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Council of Graduate Students - Minutes - 12 April 2002

In attendance were:

Absences:

I. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 3:35pm, J. Briggs Cormier, President, presiding.

II. Approval of minutes

A motion to approve the minutes from March 8, 2002, was made by Delegate Lewis and seconded by Delegate Bossard. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

III. External Committee Reports

Council on Academic Affairs representative Mike Daniels gave an overview of the committee's purpose: oversight of all academic concerns, including revisions to existing programs, the creation of new programs, as well as approval of university reorganizations. Of particular interest to graduate students are the creation of the PhD in Women's Studies as well as the recent changes to MEd programs.

Council on Student Affairs representative Ed Lasseigne pointed out that the committee deals with all issues dealing with student life. The committee is made up of students, staff, and faculty, with a student chair. It advises the VP for student affairs on a variety of issues. Current issues that the committee has been dealing with: the prevalence of credit card solicitors -- the university will be making an exclusive contract with one vendor so that they can limit that vendor's practices; insurance; Morrison Tower; inter-student government relations; student organization oversight; change in graduation day; the new multicultural center.

I like the idea of limiting credit card companies, but isn't granting a monopoly bad? There'll be no incentive to offer decent APRs. Right. But the other companies will just move across the street off university property, so there'll still be competition. And, like the Coke contract, students will likely get some part of the money.

Can we fund financial awareness classes with some of this money? This is planned.

Has a vendor already been chosen? No, negotiations are still in progress.

Council on Enrollment and Student Progress representative Christine Rivera observed that this committee makes policy for enrollment management, scheduling, and fees. They've discussed Sunday commencement (the registrar's concerns are on the ability to still give out the diploma right at graduation). There's a subcommittee for minority retention that will be studying issues and making recommendations. The Registrar's Student Advisory Council, a related body, has recommended the removal of telephone BRUTUS services; will save $150,000 per year. But only 30% of the students right now use web BRUTUS: 70% still use the phone services. What happens if someone's window opens while they're on the road? Delegates should contact Brad Myers if they have comments.

Athletic Council -- Allyson Lowe for Ron Meyers. This committee spends most of its time dealing with the athletic budget. One current topic deals with students and basketball seating. There's a proposal that would move students down to the lower bowl and concentrate them. So there should be much more crowd support at local games. Hopefully, this will sell more tickets. Other major topic is academic policy for student athletes -- there's a student athlete support services office that provides tutoring for athletes and mentoring. Delegates should contact Ron Meyers with any concerns or if they have an interest in working with SASSO.

Will ticket prices increase? Basketball will not. Football will either be no increase or a $1 increase.

Student Health Insurance Committee -- Jeff Lewis for Shonda Craft. There is not going to be a low-rate plan; it would have to involve astronomically-high deductables, and would not actually benefit anyone. A 'hard waiver' requirement is probably going to happen at some point. Chiropractic benefits will probably be added. A handout was provided that explains some of the decisions the committee will be making; this is available from the CGS office.

Number 12 mentions an increase in the office visit copay -- if this happened, would there be no deductible? Not sure.

What's the rationale with the change that would remove coverage for pre-existing pregnancies? Right now, statistics show that there are a lot of people who enter the insurance plan pregnant; it's thought that this would save money.

President Cormier pointed out that he would not support a hard waiver condition until the university is supporting more of GAs' expenses.

IV. Delegate Issues and Concerns

COTA discussion

Ted Robles, chair of the COTA/OSU partnership committee, asked to speak with Council. He pointed out that COTA issues are becoming relevant with the upcoming decision on whether to renew the COTA fee. It was last voted on in 1999; CGS took no position on the renewal. By the end of decade, there should be about 28,000 parking spaces on campus for about 100,000 campus visitors/day. So mass transit makes some sense.

Right now, there's a flat fee, issued in 1997 and up for renewal in 2004. Students pay $9 a quarter and get unlimited service in return; the normal monthly pass is $40/month. This has generally been felt to be a successful program, and many routes have recently received upgraded service levels due to student usage. It seems like a third of all students use their COTA pass. The GQUE said good things about COTA, and ridership has increased over last few years: about 4000 rides/week.

The OSU/COTA committee has students, COTA people, Student Affairs people, and Business/Finance people. It works on fixing general problems with services. The committee is trying to find out who rides in general: all COTA knows is how many rides are taken. Similary, not much info is available from Traffic & Parking. They're trying to get interested students to do a research project on this; they don't have the resources to commission one of these. Do people have general impressions?

What if I never use the bus? Will I ever be able to get a refund of the fee? Good question. Right now, this isn't possible. Based on referenda votes, though, there seemed to be overwhelming support. (Though only 10000 votes were cast).

