General Meeting
4:00 - 5:10 PM, October 7, 2002
Main 212

1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 4 p.m. by co-chairs Joyce Banks and Eric Opiela. Eric welcomed new representatives. New reps introduced themselves and returning reps reintroduced themselves.

2. Verification of Attendance

a. Officers Present

Joyce Banks, Art History, Co-Chair
Eric Opiela, Law, Co- Chair
Greg Hammond, History, Treasurer
Marian J. Barber, History, Secretary
Audrey Trainor, Special Education, Special Events Coordinator
Don Drumtra, Library & Information Sciences, Electronic Resources Coordinator

b. Representatives Present

 

c. Alternates Present

 

d. Guests Present

3. Adoption of Minutes of Previous Meeting. A motion to adopt the minutes was unanimously approved.

4. Reports of Officers

a. CO-Chairs, Eric Opiela & Joyce Banks.

(1) Departure of Dean Sullivan. Joyce then reported on the departure of Vice-President and Dean of Graduate Studies Teresa Sullivan to the new position of Executive Vice-Chair of the UT System and the flurry of activity surrounding her departure. In the days immediately following Dr. Sullivan's appointment, the University administration considered folding Graduate Studies into the portfolio of the Executive Vice-President and Provost. As Joyce and Eric explained, this would have demoted Graduate Studies to the status of an academic department and would have greatly increased the levels of bureaucracy graduate students and the Graduate Student Assembly would have to negotiate to get anything done. Both Eric and Joyce wrote to President Faulkner explaining the negative effects of such a change, which had been promoted as a cost-cutting move. Their intervention, along with that of others, turned the tide, however, and the president named an interim vice-president and dean, former dean of the Graduate School of Business Robert May. They cautioned that this issue is not dead and GSA should be vigilant about possible future efforts to push it through.

(2) Graduate Assembly. Joyce reported on proceedings of the Graduate Assembly, noting that enrollment is up 15.9% from last year, not including the schools of business and law. Of this number 16, 000 are graduate students. Joyce also explained changes in testing for admissions, including a major change in the GRE, converting the multiple-choice analytical section to an analytical writing section graded on a 6-point scale. She noted that the TOEFL has been suspended in certain countries, notably Russia and several countries in Africa and Asia. The Graduate School is looking for an alternative. This is due to a lack of staffing and should not be confused with the suspension of the electronic GRE in Asian countries where fraud has been detected. In those countries the paper version of the GRE is still available, she said.

(3) Committee Appointments. Eric renewed the call for appointments to a few committees, notably the TA/AI committee for which an AI was needed. Jean Love El Harim of Comparative Literature volunteered to fill that position.

b. Secretary, Marian Barber. No report.

c. Treasurer, Greg Hammond. Treasurer Greg Hammond then presented the draft budget for the 2003-2004 academic year. The total amount budgeted was $51,700. Greg noted that the budget is always approved about a year in advance, and the amounts budgeted for each area should be considered guidelines rather than hard and fast rules governing future spending. The most significant change from the previous year would be a shift of funds to equalize the stipends of the members of the Executive Committee to recognize the fact that the workloads of the Special Events Coordinator, Publicity Coordinator, and Electronic Resources Coordinator are commensurate with those of the Co-Chairs, Secretary and Treasurer. Greg also noted that the budget would include a fund to be used for promoting graduate organizations at the departmental and college levels. Ken Ward of Latin American Studies asked about the office of fellowship coordinator, which would not be funded in the new budget. Eric and Greg explained that the position had never been filled, but that it would have worked in coordination with the College of Liberal Arts on the Liberal Arts Graduate Fellowships. It was noted that this competition has proceeded successfully without a fellowship coordinator. Brief discussion ensued about how money for encouraging graduate student organizations would be awarded. Sarah Cross of Women's Studies asked how the money for publicity is spent. Special Events Coordinator Audrey Trainor explained that it is used primarily to publicize events such as the welcome barbecue and also for a newsletter published once a semester.

d. Special Events Coordinator, Audrey Trainor. Audrey reported that the second GSA social event of the year would follow the meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Dog and Duck Pub. Fish and chips would be served free and each grad student in attendance would receive two beer tickets. She advised people to bring ID's, as the bar would be checking. She asked about the efficacy of publicity efforts and asked anyone whose department did not get the word to let her know.

e. Publications Coordinator, Ginger Gossman. No report.

f. Electronic Resources Coordinator, Don Drumtra. No report.

