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COUNCIL OF GRADUATE STUDENTS

Second Winter Quarter Meeting

Friday, March 3, 2000

3:30-5:00 p.m. University Hall 014

OFFICERS and EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS: President Ron Meyers, Treasurer Briggs Cormier, Secretary Christine Parker, Ex-Officio Kathleen Carberry, Diversity Concerns Chair Elizabeth Warren, Outreach Committee Chair John Soloninka.

VOTING DELEGATES: Elizabeth Blake, Carmin Gade, Betsy Breseman, Amanda Callison, Homero Cantu, Anil Challa, Jill Coleman, Michael Daniels, Rachna Sundararajan (for Sabiha Daudi), Kristin Field, Erich Guy, Mark Hicar, Cheryl Hindrichs, Andrew Holbrook, Phil Huckelberry, Lisa Ingram, Gregory Klimovitch, Elizabeth Kloss, Arash Mafi, David May, John McCombe, Lisa Morrison, Alecia Naugle, Stan Radzevicius, Michael Rowan, John Shea, Jennifer Stoots, Victoria Watts, Kevin Weakley, Jennifer Whetstone, Tara White, Amanda Wisler, Alyson Young.

NON-VOTING DELEGATES, COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES, SENATORS, RGC REPRESENTATIVES and GUESTS: Ayvind Karlsen, Karen Huber, Nicholas Stenech.

The scheduled guest speaker Ruth Holt, President of the Weinland Park Community Collaborative, was not present at today's meeting and will be re-scheduled at a later date.

Meeting called to order at 3:40 p.m.

Approval of minutes for the general meeting of February 4, 2000. The following amended version of was distributed:

B. NEW BUSINESS: Student Health Insurance Committee: Kathleen Carberry, CSA Alternate, reported on a recent CSA presentation by Dr. Mary Daniels from the Office of Student Affairs on the student health insurance plan. Dr. Daniels reported that Central Benefits is going out of the business of risk management (i.e. the management of claims). Central Benefits' projected coverage of benefits fell far short of actual claims, so they are operating at a loss. They anticipate similar losses this year. They will be finishing coverage for this year, but as for the future, it is uncertain. If whoever underwrites the OSU student health insurance plan continues to provide coverage of present benefits, it is estimated that costs could increase by as much as 60%. To reduce costs, options are to reduce coverage, limit benefits, and reduce off-quarter coverage. The University has issued a request for proposals from several companies. These bids are due February 21, 2000. Central Benefits is interested in continuing to provide administration of the plan and partner with another company to provide risk management. Delegates felt that Central Benefits does not have a fantastic record as far as administration is concerned. For example, delegates complained that it takes Central Benefits too long to send the insurance cards, resulting in situations where non-student spouses or children who are covered cannot get treatment.

Thanks to Kathleen Carberry for the clarifications. Approval moved by Delegate Huckelberry, seconded by Delegate Blumenaur. Motion (2000-1-6) passes unanimously with no abstentions.

II. OFFICER REPORTS

A. President - President Ron Meyers referred delegates to his printed report for details of current events. President Meyers further reported that the visit to OSU by Candidate John McCain was a success. The discussions concerning the Coca-Cola money are continuing; any monies from the contract will go through the normal budget process. Please contact President Meyers if you have any suggestions for budget requests. President Meyers also reports that the Executive Committee meeting of February 25, 2000, with Larry Lewellyn - Vice President of Human Resources - went very well. Mr. Lewellyn committed to a number of our requests:

Q: With regards to budget restructuring, what will be the effects of budget restructuring on the number of GAs hired by departments vs. the number of post-docs and lecturers?

Budget restructuring (OSU is on restructure Number 9) is going on as we speak. It is felt that the present budget does not reward entrepreneurial behavior or departments with high teaching loads. Simply stated, budget restructuring is intended to give support to departments that are engaging in these types of activities as well as to maintain resources which serve many people such as the libraries. We are afraid that budget restructuring will result in disincentives to departments to hire post-docs rather than graduate research assistants. Given the complex and controversial nature of the budget, the process of ascertaining exactly what the ramifications of restructuring will be for graduate students is ongoing. Students interested in this issue are encouraged to join the committee.

B. Treasurer - Briggs Cormier - The treasurer reports that approximately half of CGS' money remains in the budget even though we are more than halfway through the year. This is not unusual; some of our larger events - the research forum and the Spring picnic - are coming up next quarter. The budget is presently being revised, which is why there is no printed version available for delegate review at this time. The new version will be available at the April 7 meeting and will be sent out in that meeting's mailing.

C. Secretary - Christine Parker - The attendance policy is still binding, so to minimize errors in the records, please be sure to contact the Secretary if you are going to miss a meeting. Also, please do not forget to sign in. If you are going to be leaving CGS permanently for any reason, please let us know; as it will prevent any extraneous administrative hassles. Also, because the Graduate Voice, our main conduit for information regarding graduate students has been out of print for going on 2 years, delegates are reminded that the sharing of information with CGS and your constituencies is the fundamental role of a delegate. Do what you can - post information via email or paper, talk loudly about current issues in your department or at student gatherings - anything that will get the word out about CGS activities! The Secretary will try to compile some of the more useful information gleaned from the meeting minutes so that information can be more easily disseminated to delegates.

III. COMMITTEE REPORTS

A. Diversity - Chair Elizabeth Warren has organized an Alternative Spring Break, which has been co-sponsored by CGS. The program involves taking a group of students to NYC for a service learning project. People have dropped off of the Diversity committee recently, leaving only two, so more members are needed. Contact Elizabeth at: warren.168@osu.edu or by phone at GLBTA office at 292-6200 if you are interested in joining this committee.

