Graduate Center, CUNY
Doctoral Students’ Council
Plenary Minutes

October 24, 2008—6pm

Members and Voting Alternates Present:

Anthropology: Andrew Brooks, Christine Pinnock
Art History: Whitney Thompson
Biochemistry: Richard Able
Biology: Kathleen Schanaars Uvino
Chemistry: Tony Perri, Yu Zhao
Classics: Jared Simard
Comparative Literature: Anick Boyd, Anna Finkelstern
Computer Science: Jeremy Seideman, Suzanne Tamang
Criminal Justice: Julie Viollaz
Engineering Chemical: Mehrdad Kheiripour
English: Jill Belli (proxy: L. Freer), Allyson Foster, Amanda Springs
French: Chong Wojtkowski
Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Lit: Efrain Cardenas, Teresa Berenice Darwich
Linguistics: Elizabeth Pratt
Music DMA: H. Roz Woll
Music PhD: Rachel Lumsden
Philosophy: Kyle Ferguson, Chris Sula
Psychology: Bio: Preston Foerder
Psychology: Dev: Vicky Barrios
Psychology: Industrial and Organizational: Kimberly Iaffaldano
Psychology: Social Personality: Stephanie Anderson
Public Health: Princess Fortin
Social Welfare: Larry Iannotti
Sociology: Colin Ashley
Speech & Hearing Sciences: Carol Tessel
Urban Education: Shana Henry, Liza Pappas (proxy: E. Mayorga)

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

Members Absent:
Art History: Monica Steinberg (excused)
Biology: Samantha Sheppard (excused), Oren Tzfadia
Business: Chrissy Mitakakis
Criminal Justice: Tasha Youstin (excused)
Engineering Biomedical: Xiang (Ian) Gu (excused)
Engineering Civil: Rouzbeh Nazari
History: Igor Draskovic, Anton Masterovoy (excused)
Music PhD: Inessa Bayezev
Nursing: Mary Pilossoph
Political Science: Aaron Ibur, Patricia Stapleton (excused)
Psychology: Environmental: Stephanie Domenici Cabonargi
Psychology: Forensic: Marsha Brown
Psychology: Learning Processes: Matthew Taylor (excused)
Psychology: Neurology: Olga Nikelshpur (excused)
Theatre: Frank Episale

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

Members Present: 47; Members Absent: 29

Guest present: Anna Nugent

Chair: Rob FaunceMinutes: Allyson FosterMeeting called to order at 6:08 pm.
Rob Faunce (RF) welcomes everyone to the meeting.

I. Approval of Agenda
RF asks for additions to the agenda. Gregory Donovan (GD) adds Email Forwarding to III.d (Old Business). RF adds Steering Committee Succession Issues to 4.e (New Business). Charles Lieberman (CL) motions to approve the agenda; Philip Kopp (PK) seconds the motion; the agenda is approved by unanimous consent.
II. Old Minutes

RF asks for corrections to draft of September 12, 2008 minutes. Hearing none, GD motions to approve the minutes; Shawn Rice (SR) seconds the motion; the minutes are approved by unanimous consent.

III. Old Business

a. Student SurveyGregory Donovan introduces a rough draft of the Student Survey. He notes that, ideally, the survey will contain about 30 questions, and that the survey results will be helpful when talking to administration about student needs. GD asks if anyone has any questions or comments on the draft; hearing none, he asks that people email him with any feedback.

b. Health Insurance
RF confirms that eligible GC students are getting health insurance under NYSHIP, but that there are still some questions about the start dates. He and GD note that the start date seems to depend on whether you are currently employed, or whether you will be taking up your employment in January. GD directs people to the Health Insurance Q&A on the Provost’s website. Chris Sula (CS) adds that online enrolment for health insurance will begin in November.

