Plenary – Minutes
November 18th, 2011

Present: Colin Ashley, Marcus Avelar, Kyle Bauser, Mikela Bjork, Christin Bowman, Anick Boyd, Emily Clark, Jacob Cohen, Annie Dell'Aria, Michael Denunzio, Anne Donlon, Gregory Donovan, David Elliott, Zane Ferguson, Desiree Fields, Stephanie Fiorenza, Tim Fujioka, Margaret Galvan, Julieanne Guadalupe, George Jackman, Sarah Ruth Jacobs, Rebecca Jones, Alice Jones, Sarah Jordan, Svetlana Jovic, Cassie Lau, Kimberly Libman, Amanda Licastro, Aramis Lopez, Amy Martin, Leigh McCallen, Erica Meltzer, Deepak Menon, Benjamin Miller, Valia Mitsou, Kristin Moriah, Christina Nadler, Stephen O'Connell, Megan Paslawski, Naomi Perley, Tony Perri, Ian Pervil, Lauren Rouse, Virtue Sankoh, Antonia M. Santangelo, Cosim Sayid, Christen N. Serrano Madsen II, Jared Simard, Patricia Stapleton, Justin Swearingen, Suzanne Tamang, Joanna Tice, Laurel Turbin, Monique Whitaker, Jamie Yancovitz,

Absent: Flannery Amdahl, Reethee Antony, Carolina Barrera-Tobón, Susan Brillhart, Boris Daussà-Pastor, Claire Fontaine, Eva Gratta, Nicole Hanson, Kristina Huang, Syed Islam, Stefanie Jones, Eero Laine, Manissa McCleave Maharawal, Rishi Mathura, Evan Misshula, Chrissy Mitakakis, Milinda Perera, Fatemeh Pooyaei Mehr, Lisa Reinke, Shawn Rice, Lauren Saxton, Christopher Silsby, Melissa WS Wong, Haley Yarosh, Melissa Zavala

JS calls meeting to order at 6:48 P.M.

I. Approval of Agenda

AD changes 4.b to Movie Ticket Increase.
TP motions to approve with said emendations, AB seconds. The motion was unanimously adopted.

II. Approval of Minutes of October 28, 2011

Marcus corrects his middle name is Vinicius.
KL motions to approve, LM seconds. The motion was unanimously adopted.

III. Executive Committee Reports

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

See attached Report.

Andrew Lucchesi and Emily Stanbeck speak on behalf of Disability Studies Group. They emphasize how the group has gone way beyond the English Dept and is very interdisciplinary. Loads of conferences, etc. coming up, they have a blog. TPerri asks what Disabilities Studies is, or how this group will be defining its relationship to the field. ES says she’s interested in creating a venue for people to discuss. GDonovan makes critique of Membership and Voting Rules in Constitution: needs to remove “in good standing” language. VMitsou asks how they are going to use the funds. AL responds: for meetings and events. MGalvan makes comments re: constitution and “meets every two weeks” as being too specific; also should break down record-keeping part.

2. Co-Chair for Communications (Jared Simard)

Occupy events - able to secure Proshansky for Faculty Speak Out event from Kelly. JS reports on getting complaints re: increased security presence. MWhitaker comments that security was very good for speak-out on 11/17. GDonovan is curious how much the expanded use of security is costing.

JS mentioned OpenCUNY was presenting at the CUNY IT Conference on December 2. JS handed out their flyer for the IT conference.

JS mentioned the next Career Services Office planning committee meeting tentatively scheduled for December.

JS reported FAC has been working with Development, now people can donate to the DSC Fund via the website.

JS reported the Pathways deadline for campus responses was Wed, they are being compiled on the UFS website. No word on Kelly’s response yet.

Ben asks if BKelly wanted DSC’s opinion on Pathways, ADonlon explains basically no.

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

ADell’Aria discusses recent issues students have had with reserving space at the GC for conferences, specifically that student groups and programs are being charged rental fees. Discussion follows about various experiences with this, suggesting there is a lack of clear policy from the Administration. ADA suggests passing a resolution at the next plenary, solicits reps who would like to be involved. ABoyd: asks to get $ back.

