GPSC assesses walk-up line practices, changes bylaws

In their first meeting of the spring semester, the general assembly of the Graduate and Professional Student Council passed 12 amendments to their bylaws.

At the meeting—which was held Tuesday evening—the council also discussed seven additional amendments to be passed at a later time and reviewed the basketball walk-up line policy.

The majority of the bylaw changes dealt with structure and misrepresentative wording. Important changes included increasing the quorum from one third to one half of sitting representatives. Although some representatives thought this was not a high enough proportion, chairman of the Judicial Committee Paul Escajadillo, an MBA candidate at the Fuqua School of Business, did not want to increase the quorum too quickly.

“I’m more for gradual change than massive disruption,” he said.

Further amendments were made to initiate a plan of removing a GPSC representative who had been found to be abusing the system of pardoned absences.

Basketball Co-chair R. Michael Peace, a third-year Ph.D. student of pathology, presented on walk-up line policies, including the issue of scalped tickets.

After a graduate student was found selling a basketball ticket for above face value earlier this year, the basketball committee deactivated his ticket privileges. Peace estimated the tickets are worth $14.25 per game. He added that there were twice as many graduate students as undergraduate at the Pitt game.

Peace said that the ushers are tasked with maintaining an energetic environment in Cameron Indoor Stadium, and as such, students with posters will be given special consideration, and possibly a spot closer to the front. The student who has produced the ‘best’ poster at the end of the season will be given a ticket to the game against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In other business:

The council approved the funding allocations for many student groups.

Of 83 completed applications, 16 received no funding. Sahil Chaini, chair of the finance committee, said that most of the rejected funding applications asked for money for t-shirts, which the committee does not allow, or speaker expenses, which come out of GPSC’s co-sponsorship budget.

A total of $78,886 was requested and $34,218 was allocated. Chaini, who is a graduate student at Nicholas School for the Environment, has one week to notify groups of the decision.

The winter formal will be held on Jan. 31 at the Durham Convention Center. GPSC representatives will be selling tickets for $12, the price includes two drink tickets.

GPSC will host a mixer with its alumni Feb. 12.

This Thursday, the Bicycle Safety Committee will meet at the GPSC house at 5:30 p.m.

The Office of Information Technology office is looking for graduate students to participate in a focus group about ACES.

Last semester marked a time of great accomplishment for GPSC, as they passed two resolutions that made ripples across campus.

The first of which, passed in early November, urged administration to eliminate continuation fees for doctoral students. The moment represented a showing of solidarity across representatives from each of Duke's nine graduate and professional schools.

Currently, the fee—approximately $6,324 per year for humanities Ph.D. students beyond their fifth year of study—is one of the highest compared to peer institutions. The resolution suggested that rather than act as an incentive for students to finish on time, the fee provides an unnecessary financial burden that could slow students’ progress as they take on more responsibilities to cover the cost of living.

The second resolution, passed in late November, encouraging the Board of Trustees to increase graduate Young Trustee representation from two to three. Currently, graduate Young Trustees serve the Board for two years, during the first of which they act only as an observing member. Under the terms of the resolution a second year of observation would be added for a total of three serving years.?

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