General Meeting
4:00 - 5:10 PM, February 3, 2003
Main, Room 212

1. Call to Order. The Assembly was called to order at 4 p.m. in Room 212 of the Main Building by co-chairs Joyce Banks and Eric Opiela.

2. Verification of Attendance. The attendance sheet was circulated by Secretary Marian J. Barber. Members listed in attachment 1 indicated their presence.

3. Adoption of Minutes of Previous Meeting. Co-chair Eric Opiela moved that the minutes of the December 2, 2002 meeting be adopted as written. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.

4. Reports of Officers

a. Co-chairs, Joyce Banks and Eric Opiela

The co-chairs deferred their reports to allow two guests, Interim Graduate Dean Victoria Rodriguez and Director of Parking and Transportation Services Bob Harkins, to make presentations. The presentations are discussed below under New Business. Eric Opiela said he would also defer his report to new business, so that he could bring up a petition regarding tuition deregulation. Joyce Banks reported on meetings she had attended since the December GSA meeting. She said that President Faulkner had discussed budget cuts in a recent meeting at which he said that the recently announced hiring freeze would mean that hiring faculty into existing openings would occur only in vital and unique positions and only on an exception basis. She was asked whether a faculty member who had died would be replaced and she said it would be unlikely, though there is no permanent policy in place. She said that the university does not want to compromise teaching, but that the budget for TA's and AI's is one area from which savings could come. Eric Opiela noted that Dr. Faulkner at one point said that the salaries of TA's would not fall, but the number of TA's will. He said that the university plans to admit fewer people, including graduate students, but the number of graduate and undergraduate applications has risen, except for the MBA program. He added that Pres. Faulkner has said that tuition deregulation can be the "savior" in this situation.

Joyce Banks also reported on the Graduate Writing Intiative presentation given by Jane Barnette at the Graduate Assembly meeting. This initiative provides training for departmentally appointed writing coaches to graduate students.

Joyce also announced that she, Jane Barnette, and Scott Evans will be the three representatives for UT to the Graduate Student Leadership Conference to be held at Washington University in St. Louis in the fall. See her if you have issues that should be brought up there.

b. Secretary, Marian Barber. Marian announced that during the coming month she will be checking with departments and college councils to determine how they select representatives to the GSA and verifying the status of representatives.

c. Treasurer, Greg Hammond. Greg Hammond was not present and had no report.

d. Special Events Coordinator, Audrey Trainor. In Audrey's absence, Joyce Banks announced that Audrey has planned a welcome-to-the-new-semester happy hour at the CopperTank downtown from 5:30 to 7:30 Tuesday February 11. Drinks will be served by ticket only; graduate students attending should bring both their legal ID and their UT graduate student ID. Joyce said Audrey is also working on a tax workshop and a workshop on legislative issues concerning graduate students. It was suggested that she check with the International Office on the tax aid they offer and that students may be eligible for free online tax help at www.taxfreedom.com depending on their incomes. Joyce also said that the GSA would be offering TA/AI awards during the national week of recognition of graduate and professional students. It was noted that nominations must come from faculty members.

e. Publications Coordinator, Ginger Gossman. Ginger reported that she would be announcing the TA/AI awards to faculty members in the various departments and that we would be seeking nomination of one AI and one TA from each department. She said she is seeking articles for the next newsletter and that announcements would be going out about the various social events. It was requested that announcements be made as soon as possible to allow reps to spread the word.

f. Electronic Resources Coordinator, Don Drumtra. Don asked that reps please check their information on the sign-in sheet and announced that the circulation of the sign-in sheet would constitute a first reading of certification of the list, to be voted upon at the next meeting.

