The 6th meeting of the academic year 1996-7 was held at 5:30 p.m. on
Wednesday, 2nd April, 1997 in the Graduate Student Lounge in Dudley
House.
Officers Present: Adam Fagen, President; Kyriell Muhammad,
Vice President; Paul Callan, Secretary; Christine Murasaki Millett,
Treasurer; Gabriella Gonzalez, Social Officer Apologies: Carlos Lopez, Facilities Officer
After introductions of the officers and members present...
1. Announcements
The following items were noted:
The GSC will hold a Student Parent-Child Brunch from 11:00 a.m. to
1:00 p.m. on Saturday, 19th April in the Dudley House Common Room.
The week of April 7th-11th will be designated Graduate and
Professional Student Appreciation Week (by the Governor no less!). This
is a part of a
National Association of Grduate and
Professional Students (NAGPS) campaign to increase awareness of
graduate student issues.
The deadline for submitting applications for the Spring Conference
Grant competition and for Summer Research Grants is 5:00 p.m. on Monday,
5th May. Info and application forms are available from the GSC office or
from our
web site.
2. Elections of 1997-98 GSC Officers and Committee
Representatives
Committee on Graduate
Education (5 student members): Paul Callan, Elgin Eckert, Adam Fagen
(ex officio as GSC President), Christine Murasaki Millett,
Stephanie Treloar
Paul reported that a proposal from the GSC, and agreed with the GSAS
Deans, for the introduction of regular reviews of graduate student
progress would be presented to the Committee on Graduate Education (CGE)
next week.
4. Report on GSC Meeting with President Rudenstine
Adam and Paul reported on the April 1st meeting with Neil Rudenstine, the
President of the University. Among the issues discussed were the
following:
A recent report made proposals for the provision of child care support
for junior faculty members. We pointed out that child care is also a
concern for many graduate students, and the President agreed that child
care support for parents from all sections of the Harvard community should
be a priority.
The university is continuing to lobby hard in Washington to protect
student support, especially for graduate students. It is also seeking
through the University Campaign to raise funds which can support graduate
students using internal resources. $15 million has already been raised for
graduate student financial aid, approximately 50% of the campaign target.
The Dean of GSAS said that a plan is being developed which will enable
offers offunding for 4 years to made to incoming humanities and social
sciences students - 2 years of stipends and 2 years of guaranteed teaching
fellowships.
Access to athletic facilities and the quality of the Malkin Athletic
Center (MAC) were discussed; it was agreed that tat the MAC is in great
need of renovation.
We raised the issues of student input into decision-making processes,
especially at departmental level, e.g. in faculty appointments, course
development, etc. While the central administration cannot tell
departments what to do, it can help to create a culture more conducive to
graduate student input into decision-making, e.g. through the President's
letters to the Harvard community or articles by the GSAS Dean in teh GSAS
Bulletin. The role of Directors of Graduate Study (DGSs) should include
being the point of contact for students with individual problems (e.g.
with their advisor) or with suggestions (e.g. relating to the requirements
of the PhD program).
5. Treasurer's Report
Christine presented the latest Financial Statement, covering the period to
April 1, to the Council.
6. Budget Priorities
There was a general discussion on budget priorities, to give some guidance
to the Treasurer and the Budget Committee in drafting a budget for next
year.
In light of the overlapping roles between the GSC and Dudley House in some
areas, e.g. social activities, many people agreed that we should do more
events in conjunction with Dudley House. It was also argued that we should
devote more of our resources to areas in which we make a unique
contribution, such as travel grants and student group funding. We should
also seek to get outside support for some of these activities. For
example, if we could get some GSAS support for travel grants, we might be
able to provide grants to students wishing to attend a conference without
having to present a paper.
The budget for 1997-8 will be presented to the next meeting of the
Council.
7. Report from the 1997 NAGPS Northeast Regional
Conference
This conference, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia,
was attended by Adam and Elgin on behalf of the GSC. There were sessions
on teaching and career resources, networking, unionization and other
issues. Useful contacts with other graduate student governments were
made, especially with MIT. Elgin was elected as the Massachussetts state
coordinator for NAGPS and as the Coordinator for the next Regional
Conference, to be held in Westchester County, New York, in 1998. The 1998
National Conference of NAGPS will be held in Boston.
Carl Elkin, GSC rep to this university committee, gave a short overview of
the committee's structure and current issues being addressed. The
committee has 12 members: 4 student, 4 faculty and 4 alumni. They make
recommendations to the Corporation Committee on Shareholder
Responsibility, which usually (though not always) agrees. The committee
votes on proxies for companies in which the university holds stock, e.g.
when companies are voting on whether to adhere to the CERES principles on
environmental standards, etc. Carl couldn't give specifics on particular
decisions of the committee, but invited anyone with concerns about
relevant issues to contact him at celkin@fas.
