Special Presentation

Claire Kelling from the Student Fee Board shared the history and background of the SFB, including how the various different student fees (activities fee, facilities fee, technology fee) were combined or rolled into tuition. She also shared the facilities projects they have under consideration that would utilize the fee, like a new HUB addition, a new Natatorium, a well-being building with an office for CAPS, Campus Recreation and more.

Executive Board Reports

In Executive Board reports, President Schönn Franklin discussed his meeting with the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Office in Student Affairs where they discussed plans for the Love is Louder event held last week and the counter protests to the Milo event. He also attended the town halls for the first four candidates for the Vice Provost of Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School, as well as a private meeting with each. Furthermore, he had a meeting with Associate Dean Sarah Ades about the establishment of a Development Officer and the pursuit of new forms of revenue-raising.

Vice President Jalen Jeter announced he will be attending the Board of Trustees meeting tomorrow and 11/12, and that he attended a Student Leadership roundtable meeting on 11/8.

Treasurer Matt Billups shared the available funds from the Student Fee Board and said to reach out to him with questions about purchasing on behalf of GPSA, and event planning.

Secretary Alex Zhao asked committee chairs to please send him attendance records after each committee meeting and to please let someone know if you are not coming to the meeting. He also said he will be sending out the newswire tomorrow so please submit any event announcements or graphics by noon.

Faculty Senator Lillian Schaeffer shared that they are still discussing the work that the Educational Equity Committee of the Faculty Senate is doing around recent reporting requirements and to increase student access to Title IX resources. Graduate Council Claire Kelling shared that the next meeting is November 17th and proxies need to be appointed.

Speaker of the Assembly Sandeep Krishnakumar asked members to please fill out the attendance form if you can’t attend the meeting and that if you need a proxy to let him know. As well as he asked members to check their Slack regularly and to be active in committee meetings.

New Business

Confirmation of Presidential Appointments

• Lilian Schaeffer and Schonn Franklin were confirmed as Graduate Council Alternates.
• Qian Zhang explained why she wants to be Engineering Delegate and her experiences. Voting took place and she was confirmed by the Assembly.
• Sara Albrecht Soto explained why she wants to be an At-Large Delegate from the College of Liberal Arts and her experiences. Voting took place and she was confirmed by the Assembly.
• Gerren Graham explained why he wants to be the School of International Affairs Delegate and his experiences. Voting took place and he was confirmed by the Assembly.

Next was Resolution 71-08 which is in support of the Schreyer Gender Equity Coalition’s Sexual Misconduct Survey recommendations, which the GPSA would be endorsing. Voting took place and the resolution passed.

Reports:

• Advocacy and Diversity: Chair Megan Minnich discussed how the committee was focused on the PRIDE Brunch scheduled for January 15th.
• Professional Development: Chair Niladri Sekhar Mandal shared that they are wrapping up this semester’s events and planning mentorship programs for next semester.
• Programming: Chair Ama Agyapong shared that they have around 129 people involved in Grad Cup, and asked for anyone who wants to volunteer for the events to contact her on Slack. She also shared that next month the coffee hour event will be back.
• Community Outreach: Chair Ram Neupane shared that they met last week about hosting an event discussing agriculture from a legal perspective, but they are waiting to hear from the speakers.
• Internal Development: Nothing to report.

Liaison Reports:

Eli Fields, liaison to the Student Legal Services Advisory Board, shared that Student Legal Services recently hired a lawyer for Commonwealth Campus services. They are handling more civil cases than criminal cases and usage has gone up. Additionally, the recent name change fund from UPUA has been well utilized and there is a landlord/tenant education module that is being released soon.

Katie Warczak, liaison to the Center for Performing Arts Student Advisory Board, shared their meeting discussed sustainability events for spring and how to keep them COVID safe. She also said to let her know in Slack if you have ideas of want you want to see the Center for Performing Arts do.

Farhan Sadique, liaison to Campus Recreation Student Advisory Board, shared concerns about how graduate and professional students often have partners that want access to facilities for physical health, and mentioned that there is an ability to access with a different cost, and that tennis courts are likely to get updated equipment.

Student Trustee Janiyah Davis was not present but will provide a written report following the Board of Trustees meeting for the next Assembly meeting.

