Meeting Record

Present: Lynne Darden, Kumar Sankar Bhattacharya, Jeevan Gurung, Christopher Rodkey, Jason Haddox, Dennis Coyle, Sarah Gardam, Collin Cameron, William Pope, David Rainbow, & Rose Ellen Dunn.

Agenda for today approved.

Minutes of the last meeting approved.

Old Business

Board of Trustees Meeting

Kumar Bhattacharya reported on the GSA’s attendance of the Board of Trustees Meeting, which was held at the initiative of the President to allow the students to share their experience at Drew.

T.A. Funding

Many of the members present at the meeting once again voiced that the GSA should raise the issue of TA funding at appropriate forum. Christopher Rodkey suggested that the appointment of TA’s should be made more transparent. Finally, it was decided, at William Pope’s suggestion, that the GSA should contact Dawn Digrius, who has a comparative research of TA funding in various schools, to figure out the exact nature of TA funding that the GSA should recommend the Graduate School Authorities for its student.

Language Exam

Kumar Bhattacharya reported that he had taken up the issue of language exams with Dean Lawler who assured that coming Fall ’06 Grad students could register for any one of the language courses offered to CLA students for no tuition charges. Kumar, however, asked Collin Cameron (GSA representative to Policy and Planning Committee) to request the Policy and Planning Committee to implement the proposed policy from spring ’06 if possible considering the interest of Grad students.

New Business

Appointment of Webmaster

Lynne Darden informed the members that Luther Oconer has been appointed the new GSA Webmaster. She also commended the work by the new Webmaster.

Appointment of the News & Notes Editor

Lynne Darden also informed the members that Amrita Ghosh has been appointed the new News & Notes editor.

Graduate Student Involvement in President Weisbuch’s Inauguration

Lynne Darden read the e-mail by Ron Ross asking GSA to join in the first meeting for the preparation of President Weisbuch’s inauguration in April, ’06. She informed that she represented the GSA in the meeting.

Lynne Darden also asked for ideas and suggestions on ways in which GSA can contribute to the program. She informed that the President wanted the students of all the three schools to be showcase of the university. The President would like the students to present papers, exhibit artwork, or engage in theatrical performance.

William Pope, representing MHL, suggested asking Eric Gaither to organize a presentation on the Civil Rights movement, one of the big interests of the President. Lynne Darden suggested that students from the English Department should organize a presentation of papers on Emily Dickinson, the President’s favorite author. Dennis Coyle suggested taking this opportunity to contact Cheryl Oestreicher, the current Drew Archivist and a graduate student, for putting up an exhibit for the inauguration.

After considering the various inputs, it was decided that Lynne Darden and Dennis Coyle would work together to inform and receive further inputs from all graduate students and to formalize appropriate programs representing the various areas that the graduate students could put up for the President’s inauguration week.

Area Reports

Modern History and Literature Area:

David Rainbow informed that the MHL conferences on the year 1968 with an interdisciplinary focus scheduled for Fall 2006 was proceeding well. The conference planners had secured some leading experts for the conference.

David also informed the members that the department was engaged with students in a discussion to restructure the course offerings for the MHL program. He informed that students had proposed some reform in the program, and that the faculty had favorably received students’ ideas.

Biblical Studies Area:

Rose Ellen Dunn informed that the Biblical Studies Area was holding a special colloquium where Melanie DeBaufre Johnson was presenting on “How to Teach an Introductory Bible Class.”

Theological and Philosophical Studies Area:

Christopher Rodkey reported that the T & P Area has been meeting regularly.

Liturgical Studies Area:

Jason Haddox reported that Rev. Dr. James F. White, who was connected with the Liturgical Studies Department at Drew and a leading Protestant Liturgical scholar of his generation, at his death in October 2004 bequeathed his library of some five hundred volumes of books, papers, and additional writings to Drew Liturgical Studies Department. On November 2, 2005, the Liturgical Department initiated the first James F. White Memorial Lecture Series with Rev. Don Saliers, Candler School of Theology, Atlanta as the keynote speaker. The Drew Library also displayed artifacts from the White collection. The Liturgical Department is seeking funds to adequately store and preserve the collection so that it can be available for scholarly research.

Academic Standing Committee

Sarah Gardam reported that in the Academic Standing Committee meeting, held on Nov. 10, 2005 concern was raised in the following areas:

Students doing a paper for comp end up writing 75 to 100 pages.
Many students are simply not preparing properly and end up rescheduling exams
There seem to be confusion about what a comprehensive exam is
The committee decided to number students’ progress ( by number of comps completed etc.) for those who are “maintaining matriculation.”
It was proposed that the school allow for three degrees of absences: leave of absence, extended leave of absence, and withdrawal. The reason given was that students tend to panic at the option to temporarily withdraw (as per earlier provision) even though they may not have the time to do any work for an extended period of time.
The meeting also decided to go back strictly to observing the two-year rule for comps. As of Sept. 1, 2006, students would, henceforth, be given a choice of either taking three comps period in one year or two comps period in two years. Further discussion on this will be taken up at the end of the year review meeting.

Library Committee Meeting:

Kathy Henn reported that Ed Lovely represented the GSA for the Library Committee Meeting held on Nov. 8 as she was unavailable to attend the meeting. In the meeting it was informed that the “Print Management” project was still on the table with the latest report indicating a charge of 10 cents per printed page to offset cost of material and equipment in the library.

Most GSA members objected to the Library Committee proposal of charging 10 cents per printed page. It was, therefore, decided that Lynne Darden would consider drafting a letter to the Library Committee wherein she will cite the hardships faced by graduate students and request the Library to make printing free for graduate students.

Honorary Committee Meeting:

Lynne Darden represented the GSA in the meeting held on Oct. 21. The committee is working to select the May commencement speaker.

Diversity Committee Meeting:

Lynne Darden reported that the Diversity Committee is reissuing another report soon after considering the Town Hall Meeting held in October 2005.

Miscellaneous

Drew Conference Reimbursement

Considering the limited budget of GSA, it was decided that the GSA will ask the Caspersen School to reimburse the amount for the students participating in the conferences in Drew.

Prospectus Issue

Dennis Coyle raised the issue of the English Department requiring students to submit prospectus to all the professors in the Depatment. Many members felt this to be an unnecessary burden and wanted the GSA to raise the issue with the Department. Subsequently, it was decided that Lynne Darden would ask the English area convener to call a meeting regarding the prospectus issue.

President’s Report

Search Committee for Dean of Student Activities

Lynne Darden reported that Malebogo Kgalemang would be representing the GSA in the Search Committee. The meeting is going to be held on 12/5/05.

Assistance from Students Affairs Office

Lynne Darden informed that the Students Affairs Office had assisted the GSA with $300 to fund the 50^th Anniversary Celebration of the Caspersen School. She thanked the Students Affairs Office for the assistance.

Katrina Fund

Lynne Darden also informed the members that the GSA had collected $293 for the Katrina Fund. Since the Theological School students are going to Louisiana in January, it was decided that the GSA would hand the collected amount to the Theo School so that the money could be given to the hurricane victims in order to rebuild homes.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeevan Gurung

GSA Secretary