|
|
|
Minutes Minutes by Sean M. McNee, Vice President for Communications Quorum was met. 5:00pm – Food Served Before the meeting started, we celebrated the 40th birthday of Michael Olin, our VP for Finance. Happy Birthday, Mike! For those who were there, we had tasty birthday cake. 5:15pm – Meeting called to order: President Chris Pappas Welcome! Thanks to everyone for coming to the first COGS meeting of spring semester! Last semester was great for COGS; we made real progress on many fronts and it is exciting to see what we can get done this spring. Further, we would like to see COGS grow. COGS is a representative democracy, consisting of representatives from all departments. More people that are involved with COGS, the stronger the organization is. Please help us grow COGS, and please consider taking a more active role in the organization. There are many great positions, from committee representatives to Senators, from P&R Chairs to the Executive Committee. Especially the position of VP for Finance, because Mike has to leave the position early as part of his impending graduation. And as a reminder, elections for the COGS Executive Council for next year will occur at our April meeting. If people are interested in any of the positions, please email COGS for more information. COGS Travel Awards and Endowment. It is very exciting that so many people have applied for the COGS Educational and Travel Awards. It is now time where we need to determine who gets the awards. As such, there is the COGS Endowment and Travel Award committee. Committee members are responsible for going through the applications and determining who will receive the awards. If anyone is interested in joining the committee, please let us know by emailing cogs@umn.edu. Conflict Resolution website from the Graduate School. The Graduate School
is about to launch a website that centralizes a lot of answers to questions
graduate students frequently ask., from emplyment issues to personal concerns.
If you want to be have a say in how well this actually addresses our needs
and what content makes the final cut, contact Hongyi
Lan (lanx0016@umn.edu)
at (612) 625-6544 New Graduate School website. They have created a ‘beta’ version of their new website and they are looking for students who want to test the website: see if it make sense, find broken links, etc. If you are interested in testing out the new website, please email COGS for more info. COGS Leadership Awards. Know any graduate students who have demonstrated real leadership? Since 1996, COGS has presented two annual student leadership awards recognizing the recipient’s leadership and service on behalf of their fellow graduate students, the University and broader communities. The recipients will receive a $250.00 award check among other goodies. Nominations Due by Friday, April 23st, 2004 5:20pm – Finance update: VP for Finance, Mike Olin COGS receives all of its funding as ‘pass through’ funding from GAPSA. Thus, we send our funding request to GAPSA, and they incorporate our request with the requests from all of the other professional school councils. Our request this year was a little difficult because of the new administrator position we have. The administrator was hired in the middle of last year and was first paid for by our surplus of funds. This surplus is now gone, and this is the first time we have requested funding from GAPSA for the position. Needless to say, there were some negotiations over this change in funding. GAPSA agreed to fund 3/4 of the administrator position. This will require COGS to find some other sources of funding from various places in the University, such as the Coca-Cola Grants. We have worked out a fully balanced budget that includes these extra sources of money. This assumes, of course, that the University Fees Committee agrees to fully fund GAPSA’s fees request. In order to make sure this happens, we are asking for all available graduate students to come to GAPSA’s fees request presentation to the Fees Committee. This requires people to come and sit in the audience as a show of support for COGS and GAPSA.