Some routes stop running at 6pm - this is not good.

How do COTA and CABS interrelate? CABS makes money from parking fees, permits, etc., and not from fares. There's been some discussion of COTA taking over some of CABS' routes (like the outer residential routes).

How much route advertisement is being done? It's hard to tell when weekend service is running, and how much the schedules are being adhered to. You're right that advertising is a big problem. COTA is putting some effort into this, but suggestions are still welcome. Maybe a partnership with the student governments.

You need to have signs at the stops with times listed -- people don't have web access while they're on the streets. This is done on the major routes, but not all. The downtown shelters have signs, and some campus stops do as well. There's also a web-based schedule, of course.

Signs at every stop will help a lot with impromptu trips. Right. We'll look into this.

Meeting space

President Cormier asked delegates for their thoughts on meeting spaces. For instance, do people prefer tables or chairs?

I would prefer an enclosed space to tables.

Does the conference theater have fold-out tables? I don't think so.

Cormier explained that meeting in the Union has been a priority for CGS for a while on a conceptual level -- the union is where student government ought to belong. CGS is also trying to get a space where the delegates can see each other, so as to have less of a lecture feeling for meetings. We generally seat 80-90 people. What else do people think about meeting spaces?

I really liked Younkin. What happened? We don't fit there anymore -- if everyone shows up, we wouldn't fit. Its capacity was 70 people. Similarly, we try to avoid spaces that seat 150+ people, as everyone sits in the back, and we get swallowed up.

Other issues and concerns

Delegate Kearns recently lost funding and has been looking around for funding. There's no central listing of open assistantship positions. She asks if CGS could look into creating one. Cormier responded by pointing out that there is one in financial aid, but it's not that up to date. CGS is considering asking departments to make a better use of this site. CGS will also start to try to keep a "job book" up to date. Note that this task is even harder for incoming students.

Delegate Goldberg is on a research committee for her college; it appears that budget restructing will impact RAs, based on new indirect recovery policies, and there will be an inducement to replace RAs with non-graduate researchers. Cormier responded by saying that this is an issue on many people's plates, but the administration is telling us: "we'll wait and see what happens". This is not very comforting. They'll say say "just write this into the grant proposal", but grant agencies don't like that.

Delegate Bach knows a long-time TA who was terminated for illness. This person wasn't even directly told, but heard about it from a third party. So what happens when GAs get into an accident? The termination cut this person off from student health insurance, causing even more problems. What regulations are there for mid-term termination? Couldn't an international student be deported if this happened? Dean Siddens pointed out that this particular case has since been settled. It's true that assistantships do not carry sick leave or bereavement leave. The position of the Graduate School, however, is that employing units should try to make every effort to work with their circumstances and avoid termination. Nonetheless, if the department has to hire a replacement, it's not clear how else the cost of double-employment could be avoided. The grad school thinks termination is a last resort and is working on a set of explicit guidelines for the colleges. But these guidelines can't become too strict, or else they would just stop hiring GAs. The grad school does make a point of intervening when it hears of extreme situations. Cormier said that CGS is looking into this and hoping to help develop these kinds of guidelines.

V. Resolution 0102-SP-022: Support for Ohio Union Renovation

Cormier introduced this resolution, saying that it supports renovations to the Ohio Union. These is some funding allocated for this, but not enough. It would be good to have a resolution endorsing renovations. Note that it would draw from the capital budget, which cannot be used for anything else (like salaries or benefits). We're the first union, ever. Problems include that the basement leaks, there's asbestos, etc.

What's currently on the capital list? Various buildings -- physical facilities has a web page.

It's very difficult to get use of a currently-vacant room, say for an impromptu session -- they're always locked when not reserved. The original concerns had to do with security, but something ought to be done. We'll try to do something about this.

The resolution passed by voice vote.

VI. Resolution 0102-SP-023: Support for Sunday Commencement

This was discussed at earlier meeting. Senate Steering wants a formal vote on this from us. Sunday is preferred as it would make things easier from out-of-town families and families who work. Side issue: this would facilitate the elimination of senior finals.

What if someone was starting a new job on Monday? Yes, this has been discussed.

When would it take effect? Maybe Autumn 02, but need to talk about costs first (time-and-a-half for weekend labor).

Sunday morning or afternoon? Afternoon. So people would still have to take Monday off.

Why not Saturday? Sabbath concerns.

There are a number of international services on Sunday afternoon, using the sanctuaries otherwise used in the morning.

Is the issue of costs just now being raised? No, but steering is more focused on money now. Students don't care as much about costs on this issue, but now rest of university is taking note.

