GAPSA asserts need for grad hang-outs

During their second meeting of the semester held Wednesday, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly members discussed the need for more places on campus where graduate students could socialize. "[We need] a location on campus to have a space just for us -- a place to get together and communicate," said GAPSA Vice Chairperson Cheryl Neisser, a second-year Nursing graduate student. GAPSA has unsuccessfully been seeking a place for graduate students to relax for three years, many members said. A variety of locations were proposed at the meeting, such as Locust Walk, or somewhere off-campus in West Philadelphia. Members at the meeting said they will focus on this issue throughout the year. The other pressing issue on the agenda was a city tax on student earnings. Current Philadelphia law levies a tax on all student earnings, including stipends given for work needed for a degree, according to GAPSA members. The Graduate Student Associations Council formed a committee to deal with this problem. Students on the committee have written and petitioned the Philadelphia City Council. GSAC and GAPSA are working to make an amendment to the law, which would exempt students working toward a degree from paying a tax on their stipends. But the City Council is concerned about the effect such an amendment would have on the city's tax base, said a GSAC representative at the meeting. And during the meeting, an election was held for the Vice Chairperson for Graduate Inter-School Activities Council. The vote was won by Mark Fabrizi, a first year student in the Graduate School of Education, who now has the responsibility of coordinating inter-school activities groups. Nominations were requested for Vice Chairperson of Student Affairs, who represents the concerns of graduate students. "I would like to get this position filled as quickly as possible," said GAPSA Chairperson and Astronomy graduate student David Mestre. But no nominations were taken during the meeting.