Special Presentation

Penn State Board of Trustees Chair Matthew Schuyler, Co-Chair of the Presidential Recruitment and Selection Committee David Kleppinger, and Student Representative of the Committee Erin Boas came to give an overview of the presidential search and selection process, and to answer questions from GPSA Delegates and members.

Executive Board Reports

In Executive Board reports, President Schönn Franklin mentioned his multiple meetings, starting with his meeting with Dean Vasilatos-Younkin (Graduate School) to talk about the need for a Development Officer for the Grad School and potential renovations in Kern. He had another meeting with Dean Houck (Penn State Law) to give an overview of GPSA’s mission, values, and general structure. Furthermore, he had a meeting with the Cox-State Department Fellows to discuss grad school life at Penn State and the Charles B. Rangel State Department Fellowship. He also had a meeting with the Alumni Association’s Awards Committee in which they selected the finalists for the Alumni Association Legislative award and Friend of Penn State Award.

Vice President Jalen Jeter had a meeting with the Office of Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response on ways to revamp the student toolkit. He also had a meeting with the Student Fee Board to talk about options for funding different campus expansions in the coming years.

Treasurer Matt Billups shared that the annual allocation for the GPSA has reached our funding account, and said to reach out to him with questions about purchasing on behalf of GPSA.

Secretary Alex Zhao asked committee chairs to please send him attendance records after each committee meeting and to please let someone know if you are not coming to the meeting. He also said he will be sending out the newswire tomorrow so please submit any event announcements or graphics by noon.

Faculty Senator Lillian Schaeffer discussed the work that the Educational Equity Committee of the Faculty Senate is doing to increase student access to Title IX resources. She also mentioned her Student Caucus meeting to discuss making Election Day a non-instructional day and the overall Faculty Senate meeting.

Graduate Council Student Caucus Chair Claire Kelling was not present, but submitted a report mentioning how the Graduate Council was discussing vacation days. In addition, she mentioned upcoming town halls for candidates for the Graduate Dean position, the upcoming vaccine mandate for graduate and professional students on the University’s payroll, as well as a recent report about the closure of the School Psychology PhD program.

Speaker of the Assembly Sandeep Krishnakumar asked members to please fill out the attendance form if you can’t attend the meeting and that if you need a proxy to let him know. Chief Justice Sam Atland mentioned that the constitution was updated in accordance with Resolution 71-05 and the amended version is available in the shared drive.

New Business

The first item on the agenda was Bill 71-13 (IGSA Co-Sponsorship) which is a co-sponsorship request by the Indian Graduate Student Association (IGSA) for assistance hoping a Bollywood Night on November 13th. They are asking GPSA to help funding t-shirts and hoodies, the venue, and equipment. Voting took place and the bill passed.

Next up was Bill 71-14 (The 5th Annual Criminal Justice Reform Conference) which was a co-sponsorship request by the Criminal Law Society to co-sponsor the event, and it will require GPSA to cover food costs for students attending. Voting took place and the bill passed.

Reports:

• Advocacy and Diversity: Megan Minnich mentioned that they have a meeting tomorrow at 3 PM.
• Professional Development: David Desmet shared that the writing boot camp was completed this week and that the photos from the professional headshot event are being released now. He also added that Niladri met with the Graduate School Alumni Society (GSAS) to discuss the alumni mentorship program.
• Programming: Chair Ama Agyapong discussed that they are working on the tie-dye event for Nov 4th and the Grad Cup event starting November 1st.
• Community Outreach: Chair Ram Neupane mentioned that they met for the first time last week and they will meet this Friday to discuss an event for this semester.
• Internal Development: Chair Travis Russell shared they have not met recently and will schedule a meeting for soon.

Liaison Reports:

Alex Zhao, liaison to the Graduate Exhibition Committee, mentioned that the committee met last week and they are looking to do a virtual exhibition but also looking at tools to provide live and synchronous feedback.

Farhan Sadique, liaison to the Campus Recreation Student Advisory Board, mentioned that Campus Recreation is discussing monthly programs and to let him know if there are specific graduate and professional needs that you want to convey.

Executive Board Reports

In Executive Board reports, President Schönn Franklin explained he had meetings with Student Governance and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Staff to talk about a new space in the HUB. He also a meeting with University leadership to discuss adding a graduate or professional Student Trustee. He then mentioned that there are very close to having 100% participation on the GPSA survey, and if someone has not completed it, please complete it before October 15th.

