Inside the Current Issue

Important Announcement from the Co-Chair for Student Affairs! The DSC chartered organizations listed below will be dechartered by the end of this semester unless at least one of their leaders contacts the Co-chair for Student Affairs, Stephanie Domenici, with all the required membership rosters for this year. Contact Stephanie at stephanie.domenici@gmail.com by the fifth of May. This announcement has also been made a DSC plenary meetings and is on the DSC website. ACM (Association for Computer Machinery) * Black Students' Alliance * Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) * Culture Club * Language Studies Organization * Postcolonial Studies Group * 20th Century Studies Group Help Wanted! Editor, Adjunct Project Coordinator, and Webmaster needed We are now in the annual hiring cycle for DSC paid positions. The DSC will be interviewing candidates for Advocate Editor-in-Chief, DSC Webmaster, and Adjunct Project Coordinator during May. To apply for THE ADVOCATE Editor position or the DSC Webmaster position, please your CV to Dave Golland at dgolland@gmail.com and state in the subject line which position you are applying for. Candidates for Adjunct Project Coordinator should contact Tina Lee at tinalee85281@yahoo.com. Current employees are encouraged to apply for reappointment. Also see this job announcement for more information!

DSC: Tuition Remission, ADA Doors, Lockers and More

Tuition Remission Secured for All Who Qualify!

Acting Provost Linda Edwards delivered the good news at the March DSC plenary meeting. Starting in September, tuition remission at the in-state level will be available for all GC students in their first ten semesters of study employed in the university. See your APO or EO for more details.

ADA Doors - DSC Triumphant!

Thanks to the continued pressure of the DSC, President Kelly ordered the installation of the "man-trap" (airlock-style) system for the ADA-compliant doors to the front lobby. Once again the control of the ADA doors is in the hands of the user. This is a victory for students, other members of our community, and visitors who need to use those doors. No longer will they be dependant on others to buzz them in.

DSC Lockers

On August 31, 2006, the lockers in the DSC rooms (GC 5409 and 5414) will be emptied and made available for students by annual application to the DSC. If you have a locker, please be sure to clear out your items by that date or you can claim your property in September during regular DSC office hours. Signs will be posted on the lockers shortly.

New DSC Website & Forums

The DSC website has migrated to our new URL, http://www.cunydsc.org. Be sure to check us out and try out our new features, including the all-new DSC bulletin board forums, which you can reach directly at http://cunydsc.org/bulletinboard/index.php. We hope that this will become the online location of choice for members of our community. The bulletin board includes forums for general discussion (funding, health, etc.), student classifieds (jobs, housing, and shopping), chartered orgs, and the DSC plenary and committees. Anyone can register and start posting. We hope to see you there!

Council Student Participation a Success - Let's Keep It Up!

The March meeting of Graduate Council achieved quorum, due in no small part to the presence of students. (The availability of beer and wine may have been a contributing factor.) The next meeting of Grad Council will be on Thursday, May 11, from 3:00-4:00 p.m. (2:30 for refreshments) in GC 9206/7. If you're a student program rep to Grad Council, please show up. If you can't, please let your DSC reps know so that one of them can serve as your alternate. Please note that the DSC and Grad Council are separate organizations; the DSC is student government: Grad Council is the governing body of the Graduate Center.

DSC to Help Save Darfur - Rally to Stop Genocide in Washington

On April 30, SaveDarfur.Org held a Rally to Stop Genocide on the National Mall in Washington. The DSC sent a GC student contingent, coordinated by the ad hoc DSC Darfur Rally Committee. Contact DSC Co-Chair for Communications Dave Golland at dgolland@gmail.com if you are interested in attending future similar events.

