Plenary – Minutes
September 23rd, 2011

Present: Carolina Barrera-Tobón (CBT), Gregory Donovan (GD), Eero Laine (EL), Catherine Lau, Kim Libman, Manissa Maharawal, Benjamin Miller (BM), Ian Pervil, Sarah Ruth Jacobs, Christopher Silsby, Jared Simard (JS), Patricia Stapleton (PS), Kristin Moriah, Chrissy Nadler (CN), Colin Ashley (CA), Reethee M. Antony, Stefanie Jones (SJones), Claire Fontaine, Mikela Bjork, Svetlana Jovic, Desiree Fields, Sarah Jordan (SJ), Mike Denunzio, Julieanne Guadalupe, Christin Bowman, Justin Swearingen, Zane Ferguson, Virtue Sankoh, Stephanie Fiorenza, Monique Whitaker (MW), Alice Jones, Erica Meltzer, Jake Cohen, Naomi Perley, Jamie Yancovitz, Christen N. Serrano Madsen II (CNSMII), Marcus Vinicious Avelar, Tim Fujioka, Anne Donlon (AD), Maggie Galvan (MG), Shawn Rice, Amy Martin, Vassiliki Mitsou, Evan Misshula, Nicole Hanson (NH), Laurel Turbin, Kyle Bauser, Leigh McCallen (LM), Rebecca Jones, Aramis Lopez, Anick Boyd (ABoyd), Anthony Perri (TP), Haley Yarosh, Antonia M. Santangelo, Melissa Zavala, Annie Dell'Aria (ADA), Eva Gratta, Lauren Rouse, Deepak Menon

Absent: George Jackman, Jonathan Elliott, Chrissy Mitakakis, Syed Islam, Milinda Perera, Rishi Mathura, Lauren Saxton, Susan Brillhart, Flannery Amadahl, Joanna Tice, Suzanne Tamang, Melissa Wong, Fatemeh Pooyaei Mehr, Lisa Reinke, Amanda Licastro, Kristina Huang, Emily Clark, Boris Daussà Pastor

Chair, Eero Laine calls the meeting to order at 6:57 P.M.

I. Approval of Agenda

JS adds V. New Business “Elections of At-Large Steering Officers”.
BM motions to approve the agenda with said emendations, GD seconds. The motion was adopted unanimously.

II. Approval of Minutes of May 13, 2011 (5:00 P.M.)

SJones changes spelling “Stefanie Jones.”
Anick Boyd changes IV. E. “Anne” misspelled.
CBT: “unanimously” item 2, misspelled.

TP motions to approve the minutes with said emendations, Anne Donlon seconds. Motion was adopted unanimously.

III. Approval of DSCE Minutes of May 13, 2011 (6:00 P.M.)

SJones corrects the spelling of her name at locations: Item 4a and 4f and 4d, in Present. “Stefanie Jones” Capitalize 4d.

MW motions to approve the minutes with said emendations, Melissa Zavala seconds. Motion was adopted unanimously.

IV. Ratification of New Representatives

Program Reps: Eva Gratta (Art History), Jonathan Elliot (Biology), Syed Islam (Chemistry), Anthony Perri (Chemistry), Anick Boyd (Comparative Literature), Milinda Perera (Computer Science), Rebecca Jones (Educational Psychology), Cassandra Colletti (MA Liberal Studies), Jamie Yancovit (MA Middle Eastern Studies), Jake Cohen (Music), Stephanie Fiorenza (Physics), Justin Swearingen (Public Health)

At-Large Representatives: Amanda Licastro, Kristin Moriah, Sarah Ruth Jacobs

SJones motions to ratify the new representatives, ABoyd seconds. Motion was adopted unanimously.

V. New Business

1. Election of At-Large Steering Officer

EL & Manissa Maharawal give overview of position.
ADA nominates Sarah Jordan (SJ), she accepts.

GD motions to election SJ unanimously and close nominations, MW seconds. The motion was adopted unanimously.

VI. Executive Committee Reports

1. Co-Chair for Student Affairs (Eero Laine)

EL reminds the DSC that there are Program Student Associations (PSA). Refers to DSC page for information. EL announces to sign-up for Chartered Organizations or start one and refers people to the DSC page for more information. Program governance remains an issue for student reps on program standing committees as per GC governance.

EL announces Adjunct Project is hiring and for reps to circulate that call widely. Deadline for submission is Monday, September 26th, 2011. For Adjunct Labor Relations position.

2. Co-Chair for Communications (Jared Simard)

JS reports on Kelly and Strategic Plan.

EL Strategic Response Working Group, straw poll, write name and email to join working group.

