COGS - Council of Graduate Students

Minutes
January 19th, 2006
President’s Room, Coffman Memorial Union

Minutes submitted by Isaac Kamola (Vice President for Communications).

Food served at 5pm, meeting began at 5:15.

Welcomes (Sara Kempner)

Election for Policy and Review Council Chair in Language, Literature, and Arts (Sara Kempner)

Sara explained the position.

Also, the list of departments making up the council was posted. Bryan Gordon was nominated and elected to the position.

Office of Public Engagement (Victor Bloomfield)

The goals of the Graduate School as well as the Office for Public Engagement are to mobilize the University society to make it better. I have been in conversation with Karen Burr of GAPSA, Sara Kempner of COGS, and Emily Serafy Cox of MSA about making the University our primary community. Research and scholarship aids the society at large. But, the University community is also our primary society. There are 65,000 faculty, staff, and students at the University making it a fairly well sized city. Us in the administration are trying to govern the University well, but it is up to you to decide on what issues you are interested. For example, it is up the you to ask questions about whether this is a diverse community, a family friendly community, etc. Thinking about these issues also gives you practice being citizens. Unless we recapture the habits of citizenship, these social problems will not get better. Fixing these problems should be the University’s top priority. I also think it is important to talk with student leadership, coming to meetings like this shows that you are civically engaged.

Now I’m going to open the floor and listen to what people think are the issues which need to be addressed.

Isaac Kamola: I am highly concerned about graduate student wages. Being paid the lowest in the Big Ten not only makes it hard for us to survive but it also means that the University is uncompetitive in attracting the best students. Furthermore, I’m concerned that when we try to raise the issue of wages through acts of civic engagement the Administration uses their resources in opposition. For example, last year hundreds of us were actively engaged in forming a graduate student union. However, the administration actively fought against this act of civic engagement. Furthermore, when we attend town hall meetings or strategic position meetings to raise the question of wages we are routinely told that this is not on the table. In addition, when the University decides to raise our fees—as is currently the case with the non-optional stadium fee—we have to fight just to be invited to these meetings; our COGS resolutions are ignored, etc. All I’m saying is that if you want a list of problems we have as a community, our number one problem is wages. Furthermore, the administration’s track record of trying to prevent us from becoming civically engaged about this issue leaves me very suspect about the degree to which you really want us to become active citizens of this University.

Vic Bloomfield: I’m trying to reign in my urge to respond.

Susan Kang: I’m concerned about Liberal Arts funding. The plan make the College of Liberal Arts private, eves as part of a public University, crept up on us without our input. This action was taken unilaterally and without any consultation. Now, starting in 2007, the whole CLA will be funded exclusively by tuition dollars. This effects a lot of people—undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and staff—yet we were not asked for our input.

Joao Pedro Boavida: I’m not sure why you are here. Are you trying to take suggestions or are you trying to organize people around issues?

Vic Bloomfield: We’re trying to get people civically engaged.

Tatiana Abatemarco: Civic Engagement is driven by pride in an institution—you want to get involved in those institutions you believe in. When I see this University close down General College then it makes me no longer proud to be part of this institution. Furthermore, when the students actively engaged in the issue of GC closure get arrested, the University uses their lawyers to press charges, students are pepper sprayed, I can see why students stop wanting to be civically engaged.

Vic Bloomfield: Again, I’ll suppress my desire to respond.

Sara Kempner: We need to make it possible for the community to get more involved. Therefore, do you have any suggestions about how we can get faculty to be more involved, or at least make space for us to get more involved.

Vic Bloomfield: I think faculty can be persuaded that engagement is important. Most people not get jobs in top-tier Universities like this one. Many people find jobs in places where they need to work with people and be persuasive. Civic engagement allows people to get experience working in organizations with other people. Not all of us will get academic jobs but that does not mean that our academic training can’t prepare everyone for all jobs. This is a virtuous circle. Sara Kempner: Is there any resource to help out with this? Vic Bloomfield: We have resources and would like to use our resources to help students organize groups. If you would like our help, please send me an email and I can help put you in contact with other students.

Strategic Positioning (Sara Kempner)

The University is going through a review process to make it one of the top three public research institutions in the world. There are 34 task forces and 11 of them have had reports due in December. You can read all the reports here. But please read the Preliminary Recomendations for the Task Force on Graduate Reform. Please send feedback to the committees through January 27th.

There was a discussion about the taskforce's major proposals.

Anouncements

1) All committee meeting minutes are now up on the COGS website.

2) Policy and Review attendance has been outstanding. It has been recognized by the Deans. In one instance, the number of students outnumbered the numbers of DGSs

3) Legislative Network. There will be a meeting at 5:30 pm on January 24th to discuss what University’s legislative request is. This will be followed by a short training session.

