Last Spring, the Doctoral Students’ Council passed a resolution to move blood drives off campus until the FDA’s ban on the blood of men who have or have had sex with men is lifted. In the last issue of the Advocate, two DSC officers authored an article that expanded upon the resolution, making the argument that moving drives off campus maintains the university as a safe space, non-discriminatory against any of the university’s members. Since then, the Graduate Center canceled the announced October blood drive, and the DSC has been told by the GC administration that blood drives would not take place on campus in the future.
Another effort motivated by a resolution passed last Spring has gained ground. In the Spring, the DSC passed a resolution to establish gender neutral bathrooms at the Graduate Center, and DSC officers submitted a proposal to use capital gains funds to do so. In conversations with the president, we learned that a plan to create gender-neutral bathrooms is going forward.
The Doctoral Students’ Council had its first plenary meeting on September 21. Bob Campbell, Vice-President for Information Technology was our guest. He fielded questions on the printing quota and the disappearance of the color printer in the Mac Lab in the library. He noted that the Student Technology Fee Committee has say over those expenditures, and can choose to continue to fund unlimited printing or to invest in color printing, while he also noted the cost. Evan Misshula (technology@cunydsc.org), Officer for Library & Technology and a member of the Student Tech Fee Committee, would like to hear from students on the printing quota system, particularly if you’ve found the printing quota has negatively affected your research and training.
At the plenary meeting, we heard reports from the Executive Committee and Steering Committee officers, and addressed some items of new business. A change to a bylaw was presented, which will be voted on next meeting, which would increase the stipend of the University Faculty Senate Liaison to be equivalent to the University Student Senate Delegate stipend, to go into effect next year. An ad-hoc committee was formed to look into the University Student Senate. We also ratified a new member. If your program is not represented on the Doctoral Students’ Council, you can contact the Officer for Membership, María Cristina García (membership@cunydsc.org), to find out more about establishing representation.
If you are organizing a student-run event or activity, you can apply for funding through the DSC. The Grants Committee will meet November 1 and December 3, and grants proposals for those meetings are due October 22 and November 19, respectfully. Contact Jen Tang (funding@cunydsc.org), Officer of Funding, if you have any questions.
The DSC is interested in learning about student representation throughout the Graduate Center. One of the purposes of the DSC, as defined in its constitution, is to democratize CUNY and “secure voting participation in the decision-making entities that impact Graduate Center students.” Please contact us if you have questions about student representation on program standing committees or other Graduate Center bodies, including how those representatives can be chosen, and the procedure that should be followed in such meetings. We’re looking to learn more about how different programs operate in this regard. You can contact the DSC at dsc@cunydsc.org. As always, stop by the office in the fifth floor DSC hallways, in room 5495, where you can chat, ask a question, or buy discounted movie tickets. Our office hours are posted on cunydsc.org. You can also follow us on twitter.com/cunydsc and facebook.com/cunydsc.
