GPSG Minutes: February 6, 2008

 

Groups in Attendance:

Present:

ABGS, ACGS, AGITS, ANGS, ASPE, CIGSPA, ED-LEAD, GHA, GPHA, GPPA, GSWA, HPGSA, IOPGA, MASS, MGSA, MPASG, OSGA, SON-GSO, SPIE, SPO, SMBAA

Absent:

EGSA, GTU, GASP

 

Motion to waive the reading of the minutes: APPROVED
Motion to accept the minutes as written: APPROVED

 

Secretary’s Report:
Volunteer Points

·         Liz proposed a new volunteer point system based on problems with the old system, including problems with equality of time commitment, and problems with participation that directly benefits GPSG.  In response to these problems, Liz suggested that the GPSG increase the number of volunteer points from 2 to 8 to enable more time commitment equality for points, and proposed 3 categories in which organizations could fulfill their points: GPSG, community benefit, and university benefit.

o        Under the new system, all organizations would volunteer at least 2 of the 8 points for GPSG, and would also be required to fulfill points in another area.  This would ensure that groups hosting their own activities (like mentoring programs or academic conferences) would still contribute something to GPSG, and organizations whose volunteer points have traditionally been fulfilled by GPSG officers would still contribute to the campus or community.  Overall, there would be increased graduate student participation.

·         The senate motioned to table the proposal in order to have time to comment through GPSG’s link in “groups” through 49er Express.

·         As for fulfilling current volunteer points, a proposal was made by a senator to grant 1 volunteer point for anyone applying for a position on SAFC. 

o        The motion was unanimously approved by the senate.

Vice President’s Report:

·         Cathy went over the layout of the Research Fair submissions, and noted that the Humanities are still a minority in the Research Fair.  She asked for senators to send feedback if they know why this might be.

·         Cathy also mentioned some volunteer opportunities for stuffing bags and organizing/setting up on site for the research fair.  Contact Cathy at gpsgvicepresident@uncc.edu if you or someone in your organization would like to volunteer.

President’s Report:

·         Allie reminded senators that re-chartering forms are due

·         Dr. Silvia, the author of “How to Write a Lot” will be speaking on campus February 21 from 3:30 to 4:30 in Cato 228.  All grad students are welcome and encouraged to attend.

·         The Chancellor’s Forum is going to be February 20th in SAC Salons D and E in lieu of our senate meeting.  Just like a regular senate meeting, every chartered organization should have somebody there.  Please submit questions in advance to Allie.

·         Graduate Student Appreciation Week

o        GPSG will be taking over the games room in the SAC on Monday March 10th from 9 to 5.  There will be refreshments, games, and door prizes.  Please get the word out to your orgs and encourage them to attend. 

o        GPSG is also trying to work out some other events during GSAW, including meetings at the Flying Saucer and/or the Wine Vault.

·         Committee Requests

o        GPSG needs volunteers to represent graduate students on two committees:

§         Learning Management Systems Committee—Friday afternoons around 3:00, 1.5 hours once a month to discuss issues with Blackboard.  We need a graduate voice here!

§         Cone Center Advisory Board

§         Faculty Council, Thursdays from 2:30 to 3:30

Treasurer’s Report:

·         Josh presented a request from SON-GSO, a newly chartered organization, to access $1000 of GPSG reserves for their academic conference. 

·         Josh went over the highlights of Friday’s meeting with SAFC, and announced that they turned down the Finance Committee’s proposal for the new budgeting process.  As such, GPSG is currently facing some issues:

o        GPSG might face the prospects of not having the authority to issue budgets next year.  This means that travel funds and event grants would be issued from a general pot on a first-come, first-serve basis.

o        SAFC cited problems with the new budgeting process adhering to viewpoint neutrality as the primary reason for turning down the proposal. 

o        Some discussion ensued on the definitions of student activity fees as they apply to GPSG

·         Josh also mentioned that GPSG is currently facing a budgeting problem, as organizations have used far less of their travel budgets than in years past.  He estimated that, at the moment, GPSG has used only 1/3 of what we had used in our budget at the same time last year.  He stressed that we need to take action to deplete the budgets to avoid reverting our funding back to SAFC reserves; otherwise, SAFC could use the numbers from GPSG’s budget use this year to cut funding next year.

o        There was mention that the travel caps may have prevented potential travelers from applying to conferences, for the reason that they would know in advance that they could not get the full funding they would need.

o        Josh suggested that all organizations revert their budgets to an open travel pool for GPSG in order to encourage travelers to apply for funding, and so it would not remain unused in individual organization accounts.

·         Concerns were raised from the senate about money being reverted to GPSG communal travel funding before groups had adequate time to advertise their own funding within their respective departments, and before organizations would have a chance to submit requests for line-item transfers from travel to other areas of the budget.

·         The senate approved a motion to impose a February 29th deadline for organizations to submit budget requests from their individual organizational budgets before being reverted back to GPSG.

Motion to adjourn: APPROVED

Voting Record:

Organization

Proposal to apply 1 volunteer point for applying to SAFC

$1000 transfer from GPSG reserves to SON-GSO conference

2/29 deadline for line item transfers and travel applications within organizational budgets

ABGS

Y

Y

Y

ACGS

Y

Y

A

AGITS

Y

Y

Y

ASPE

Y

Y

Y

CIGSPA

Y

Y

Y

ED-LEAD

Y

Y

Y

EGSA

Absent

 

 

GASP

Absent

 

 

GHA

Y

Y

Y

GPHA

Y

Y

Y

GPPA

Y

 

Y

GSWA

Y

Y

A

GTU

Absent

 

 

HPGSA

 

Y

Y

IOPGA

Y

Y

Y

MASS

Y

A

Y

MGSA

Y

Y

Y

MPASG

Y

Y

Y

OSGA

Y

Y

Y

SPIE

Y

Y

Y

SPO

Y

Y

Y

ANGS

Y

Y

Y

SON-GSO

Y

Y

Y

SMBAA

Y

Y

Y