5. Reports of University Committee Representatives. Committee reps then reported on organizational meetings.

a. Faculty Council.

(1) General Comments. Anna Pyeatt said the Faculty Council met September 23 and learned from President Faulkner that UT does not have an explicit plan for growth or a task force on admissions. Discussion ensued on lenders approved for making financial aid loans.Some 20 lenders are eligible, she noted, some of which offer discounts, others of which do not. She also reported on the academic performance of members of the University's intercollegiate athletic teams vis-à-vis the performance of all students. The average GPA of all students is 3.01, with an 80 percent graduation rate. The average GPA of women athletes is 3.06, with a 96 percent graduation rate, while that of male athletes is 2.7 with a 77 percent graduation rate. Coaches receive incentives to increase the academic performance of their charges. She reported on the issue of the disposition of royalties from use of the UT logo.

(2) School Name Change. Anna also said that the Faculty Council has been asked to approve the Graduate School of Library and Information Science's plan to change its name to the School of Information. Discussion ensued about whether this is a dumb idea or not, centering on whether having the word "Library" in the school's name cost its graduates jobs.

(3) Athletics Funding. Ken Ward asked how much money the University transfers from its general fund to the Athletic Department. Discussion ensued about the role of these funds. Eric said that several years ago an annual $2 million supplement was funneled to women's athletics to assist in compliance with Title IX, which is aimed at creating parity between men's and women's athletic opportunities. Women's sports at UT have been so successful, however, that they are virtually self-supporting, so the subsidy is being phased out. Sarah Cross expressed concern that cutting such a large amount might have a negative effect on women's athletics. Eric said he would research the issue and report at the next meeting, but that a full-fledged investigation might be more appropriately undertaken by the Daily Texan. The view was expressed that any subsidy should come from football, which is a net generator of income, rather than from academics. Robyn Honig of Psychology suggested that profitable athletic programs should subsidize academic programs.

b. Parking Committee. Don Drumtra reported that the Parking Committee had approved the post-5:45 $25 garage parking fee and has already seen some success. He noted that the parking lot in front of the Sanchez building will close for construction of the Blanton Museum.

c. Library Committee. Don also reported from the Library Committee that the director of the General Libraries, Harold Billings, is retiring. Joyce Banks is our representative to the committee seeking to replace him. The library budget is better than last year's, with on-line publications being renewed. There is an ongoing review of usage, however. If a publication is available online, the libraries look at dropping the print version. Funding for purchase of monographs remains stable. In answer to a question about Britannica Online, Don said that in the case of a journal or online resource that is of specific interest to a department, the department with its library liaison usually presents the proposal about whether to keep or drop it.

d. TA/AI Rights. Marian Barber reported that the TA/AI Rights and Responsibilities Committee is looking at the timing of distribution of tuition benefits, the TA/AI online handbook and other electronic resources for TA's and AI's, and considering doing a survey on discrepancies between and within departments on TA and AI duties and compensation.

6. Reports of Ad Hoc Committees. None.

7. Unfinished Business.

a. UT Committee Appointments. In unfinished business, Audrey moved that all remaining committee appointments be approved. The motion passed unanimously.

b. GSA Budget. It was moved that the budget as presented by Greg be approved. This motion also passed unanimously.

8. New Business.

a. New business items. None.

b. Ad-hoc Committee breakouts. The meeting then broke up into ad hoc committees on budget, TA/AI rights and responsibilities, special events, departmental graduate organizations, and budget.

9. Announcements. The full assembly reconvened for announcements.

a. Future Faculty Initiative. Joyce Banks announced that the University's Preparing Future Faculty initiative is seeking participants and offered a flyer for posting in departments.

b. Student Government. Paul Navratil, a graduate student representative to the Student Government, reported on SG actions of interest to grad students, including two resolutions recently passed: one that would encourage the University to set up a mediation process for disputes involving student employees and one that would ask the University to reduce the fee for parking accessible to persons with disabilities from $108 per year to $80.

c. GSA Symposium. Audrey Trainor reminded everyone that the Dog and Duck party would take place following the meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. and asked reps to come and bring people from their departments.

d. GSA Email. Don Drumtra reminded everyone that the GSA e-mail address is grad@uts.cc.utexas.edu.

10. Adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m.