Graduate Council to get a new addition

By: Melissa Caceres / Staff Writer

In a unanimous vote at a March 8 meeting, the Faculty Senate approved the addition of a student representative to the Graduate Council.

The student member would be a non-voting representative appointed by elected graduate student senators from Student Government Association.

According to Faculty Senate Chair Thomas Breslin, the Steering Committee “felt that [it] was a good idea” and will be recommending the Undergraduate Council to do the same.

“The purpose of this is to make the governance system more inclusive, to share it and to bring in a perspective from graduate students. It is to follow a trend that has been very successful at other universities for about three decades,” said Fred Blevens, chair of the Graduate Council, during the faculty senate meeting. “Almost all of the universities in the state of Florida have done this already and it seems to bring students in to give their perspective on policies and procedures into the council, as well as concerns that we might not otherwise have heard.”

As one of the 18 committees of the Faculty Senate, the Graduate Council is a committee that is “charged to recommend and evaluate policies and procedures concerning graduate education at the University, evaluate proposals for new graduate programs, tracks, or academic certificates, safeguard the Curriculum and perform related tasks as assigned by the Faculty Senate.”

During the meeting, the Senate also passed a Graduate Council motion which “urges the dean of the University Graduate School and unit deans to evaluate the level of funding for graduate students in differing units and, where appropriate, improve support.”

Within the motion there was emphasis on those doctoral students in the social sciences who have exhausted fellowship aid and are working as adjuncts without tuition waivers.

“From a student perspective it will give us a sense of knowing what’s going on. I think that too many of us don’t know. To have another voice in the Faculty Senate and the Graduate Council [gives us] more of a sense of a grad life and makes sure that our needs are being met,” said SGA Graduate Senator Erika Edwards, who proposed both motions to the Graduate Council.

In an interview with Student Media, Blevens stated that he looks forward to more student driven proposals, like Edwards’, to be brought up at the Graduate Council meetings now that they will have a voice within their board.

“I would hope that we see a lot of input from the graduate student body now. It’s something that was overdue and I’m glad that it had that support from the Steering Committee enough to have them recommend it to the Undergraduate Council,” said Blevens.

While the Senate heard no opposition to the student representative motion from any of the senators, the College of Education Senator Leonard Bliss inquired about reasons behind the non-voting factor.

“If we’re after the aspect of ‘inclusiveness’, then the student should really be a voting member, not a member without a vote,” said Bliss, who is a professor of educational research methodology. “It seems to me that the most logical thing to do.”

In response, Blevens mentioned that the voting issue was the most contentious issue brought up by the Graduate Council during their meeting.

Yet in their research involving other universities, the Council members found that it was common practice that the student was a non-voting member.

Also considered was the fact that the student was sitting on the board that is “part of the faculty senate and that the voting function should remain among those faculty members.”

With the approval of the updated Graduate Council policy and procedural manual, which includes the two discussed motions, it is possible that a student representative could be sitting on the Graduate Council before the end of the spring semester.

 

Melissa Caceres works as a Beat Writer, covering the FIU Foundation, Board of Trustees and Faculty Senate.