GPSC ends year with 2 new Trustee committee seats

The Graduate and Professional Student Council closed out the year last night with a wrap-up of committee work and plans for the 2001-2002 academic year.

President-elect Elayne Heisler began by detailing the new executive board's initiatives, which include working towards an increased GPSC presence on campus, writing a bi-weekly column in The Chronicle and creating summer events to make GPSC a year-round organization. Heisler added that she hopes to continue the work and programming of her predecessor Cybelle McFadden and outgoing vice president Ryan Opel.

Opel reported to the council about the first roundtable discussion held this semester. The discussion group, which brings together leaders of several prominent student groups to talk about campus issues, recommended the addition of two meetings per semester next year.

McFadden then announced to the council that the Board of Trustees voted to add an additional GPSC seat on each of the five standing committees. GPSC will elect these new members pending approval from the general Board.

John Cook, a second-year law student, addressed the group on his work as a liaison to the Duke University Police Department. Cook said that "things seem secure with graduate students," adding that previous issues of theft at the Law School have been eliminated. Though some graduate students had voiced concern about proper lighting in parking areas, Cook noted that lighting "is not the job of student police to correct."

Continuing with issues of graduate student parking, GPSC members approved a resolution presented by Cook that will be given to the University Parking Task Force. The resolution is intended to give the task force more power to rectify the current problems of limited parking space.

Brian Bolten, a first-year Fuqua student, reported on the Duke Athletic Council Meeting that outlined the budget and objectives for the 2001-2002 school year. Bolten said that the committee's three main goals are "increased student aid to athletes, an increased scope for women's sports and to address the issue of escalating coaches' salaries." Bolten followed with the news that the athletic department has shown interest in meeting with GPSC to increase the number of men's basketball tickets allotted to graduate students.

Opel then took the floor again to discuss the graduate student insurance policy. He said that the outcome of the insurance survey showed that 61 percent of graduate students were against the "drug card," and that the insurance policy would "retain its family-friendly structure, as opposed to switching to spousal rates."