Following question about tax prep services, ADA mentions she will look into SIBL’s free tax help.

4. USS Delegate (Christina Nadler)

CN reports on USS meeting coming up on Sunday, soliciting people for an Ad-Hoc USS Critical Issues Committee.

CN is working on mid-career GTF and WF packages: wants to find out from reps how they are reallocated in the different programs. In Soc, the EO seems have full say in reallocating GTFs, as well as choose who should apply to WFs. CN is devising a sample questionnaire of preferences for submissions for mathematically random system. Generally, wants to know how many people are dissatisfied with their program’s system, if they’d like a randomized system, etc. Ultimate push to move some of the decision-making away from EOs and towards Admissions and Awards Committees. PStapleton: in poli sci it’s not transparent. CN: in Soc when you give up a GTF you can give up just one part (like a year or a semester). PoliPsych rep says a more localized system seems good, but she is surprised by the strangeness of Soc. CMadsen comments that he has never received a written statement about any of this stuff. Another person comments on the lack of clarity re: how long you give it up for. KLibman comments that the bylaws should be consistent across programs. BMiller: should this be taken up by structure. PS: thinks it would still be good to see how the different programs are doing. LMcCallen: recalls need for more language in ECF statements. ADell’Aria recalls original discussion last semester re at large writing fellows, suggesting this problem goes beyond Soc and is in other programs. LTurbin reiterates what ADell’Aria said about the problem of unilateral decision-making by EOs. CMadsen: wants to keep discussion to how at-large fellowships are awarded, and less to the ECF’s taking off time. GDonovan: thinks that the GC is trying to move towards a model where most incoming students are fully funded, perhaps we need a more aggressive short-term solution rather than long-term. JSwearingen: no one is funded in Public Health. Rep from English thinks about who should review the applications. BMiller reads English statement that suggests the decisions are made at the campuses, but seems happy about it. MWhitaker: Philo seems to lack transparency, and guidelines would be helpful. CN solicits reps who are from programs that have issues and would be interested in working on this.

5. UFS Liaison (Anne Donlon)

Meeting on 11/15, Chancellor was the guest. Talked about state initiative he’s supporting for tuition support for undocumented immigrants as well as working to support student vets. Vice-Chancellor Shaffer (legal) wants to talk about computer-use policy and academic integrity policy changes next time. Passed several resolutions: adjunct healthcare, surveillance on campuses, open access repository for journal articles. UFS has been collecting responses to Pathways. Many expressed concern over the short timeline for review and the decreased number of credits. ADonlon suggests that since we teach a lot of intros, that we might be affected if they get cut. AMartin (French): people are very worried due to the lack of foreign language requirement, people are discussing about discussing possible actions/responses. ABoyd echoes this sentiment from Comp Lit. BMiller asks for clarification on Kelly’s response when asked about the DSC’s relationship to the GC’s position on Pathways.

IV. New Business
a. Chartering of Organizations

Chartering of Critical Palestine Studies Association
ADell’Aria requests we review By-Law 5.3.b.
ADonlon motions to charter the org. MWhitaker seconds.
40 yays. 1 nay. 2 abstain. The organization was not chartered.

b. Movie Ticket Increase
ADA presents current stats on popular movie ticket sales, requests increase to line in budget from $7000 to at least $9000 (with corresponding increase in revenue).

Terri motions to approve, VMitsou motions to approve. Unanimously passes.

V. Steering Officer Reports
a. Officer for Funding (Colin Ashley)

Grant apps continue to come in, wants to re-ignite the ad-hoc travel and research committee or work on a resolution to pressure the GC for more $$ (something he’s worked on in collaboration with NHanson). CAshley has been working with FAC on thinking about how students are able to share outside grant opportunities, needs to be more information out there for grant databases available. PStapleton: it’ll be on the Tech/Lib blog!

b. Officer for Governance & Membership (Christen N. Serrano Madsen II)
Not much to report re: constitution. Hoping to get a welcome email together for new members, solicits ideas from plenary for useful tips for new members.