About the position: it’s a great position. It’s not too demanding, but lots of fun. Work closely with administrator, the rest of the executive committee, and with GAPSA to make sure COGS is in the black. Plus, the position has a stipend of $1000. Please email Mike directly for more information about the position. 5:25pm – Jerry Reinhart, Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs COGS Notes: We are very fortunate to have Jerry Reinhart come to our GA meeting to talk with us. Also at our GA were representatives from the Office of the President. There were here just to hear what was is on our minds as graduate students. Thanks to Jerry and others for coming to our meeting. The Office of Student Affairs “[provides] a range of co-curricular services and programs to serve and enhance the diverse educational, wellness, and personal development needs of students and the University community.” It is an umbrella office for several of the services that graduate students use every day. These services include:
Remarks from Jerry Reinhart The Office of Student Affairs (OSA) is extremely interested in creating a large environment for learning. The campus of the University of Minnesota is much larger than just the classrooms, and OSA wants to promote learning and growth for all students through other aspects of the University. OSA knows that graduate students look at the world differently from undergraduates, and OSA wants to help graduate students “get more than brain exercise” by making opportunities available to graduate students to learn new kinds of skills, to grow, and develop good habits for the rest of their lives. If OSA is failing graduate students this way, please let us know. We are at a great place in the history of the University: we have a beautiful campus, wonderful facilities, and high quality students. Yes, there are budget problems now, but we are still committed to “establish this University as a top learning environment in the world”. OSA is more than Homecoming and Spring Jam, OSA exists to build the University community. A part of that is to make the graduate student experience as good as the undergraduate experience—to create a sense of campus community that extends outside of the academic department. A football stadium is one piece of such an environment. We are not hanging our hats on the idea of getting a stadium, but is it a “symbolic sense of community”, and similar to other programs OSA works on. So, it is important to understand why an on campus stadium is worth considering. The timing is horrible, but it has been thrust upon us, as the Metrodome is no longer going to be a viable place to play football. It is important to hear student voices on this issue, where they are for the stadium or against it. COGS Note: We passed a resolution concerning the proposed football stadium at this GA meeting. See below for details. What other issues are there that are barriers to community development and growth? It is the job of the OSA to work with students to make this University the best place possible. Questions and Answers Q. Are there ways that the OSA can help graduate students plan events? More specifically, find locations on campus to host larger events, or help secure funding for events? A. There are many grants available for event funding, such as the Coca Cola grants. Some grants are only for students, while others are for all University community members. As for finding locations, Coffman and other student union space is handled directly by the Twin Cities Student Unions. Classrooms can be reserved by calling the Office of Classroom Management. Q. There are other spaces we might be interested in, such as libraries, etc. and it is very difficult to even know what spaces are available. If OSA could just create a list of spaces and phone numbers for who to contact, it would be greatly appreciated. A. That is a great idea. We will pass the idea on to the right people to get this going. Q. With everything that has been happening lately concerning Gay/Lesbian marriages at the state level, do you think that the U would continue to advocate for health care and other benefits for domestic partners? A. First of all, we need to get the word out to the state legislators that this is an important issue, one that is worth fighting for. An excellent way to do this is through the U Legislative Network. Q. Yes, but it is concerning with budgets cuts looming that the U would be ‘locked into a corner’ concerning these issues and have to change its position to secure funding. A. This is something to be aware of. But it is worth remembering that the U has domestic partner benefits for all employees, and the U has constitutional autonomy from the State of Minnesota, and also has independent health care plans from the rest of the state, thus we can provide theses benefits now and continue to do so in the future. Q. [From Jerry to COGS] Do you make use of Coffman or it is more for undergrads? A. [Combined from various answers] Yes, it is very nice, but it is very crowded. People use the new cube to study, and make use of Goldy’s Game Room in the basement for bowling, etc. Continued comments from Jerry Reinhart Food Service is separate from other service and it is not under the Office of Student Affairs. University Dining Services has their own set of issues to be concerned about, including fiscal responsibility. Sometimes these concerns are not always what is best for students, and OSA is working with them to resolve these problems. Continued Questions and Answers Q. What is the relationship between Aramark and University Dining Services? Especially, Sostanzas, located in the basement of Moos Tower. It has been heard that Sostanzas is going to be closing in May, with rumors of it not being profitable. What is going on? There is even more to this: there are very serious problems with Sostanzas concerning very basic levels of food available and service. These briefly include: not having any change whatsoever in the pay lines, having days where they run out of staple foods in the at the beginning of or in the middle of lunch, such as bread and eggs. This is unacceptable for a restaurant, but it is heartbreaking to know that it will close in May. Instead, can the issues be resolved and have Sostanzas not close? A. The relationship between Aramark and the University is a complicated one. We have heard these exact complaints before from other people are and we are working on them to get