Chong Wojtkowski asks if it would be possible for someone to make a chart that compares the current adjunct health insurance plan with this one in order to compare them. GD and RF note that they think the Adjunct Project may be in the process of doing this already, so will confirm with them. CS explains that if you are eligible for coverage under the NYSHIP plan, then you will probably no longer be able to stay on the current adjunct plan. GD adds that we still need clarification on whether or not students can choose between plans, and that part of the reason we don’t yet have all of the details about the plan is because NYSHIP is in the process of renegotiating it. Ultimately, Human Resources will be administering the plan, but in the meantime questions should be directed to Ann Ellis in the Provost’s Office.

c. Printer and Server Problems.
CS asks if the situation has improved in light of the recent maintenance. CW
says that she just spent half an hour attempting to print some PDF files. Kit Uvino (KU) notes that there are now so many printer lines that, rather than being helpful, it is actually wasteful because if their document doesn’t print at one printer right away, people will send it to another. CS says that IT is aware that print management needs to be addressed. GD says that print quotas have been discussed as a possible means of curbing excessive printing. Andrew Brooks (AB) asks about the possibility of card-activated printing. GD notes that, aside from the amount of material being printed, there is also an issue with the quality of the printers themselves.

RF suspends the meeting at 6:18 because the food has arrived.RF resumes the meeting at 6:28.
d. Email Forwarding.
GD announces that email forwarding has been turned on (for GC email accounts), but only works in Internet Explorer on PCs. The next step will be to expand the service for other users. Preston Foerder (PF) asks if it is possible to fix it so you don’t need to re-sign into your GC account every few minutes. GD says he will raise the issue with IT.

IV. New Business

a. Medicare and Social Security Exemption for Adjuncts.
RF says that the Adjunct Project is working on a form for this. If you meet the exemption criteria, the first step is to go to your college payroll office and ask that you be refunded the money that you have contributed. If you are refused, submit Form 843 to the IRS.

b. Financial Aid/ Cost of Living.
PK presents a table that he and Tasha Youstin have compiled, which outlines the current Cost of Attendance figures for CUNY and surrounding universities. He notes that CUNY’s figure is considerably lower than it should be which has an effect on how much Federal Student Aid a student is eligible to receive. It seems that, rather than being set by the federal government, cost of living figures can be determined by individual institutions. They are asking the GC to reevaluate their figures to bring them more in line with other universities and the current cost of living in NYC.

Boris Daussa Pastor (BDP) notes that since international students need to prove that they have enough money to cover tuition and cost of living expenses in order to study at the GC, raising the figures could potentially pose a problem. Some people mention that when they have inquired to administration about raising the cost of living figures, they were told that, as they are set by the federal government, nothing can be done. RF says that Matt Schoengood is aware of people individually negotiating an increase in financial aid, but Schoengood no longer has oversight of that. RF notes that he has mentioned the cost of living figures to President Kelly.

c. Past Co-Chair Recognition
RF recognizes Denise Torres (DT) for her service, but will defer the presentation until the next meeting, when Denise will be in attendance.

d. Business Cards
GD says that business cards are debited from department allocations. If you want cards you must coordinate it with your department rep first, and then GD will process. Jeremy Seideman (JS) asks how much the cards cost, and how many you get; GD says it is $20 for 250.

e. Steering Committee Succession Issues

RF reports that, in accordance with Article IV, Section 4.0.C & Section 5.0.F of the DSC Constitution, the Executive Committee has the right to fill a vacancy on the Executive or Steering Committee for the interim. However, that appointment expires with the next Plenary, at which time a new election is held for that position (and to which the interim member may run). RF asks if Suzanne Tamang (ST) will stand for election to the Steering Committee; ST agrees. CW asks for clarification that a vacancy is not filled by the person who received the second-largest number of votes in the initial election. RF says that that is not the process outlined in the Constitution. ST nominates herself for the vacancy on the Steering Committee; GD seconds the nomination. RF asks if anyone else would like to stand for nomination; no one else stands. CL asks if it would be possible to provide some advance notice so people can think about whether they might want to run. RF says that he’s fostered that approach, but that the need to have Plenary approval was just discovered at the Constitution and Bylaw Committee meeting a couple of hours earlier. JS moves to close nominations; PK seconds the motion. JS motions to approve ST’s position on the Steering Committee; PK seconds the motion; the motion is approved by unanimous consent.

