Viewpoint Conference Room, Ackerman Union

GSA Forum Minutes Wednesday, October 14, 2015 – 5:30 PM Viewpoint Conference Room, Ackerman Union

Call to Order (5:30-5:31 pm)

Forum Introduction, Milan Chatterjee, GSA President (5:31-5:37 pm)

Milan: Welcome to forum.

Officer Introduction, (5:37-5:47 pm)  Joel Lanzaga, Vice President of Academic Affairs-

I want to bridge the gap between academic departments.

 Andres Schneider, Vice President of External Affairs- I want to make graduate housing affordable.

 Chiao-Wen Lan, Vice President of Internal Affairs

- I want to improve the graduate student quality of life, and I welcome all the councils to work very closely with GSA.

Introduction to Cabinet Members (5:47-6:02 pm)

Larry Lai, Wendy Greene, Co Directors of Sustainable Resource Center: We would like to promote more environmental sustainability and awareness on campus, while also expanding on the successes of our predecessors for Green Screens with Melnitz Movies in the Spring.

Nick Behrman Director of Events: I would like to continue having the social events that the previous directors have had such as Grad Bar, and also focus on providing more academic workshops and guest lecturer symposiums that cater towards academic interest as well.

Adewunmi Adelaja: I am currently working on finishing the website which would be up and running in about a month. Most content will transfer over as well.

SAGE Trip Update (6:02-6:07 pm)  Andres Schneider, Vice President of External Affairs

Andres: It was a good trip. It was great to get connected to SAGE. I made good connections in San Diego.

Appointments (6:07-6:10 pm)

Melnitz Movies (6:10-6:15 pm)  Mohannad Ghawanmeh, Director of Melnitz Movies :

I would like to improve the scope and recognition of Melnitz Movies. This includes expanding the archive and showing more films from a diverse group of filmmakers.

We have recently showed films such as Bridges of Spies and Steve Jobs, both which had excellent attendance. My goal is to have all the screening sold out this year.

Graduate Student Orientation Updates (6:15-6:30 pm)  Helga Zambrano, Graduate Student Orientation: Graduate Student Orientation was September 18 9-4:30 in the Ackerman Grand Ballroom. It was quite successful we had a great turnout and very passionate volunteers.

We had several workshop throughout the day such as the Academic Writing Resources and Bruin Pride ( an LGBTQ workshop) to name a few. We will begin to recruit for next year’s orientation during the Winter and Spring Quarter. I hope to hear from you guys then.

UC Student Regent Abraham “Avi” Oved (6:30-6:50 pm) –

The three initiatives that I am working on this year as a Regent are middle income affordability, a statement against principles against intolerance, and getting a student advisor position.

As a Student Regent I have I am the lone representative for the entire UC student population. The first year I served as a non voting member and this year I will take on the role of Student Regent, a voting member.

Middle Income Affordability, I am looking to help expand scholarships and opportunity for the middle income student population.

The Statement of Principles against Intolerance is a think-tank of Regents to produce better procedures on incidents of intolerance, bigotry and discrimination. We look to expedite this process and make sure that justice is served to the full extent of the framework of the UC.

The Student Advisor Proposal is probably the most impactful of my policies. I am looking to get another student voice at the table. At first I tried to get another voting member, but others have tried to go right in to it and have failed, thus I have tried to take a step towards that ,with a non voting member, in the Student Advisor position.

The Student Advisor would compliment the current Student Regent, so if the Student Regent is an undergraduate, the advisor would be a Graduate Student and visa versa. We have already proposed it to the undergrads and they have passed it unanimously, I hope the same thing happens here so that we can have present this information to the Regents later in the year. Thank you.

Resolution of Support for the Student Advisor Proposal (6:50-7:00 pm) Resolution Passes: 16-2 Adjournment (7:00 pm)