posted
This report will be brief and is meant to be solely informational, and to let you know about issues that will come before this Assembly in the coming months. More information on all of these items is available at the GSG online forum and I would encourage you to post questions there, to engage in the ongoing discussions, and to provide feedback via posts that will help me, and the rest of the Executive Committee, as we continue to navigate these various issues.
There are things happening in the Graduate Council that we should be sure to let all of our constituents know about. The Council has recently referred to committee a proposal to redefine what it means to be a full time and part time graduate student at this University. Any such change will have a direct impact on graduate students (whether for good or ill is still to be determined).
The Council has also referred the issue of variable assistantship conditions to committee. Relevant issues include workload requirements (both explicitly stated and implicitly expected), vacation time, and, to a lesser extent, variable compensation.
There are several graduate students that serve on the Council and we are awaiting our committee assignments. We will keep you posted on these developments via the forum and encourage you to let us know how we can best serve you in these regards.
In other news, a Special Presidential Task Force has been created to examine the future of the Graduate School as an administrative organ of the University. I have the honor of representing the GSG on this Task Force. For those of you who do not know, several changes have already been implemented for the next two years. The Graduate School and the Division of Research have been fully separated and are now under the leadership of different individuals. Additionally, the Graduate School has been greatly downsized in regard to function, personnel, and finances. For example, the Graduate School has begun to outsource some of its fellowship activities to the various departments. Several of its other administrative functions have also been outsourced to various other administrative units.
While the Graduate School is still an important entity for graduate students, its future is unclear at this time. Already, the GSG has felt the strain of these transformations. This year, the Graduate School de-funded one of our two administrative assistantships. This had two dramatic effects on the GSG: 1) We were forced to pay for the additional office support – without which we simply could not continue to function at our current level – out of our own budget. This amounted a financial cut for us. 2) This decrease in the level of financial support has also called into question the future of the GRID program, a long-time collaboration between the Graduate School and the GSG. We will be bringing this issue before you for consideration in the coming weeks.
But what disturbs me even more are the long-term implications for these and other changes that the Graduate School may undergo in the coming years. I am the lowest paid GSG President in at least 5 years. On the one hand, I am very happy about this change – it places the President on an equal playing field with those he is supposed to represent. However, one has to wonder, in light of these ongoing changes, whether or not the GSG can be confident in the continued financial support of the Grad School in regards to the Presidential assistantship or the remaining support staff financing.
I am afraid that we, as an organization, may face some tough decisions in the very near future. That’s why I am working on a plan to ensure the long-term viability of the GSG as an advocate for graduate student welfare. We are seeking out new friends at the University and considering options, which we will bring to you, to make the GSG more fiscally sound and more independent from a Graduate School that may or may not be able to support us at the level to which we have become accustomed.
One of our new friends is the Division of Student Affairs. The important and pressing issue of graduate student housing has been transferred from the Graduate School to Student Affairs, under the watchful eye of Patricia Mielke, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs. I have had a couple of good conversations with Dr. Mielke and she has put the GSG in contact with several private developers who are both interested in developing graduate housing projects and who are willing to work with the GSG to ensure that such would meet the needs of our constituents.
This report will be posted on the GSG Forums and I invite you to direct your questions or comments there.
Posts: 258 | I am: Graduate Student Government President | Registered: Oct 2001
| Logged: 128.8.22.23 |
These Forums serve as both an administrative hub for official GSG business and a place for graduate students to socialize and discuss concerns. GSG officials will continue to post official information on this site including meeting announcements, legislation, EFR documentation, etc.
We have been subject to a significant amount of spam and bots attacking the forum. Therefore, in order to register on the forum, you will need an @umd.edu or an @gmail.com email address. Please contact the forum administrator if you would like to register with an email address from another server. Thanks!
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
