GSA Executive Council Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, July 28, 2015, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., GSA Office
Present: Ralph Washington Jr. (chair), Katrina Brock, Joan Palmiter Bajorek, Jacqui Barkoski,
Rebeca Figueroa, Patrick Dolan, and Michael Accinno
The regular meeting of the the Executive Council was called to order on July 28 at 6:04 p.m. by
the Chair. The secretary was present. Katrina moved to amend the meeting agenda; the motion
was seconded and approved.
Joan and Ralph reported on the progress of the GSA office renewal and repairs. A quote of
$733.50 was received to wash the walls, clean and wax the floors, and shampoo the carpets.
However, only $100 is available to fund this expense from the Office Supplies line-item of the
GSA budget. Ralph will explore outside options for securing the remaining funds. Ralph also
directed that $30 from Executive Council discretionary funds be made available for a truck to
remove discarded GSA office materials.
Joan shared her progress on GSA logo and branding materials, including fliers she has created
for WOW week, Coffee Bagel Donut Day (CBDD), and Bar Night.
Joan gave her report on WOW Week. There will be three GSA-sponsored events: The GSA
picnic and resource fair on Tuesday, September 15 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. (officers are requested at
2:30 p.m. for set-up), a GSA meet-and-greet event on Thursday, September 17 from 9:30-10:30
a.m., and the first CBDD of the year on Friday, September 18 from 9-11 a.m. Joan also reported
that she received a bid from Whole Foods to deliver food and beverages directly to the GSA
Office. This bid covers the entire year of CBDD, and falls within budget limits.
Joan and Katrina provided an update about the proposed monthly bar night at the Graduate. The
bar at West Village was also proposed as a potential venue, but due to parking and other
considerations, the Graduate remains the preferred option. Several potential social events were
also discussed, including: movie night, singles mingles, and speed dating.
Michael gave his report about the GSA website. The host of the old GSA wiki is now defunct,
and a new website hosted by wordpress (http://wp.me/6qFCD) is now under construction.
Following the discussion of a potential $13 expense to redirect the URL gsa.ucdavis.edu to
ucdavis.gsa.wordpress, Katrina moved to proceed with implementing a free URL redirect. The
motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
Patrick reported on the proposed budget for the upcoming year. The budget will be cut slightly to
account for some losses in income and lingering uncertainties about non-guaranteed sources of
income. Patrick will post the budget on the EC google drive following the conclusion of
tonight’s meeting.
Ralph provided an update about the request to rescind the Fossil Fuel Divestment Resolution, a
GSA Assembly resolution that was approved at the June meeting. The June minutes are not
currently available, but Ralph has determined that a mistake in parliamentary procedure may
have been made. Ralph will further investigate how to resolve this matter in accordance with
Robert’s Rules.
Ralph plans to have monthly meetings with Chancellor Katehi, Provost Hexter, and Vice
Chancellor Adela de la Torre. Ralph will also organize an introductory meeting in the fall
between the Executive Council and Associate Vice Chancellor Milton Lang.
Ralph discussed potential plans to collaborate with the Postdoctoral Scholars Association (PSA).
The incoming Chair of PSA, Jonathan Ashby, would like to collaborate with the GSA on at least
two events: a funding workshop in the fall quarter, and a networking event in the winter quarter.
Collaboration between IGPS and the Postdoctoral Scholar Research Symposium was also
discussed, but unfortunately the two events do not currently coincide.
Ralph reported about plans to hire a student from the Graduate School of Management (GSM) as
a marketing consultant for GSA. The proposed consultant would receive an annual stipend of
$4000 and would be given control over the GSA’s $2000 publicity budget. Ralph will further
investigate whether this proposal would need to be approved by the Assembly.
Katrina discussed her proposal for GSA social grants, a mechanism which would fund social
events organized by graduate students in consultation with the Public Relations Officer. The
Assembly would have to approve this idea, but an immediate revision to the bylaws would not be
needed. A draft proposal is available for study on the Executive Council google drive.
Ralph polled the officers about their availability for the next Executive Council meeting. The
next meeting is TBA.
At the beginning of the Open Floor, Patrick raised the issue of cutting the orientation fund as a
budget item. The orientation fund, used to fund student orientation activities for graduate
departments and groups, was listed as a $10,500 item in last year’s budget. The Office of
Graduate Studies funded 60% of this budget, but it will no longer provide contributions. Patrick
also raised an outstanding Travel Award issue that dates from the 2012-2013 academic year.
Patrick will seek further documentation from the affected student in question to resolve this
issue.
Jacqui is seeking a deputy External Chair to assist with lobbying visits. The National Association
of Graduate-Professional Students (http://nagps.org/) is soliciting stories related to graduate
student debt. The idea is to solicit stories about debt in advance of the Presidential Election.
Email Jacqui (gsaexternalchair@ucdavis.edu) with ideas for debt stories.
The meeting adjourned at 8:02 p.m.
Michael Accinno, Secretary