This would help productivity, because non-commencers can't park or get work done that Friday. Yes, this has been mentioned.

What do other universities do? CESP will be looking into this. Right now, only about four others do a Friday commencement. OSU, though, has a strong tradition of diploma receipt -- almost no one else does this.

Saturday night after sunset would get around the Sabbath issue, and ease travel quite a bit. I'll mention this.

Illinois did Sunday commencement, and never really had any problems with that. There were smaller college ceremonies on Saturday evening or Sunday morning.

The motion passed by voice vote.

VII. Act 0102-SP-024: Budget Amendment

We turned out to have more carryover than expected. This act allocates that new carryover. Money will go into spring picnic.

The motion passed unanimously by voice vote.

VIII. Officer Nominations

VP Scrogham explained the elections procedures; candidates need to turn in a nomination form by April 19. The form is available in the office and from our website. Need to turn in one-page resume/vita, electronic, so can be included in packet.

IX. Committee Reports

Campus Events: work is underway for the spring picnic. Thanks for budget increase! Volunteers needed, signup at entrance. Please take and post fliers. Committee meeting on Sunday at 5 in CGS office.

Governance CGS won the outstanding student organization award -- anyone want to join us at the banquet? Friday May 3; we have 4 seats open.

X. Officer reports

Treasurer Ed Lasseigne. Notice CSA allocation on report. Other recent report changes: international students concerns' focus groups, shredder and color printer for office, regional NAGPS conference.

Secretary Mike Daniels had no report.

Vice President Eve Scrogham Research Forum is a week from tomorrow. Volunteers still needed; signup sheet is going around. Need people for administrative sciences timer as well as general cleanup. We now have 98 delegates. I am serving as a team leader for AIDSWALK; see packet announcement. Email scrogham.1@osu.edu if interested in participating. There are also two committee openings: Homecoming Committee and Student Health Insurance Committee.

President J. Briggs Cormier. CAA has asked for an appointee on curricular quality control that would watch out for curricular quality issues and unacceptable course responses to budget restructuring. Please contact Briggs if interested in serving. This will be a committee that will start in the Spring and continue through the summer.

Wrote provost on workload issues. Provost then sent letters to chairs mentioned and deans mentioned. Chairs/deans were asked to contact CGS and explain themselves. Have heard from one so far, expecting more. They're told to contact Dean Huntington on acceptable GA workload policies.

President Kirwan will be leaving OSU on June 30; we've named Marsha Robinson to the new search committee. In last few months, he'll try to finalize the current academic plan initiatives. He did mention GAs as part of competitive compensation. We're in a separate pool, so we can't be ignored. GAs who are continuing and performing well should get a raise. Other Academic Plan initiatives are: undergrad program improvements, advisor improvements, fewer closed classes, the Center for Race and Ethnicity in the Americas (which just announced the appointment of a permanent director), and biomedical research -- a new building should be announced soon. Kirwan is also trying to resolve tenure issue before he leaves. There has been a demolition contract issued for the gateway area.

The interim president should be announced in May or June. There's been a survey on decanal consultation; Briggs has results if anyone wants to review them. There is a decent bit of dean/faculty friction on campus; Arts, Libraries, and FAES were singled out as good examples. We're trying to make sure GS consultation is just as important.

Delegate terms end at end of summer; all programs should be having spring elections soon.

Delegate Oelgoetz asks: if GA raises are tied to performance, what if I'm not really being reviewed? What if there aren't announced reviews? In other words, how do I know if I'm doing okay? Do guidelines exist? Cormier: Yes, I brought this up. Guidelines differ quite widely across campus, and we probably ought to have something similar. Will send provost a letter.

Treasurer Lasseigne: won't all raises in the future be conditioned on performance? Cormier: they already are, just not as officially so. This is something the provost feels strongly about. Delegate Oelgoetz mentioned that he'd been asked to contribute data as head TA for the people he supervises, but he doesn't know what happens with this info.

XI. Announcements

Benjamin Zephaniah: April 19 - 21, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm. British 'dub' poet. Cosponsored by CGS. Book signing and reception after Sunday show. Drake Center - Thurber Theatre.

Dance show April 12-13. $5 tickets; Sullivant hall.

On May 4 on the south oval from 11-6pm: Renaissance Guild event, including a human chess board, plays, performances, and so on.

Delegate Bach is giving her doctoral recital (piano), free concert: April 21, 4pm, Weigel Auditorium.

Several events are being organized for Human Rights Awareness Week: May 13 - May 19. Visit this location for information.

XII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 5:41pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Daniels
CGS Secretary
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