Senate Meeting Minutes – February 29, 2020

Graduate Student Government Senate Meeting
February 29, 2020
2:15 pm – 3:45 pm
320 Shillman Hall

 AGENDA

1. Massachusetts State House Visit – Gagan Dep Prabhu, President
2. Student Affairs – Deependra Singh, Vice President of Student Affairs
3. Academic Affairs – Harshita Gupta, Vice President of Academic Affairs
4. Massachusetts Graduate Mixer – Hariessh Kumar Badrinarayanan, Senator
5. Next Senate Meeting Schedule 
6. Lunch

 

ITEMS DISCUSSED

1. Massachusetts State House Visit – Gagan Dep Prabhu

Gagan welcomed all senators to the senate meeting and discussed the topics for the State House visit. Senators voted on topics to be represented by GSG:

• Fighting Sexual Misconduct on Campus: Proposal for fighting sexual misconduct on campus was discussed. Reservations about Title 9 in the proposal were argued upon and a consensus was formed about generating awareness within the community about Title 9. Senators voted in favor of the proposal and the board.
• Climate Change – Carbon Tax and Renewable Energy: Proposal about imposing Carbon Tax on Universities as a measure to address climate change. The figure that was agreed in the proposal pending further discussions is $40 per ton of CO2.  Senators voted in favor of the proposal.
• Global Entrepreneur in Residence Program: Global Entrepreneurship Program aimed at providing funding to budding entrepreneurs who are on an F1 visa. Senators voted in favor of the proposal. Additionally, an application-based process to reduced biases was proposed.

2. Student Affairs – Deependra Singh

• Discussed status of 5 student groups that have been given tentative recognition. These groups will go through a trial period and will have access to limited funding until September 20,2020. Groups are required to  present to the Senate to receive official recognition.
• Office of Sustainability is holding a meeting to discuss sustainability at NU on March 10^th – great opportunity to network.

3. Academic Affairs – Harshita Gupta

• Discussed academic affairs committee sessions and preparation fr RISE 2020.
• Discussed transition of University utilization of from Blackboard to Canvas. Process to be implemented soon, and student data would be archived in Blackboard once transition is complete.

4. Massachusetts Graduate Mixer – Hariessh Kumar Badrinarayanan

Graduate students from different Universities in Massachusetts met at Boston University. Discussions included MA State House proposals. MIT proposed an external affairs meeting to discuss and address issues pertaining to Massachusetts students.  

5. Next Senate Meeting Schedule 

Budget priority presentation to determine budget for academic year 2020-2021. 

6. Lunch

 

ADJOURNMENT

The senate meeting was adjourned at 3:45 pm by the Executive Vice-President.

 

Meeting Attendance

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