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GRADUATE STUDENT GOVERNMENT UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK 24TH LEGISLATIVE SESSION OF THE GSG ASSEMBLY
INAUGURAL ADDRESS GSG PRESIDENT, E. L. DOC HUNTER
COLONY BALL ROOM STAMP STUDENT UNION
FRIDAY, 3 SEPTEMBER 2004
Fellow graduate students, members of the Assembly, honored guests:
This year I have the honor of welcoming you to the inaugural meeting of the 24th legislative session of the Graduate Student Government Assembly. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak with you today.
As we collectively begin this year of cooperation and progress for our constituency, I find myself reflecting on where we’ve been as an organization, where we are, and where we have yet to go.
I did not run for President because I believe I can solve all of the problems facing the graduate student body. I ran because I believe that the people of this Assembly can.
Three years ago, the GSG set out on a bold new program of democratic reformation. A Plan of Organization Committee drafted substantial amendments, including the provision of an impeachment mechanism, for the first time making officials and representatives of the GSG collectively and severally accountable to each other. For the first time, this Assembly elected a Vice President of their own choosing during a special mid-term election. And two years ago, this Assembly both elected its first internal officer when it called into creation the position of the Parliamentarian, and oversaw its first legislatively controlled electoral process under the GSG’s first-ever Election Code. But most dramatically, leadership from within this Assembly itself created a special committee for the purpose of redrafting a long outdated Plan of Organization and the development of a much-needed set of Bylaws. This past April, these new governing documents were approved through general referendum and now carry the force of law within this organization.
The combined and continuing effect of these changes has been a democratic revolution of the first order. Power has been decentralized from the Executive Branch and the Office of the President and vested in the Representatives of this Assembly. All committee authority has been transferred to the Assembly and this body now stands empowered and ready to participate as a full a partner with the Executive in GSG policy formation.
This process of democratic revolution has been a difficult one, demanding tremendous time and effort, and facing opposition all along the way.
Yet, we have prevailed.
The GSG, today, is a shining example of a democratically ordained government and an archetype of openness and accountability. But, we have much further to go.
To ensure the long-term viability of the GSG, to ensure the organization's rightful place as an advocate for graduate students, to ensure that the GSG does not slip back into the dark ages of its own obscurity, we must strive at all costs to cherish, protect, and foster the democratic processes that are our most sacred right. Democracy is a messy business, and may not always be as efficient as more authoritarian forms of government.
But it’s infinitely more powerful, infinitely more righteous.
In order to guarantee that this democratic revolution, so begun, transcends the various individuals that have waged its battles, it is our duty to consolidate the gains we have thus far secured. We must, with equal fervor and with as great a sense of purpose, seek the full institutionalization of our new democratic forms. It is our responsibility to endow the new structures of the GSG with the kinds of substance that their full promise demands and that our constituents, both present and to come, expect and deserve of their government.
I therefore ask for your aid and support in fully executing the new GSG Plan of Organization and Bylaws, including the implementation of the improved Assembly committee structure. First among these tasks is ensuring that all committees are sufficiently staffed and empowered to seek effective change on behalf of their constituents. In the coming weeks, Vice President for Committee Affairs Adam Lopez will solicit your aid in ensuring that every member of this Assembly serves on at least one GSG committee; for new legislative authority must be accompanied by new legislative responsibility.
With responsibility comes accountability, and my administration is dedicated to improving the overall accountability of all GSG elected officials. Members of the Executive Committee and the Executive staff will be jointly accountable to each other and to this Assembly while the Assembly must be accountable to its constituents. In accordance with Executive Order 24-2, this new sense of accountability will be facilitated, in part, through regular monthly reporting to both this Assembly and the graduate student population at-large of all Executive Branch activities. This will include, for the first time, the full disclosure of all Executive Committee and Executive staff salaries, stipends, assistantship arrangements, and all other forms of compensation received by the Executive.
But all of our hard-earned gains and structural improvements to the Graduate Student Government would have gone to waste if we did not ensure that graduates sent individuals from their departments to represent their interests in this Assembly. Without the voices of our Departmental Representatives, this government cannot affect positive change for those whose welfare with which we are charged. To that end, my administration committed itself early on to increasing Voting Representative participation in this Assembly by 75% over and above last year’s numbers. I am happy to announce today that the Executive Committee, under the leadership of Vice Presidents David Foster and Adam Lopez, have already accomplished this goal… and surpassed it. The GSG now has 35 Departmental Representatives committed to regular monthly attendance, an increase of over 200%.
But we will not stop here. We will continue Executive outreach programs to both non-departmental graduate organizations and graduate programs. Through Diamondback advertisements and press releases; increased use of the GSG Online Forum; better use of email to relevant GSG constituencies; and on-site visits conducted by the Executive we will continue to take this campus by storm, to infiltrate every last unexplored cell of graduate student support.
