-- D R A F T --
Members Present:
Graduate Center, CUNY - Doctoral Students’ Council Plenary Minutes – October 20, 2006
Art History: Tara Burk Audiology: Allison Shapiro (by proxy: Gregory Lucas) Biochemistry: Avalon Garcia Biology: Jillian De Gezelle, Adam Kavalier Chemistry: Marie Thomas Classics: Michael Broder Comparative Literature: Alexander Moudrov Computer Science: Hassan Adekoya, Mohamed Saad Criminal Justice: Charles Lieberman Engineering Biomedical: Veronica Lopez Engineering Chemical: Mehrdad Kheiripour Engineering Civil: Rouzbeh Nazari Engineering Electrical: Rex Wong English: Rob Faunce (by proxy: Carl Lindskoog) French: Chong Wojtkowski History: David Golland, Jameel Haque Liberal Studies: Nazreen Bacchus Linguistics: Ji Young Shim (by proxy: Elsada Cassells) Mathematics: Brooke Orosz Music DMA: Barbara Podgurski (by proxy: Joseph Sramek) Music PhD: Jason Hooper Political Science: Jen Gaboury Psychology, Environmental: Stephanie Domenici Cabonargi (failed to sign in) Psychology, Industrial/Organizational: Lauren Mondo Psychology, Learning Processes: Adrienne Robek Psychology, Neuro: Robyn Powers Psychology, Social Personality: Elizabeth Velilla Social Welfare: Denise Torres Theatre: Kate Wilson Urban Education: Lynda Kennedy At-Large: Dave Aliano, Ericka Calton, Gregory Donovan, Lee Hachadoorian, Patrina Huff (by proxy: Paul McBreen), Lindsay Krasnoff, Tina Lee, Amy Meyers, Frank Muscara, Pamela Proscia, Brenda Vollman
Members Absent:
Anthropology: Kate Griffiths, Martha Lincoln Comparative Literature: Kai Kreinke Criminal Justice: David Caspi (excused) Earth/Environmental Science: Angelos Lampuossis Economics: Andrew Bossie
Music PhD: Inessa Bazayev Political Science: Aaron Ibur (excused), Zeeshan Suhail (excused) Psychology, Clinical: Nora Goudsmit Psychology, Forensic: Ryan Copple (excused) Sociology: Binh Pok At-Large: Celia Braxton (excused), Valerie Futch (excused), Ian Jones, James Lyles (excused), Dion Powell, Farishta Satari, Deborah Upegui
Guests Present:
Mr. Matthew Schoengood, GC Vice President for Student Affairs
Total Members Present: 44. Members Absent: 19. Seats Vacant: 20. Guests present: 1. Quorum established to conduct business. 42 votes required for passage on all motions. In vote counts, ballots substitute for hand counts on the floor.
Chair: E. Calton Minutes: M. Broder
Meeting Called to Order at 6:25 p.m.
I. Invited Speaker: Mr. Matthew Schoengood, GC Vice President for Student Affairs. He spoke about his responsibility for health insurance issues and his efforts to research what other universities are doing. Of the approximately 200,000 students at CUNY, only about 2000 of them are enrolled in the GHI program. If more students could be induced to subscribe, costs could be brought down. A major concern is the lack of mental health benefits in the GHI plan. He also touched on others areas including dormitories, financial aid, and fundraising efforts.
II. Approval of Agenda and Old Minutes
Motion to approve the agenda and minutes as amended by Tina Lee; seconded by David Golland. Motion failed 37-0-4.
III. Old Business A. USS Stipend – Dave.
Some discussion around clarifying the fact that stipends attach to the office itself, not to holding office hours; there is no minimum number of office hours that need to be held to qualify for a SC stipend.
Motion to resolve that the USS delegate receive the full stipend for October by David Golland; seconded by Brenda Vollman. Motion failed 26-2-13.
IV. Adjunct Project Report – Carl I am pleased to be serving as the coordinator of the Adjunct Project for the 2006-2007 academic year. I believe the Adjunct Project is already making important advances and I will continue to work to make it a valuable resource for graduate student workers at CUNY. Below you can find what the Adjunct Project has done so far this semester and what is coming up.
Promoting the Adjunct Project
I know from many conversations I have had with students at the Grad. Center that much of the student body is unaware of the Adjunct Project, the services it provides, or its affiliation with the Doctoral Students’ Council. For this reason I felt that one of my first tasks as the new coordinator should be to promote the Adjunct Project and the services it provides to the Graduate Center community. I have employed various means to promote the Adjunct Project. I created a new flyer and am in the process of distributing it to student mailboxes of all the departments located in the GC. I joined leaders of the Doctoral Students’ Council for the campus outreach visit to City College on October 29th. I updated bulletin board and display cases allocated to the Adjunct Project. Finally, I submitted a short piece for the October Advocate which tells students about the Adjunct Project.
