Graduate Center, CUNY
Doctoral Students’ Council
Plenary Minutes

September 12, 2008—6pm

Members and Voting Alternates Present:

Anthropology: Christine Pinnock, Mariya Radeva
Art History: Whitney Thompson
Biochemistry: Richard Able
Biology: Samantha Sheppard, Oren Tzfadia
Classics: Jared Simard
Comparative Literature: Anick Boyd, Anna Finkelstern
Computer Science: Jeremy Seideman
Criminal Justice: Julie Viollaz
English: Jill Belli, Allyson Foster, Amanda Springs
French: Chong Wojtkowski
Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Lit: Efrain Cardenas
History: Igor Draskovic, Anton Masterovoy
Linguistics: Elizabeth Pratt
Music PhD: Rachel Lumsden
Philosophy: Chris Sula
Political Science: Aaron Ibur, Patricia Stapleton
Psychology: Bio: Preston Foerder
Psychology: Forensic: Marsha Brown
Psychology: Industrial and Organizational: Kimberly Iaffaldano
Psychology: Neurology: Olga Nikelshpur
Psychology: Social Personality: Stephanie Anderson
Public Health: Princess Fortin
Social Welfare: Larry Iannotti
Speech & Hearing Sciences: Carol Tessel
Theatre: Frank Episale
Urban Education: Shana Henry, Liza Pappas

At-large Reps: Karyn Collie, Boris Daussa Pastor, Gregory Donovan, Rob Faunce, Ian Foster, Taylor Kennamer, Lauren Klein, Armin Lahiji, Charles Lieberman, Linda Neiberg, Pamela Proscia

Members Absent:
Art History: Monica Steinberg
Biology: Kathleen Schanaars Uvino (excused)
Business: Chrissy Mitakakis
Computer Science: Suzanne Tamang (excused)
Criminal Justice: Tasha Youstin (excused)
Engineering Biomedical: Xiang (Ian) Gu
Engineering Chemical: Mehrdad Kheiripour
Engineering Civil: Rouzbeh Nazari
Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Lit: Teresa Darwich
Music PhD: Inessa Bayezev
Nursing: Mary Pilossoph
Philosophy: Kyle Ferguson
Psychology: Environmental: Stephanie Domenici Cabonargi
Psychology: Learning Processes: Matthew Taylor (excused)
Sociology: Colin Ashley, Nazreen Bacchus

At-Large Reps: Robert Azzarello (excused), Ericka Calton (excused), Erica Chutuape, John DeCarlo (excused), Andrew Dicus, Philip Kopp (excused), Neil Meyer (excused), Rachel Meyer, Denise Torres (excused), Brenda Vollman (excused), Ethan Zadoff

Members Present: 45; Members Absent: 27

Chair: Gregory Donovan (GD)
Minutes: Chris Sula (CS)

Meeting called to order at 6:58.

Gregory Donovan (GD) welcomes everyone to the meeting.

I. Approval of Agenda

GD asks for additions to the agenda. Hearing none, Rob Faunce (RF) motions to approve the minutes; Pamela Proscia (PP) seconds the motion; the agenda is approved by unanimous consent.

II. Approval of Old Minutes

GD asks for corrections to draft of May 9, 2008 minutes. Hearing none, RF motions to approve the minutes; Aaron Ibur (AI) seconds the motion; the minutes are approved by unanimous consent.

III. Old Business

a. Nurse Practitioner
GD references talk by Sharon Lerner immediately before the meeting. No additional comments are heard.

b. Health Insurance
GD references talk by Elise Perram immediately before the meeting. No additional comments are heard.

c. GC Email
GD notes that email forwarding has not been turned on yet, despite indication last year that it would. GD reports that Bob Campbell is trying to work with CUNY Central to have forwarding turned on. Central claims that Hunter, Lehman, and possibly other campuses have forwarding now because they turned it on before recent policy went into effect.

IV. New Business

a. Election of Co-Chair for Business
RF explains that the elected Co-Chair for Business resigned this summer for personal reasons, and the runner-up could not accept the position because of other commitments. As a result, there was a vacancy, and the Executive Committee appointed CS to the position on Sept. 1. CS's appointment expired at the beginning of this meeting, in keeping with the Constitution.

GD asks for nominations.
Jill Belli (JB) nominates CS; RF seconds the nomination; CS accepts.

GD motions to close nominations. RF amends the motion to elect CS by unanimous consent; RF seconds the motion.
CS is elected with 1 abstention.

b. College Association Election
RF explains the duties of the position.

GD asks for nominations.
RF nominates Allyson Foster (AF); GD seconds the nomination; AF accepts.
Patricia Stapleton (PS) nominates AI; GD seconds the nomination; AI accepts.
Jeremy Seideman (JS) nominates himself; GD seconds the nomination.

Charles Lieberman (CL) motions to close nominations; RF amends the notion to elect AF, PS, and JS by unanimous consent; RF seconds the motion.
AF, AI, and JS are elected by unanimous consent.

c. Auxiliary Enterprise Board Elections
RF explains the duties of the position.