c. Officer for Health & Wellness (Monique Whitaker)
Met with head chef of RA, followed up on sustainability policy. Recycling done through the GC (not RA), and all trash is sorted. Lots of the ingredients are locally produced (yay!). Open to initiating better labeling, thinking about making healthier options for discount student lunch, calorie counts not that feasible given that everything is made from scratch, promises to have one good vegan meal a day. MWhitaker comments that he was extremely open to feedback and suggestions. Use suggestion box or send emails, also there is a forum on the blog. Last chance for input on insurance survey! Please get word out about Health and Wellness Blog, especially the provider recommendations. Comments: styrofoam and sustainabiltiy issues.

d. Officer for Outreach (Nicole Hanson).
See Attached Report.

e. Officer for Student Life & Services (Sarah Jordan)
Draft of housing survey ready to go soon. Wants to also get general NYC housing experiences. No luck on building a tenants’ association with GC apartments, asks reps to get the word out. No general student services survey, as a lot of it’s already covered in the outreach survey. Trying to come up with ways to get recommendations for services students might like. Possiblity of dance and self-defense classes - straw poll?

f. Officer for Technology & Library (Patricia Stapleton)
PThistlewaithe and CAshley already covered a lot. PStapleton: updated the blog, check it out! Breaking down list of databases and software available based on relevance to disciplines - people need to be made more aware of what’s available, solicits input and ideas from students who might be knowledgeable about what’s out there. Student Tech Fee committee went well, will be meeting again soon to think about what the moneys will be used for.

VI. Announcements

PStapleton: eat cheese from the dinner. TPerri: social hour coming for people based at Queens. ADell’Aria and JSimard: take your pint glasses! ADonlon: nominations period for UFS at the campuses is November. Sarah (English): one of her students is homeless, wants to know some resources.

VII. Adjournment
CAshley motions to adjourn. BMiller seconds. The motion was unanimously adopted. Meeting adjourned at 8:41 P.M.

Submitted by Annie Dell’Aria

CCSA Report:

Hello from Montreal!

My sincere apologies for not being in attendance this evening—I am presenting at the yearly conference of the American Society for Theatre Research.

Report:
• Members of the Executive Committee attended the CUNY Board of Trustees’ hearing for the proposed Bylaw changes on October 31st. Some of the more egregious changes to the Bylaws have been addressed; however, I continue to be concerned about the lack of transparency with the process. For instance, student organizations will remain under the purview of student governments. That’s good. This decision was made after a phone meeting between 80th Street and the USS Chair and Chair-Elect. That’s bad. There will be a contingent of students attending the upcoming Board of Trustees hearing and meeting. If you are interested in attending with other Graduate Center students, please be in touch with the DSC or the Co-Coordinators of the Adjunct Project.

• The Ad-Hoc Committee on Student Health and Insurance will be meeting on December 1st at 1pm. Sharon Lerner from the Office of Student Affairs has agreed to give a brief presentation regarding the current state of health and insurance contracts. As with all DSC meetings, the meeting is open to the public.

• The charter of the proposed Critical Palestine Studies Association (CPSA) organization is up for vote this evening. I would like to commend Kristopher Petersen-Overton for his work on the proposed organization’s governance and for addressing the many constructive recommendations made at the previous DSC plenary meeting.

• Finally, the CUNY Graduate Center Disability Studies Group is presenting their governance documents this evening as a proposed chartered organization, the charter of which will be voted on at the next plenary meeting. Emily Stanback has agreed to speak briefly about the group and answer any questions this body may have.

This concludes my report. All the best to you this weekend, and I hope everyone has restful Thanksgiving break.

-Eero

Outreach Report:

•Outreach Event at Brooklyn College
–THIS TUESDAY, November 22, 5:30 – 7:00PM in the Jefferson Williams Room, 4th Floor Student Center (food and drinks, including that of the alcoholic variety, will be provided!)
–Please forward email publicizing event to your programs, and tell students you know who teach or do research at Brooklyn College
–This is a great opportunity to network and organize with other students, and tell Outreach how your needs can be better met by DSC
•Outreach Survey
–Has over 250 completed responses – THANKS! And keep ‘em coming, survey is open until November 30 at midnight
–Please remind your programs and other students you know
–Please forward the reminder email sent to you by DSC to your programs
–Preliminary results at next Plenary