5. Reports of University Committee Representatives

a. Library Committee: Don Drumtra reported that the library fee will increase next year.

b Faculty Council: Anna Pyeatt reported that the administration's plans for dealing with the budget shortfall seem to have changed between the Faculty Council's recent meeting and the meeting Eric and Joyce had attended the week prior to the GSA meeting. At the Faculty Council meeting it was reported that it would be six to eight weeks before the president would report on how to fill next biennium's shortfall. It was noted that there will be a new fee charged when students charge tuition to a credit card, but that paying via a debit or check card will continue to be free. An increase in current fees is expected to yield $1.3 million. One way of meeting the shortfall may be program consolidation. Large scale cuts in the freshman class is not one of the first considerations, she said, but prior to the Governor's announcement of shortfalls, the University had already decided to cut the entering class by 1000. Joyce and Eric noted that in their meeting, Pres. Faulkner had said he was not comfortable with giving specific numbers or dollar amounts, but that Vice-President Kevin Hegarty had said that the quality of the university's services would not diminish, but the scale will.

6. Unfinished Business. There was no unfinished business.

7. New Business

a. Dean Victoria Rodriguez Report.

Interim Graduate Dean Victoria Rodriguez told the Assembly that she was appointed in late November and has spent the interim working on internal reorganization of the Office of Graduate Studies, including streamlining daily operations and automation of some of those operations. She said that budget cuts mean that certain non-essential positions that are vacant will remain unfilled for the time being. The ballot for election of faculty members to serve on a committee to advise Provost Sheldon Ekland-Olson on the selection of a permanent dean of graduate studies was out at the time of her presentation. She said that other representatives to the committee representing constituencies such as the Graduate Assembly and graduate advisors would be selected separately. She said she has met with deans of the various colleges and schools to discuss their relationship with the Office of Graduate Studies and will meet later with graduate advisors, graduate coordinators, and department chairs. In response to a question, she said the selection committee should be in place by the end of the month and will probably consist of six faculty members and six others. The earliest that a permanent dean would be in place would be next September, with much of the selection process taking place over the summer. Dean Rodriguez welcomed graduate students to contact her in person via e-mail or through co-chairs Joyce Banks and Eric Opiela.

b. Parking and Transportation Services Director Bob Harkins Report.

Director of Parking and Transportation Services Bob Harkins made the next presentation. He reported on the process for planning for parking and shuttle bus changes for next year. He said he does not anticipate a lot of additional changes, partly because this year saw several, such as the closure of the Blanton lot (just south of Jester) and the opening of parking garages. One change he does anticipate is the increase in C permit fees from $40 to $50, as proposed last year. He said that the university continues to work on the plan to ultimately replace virtually all surface parking on the campus proper with parking garages on the periphery of campus. Some 14,500 surface spaces remain, however. He said that the university also continues its commitment to making parking pay for itself rather than drawing from fees charged to all students. This year the debt service on the garages is $5.3 million. He noted that the $25 permit for evening-night garage parking has been well received, but that parking is always in crisis for at least one weekend in the spring, when the University Interscholastic League's boys state basketball tournament takes place in the Erwin Center. When combined with events such as Explore UT, the situation is even worse.

Dr. Harkins also discussed concerns regarding the shuttle bus system, which he said serves some 50,000 passengers a day on average. He is trying to trim the fat out of the system, which may mean adjusting what students consider a reasonable wait. At $31.50 per hour of operation per bus, empty or partially filled buses are a significant financial drain. He said the West Campus shuttle serves as a counterclockwise loop for the Forty Acres shuttle and said he would look into student concerns about long layover times at certain junctures. He said that there are no breaks for drivers built into the schedule, only brief stops intended to ensure that buses arrive at intervals of a few minutes rather than, for example, three FA buses arriving at the same time, followed by a long wait. Joyce Banks said there was a student petition protesting evening stops on the Enfield Road shuttle that duplicate stops on the Lake Austin route and make the ER route unnecessarily slow. Dr. Harkins said these duplicate stops were requested by students, but he would look into the matter.