Vice President Jalen Jeter shared that he had a student advisory board meeting with the Office of Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response and that they worked on the educational toolkit to make it better.  Treasurer Matt Billups shared that there was a bill from the 70th Assembly that went over budget so there was an executive expense to cover the difference. He said to reach out to him as you are planning events so he can help.

Secretary Alex Zhao asked committee chairs to please send him attendance records after each committee meeting. And to please let someone know if you are not coming to the meeting. He also said he will be sending out the newswire tomorrow so please submit any event announcements or graphics by noon.

Faculty Senate, Lillian Schaeffer, had nothing to report. Graduate Council, Claire Kelling had nothing to report because the meeting is next Wednesday. Speaker of the Assembly Sandeep Krishnakumar asked to please fill out the attendance form if you can’t attend the meeting or you will be late. He also re-emphasized the importance of participation within your committee.  Chief Justice Sam Atland mentioned to copy both him and the new justice, Kena Gomalo, on inquiries to the judiciary. He also shared that the Bylaws were updated in accordance with Resolution 71-06, and the amended version is now available on the drive.

Old Business

Resolution 71-05: Presidential Veto Powers was passed. This constitutional amendment removed ambiguity between the Constitution and Bylaws, clarifying that a presidential veto can’t be used on constitutional amendments.

New Business

Confirmation of Presidential Appointments

• Annie Everett introduced herself, her experience, and why she wants to be a part of the Graduate Council. Voting took place and she was confirmed by the Assembly as a Graduate Council Student Caucus Delegate.
• Arnab Chatterjee introduced himself, shared his experiences, and why he wants to be a Delegate and part of the Professional Development Committee. Voting took place and he was confirmed by the Assembly as a Delegate for the College of Engineering.

The next item was Bill 71-12: Grad Cup which will be a virtual three-week event, with some in-person activities that will focus on wellness events, and game nights. Voting took place and the bill passed.

Next was Resolution 71-07: Collaboration with Smeal College of Business which will be a one-time event in collaboration with Smeal about business careers for non-business graduate and professional students, and a speaker from Deloitte will be present. It will be in person but a Zoom link will also be provided. Voting took place and the bill passed.

Reports

• Advocacy and Human Diversity: Chair Shah Soligné shared that the Pride Brunch was moved to October 30th at 12 PM due to logistical issues. He then added that GPSA was rejected more involvement with the presidential selection process during the recent Student Leadership Roundtable. A&D will have a meeting tomorrow to further discuss.
• Professional Development: Chair Niladri Sekhar Mandal shared that they have two sessions left of the writing boot camp and that the professional headshots event was ongoing. As well as he is working on the Smeal collaboration and on some workshops for November. He thanked members of the Professional Development Committee for all their work.
• Programming: Chair Sandeep Krishnakumar shared that Grad Cup will take place in the next few weeks and that posters for pottery and coffee hour have been shared.
• Community Outreach: Nothing to report
• Internal Development: Nothing to report

Liaison Reports

Katie, liaison to Center for Performing Arts Student Advisory Council, shared that the first meeting took place, but that she is currently the only graduate representative so she is looking for more graduate and professional students to join.

Claire shared that the Student Fee Board is currently going through the process of determining new facilities projects that will utilize the facilities portion of the student fee.

Special Presentation

Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims gave a special presentation on his work and updates on this school year. He started by talking about GPSA, and the impact the work the organization does has on Penn State. He said he now has a part-time role in his office to keep track of things happening with the student governments.  Sims also detailed how there are high vaccination rates, the positive impact of being in-person, and how he wants to help GPSA target the stress that has been caused by in-person teaching this year. He then touched on diversity and how GPSA reflects the diversity of the graduate and professional student body in a way that all organizations should have.

Executive Board Reports

In Executive Board reports, President Schönn Franklin shared how he recently had a meeting with the Graduate School Alumni Society (GSAS)  and the Associate Dean of the Graduate School on ways they can collaborate on professional development. He also added how there were 10 candidates for the new Dean of the Graduate School moving on to interviews.  Furthermore, he shared details about his meeting with the Strategic Planning Oversight Committee which touched on initiatives for K-12 educators and sustainability goals. President Franklin also met with Brian Patchoski, AVP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), in which they discussed ways to structure DEI programming, as well as the representation that underrepresented minorities have on campus. To finish off, there was a discussion around in-person meetings for GPSA’s next Assembly meeting and an informal vote took place, with the result that the Assembly will have hybrid meetings going forward.