them resolved. They are on our agenda. COGS Note: The problems with the University and Aramark have been on going for several years now. The University Senate even passed a resolution about problems with Aramark in Febuary, 1999. Q. As a graduate student, how can I get basic information about what is going on at the University? How can I get tickets to events? How do I do things? I feel there is a lack of information being sent to students. And orientation… it is rather short and a good percentage is devoted to academic and advisor issues. Can’t a part of it get people excited about being in Minnesota? I don’t need to know everything, but some information is good to have. A. Yes, the orientation for graduate students is much shorter than the one for undergrads, but your department is also supposed to have an orientation session as well. There are also several resources available to all students such as the University websites and the Gopher Guide, which is given to all incoming students at orientation and is available for purchace from the bookstore. We have been talking to the Orientation/First Year Programs office about next year’s orientation, and we will pass on your concerns. COGS Note: COGS also produces a publication called The Graduate Student Survival Guide which has lots of great information. It is also given out at graduate student orientation, and is available for download or in print from the COGS office. Q. There is a shortage of graduate student housing on campus, especially for married graduate students. Wouldn’t it be a great way to increase community on campus by having more graduate families living on campus? A. There is married graduate student housing available near the St. Paul campus, and there are housing collectives such as the Como Student Community Cooperative. Lately, the University has invested money into more dorm space for undergraduates, and as a result, there is not a lot of money available for new housing projects. We are looking into partnerships with city councils, neighborhoods, and private developers to help resolve this issues. There are problems now, and space is at a premium. Q. I am from the Humanities, and it can be hard to get grant money for research and projects. I have a hard time even knowing what funding is available beyond the GRPP funds. Is it possible to have a central location for interdisciplinary work where researchers can come together to work and get funding? A. Two of the President's core initiatives for the University are in the humanities and in interdisciplinary work. We would love to work with you get your input on these initiatives and to get involved in the planning. COGS Note: Again we would like to thank the Office for Student Affairs and the Office of the President for coming to our GA meeting. 5:55pm – Resolutions As a reminder, information about COGS Resolutions is available from the COGS website. Resolutions to be considered at GA meeting will be posted to the website at least 48 hours before the meeting starts. At this GA, there were two resolutions presented to the GA for vote, both of which concerned financing for the proposed new football stadium. The author’s intentions for these resolutions were for COGS to pass only one and not consider the other one, as they were to be considered two versions of the same resolution, one of which has already passed through GAPSA, and an alternate version with stronger wording. Comments from the resolutions’ author, Kris Houlten: A version of these resolutions came up before GAPSA and was passed. It would be nice if students were expected to pay for a stadium, then it should benefit academics. We are paying as much in fees as we can right now. The version which passed before GAPSA was for student representation on the committee that determines how the stadium will be financed. Now, there was a stronger version presented before GAPSA, but it was felt that the timing was too soon for it to be passed. This stronger version is presented here. The President has now gone on record saying he is entertaining the idea of adding student fees to help pay for the stadium. The Minnesota Daily has been running stories about this issue, and all interviewed students for the articles have been undergrads who were in favor of paying for a new stadium. No graduate students were represented in the articles and our voice is not being heard. It is time to pass the stronger resolution. COGS Note: There are two stories of note from the Daily: one about the Governor's stadium proposal and the other a public opinion poll. Comments on both resolutions from the GA: COGS Note: There was much discussion about the resolutions from several members of the GA, and it was difficult to capture all of the opinions. These recorded summaries reflect GA members who were recognized and held the floor.
COGS Note: Currently, all students pay $52.37 each semester in fees to pay off the debt for the new Coffman Union. This will continue for several more years. This fee is incorporated into the larger Students Services fee. Other fees include funding for Recreational Sports and other similar activities. It is only speculation as to how a potential fee for the stadium would be implemented, but it is quite possible that it could be incorporated into the Student Services fee that all students must pay every semester just as the Coffman fee is. If so, there would be no way to split the amounts paid by graduate students and undergrads, nor would there be a way to make it optional. The ‘stronger’ resolution was called to a vote. Total votes: 38 (two were cast via absentee ballot) The resolution passed; therefore the other resolution was withdrawn for consideration. As a reminder, all passed resolutions are sent to the Graduate School, MSA, and GAPSA, and a copy is also sent as a press release to the Minnesota Daily. 