IRSA General Meeting
February 3, 2003
Academic Village

I.)            Announcements:  None

II.)           Beach Party:  The party will be held Friday February 7, 2003 at 625 Clarendon St.  The party starts at about 8 and there is an indeterminate end time.  PLEASE sign up to help with decorations or clean up, see Angie for details.  Food and Tropical drinks will be provided by IRSA/IR.  Remember to dress in Beach gear.

III.)          One World:  The dates of this campus wide activity are February 17-March 5.  There are three events lined up that IRSA is representing.  1.) Thursday, February 27 from 4-9 pm Dinner and Performances. 2.) Movie Nights will be held in three auditoriums; the movies to be shown are Pricilla Queen of the Desert, Monsoon Wedding and Like Water for Chocolate. 3.) Panel Disc. And Pizza Lunch-Planned for March 4.  Contact Sandip if you would like to be involved in the IRSA activities.

IV.)        GSO:  Here are most of Kalina’s GSO minutes for you perusal!

1.)                 Dental Plan:  The dental plan has been approved and it will be offered as a part of the health insurance choices.

2.)                 Parking:  A 4-year plan for reduction of parking fees has been accepted.  TA, GA and RA will be considered as faculty in the matters of parking.  The school has a plan to build more garages in the near future. 

SU Parking & Transit Services
Proposed GA, TA and RA Permit Rates

3.)                  Off Campus:  Euclid has had more lights added to the street to make it brighter and hopefully safer.  Also GSO would like to find more participants in a Students become Friends with Neighbors plan that would help increase the level of community in the area and avert crime.

4.)                 Public Safety: has purchased an engraver, which will allow students to have their laptops and bikes engraved for safety reasons.

5.)                 Tuition Increase:  The Board of Trustees has approved a proposal for tuition increase, which will lead to 8% increase in graduate tuition, starting from 2004 fiscal year.  This money will be used for library improvements and for 3.5% increase of pay for the par-time instructors, which will begin in 2006 fiscal year. 

6.)                 Open Forum:  As it was announced last semester, the GSO is organizing an open forum in the Spring, 2003.  All graduate students are strongly encouraged to attend because there will be various representatives from the administration and faculty.  The students will be given a chance to ask questions and voice their concerns directly to the Vice Chancellor and Dean Mercer among others.  Students are invited to give their suggestions for speakers they would like to see on the Forum.  There will be further announcements on this matter.  PLEASE LET KALINA KNOW OF PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM!

7.)                 Inn Complete:  Our favorite bar has been closed for a complete renovation over the winter break.  Some of the improvements include an enlarged bar, brand new sound system and new bathrooms, which will accommodate people with disabilities.  There will be a festive grand opening.  We will keep you posted. 

8.)                 NYPIRG:  GSO has a 2-year contract with NYPIRG, which expires in July, 2003.  Usually, students have to vote in order for the contract to be extended or declined.  This year the vote will be made via email.  The vote will not be anonymous because students will have to use their name and SU ID number.  At least 20% of the graduate student body has to vote, in order for a decision to be made.  The voting date will be announced in the Daily Orange and flyers will be posted in the Shine Student Center.  We will also let you know over email.  Visit the NYPIRG Website at http://www.nypirg.org/oncampus/syra/default.html for more info on specific activities.

V.)              Maxwell Dean Search:  The Dean candidates are already arriving at Maxwell, so please find time to go and attend the Dean sessions that are open to students.  This kind of activity can really help our program to flourish by finding candidates that are open and helpful to IR.  The Dean who gets this job can help with our Diploma issue and well as being a positive resource for IR growth.  The next sessions will be held February 12, 20 and 24.  Please refer to the emails that Deanna and Melissa Rock have sent out that will help you find the times and locations.  We need more student participation and there is the added bonus of a focus group of IR students that will meet with the selection committee.           

VI.)           Recruitment:  For the class of 2004 we are going to work with the department to contact students to help promote the school.  Missy will have more details about this after a meeting with the IR dept.  We will help by contacting the high priority students to promote the school.  We are going to attempt to match prospective students with other by area of focus or region.  Details will come soon.

VII.)        Welcome Weekend:  This years weekend will be the first weekend of April.  We will be putting together a housing map that will show the better areas to live and we will also be having a housing tour.  This would require vehicles to drive people and houses/Apartments being available to tour.  We are also thinking of having and informal party, possibly at the Inn Complete.  Any person interested in volunteering space for a prospective student to stay please let us know how many you can accommodate.

VIII.)     Bulletin Board:  the IRSA Board in the AV needs improvement and we want some help/ideas on how to improve it.  We are hoping to take action on this soon, so start thinking about ideas and ways to help make it not only more attractive, but functional!