Joyce also asked that a form of notification such as an up-to-date website be made available for students when there are major parking disruptions such as events at the Performing Arts Center. Concern was expressed about service to the Pickle Research Center, including both infrequency of shuttles and buses that never arrive. It was suggested that perhaps smaller vehicles running more frequently could address the problem. It was requested that the Transportation Services website represent more clearly changes in service levels during dead days, finals, and other times when frequency of shuttles changes, and that it be made clearer on buses how to report problems with service in order to ensure that the subcontractor is held accountable. It was requested that Parking and Transportation Services more frequently check usage in F lots and spaces to see if those that are underused might be made available to students. Dr. Harkins invited students to contact him about other concerns at bharkins@mail.utexas.edu.

c. Approval of GSA membership list. First reading (see 4.f. above)

d. Approval of funding allocation for student organizations. Publications Coordinator Ginger Gossman presented the awards of funds for new graduate student organizations. (See attachment 2.) The recommendations of the funding committee were approved unanimously. Ginger announced that funds remain and that applications for them will be accepted until Feb. 15.

e. Discrimination Policy. The resolution on a discrimination policy was postponed until the next meeting.

f. Resolution on Tuition Deregulation. Eric Opiela presented a resolution opposing the newly renamed initiative on local control of tuition, formerly known as tuition deregulation. Eric explained that the proposal would remove the power to set a cap on increases in tuition from the elected State Legislature to the unelected Board of Regents. He also discussed likely scenarios for very significant increases in tuition, including Chancellor Mark Yudof's proposed Texas Compact, which would pay tuition and fees for undergraduates from families earning less than the state median income. He argued that GSA should follow the lead of the Student Government and oppose both tuition deregulation (local control) and the Texas Compact. Don Drumtra called the question. The resolution passed with three abstentions. Don noted that in order for the resolution to be properly passed, we would first have to vote to allow passage of the measure on first reading. A motion to do so passed with three votes in opposition, and the resolution to oppose local control of tuition was declared passed.

8. Announcements. Graduate Student Representatives to Student Government Needed. Paul Navratil, graduate student member of the UT Student Government, urged graduate students to run for the open positions for grad reps on the SG.

9. Adjourn. Co-chairs Joyce Banks and Eric Opiela adjourned the meeting at 5:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Marian J. Barber
Secretary

Attachment 1

University of Texas at Austin
GRADUATE STUDENT ASSEMBLY
General Meeting
4:00-5:00 PM, February 3, 2003
Main 212

Attendance

1. Officers Present

Joyce Banks, Art History, Co-Chair
Eric Opiela, Law, Co- Chair
Marian Barber, History, Secretary
Ginger Gossman, Sociology, Publications Coordinator
Don Drumtra, Information School, Electronic Resources Coordinator (Webmaster)

2. Program Representatives Present

a. School of Architecture: None.

b. Red McCombs School of Business: None.

c. College of Communications

Communications Studies, Kristen Hoerl

d. College of Education

Special Education, Shawn Saladin, Cathy Thomas

e. College of Engineering

Biomedical Engineering, Kristen Carlson
Civil Engineering, Bridget Wadzuk
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, Martha Bernal

f. College of Fine Arts: None.

g. School of Information

Information Studies, Victoria Naipavel-Heiduschke, Prentiss Lee

h. School of Law: None.

i. College of Liberal Arts

American Studies, Karen Gonzalez
Anthropology, Dan Gilman
Comparative Literature, Jean L Love El Harim
Economics, Lori Stuntz
English and Creative Writing, Sylvia Gale, Melanie Ulrich
Government, Howard Donnell
Linguistics, Makiko Irie
Psychology, Robyn Honig
Sociology, Daniel Cortese
Spanish and Portuguese, Tara Johnson
Anna Pyeatt (Alternate)
Women and Gender Studies, Tracy Swan

j. College of Natural Sciences: None.

k. School of Nursing: None.

l. College of Pharmacy: None.

m. LBJ School of Public Affairs: None.

3. Organization Representatives Present:

a. Senate of College Councils, Jonathan C. Lee
b. Student Government, Paul Navrital

4. Guests Present

Dean Victoria Rodriguez, Graduate School
Dr. Bob Harkins, Director of Parking and Transportation
Patty Mcdorn, Communications Studies
Eric Malmberg, Education Administration

Attachment 2