6:20pm – Committee Reports OneStop – Sean McNee OneStop is pleased because many students have been using the new electronic bill payment system for tuition and fees. Currently the system still does not accept credit card transactions, but they are actively pursuing this option. The main obstacle is the credit card transaction processing fees. The University is negotiating a lower processing fee before going live with the system. OneStop has also streamlined registration, and hoped that the added servers and infrastructure has reduced the time it takes students to access the system during peak hours of use. Also, other Universities are interested in OneStop, and are looking into implementing their own model. To help get the word out, OneStop created a promotional video about how great the system is. They had students, administrators, and OneStop employees all on the video talking about different aspects of the system. OneStop Questions: Q. What is up with all of the fees? And how the fees are presented? It is hard to tell what I actually owe in fees with all of the different charges and retractions, etc. A. OneStop is aware of these problems and is working to change them. The problem is that the fees are assessed by different parts of the University and OneStop is just the repository listing. The fees occur at different times and sometimes they are changed and retracted, etc. This is especially with the differences in timing for being charged tuition and having financial aid and fellowship money deposited into your account. Q. There are a lot of fees. Many of which I don’t understand. I know you are only the OneStop committee member, but do you have any say in all of these fees? It’s hard because they don’t all add up, and it seems that different people are charged different amounts and there are international student fees, etc. A. There are lots of fees, and they are assessed at different levels. COGS has a webpage trying to explain what the fees are. OneStop also has a page about fees as well. Just knowing what the fees are doesn’t really say what the fees are being used for. This is something that COGS has been looking into and will continue to look into. 6:30pm – Publications: Jana Lee, VP of External Relations COGS currently sends out over 9000 GradLetters. It is one of the most expensive things we do every year. We are willing send out fewer letters in order to cut costs. We are asking department reps to let us know how many GradLetters your department actually wants, and if you are interested in receiving electronic versions of the GradLetter via email. On a related note, we are interested in judging how people feel about the GradLetter and if we should expand the contents of the letter. We could include accouncements of performances and exhibitions of work done by graduate students, accept artwork or other writings for publication, have an advice column. But we are only going to do this if people are interested. Please contact Jana Lee with questions or comments about this. 6:35pm – Recruitment: Britt Johnson, Executive Vice President Recruitment Pizza Parties! COGS has been hosting pizza parties in the fall in an attempt to increase the number of departments that we represent. There are around 35 departments represented here tonight, but COGS represents over 150 programs. There are department that are not aware of COGS, and we are trying to change that. We are getting out to large programs that do not have COGS representation and we bribe them with pizza. While they are eating, we tell them how great it is to get involved with COGS and how great it is to be organized in your own department. In order for this to continue to be a success, we are asking any members of the GA if they are interested in attending these meeting with us… come talk to the students, get free food, show them how COGS makes a difference. And help us carry pizza there. Please contact Britt Johnson or Sean McNee with any questions or comments. COGS in the Community. Some time in late March, COGS will be organizing a community event. Ideas include cleaning playgrounds or helping people in the community. This is an advanced warning, and we hope that people will be interested in coming out and showing some community support. This is an excellent way to get involved both around where we all live, and in the COGS organization. There will be more information about the next COGS GA meeting. 6:40pm – CLA Problems: President, Chris Pappas Recently, CLA released new guidelines to departments about class sizes and when to hire 50% TAs or 25% TAs. These guidelines have meet with a mixed reaction from CLA departments, all of whom have interpreted these guidelines differently. In all honesty, we don’t know who is following these guidelines and who isn’t. While it is an effective way for CLA to balance its budget, it is causing additional strain and problems for CLA graduate students. Unfortunately, we don’t know how widespread this problem really is. Before we can effectively act on this situation, we need more information. As such, we are looking to call different departments in CLA with a survey. Hopefully answers to this survey will tell us how the departments are handing these new guidelines. We need help to call of these different departments. If you are in CLA, we ask that you consider either helping us get information from your department, or help us call other departments. Please contact Chris Pappas to sign up for get more information. Questions and Answers Q. There have been similar changes to web-based courses across the University. Are you aware of these changes; are they related? A. This is something else to look into. As budgets shrink, the U is looking for ways to cut costs. We have to make sure that we are not bearing more of the burden for less money, whether in CLA, IT, or anywhere else in the University, and whether we teach traditional or web-based courses. Q. There have been concerns about workload limits and TA appointments for international students. These concerns coupled with problems in getting visas have made life difficult for many international students. A. COGS has been working with ISSS to help international student visa issues as much as possible. There are limits as to what ISSS can do, especially with these budget cuts. We can, however, get as much information to you as possible about federal, state, and University workload limits for international students. 6:43pm – Meeting Times We are separated from University Senate calendar and from the GAPSA calendar. This makes our meetings less effective as they could be, and our resolutions not as powerful as they could be. Perhaps we should change the meeting times to be more in sync with these other organizations. This is more of a point of information, as the soonest this could happen would be next fall, but is worth thinking about in the back of your mind as the semester progresses. 6:45pm – Meeting Adjourned |
|||||||
|
|
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
Council of Graduate Students | 405 Johnston
Hall | 612.626.1612 | cogs@umn.edu
|
