Meeting Minutes
The Council of Graduate Students General Delegate Meeting
Friday, April 6, 2000- 3:30 PM
The Younkin Success Center
Present: Officers: Ron Meyers (presiding), Hyunsook Yoon, Briggs Cormier, Kevin Cope
Executives: Anil Challa, Michael Daniels, Michael Duffy, Anuradha Ghosh, Phil Huckelberry, Allyson Lowe, Alecia Naugle, Elizabeth Warren
Voting Delegates: Jareer Abu-Ali, Cathryn Allen, Matthew Anderson, Judit Bach, Farzan Bharucha, Betsy Breseman, Stefne Broz, Jill Burkhart, Homero Cantu, Pankaj Choudhary, Roger Dashner, Jennifer Delong, Deborah Dority, Gregory Emch, Kay Fukuda, Leigh Anne Goldberg, John Harris, Mike Harrower, Gretchen Harwood, Unmesh Kurup, Edward Lasseigne, Scott Lepla, Stacza Lapinski, Gillian McIntosh, Elizabeth Moore, Megan Nussbaum, Justin Pepperney, Joe Pirone, Susan Printy, Brian Ralston, Scott Risley, Christina Riveera, Eve Scrogham, Kurset Sendur, Reema Shafi, John Shea, Theresa Skybo, Charles Thorne, Osman Topac, Michael Triplett, Tommy Truong, Ray Tseng, Lisa Wallace, Jeff Walline, Kevin Weakley, Rachel Weidinger, Jing Zhao,
Non-Voting Delegates, Committee Representatives, Senators, Representatives and Guests: Costner, Earl, Hodak, Hall, Leatherman, Michalak, Shadley, Siddens, Van Brimer
Introductions: Officers, Committee Chairs, Advisors, David Stetson, Lynch, C Bradley Moore
Guest Speaker- C Bradley Moore, Vice President for Research
I'm really excited to be here to talk with you. Research is rapidly building and graduate students form the majority of research here. We have in place a great academic plan, we wish the state fiscal environment was more sunny but we plan to stick with the plan and make OSU one of the world's truly leading universities.
As I go around the country I hear that you all understand the importance of multi-disciplinary research. I wish my generation had been as aware of the need for working across disciplines. We're going to have to work together on this so I need your help to make this happen. Please tell me when something is difficult that needs doing in research.
Our basic job is to help people apply for grants to help get faculty together to start new programs, to work together with the graduate school to provide the kind of atmosphere that allows you to concentrate on your program.
The most important part of our research program is you all. This means we need to be competitive in every way, such as in salary and benefits, but more importantly having the best programs. One thing we don't talk about too often is the way in which we give you opportunities to teach. Teaching is a large part of your future activities. For some of you going into industry and other areas, you will never regret teaching , no matter what career you're involved in. So I help that part of what we do is help you learn to teach effectively in the classroom.
Ron Meyers gave me a list of topics that you might be interested in, but I'd like to hear from your questions so that we talk about the things you're most interested in.
McIntosh: What are the ways of going about working toward multidisciplinary research? Moore: The ways I do it is help faculty bring forward and put together proposals to make this type of research possible. You as grad students, need to get together with the right faculty. It is very important that as you make the transition to a professional position and that you work carefully with your advisors to help you seek out a position that suit your interdisciplinary interests Get to know the faculty in both of your departments.
Lasseigne: What can you say about humanities and how they might be integrated into the program? Moore: I don't think they're substantially different than any of the other disciplines. There are multi-disciplinary centers within the humanities .There are certainly more activities within the sciences and engineering, but if you think of how people learn, and the different things that are relevant to learning, the best ways for people to learn and teach is through multi-disciplinary programs. The things we learn in disciplines like biology will be very helpful in how we tackle other social science issues.
Cope: How will the Science and Technology campus impact opportunities for graduate research?
