. Other suggestions were made by the Assembly, including the Art Museum and the basement of Frist with partitions. The party will take place some time after November 30. This year's wine tasting event may be co-sponsored again by the GC House Committee. C. Chair Matt discussed his conversations with APGA members regarding the possible deferral of the $75 graduation cost. Some members of the APGA informally proposed to Matt that the APGA might consider deferring the $75 cost for graduate students who paid $25 to become APGA members. V. Business A. GSLI Reports 1. Post-enrollment Eric Adelizzi asked whether the letter that Dean Wilson previously sent to GSG Exec members about post-enrollment was confidential. Lauren stated that Dean Wilson had given permission to distribute it to the GSG Assembly. 2. Web page Adrian Banner reported that the GSG web page is out of date, particularly the list of current representatives. He requested that everyone look at the web page to check if their information is correct, and email the GSG if anything is incorrect. Adrian also requested that Assembly members encourage interested grad students to become GSG representatives if their departments do not already have one. 3. Parking Yesim reported that graduate students have not lost parking privileges, but no shuttle has been implemented. Some parking spaces were lost near Bowen Hall. Eric relayed a message from a constituent who complained that shuttle service between the overflow lot and Lot 25 should extend past 5 p.m. One more graduate student is needed to serve on the parking committee. B. Departmental Survey The data from the departmental survey will be processed soon. C. GSG Office: Frist 204D In an earlier meeting, the GSG voted to get rid of its telephone, but the issue will soon be open for discussion once again. Matt also suggested that the GSG could have office hours as the USG does. VI. New Business Lauren reported information from the recent CPUC meeting. A report was presented by undergraduates regarding the state of minorities and women. One recommendation was to increase the number of blue lights on campus. Amy Shuster reported that the SHARE office was closed this summer, and an individual who had been harassed was unable to seek counsel. Also in the CPUC meeting, President Tilghman and Provost Guttman asked for ideas for creative ways to respond to the terrorist attacks. Money is available for an appropriate community service project. One idea is to bring school children to a Broadway show with Princeton students. Undergraduates reported in that CPUC meeting that many undergraduates feel that they do not have enough mentoring. Among seniors, there is not enough interest in mentoring younger students. Amy and Donnell suggested starting a program in which graduate students mentor undergraduates. Members of the Assembly expressed an interest in developing a stronger relationship between the GSG and the USG. Already, Rob Osada serves as the GSG liaison to the USG, and the idea of graduate student liaisons to undergraduate organizations has already been proposed. Michi suggested having an ice cream social with the USG. Eric commented that the Unix disk quota for graduate students is too low (10 MB). Additional disk space can be bought from OIT (formerly CIT), but graduate students might look into getting more free disk space. Dean Mendez, the new Assistant Dean of Graduate Affairs, is interested in helping graduate students in getting a shuttle service. The GSG plans to invite him to a future meeting. Regarding the new optional dental insurance policy: the two area dentists that participate in the policy are not close to the University, so students must have a car in order to get to their appointments. It is a dentist's decision to participate in the dental plan, so the University administration has very limited control in this matter. However, the $125 reimbursement that graduate students can receive for cleaning can be from any dentist, including those in the Princeton area. The Assembly discussed ways to welcome new administrators. Suggestions included inviting President Tilghman to a GSG meeting or wine tasting event and sending flowers to Lisa Sherov. The Assembly agreed to send Lisa virtual flowers. The Assembly was reminded that the president's discretionary fund was transferred to Vice President Dickerson. President Tilghman is encouraging students to go to her office hours to interact with her rather than to ask for money. The next GSG meetings will be on November 14 and December 12.