At its meeting Tuesday night, the Graduate and Professional Student Council representatives elected members to serve on two committees.
Seven GPSC representatives—Kenneth Alexander, Walter Cantwell, Mili Doshi, Brad Hover, Bill Hunt, Sumesh Nair and Viresh Thusu—were nominated to be on the Young Trustee Screening Committee, which will choose three Young Trustee finalists to be presented to the general assembly in February. All nominees were selected unanimously.
The assembly selected Hunt to serve as the chair of the YTSC. Alexander and Nair were also nominated for the position, but Hunt won the election in a run-off against Nair.
GPSC President Daniel Griffin, a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in classical studies, said it was a very close race.
Hunt, a third year English graduate student, said he is excited to have been elected chair.
“I hope we’re able to get some really qualified, good, motivated candidates,” Hunt said of the Young Trustee process. “I’ll make sure to... give [GPSC] a body of candidates that represent all the schools here at Duke and will really leave the decision up to [the assembly].”
Gerry Canavan, Jason Evans and Ryan O’Rourke were nominated to be members of the Judicial Committee, which investigates charges of misconduct and interprets GPSC bylaws. All three were voted in unanimously.
GPSC executives said they were pleased with the electees.
In other business:
Joe Talley, a psychologist and assistant director for Counseling and Psychological Services, told the GPSC assembly that CAPS services are covered by graduate student health insurance. Talley urged GPSC to “promote a mindset that values wellness, consultation seeking and peer support,” adding that issues such as death, sexual orientation, stress, academic performance, sexual assault, cultural concerns and relationships are topics CAPS addresses.
“Everybody has times of stress and difficulty... it needn’t be a terrible or bad thing,” he said.
He added that about 12 percent of the student body comes to CAPS each year.
GPSC Community Affairs Coordinator Ali Saaem, a biomedical engineering Ph.D. candidate, clarified the difference between the Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee and the Student Health Advisory Committee. SHIAC works to change what is covered by student insurance, whereas SHAC connects students to campus providers and organizes a health fair focused on wellness and prevention, Saaem said.
“I beseech people who feel very strongly about their health [to] step forward to work with the providers,” Saaem said. “I would hate to see that committee wither away because of lack of activities.”
Assembly member Sarah Denes, a musicology graduate student, presented her goal to increase interest in improving the maternity leave policy for graduate students. Currently, students are given seven weeks total for maternity leave unless otherwise specified by their department. Saaem proposed the creation of an action committee to investigate the project.
GPSC Communications Coordinator Yang Yang, a physics Ph.D candidate, announced a new forum section on the GPSC website that will allow students to discuss important topics. He also videotaped the meeting to make an introduction video to GPSC to publicize the organization.
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