Adjunct Project Survey
Another of my first tasks as the Adjunct Project coordinator was to get feedback from the Graduate Center student body on the employment issues that are most important to them, and what needs to be done to address these issues. To do this I created the Adjunct Project survey, and I am happy to report that the response level has surpassed expectation! The piece in The Advocate also solicits responses to the survey, so I am anticipating a continued high level of response. I am in the process of organizing the information in the survey responses, and I will release a report on the results of the survey. The survey responses will play a very important role in shaping the work and direction of the Adjunct Project for the remainder of the academic year.
Work with other Adjuncts and Part-timers at CUNY
Under my direction, the Adjunct Project will be a committed partner with other, non- graduate student adjuncts and part-time employees at CUNY. To demonstrate this commitment and to develop this close working relationship, I have been attending the “First Friday Meetings” of the Part-timers’ Committee at the offices of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC.) These meetings have helped me better understand the common employment concerns graduate student adjuncts share with non-graduate student workers, as well as the ways in which GC student-workers have distinctive interests and experiences. I have also started working more closely with the adjunct organizers on the individual CUNY campuses. I believe that cooperation with non-graduate student part-timers can only strengthen our position, and GC student-workers can provide strong support to their fellow part-timers through the Adjunct Project.
Ongoing Projects and Upcoming Events
As a way of keeping GC students updated on the work of the Adjunct Project, and to facilitate discussion around employment issues, I have begun, and will continue to moderate the Adjunct Project forum on the DSC website. In addition, the Adjunct Project will attempt to continually inform GC student-workers on opportunities for them to support other labor struggles, and as a representative of the Adjunct Project, I will participate in solidarity activities. The first of these actions of solidarity was in support of PACE University adjuncts and transportation workers. On Friday, October 6 I attended a rally in support of our fellow workers who are currently engaged in a contract struggle. Another ongoing campaign is to strengthen the position of GC adjuncts and part-timers by increasing our level of union membership. The Adjunct Project will always have union cards and materials available to facilitate this unionization drive. Finally, James Hoff, the new editor-in-chief of The Advocate has graciously offered a regular spot for the Adjunct
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Project in the newspaper, so I will be contributing announcements, information, and commentary relevant to GC adjuncts and part-timers. In addition, I hope to have a meeting of GC adjuncts and part-timers in the next few weeks which will focus on the results of the recent survey, offer education on the most pressing issues identified in the survey, and facilitate a strategy session to address these concerns. The Adjunct Project will also join members of the DSC for the next campus outreach visit to Lehman College on November 10th. Finally, the Adjunct Project blog will be up and running soon.
DSC Ad Hoc Committee and Grad Council/College Wide Committee Reports A. Tech Fee – Lee Hachadoorian, Gregory Donovan, Hasan Adekoya
The Tech Fee budget is approximately $550,000 and the Tech Fee Committee is looking into things to possibly change in the budget—particularly, things that the library may be able to pay for. It was suggested that the Tech Fee Committee coordinate with the Library Committee. It was suggested that the GC coordinate with the New York Public Library to share digital resources. We are paying Xythos $40,000 a year to provide server space to students but very few students use the service. The committee was urged to make the availability of free software more widely known to students; the Tech Fee Committee is working on developing and distributing a list of available software. Another big issue is wireless access for the GC. The 34th Street Partnership was to put an antenna on our roof to wire 34th Street for wireless, but the Tech Fee Committee is looking into the pros and cons of such an alliance. Printers: $90,000 to $100,000 in toner and paper are used each year; more data are needed to get a handle on this.
B. Curriculum&DegreeRequirements–LyndaKennedy—focusedontheongoingeffort to develop a specialized/customized PhD at the GC; students would be able to essentially develop their own curriculum to obtain the interdisciplinary doctorate of their choice.
Co-Chair for Student Affairs Report – Chong Chong asked the plenary to confirm the nominations of three at-large reps, Ryan Copley (Forensic Psych); Frank Frescarra (Environmental Psych); and Robin Power (Neuropsych). Chong presented the constitution as well as mission statement of a proposed chartered organization, the Luso-Brazilian Study Group. According to the DSC's constitution, the plenary members are asked to read the constitution and we will vote on whether to charter this new group at the November plenary meeting. Also, there are two more groups that will send us their constitutions to be looked at, soon. Our next Campus Visit is Friday, November 10th at Lehman College...we will be bringing pizza and wine for a happy-hour type meeting. Please join us if you can, and please take flyers to advertise. Lastly, now that chartered organizations can get their own web pages through our server, please talk up the website to your constituents and use the forums.
