Minutes of the Graduate Student Organization Meeting -- March 23rd, 2000
I. General discussion of proposed Daily Free Press article 
Aimee Trochio informed the group that she has been in touch with a reporter 
from the Daily Free Press and plans to give an interview for an article. 
She asked for input regarding the content to be emphasized in that article. 
Rob Pitts suggested that there should be a couple of people from the GSO at 
such an interview, and it was decided that Aimee will email the committees 
as soon as she gets an interview date settled.
The group decided that the emphasized material for an article will be based 
on the statement of purpose in the gso website, but will be much more 
informally presented. 
Other input that was agreed upon by all: Focus on achievements and 
current issues. Focus on events such as the April 11th healthcare Q&A run 
by Rob Pitts and the April 15th Charles River Clean-Up. Inclusion of a 
call for members and a reminder about our next general meeting.
II. Committee Reports
A. Publicity 
Kevin Mullen reported on his research of promotion options for the GSO: 
Bridge newspaper announcements can be added through the web, and all agreed 
this should be our first method for announcing meetings and events. Other 
options for promotion: community announcements, departmental newsletters, 
and links to the GSO website from grad. dept. websites.
Kevin also reported that we do not as yet have a policy detailed for our 
promotional announcements, and that it would be a good idea to do so. No 
current proposal to make such a policy statement as yet.
B. FAR 
John Ongley reported that he has completed the FAR webpage and that Kevin 
Mullen has added it to the GSO website. He also reported on research he 
conducted regarding travel funds through the Dean's Office. He discovered 
that the Dean's Office has a limited fund for graduate student travel, 
which is disbursed on a case-by-case basis.
C. Healthcare 
Rob Pitts reported on his planning for the Healthcare Forum, to take place 
on April 11th from 12 - 1 pm. He informed the group that his co-sponsors, 
the Undergraduate Student Union, had been delayed in finalizing a room for 
the event. The group discussed the possibility of a promotional email that 
would ask preliminary questions for the representatives from Chickering, 
but Rob pointed out that this could be detrimental if people used that 
email to ask questions in lieu of attending the Forum.
Rob Pitts reiterated that the Healthcare committee needs new members, since 
he is the sole member at this point.
D. Liaison 
Aimee Trochio, Amanda Schermer, and Masako Yamada reported on a number of 
current actions underway. They reported on the recent meeting with Juliana 
Walsh of the GRS Business Office. Ms. Walsh is taking over some of Andrea 
White's responsibilities. In the recent meeting with Ms. Walsh, she was 
very encouraging about setting up an account for the GSO. She also said 
that she would contact Julie Duncan in the Development Office (re: 
fundraising directed toward grad student alumni) and would contact Alan 
Marsher in the Dean's Office (re: including a GSO flyer in registration and 
orientation materials).
General discussion of how the GSO's needs will change when we get an 
account and (possibly) money for a travel fund followed the report on the 
liaison committee's meeting with Juliana Walsh. Strategies for recruitment 
of new members for the funding committee were discussed: asking students 
in departments who have trouble getting travel funding was one suggestion. 
Another major issue discussed was the practicalities of disbursing a 
travel grant throug the GSO. Some questions that were brought up by Peter 
Alegi and others in the group: how would the funding committee decide upon 
the recipients? Should there be a separate travel fund committee? What 
sort of policies should such a committee have? Rob Pitts suggested looking 
into Dave's research about travel programs at other schools.
Amanda reported that her plan to organize grad student participation in the 
Charles River Clean-up of April 15th is going well, and that she had a few 
details to clear up regarding that event.
Masako reported that she is organizing grad student participation in a 
science program for high school girls called "Pathways," which is an event 
put on by BU. This event is to take place on April 11th and 12th.
III. Other Business
A. Constituent Concerns 
Dan Silverstone, dept. rep. for the English dept., reported that he has 
done some research regarding the issue of fees charged by the Credential's 
Office for the keeping of confidential references, etc. He reported that 
he would continue to look into whether there are alternate options to the 
Credential's Office. One option, reported by John Ongley, was that 
separate depts. can take over the duties of the Credential's Office for 
their graduate students.
B. Other 
Aimee reported that the NAGPS regional conference was to take place at the 
beginning of April. She showed everyone info from a very recent email sent 
out with registration info. Everyone agreed that the conference was not a 
feasible trip for a number of reasons, including insufficient notification, 
the hotel expense, and the unpleasant hotel location. It was agreed that 
the national conference was a better forum in which to participate.
Tina Arbuckle of the Biology dept. informed Aimee that she would like to be 
the Biology Dept. Rep. 
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Meeting ended at about 7:05