Moore: The Science and Technology campus (SciTech) represents a very good opportunity for students. The SciTech is not quite part of the university. It's a semi-independent corporation that will provide a home for new business and a place where faculty can start businesses from ideas that have come out of research programs. It's fundamental purpose for the university is to move the new knowledge into application for the benefit of society . The benefit for students is new ways to become involved in high tech startups while you're here at the university.
Jeff: What ideas do you have to recruit the best graduate students. Moore: Recruiting the best student requires that you have the best faculty, the best facilities, and the best opportunities. That's why people come to a university, for particular opportunity. For me the name of the game is being at the cutting edge with the leading edge in the country in every thing in which we choose to excel. Grad student like to be where other students are. Jeff: Are there any specific programs? Moore: A competitive situation for grad students is definitely key. Although it varies according to field It needs to be competitive and human- you need be healthy in pursuing your degree. Those benefits are a piece of it. I suspect that most of our departments are concerned and work hard at it.
Delegate: In setting up your programs, would your office take away the responsibilities form students for multi-disciplinary programs and accept some if it yourself, or do we have to do all the organization ourselves? Moore: No, we're not that bad off. Right now we have some programs in place and the other possibility is that we have some interdisciplinary grad programs that involve faculty from different departments. There are many programs here more than Berkeley.
Robinson: Is the university going to expand its global research activity? Moore: I can't answer that. I'm sorry. I know we do some global research but I'm not aware of it.
Challa: May graduate students submit research proposals to the office? Moore: By in large the direction of research programs is led by faculty. That s not to say that student can't have a great idea. If you're to send us a proposal in research we'd send it back out to faculty.
Delegate: In my lab, we have a problem with lack of communication and sharing. We do a variety of research, and some of the equipment we can't afford but need. Other programs have the equipment but don't use it. Is there are way to solve it. Moore. Yes. This is an area where we can look take suggestions from faculty and students. This is an area where we're constantly looking to improve. There are many areas where we all worked together.
Harrower: Sometimes in interdisciplinary research you're viewed as neither fish nor fowl. Is there internal funding for interdisciplinary research? And prospects for increasing. Moore: We've asked the faculty to put together ideas. In January we selected some to move forward with. But we're not in the business of funding research. We're in the business of helping people fund research.
Meyers : Where do you stand on insurance and stipends? Moore: Our stipends have got to be competitive and a piece of that is the health benefit. Another piece is that it just makes sense to have a sensible health plan. Does that mean you should have faculty benefits? That'd might be nice but that might not be the best use of university resources. You are all healthier than faculty.
Delegate: I know from personal experience that the benefits here are worse than many other high school degree jobs. Moore: Health benefits for grad students vary widely across the country form nothing to a full staff member. We won't go from minimal to maximal in one year. I've encouraged my colleague to support it.
Lasseigne It seems that university research meets with capitalism and profit. How do you think that might affect university financing. How could humanities research play a role in that? Do you admit that there might be a potential for high stipends for some and low for others? Moore: As you know, stipends in the humanities are much different than in the science and eng. So there's a very wide variation. I wish the university would move to a little more convergence on that.
Weidinger: The course bulletin has description that are not accurate. If you can do something to fix that it would make things 100,000,000 times easier. Moore: I commissioned a group in the CIO's office to put a really good website for research. I'll try to include courses on that.
Meyers: Thank you
(Applause)
Guest Speakers- Joe Barr, Professor of Optometry, David Lieberman, Chair of the Council on Student Affairs, David Stetson- Professor of EEOB
Stetson: We have a website: http://www.osu.edu/calendarstudy. You might ask why we are transitioning. We are not definitely transitioning - we are studying it. The research we have done indicates no clear-cut pedagogical benefit . There is not significant cost-saving. Many undergrads are panicked that it will come down on their heads. But it will not happen for several years.
I might make sense to convert now because we have it in our academic plan and we are evaluating the GEC. It might make since to do it all at one time. The computer program that maintains your transcripts was developed in 1973. We need to incorporate a new system into the registrars office. The University of Minnesota integrated all at once and went a whole year without transcripts. We're going to do this right if we do it. We would need to buy a new computer system to do it. If we bring in the new software, it would be flexible enough to transition from quarters to semesters easily. But even if we recommended today that we transition, we wouldn't do it for 4-5 years.
