The Graduate and Professional Student Council reviewed the group's goals and elected a new judicial committee at its general assembly meeting Tuesday night.
GPSC President Alethea Duncan started the meeting with a presentation of the council's central objectives. She emphasized the core goals of the year-communication, relationships, academic success, continuing progress and the transparency of the executive board.
"Next semester, I will update [the body] on our goals and how much we've accomplished," said Duncan, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in chemistry. "A lot of our goals we've already accomplished... so we at least have a lot of the groundwork going. I am glad to say things have simmered down for GPSC, so we know where we're going and what we're expecting."
The body also held elections for a new judicial committee. Attorney General Yvonne Ford explained the responsibilities of members of the judicial committee, who will hear complaints and review bylaws, and asked for nominees. Four representatives self-nominated, but bylaws allow only three to be elected-prompting the body to discuss why it could not elect all four.
Ford, a third-year Ph.D. candidate at the nursing school, said she could not remember such enthusiasm for the process, and invited the four candidates to briefly introduce themselves and take questions. The representatives moved to vote only for the candidate they did not want on the committee-an unorthodox method that passed once the candidates left the room.
"We roll by the will of the assembly," Ford said when the decision to vote against a candidate passed. The body elected Daniel Griffin, a graduate student in classical studies, and law students Waverly Gordon and Rob Tiefenbrun to the judicial committee.
In other business:
The financial committee presented its proposed group funding budget. The financial committee would distribute a total of $14,689 to 69 groups under the plan. After determining that the budget could come up for review if groups that were promised funding were found to be left out, the body approved the funding.
The body closed its meeting with a discussion led by Communications Coordinator Laura Johnson in response to complaints about GPSC News, the only listserv that includes all graduate and professional students.
"When I [ran for office,] one of my points was I want to give the right information to the right people at the right time," said Johnson, a graduate student in biological anthropology and anatomy.
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