Meeting Minutes
BGSA General Assembly
09-12-2011
58 Voting members present
On the agenda (see below for details):
1) Introductions to BGSA and your Executive Board
2) Election of Program Representatives
3) GA voting on two constitutional amendments
4) Ratification of (potentially) three constitutional amendments.
5) Budget explanation and ratification
6) Explanation of Merit Requests
7) Vote on food budgets for General Assembly meetings
8) Oktoberfest introduction and vote on funding
9) Halloween Zombie Hop
10) Penn Alumni Networking Seminar announcement
11) From your GAPSA Reps: GradFest, the GradFest activities fair, a
new intramural volleyball league
---------------------------------------------1) Introductions
Check
2) Election of Program Representatives
Each program (Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Cell & Molecular
Biology, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Genomics & Computational
Biology, Immunology, Neuroscience, Pharmacology) will elect their
program representatives. Program representatives are responsible for
distributing and/or spending the money BGSA allocates to their
program. They (or their proxies) are also responsible for attending
the monthly general assembly meeting. This is to ensure that every
program has representation in BGSA, and that every program is aware of
BGSA programming. Look for an upcoming email to your program about
how many representatives you get to elect, and an estimation of how
much money you will be allocated. Remember, in order for your program
to have access to its money, you must elect a program rep. Every
program must have at least three people present at this meeting to
elect their rep(s): one person to be nominated, one person to do the
nominating, and one person to second the nomination.
Election outcomes:
Nominees:
BMB – Scott Ugras scugras@sas.upenn
CAMB – Kevin Tsai, Sudil Muhendra, Alexandra Bryson (abryson@mail.med)
Epi/Biostat – Sandy Griffith (sgrif@upenn)
GCB – Krishna Vijayendran (kvija@mail.med)
IGG – Julie Horowitz (jhoro@mail.med)
NGG – Adam Watson (adamjosephwatson@gmail)
PHRM – Nate Snyder NSNyd@mail.med
3) GA voting on two constitutional amendments
The GA will discuss and vote on the two proposed constitutional
amendments sent out in my last email. The first step of amending the
constitution is for 2/3 of the GA to vote for the amendment. The
proposed amendments are restated here:
First proposed amendment: The following sentence from Article VI,
Section 3 of the BGSA Constitution:
"The Program Discretionary Funds shall be divided amongst the
individual BGS programs as follows: each program will receive a
minimum of $150, with the remaining funds portioned based upon program
population."
shall be rewritten as
"The Program Discretionary Funds shall be divided amongst the
individual BGS programs as follows: 20% of the funds shall be evenly
distributed amongst the individual programs, and the remaining 80% of
the funds shall be portioned based upon program population."
Passed GA vote with 1 vote against.
Ratified with 15/15 votes
Second proposed amendment: GAPSA Representatives shall be made voting
members of the Executive Board by removing the "non" from the
following sentence from Article IV, Section 2 of the BGSA
Constitution:
"GAPSA representatives shall serve for one year and shall be
non-voting members of the executive board."
and by removing the "(as non-voting members)" from the following
sentence from Article III, Section G, Paragraph 1 of the BGSA By-Laws:
"They shall report regularly to BGSA at each General Assembly meeting
and Executive Board meeting (as non-voting members) and forward
relevant GAPSA communications to BGS in a timely manner."
Questions fielded
Motion passed with 2 opposed in GA
Ratified with 15/15 votes
4) Ratification of (potentially) three constitutional amendments
If the GA votes to amend the constitution, the amendments must then be
ratified by a 3/4 vote of the Executive Board and the Program
Representatives. In addition to the two amendments listed above,
there was an amendment passed by the GA at the end of last year that
was never voted on by the Executive Board and the Program
Representatives. That amendment, to Article VI, Section 4, is here:
Section to be changed: Merit request funds shall be reserved for
social or academic event proposals by any BGSA member. The funds must
be used for the benefit of all BGSA members.
Proposed Change: Merit request funds shall be reserved for social or
academic events open to all BGSA members. The individual(s) proposing
the event need not be BGSA members.
3rd proposed change
Ratified with 17 for 2 against
5) Budget explanation and ratification
The breakdown of the budget will be explained by the Vice Chair for
Finance. If the final budget numbers have been provided to the
Executive Board by this date, the budget will be voted upon by the GA
(2/3 vote required to ratify the budget).
Note: budget numbers not yet available. No ratification possible.
Questions fielded on rollover, approval of requests, amount used each year by what
program
6) Explanation of Merit Requests
A Merit Request is a funding request for an event, activity, or
project that will be open to members of BGSA. The Vice Chair will
describe the process of applying for Merit Requests.
Nicely Done!
No online submission yet.
7) Vote on food budgets for General Assembly meetings
The Vice Chair will present the budget for the GA meeting dinners (2/3
vote required to approve the expenditures)
GA votes to approve $600/meeting for food
8) Oktoberfest introduction and vote on funding
The Vice Chair for Social Affairs is planning the annual Oktoberfest barbeque
and celebration. Because this will cost over $500, the GA must vote
on whether or not to fund the event (2/3 of the GA needed to pass)
Proposes a vote on budget and date of event
GA suggests vegetarian options
GA asks why budget needed to go up from $2000 to $2500
Christ outlines budget, noting that we need more beer and food
GA approves
Date: we approve Oct 4
9) Halloween Zombie Crawl
The Vice Chair for Social Affairs is planning a new Halloween event.
He'll share his plans for this new night of horror (and fun!).
Just a mention
No votes
Suggestion: food platters in lieu of drinks
10) Penn Alumni Networking Seminar announcement
Ever wonder what life is like after grad school? We have been too!
The Vice Chair for Academic Affairs will describe this exciting
upcoming event.
Fri Oct 7 – 3:00-5:00 PM event: GSK, Symcore
Unanimous: Shaun is a hero for putting this thing together
11) From your GAPSA Reps: GradFest, the GradFest activities fair, a
new intramural volleyball league
Even though your GAPSA Reps haven't yet had their first GAPSA meeting,
they already have things to share! GradFest is coming, and GAPSA is
starting a new intramural league for the grad schools.
Vera: intro
Ed: Gradfest summary. Sept 26-30 www.gradfest.us
Kilang: Adds info on event w/ Amy Gutman
Kristy: Volleyball thing
Ben E adds stuff about grant money for travel
Nicely done!