Officers Present: Matthew Leingang, Secretary; K. Kyriell Muhammad, Social Officer; Carlos Lopez, Facilities Officer.

Departments not Represented: Anthropology, Biophysics, Business Economics, Chemical Physics, Classics, Comparative Literature, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Economics, Engineering and Applied Sciences, English and American Literature and Language, Germanic Languages and Literature, History and East Asian Languages, History of American Civilization, Inner Asian and Altaic Studies, Linguistics, Medical Sciences, Organizational Behavior, Psychology, Regional Studies-East Asia, Romance Languages and Literatures, Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Slavic Languages and Literatures.

1. Announcements
   • GSC Conference Grants: The deadline for applying for GSC Conference Grants and for Summer Research grants was May 4. These grants will be awarded soon.

   • The GSAS end-of-year picnic will be Saturday May 9 in the Biolabs Courtyard, from 12 noon - 3 p.m.

   
   
   
2. Matters Arising from the minutes of April 1998 meeting.

   
   
   

3. Committee Updates

   • Committee on Graduate Education (CGE): There is a proposal to change graduate student financial support to guarantee funding for students for four years, instead of year-by-year funding. This will apply to incoming students. A draft document on Graduate Student Life and Education can be found on the GSC advising web page at http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~gsc/advising/.

   • FAS Library Committee: No decisions have been made on HOLLIS II. The Library Fellows program from four fellows to represent more departments. Some library hours during the academic year will be changing. Widener Library will be closing at 6 p.m. on Fridays, and will close at 8 p.m. on Sundays. Lamont Library will open at 8 a.m. on Sundays. The experimental opening of Cabot Library for 24 hours a day during exam and reading periods will be made a permanent part of exam and reading periods.

   • Graduate Student Health Advisory Committee: Alicia Walker, the chair of the committee, asked that people with health-related concerns they would like to see addressed by this committee email her at awwalker@fas.harvard.edu. Renovations to the MAC are planned, and funded. Hemenway Gymnasium will be open for the next academic year. Services for RSI (repetitive stress injury) will be consolidated within Harvard. Ellen Fox would like to meet with this committee before the summer.

   • FAS Information Technology Committee, Harvard Graduate Council, Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility: Nothing to report.

   
   
   
4. Elections for the 1998-99 academic year:
   • Vice President: Ian Richmond (Celtic Languages and Literatures)
   • Social Officer: Position remains unfilled.

   
   
   

5. Treasurer's Report
   • The GSC voted to allocate $500 for the GSAS Picnic on May 9th.

   
   
   

6. 1998-99 GSC Budget
   • The 1998-99 Graduate Student Council budget was approved. This budget covers the period from July 1, 1997 - June 30, 1999.

   
   
   
7. Meeting with President Rudenstine

   • Issues discussed were:
     • Advising concerns. Rudenstine is supportive, and wants to bring this issue to the faculty early next year.
     • Improving access to UHS Mental Health services. The graduate schools are funding one person at the Bureau of Study Council. This makes all Bureau programs accessible for GSAS students.
     • The high price of Harvard area housing, and lack of affordable housing for graduate students.
     • Expanding the Harvard Shuttle service to some areas of Somerville since the Home Run Shuttle service is ending this year. The M2 shuttle bus will be free to all graduate students next year.
     • Integrating the GSC T-pass program with the Harvard staff T-pass program.

   
   
   

8. Other Business
   • Teaching Fellow Referral Office will be closed.
   • Committee to revise GSAS Student Survival Guide needs members to help revise the Guide during the summer.
   • Committee to organize advising awards. In order to encourage good advising, and recognize exceptional advisors, the GSC will be giving awards for advising This committee will organize the award process and develop criterion to select award recipients. Members include: Alicia Walker (Fine Arts); Lisa Laskin (History); Julie Rohwein (Music); Adam Fagen; Carlos Lopez (Sanskrit and Indian Studies); Paul Callan (Physics).
   • Committee to revise the GSC Constitution: The Bylaws and the Constitution of the GSC are together and should be separated. There was some debate about whether this actually impairs the working of the GSC. Members are still needed for this committee.