3. Co-Chair for Business (Annie Dell’Aria)

ADA reports that Locker Lottery was completed today. Legal CLRN services are available on Wed or Thursday alternating.

4. USS Delegate (Chrissy Nadler)

CN talks about USS and how it is corrupt. DSC wishes to back off our presence at USS and she announces she will not run for position there because of corruption. CN reports USS tried to schedule an illegal meeting.

CN announces she will not support any nominee for USS Chair but will support issues raised. CN will work on fellowship allocation for non-first years.

LM asks about GC’s portion of USS scholarship. CN says she will try to follow-up but the system is corrupt. Vice Chancellor Sanchez may be contacted about illegal conduct of USS.

5. UFS Liaison (Anne Donlon)

Anne Donlon (AD) reports on UFS. AD continues to explore GTF representation on UFS. UFS met on September 20th, 2011. UFS continues to be concerned about the Pathways initiative and transfer protocol. AD reports there are concerns about standards and reduction of requirements. PSC, Bowen, will pursue litigation against CUNY to preserve a shared governance agreement between Chancellor and UFS.

AD reports November is the date for the Pathways task force response. AD reports Pres. Kelly was asked about GC’s response to Pathways initiative.

VII. Steering Officer Reports

a. Officer for Funding (Colin Ashley)

CA announces he has started to dispense grants. First meeting was last week and first deadline is September 30th for grant applications. New award amount is $700 for this year. Committee can always go higher in extraordinary events. Start-up grants have also gone up to $140.

Appropriate Media for DSC sponsored events was also discussed at the Grants Committee meeting (flyers and online medium).

SJ notes GC website still mentions DSC supports T&R. LM asks where old T&R money was reallocated. ADA reports Grants line and also other areas.

b. Officer for Governance & Membership (Christen N. Serrano Madsen II)

CNSMII reports on Constitution change will be sent out. Bylaws changes mostly deal with Funding, calls on CA to explain Bylaws changes: 3.2.c & 3.2.f have proposed changes. See attached proposed Bylaws changes.

Proposed change 4: “non-student leader stipends”. FAC needs a bylaw line for payment, it was an oversight in creation last year and her line is already funded. Jake Cohen mentions “one-sixth of which shall”.

CNSMII mention open seats and to get the word out. See attached report. Music PhD & Composition seat clarification.

CNSMII notes Academic Appeals Officer notifications were sent out, this position can’t be declined and reps will fill the seats.

c. Officer for Health & Wellness (Monique Whitaker)

MW reports about the Health Issues Committee and ongoing work with Wellness Center. Sleep Disorder Institute rep will come for a workshop on Sleep disorders et al.

MW will continue to develop a relationship with the PSC as regards health issues for students and upcoming Contract negotiations. Health Blog launched at www.opencuny.org/healthdsc. This blog will deal with NYSHIP providers and troubleshoot problems with the health insurance. MW encourages people to submit problems with NYSHIP to the blog and to get the word out to your programs.

MW announces new NYSHIP info sessions in conjunction with AP to troubleshoot problems with NYSHIP. MW announces the annual Student Wellness/Insurance Survey. Look for this in emails.

MW also announces discussions with Restaurant Associates to help improve student experience.

d. Officer for Outreach (Nicole Hanson)

NH announces the first Boot Camp was last week September 16th, 2011. It was well attended and a great resource for new students. Brooklyn College and Hunter College extension site will be in October and November. A new survey for knowledge of DSC services is also being developed. Two topical workshops a year are being planned. This semester’s workshop will be on PSA’s and most likely late November and early December.

e. Officer for Student Life & Services (Sarah Jordan)(Interim)

SJ announces the committee will meet soon. Student Services members have not replied to announcements.

f. Officer for Technology & Library (Patricia Stapleton)

PS announces Executive Committee will meet with VP Campbell next week. Tech Fee Committee will meet later in the year. PS announces that the committee will set up workshops. Stay tuned. GD asks about usage and alumni email. PS responds Alanna, the FAC coordinator, will be the liaison going forward. PS also notes usage statistics may be low but essential.

VIII. Announcements

TPerri announces he will form a PSA for Chemistry.

AD announces Baruch Monday BOT meeting to protest adjunct health insurance to be cut.

Margaret Galvan (MG) announces the OpenCUNY opening meeting was held yesterday. Nominations will be soon for OpenCUNY Advisory Board, 4 slots are available, October 1 – 8th will be the nomination period. Only OpenCUNY users are eligible. OpenCUNY submitted a proposal to the CUNY IT conference. 2-6PM before next Plenary will be available.

PS announces the Chartered Org Utopian Studies group is October 6th screening of Brave New World.

