Grad students want specific social spots

The students at the second Graduate and Professional Student Assembly meeting of the semester may have represented 12 different schools, but they came to consensus on one point: They have no place to go. GAPSA representatives said Wednesday night that graduate students lack sufficient facilities, from recreation areas to social spots. Recreation Director Mike Diorka announced to the body that his search for short-term solutions to a paucity of recreation facilities would involve graduate and professional students. "You are very much a part of what's going on," Diorka told students. "I want to increase graduate school representation." Diorka said he was interested in forming a liaison with graduate students, and he encouraged GAPSA members to form their own policy group that could allocate funds for recreational use -- just as the Sport Club Council does for undergraduates. Representatives also voiced concern that graduate and professional students did not have a specific space designated for their social activities on campus. The University administration has been indicating that graduate and undergraduate students should be able to share common space, GAPSA Vice Chairperson for Special Projects Heidi Tarshis said. The second-year Dental student said University President Judith Rodin had expressed interest in planning a joint undergraduate-graduate Halloween party. The event would have no alcohol or food -- aside from apples for bobbing -- and both the Undergraduate Assembly and GAPSA would have to provide funds. Plans for the party were scrapped though, a decision that pleased many GAPSA members. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to meet an 18-year-old boy," Tarshis said. That example led the GAPSA representatives to agree that graduate students need an area of their own in which to congregate. They noted that with the upcoming closing of Houston Hall for Perelman Quadrangle construction, GAPSA would not even have a meeting place. And some added that a graduate dining hall would be another needed addition. The lack of dedicated social space for graduate students has been an issue for almost a decade. According to GAPSA members, administrators have suggested various areas for the graduate students to meet -- none of which have come to fruition. Tarshis said administrators told her there were no plans to provide such space in the near future. "It's just not one of Rodin's priorities," she said. GAPSA members will begin petitions in all 12 schools for a designated graduate area. In further attempts to win graduate students more ties with the University's campus, Tarshis requested that GAPSA representatives to encourage their professors to order books through the new Barnes & Noble University Bookstore when it is built. Graduate schools have never previously been asked to purchase their books through The Book Store. Buying books through the new bookstore would be both cheaper and more convenient, Tarshis said, and it would expose undergraduates and graduates to each other more often. At the meeting, members also discussed when Graduate Tower A might close, and they formed a committee to deal with health insurance issues.