Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
Minutes
Big Red Barn
September 24, 2004
5:30–7:00 p.m.

I. Special Guest — Kent Hubbell Dean of Students

K. Hubbell arrived and began speaking at approximately 5:33 p.m.

K. Hubbell said a brief history of the family of Willard Straight and Willard Straight Hall. Then he said renovations for WSH will take 5–50 years and $30 million to complete. K. Hubbell said they will start the renovations by working on the smaller and less expensive things and work their way up.

First the ceramic studio was redone to be safer.

Nobody uses the game room so it will be changed into a “Baby Memorial Room” since the idea of it being a Kinko’s was previously rejected by the GPSA. New red oak wood floors and carpets will be installed for the “Baby Memorial Room.” The gutters are also being repaired so there will be no more leaky ceilings.

The library will have more comfortable seating and food and drinks will be allowed. It can also house live music and concerts.

A digital darkroom (Polly’s Playpen) for WSH was also proposed. The darkroom and offices will be converted into the digital room. The first floor will have new software and it will be open to the whole campus with specialized faculty to teach there. The second floor will have a space for EARS and be brightly lit to encourage student activities.

In the Elmhurst room K. Hubbell hopes to have a “Grab and Go” area and a little spot for Kinko’s which will be a pilot to see if it is a good location or not.

II. Call back to Order

After a short break B. Holmes called the meeting back to order at 6:10 p.m.

III. Open Forum

Victoria talked about the childcare grant. The deadline was 10/8. Since there were not many applicants it seemed as if there was no need for the childcare grant. The wording of the application was confusing which might have caused this lack of applicants.

Amanda said that there is going to be a uniform tuition rate for Grad students and that it is already implemented. The prices will go up because they will boost the statutory rate and lower the other rate and once they match up they will make both of the rates go up. The reason for this uniform tuition rate is so that the Grad students will have more freedom to pick which professor they choose to have. There were many objections to this news, many people believed the Grad students should not be punished because of the poor school structure.

It was proposed to discuss the new tuition issue at the next meeting.

IV. Approval of Minutes

The minutes for August 30, 2004 was unanimously approved.

V. Announcements and Updates

a. Council Update — H. Etienne

H. Etienne said that the first council meeting was in the Biotech room and there was a lot of positive feedback. There were approximately 60 people and during the meeting there was an overview of GPSA and the structure of it. There was a new law school representative and Ghita was voted as a new assembly member.

b. Committees Update — T. McConnochie

A. Beggs is in the student advisory library counsel and there were some funding issues that she said she would put into an email.

T. McConnochie said people on committees have been notified. There are still some vacancies such as 1 opening on transportation and 1 for the campus store.

B. Holmes said he would like more people to be on the committee.

c. GPSAFC Update — R. Bhattamishra

R. Bhattamishra said the deadline for people to register for SAFC was changed from 10/1 to 10/15 because many people were unsure of the requirements. There are more requirements for the undergraduate groups which caused confusion. Clubs needs to register before they can use SAFC money.

d. Mock Election — B. Holmes

10/18 is the actual mock election. There was a massive vote registration drive held without notifying the GPSA.

e. Other updates

H. Etienne said that he closed the list serve.

B. Holmes said that there is an email server for the FC.

VI. Business of the Day

a. Funding request — Ivy Summit — K. O’Neill

Motion to approve budget for Ivy Summit was carried. (12 votes)

People were to be sent to the Ivy Summit in Columbia on 10/8–10, 2004. B. Holmes went over the budget and explained how everything was derived. It was expensive because everything was done last minute.

b. Agenda Setting for October Council meeting — H. Etienne

c. Other Business

B. Holmes described Resolution 2. The resolution was carried on a unanimous vote.

VII. Adjournment

B. Holmes adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
YuhLi Tsuei
Office of the Assemblies