The following minutes were unanimously approved as submitted on March 7, 2017.

Opening

The regular meeting of the DTSA was called to order at 3:20 pm on Feb 7 in Room 5409 by Jennifer Thompson.

Present

Jennifer Thompson (President), Phoebe Rumsey (1st Vice President), Hansol Oh (Secretary-Treasurer), Sarah Lucie (Admissions & Awards), Margit Edwards (Professionalization Representative), Joseph Paul Hill (Curriculum & Exams Representative), Janet Werther (DSC Program Rep), Elyse Singer (2nd Vice President), Kalle Westerling (Digital Initiatives Officer)

Absent

Jared Pike (Graduate Council & Alumni Engagement Rep)

Approval of Agenda

ME motioned to approve agenda. SL seconded. Agenda was unanimously approved as submitted.

Approval of Minutes

JPH motioned to approve the minutes. JT seconded. Minutes unanimously approved as submitted.

Reports

President, Jennifer Thompson

Welcome back. We have an exciting semester ahead of us.

First, Thank you to all who helped with the end of semester party, it was a lovely event that was very well attended.

In new business we will schedule the rest of our semester’s meetings as well as set dates for the semester’s events including Trivia Night, elections, the first exam event, etc.

Erika has asked that I hold off on reviewing the final draft of the GAA document with you until our next meeting, which we will hold prior to the meeting of the Executive Committee in March.

Today we will be voting on a proposed amendment for the addition of an Officer for International Students to the board. I think this will be a very welcome and necessary addition. If it is approved first by you, and then the entire DTSA, we will appoint someone to begin building the position in preparation for next year.

Conference planning is going very well—we have a number of wonderful scholars joining us, so I hope that you all will attend if not submit. Also, we will need volunteers on May 11 to help run registration and keep things going smoothly throughout the day. Let me know if you are interested in helping for part of the day.

Peter has asked that Kalle and Joseph and I meet to discuss coordinating the program website and the DTSA website.

First Vice President, Phoebe Rumsey

Nothing big to report. Looking forward to trivia—would like to discuss location, i.e., pros and cons on and off campus.

Second Vice President, Elyse Singer

2017 Booth Award ceremony planning is moving ahead. Public Programs will be presenting the awards on Friday, 28 April at 7 pm in the Proshansky Auditorium. Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS) and The Center for the Humanities will also help with promotion. Segal Center is contributing $500. I sent out an invitation to DTSA list to encourage early reservations and, so far, we’ve received about 20 RSVPs for the awards/party from students and faculty.  We have a tentative location for the after-party (Cutting Room on 32nd Street—I will visit there this week to firm up details, but they are holding it for us.) An updated proposal has been submitted to DSC for $650 in funding towards artist fees and I plan to attend DSC meeting on Friday. Lastly, I was able to meet with Taylor on 6 February and plan to schedule a meeting with the Booth Award committee to happen next week or the following. As of 6 February: Some participants scheduled to participate in the 2017 Booth Award ceremony include—in addition to Taylor—Sean Edgecomb, Tigger!, Heather Christian, Paul Zimet & Ellen Maddow, Crystal Lucas-Perry, Matt Ray, and Bianca Leigh. More to come.

Secretary-Treasurer, Hansol Oh

Nothing to report.

Admission and Awards Representative, Sarah Lucie

The admissions meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 2/8, so I will have more to report following the meeting. But I will say that I’ve sincerely enjoyed reading the applications from an extremely strong group of applicants.

Curriculum and Exams Representative, Joseph Paul Hill

Nothing to report.

Professionalization Representative, Margit Edwards

Professionalization Events begin this week with a focus on Conferences, Prof. Erika Lin will host. Jean Graham-Jones is now the new Placement Officer and oversees the Professionalization committee. There will be a formal evaluation of the professionalization efforts of the program this spring. More info to come.

Digital Initiatives Officer, Kalle Westerling

Things are coming along with the Resource Exchange—lots of new additions. The DTSA website has been updated with the Professionalization events for Spring.

DSC Program Representative, Janet Werther

I’ve been working with Hamad in DSC leadership and Luke Elliot-Negri from the PSC on a statement asking President Robinson and Chancellor Milliken to commit the financial support they offered to Saira Rafiee (not messing with her funding status) to any faculty or students affected by Trump policies moving forward, as well as paying for subs as needed and starting a fund to support the needs of immigrant and undocumented students. The draft has been finalized and should be sent this week.

The first DSC meeting of the semester is Fri. 2/17. Jennie and Cory have generously offered to proxy for me at the monthly meetings. Jennie in particular has offered a blanket/standing proxy. They both want to find out more about the DSC and see if they are interested in joining in the future.

Graduate Council Rep and Alumni Engagement, Jared R. Pike

The Graduate Council of the CUNY Graduate Center met on Wednesday, December 14. President Robinson informed us that the University has submitted a budget request to the Governor’s office. We will know more once the Governor submits his budget to the legislature in the Spring. As of now, we hold our breath and hope that there will be no further budget cuts.

A draft of the 2017-2022 Strategic Plan was posted on the website on November 19th. Provost Connoly held a public meeting for discussion. Public discussion remained open until Friday, December 16. Comments from this public discussion will be integrated into the document and a final version will be published on the Graduate Center’s website early in the spring semester.

After a period of considerable discussion, The Graduate Council unanimously passed a resolution against the CUNY-wide Policy on Expressive Conduct. During the discussion, it was brought up that the proposed policy is unnecessary since expressive conduct has been effectively maintained without curtailing free speech by the CUNY Regulations for Maintenance of Public Order (aka. the “Henderson Rules,”) These existing regulations are published as part of the “Policies of the Graduate Center” document and can be found on the Graduate Center’s website: https://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-Center/PDF/Publications/Bulletin/Policies-Procedures.pdf).

The Graduate Council also unanimously passed a resolution to designate the Graduate Center as a Sanctuary Campus. The Graduate Council and Graduate Center administration do not actually possess the authority to make such a designation and will be governed by the policy which CUNY Central eventually issues. The resolution voices the moral obligation which the faculty and student body at the Graduate Center feel towards our members who are made vulnerable under the new United States government administration. Through this resolution we add our voice to the voices of other CUNY campuses who have passed similar resolutions. President Trump’s recent executive orders have made this resolution even more necessary, though they also bring the legality and efficacy of the resolution into question.

New Business

Discussion about the amendment

Title change to International Student Representative

Board vote to approve amendment for official vote to DTSA with emendations

JT called for vote, SL seconded

Unanimously approved

Old Business

Booth Award

Extensive discussion about current Booth Award Event planning and budget

Scholarly Community

Continue to allow for writing workshops to assemble informally

Adjournment

ME moved to adjourn, KW seconded.

Unanimously approved.