Graduate students focus of meeting

An open meeting for all graduate and professional students will be held at 5:30 p.m. today in Ballantine Hall 330. The goal of the meeting is to have students voice their concerns and wants in regard to the future relationship between the Graduate Student Organization and IU Student Association.\nSarah Stevens, a doctoral student and the GSO moderator, said the meeting's purpose is to get a better sense of how well graduate students feel they are represented by IUSA, and to then decide if further actions are needed to be more accommodating to their needs and concerns.\nLisa Kuriscak, doctoral student and treasurer of the GSO, said the meeting will be important because it will allow the GSO to ask students questions, raise awareness and help build coalitions with other graduate student groups.\n"It's important to get students to share ideas ... and increase dialogue," Kuriscak said. "We don't have a unified voice, and in order to have that we need to know how students feel, and what they want." \nScott Witoszynski, IUSA's vice president of administration, said he is against any division of student leadership. He pointed out that together IUSA and GSO can be a stronger force.\n"We'd like to keep a central voice for student government. It would weaken both sides effectiveness if we completely split apart into two different governments," Witoszynski said. "I'd rather see more cooperation than separation."\nAll students are represented by IUSA, and Elizabeth Rytting, a graduate student and GSO representative, said the problem with this is many times there are issues that are more of a concern to graduate students than to undergraduate students. Stevens cited the high cost and lack of availability of child care, changes in family housing and health care benefits as examples. \n"We feel that the current structure of student government doesn't lend itself to graduate students," Stevens said. "We don't get a chance to voice our opinions and concerns."\nBut Witoszynski said there needs to be more communication between the IUSA and the GSO so IUSA can get a better sense of graduate students' concerns and needs.\n"The graduate students could address the issues affecting them more, but we still want to work with them and support their issues," Witoszynski said. "If they have an issue they feel needs to be addressed, and they bring it to our attention, we\'d be more than happy to work with them."\nStevens said the GSO realizes a consensus about graduate student representation is unlikely..\n"Somebody needs to work on these issues," Stevens said. "And the GSO is willing to do this, but we need to have an official status and more recognition on campus."\nWitoszynski said a main problem is several seats are empty that should be representing the graduate community.\n"They don't have all their seats filled in IUSA, and we currently have graduate positions open for them," Witoszynski said. "They could have more graduate students apply for these position." \nAlthough many issues seem to concern one group of students more than the other, Rytting said the GSO also realizes there are universal issues that affect both groups. In these situations, she said, it is important for the GSO and IUSA to work collectively, to make the best decisions.\n"There are issues, such as the bus plan, that affect both groups," Rytting said. "So, we will have to work together to do what is best."\nBut Stevens said nothing will be changed until they have a good sense of what everybody wants to have happen, if anything at all.\n"We would like to decide this fall what kind of government we want," Stevens said. "Then we want to spend about a year deciding on things like the election process and writing of a constitution"