Attendance Jose Mumbru, Chip Sumner, Florian Gstrein, Alex Tobias, Michael
Fleming, Michael Johnson, Jason Cohen, Steve Pracko, Fok-Yan Leung

Minutes/Agenda Alterations The minutes for the October and November
meetings were both approved, as corrected.

Ethernet Survey Results A letter will be drafted to the administration,
showing that the GSC has voted unanimously to support having ethernet
installed in the Catalinas.  This letter is to try to urge the
administration to build an ethernet network as soon as possible.  The GSC
will be updated later on any progress made and where the proposal
currently stands.  At this moment, the letter will be drafted to Tom
Mannion, who is the director for CABS.
	
Alcohol Policy
	The new alcohol policy entertained us with great bouts of
discussion, alternating between frustration, confusion, and occasional
bouts of comprehension.  Here is what we can so far decipher of the new
policy: Dean K seems rather lax on enforcement, however much of the sting
of the policy depends on how enforced it is, given that the new powers the
dean exhibits over parties can be great.
	Dean K has agreed that the grad office will cover the costs for
bartenders at these parties, as well as the added cost of security.  This
at least will help us to not have to pay a larger chunk of cash up front
and will keep our overall party expenses about where they were before the
implementation.
	The dean, as the new policy stands, must approve all events, at
least 2 weeks in advance.  This means that clubs are going to need to have
to plan in advance if they are going to want to serve alcohol at any of
their functions.
	One of the major reasons for this new policy is that the Caltech
general counsel thought it was too risky to continue to allow undergrads,
who are underage, access to so much free liquor.  In general, if this is a
party not advertised off campus and it is generally not advertised around
undergrads, then they will be more lax in terms of enforcement.  In
general, bringing in outside people to Caltech has created past problems,
which do not want to be repeated.
	The one club involved before we knew these new funding
perspectives, we believe, was reimbursed for their last minute need to
hire a bartender.

Technique Editor
	It is again that time of year where we go hunting down a wonderful
'Victim' to help us to revamp and add to our wonderful Technique!  Jose
and Fok have agreed to read over the various different applications, where
they will focus on looking at the SOP and ideas of how they would like to
alter the magazine.
	To help them along in their review (and subsequent approval by the
BoD) we should set a stable deadline and request applications from the
graduate student body at large.  We would also like to make it a
requirement that the editor regularly report DIRECTLY to the GSC BoD on
the issues, in addition to the Technique Review committee.  Additionally,
we will need to generate a Technique review committee at a subsequent date
after an editor has been selected.
 
Next Term Party
	Daniel L. and Benedict have offered to run our next GSC Term party
to be held in early February.  This was decided to be a good idea, as they
have run successful parties in the past and having Ben around gives us the
GSC connection that we need to pull it off.  We will ask Ben to be our
contact for the party.
 
Faculty Student Health Committee
	Florian stated that while the faculty may not seem sympathetic,
that they are at least willing to listen to us, and this is a very
positive first step.  He is hoping that through future communication,
better agreements will be able to be had.
	One of the ideas floated include switching from a PPO to an HMO.  
However, given the geographic location of the health center, not adjacent
to any major hospital or other treatment facility, this would make
providing service to the entire community difficult.  Students could be
forced to have to drive as far as Hollywood or Sherman Oaks if this plan
were to proceed.
	This concept of needing to pay $150 up front to see a doctor we
feel will limit the total number of people who want to go to the doctor's,
thereby decreasing work efficiency.  Many students will not be capable of
affording needing to pay up front up to $150 just to treat a potential
common cold and hence will less likely be willing to get any treatment at
all.
	Some questions were raised about where benefits is getting their
competition figures quoted from, as it seems that there are other
providers being used who charge significantly less.
	However, on top of all of this, we are not even sure if it is the
faculty or the people over at HR who are making the final decision on
this.  More information will be disseminated over the next few meetings.  
This is hard for us to make much progress on right now, given we do not
even know who to approach.

Lab Reviews
	The turnout has been rather large so far, with 256 people replying
out of a total of no more than 300 expected to reply.  Of those that have
replied, roughly one half graduated from E&AS.  Most of the respondents
did include their advisor's name and information about their advisor.  
However, in the cases of advisors who have had 3 or fewer people
reporting, we will not release the specific information.
	Since we have had a 55% reply rate (which is statistically
significant) we will start to analyze the general results.  They will not
immediately be published, so people worrying need not think about that for
quite now.
	Some trends noticed in the data of merit include the fact that the
average respondent took 6 or more years to complete their program of study
here.  Many of the people requested additional help at trying to navigate
the murky waters of Caltech Academic Requirements.
	More on this when we have more data received.

MISC
	The fence for the north athletic field is said to be happening.  
The athletics people have told us that they will make the south field more
usable and safe.

The wine tour WILL happen, look for more information come early spring.

Three more clubs have received funding still waiting from the initial
round's budget: the international film club (a new club), the triathlon
club (whose president was out due to a family obligation), and the alpine
club.

There were 80 people in attendance at the last GSC iceskating Night.  
This is a huge turn out and we are very happy for all of the energy put in
by the organizers.

There will be a visit to Arete Associates, for anyone interested in
looking into finding a post Ph.D. job there.
	
Quickfunding
	Two clubs have received quickfunding for this past month, the
alpine club for their movie and beer night, and Oasis, for the Diwali
festival.  Fok wanted to remind all GSC reps that you MUST attend the
quickfunding in person meetings if you are called, or you MUST find a
replacement to take your place.  Specifically Chunhui and Melvin were NOT
in attendance.

Faculty Student Housing Committee
	We need to choose a representative for the committee.  In case no
one volunteers, the following names were thrown out to make sure we get
someone on the committee: Serena (CHCC), Diego (past CHCC), Steve (CHCC),
Chunhui (CHCC), and Jason (GSC ethernet).

Health Educator
	The health center is hiring a new health educator for the campus
and a couple of graduate students are being asked to help interview the
people applying for this position.  This is a person, who when hired, will
work directly with students in helping to educate them about various
different health services and how to best go about accessing them.  In
addition, this position will focus on drug and alcohol safety issues.
	This person will work individually with students (both grads and
undergrads) as well as place programs on for the education of the greater
Caltech community.  If you or any friends you know are interested in
wanting to interview people for this position, please contact Mike
Fleming.

FINE