Monday, November 3, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
GPSA Constitution & Bylaws
Over the summer, the GPSA Constitution & Bylaws Ad-Hoc Committee (CBAC) met to review and make suggestions to the constitution. Now we need the feedback of graduate and professional students as well as Recognized Departmental Student Associations (RDSAs) at the University of New Mexico. Please review the suggested revisions to the GPSA Constitution & By-Laws and post comments regarding these revisions or any new revisions you’d like to see!!! There are three documents for you to look at:
1) A list of the current suggested revisions in summary form
2) The Constitution & By-Laws as revised with comments explaining the suggested revisions.
3) The current C&B is located on the GPSA web site (please insert the link here or include the PDF of the current C&B)
Check out the documents on the GPSA website at: http://www.unm.edu/~gpsa/com_adhoc.shtml
We need your feedback!! Post a comment if:
a) you don’t like a suggested revision,
b) if you want to alter a suggested revision, or
c) if you have new revisions you’d like to suggest!!!
Review others’ comments and discuss as needed! Please refer to sections in the document according to their article number and following information and also note whether the lines are on the current C&B or the suggested C&B so we can all find the lines easily. For example,
“New:Article V.D.1” or “Current:Article V: Council, D. Council Procedures, 1. Regular Meetings.”
Also, when making a new suggested revision, please summarize the reason for the revision and then maybe even provide the suggested language for the revision itself, if its an easy revision. Otherwise, the CBAC Chair and committee will discuss and make the suggested revisions. If you can, please also include your contact information in case we need to follow up with you for clarification.
If you have any questions, please contact the Constitution & By-Laws Ad-Hoc Committee Chair, Leah Sneider, at sneider@unm.edu.
1) A list of the current suggested revisions in summary form
2) The Constitution & By-Laws as revised with comments explaining the suggested revisions.
3) The current C&B is located on the GPSA web site (please insert the link here or include the PDF of the current C&B)
Check out the documents on the GPSA website at: http://www.unm.edu/~gpsa/com_adhoc.shtml
We need your feedback!! Post a comment if:
a) you don’t like a suggested revision,
b) if you want to alter a suggested revision, or
c) if you have new revisions you’d like to suggest!!!
Review others’ comments and discuss as needed! Please refer to sections in the document according to their article number and following information and also note whether the lines are on the current C&B or the suggested C&B so we can all find the lines easily. For example,
“New:Article V.D.1” or “Current:Article V: Council, D. Council Procedures, 1. Regular Meetings.”
Also, when making a new suggested revision, please summarize the reason for the revision and then maybe even provide the suggested language for the revision itself, if its an easy revision. Otherwise, the CBAC Chair and committee will discuss and make the suggested revisions. If you can, please also include your contact information in case we need to follow up with you for clarification.
If you have any questions, please contact the Constitution & By-Laws Ad-Hoc Committee Chair, Leah Sneider, at sneider@unm.edu.
Monday, June 16, 2008
New Administration, New Legislative Leaders
The GPSA has a new president and new committee chairs.
The GPSA Council has a new chair and new departmental representatives.
Use the comments section to give your suggestions and opinions.
The GPSA Council has a new chair and new departmental representatives.
Use the comments section to give your suggestions and opinions.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Statement of Candidacy for GPSA Council Chair
I am running for GPSA council chair because I believe the deliberative body needs a neutral facilitator, an officer who does the council's bidding rather than push the council in pursuit of a particular political agenda. We have witnessed the damage done by recent council chairs who, with gavel in hand, advocate their personal preferences and concertedly steer meetings in certain directions. The candidate I ran against last year spent her hours as council chair conniving against the sitting president--then quit when she didnt get her way. If I had been elected last year, the council would have enjoyed an objective administrator for the entire term, and GPSA would have had a more productive year with less tumult and turnover.
As council chair, I will restrict my activities to those explicitly enumerated in the GPSA constitution. I will call and preside over council meetings, supply the agenda and other written materials, moderate with fair parliamentary procedure, and represent the council on committees, the executive board, and before the administration. I pledge to help representatives present their legislation and to champion the causes supported by a voting majority of the council. But I will neither prioritize my own personal political positions, nor manipulate the council into adopting them.
The other candidate for council chair is running on a vastly different program, one focused on her niche policy goals. A main plank of her platform, family friendliness and child care, are important issues that directly and indirectly affect graduate and professional students. If the GPSA council as a body formally decided to focus on those areas of concern, as council chair I would help facilitate the legislation and further the cause within constitutionally delimited bounds.
But I do not think it is proper for the council chair to take office with a premeditated agenda. Neither should a sitting council vote for officers based on political postures because the composition and preferences of the current council will likely change by next fall. The council chair elected by last spring's council did not represent well the fall's council due to the increase in participation and change in departmental representation. The current council should provide the next council with an objective facilitator, not a prefabricated political agenda.
In meetings with graduate students, the other candidate has spoken of being a council chair akin to "the speaker of the house". The speaker of the house is an very political position; it is an officer selected by the majority party who decides what can and cannot be brought to the floor. The council chair should be akin to the neutral clerk of the house, not the speaker. I emphatically encourage the council to not elect a chair that envisions her role to be that of gatekeeper and agenda setter.
Another politically biased part of my rival's candidacy has been to overtly campaign with one of the candidates for GPSA president. The council chair should willingly cooperate with whomever graduate and professional students elect to serve as president. I have not endorsed either presidential candidate; I would not want positions taken for or against to hamper a working relationship. We all saw the nastiness that occurred last year when the GPSA president and council chair took office at immediate odds.
The GPSA council has a clear choice to make in its election of a chair: a passionate and industrious political advocate or an objective facilitator. Both of us are honest and competent. The choice is about how that competency is applied.
As council chair, I will restrict my activities to those explicitly enumerated in the GPSA constitution. I will call and preside over council meetings, supply the agenda and other written materials, moderate with fair parliamentary procedure, and represent the council on committees, the executive board, and before the administration. I pledge to help representatives present their legislation and to champion the causes supported by a voting majority of the council. But I will neither prioritize my own personal political positions, nor manipulate the council into adopting them.
The other candidate for council chair is running on a vastly different program, one focused on her niche policy goals. A main plank of her platform, family friendliness and child care, are important issues that directly and indirectly affect graduate and professional students. If the GPSA council as a body formally decided to focus on those areas of concern, as council chair I would help facilitate the legislation and further the cause within constitutionally delimited bounds.
But I do not think it is proper for the council chair to take office with a premeditated agenda. Neither should a sitting council vote for officers based on political postures because the composition and preferences of the current council will likely change by next fall. The council chair elected by last spring's council did not represent well the fall's council due to the increase in participation and change in departmental representation. The current council should provide the next council with an objective facilitator, not a prefabricated political agenda.
In meetings with graduate students, the other candidate has spoken of being a council chair akin to "the speaker of the house". The speaker of the house is an very political position; it is an officer selected by the majority party who decides what can and cannot be brought to the floor. The council chair should be akin to the neutral clerk of the house, not the speaker. I emphatically encourage the council to not elect a chair that envisions her role to be that of gatekeeper and agenda setter.
Another politically biased part of my rival's candidacy has been to overtly campaign with one of the candidates for GPSA president. The council chair should willingly cooperate with whomever graduate and professional students elect to serve as president. I have not endorsed either presidential candidate; I would not want positions taken for or against to hamper a working relationship. We all saw the nastiness that occurred last year when the GPSA president and council chair took office at immediate odds.
The GPSA council has a clear choice to make in its election of a chair: a passionate and industrious political advocate or an objective facilitator. Both of us are honest and competent. The choice is about how that competency is applied.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
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