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Minutes
General Assembly Meeting of the Council of Graduate Students
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
December, 2003

Minutes by Chris Pappas, President
Approved by the COGS Executive Committee on December 8th.

Quorum was met, but not for the whole meeting.

5:00pm Food Served

I. Meeting called to order by President Chris Pappas

1. Ask the grad students in your department how they feel about the stadium issue. COGS representatives will meet envoys from the President's Office during finals week, and it would be good to know what people are saying. Furthermore, assume another resolution on this issue will come forward soon.

2. COGS will be active during the break, handling all of the usual issues and whatever else comes up.

3. Speaking of breaks, breaking the law! Anyone interested in re-painting our space on the Washington Ave. Bridge shoud contact President Pappas. You will be risking a vandalism charge; I will cover as much as I can from my stipend if we get caught.

4. Parlimentary Procedure Online. Confused about how parlimentary procedure works? Want to become the Parliamentarian? Well visit www.rulesonline.com and see Robert's Rules of Order for yourself. Check out www.parlipro.org for even more information. (Thanks to MSA for the links).

5. Thank to all who stayed around at the last meeting. We will try, in the future, to make sure meetings do not go longer than 6:45. Also, thanks to those who helped clean up.

6. Scott Witmer brought up a problem from his department (German, Scandinavian and Dutch Studies) regarding the program restrictions preventing students from taking PFF courses. Michael Olin put forth a quick solution - to take the course as an incomplete and have the grade assigned when you are able to officially place the course on the books - and the issue may arise on the LLA Policy and Review Council.

II. Committee Reports

Senate: Jamie Larson and Kris Houlton

The University Senate did not meet because nothing was on the agenda, something all of the student senators have vowed to never let happen again. Otherwise:

1) MSA and GAPSA are setting up their Lobby Days, where students go to the capital to talk to the powers that be about supporting the U and students in general.

2. There is still a lot of concern about the net loss of student senators
if the possible reorganiztion goes through.

5. Student Senate Consultative Committee (SSCC) is going to be meeting with a Provost in early February about tuition hikes. Also, SSCC made a pitch for items that senators want to pursue in the next semester. We said the stadium ad student fees..

The Senators want to remind us that anyone can write a resolution to be put through the Senate. Contact our Senators for more information.

Policy and Review Councils:Sarah Kemper (Ed Psych) and Keith Cunnien (Soc Sci)

The Graduate School Executive Committee met to approve all of the changes that each P&R Council had approved over the course of the semester.

Interested students should contact their P&R Council Chairs if they want certain issues brought up at next semester's meetings. Contact your area's chair for more information.

GAPSA: Chris Pappas

Any graduate student, including COGS Senators, can author a resolution to be presented at GAPSA - you do so as a graduate student, and not a COGS representative. When we pass COGS resolutions, then COGS Senators act as representaives of our organization. The President's job at GAPSA meetings is to assure fair and equitable treatment of COGS Senators.

GAPSA passed one resolution authored by MPIRG requesting that the University divest from Lehman Brothers on account of their support for the private, for-profit prison industry. They passed another resolution authored by Keith Cunnien and Kris Houlton stating that student fees should not go to the stadium unless the students on the Stadium Advisory Committee thought it a necessary and fair step. The resolution is available from GAPSA's website.

A representative from the Law Council addressed problems between graduate student organizations and the Student Activities Office. You can read the Daily story about it here. If you have concerned, talk to Chris Pappas, a COGS Senator, or a GAPSA representative.

Student Health Advisory Committee (Boynton)- Andrew Rivard

SHAC is exploring year-round fees and coverage for all students, and reported on the budget request for Boynton. He will be giving a full report next meeting.

III. Elections

Michael Olin will return to COGS for another term as Vice President for Finance. Congratulations and thanks to Michael for taking this position for a second year. Anyone interested in Finance can 'shadow' Mike. Please contact him for more information.

San San Luah was elected as an alternate Senator. Congratulations and thanks to San San.

IV. Financial Report

Michael Olin, Vice President for Finance, provided information about the COGS Endowment and the COGS Travel and Educational Awards , and said that other Councils were interested in buying in to the fund.

He also presented the COGS fees request for next year. Interested parties should contact cogs@umn.edu for a copy of the fees request or for more details about that process.

V. Resolution Bylaws

The following bylaw changes were unanimously approved by the Council.

VIII. Resolutions
Resolutions may be authored by any graduate student enrolled and in good standing at on of the constituent departments of COGS at the University of Minnesota. The President and Parliamentarian of the Council of Graduate Students may not author or introduce resolutions.

Resolutions are to be discussed and voted on only during General Assembly meetings. A quorum must be present for both discussion and voting.

A resolution will pass and thus be endorsed by the Council of Graduate Students by receiving a simple majority of representatives present.

