GSA Assembly Meeting
Friday, February 5, 2016
Campus Center 375
Speaker Caitlin Janiszewski called the meeting to order at 6:05 pm.
1. Approval of the Agenda. Motion to approve the agenda. Second to the motion. No
objections. Agenda approved.
2. Robin Brennan was elected Assembly Secretary.
3. Approval of the December 5th Minutes. Motion to approve the minutes. Second to the
motion. No objections. Minutes approved.
4. Officer Reports (Executive Board)
a. President – Kat Slye
i. There was an error in December payroll and Caitlin Janiszewski was paid
her full amount for the year instead of half. If she was asked to pay the
other half back this would cause more of a tax problem than it is worth so
Caitlin and President Kat Slye worked out an agreement for repayment if
Caitlin does not fulfill her obligations, there were no objection to Caitlin
keeping the money.
ii. GSA State Legislative Action Days (LAD) - if you are interested in
coming to the capital contact Kat Slye.
iii. Two upcoming NAGPS conference events – National Legislative Action
Day (LAD) which is the week after our LAD and Annual Gala. March
12-15.
iv. NAGPS Regional Conference to be held at Stoney Brook, we might be
able to send more people because no flights need to be occurred. April 1517.
b. Acting Vice President – Hirah Mir
i. RGSO training completed– 25 returning RGSOs, 5 new RGSOs, total of
30 RGSOs contact Hirah if your RGSO needs training
ii. New strategic plan - increase collaborations among the RGSOs.
c. Treasures Report Hina Thalho
i. Nothing to add – treasurer’s report was approved.
d. Equity and Inclusion Report – Amani Edwards
i. Conference April 23rd – looking for volunteers to help with the conference
e. Programming Chair – Lisa Cassidy
i. Looking for people for committee
ii. Flyer on table about Doctoral Student Discussion Forum in February and
March
iii. Surviving Graduate School
1. Future Faculty Leadership Council is presenting this and it is about
self-care, burnout prevention, and productivity. It is being held
Feb 26th, from 10:30 am -12:30 pm in Humanities 137.
iv. Meeting the GSA Advocacy Team
1. Feb 18th, 5 pm in Lecture Center 12 free Pizza and refreshments.
v. Feb 15th – Making Valentines for President Jones.
vi. April 5th – Power Dialogue – Deputy Director of the Department of
Environmental Conservation is coming to UAlbany as well as Richard
Kauffman who is the Energy and Finance Chair in the Governor’s office,
they are coming to have a dialogue with students about what these power
plants do. We will have a Graduate Student to interact with them and
workshops all day long.
vii. Sherri Fink – ($3,000) Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security
and Cyber Security forum on April 15th.
f. Grants Chair – John Stovall
i. Final count for all grants are in and they are being reimbursed or are
already reimbursed.
5. GSA Representative Reports –
a. UCR – Caitlin – nothing to report
b. ALS – Nakissa – few changes on top of page 13, it should read “Henry Curtis
stays on CAA”
c. UAS – Dylan Card – we are working on updating prices for 2016-2017 meal
plans, kosher meal plan will move from Dutch to Indian dining hall. Plans are still
being worked on as to which retail options will be available.
d. WAB – Caitlin – nothing to add
e. Judicial Board Report – Sam Byrne
i. They handed out official reports to every in the room. They stated that
there are a few areas in the constitution simply confirm commitment to
equity and inclusion from a proactive stance and Caitlin asked if we could
exam things to see if we are meeting those requirements. They found a
few things they wanted to report; first being that it is the duty and the right
of the Equity and Inclusion Committee to review governing documents
and make recommendations to the assembly pertaining to that document,
second is that they recognize that that be specified at a frequency of
maybe once a semester or once a year.
ii. Assembly or Equity and Inclusion committee does not communicate with
the entire graduate student body and they feel that this needs to be
rectified.
iii. RGSO and Grants funding should be more equitable and inclusionary, and
non-biased and more transparent.
iv. Some areas of vagueness – the Equity and Inclusion Committee to look at
what the J-Board and the governing documents and come back and give a
report.
v. Scott states that the J-Board has next to no institutional memory and they
are coming up with a SOP.
vi. Kat states that we have been denied access to communicate with the entire
Graduate Student body and she has offered to look into it.
vii. Amani questions – lot of debate about her title, how do they cement a
name for her current position
1. Scott – out of the governing document – they used the one that was
most recent and which was Equity and inclusion officer
2. Hirah about the rubric for RGSO guidelines - Sam says it is not
clear how the decisions are made and that there is room for
changes to be made, Scott thinks Amani’s committee should be
involved in helping with making decisions for RGSO’s.