Manissa Maharawal and others are re-starting Women of Color Chartered Org. Contact manissa@gmail.com.

IX. Adjournment

MW motions to adjourn, TP seconds. The motioned was adopted unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 8:17 P.M.
Submitted by Jared Simard

Constitution changes

Proposed Change 1
V.2.1 Representatives
Whenever a seat is vacated due to reasons other than the natural end of a term, the Steering Committee shall attempt to fill the vacant seat within 20 business days by following these procedures in the listed order.
• a. The DSO member who received the next highest number of votes in the preceding elections for the vacant seat shall be asked to serve out the remainder of the term. This method shall be carried out until a member accepts the position or until the list is exhausted.
• b. In the case of a program seat, the Steering Committee shall issue a call for nominations to all students in the affected program, which shall remain open for ten business days. Should two or more students one more student than number of available seats accept nomination for Program Representative, the Steering Committee shall conduct a special election of students in the program. The election shall remain open for ten business days and the person(s) receiving the most votes shall be the duly elected representative(s). If no nominations are made after ten business days, then the seat shall be dissolved with the understanding that it can be recreated by petition as outlined above, and the dissolution shall reported at the following Plenary meeting.
• c. In the case of exhaustion of the list of At-Large Representative nominees, the Steering Committee shall appoint a representative.
• d. This selection shall be reported at the following Plenary meeting and ratified by a simple majority vote of the DSC.

Proposed Change 2
III.2.3 Nomination and Election of Representatives
Tied votes in elections for Program and At- Large Representatives shall be decided by the Steering Committee, which shall first ask the tied candidates to decide among themselves who shall serve and, lacking consensus among or response from all candidates, shall draw names in a chance lottery from those candidates who have responded but not declined.

Bylaw changes

Proposed Change 1
3.2 d. Start-Up Grants Requests for less than or equal to one-fifth of the maximum award amount shall undergo expedited review. Requests bearing the signatures of the Co- Chair for Business, the Officer for Funding, and one other voting member of the Grants Committee shall be deemed approved and authorize the Co-Chair for Business to disburse funds. The Officer for Funding shall report new start-up grant awards at the following meeting of the committee. The total amount of such awards shall not exceed 20% of the annual budget of the Grants Committee. Requests filed after this point shall undergo expedited review.

Proposed Change 2
3.2. f. Review of Regular Applications Applications received before each deadline shall be discussed at the first scheduled meeting following that deadline. Any member may request additional information from principal investigators present. Motions to award funding shall be divided between the decision to fund and, if approved, the amount of funding. Any voting member may motion to award an application an unspecified amount of funds. If the motion is seconded, the application will be voted upon using a ratings system with three options: reject, which shall have a score of zero points; revise and resubmit, which shall have a score of one point; and approve, which shall have a score of two points. The ratings of the voting members shall be averaged to determine the result, with scores above or equal to one half of one point rounded up to the nearest whole number. During that meeting, no further motions may be made on applications receiving a rounded score of zero or one, except to recall or rescind the original vote. Any voting member may motion to allocate an application with a rounded score of two any award amount. The award amount may be approved by a simple majority vote, except cases above the maximum award amount, which may be approved by a two-thirds majority vote.

Proposed Change 3
3.2. c. Meetings The Grants Committee shall convene before the fall semester to determine its meeting dates, the default recipient of Start-Up Grant applications, its public notice list, and the maximum award amount for the year, which shall not exceed 5% of the annual budget allocation, except in extraordinary circumstances as described below. The Grants Committee shall meet during first weeks of October, November,December, February and April…..

Proposed Change 4
b. Non-Student Leader Stipends
Senior employees shall submit stipend requests for officers shall made during to the Co-Chair for Business no later than the first week of each month as indicated:
• i. Adjunct Project Co-Coordinators: two-fifths of the minimum salary for the title of Graduate Assistant B per fiscal year, five-sixths of which shall be paid in equal installments during the months of September through May and one-sixth shall of which be paid in equal installments during the months of July, August, and June.
• ii. Advocate Editors: one-twelfth of the minimum salary for the title of Graduate Assistant B per issue
• iii. OpenCUNY Coordinators: seven-twelfths of the minimum salary for the title of Graduate Assistant B, paid in equal installments from July through June.
• iv. Fundraising and Alumni Commission Co-Coordinators: two-fifths of the minimum salary for the title of Graduate Assistant B per fiscal year, five-sixths of which shall be paid in equal installments during the months of September through May and one-sixth shall of which be paid in equal installments during the months of July, August, and June.
Employees shall submit stipend requests to the Co-Chair for Business no later than the first week of each period as indicated.