Graduate Student Senate will focus on making several changes to the Rules and Procedures document at its meeting Tuesday evening, working through the end of the academic year.
With three meetings left with the 2016-17 general body, including Tuesday's meeting, GSS is “trying to wrap things up,” GSS President Ian Armstrong said. The body will vote on at least five resolutions at its meeting.
Of those five resolutions, four involve amending the Rules and Procedures document and one proposes a constitutional change that would add a section about how to manage GSS' money.
“There is no mention of monetary things within the constitution as it is now, and as we get an annual budget from the Grad College, we felt it was important that the constitution reflect Graduate Student Senate’s inherent requirements to maintain some sense of fiscal conservancy,” Armstrong said.
The resolution proposes that the GSS body “maintain a strategic financial reserve of at least $1500 for long-term savings, which protects against budget shortfalls and helps cover maintenance of GSS property.”
“The ability to preserve funds from year to year helps GSS to withstand any financially troubling times, and lends an opportunity for the body to fund important events year in and year out without the overarching burden of being broke,” Alex Burke, vice president of finance, said in an email.
Constitutional amendments go through a different process, Armstrong said. The resolution must be posted for public review four days prior to the meeting in which it will be considered. At that meeting, two-thirds of the entire voting roster is required to approve it, and it must then be ratified again at the following meeting.
If GSS ratifies the amendment, the Board of Trustees would then vote on it to be approved.
In addition to the constitutional amendment, GSS will vote to make several changes to its Rules and Procedures document. One resolution proposes a decrease in the number of unexcused absences each member can have during the academic year from four to two.
Angie Chapman, vice president for legislative affairs, said since the body requires a certain number of people to be present to vote on resolutions, it is important that the members are at meetings.
“It is important to have good attendance at meetings because of the value of that each member brings to the body,” Chapman said in an email.
Other changes to the Rules and Procedures document include setting a deadline to propose resolutions regarding changes to the Rules and Procedures document and making the GSS president responsible for recording the attendance of the vice president for legislative affairs. Additionally, GSS members want to make the document easier to read by making it a single column instead of three columns.
Chapman said although those resolutions do not have a direct impact on the graduate student body, they are still important.
“When GSS is functioning well, it is better able to meet its goal of enhancing the quality of life and education of all graduate students at Ohio University,” Chapman said in an email.
