GAPSA warns Rodin not to ignore graduates

Graduate students spoke face to face with University administrators last night, voicing their concern over being ignored in administrative plans regarding student activity space and undergraduate educational reform. A group of 25 graduate students met with University President Judith Rodin, Provost Stanley Chodorow and Acting Executive Vice President Jack Freeman last night in Houston Hall. The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly held the meeting to discuss the Coopers & Lybrand report. The Coopers report was commissioned to focus on a limited area of issues pertaining to the University's Administrative Restructuring Project. But after briefly discussing the report itself, the dialogue between the administrators and graduate students shifted focus to the recommendations and proposals that were developed in response to the report. The primary concern of the graduate students was that amidst all of the plans for the Perelman Quadrangle and the 21st Century Undergraduate Education Initiative, they would be ignored. "Hopefully, this administration will pay attention to all the groups on campus," Rodin said. But GAPSA President Ari Brose said most graduate students do not read the major campus publications, making it difficult to communicate with all 10,000 graduate students. Electronic mail or listservers are being discussed as options to facilitate communication with graduate students, Freeman said. But Freeman added the administration must first decide whether to centralize or decentralize the various hardware programs used for electronic communication at the individual schools. During the meeting, Chodorow was asked if any thought was being devoted to graduate education in the year 2000 since undergraduate education is being intensely focused on by the administration. "Graduate education is regarded by departments and schools as theirs," answered Chodorow. "It is not comprehensive." Brose asked if there would be any space allotted for graduate use in the new Perelman Quad proposal. According to Rodin, there will be space available for graduate student use, but she said the specific allocation of that space will not be determined until later in the planning process after consultation with the architects. Students also raised the idea of turning the University's Faculty Club to into a graduate cafe where graduate students from all schools could meet and interact at night. "There are graduate students on campus who want a place to meet and to call our own," sixth year medical student Erick Santos said. In the Coopers report, the Faculty Club is advised to "reduce its considerable annual losses." Brose said dual use of the Faculty Club would allow the University to maximize its financial profitability. In addition, Brose said since the Faculty Club already has a liquor license, it would not create additional legal liability for the University if opened to graduate students. "I think the notion of converting the club from faculty use to a graduate use is a wonderful idea," Freeman said. Graduate Student Associations Council President Browyn Beistle voiced concern that there is not enough cross-disciplinary interaction among graduate students. "I personally have been intellectually enriched when I have had the experience to meet with other graduate students outside of my field," Beistle said. Chodorow and Rodin both said they feel interaction is needed to be encouraged and that they are aware of the problem. Brose said she feels that the meeting was a successful start to dialogue between the administration and graduate students. "We may not have answered any questions but at least we started the discussion," she said.