I am chair of the student subcommittee. We broke up into separate subcommittees. We also broke down in to other committees We can got semesters, but it could cost tens of millions of dollars, perhaps less. We also have a committee examining faculty and research issues. Any change should not include more burden on faculty, and I've been pushing for TAs to be included in this definition of faculty. The bottom line there is that there is no obvious harm to faculty, it workload is not increased. We have identified several student cohorts, and have not assumed that every cohort will be influenced in the same way.
We have not made a decision, but we will by May 15th when we will present to Senate Steering.
Barr: 85% of major institutions are on semesters. If we were to convert, the number of courses would likely decrease. The number of courses that most students would take per term would increase. In undergraduate courses where there would be an increased need for number of sections, there would be an increased demand for part-time faculty/ grad students. Regarding collaborative research, the president thinks it will improve it. The University of Minnesota contradicted that though.
Stetson: Questions?
Delegate: I went through such a transition at Antioch and it was quite hectic and we lost a lot of freedom. Stetson: The word we've got is it actually improves things like study abroad. Barr: This is typical people can't agree on which is better for what. Is the fact that the president thinks its better the only impetus? Stetson: We can go back to the 1950s, and this question comes up every 5-10 years.
Leppla: Undergrads say that the biggest problem with quarters is that when you change majors, its easier because you can take more classes. Stetson: We are a committee that will come with a recommendation there is another committee that will revise the GECs regardless of what we do. Lieberman: Last year there was poll that said 80% preferred quarters. If there was a switch, the GECs would have to be revised.
Jeff: What are the benefits from Kirwan's point of view? Lieberman: He said there's a great cost saving with semesters. And that there's a reason everyone must be going to them and the collaboration effort would be greatly benefited.
Ramakrishnan: Each of the different student populations have different perspectives. The quarter system is better from some undergrads perspective. Stetson : The one advantage we've heard is that the experience is better for students. I know no reason why a convergence would change workload or benefits. 20 hours is 20 hours. There's no reason why summer stipends and other benefits should decrease.
Wichman: Personally I have benefited form quarters. I'm in psychology and we rely strongly on undergrads in research. With the quarter system we expose a maximum number of students to the research process. Finally, setting a deadline in the quarters system encourages more research getting done. Lieberman: For some, undergrads and for some its bad. Stetson: Some would say that the pace in a semester is slower so they're more inclined to research. I'd love to see research comparing stress levels of students in quarters versus semesters!
Stetson: This report was done nine years ago by Dick Gunther. He concluded that neither system presented a significant advantage.
Huckelberry: What will the area Community Colleges do? Stetson: If we go, they go. We have tried not to define what we mean by semesters, but we have a general guideline.
Hodak: Would your recommendation include a grandfather clause that allowed students to choose their pathway? Stetson: The transitions would occur such that no student is disadvantaged at any point.
Delegate: Previous speakers have suggested that we'd have to teach 2 courses per term. Stetson: No. Delegate: Some colleges do one class one term, two the second term. Stetson: You are assigned hours; faculty are assigned courses.
Triplett: Have you considered impacts to hiring students in jobs?
Stetson: We are considering that.
Meyers: Thanks
Ron Meyers, President, called the meeting to order at 4:53
Approval of Minutes
Amendments:
Conrad: March 2nd meeting: I was in attendance.
Leppla: Change introduction of Lasseigne of protecting UVC rights to Leppla
Doddsworth: In the February 2 minutes, my name was misspelled.
Minutes approved unanimously by affirmation
Office Reports
President Ron Meyers
It's been an incredible week, and we've gotten good media exposure. In health insurance, we've had pretty stunning success. We also have to be careful in talking because of the lengthy budget process. We're delivered the petitions to the Provost yesterday morning. They're well aware of our sentiment on it. We're working on a number of other things including working the community. Our community roost project is tomorrow at noon. Please come.
