SRC reviews graduate student center proposal
By ANDREW THAGARD
News Writer
Officers of the Graduate Student Union [GSU] presented their views on a graduate student center and overall quality of life to the Student Relations Committee of the Alumni Association on Friday.
The meeting was the first formal GSU presentation to the committee. The GSU, however, hopes to make such an event a yearly tradition.
"This is in a way an introductory meeting to hopefully establish a yearly meeting to keep communication going," said Gabriela Burgos, GSU president.
Burgos, vice president Kishori Deshpande, human diversity chair David Rodriquez, quality of life chair Tommy Scheiding and healthcare chair Adrienne Minerack dedicated the bulk of the meeting to presenting their concept of a graduate student center. The group also offered possibilities for a short-term solution.
"There is an urgent need for a space for graduate students that would facilitate communication," said Deshpande.
According to Rodriquez, the center should be centrally located on campus, establish an identity for the graduate school and be equipped for multiple functions — including food service and office and conferencing space.
"The goal is to have the building used as many hours of the day as possible," Rodriquez said.
An ideal center should also contain additional space for child care, a computer cluster and an information center offering graduate student services, Scheiding said.
The group supported their idea with a list of top graduate schools — more than 70 percent of which had student centers — and a survey commissioned by the GSU and written by the Laboratory for Social Resources.
The survey of 200 students found that 61 percent favored a gathering center for the graduate student community. Another survey indicated that 74 percent of respondents wanted staffed food service and social space in the proposed center and that 90 percent would use the center 2-3 times per week.
As a short-term solution to solve the concern concerning social space, the GSU proposed increasing the scope of membership of the University Club. The group wants to lobby to increase graduate student membership from teaching assistants to all graduate students and MBA and law school students. They also suggested lowering the $25 membership fee per semester to $10 for these groups.
The committee appeared supportive of the GSU's ideas but cautioned the organization that they did not have the authority to make such decisions.
"These suggestions all seem sound and well thought out," one of the committee members said. "But we don't make policy, we don't influence that kind of stuff."
The committee, however, promised to act as a springboard for more discussion and offered to assist the GSU.
"There is going to be lots of concrete poured over this campus in the next five years," another committee member said. "There's got to be an alcove for graduate students."
The GSU first began considering a graduate student center when Rodriquez, an architectural student, had to design a mock center for a project. Since then, Rodriquez and Scheiding have led the effort within the GSU. The organization has made similar presentations to other University organizations to determine support of the center.
All News Stories for Monday, January 28, 2002
