Ohio University Graduate Student Senate passed two resolutions at its Tuesday night meeting.
The body voted to allocate $62.50 of its $6,562.98 budget toward popcorn for the film screening of Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock. The Athena Cinema is offering free admission to the movie as a part of its sustainability series, according to a previous Post report.
At its March 6 meeting, body members heard from Student Health Insurance Administrator Anna Casteel about the four different health insurance bids offered to OU. Of the four, members agreed UnitedHealthcare was the best choice, GSS President Maria Modayil said.
Thirty-one members voted electronically to support UnitedHealthcare’s bid since the last meeting. Modayil said the university did not want to pick a health insurance provider until members agreed on whether health insurance subsidies, increased stipends or general fee buydowns should be the next priority for graduate students.
“Looking at the numbers, we found that there’s only 800 … graduate students who use health insurance through the university who would benefit … if there was an increase in subsidies,” Modayil said.
Because of the 10.5 percent increase in the cost of health insurance next year, Modayil said a group of co-sponsors from the health subsidies resolution met with members of the university administration to discuss matching the increase for students. They also said the current $40 health insurance subsidy should be redirected toward a general fee buydown to benefit all students.
The group also discussed allocating money to increase the minimum stipend for graduate students. About 57 students are paid the minimum stipend, or less than $12 per hour, Modayil said.
“We realized that graduate students are very diverse,” Modayil said. “We realized some might benefit from health insurance subsidies, some might benefit from higher stipends, some might benefit from the general fee buydown. So we wanted to see how we could impact, at least, a majority of graduate students.”
Modayil said the group is trying to come up with a “road map” for the university to follow for the next five years and encouraged body members to join the discussion.
Graduate College Dean Joseph Shields said he doesn't know how much money the university will allocate to a solution, but answers may arise after the university’s larger budget conversation.
The body is also planning a “closing ceremony” for Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week to announce the winners of the Outstanding Faculty Award and recognize graduate students who won awards during the Student Research and Creative Activity Expo.
GSS Vice President for Communication Becky Salami announced that the April 17 meeting would be moved to April 24. Salami said that GSS would be receiving feedback on the interim "Freedom of Expression" policy and wanted to be able to discuss it.
The body also appointed four new members.
