The Graduate and Professional Student Council unanimously approved changes to its charter at the general assembly meeting Wednesday night.
The changes to the bylaws fit into five general categories and were largely fashioned to clarify requirements and more accurately apply to current procedures.
"These charter changes represent a lot of hard work on the part of members of the executive board," GPSC Vice President Nathan Kundtz said.
The changes approved involve representatives, proxies and attendance; committee requirement outlines; the reformulation of the "ombudsperson" position; and a redistribution or clarification of minor responsibilities among leadership.
The committees within GPSC are designated as either internal or University. As part of the bylaws changes, serving on a University committee, by default, now also counts as serving on an internal committee, satisfying the requirement for GPSC representatives.
Members then nominated candidates for the 2007-2008 executive board and Board of Trustees committees. Elections for the executive board will be held April 4.
"This is a great way to help lead from the very, very top at Duke," Kundtz said.
Daniel Kight, a first-year graduate student in public policy and the student body president at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy, presented ongoing projects at Sanford and addressed the student body's interactions with GPSC, particularly with respect to funding.
Betsy Holmberg, a student in psychology and social health sciences, requested input from council members on the Graduate and Professional Student Health Fair, which she said had a low turnout earlier this year. Booth operators reported talking to approximately 35 people, she said. In response to questions from Holmberg, members discussed timing, duration and location options and proposed that a greater emphasis be placed on specific services instead of general information about the services offered by Student Health. GPSC members also discussed the possibility of holding multiple smaller events or scheduling the fair to coincide with other health events.
Jessi Bardill, GPSC Financial Aid Initiative Student Advisory Council graduate representative and a Ph.D. student in English, announced that the University Financial Aid Committee will host a Financial Aid Awareness Day Thursday, March 29 at 5 p.m. in the Schiciano Auditorium to address the concerns and questions of graduate students regarding finances. Provost Peter Lange and Jim Belvin, director of financial aid, will speak at the event.
Jason Franken, a first-year graduate student at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences and a coordinator for the Duke Earth Day Festival, wrapped up the meeting with an announcement that April has been designated as Earth Month. The culmination of the month will be the Earth Day Festival on the West Campus Plaza April 20.
"It's about bringing people who can actually filter information and talk about these issues," he said. "We want it to really be something that people can sort of customize and apply to their individual lives."
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