B. Graduate Research Forum - WE STILL NEED VOLUNTEERS!! We still need judges as well, so please nominate professors to fill the following empty slots:

The next meeting of the Forum committee will take place at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, 2000. The more people are involved, the more successful the Forum will be.

C. PDF - Kelly Costner has resigned as chair to finish his dissertation, Ryan Nichols will be taking over as chair of this committee for the Spring 2000 competition, and Brian Rivera will take over as chair for Summer 2000. Breaking news: The Executive committee will be bringing a proposal to CGS in the near future to support changes that will make it possible to fully fund the PDF for the rest of the year on our own.

D. G-QUE - The results are still in the process of being organized. Today at the meeting of the Board of Trustees there was a long presentation on the value of graduate student education, which was quite nice. There is still no information available about exactly when the G-QUE will be published. President Meyers notes that over the last six months, he has noticed a shift back to graduate student issues, which had not been given the same attention as quality of undergraduate education. There seems to be more of a balance than there was before.

E. Housing - Amanda Callison - talks on graduate student housing issues are still progressing. If anyone would like to see some of the draft floor plans on the table, contact Amanda at: callison.11@osu.edu

IV. OLD BUSINESS

Academic Plan Comments - CGS' comments expressed our view that the Academic Plan focused too much on undergraduates, academic enrichment and selective investment. These things are important, but the Plan Draft does not adequately recognize that graduate students significantly add to quality of research and instruction We argued that academic excellence requires strong graduate programs, and that increasing academic excellence and university rankings, especially with the National Research Rankings due out in several years, requires improving graduate education. Grad students not only need increased support for PDF, etc, but need access to "basic resources" such as insurance coverage, minimum material support, and higher stipends.

Coca-Cola Contract Update - see President's report.

Request for President's Office for Rules Change President Kirwan responded to our letter requesting their cooperation in amending Senate Rules. The CGS Executive Committee will draft a resolution calling for a Senate rules change and will ask Luke Bradley to introduce the amendment through Senate Rules Committee. More information will be sent in the next packet.

NEW BUSINESS

BUDGET IDEAS - Because the general University Budget is being worked on intensively over the next month, President Meyers asked the delegates what they would like to see funded, so CGS can make our recommendations to the University budget. Delegate Blake suggests the possibility of subsidizing health insurance. President Meyers responded this is a good idea long advocated for by CGS. Estimates say covering health insurance would cost between $2 to $10 million.

NAGPS INSURANCE - anyone interested in information about health insurance offered through NAGPS should check out the NAGPS website (www.nagps.org) or pick up a brochure at the CGS office.

Resolution: brought forward by Kathleen Carberry on behalf of the Executive Committee, to improve student support for athletic teams at Schottenstein Center and Ohio Stadium. The committee is advocating for more student seating in the "bowl" sections, as well as a fair shake at good seats in the renovated stadium. Treasurer Cormier remarked that people have mentioned to him that even they have noticed the lack of student support at OSU sporting events. According to Ms. Carberry, the athletic department does allow "unofficially" for domestic partners to buy student tickets, though you need to provide "proof" of such status.

Q: who gets the good seats now? Seat license holders, donors to university, members of the general public that have been coming for a long time.

Delegate Holbrook remarks that having the home court advantage is a worthy reason to have student seating together and not just near the ceiling. Delegate Weakley suggests that the wording of the 4th WHEREAS be changed for the following reason: philosophically speaking, OSU students are already "united" in their support of OSU sports, so the phrase should be changed so as to better convey that the point is specifically about seating plans. The motion (2000-1-7) to support the resolution passes unanimously, with no abstentions.

DELEGATE INTERESTS AND CONCERNS

Delegate Huckelberry reported that students in the History department held a meeting on health insurance and domestic partners. While students are aware that they are not going to get everything they want, how else can they work to focus their efforts in support of these and other issues? Who should they be talking to? President Meyers suggests encouraging people to come to CGS and join the committees that deal with these issues. There are many strategies CGS has developed to work on these issues. One strategy is to make clear the connections between excellent graduate education and excellence in compensation and benefits, which CGS has been doing in a variety of venues. There will be a health insurance forum on March 30th in the Ohio Union at 4 p.m. Three plans selected by the Student Health Insurance committee will be discussed. Exact location is TBA in the Lantern. Delegate Soloninka suggests that the information received at the last Executive Committee meeting be passed out to everyone. To the question of who will ultimately decide this issue, Treasurer Cormier points out that CGS has three delegates on the student health committee that looks at all the bids before it goes to CSA, on which we also have three representatives. The student governments have the opportunity to comment on the proposed plan in different arenas, and it will be heard by the Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees for approval. Delegate Huckelberry also reports that the faculty in his department support subsidizing insurance for graduate students, but feel that they can't really do anything to help. President Meyers responds that faculty can help by advocating for better benefits in their departments and asking their Chairs and Deans to support increased benefits. The more people who participate in the debate, the better. We understand that budgets are quite complicated, but change can be effected. President Meyers suggests that delegates have their faculty representatives to University Senate advocate actively for subsidizing grad student health insurance. Secretary Parker volunteers to try to put together an information sheet on the health insurance issue, in the hopes that it can help people understand what the issues are and thus allow them to more effectively organize their advocacy efforts. Ms. Carberry also adds that it looks as if the price for health insurance will only go up by $10-20 per quarter, and that CGS will try to disseminate ASAP the available information on the three final bids to be discussed on March 30th.

Announcements - None.

Adjournment - Moved (2000-1-8) by delegate Weakley, seconded by delegate Kloss.

Respectfully submitted,
Christine Parker
CGS Secretary

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