Motion to accept presentations made on behalf of the Luso-Brazilion Studies Group by Brenda Vollman; seconded by Charles Lieberman. Motion failed 39-0-2.
Co-Chair for Communications Report – Dave A. Board of Trustees Report.
The Board of Trustees met on September 25, 2006, and took the following actions which may be pertinent to GC students: a) they extended the tenure clock to seven years; b)they awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters through Lehman College
to Tatsuo Tanaka; c) they accepted a gift of $28 Million from CCNY grad William E. Macauley and his wife for the Honors College; d) they approved the purchase of a building for the Honors College at 35 West 67th Street, Manhattan, to be named “William E. Macauley Hall;” e) they renamed the Honors College “The William E. Macauley Honors College;” f) they gave the Chancellor an annual pay raise of $15,000 ($65,000 minus $50,000 in benefits that have been discontinued); g) they made Executive Vice Chancellor Botman the Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost; h) they made Senior Vice Chancellor Dobrin Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer; i) they made Vice Chancellor Schaffer Senior Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs; and j) they made Vice Chancellor Hershenson Senior Vice Chancellor and Secretary of the Board Trustees, permanently merging those two functions.
B. OfficeofInformationTechnologyReport. The DSC Executive Committee met with the new Associate Vice President for the Office of Information Technology, Mr. Robert Campbell, earlier in the month. Part of what was discussed, regarding overhauling the e-mail system and setting up auto- forwarding, has already been forwarded to reps via e-mail. Also discussed were the notion of defaulting all public computers for double-sided printing to save paper (users could still change the settings on their own in order to print single-sided) and Mr. Campbell’s grand vision for the college. Mr. Campbell dreams of a Graduate Center where the magnetic stripe on the back of the ID card is all anyone will ever need for services inside the building—locked door access, photocopier and food and beverage purchases, etc. etc.
C. GradCouncilITCommitteeStudentNomination. Irene Meisel (History) was nominated by the Steering Committee on behalf of the DSC to fill the vacancy.
D. Advocate Report. The first issue of The Advocate saw an increased circulation. The second issue is available around the building now. Members of our community are encourage to sign up for free subscriptions (e-mail delivery of The Advocate) at their new website (gcadvocate.org). Writers are needed now for the next issue.
E. USS Awards Dinner Funding Request In 2004, Moira Egan, who was then a DSC member, was awarded the Donald and Mary Ellen Passantino scholarship by the University Student Senate. The award was for approximately $1,000.00. To date, Moira has not received a check. My repeated communications with USS as well as the Central Office of Student Affairs and the Research Foundation, which banks the USS money, has not resulted in Moira’s being paid, and now after two years the likelihood of her being paid appears nil. The most recent reason for this is that apparently Moira’s name never appeared on the final recipients’ list even though she was notified of the award, her name and bio appeared in the event program, and she attended the dinner. My predecessor, Paul McBreen, and I were also present and can confirm this. The current chairperson of USS, Carlos Sierra, is hoping to hold the 2006 award ceremony at the Graduate Center, and because of other events this month, is short of funds. He would like the DSC to co-sponsor the event. My recommendation is that we agree to co-sponsor the event by writing Moira a check for $1,000.00.
Motion to pay Moira Egan $1,000.00 as co-sponsorship of the 2006 USS Awards Dinner: was on the ballot but was not moved. Motion to table by Chong Wojtkowski; seconded by Charles Lieberman.
Motion to table failed 22-0-0. Main motion failed 8-3-5.
F. Open Meetings Law, Quorum, and Voting. Last November, CUNY lost a legal battle over the application of the New York State Open Meetings Law in student governments and college associations (which oversee the spending of student governments). As a result, the chancellery tightened the rules for public meetings and quorum for such bodies. Initially the DSC was ruled exempt from the standards, because our College Association makes the final decisions on our budget. In September, the chancellery modified its position to include us as well as other student governments with College Associations. The changes regarding public meetings do not affect us, because we already meet the standards of advance notice and public meetings. But the quorum and voting changes for us will be drastic. Quorum will now be a majority not of the membership but of the total potential membership, including vacant seats. Since there are 83 potential members of the DSC, quorum is now 42. Additionally, motions can only be carried by a majority not of those present but, again, of the total potential membership, meaning nothing will be considered “passed” without 42 affirmative votes. This totally supersedes all quorum rules in our constitution. We also need to keep records of the votes of all members. To address the difficulties that are bound to arise as a result of these changes, the Executive Committee is discussing a variety of actions.
