Graduate Center, CUNY
Doctoral Students’ Council
Plenary Minutes

May 9, 2008—5pm

Members and Voting Alternates Present:

Anthropology: Javiela Evangelista, Mariya Radeva
Biology: Lisa Offringa
Chemistry: Nancy Medina
Classics: Michael Broder
Comparative Literature: Adele Kudish
Computer Science: Deniz Sarioz
English: Kerdiana Chez, Allyson Foster, Cori Gabbard
Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Lit: Teresa Darwich
History: Carl Lindskoog
Liberal Studies: Christopher Ian Foster
Linguistics: Elizabeth Pratt
Mathematics: Micah Miller
Philosophy: Chris Sula
Political Science: April Henning, Aaron Ibur
Psychology: Bio: Maria Maust
Psychology: Learning Processes: Matthew Taylor
Psychology: Neuro: Jenny Ly
Psychology: Social Personality: Rachel Verni
Social Welfare: Denise Torres
Sociology: Jesse Goldstein
Speech & Hearing Sciences: Kristen Maul
Theatre: Ana Martinez

At-large Reps: Jill Belli , Ericka Calton, Randy Cota, Gregory Donovan, Rob Faunce, Fiona Lee, Charles Lieberman, Anton Masterovoy, Neil Meyer, Brenda Vollman, Kate Wilson

Members Absent:
Art History: Monica Steinberg, Whitney Thompson
Audiology: Allison Shapiro (excused)
Biology: Kathleen Schnaars Uvino (excused)
Comparative Literature: Andrea Efthymiou (excused)
Computer Science: Omer Demir
Criminal Justice: Alissa Ackerman, Crystal Rodriguez (excused)
Engineering Biomedical: Xiang (Ian) Gu (excused)
Engineering Chemical: Mehrdad Kheiripour
Engineering Civil: Rouzbeh Nazari
Engineering Electrical: Rex Wong
French: Chong Wojtkowski
History: Jameel Haque (excused)
Music DMA: Judy Woo
Music PhD: Roberto Barnard
Psychology: Cognition, Brain, Behavior: Karla Felix (excused)
Psychology: Educational: Astrid Rodriguez
Psychology: Environmental: Stephanie Domenici Cabonargi
Psychology: Forensic: Elizabeth Arias
Psychology: Industrial and Organizational: Jessica Anderson (excused)
Public Health: Lauren Evans
Urban Education: Pamela Proscia

At-Large Reps: Nazreen Bacchus, Larry Ianotti, Taylor Kennamer, Amy Meyers, Geoff Rab (excused), Meghan Sacks (excused), Aya Shohat, Amanda Springs, Danielle Wu (excused)

Members Present: 37; Members Absent: 32

Greg Donovan (GD), Chairing
Anton Masterovoy (AM), Minutes
 
Meeting was called to order at 5:14 PM
 
I. Approval of Agenda
 
Rob Faunce (RF) moves to approve, AM seconds. Motion to approve passed by unanimous consent.
 
II. Approval of Old Minutes
 
Kery Chez asks to amend old minutes as per a distributed sheet (attached).
 
Chong Wojtkowski to amend old minutes to be entitled "Draft"
 
RF motions to approve old minutes with amendments, Charles Lieberman (CL) seconds the motion, which is passed by unanimous consent.
 
III. Old business.
 
a. Wellness Center
 
Denise Torres (DT) and GD explain the proposal to fund the Wellness Center with a $40,000 which includes a "rainy day" fund to offset student fees if increased, and helping the wellness center get an electronic records system that they indicated they needed.
 
Charles Lieberman motions to approve the funding, DT seconds the motion. Motion passed by a majority vote, with one opposed.
 
b. Travel and Research Fund
 
CL suggests we give $7000 to the fund.
 
GD offers a counterargument that we would like to the Graduate Center to provide a larger percentage of the funding for travel and research, and not provide the majority with the student funds.
 
DT informs the group that she has applied for a $10,000 grant from USS ($3,000 for community building and $7,000 for travel and research fund)
Therefore we can give $7,000 with the caveat of it being a one-time only, grant-based extra funding.
Rouzbeh Nazari is finding out how much the USS will provide
 
Charles Lieberman motions, Brenda Vollman seconds the motion to approve $7,000 of funds for the Research and Travel fund. The motion is passed with one abstention.
 
c. Elections process
 
GD reports that we have doubled the number of votes (to 337) and had more nominations than usual.
We may in the future shorten the voting period to increase turnout
We have had some access issues (for users of JAWS screen reading software, for example) which we are addressing.
When the time comes to renew the contract/license with VoteNet we will see if we can make it easier to run departmental elections as well, since at this point the DSC would have to manage the entire process.
Problems with submitting a ballot with fewer votes have been addressed and similar glitches will be smoothed out in the future.
 
RF clarifies in response to a question that due to privacy issues we cannot disclose who accepted a nomination and who did not. If one wishes to withdraw from the ballot (which cannot be changed once active) this information should be made known in their department.
 
GD asks all members to contact him or the steering committee with any other related problems.
 
IV. New Buisness
 
a. Adjunct Project Coordinators
 
Carl Lindskoog speaks about the two new adjunct project co-coordinators: Jesse Goldstein (Sociology) and Renee McGarry(Art History).
There is an adjunct project list-serve.
Any interested person can give their email to a co-coordinator to be placed on the list.
 
b. Bylaw 18
 
Kery Chez explains that the Bylaw as voted on was not clearly worded. She distributed a sheet with the proposed change in wording, stating that she preferred version no.1.
DT points out that this issue needs to be addressed at the meeting of the constitution and bylaw committee, which is an open meeting.
 
V. Student Affairs Report
 
a. Chartered Organizations
 
GD points out that the Chartered organizations should submit all requests for money by May 30th, 2008. We may soon move all sign-up sheets online. He also points out that there is no money for use in June/July. DT clarifies the point, saying that purchases made in July can be attributed to the Fall semester funds.
 
VI. Communications Report
 
RF informs the members that the President can not come as he is in Chicago. He sends his apologies.
The provost search committee invites all to meet another candidate on the 20th of May.
 
VII. Business report
 
DT reiterates that all receipts and claims should be submitted by May 30th.
We have additional funding in the Professional development and Cultural affairs grants.
 
Members discuss feedback for grants proposals that are not accepted or are poor. BV tells the members that the overall response time is good and the issue was discussed at the previous meeting. She points out that approval of previous grants is not an indication of re-approval.
GD points out that there are mechanisms for appealing the decisions of the grants committee.
The newly formed ad-hoc Information Flow committee will address these and other issues related to improving communication and response to funding and other concerns.
 
VIII. USS report
 
Ally Foster reports that the USS went to Albany to lobby for better CUNY funding.
USS wants to ban Coca-Cola products from CUNY campuses due to human rights violations perpetrated by the company.
 
IX. Committee Reports
 
Tech-fee committee will send its report via email.
 
X. Announcements
 
GD thanks all the members for hard work during the year.
 
XI. Adjournment
 
RF motions to adjourn, DT seconds the motion.
Meeting adjourned at 6:03 PM