Vice President Jalen Jeter shared how he had a Legal and Compliance meeting that discussed intellectual property, risks related to foreign influence on research, and legal issues with anti-discrimination. He also met with Damon Sims, discussing mental health and the possibility of a vaccine campaign.

Treasurer Matt Billups shared that there is a OneDrive folder named Treasurer Information which explains the contacting process, and a PowerPoint with useful information. Secretary Alex Zhao asked Committee chairs to please send him attendance records after each committee meeting. He also said he will be sending out the newswire tomorrow so please submit any event announcements or graphics by noon.

Faculty Senate Ali Watts shared the next senate meeting will be October 19th. Graduate Council, Claire Kelling had nothing to report.

New Business

The following presidential nominations were confirmed and appointed.

• Lillian Schaeffer, a 2nd year master’s student in the School of International Affairs (SIA), introduced herself and talked about why she would like to be the faculty senator for GPSA. Voting took place and she was confirmed as the GPSA Faculty Senator.
• Tanveer Ahmed, a 1st year PhD student in Civil Engineering, introduced himself, shared his undergrad experience and why he wanted to be a Delegate for the College of Engineering. Voting took place and he was confirmed to be a Delegate.

Additionally, Arnab Chatterjee introduced himself, shared his past experiences and why he wanted to be a Delegate for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. However, due to technical issues with Zoom, a vote on his confirmation was postponed.

The next item was Bill 71-10 (Tie Dye Class), which would authorize the Programming Committe to put on a class where students can learn how to tie-dye shirts from an instructor. Voting took place and the bill passed.

The next item was Bill 71-11 (PRIDE Brunch), which will tentatively take place October 16th at Sunset Park. There is currently an expected attendance of 15 to 30 people. Voting took place and the bill passed.

Next was ​​Resolution 71-05 (Presidential Veto Powers). This resolution would address an issue where the GPSA ByLaws says that constitutional amendments cannot be vetoed while the GPSA Constitution does not. As this was a constitutional amendment, it was tabled under the next Assembly meeting in accordance with procedures.

Next was Resolution 71-06 (VP at Board of Trustees Meetings), which would authorize the Vice President  to attend meetings and boards in absence of the GPSA President. This resolution passed.

Reports

Sandeep Krishnakumar started by giving appreciation to the Programming Committee as well as Alex for hosting the GPSA Welcome Back Picnic on Sunday. He also reminded everyone to fill out the absentee form if they will be absent from the meeting. He mentioned that he doesn’t want GPSA to be a stress factor so he will be sending a survey about stress levels.

• Advocacy and Human Diversity: Chair Shah Soligné shared that the RIDEPass survey is live and to please advertise it. As well as he shared he had a meeting with UPUA, the Vice President of Student Care and Advocacy, and Housing and Food Services to discuss ways of lowering food plan prices.
• Professional Development: Chair Niladri Sekhar Mandal thanked everyone involved with the planning of the writing boot camp, as well as David, Ram and Farhan for their support in the committee. He added there will be feedback forms for the boot camp since it is a learning experience. Lastly, he added that the professional headshots event is still scheduled to occur in October, but the collaboration with Smeal got pushed back.
• Programming: No report
• Community Outreach: No report
• Internal Development: Chair Travis Rusell shared that their next meeting is next Tuesday.

Liaison Reports

Eli Fields, liaison to Student Legal Services, shared that a 30 minute module on the rights and responsibilities of tenants will be going live.

Ali Watts, liaison to the Student Insurance Advisory Board (SIAB) shared details of their meeting. Originally the SIAB was planning on a request for proposals (RFP) for health insurance plans, but have decided to stick with United Healthcare and they are negotiating with them about the next contract.

Farhan Sadique, liaison to the Campus Rec Advisory Council, is working to provide graduate and professional students with more opportunities through Campus Rec.

Frankie Urrutia-Smith, liaison to the University Libraries Advisory Board, shared details of their recent meeting, which discussed how library employees working remotely have had an impact on student access to resources. She added that the board was very interested in hearing both positive and negative feedback from graduate and professional students, and that if anyone had such feedback she would bring it up to the board.