As should be evident today, we have only to ask and the Representatives will come. Once here, my administration is committed to the implementation of an Assembly Orientation Program to help ensure that our Representatives are informed and empowered to facilitate the best government possible. In the coming months, Vice Presidents Erika Grant and Adam Lopez, will lead an initial orientation program for all Assembly Reps., a program that will be continuously offered for all new, incoming Representatives.
And the new and more democratic GSG will be led by an Executive dedicated to holding biweekly Executive Committee meetings. While the demands of governance will periodically require the discretion that comes only from a closed door, this administration is dedicated to the proposition that more smart people working on a given puzzle will inevitably lead to smarter solutions. As such, we will maintain an open-door policy during Executive Committee meetings. Additionally, we will issue regular invitations to the Diamondback, representatives of various graduate student organizations, and members of the University’s Administration. We believe that if a spirit of openness and cooperation characterizes this government, we will be met in kind by our colleagues and associates across the Mall.
Far too often, student advocacy groups fail to adequately recognize that they are but one voice in a university chorus, but one constituency among many. Far too often we fail to recognize that, as frequently as not, our interests overlap. And by casting university administrators, faculty, and undergraduates in the role of the opposition, we fail to forge meaningful and productive partnerships with would-be allies and friends from all across campus. At times, the GSG’s chorus of war drums has reached thunderous levels, drowning out productive dialogue, and deafening sympathetic ears.
But no more. Today is a day of renewal and rebirth. Today, the GSG sheds its isolationist perspective and, with an awareness that what is good for the university is often good for its graduate students, extends its collective hand in a gesture of renewed partnership.
Chief among the GSG’s partners in securing the general welfare of graduate students on this campus must be the University Senate. Graduate students at the University of Maryland have benefited from the friendship of Joel Cohen, Immediate Past Chair of the University Senate, and Mary Giles, Senate Executive Director. I am confident in their continuing support, in addition to that of recently installed Senate Chair, Arthur Poper, as we seek ex officio, voting seats on the Senate Student Affairs, Campus Affairs, and Educational Affairs Committees as advocated by the GSG’s 23rd Legislative Assembly.
But we must also traverse the great divide that has traditionally separated the Graduate Senators and the members of this organization. In order to begin to bridge the gap, and to develop and maintain a cooperative, structural relationship, I have created a new cabinet-level position to serve as the GSG-Senate liaison. I am happy to announce that Senator Kevin Pitts has agreed to serve as the first GSG Special Presidential Advisor on Senate-Related Issues.
The successes we have enjoyed in the past, and the success we believe we can achieve in the future, should bring us, not a sense of lulling contentment but, rather, a deep and enduring realization of all that life has offered us, a full acknowledgement of our responsibilities to each other, and an awareness that together we can thrive best.
But while we should not glorify struggle or reckless risk as ends in themselves, we should recognize that the most important achievements in life involve at least some struggle and some adversity. No longer can we allow ourselves to devolve into petty bickering. No longer can we resign ourselves to the status of second-class citizens. No longer can we tolerate the abdication of responsibility nor the neglect of our interests.
For years, successive GSG administrations have forged ahead – making tremendous progress on housing, parking, unionization, and many other key areas of graduate student life. But, in many respects, the tide has turned. Issues of paramount importance have fallen into disregard. Advances have been slowed and progress stifled. Rest assured that the barnacles of apathy are being swept away and a new and empowered Executive Branch stands ready to forge ahead, to reclaim our rightful place as central to university policy formation. We have set our sights on the horizon and together we will sail on to a bright new dawn. Rest assured that 2004-2005 will be the Year of the Graduate Student, so help me God.
Already the fight is underway. In cooperation with such notable GSG allies as Vice Presidents John Porcari and Jeff Huskamp, my administration is working hard to direct funds collected from the newly established graduate student technology fee towards graduate-based technology initiatives. We may have lost the initial battle on the tech fee, but I am confident that we’ll reach an equitable settlement,
We are also working diligently to save the beleaguered Graduate Pub program. Begun in cooperation with Jason Pontius, Coordinator for Graduate Student Involvement, Grad Pub had, at one time, grown to a regular attendance of nearly 300 individuals, providing a meeting ground for graduate students from all across campus. But in the last year, the event has fallen on hard times, subject to last minute cancellations, constant budgeting problems, and a lack of a stable home. I am happy to announce today that my administration has secured a new home for the Grad Pub at R.J. Bentley’s in College Park. And with improved service, a sense of consistency, and better access comes a price tag of less than one third of what previous Grad Pubs have cost this government. We have saved Grad Pub for our time… and for times to come.
Our accomplishments thus far, and the anticipated accomplishments of this year’s Assembly, will remain in the darkness of irrelevance if our constituents and colleagues do not know about them. That is why, under the leadership of Vice President for Public Relations David Foster, my administration is working to develop public relations mechanisms in order to better inform graduate students and campus leaders about GSG activities, and issues of importance to all graduate students. Only when we raise the profile of the GSG within and without the university community can we improve this government’s power-position as an advocate for graduate student welfare. Key to this program is the improvement of relations between the GSG and the Diamondback.