Steering Committee Coordinator Positions Re-evaluated

In May, 2005, the DSC passed a new bylaw stipulating that four of the six at-large members of the Steering Committee would be designated "coordinators" of particular areas of doctoral student life: disabilities, off-campus issues, international students, and office management. The other two would, with the agreement of the whole committee, take on other projects, such as chairing of the health committee. As the year draws to a close, Steering Committee members have been asked to report on their activities as coordinators so that the DSC can re-evaluate the new bylaw. The responses follow:

Students with Disabilities - Brenda Vollman: The goal of the Coordinator for Students with Disabilities is to be a strong voice and advocate for the concerns of all students, with particular focus on addressing unmet or insufficiently met needs of students with disabilities. Additionally, the Coordinator hopes to foster an environment within which students with disabilities can comfortably and effectively contribute to their academic disciplines.

This has only happened within my own program, as we had a specific student with unmet needs and I was made aware and asked to advocate. I met with Sharon Learner and offered to be a part of programs and events, and my offer was never taken up. There was to be something in April - but nothing has occurred to date.

International Students - Chong Wojtkowski: As the International Students Coordinator I found that the needs of international students are not very different from those of the student body as a whole. All of us are under-funded, overworked, and under-supplied. I noticed during my office hours that students - international or not - would stop by to reserve rooms for their professional and social needs, to buy movie tickets, to ask questions about grants and funding and especially travel and research funds. I did not find that students felt it necessary to indicate that their being "international" meant that they needed specific attention. Certainly, international students might be in slightly more dire situations, due to the fact that they cannot simply take up another job to earn money, for instance. However, neither can non-international students - what with the typical CUNY teaching and class workload.

Students who are from out of state, even from across the river in NJ, pay higher tuition as well - and I certainly don't think a coordinator position would really help them.

I feel the DSO could best be served by considering all students as equal - and not single out those who are "international." The GC does have an office for international students to help with specific questions that the DSC Steering Committee is not qualified to answer (I, for one, would not know how to give someone advice about citizenship status or rights). The DSC is a strong voice for the entire graduate community, and if an international student has a specific issue or problem, it affects us all, international or otherwise.

Health Committee Co-Chair - Ericka Calton: As health committee co-chair I arranged monthly meetings with a committee of dedicated GC students to talk about what health care issues GC students thought were most important to them. The DSO's passing of the referendum to increase the student activity for health services insured that the Wellness Center will stay, but as co-chair I wanted to find out what services GC students actually use and what services they appreciate, or what they had problems with. Therefore I created an on-line survey as well as one in paper form which we distributed at the plenary. We received some feedback such as what hours the DSO is on campus the most, and what services they found most helpful, in order to recommend to the Wellness Center the best ways to serve us. We also collected data on what types of insurance GC students have/would like to have; our next activity for the committee is to communicate the results to the administration.

Office Management - Celia Braxton: The need for a Steering Committee Coordinator for Office Management is questionable and seems to depend on the talents, abilities, and interest of the Co-Chairs, particularly the Co-Chair for Business, and other members of the Steering Committee. For a number of years, the DSC paid someone a part-time salary to "run" the office. In my first year on the SC (2003-04), it was decided that this was not necessary, as the Steering Committee members were running it fine (although no filing was really done), with the help of the Co-Chairs. During 2004-05, there were a number of problems between members of the Executive Committee, and the Steering Committee as a whole, and it appeared that a Coordinator for Office Management was necessary. I have found that this year, 2005-06, most of the duties I arrogated to this position have been carried out by the Co-Chairs themselves as a part of what they felt their jobs were. I would suggest this not be a standing Coordinator position.

Off-Campus Students - Lee Hachedoorian: The Coordinator for Campus Outreach is responsible for advocating for and increasing the involvement of CUNY Ph.D. students who are in Ph.D. programs based at the non-Graduate Center campuses of CUNY. I did not undertake any efforts toward fulfilling the responsibilities of this position.

Important Upcoming DSC Dates

Plenary Meetings (room GC 5414):

• Friday, May 12, 5:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. for 2006-7 reps)

Steering Committee Meetings (room GC 5489):

• Friday, May 5, 6:00 p.m.
• Friday, May 19, 6:00 p.m.