From owner-info@gso.bu.edu Fri Mar 20 18:50:53 1998 Received: from gso.bu.edu (GSO.BU.EDU [128.197.60.71]) by cs.bu.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5/(BU-S-01/27/97-fc1)) with ESMTP id SAA14491 for ; Fri, 20 Mar 1998 18:50:52 -0500 (EST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by gso.bu.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5/(BU-S-02/10/97-v1.0)) id SAA21482 for info-list; Fri, 20 Mar 1998 18:50:50 -0500 (EST) Received: from cs.bu.edu (root@CS.BU.EDU [128.197.13.2]) by gso.bu.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5/(BU-S-02/10/97-v1.0)) with ESMTP id SAA21478 for ; Fri, 20 Mar 1998 18:50:47 -0500 (EST) Received: from cs16.bu.edu (rip@CS16.BU.EDU [128.197.10.115]) by cs.bu.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5/(BU-S-01/27/97-fc1)) with ESMTP id SAA14480 for ; Fri, 20 Mar 1998 18:50:43 -0500 (EST) From: Robert Pitts Received: by cs16.bu.edu (8.8.5/Spike-2.1) id SAA21673; Fri, 20 Mar 1998 18:50:37 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 18:50:37 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199803202350.SAA21673@cs16.bu.edu> To: info@gso.bu.edu Subject: GSO - summary of Thu, Mar 19, 98 meeting Sender: owner-info@gso.bu.edu Precedence: bulk Status: RO Here is a summary of what we did at yesterday's Graduate Student Organization meeting. Our next meeting will be on Thu, Apr 2 at 6pm. I just received copies of a "Report on Academic Freedom at BU" (from BU's chapter of the American Assoc. of University Professors (AAUP), 1996) and a "Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students" (written jointly by the national AAUP and other groups, initially in 1967, but revised over the years). --Rob Summary ======= 1. NAGPS NE Conference Gary Garber and Mike Hayes attended the National Assoc. of Graduate - Professional Students' Northeast conference held from 3/13 to 3/15 at Harvard. They attended workshops and talked to groups from other local schools. Ask them if you need more details about the conference. Workshops --------- They attended workshops on the following topics: - Setting up a Grad Group Discussed resources to assist in setting up a grad group. External Resources: + Other schools' groups + National orgs (e.g., NAGPS) + Internet resources + Alumni + Local community + Government Internal Resources: + Faculty + Admins + Other students (even undergrads) + Fees + Legal clinics Grad groups should have a clear plan for tasks/projects when trying to become established. - How to "Include" Different Types of Grad Students in a "Grad Student Community" They have a top-ten list of ways to get different types of people involved in a grad group, like: covering many different issues, choosing cutting-edge projects, communicating well with/informing all grads, etc. - International Students They mentioned certain issues (e.g., many international students are married, isolation, immigration, work status) specific to international students and types of events that attract these students. 10% of grads nationally are international students. + Legislation Issues concerning loans and other finances. Average grad student has $60,000 debt. + Student Employee Issues There are differences between public and private schools. The NAGPS "sits on the fence" on the issue of student employee unionization. At private schools, RAs are generally considered students (not employees) even more often than TAs. In general, students don't have the right to protest on private property (sidewalks are public). The NAGPS has an "Employee Bill of Rights" for rights grad student employees should have. Local Schools ------------- They learned more about Harvard and BC's grad groups. Some of the things these schools have are: - Grad Student Council (representation from each dept. and officers) - Dean dedicated to grads (part of the admin that helps with grad events, projects, etc.) - Grad orientation - Grad rooms, lounges, buildings - Newsletters - Lunch seminars - Travel grants (for conferences) - Grad residence halls - Support line - Other grad clubs 2. BU School of Social Work's Grad Student Organization Priscilla Rodriguez, who is the secretary/treasurer of the SSW grad student organization came to tell us about how their group is run and answer questions about their experiences. This group only represents Master's students, but still is appropriate for a comparison. Their student organization is an umbrella organization for caucuses with different focuses (e.g., students of color, women, gay/lesbian/ bisexual/transgender, part-time student caucuses). The main organization has co-chairs, manages a budget and distributes money to the caucuses. There funding comes from BU and they are registered with the Student Activities Office (SAO). The SAO requires that they have a faculty advisor. The student org can pretty much spend their budget on what they needed to, however, being registered with the SAO means a lot of red tape: - Events must go through SA0. - SAO won't reimburse people, must send in purchase orders (at least a week ahead of time). - On-campus events have to be registered ahead of time. + Food has to be catered by dining services. + Need BU police (costs money) for events with alcohol. - Flyers must be approved and can only be put in certain places. Both the student organization (as a whole) and caucuses have projects/events: - Promote diversity (by events and providing course material) - Show films - Pub nights - Sports events - Receptions for faculty Their group has a strong relationship with the SSW administration. The student services administrator (under SSW) comes to meetings and their dean has even attended. They haven't really had conflicts with administration. 3. Meeting w/ Assoc. Dean Whitaker Gary Garber and Mike Hayes discussed their basic outline for a meeting with Assoc. Dean Whitaker. The meeting with the dean is to discuss the GSO becoming an official grad group. Our hope is that there is some way to become official that avoids all that SAO red tape, but we also want to continue to build a rapport with the administration. Their general outline is: - Mention the social events we've had already. - Talk about building more of a "grad student community". - 1-year goals: grad student council, more events, grad orientation, etc. - Talk about longer term goals (if appropriate). 4. Survey update The survey is nearly ready for review. It is confined to 2 sides of a page and has sections on: - General Demographics - Health Care - Funding - Teaching - Student Relations with Faculty - Socialization and Events - Determining Issues of Interest to Grads - General Feedback/Comments The survey group will send it to the mailing list for review in the future. 5. Healthcare update Faith Little has joined the healthcare group. She's been involved in choosing healthcare plans where she's worked in the past. The healthcare group still needs more members. The most recent healthcare research has been sent in a separate message.