V. Student Affairsa. Chartered Organizations. GD reports that he has been reconfiguring office space, and active Chartered Organizations will be moving into office space soon. He notes that COs must submit rosters every semester in order to be considered active and claim funds. We will be using E-rosters next semester, which should make the process easier. No one is technically active for the spring semester, so be advised that you cannot yet be approved for spring funds. You can carry fall funds over to the spring, but funds cannot be carried over the summer.
b. Open CUNY
GD reports that 10 groups have already started using the system. CS says that members of the Grant Committee suggested that we post groups and events who have received funding, in order to promote them. This will be a spring initiative.

VI. Communications Report
RF presented the following report:

The Board of Trustees met on September 22, where notice of the Technology Fee increase and the participation in the NYSHIP health insurance for graduate students were reported on.

I attended the farewell reception for Julia Wrigley, who is now in an executive position with the Board of Trustees, on September 16. Members of the Executive Committee met with Associate Provost Jack Jacobs on September 18 and Provost Chase Robinson on September 30; these sessions were free flowing, and issues of professional development, communication flow, publication and grant writing workshops, dissertation year funding, and travel & research grants were discussed and advocated.

The Media Board met on September 19; concerns were raised that circulation was slow, but Editor-in-Chief James Hoff assured the board he expected continued growth in this ambitious year for The Advocate.

College Association met on October 7 and provisionally approved the DSC budget, pending this body’s approval tonight. Gregory Donovan was elected as Vice-Chair of the College Association, while Chris Alen Sula and myself will serve on the Executive Committee, and Allyson Foster and Jeremy Seideman also assumed leadership posts.

The Executive Committee met with Student Affairs on October 23.

The Executive Committee of Graduate Council met on October 2, and discussed the importance of information flow from the Board of Trustees, and the importance of departments holding open meetings for faculty and students, with minutes posted, on a regular basis.

We have 76 current members of the DSC certified by Student Affairs—an extraordinary testament to the commitment of our student leadership. I am so proud to be part of such a body of people willing to give up their time and energy to serve the Graduate Center and its student body, and I thank you all for all you do.

President Bill Kelly promises to speak at a future Plenary; negotiations are underway to make that happen. Provost Chase Robinson will appear on November 21.

CS reminds Plenary that DSC reps are alternates for Grad Council reps. The next Grad Council meeting is on November 4th at 3:00. If people are interested in attending, he can proxy them in.

VII. Business Report
CS reports that the 2008/09 budget needs to be revised in light of two things: 1. that GC enrollment is approximately 300 people more than originally planned for, and 2. a BOT decision that restricts how much money we can keep in assets and reserve funds (money needs to be redistributed). CS presents the revised budget. CW asks how the Advocate budget is determined. CS answers that DT and James Hoff figured it out last year. JS motions to approve the revised 2008/09 budget; Christine Pinnock (CP) seconds the motion; the revised budget is approved by unanimous consent.

b. DSC Submit.
CS explains that check requests and grant proposals will soon be submitted online through DSC Submit, which will allow you to track the progress of your requests. It is still in the testing stage, but is working well.

VIII. USS Report
AF reports that there was an election on October 12, and Simone Lamont was elected USS Chair. CL recommended that we invite her to speak at Plenary.
IX. Committee Reports
CS reports that the Information Flow Committee is in the process of looking at the various DSC forms; there will be more to report in November.

AF reports that the Constitution and Bylaws Committee met earlier in the day. At the last Plenary, concerns were raised that international students might be ineligible for the Executive or Steering Committees. International students can only work 20 hours per week, so if the stipends paid to committee members are tied to hours worked, this could pose a problem. However, it was confirmed that neither the constitution nor bylaws make mention of work hours.
X. AnnouncementsRF announces that, as a token of appreciation, all reps will receive a DSC coffee mug. The mugs are handed out.

JS asks if any parking garages in the area offered discounts to GC students. RF says that, in the past, students could get a voucher from the Provost’s office, but that this practice has been discontinued. JS asks if there is anything the DSC can do. RF says the best course of action is to tell people to notify Student Affairs.

XI. AdjournmentPK motions to adjourn; CL seconds the motion; motion to adjourn unanimously approved. Meeting adjourned at 7:18pm.

Respectfully submitted by Allyson Foster