Florian Gstrein, Steve Pracko, Chunhui Mo, Michael Fleming, Jason Cohen, Tim Lesko, Serena Guarnaschelli, Alex Tobias, Theofilos Strinopoulos, Thanos Nenes, Alex Baker, Jerry Houser (CDC), Jo-Ann Ruffolo (CDC).

The minutes were approved by consensus.

There have been many clubs submitting late applications for funding. Since the club funding chair is currently out of town, it is possible that there are forms which were submitted on time but have also not been received yet. This is creating a dilemma. On one hand, we want to reward the clubs which followed the strict guidelines and on the other hand, we want to allow as many clubs as possible to receive the maximum amount of funding available, to best serve the student body. To this end, a discussion ensued about altering the rules for club funding last minute.

The first motion was to extend the deadline for one week to allow Jose time to come back and sort through his mail. (Passed 9, 0, 1).

The new head of the CDC was talking to us about some of what they have in store for the upcoming year.

Some ideas include what they can do for us as the graduate student community. One idea falling into this category is a shadowing program, where students follow around a professional in the workplace, which may need to be cut due to decreased funding. A series of workshops, ranging from interviewing skills to CV and resume building will be offered through the CDC in addition to what is typically offered. So far there are 20 speakers and sessions in total which have been lined up for our viewing and learning pleasure, so make sure to get out there and try a few out!

Another idea is a feedback and focus group, which is a way for the CDC to gather information to determine what services, would best fit the students’ interest. This and other similar ideas are used for self-evaluation and future planning of events. The CDC is in particular trying to target all 3^rd and 4^th year grad students, so if you know anyone who falls into this category, please inform him/her of these opportunities.

They lastly want us to recruit some student volunteers for a brainstorming session. We have decided in concurrence with them that a committee comprised of both GSC members and non-GSC members would best serve the entire community’s needs, as we want any and all grad students, who are interested, to participate in this opportunity.

General changes since last year include a decrease in assets, a $2000 increase to club funding, a $1000 increase to quick funding, a $500 increase to Gradiators and NSO, a $5000 decrease to the newsletter (e-version!), a potential elimination of Club Gush, and a realization that we will have extra money to be distributed later through quickfunding and club funding requests.

The Caltech Y was raised here as a point. At the present time, we are offering the Caltech Y with a gift of $5000. However many people present at the GSC meeting seemed to be a bit frustrated with the Y’s seeming bias towards undergraduates. It seems that they tend to flyer very little if at all in areas where grad students live or work, that their event planing is done to fit the schedules of undergrads, and that their decision making board is comprised of undergrads. So we decided to offer them the same amount which was proposed, but in exchange for this money they will NEED to have a GSC rep on their x-comm (their decision making board), so that way we can have the graduate students’ ideas and voice at least involved in making the decisions and planning the events. This motion passed (11, 0, 0).

We should raise the money offered to the lab review’s editor for the future, for if we provide that person with more money, than we are likely to find a better person for the job. The motion passed to raise it to $400 (11, 0, 0).

We have passed along requests to SIF for items which clubs and groups have been asking us to fund, yet which would be better served through a SIF money grant.

We were concerned about issues of equity in funding the Jam Room as mentioned in past minutes.

There was an idea raised to survey the lottery losers to see why they left and to try to ascertain their current financial and living arrangements. It is also important to garner any impacts this may have had on transportation and driving requirements for students.

We listed some detailed technical results for how much it would cost as an upper approximation for the ethernet. We then decided to write a formal survey to garner student interest in a balanced and thorough manner. Alex has agreed to help the already existing committee with this survey. The survey should be ready for next month’s meeting.

The deductible is going to be raised from $100 to $150 and will no longer be reimbursed. This is currently non-negotiable and will become formal policy as of October 1^st.

The dean did like our idea of forming a committee to try and set the long-term policy goals and directions of the status of student health insurance. Alex, Tim and Florian have volunteered to participate in achieving this goal. We need to get in touch with human resources and to tell them that we are starting to officially work on achieving this goal.

The dean wants to use some excess funds that he has access to, for the goal of reducing by about $75/month the added expense of healthcare for families with dependents. This we want to determine how to best introduce and work into the scheme of serving the most grad students to the greatest extent.

We would like to have some volunteers draft a large banner. The point of this would be to hang at or around our events so that we can let the community at large know what it is we sponsor and to increase the name recognition of our organization.

The question of logistics started to pop up, with us needing to decide such factors as the banner’s size, cost, shape, and what it would say on it. To this end, we agreed to allow the creative forces of the student body a chance and have agreed by consensus to allow student artists one month to come up with a proposal for a banner design. If we like it, the winner will receive between $50-100.

The undergrads currently have an online system in place trying to garnish student support for a commencement speaker. We are gearing up to be able to participate in this process and thereby present the administration with a united front for a student’s choice for speaker.

The new E-version of the newsletter has been working well and is gaining in popularity. The size of these files is constantly increasing as more and more complexity is added into the design. More comments are solicited and we hope to continue to offer a constantly improving product.