Resolutions must be submitted to the President of the Council of Graduate Students or the main office at least 48 hours before a General Assembly meeting. Resolutions proposed after this deadline may be considered only by approval of the General Assembly. The copy of the resolution sent to these parties will constitute the resolution up for consideration; any changes thereafter must occur at the General Assembly meeting as per Robert's Rules of Order and the bylaws. Author(s) may withdraw proposed resolutions at any time.

Resolutions may not violate the Constitution or bylaws of the Council of Graduate Students.

The Council of Graduate Students will not consider anonymous resolutions.

Addendum: Passing this change to the bylaws would also make the current Section VIII of the bylaws (Policy and Review Councils) Section IX.

COGS note: the version of the bylaws available on the website has already been updated to reflect these additions.

Resolutions, when passed, will be brought to the attention of the Graduate School administration (Deans, etc.), GAPSA, and any other necessary party, depending on the resolution. The Daily will also be notified. Any other questins about the resolution process should be directed towards cogs@umn.edu.

VI. Resolutions

Britt Johnson, Executive Vice President, authored a resolution affirming the necessity and quality of the Graduate School to support it it as it might get its funding cut or its existence eliminated completely. An ammeded version passed.

COGS note: all passed resolutions are available from our website as well as a template to help you write your own resolution.

Kris Houlton and Keith Cunnien presented the resolution about student fees and the stadium that passed at GAPSA. It sparked intense discussion about how to handle the issue, and ultimately a quorum was not present to vote on the resolution. Representatives should talk to their departments so as to represent their interests at the next meeting, where this issue will return.

A copy of the resolution is available from GAPSA (links at the bottom of the page). The authors of the resolution would be happy to ansewer any questions or hear any concerns you may have. Keith Cunnien: cunn0043@umn.edu, Kris Houlton: houl0065@umn.edu.

VII. Guest Speaker: Project Lighthouse, Jeff Nath, Vice President, MSA

Jeff Nath discussed MSA's "Project Lighthouse," their inititative to address serious concerns with housing safin the wake of the recent fire in Dinkytown. Among the grim facts he reported was that landlords only have to pay a $100 fine for violations of the housing code per property, not per each individual violation, if they don't fix it in 90 days. Minneapolis does not have nearly enough inspectors to cover all of the properties, and inspectors can only show up once every 90 days.

You can read more about Project Lighthouse here (.pdf).

COGS note: MSA recently passed 2 resolutions on the matter, which will be posted here when they update their site.