GD asks for nominations.
AI nominates CL; RF seconds the nomination; CL accepts.
RF nominates JB; CL seconds the nomination; JB accepts.

JS motions to close nominations; RF amends the motion to elect CL and JB by unanimous consent; CS seconds the motion.
CL and JB are elected by unanimous consent.

d. Student Survey
GD explains initiative underway to use the E-Ballot system to poll students on issues concerning technology, alternative transportation accommodations, Wellness Center, financial aid, professional development, and other areas of student life.

JS asks about reliability of sample, given voter turnout in the last election. GD says it's worth trying to do the survey.

GD adds that survey capability is included in our $1,985 annual fee, and Student Affairs has expressed support for the survey. GD expects to have a draft of questions at the next plenary, and hopes to conduct the survey after late October.

e. Tech Fee Increase
GD reports a $25 increase in the Student Technology Fee, bringing the total to $100 per semester. GD and RF co-authored an Advocate op-ed in July, which was forwarded to Bob Campbell, Steve Brier, and President Bill Kelly, who all responded positively. GD explains that the CUNY Central office has been claiming an increasing percentage of The Graduate Center's Student Technology Fee each year, so increased funds may not actually benefit GC students. GD forwards Bob Campbell's request for student input.

CS asks for ideas from plenary on how to spend additional funds.

CL requests more information about whether funds go to off-campus sites. GD explains that funds are retained by individual campuses. CL notes this is problematic for graduate students not based at the GC.

PP asks about the state of wireless in the building and suggests extending service. Efrain Cardenas (EC) asks about wireless service on the 4th floor and special A/V accommodations in 5414.

GD and CS encourage anyone encountering problems to contact Helpdesk with specific information.

f. Library Paper
Shana Henry states this issue has already been addressed.

V. Student Affairs Report

a. Chartered Organizations
GD asks for rosters from Chartered Organizations and announces plan to use E-Ballot for electronic submission of rosters.

b. OpenCUNY.org
GD explains that OpenCUNY.org was formerly the RSS project to promote open student communications. GD reports that the domain name opencuny.org has been reserved and WordPress MU has been installed. The system will be launched with Chartered Organizations this semester, and then opened to all students for free web space later.

VI. Communications Report
RF reports that the Executive Committee asked the President to increase the amount of student travel awards, and liaised with Matt Schoengood to get numbers about the number of student applications and a breakdown of award amounts. Executive Committee will prepare a plan to present to the President next month.

RF reports that there is a reception for Julia Wrigley, Acting Provost, on Tuesday. Chase Robinson begins Sept 28. Julia Wrigley will stay on in advisory capacity this semester, and Robinson will make new hires in the spring.

RF discusses his testimony at the Board of Standards and Appeals on July 1 regarding the construction of a residence halls in Long Island City.

RF reports that DSC Archives are nearly finished, and that there is a Board of Trustees meeting on Sept. 22 to change governance language in light of new Master's programs.

VII. Business Report
CS reminds representatives about how departmental allocations are calculated and will communicate exact totals to reps after late registration closes on Tuesday.

CS reports that the locker lottery is underway and 54 requests have been received. Requests are due Sept. 19; occupants who have not entered or not won will be moved out by Oct. 1; winners can move in after that. CL asks about contact information for current occupants based on records from previous years. CS reports there is no complete record of current occupants, so we need to start over.

CS describes an online submission and tracking system under development for check requests and grant proposals. CS reports that the system will allow users to see the status of their request as it moves through process.

VIII. USS Report
AF reports that former chair Robert Ramos has been removed from USS and Rouzbeh Nazari is acting chair.

IX. Committee Reports

a. Co-Chair for Elections for Health Issues Committee
JB explains the work of the Health Issues Committee.

RF reports that the Steering Committee selected JB and Denise Torres (DT) as Co-Chairs, who need approval from plenary.

Amanda Springs (AS) motions to elect JB and DT by unanimous consent; JS seconds the motion.
JB and DT are elected by unanimous consent.

b. Information Flow
CS explains that the Information Flow Committee was formed out of concerns last year about the consistency of information and the transparency of DSC processes. CS reports that the committee met before plenary and discussed new technologies in development, checking the consistency of all forms and the DSC website, and researching ways to take minutes at meetings.

CL says an audio recording of meetings would provide a check on accuracy. CS points out that names would still have to be recorded. RF notes that minutes can be revised if necessary and worries that audio recordings may require additional work. CL points out the benefit of having a record to resolve disputes. CS says Information Flow plans to research this and would bring back any recommendations to plenary. RF clarifies that Information Flow makes recommendations to plenary.

X. Announcements
Julie Viollaz (JV) expresses concern about the language of the Co-Chair for Business position, which mentions a specific number of hours. JV notes that this may prohibit international students with work hour quotas from holding the position and suggests removing language about hours from the description of the position. GD notes this would require a constitutional amendment and suggests further investigation.

XI. Adjournment

RF motions to adjourn the meeting; CL seconds.
Motion adjourned by unanimous consent.

Meeting adjourned at 7:37.