In its final General Assembly for 2009, the Graduate Student Senate passed a resolution supporting fifth year funding for doctoral students in the sciences.

The resolution, presented by Academic Affairs Chair Irina Seceleanu, supports allowing science departments to allocate Graduate College funds to Doctoral Candidates.

‘The current model which funds fifth year Doctoral Candidates one semester at a time is deleterious to the Candidates progress towards the completion of the Doctoral Degree requirements, as the funding is less likely to provide the time necessary to produce quality research,’ the resolution said.

Undergraduate Student President Sundeep Mutgi was a guest speaker at the meeting. Mutgi asked for the GSS to form joint committees to cover issues affecting both undergraduate and graduate students.

One of those issues is the proposed shuttle fee of $20 which USG supports and GSS opposes.

Mutgi said the purpose of the committee would be to come to a compromise or figure out a better solution in regards to the fee.

Mutgi said another issue that needs examined is the current absentee policy.

‘As some of you know, there is currently an absentee policy that covers everything from weather, religious holidays and all that kind of stuff,’ Mutgi said. ‘But there is not very much inclusiveness when it comes to things like graduate school visits, when it comes to official University business or when it comes to professional development.’

Mutgi said the USG passing a resolution alone would likely not be able change this, but a joint resolution from both groups would be more effective.

Also at the meeting, a bylaw amendment was passed allowing the Graduate Student Senate to award an additional 15 percent funding to graduate students who present or accept leadership roles at professional development events.

A third resolution was passed allowing GSS to compensate the Vice President of GSS starting in the 2010-11 school year. The compensation would be in the form of $250 each semester that could be used as reimbursement for conference or research travel.’