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-- D R A F T --

CUNY Graduate Center
Doctoral Students’ Council
Steering Committee Minutes

April 13, 2007
Steering Committee members present: Brenda Vollman (BV), Ericka Calton (EC),
Chong Wojtkowski (CW), Rouzbeh Nazari [non-voting ex-officio] (RN), Patrina Huff
(PH), Kate Wilson (KW), Charles Lieberman (CL), Denise Torres (DT)

Steering Committee members absent: Rob Faunce, Michael Broder

Meeting Called to order at 6:07pm. KW motion;
BV Seconded. Unanimous.
I. Approval of Agenda (amended)
BV motioned to approve agenda as amended; EC
seconded. Unanimous.
II. Approval of Old Minutes
BV motioned to table this item; EC seconded.
Unanimous.
III. Old Business
a. Reps for 2006-2007. EC mentioned that Dominique Jones is a new at-large
DSC member and that Lynda Kennedy was voted in as student representative
to the Academic Appeals Committee.
b. Library and Copy Machines. Rob had mentioned via email that the library
committee of which he is chair had suggested that the DSC might help
subsidize student copy fees by donating its own money to the library. DT
stated opposition to this idea, stating that off-campus students would not
benefit from this expenditure. EC agreed, stated the need to hold the GC
Administration accountable for funding the library. BV stated that students
should be encouraged to take notes in a more eco-friendly way and to take
advantage of technology such as PDFs.

IV. Student Affairs Report (Chong)
a. Elections Process- CW reminded the SC of the elections process. EC
reiterated, stating that ballots are tabulated by the student elections
workers in the Office of Student Affairs. CW stated that said office would
not send student workers to help the SC “table” for voting purposes due to
and issue raised about second hand smoke. CL suggested we send an email to
Student Affairs to ask them to reconsider.
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b. Meetings- CW stated that our next Plenary meeting is crucial to advertise
the EC and SC as well as other leadership positions available, in order that
the meeting not run four hours and be confused. CW opposes reading the
leadership position descriptions aloud at the meeting as the first and only
opportunity for folks to hear about the positions. SC members had numerous
suggestions on how to run a smoother meeting: CL said to notify the DSO
about the new positions as soon as possible; DT said to include each and
every special committee (Grad Council committees for instance).
EC suggested creating a packet of information and mailing it out. KW stated
that not everyone digests information in the same way (email versus paper
versus websites). DT was concerned about compliance with disability
regulations as per CW’s opposition to reading the descriptions aloud. BV
stated that JAWS and other programs are made available to students with
sight or hearing disabilities. EC stated that she would disseminate
information about available positions in as many ways as possible so that we
are covered.
The discussion then turned towards the voting process at the meeting. CW
reminded the SC of the December plenary when voting was not so smooth. CL
suggested the SC use pre-printed ballots and that everyone vote using those.
KW concurred, as did PH, stating that this would facilitate ballot-counting.
BV said we could not vote using one sheet of paper, since candidates who
present themselves for one position and who lose might want to still run for
another. The SC also discussed ways in which to effectively present the
positions; KW suggested we write up a sheet stating “duties” and then
“perks.” BV suggested we ask candidates what motivates them for student
leadership. The SC agreed that using the large poster board will help
facilitate voting.

V. Communications Report (Ericka)
a. Meetings/Minutes Procedures-
- EC stated that in order to comply with CUNY legal regulations, draft
minutes must be publicly disseminated and available within two weeks of each
meeting. She also stated that the minutes are not just a summary of action
items, but discussion. CL mentioned that in order to help out the minute-
taker, the chairs and committee chairs might send printed reports. KW
agreed that it is important to note any discussion that takes place around
the action items. RN entered the meeting at 6:57 pm.
b. Media Board Report. EC reported on the Media Board’s recent meeting
where the DSC webmaster was given an enthusiastic review and thus rehired.
EC stated that Aman is doing lots of important back-end work on the site
which is time-consuming but will result in a more stable website. EC reported
that the MB decided to rehire James Hoff, EIC of the Advocate. DT
expressed concern that James censured her article about Health Insurance,
written in the context of national and global health insurance crises, to
focus on an issue that DT did not intend to focus on. CW stated that the
Advocate does not have enough female writers.
CW asked EC whether the message boards on the website were being
monitored; there is horrendous spam of perverse and offensive nature. PH
talked about hacker bots invading the site; EC stated the webmaster has
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been working to improve security issues on the website that were not dealt
with last year.

VI. Business Report (Brenda)
a. Budget- Brenda is fine-tuning the budget for next year. A suggestion was
previously raised that the Advocate webmaster be paid out of different
budget allocations since they are no longer the same person.

VII. USS Report. RN reported that the USS will meet on April 22 to discuss the
increase of the activity fee. Apparently the USS has a “master plan” for
managing and spending this large increase. RN said that some of this will benefit
the GC. CL stated that the USS is trying to buy our silence; CW said that we
should not vote for the USS Fee increase since they have shown fiscal
irresponsibility in the past.
VIII. Community Building Committee- Charles, Patrina. CL stated that the CB is
planning to purchase different couches from Target. CL expressed the CB’s
desire to follow through on their plans to get a ping pong table. KW is concerned
about table fights as well as the new responsibility of racquets and balls. CL said
that the SC should keep equipment for use in the SC office and to post
information in the room stating that GC students can use their own equipment.
PH said that the coffee hours are well-attended and asked for suggestions
regarding “theme nights.”

IX. Health Issues Committee- Denise reported on their activities and stated that as
part of the DSC’s general “welcome/ welcome back” to new/ returning students,
in the fall, the HIC will inform students about health care options at the GC.
DT also stated that the HIC will help out with the GC’s annual health fair by
tabling the week prior to increase awareness about the fair. DT reported that
Lynda Kennedy and Ian Jones will contribute to the Advocate’s three-part series
on Health Care Issues at the GC by writing articles.

X. New Business
a. Certificates for Outgoing Reps- Chong will take care of printing certificates
for outgoing reps.
b. Workshops for Students- EC suggested we ask the administration and Steve
Brier’s office to hold some software and facilitating workshops after 5pm so
students who work/teach can attend. DT concurs.

XI. Announcements- PH announced that the GC will participate in the NYC Annual
AIDS walk.

XII. Adjournment

EC motioned to adjourn; CW
seconded. Unanimous.
Meeting adjourned at 7:43.
Respectfully submitted, Chong
Wojtkowski