Minutes

***************************************************************
GSC Agenda: May 31, 2006: 6:00-8:00 - FOOD @ 5:45!
Graduate Community Center - Nairobi Room
***************************************************************
Quorum for this meeting is eight voting members.
1. 5:45 FOOD (thanks Dirk!)
2. 6:00 Welcome with Introductions (Paul)
3. 6:05 Announcements (Paul)
i. Minutes from 5/24
a. Minutes from 5/24 approved
ii. Kyle Anderson will be Kristina's proxy
iii. Flicks (5/29)
a. Not great turnout. Decision to next year to focus on the fall quarter.
iv. Party at Rains (5/26)
a. Block party last Friday, went really well. Volley ball tournament was a
success
v. Frequently Asked Questions about the GSC
a. Paul and Jenny have made up a sheet to provide information on
FAQ’s about the GSC
4. 6:10 NomCom Bill of Selected Candidates (Jake Kraft)
Over the last few months graduate students have been selected for
different committees. These people can be good liaisons for advocacy
committees.
Questions? Paul moves to approve. Objections? (none) Passes by
consensus.
Are these people notified that they are on these committees?
Paul: They should have been already or will be soon.
5. 6;15 Excutive Bill to Confirm Executive Cabinet 9Elizabeth Heng)
Selected 10 members, 7 are the actual cabinet, includes ASSU
webmaster and historian. Also public service, non-profit, student group
funding, academic improvement, arts, athletics.
Paul: How many students applied?
Elizabeth: About 40.
Cullen: Did any graduate students apply?
Elizabeth: 1 MA/JD did, but wanted to be more of a consultant.
Paul: How do we contact them about projects?
Elizabeth: You can go to them directly.
Objections? (none) Passes by consensus.
6. 6:25 Diversity Committee joint-resolution? (Cullen)
Cullen: During the last Undergraduate Senate meeting of the year the idea
came out to tale a more formal stance on diversity, such as to draft a
resolution stating some opinion. Therefore we want to draft a document
that both bodies agree on that would be an opinion that we could write to
the administration. Action items: 1.) University-wide 5 year plan for
diversity. While diversity is stated as a top priority, currently there is no
plan. 2.) Report on graduate students. If faculty senate operates with no
information on graduate diversity, this is not ideal. Perhaps university
could look at it yearly.
Tom: I suggest since we are calling on the University for concrete things,
we should state something that we are going to do to show that we are
actually willing to put the effort in.
Cullen: What are things we can do as a body?
Tom: We can provide pull with programming and funding. We will need to
be more specific than that. Perhaps recruiting events or events that help
bring or retain minority and women grad students.
Paul: Finding out why diverse students tend to drop out more then others
would be useful. What about a survey?
Cullen: That would be helpful. We did a survey a year ago but it has been
difficult trying to get the data analyzed. And we need a bigger sample
size, before we only had 200 people. It was 200/8000 graduate students
and was sent by email. It was actually overrepresented for students of
color. Perhaps we could put a small section about diversity in the GSC
survey that is already being constructed.
7. 6:35 Bill to modify the 2005-2006 budget (Maxim)
This 2005-2006 Budget ends on June 31st, if there is money left in the
operating part of the budget then we lose it. Therefore we need to spend
it soon so that it is not lost. Therefore suggested to approve transfer to
consolidate funds by moving money from certain accounts to others. For
example we didn’t use all of the marketing or office supply money last year
so we should transfer these funds into discretionary so that they can be
made use of.
Cullen: Does they money really disappear or does it return to the
endowment for everyone?
Maxin: I talked to Justin and it is really gone.
Cullen: Is this going to happen again next year? Does our budget fit that
we didn’t spend this money?
Tom: Yes, we changed the budget.
Maxin: We changed the responsibilities of the PR person.
Proposed to transfer $2200 to the 2005-2006 discretionary fund to use by
the end of June, goal is to use it by June 15. Possibilities to use it for
buying furniture for the office, dinner for the GSC, or to organize
something for constituents.
Objections? (none) Passes by consensus.
8. 6:45 subsidizing food/drink tickets for Tuesday comedy night at the
GCC.(Megahn Parker)
Fen: Tuesday night is comedy night in the pub. Perhaps could hand out
food tickets so people would eat during comedy hour. Would help out the
pub.
Paul: Where would the money for the food tickets come from?
Fen: Maybe from the discretionary fund? I am pretty sure there is enough.
About only 60% of the tickets handed out actually get used.
9. 6:55 New Business
i. SUpost – Student designed website that lists programming and
listing for Stanford. Need a Stanford website to submit. It has been
growing a lot. Talked to president Hennesey, etc for advice. Does
the GSC have any questions?
-How is it verified that Stanford email address provided is valid?
Email is sent to the addresses that has to be confirmed.
-Have you considered using web authentication? Not yet.
-Have you talked to Elizabeth about making this involved with the
ASSU?
-Liability issues, if injury at events that are posted in websites.
-Any commercial aspirations? Not sure now. Open to suggestions.
-Needs to be non-profit to be associated with the ASSU. Have to
follow OSA rules, etc.
ii. List of people we want to come to the GSC (Jenny/Paul)
a. Vaden people, Students groups, Payroll office, Dining, Vice
Provost Dean of Research, old or new person, VPGE
10. 7:00 Adjourn GSC Meeting