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Minutes - 16 January 2004

In attendence were:

Absences:

Speaker

Dr. Karen A. Holbrook, President of The Ohio State University

Pres. Holbrook spoke about the importance of grad students to the university. As a past grad student dean at U of Florida, grad students are very important to her. Grad students are extremely important to a research university. Grad students are generally not funded as well as should be at most universities. Grad education is critical to the economy of the state. The value of grad students while in the academic environment is very high as junior faculty, researchers, etc. Grad students are not a drain on the university financially. We don’t have the % of grad students that we should have at a research institute. That is something that I am working on. On our leadership agenda right now, there are 3 areas that make OSU distinctive: 1 building interdisciplinary research. 2 building the research of undergrads 3 outreach that connects academic excellence and society needs.

To promote interdisciplinary research, funds could be better invested in developing minors for grad students and to build interdisciplinary seminars for grad students to get involved in.

Comp & benefit issues, I am strongly supportive of increasing stipends, maternity leave, extended leaves, all are very important to me and are being worked on.

Research track, bringing in research faculty to dedicate time strictly to research who aren’t responsible for teaching but only focus on research. They would spend a great deal of time working with grad students.

A lot of very strong effort on behalf of grad students, faculty and others to save funding for grad education and to show the legislature that this is important. Faculties want to be here to teach grad students, not just UG. The legislature doesn’t understand the importance of grad education, and we will continue to try to teach them the importance to the state of grad education.

The Commission on higher education and the economy is working to show what higher education needs to do to help the state of Ohio. The state should review all the programs and eliminate the redundancy of programs and take away finances and the ability to offer a degree. The sense is there among business and legislature that there are too many of some programs. Those are the kinds of things we need to work on. One of the things we are asking is that if there is going to be a review, it should be done by an external source to remove politics from the review.

Del. Kulbaga: Would the research faculty tract apply to all departments? I am an English Dept. student and would we get this also? Dr. Holbrook: Every dept. would get the opportunity but it would be implemented by each dept.

Del Garcia: Where are we on diversity issues? Dr. Holbrook: We are now using essay questions to get an idea of a broader range of students, and with this type of application we are down in numbers in applications. We do have a Minority student recruitment plan. We do have a diversity action plan and you may want to check the executive summary that gives a look at what the best practice is to recruit and maintain. We have functional data, but we does it make a difference? We are working to bring in someone from outside to see whether the changes we have implemented have made a difference.

Sen. Briggs: You talked about combining research and grad school administration at Florida, do you see that happening at OSU. Dr. Holbrook: OSU is very big and those 2 dept. are huge and I wouldn’t even think of doing it unless it has beenstudied and shown to be beneficial and both dept heads were vacant at the same time.

Chairman Cunningham: How do we maintain Land grant institute status and keep the education of student s in the forefront with all this talk of research importance? Dr. Holbrook: We are a land grant institute, we have a unique job of giving back to the community. The Leadership agenda addresses just that point of making sure we keep the students first. The intent is to build research to be the base of the institute so that we can build off it.

Chairman Sosnoskie: What are we doing to make sure the farmers in Ohio don’t feel that OSU is so focused on research that agriculture gets lost, we are a land grant institute Dr. Holbrook: Outreach and engagement is important to every dept. and we need to make it known that we make a difference and reach out to each extension office. Please check the leadership agenda on the web and you will find that these issues are all addressed.

Del. Zmuma: Feeder schools, is there any agenda to increase this to encourage more students to come to OSU? Dr. Holbrook: There is some work being done aiwht Feeder schools. Also put in place the default curriculum a college prep course work. This is not the case right now, but is being looked at. Connecting education as a continuum is an important point to look at.

Chairman Bedekar: Is there work being done on a diversity survey? Dr. Holbrook: Some work is being done but I am not aware of the specific.

Del. Kushins: Any work on merit based scholarships like in FL & GA? Dr. Holbrook: We have merit based scholarships, but also need based scholarships here. The problem is that it is very expensive and the economy in Ohio is very serious and we are getting ready to rescind the 1% sales tax, but there is something in the governor’s agenda called "Earn to Learn"

Del. Frazier: Would you welcome it if the majority of GA’s unionized, would you be for it? Dr. Holbrook: I am not going to answer that because I don’t have enough information about what is going on here to answer that.

Del. Pearson: Funding cuts: Has any thought been given to locating more resources? Dr. Holbrook: We work on that every day. We do very well in development. We would love to see more go into scholarships and faculty, but we also have to upkeep on buildings and we don’t’ get anything from the state.

I. Call to Order

Meeting was called to order by President Depelteau at 4:19 pm.

II. Approval of minutes 21 November 2003

Approved by unanimous vote.

III. Officer Reports

A.President - Jamie Depelteau

Nothing to add, but next student positions on Board of Trustees is open. Forming a committee on comp & benefits.

B.Vice President - Kerry Hodak

We have copies of the forum proceedings. We are still in need of abstract judges and forum judges. They can apply on line. Very few students have applied, please encourage students to apply. Go to CGS website and link to forum to apply. Deadline for abstract judges is Jan 30.

C.Treasurer - Ann Farrelly

No questions or comments.

IV. Committee Reports

A. Events

Patty Cunningham: Buckeye Blizzard is winter qtr programming. OUAB events "Saved by the Bell" casts coming. Spike Lee is coming Jan 21 to talk. "The Last Crusade" is free. Chris Rock is coming for free at Schott. Wed. nights at Woody’s is karaoke and Thurs. is Jazz night. Tour Columbus, you can earn free coupons to Cameron Mitchell’s restaurant. Feb. 21 Free admission to Mardi Gras Ball by IPC and CGS. Movie passes to LOR RTK.

B. Outreach

Chad Combs: Monday: Project Community is putting together a big service project. Meet 8am in front of the Union. Feb 15 Habitat of Humanity moving day.

V. Old Business

There was no old business.

VI. New Business

A.Resolution 0304-WI-014: A Resolution Commending the University for Including Gender Identity in the Nondiscrimination Clause

VP Hodak: designated as speaker for Sen. Briggs: we are thanking them for including this in the nondiscrimination clause. Amendment made: In the let it further be resolved: add names (EUNICE Hornsby, Olga Esquivel-Gonzalez, and Carmeen Yarbrough from the Office of Human Resources; Kim Shumate from Legal Affairs; Audeen Fentiman from the College of Engineering; and Josh Stulberg from the Moritz College of Law). Motion by Daniels second by Combs. No objection to consent; Resolution passed by unanimous vote.

B. Act 0304-WI-015: An Act Amending the Constitution to Include Gender Identity in the Nondiscrimination Clause

First reading no vote; VP Hodak: this is to amend our constitution to come in compliance with our resolution passed on this subject.

C. Act 0304-WI-016: An Act Amending the Bylaws on Committee Appointments

First reading; VP Hodak: We changed to say that VP is on CSA and this brings everything into compliance with our Bylaw changes made a year ago.

Resolution 0304-WI-017: A Resolution Calling Upon the University to Better Inform Graduate Assistants of their Pay Schedule Options

Treasurer Farrelly: Want to get a half paycheck in Sept and June to cover ourselves financially and this option is available to grad students but students are not informed of this option. Approved by unanimous vote.

VI.Delegate Issues and Concerns

Library Renovations - Wes Boomgaarden. Please see presentation posted on the CGS homepage.

VII. Announcements

There were no announcements.

IX. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 5:30pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Cathy Baack (baack.4@osu.edu)
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