4) Travel and Leadership Awards. Applications are up on the web and are due March 24th. Travel awards are not only for attending conferences but for any travel related to your academic work. This could be a rehearsal, a show installation, doing research, conducting interviews, etc. We also make sure to give awards to Duluth students. We also give awards to students attending conferences to present oral or poster presentations. Also, GAPSA has travel money, but this is just for conferences and there are specific deadlines. Also, remember that some departments have money for travel. Leadership Awards: We are also sending a letter to all the DGSs asking them to nominate students for involvement.

5) Presidential Leadership and Service Award applications due February 10th.

6) Housing Survey. The survey has been completed and the data is being broken down. It will be sent to the O’Brian Taskforce. But it will also be used by the housing committee. We will also take the data to land lords so they can better understand how to provide accommodations amenable to graduate students.

7) Queer Graduate and Professional Student Association. There will be an event—“Building Bridges: Connecting Queer Communities”—February 17th from 11:30-1. There will be speakers and free food. It will be here in the President’s Room and RSVP is required.

8) Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week. This year it will be April 17th-21st. This will also be the week of the GA meeting. At this time we’ll hand out the travel and leadership awards. If you have ideas of what we should do or if you want to help plan it, let me know. Q: If there are discount cards again this year, can we make sure that some of them are near IT? A: They might not do those cards again. Last year some undergrads got their hands on them and many stores stopped recognizing the coupons.

9) Fellowship Follow-ups. We talked before about te problem of increasing the amount of fellowships for first year students. There has been some talk about making these departmental dependent meaning departments could choose how they want to offer the fellowships. For example, if IT needs a $22,000/year fellowship to be competitive then it can offer this but other departments that may only need $15,000 fellowships can have the latitude of offering more, low-amount awards. Please talk with your DGS and faculty about this issue. 1

10) Found Table Forums. We are looking for ways to reach out to other graduate students besides just those who attend the GA meetings. We were thinking of hosting meetings/forums/round tables (not sure of the name yet) on issues like Taxes for Graduate Students, Grad School and Families: Housing and Child Care, and How to Get A Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. We would then recruit people for the University or the community to speak on these issues. Other issues later might include: how to get a grant or fellowship, how to get a post-doc, how to get travel funding., and research ethics and academic integrity. The following ideas were also presented: talking about graduate student unionization, what happened last time and what are the prospects for another drive; health issues for studying abroad, what services Boynton offers, etc.; strategies for teaching, TAing etc.; what is covered in the GA health plan; how to find housing for new students; have a mixer events, like the ISS coffee hour where graduate students from different parts of the University can meet each other.