6. Old Business –
a. WAB Chair – Caitlin – Invest in everyone a little bit or raise the stipends/other
incentives and be able to hold them accountable. WAB committee include in
their report a method of accountability. Do we concentrate just on E-Board or
keep it like it is now? If we keep it the way it is now we need a way to hold
people accountable. Scott is all for streamlining accountability with an oversight
committee – tabled.
b. NAGPS Attendance Proposal – tabled
c. Confirmation of appointment of Vice-President made by Kat Slye of Hirah Mir
i. Hirah Mir confirmed
d. Confirmation of appointment of Lead Senator made by Kat Slye of Nakissa
Jahanbani
i. Nakissa Jahanbani confirmed
e. Confirmation of new Senator made by Kat Slye of Kim Berg
i. Kim Berg confirmed
f. Confirmation of new Senator made by Kat Slye of Caitlin Janiszewski
i. Caitlin Janiszewski confirmed
7. New Business –
a. Ban the Box resolution – Amani Edwards gives report – revised
i. Amendment to include the background which was put up on the projector.
(Ban the Box is a civil rights initiative concerning ex-offenders, aimed at
persuading employers and institutions of higher education to remove the
check box that asks is applicants have a criminal record. The University at
Albany, SUNY is focused on banning the box for individuals with past
criminal records so they can receive the same fair advantage during the
application process as others. The initiative has higher societal
implications, as those with past criminal records are less likely to reoffend if they are afforded more opportunities. Banning the box would
ensure that no individual feels insecure or deterred from pursuing a higher
education opportunity.)
ii.
1. Debate on the amendment, to amend the amendment for changing
the wording
a. Debating the amendment CUNY schools don’t have the
box, we are wanting to replicate that system. There was a
discussion about what Ban the Box is actually about and
what is actually going to be involved in removing the
“box.”(University at Albany, SUNY Graduate Student
Association).
b. Motion to amend the amendment. Second the amendment.
c. Debate the amendment to the amendment. How are people
going to be given the chance to explain themselves if the
box is taken off and there is then no place for them to give
a written explanations of what they did and what they
learned from their experiences? Amani was unsure how
this was going to happen or if there was going to be a place
to give an explanation of things they have done in their past
or not. One thing that is for sure is that most of the people
that have been spoken to are for “banning the box” all
together. It is also more logical and more frugal to do
background checks on everyone who wants to come to the
University. Ben is sitting on the SUNY panel to ban the
box and you can contact him for more information. Most
people who see the “box” won’t even finish the application
and doing away with it will bring in more applicate pool.
d. Amendment will go at the end of the resolution in a space
called Background.
e. No Objections. Amendment Passed.
f. Close debate, any questions or objection to add to
resolutions.
2. Several people for the resolution, no against the resolution
a. Any objections, none
b. Vote – motion passed
b. Formation of election committee – Volunteers to help Lisa with nomination –
Keith, Lisa, Erin
c. Adjustment to office budget – Hina
i. Need more money for office supplies, was only given $1,000.00 last
semester.
ii. Kat – clickers got labels, some unexpected cost were incurred after Kat
became President
iii. $38,000 not allocated
iv. $1,000 to be given to office supplies
1. Motion made. Second to the motion.
2. Vote – passed
v. Updates to Presidents Strategic plan
1. Take part of VP strategic plan with her – amendment to strategic
plan. UAS contract up this year, Kat is working with UAS already
on the contract. They are wanting us to pay the payroll processing
fee. Motion to pass the strategic plan. Second to the Motion. No
Debate. Typo in strategic plan – Vote passed.
vi. Discussion of constitutional and bylaws amendment
1. We are going to be voting and change these documents
2. Kat spoke - UAC and Lead senator positions should be appointed
and not elected to be voted on at a future time. Formal debate next
meeting. Comments – Eli not for appointment, but to keep it as a
democracy and that we are centralizing power with the E-Board,
Marina also for voting, Scott appreciates the respect to inclusion
but it might be the case is the rational is that the important voices
already involved like the president should be considered more
importantly and things should be re-evaluated who get appointed
and who gets voted, Abbie – if somebody is appointed the
assembly would then confirm the appointment, Kat builds off what
Scott says. Eli – sympathetic with re-vamping how we vote and
appoint people.
8. Open Forum –
a. No other business
9. Meeting adjourned at 7:53 pm.