Pirone: Nice job to you on the Lantern write-ups and the health insurance petitions along with Phil.
Lasseigne: To what degree is the executive committee involved in the vice president search?
Meyers: We've appointed someone from CGS and Kevin and I will interview one of the finalists on Monday. We need to be open to each of the candidates. Leppla: Will the CGS general body have the opportunity to weigh in on a candidate? Meyers: That might be appropriate later. We try to do this fairly discreetly. Please attend the interviews and meet and greets.
Lasseigne: How is the ongoing effort on CGS and Student Activities auditing going? Meyers: Slowly. There's a committee that has taken comments from us, and they will be getting back with us to interview the exec board, the grad school and Student Activities.
Weidinger: What university office is the Coke contract with and how long does it last? Business and Finance and Student Affairs. Student Affairs got a chunk of money as did Academic Affairs.
Hodack: After 2005 this wont be an issue anymore as Coke is looking to change the way they do contracts.
Huckelberry: What office can we go to replace Fruitopia? Cope: Go to Kevin.
Vice President Hyunsook Yoon
See handout regarding elections
Meyers: She got a 4.0 last quarter, in addition to all the great work she did for CGS. Let's acknowledge that. (Applause)
Treasurer Briggs Cormier
See Budget handout
Secretary Kevin Cope
No Report
Amanda: I work with the University District Organization. We are an organization of organizations that does many different types of work in the University District. A very big concern in the past is that OSU has not contributed very much to the neighborhood in which it resides. That has changed in the past several years by doing many different things. I want to thank you for that. The neighbors and residents of this area are feeling much better about OSU and we're thankful for that. I brought copies of our newsletter today if you want it. The COTA is talking about light rail so if you're interesting in city and regional planning please come to one of the forums.
Delegate: What is light rail?
Amanda: I've convinced the COTA people to bring their plan to this neighborhood. Whether you're for having light rail or against please attend our upcoming meeting.
Old Business
Briggs April Budget Revision Proposal
The Coke contract generates revenue for student governments and we've received interest from the fund and we've generated interest retroactively. To date we've received a little over $15,000. We have a check coming for $26,000. Questions?
Delegate Mcintosh moved
Delegate Nelson second
Passed unanimously by affirmation
Also, I've been working on detailing our account lines in a slightly more sophisticated way that will work better with the university's system. This does not change the amount of money in each line it only changes the way the budget is structured. Any questions?
Pirone: Was there any questions in the restructuring
Briggs None.
Ramakrishna moved
Conrad seconded
Passed unanimously by affirmation
Yoon: We have a candidate running for RGC.
Hi my name is Aaron Wichman. My reason for doing this is that I want to be one of the people who is willing to listen.
No objection to consent
Wichman elected
Officer Election Nominations
Delegate moved to open nominations
Delegate seconded
Passed unanimously by affirmation
Meyers: nominates Mike Daniels for secretary
Leppla: nominates Eve Scrogham for vice president
Hodak: nominates Briggs Cormier for president
(Each candidate gives brief speech).
Pirone introduces resolution on tuition cap
I'm putting forward hoping that it will be approved at our May meeting.
Kendra: USG has passed a resolution on the cap. I know you have a number of connections to undergrads, and a lot of students feel that the proposal would damage the Academic Plan.
Leppla: I introduced a motion to protect UVC advisors and make sure that they are protected. I didn't see it today. Can we discuss it next time?
Meyers: Yes
Committee Reports
Carmie Gade- Events
May 18th from 4-8pm is our Spring picnic. We need a lot more help. It will be a great event. Please help out. Please sign up.
Phil Huckelberry- Compensation and Benefits
Thanks. (Applause)
Anil Challa- International Concerns
Announcements
Briggs: There's a grand mime performer this weekend at the Thurber theater.
Robinson: There are people putting on an international family fest at ** middle school. If you're a cultural performer, please contact me robinson.666@osu.edu.
Delegate Pirone moved to adjourn
Delegate Nelson seconded
Adjourned at 5:50pm.
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