	*HOME* *About COGS* Get Involved Exec. Committee P&R Councils Senate U. Committees *GA Meetings* Current Issues Resolutions *COGS Awards* The Endowment *Publications* *Helpful Info* Funding Housing Contact COGS		Minutes General Assembly Meeting of the Council of Graduate Students University of Minnesota, Twin Cities December, 2003 Minutes by Chris Pappas, President Approved by the COGS Executive Committee on December 8th. Quorum was met, but not for the whole meeting. 5:00pm Food Served I. Meeting called to order by President Chris Pappas 1. Ask the grad students in your department how they feel about the stadium issue. COGS representatives will meet envoys from the President's Office during finals week, and it would be good to know what people are saying. Furthermore, assume another resolution on this issue will come forward soon. 2. COGS will be active during the break, handling all of the usual issues and whatever else comes up. 3. Speaking of breaks, breaking the law! Anyone interested in re-painting our space on the Washington Ave. Bridge shoud contact President Pappas. You will be risking a vandalism charge; I will cover as much as I can from my stipend if we get caught. 4. Parlimentary Procedure Online. Confused about how parlimentary procedure works? Want to become the Parliamentarian? Well visit www.rulesonline.com and see Robert's Rules of Order for yourself. Check out www.parlipro.org for even more information. (Thanks to MSA for the links). 5. Thank to all who stayed around at the last meeting. We will try, in the future, to make sure meetings do not go longer than 6:45. Also, thanks to those who helped clean up. 6. Scott Witmer brought up a problem from his department (German, Scandinavian and Dutch Studies) regarding the program restrictions preventing students from taking PFF courses. Michael Olin put forth a quick solution - to take the course as an incomplete and have the grade assigned when you are able to officially place the course on the books - and the issue may arise on the LLA Policy and Review Council. II. Committee Reports Senate: Jamie Larson and Kris Houlton The University Senate did not meet because nothing was on the agenda, something all of the student senators have vowed to never let happen again. Otherwise: 1) MSA and GAPSA are setting up their Lobby Days, where students go to the capital to talk to the powers that be about supporting the U and students in general. 2. There is still a lot of concern about the net loss of student senators if the possible reorganiztion goes through. 5. Student Senate Consultative Committee (SSCC) is going to be meeting with a Provost in early February about tuition hikes. Also, SSCC made a pitch for items that senators want to pursue in the next semester. We said the stadium ad student fees.. The Senators want to remind us that anyone can write a resolution to be put through the Senate. Contact our Senators for more information. Policy and Review Councils:Sarah Kemper (Ed Psych) and Keith Cunnien (Soc Sci) The Graduate School Executive Committee met to approve all of the changes that each P&R Council had approved over the course of the semester. Interested students should contact their P&R Council Chairs if they want certain issues brought up at next semester's meetings. Contact your area's chair for more information. GAPSA: Chris Pappas Any graduate student, including COGS Senators, can author a resolution to be presented at GAPSA - you do so as a graduate student, and not a COGS representative. When we pass COGS resolutions, then COGS Senators act as representaives of our organization. The President's job at GAPSA meetings is to assure fair and equitable treatment of COGS Senators. GAPSA passed one resolution authored by MPIRG requesting that the University divest from Lehman Brothers on account of their support for the private, for-profit prison industry. They passed another resolution authored by Keith Cunnien and Kris Houlton stating that student fees should not go to the stadium unless the students on the Stadium Advisory Committee thought it a necessary and fair step. The resolution is available from GAPSA's website. A representative from the Law Council addressed problems between graduate student organizations and the Student Activities Office. You can read the Daily story about it here. If you have concerned, talk to Chris Pappas, a COGS Senator, or a GAPSA representative. Student Health Advisory Committee (Boynton)- Andrew Rivard SHAC is exploring year-round fees and coverage for all students, and reported on the budget request for Boynton. He will be giving a full report next meeting. III. Elections Michael Olin will return to COGS for another term as Vice President for Finance. Congratulations and thanks to Michael for taking this position for a second year. Anyone interested in Finance can 'shadow' Mike. Please contact him for more information. San San Luah was elected as an alternate Senator. Congratulations and thanks to San San. IV. Financial Report Michael Olin, Vice President for Finance, provided information about the COGS Endowment and the COGS Travel and Educational Awards , and said that other Councils were interested in buying in to the fund. He also presented the COGS fees request for next year. Interested parties should contact cogs@umn.edu for a copy of the fees request or for more details about that process. V. Resolution Bylaws The following bylaw changes were unanimously approved by the Council. VIII. Resolutions Resolutions may be authored by any graduate student enrolled and in good standing at on of the constituent departments of COGS at the University of Minnesota. The President and Parliamentarian of the Council of Graduate Students may not author or introduce resolutions. Resolutions are to be discussed and voted on only during General Assembly meetings. A quorum must be present for both discussion and voting. A resolution will pass and thus be endorsed by the Council of Graduate Students by receiving a simple majority of representatives present. Resolutions must be submitted to the President of the Council of Graduate Students or the main office at least 48 hours before a General Assembly meeting. Resolutions proposed after this deadline may be considered only by approval of the General Assembly. The copy of the resolution sent to these parties will constitute the resolution up for consideration; any changes thereafter must occur at the General Assembly meeting as per Robert's Rules of Order and the bylaws. Author(s) may withdraw proposed resolutions at any time. Resolutions may not violate the Constitution or bylaws of the Council of Graduate Students. The Council of Graduate Students will not consider anonymous resolutions. Addendum: Passing this change to the bylaws would also make the current Section VIII of the bylaws (Policy and Review Councils) Section IX. COGS note: the version of the bylaws available on the website has already been updated to reflect these additions. Resolutions, when passed, will be brought to the attention of the Graduate School administration (Deans, etc.), GAPSA, and any other necessary party, depending on the resolution. The Daily will also be notified. Any other questins about the resolution process should be directed towards cogs@umn.edu. VI. Resolutions Britt Johnson, Executive Vice President, authored a resolution affirming the necessity and quality of the Graduate School to support it it as it might get its funding cut or its existence eliminated completely. An ammeded version passed. COGS note: all passed resolutions are available from our website as well as a template to help you write your own resolution. Kris Houlton and Keith Cunnien presented the resolution about student fees and the stadium that passed at GAPSA. It sparked intense discussion about how to handle the issue, and ultimately a quorum was not present to vote on the resolution. Representatives should talk to their departments so as to represent their interests at the next meeting, where this issue will return. A copy of the resolution is available from GAPSA (links at the bottom of the page). The authors of the resolution would be happy to ansewer any questions or hear any concerns you may have. Keith Cunnien: cunn0043@umn.edu, Kris Houlton: houl0065@umn.edu. VII. Guest Speaker: Project Lighthouse, Jeff Nath, Vice President, MSA Jeff Nath discussed MSA's "Project Lighthouse," their inititative to address serious concerns with housing safin the wake of the recent fire in Dinkytown. Among the grim facts he reported was that landlords only have to pay a $100 fine for violations of the housing code per property, not per each individual violation, if they don't fix it in 90 days. Minneapolis does not have nearly enough inspectors to cover all of the properties, and inspectors can only show up once every 90 days. You can read more about Project Lighthouse here (.pdf). COGS note: MSA recently passed 2 resolutions on the matter, which will be posted here when they update their site.