VII. Co-ChairforBusinessManagementReport–Brenda Student enrollment is currently listed at 4355 students. Departmental Allocations can now be calculated. I hope to email all department representatives by Nov 7 to inform each of the specific allocation for the department. Please email me if you would like to know your Fall allocation before then.
This being said -- PLEASE SPEND THIS MONEY!!!! The last day to APPLY for fall semester is December 1, 2006. Monies not declared by then will be rolled over to Spring Semester. For those who submit a check request for an advance of funds, no monies will be made available for spring semester if all final receipts are not received by Jan 4, 2007.
GRANTS
The maximum for all grant requests at this time is $500. When submitting a grant proposal, you are to include the total budget that you expect to spend AND any subsidies you will get form outside sources. Then also include the amount that you are actually requesting. If you can match funding, there is a better chance to get funding.
To date, the grants requests and allocations are as follows: Cultural Affairs: Requested (5) $2375 – Awarded (3) - $1075 – Remaining – ($3925) Professional Development: Requested (2) - $1630 – Awarded (1) - $280 – Remaining - $4720.
Receipt procedures:
Please submit original receipts taped to sheet of paper and laid out and readable. Please make a copy of these receipts and submit with request. Please make certain all pertinent information is filled in.
Chartered Organization checks will be left in Chartered org mailboxes in the main DSC Steering Committee Office (5495 at the GC).
Submit grant receipts within 2 weeks of event (or each event). This is better for you so receipts do not get lost.
Final receipts for Grants applied to events occurring in Fall semester, as well as Fall Departmental Allocations are to be received no later than Jan 4 or the responsible student (official check requester) is held liable for funds used.
If you do not have receipts and do not use all of the money allocated or awarded, then you must submit a check for the balance. Submit all receipts to 5495.
Important Money Request Forms online:
All information is available online at www.cunydsc.org. Please download forms from there. If you cannot find information on line, please feel free to email any one on the SC or the co-chairs and we would be happy to follow up.
Budget:
I am curious to know how folks feel about possibly increasing the amount of departmental allocations and possibly the chartered organizations. We currently have 24 programs which are automatically allocated $150 ($3600) and with 3423 students remaining at $2 per student ($6846) this leaves us with a semester allocation of $10,446.
I wonder if we can increase the amount to between $3.00 ($10269) per student, or a min of $200 per program ($4800) – new totals for semester ($15,000).
Changing the allocations this way would give more departments access to per person numbers. The new calculation would be 66 students and you get the minimum amount and over 66 the program gets per student allocation.
VIII. USS Report - Dave (for Zeeshan) A. Fee Adjustment Proposal was presented and briefly discussed.
IX. DSC Standing Committee Reports A. Constitution and Bylaws – Dave for Aaron
1. Proposed Amendments to Constitution Articles IV. and XI.
Motion to approve proposed constitutional amendments for presentation to the DSO was on the ballot but was not moved. Motion to table by Chong Wojtkowski; seconded by Michael Broder. Motion to table failed 21-0-0. Main motion failed 11-1-5.
2. Proposed Amendments to Bylaws 12-17.
Motion to accept presentation of proposed bylaws amendments by Lee Hachadoorian; seconded by Tina Lee. Motion failed 31-2-4.
B. CommunityBuilding–Charles—discussedeffortstodevelopamusiclibraryforthe fall party; a number of members offered to contribute music.
XI. New Business A. Advocate Letter – Lindsay Krasnoff for James Hoff: Discussion of open letter to Eliot
Spitzer and pitch for women writers.
Motion to sustain the Steering Committee’s preliminary endorsement of The Advocate’s Open Letter to New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer by Tina Lee; seconded by Michael Broder. Motion to amend by recommending that The Advocate mail the letter to the Office of the New York State Attorney General by Tina Lee; seconded by Adrienne Robek. Motion to amend failed 18-2-3. Main motion failed 33-3-2.
B. EmailCorrespondence—Charles
XII. Announcements A. CUNY’s Women’s Leadership Conference - Brenda B. Fall Party- Friday Oct 20th at 7pm - Chong
XIII. Adjournment E. Calton adjourned the meeting at 7:53 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, M. Broder.