To that end, I am happy to report that the Diamondback editorial staff has agreed to reinstate the position of the Graduate Beat Reporter and to serve its graduate readership by dedicating resources to the reporting of graduate student issues and activities.
Many opportunities and challenges still lie ahead of us. Each of us has different talents, backgrounds, resources, and expectations about what life in College Park may bring. But we share in common the environment in which we live, work, study, and conduct research. As graduate students, however, we also share a greater purpose: we are the creators of the knowledge and the values of the future, collectively shaping the world in which we, and coming generations, will live. No responsibility could be greater, and we must help and support our fellows if we are to successfully meet the challenges that lie before us.
Shaping the world takes more than grand policy statements: We must turn thought into action. We must with faith and vision and courage go back to our departments and, as never before, proclaim the opportunities that lie before us. It is not enough for us to give our voice to the needs of our constituents; we must give our collective strength to their cause.
American novelist James Cabell once said, “The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds… the pessimist fears that this is true.” Idealism without realism and practicality is naïve and dangerous. On the other hand, realism without idealism is cynical and meaningless. The key to the future success of the GSG and the graduate student population at the University of Maryland is a realistic idealism that succumbs to neither utopianism nor despair. Such a view has not been offered as a sufficiently articulate or compelling response to the current climate within which graduate students at this fine institution live and work. The spirit of service with which we must approach the work before us is highly idealistic but, at the same time, it can motive us all into dynamic action to accomplish things that are both constructive and worthwhile.
Only when we are engaged in an enterprise greater than ourselves can we be true to ourselves, to our constituents, to our ideals. This organization once stood great and proud as the premier advocate for graduate student welfare on this campus. We can be great again. With the sounding of the death knell for the “imperial presidency,” we will be great again.
Thank you very much for your time. God save the University of Maryland; God save the GSG.
Posts: 258 | I am: Graduate Student Government President | Registered: Oct 2001
| Logged: 128.8.23.202 |
GSG president Hunter has made his long winding inaugural address. We have heard this type of talk before, at the beginning of the Perez presidency. If GSG history has taught us anything, it is that rhetoric has never lived up to its content. And, in Mr. Hunter's address, there is not much policy content to discuss. At least not much that will effect the daily life of a graduate student.
One can discuss the distant past, like the fact that the GSG was content with what rules and procedures it had for years. Then, people started writing rules that they were not prepared to follow but insisted upon others. Or, the fact that the only real opposition there has been to change is the lack of participation and interest. To state that the GSG is anything but a sum of its past is to ignore history. And when that happens, it repeats itself.
Mr. Hunter says that salaries, stipends, assistantship arrangements and other forms of compensation will be disclosed, publicly and on demand. DO IT NOW. Mr. Hunter says that there are now 35 department representatives which is more than a 200% increase. Mathematics tells us that that means there were no more than 11 representatives last year. Even with all six executives, the total number does not meet quorum. Consequently, all of last year's legislative acts were invalid and unenforceable. Mr. Hunter is not known for backtracking, so we can assume he stands by his numbers. If the GSG will visit students and student groups, it can start with those it has disenchanted or offended.
Yes, it is the case that the GSG as a whole has offended or ignored certain students or student groups. And if past administrations came up short on keeping their commitments, some current executives are also to blame. Involved and influential in past years, these executives kept silent when others pointed to deficiencies. Only a spin doctor would describe no change as progress and the past as both a setback and a success. To suggest that he is a champion of student issues, Mr. Hunter deceives us. He is challenged to point to issues and past statements which represent his position. In fact, his GSG voting record shows that he restricted debate, dismissed issues and voted against aid initiatives. Even on the technology fee, he cannot argue that he was strongly against increased fees then continue as a representative on spending that money. It brings to question whether the original position was genuine.
The jury is still out on this year's executive and they cannot hide behind an Assembly for any lack of accomplishment or accountability. However, people can change, though it is more difficult for some than others. And, they sometimes change despite explicitly stating the contrary. It is hoped that this is the case.
Posts: 189 | I am: Physics, Doctoral | Registered: Nov 2001
| Logged: 128.8.23.198 |
posted
The last time I checked, this is the third week of school. At the end of the year we can be judged as to whether we kept our promises. For now, we should be judged by what we have already done, not by where we think we can go.
The GSG can already boast an incredibly successful first assembly meeting, two packed Grad Pubs, and enough participation to fill the GSG's committees. We now have a sizable number of reps and independent grad students who have taken an active interest in the GSG. We have begun the EFR process and have already formed a committee to investigate a potential way to give back even more to graduate students at large.
All Doc's inaugural address said was that he was excited about our potential for the coming year. After these first three weeks, I see no reason why he, and the rest of the graduate students on campus, should not be.
Posts: 71 | I am: Senator | Registered: Nov 2001
| Logged: 129.2.169.143 |
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