	Home About COGS Current Issues Meetings Publications Getting Involved Representatives The Endowment Resources and FAQs Contact COGS		Minutes January 19th, 2006 President’s Room, Coffman Memorial Union Minutes submitted by Isaac Kamola (Vice President for Communications). Food served at 5pm, meeting began at 5:15. Welcomes (Sara Kempner) Election for Policy and Review Council Chair in Language, Literature, and Arts (Sara Kempner) Sara explained the position. Also, the list of departments making up the council was posted. Bryan Gordon was nominated and elected to the position. Office of Public Engagement (Victor Bloomfield) The goals of the Graduate School as well as the Office for Public Engagement are to mobilize the University society to make it better. I have been in conversation with Karen Burr of GAPSA, Sara Kempner of COGS, and Emily Serafy Cox of MSA about making the University our primary community. Research and scholarship aids the society at large. But, the University community is also our primary society. There are 65,000 faculty, staff, and students at the University making it a fairly well sized city. Us in the administration are trying to govern the University well, but it is up to you to decide on what issues you are interested. For example, it is up the you to ask questions about whether this is a diverse community, a family friendly community, etc. Thinking about these issues also gives you practice being citizens. Unless we recapture the habits of citizenship, these social problems will not get better. Fixing these problems should be the University’s top priority. I also think it is important to talk with student leadership, coming to meetings like this shows that you are civically engaged. Now I’m going to open the floor and listen to what people think are the issues which need to be addressed. Isaac Kamola: I am highly concerned about graduate student wages. Being paid the lowest in the Big Ten not only makes it hard for us to survive but it also means that the University is uncompetitive in attracting the best students. Furthermore, I’m concerned that when we try to raise the issue of wages through acts of civic engagement the Administration uses their resources in opposition. For example, last year hundreds of us were actively engaged in forming a graduate student union. However, the administration actively fought against this act of civic engagement. Furthermore, when we attend town hall meetings or strategic position meetings to raise the question of wages we are routinely told that this is not on the table. In addition, when the University decides to raise our fees—as is currently the case with the non-optional stadium fee—we have to fight just to be invited to these meetings; our COGS resolutions are ignored, etc. All I’m saying is that if you want a list of problems we have as a community, our number one problem is wages. Furthermore, the administration’s track record of trying to prevent us from becoming civically engaged about this issue leaves me very suspect about the degree to which you really want us to become active citizens of this University. Vic Bloomfield: I’m trying to reign in my urge to respond. Susan Kang: I’m concerned about Liberal Arts funding. The plan make the College of Liberal Arts private, eves as part of a public University, crept up on us without our input. This action was taken unilaterally and without any consultation. Now, starting in 2007, the whole CLA will be funded exclusively by tuition dollars. This effects a lot of people—undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and staff—yet we were not asked for our input. Joao Pedro Boavida: I’m not sure why you are here. Are you trying to take suggestions or are you trying to organize people around issues? Vic Bloomfield: We’re trying to get people civically engaged. Tatiana Abatemarco: Civic Engagement is driven by pride in an institution—you want to get involved in those institutions you believe in. When I see this University close down General College then it makes me no longer proud to be part of this institution. Furthermore, when the students actively engaged in the issue of GC closure get arrested, the University uses their lawyers to press charges, students are pepper sprayed, I can see why students stop wanting to be civically engaged. Vic Bloomfield: Again, I’ll suppress my desire to respond. Sara Kempner: We need to make it possible for the community to get more involved. Therefore, do you have any suggestions about how we can get faculty to be more involved, or at least make space for us to get more involved. Vic Bloomfield: I think faculty can be persuaded that engagement is important. Most people not get jobs in top-tier Universities like this one. Many people find jobs in places where they need to work with people and be persuasive. Civic engagement allows people to get experience working in organizations with other people. Not all of us will get academic jobs but that does not mean that our academic training can’t prepare everyone for all jobs. This is a virtuous circle. Sara Kempner: Is there any resource to help out with this? Vic Bloomfield: We have resources and would like to use our resources to help students organize groups. If you would like our help, please send me an email and I can help put you in contact with other students. Strategic Positioning (Sara Kempner) The University is going through a review process to make it one of the top three public research institutions in the world. There are 34 task forces and 11 of them have had reports due in December. You can read all the reports here. But please read the Preliminary Recomendations for the Task Force on Graduate Reform. Please send feedback to the committees through January 27th. There was a discussion about the taskforce's major proposals. Anouncements 1) All committee meeting minutes are now up on the COGS website. 2) Policy and Review attendance has been outstanding. It has been recognized by the Deans. In one instance, the number of students outnumbered the numbers of DGSs 3) Legislative Network. There will be a meeting at 5:30 pm on January 24th to discuss what University’s legislative request is. This will be followed by a short training session. 4) Travel and Leadership Awards. Applications are up on the web and are due March 24th. Travel awards are not only for attending conferences but for any travel related to your academic work. This could be a rehearsal, a show installation, doing research, conducting interviews, etc. We also make sure to give awards to Duluth students. We also give awards to students attending conferences to present oral or poster presentations. Also, GAPSA has travel money, but this is just for conferences and there are specific deadlines. Also, remember that some departments have money for travel. Leadership Awards: We are also sending a letter to all the DGSs asking them to nominate students for involvement. 5) Presidential Leadership and Service Award applications due February 10th. 6) Housing Survey. The survey has been completed and the data is being broken down. It will be sent to the O’Brian Taskforce. But it will also be used by the housing committee. We will also take the data to land lords so they can better understand how to provide accommodations amenable to graduate students. 7) Queer Graduate and Professional Student Association. There will be an event—“Building Bridges: Connecting Queer Communities”—February 17th from 11:30-1. There will be speakers and free food. It will be here in the President’s Room and RSVP is required. 8) Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week. This year it will be April 17th-21st. This will also be the week of the GA meeting. At this time we’ll hand out the travel and leadership awards. If you have ideas of what we should do or if you want to help plan it, let me know. Q: If there are discount cards again this year, can we make sure that some of them are near IT? A: They might not do those cards again. Last year some undergrads got their hands on them and many stores stopped recognizing the coupons. 9) Fellowship Follow-ups. We talked before about te problem of increasing the amount of fellowships for first year students. There has been some talk about making these departmental dependent meaning departments could choose how they want to offer the fellowships. For example, if IT needs a $22,000/year fellowship to be competitive then it can offer this but other departments that may only need $15,000 fellowships can have the latitude of offering more, low-amount awards. Please talk with your DGS and faculty about this issue. 1 10) Found Table Forums. We are looking for ways to reach out to other graduate students besides just those who attend the GA meetings. We were thinking of hosting meetings/forums/round tables (not sure of the name yet) on issues like Taxes for Graduate Students, Grad School and Families: Housing and Child Care, and How to Get A Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. We would then recruit people for the University or the community to speak on these issues. Other issues later might include: how to get a grant or fellowship, how to get a post-doc, how to get travel funding., and research ethics and academic integrity. The following ideas were also presented: talking about graduate student unionization, what happened last time and what are the prospects for another drive; health issues for studying abroad, what services Boynton offers, etc.; strategies for teaching, TAing etc.; what is covered in the GA health plan; how to find housing for new students; have a mixer events, like the ISS coffee hour where graduate students from different parts of the University can meet each other.