The Graduate and Professional Student Government meeting Friday afternoon passed a resolution in opposition to a tuition policy that charges graduate students up to thousands of dollars more if they take even one credit in a school other than the one in which they take most of their classes.
GPSG president Adam Reneker introduced a proposal that would work with IU administration to address the issue and develop more reasonable tuition rates.
The proposal was passed unanimously.
Reneker also introduced a diversity council that would work with the Office of the Provost to better diversify graduate resources.
“I’m really excited to be working with them,” Reneker said. “I think that they will have really great ideas.”
GPSG executives then focused on teaching the group’s representatives the basics of parliamentary procedure as the assembly voted on the proposed budget for the year.
The total yearly budget came to $105,721, spread over six categories: staff expenses, academic support, community building, advocacy efforts, resources, staff resources and a small reserve fund.
Members were set to pass the budget without discussion, but one representative was concerned that the budget was not detailed enough and she did not know exactly where the money would be going.
Several others raised their objections afterwards, which included concerns over the several-thousand-dollar disparity in money allocated to the president and vice-president, along with several other lower positions. Another concern was about confusion over what the funds for each category had been used for in the past.
Reneker assured representatives that the budget was similar to previous years’ budgets and GPSG would soon have a constitutional convention to make tweaks to the constitution and to be more transparent.
The budget was then passed with only a few dissents.
The meeting also included a speech from current IU student trustee Anna Williams. Because Williams is in her last year of the position, the Board of Trustees is currently seeking a new student member.
The position is a gubernatorial appointment that serves two instead of the three years that normal board members serve.
Any full-time student can apply for the position, and anyone seriously considered would go through a round of interviews lasting through spring 2017.
“It has opened doors that I would never, ever have anticipated opening,” Williams said. “I would absolutely do it again.”
Dave Daleke, associate dean of the University Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Health Sciences, also spoke to explain the various services that the University Graduate School could provide graduate students who may not have studied at IU before.
He made special note of all the IU faculty that did graduate work here and congratulated the students for continuing their education at IU.
Daleke also discussed the Student Service Needs Assessment, a planned survey that will be given to all current graduate students to assess what IU was doing well and what the University could do better to fit graduate students’ needs.
“It’s self-enriching, but it also serves our society in a very important way,” Daleke said. “You are the new professionals who will lead this country into the world.”
