Please see the Safety in New Haven page for more information.

Please join us at our next meeting!

See the Athletics Page for more information.

Bring your suggestions, concerns. For the agenda, email gsa@yale.edu.

The committee is still in its infancy and we are currently working on identifying our long term goals and forming relationships to aid in our ability to advocate for student needs.

All graduate students are welcome at our meetings and we encourage you emails concerns regarding the gym, intramural sports, and graduate student athletic space to paul.pearlman@yale.edu.

All are welcome to attend. To be added to the email list, or to send any questions or suggestions, email daniel.spakowicz@yale.edu.

One idea that we have had that doesn't seem to have any detractors is the placement of the call number stickers found on the call boxes on the major entrances and exits of buildings. We intend on addressing this when we meet with the security folks. One other idea that we need help with is an efficient way of asking people which areas of campus need to have lighting issues addressed. If you have any "bright" ideas, feel free to post here or let us know.

From time to time, we'll be posting both on the main page and in the "Safety in New Haven" entry, so look for us there. Feel free to sound off if you have any ideas. We are always looking for new ideas. Our meeting times will be before the first GSA meeting of the month at 6pm in the Common Room in the McDougal Center. Because of end of the semester activities, we will not be having a meeting until January 13th. We can't wait to see you there.
-Phillip McCown
Security Committee Chairman

Bring your suggestions, concerns. For the agenda, email gsa@yale.edu.

Please email me by Thursday, November 12th if you have time to volunteer on November 18, from approximately 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Training will be provided (from noon-1 on Friday, Oct 13 at 200 Orange St) as well lunch for both the 13th and the 18th to thank you for helping contribute to the future planning of sustainable transportation initiatives and help to foster responsible planning practices on our city streets.

Ethan Hutchings
Project Manager
Transportation, Traffic and Parking Department
200 Orange St G3
New Haven, CT 06510
ehutchin@newhavenct.net

For an update on the issues associated with getting dental insurance for all G&P students please see this article in the Yale Daily News:

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2009/11/05/graduate-student-dental-plan-delayed/

GPSS is still moving forward with our efforts to obtain a dental insurance plan that provides an adequate level of coverage at a low monthly cost to students. If you would like to be involved in advocating for student issues such as dental care or have questions about our current efforts, please contact GPSS student advocate Emily Stoops at emily.stoops@yale.edu.

• GPSS Funding for Student Groups
  • Up to 1200 dollars so you can apply (go to website under funding)
• 10 year plan written by grad + prfess student for university
  • Get grad+prof who are interested to come write document (session w/ food)
  • Deputy provost likes this and would like to get for their use as well as our own use (unifying document can help overcome high turnover in stud. Govt.)
  • You will get GPSS email
• Dental
  • Last year, we went to admin to request --- admin said OK but you make sure it will work
  • Previously, we asked for grad school to pay. Dean Butler: NO
  • So we said a plan like prescription plus that we pay for yourself
  • Delta dental came up with plans for us. We took to provost last year and they said "great" but now we have to tell stud. We wanted to do like prescription plus (automatic opt in) - BUT it would cost 200,000-250,000 to get it up and running (Yale costs even if they do not cover us). Current cap of 1,000-1,500 dollars. So question is "is this worth it if not many grads sign up" --- typically at other schools enrollment is 10-15% so only $600. Delta dental rates are not locked in so might increase if people who sign up are not so healthy.
  • So current plan: 3 year trial run. See what prices we could get for a 3 year lock-in. maybe we want an opt in rather than opt out (opt out makes it seem like a mandatory fee).
  • Q: why do we compare with other ivys???
  • A: b/c we function on similar funding/$$ levels. Also no subsidies b/c
  • Q: How many companies did you shop w/?
  • A: Just Delta Dental
  • Q: What is $250,000 based on?
  • A: benefits office and HR people. Including website/brochures. Just 50,000 for interactive opt-out features for insurance.
  • Q: now no website for opt-out of pharmacy insurance? Can we not just add onto the website that we already have this option?
  • A: Lloyd suttle said that maybe only paper? They need admin support if coverage breaks down, ppl forget to opt out, etc. We need people to pay to do these things.
  • Q: Is opt out necessary for deal with Delta Dental?
  • A: Yes, 10% price difference. But prices will chance either way.
  • Q: Delta Dental was generally one of more expensive plans? Could we check with other company?
  • A: It gives you liberty to go to ANY dentist in NH. Decision was made before Sara came in
  • Q: Could we not choose a comp that deals w/ internet already?
  • A: It would have to go through bursar bill so still through delta. Delta have high penetration. It is what employees do when they opt out of Yale plan. Also, Delta can move w/ you nationally anywhere else. Delta also cost reduce because you do not have to make new connections with admin.
  • Q: Who cares if 200,000 is inflated? Maybe if not enough want, maybe we do not?
  • A: Maybe our job to make this a good care
  • Q: Why cannot do through payroll? In IT services you can buy software at discount w/o need for special website - you go to IBM/Hewlet Packard website and they have special website to do this? No yale infrastructure
  • A:
  • Q: What % of grad/prof use prescription plus? Why do we think less than that?
  • A: low. 30% ish. Compare w/ ivys.
  • Q: why worried about website? This is not limit to yale.
  • A: Well, if you get this, you do not get other stuff..
  • Q: Like what?
  • A: ???? maybe shuttle route? He said full year funding for humanities students overrode this a while ago. Limits what we can ask for in the future.
  • Q: Wasn't there a GPSS survey last year?
  • A: No it did not get sent out. Lloyd would be hesitant to look at a survey b/c people say they will do but when get bill would be less likely to do it.
  • Q: Is there any way to ask ppl to pay upfront and then set up website?
  • A: consensus: we will try to do opt in w/ paper for 3 years but not sure how desirable that is but indication of how many ppl want to do it.
  • Q: in any other year would there be optional plans? Or would there be a req plan all times?
  • A: NO! first year, everyone $8/mo. Second year everyone $24/mo.
  • Q: but everyone might only want to be on cheaper plan?
  • A: we went after this for root canal ppl tho.
  • Q: would everyone want to pay admin fee so univ gets fee to fund program? Would students want this to run website/etc.?
  • A: ---------
  • You can email me letter or Stephen who will forward.

• Q: when is this going to happen
• A: right after thanksgiving. 1-2 meetings to pick winner.
• Andre, Paul Pearlman, Noel

• Should have gotten email to nominate for mentoring award. Nominations will come in beg of Dec. will meet beg of Jan. announce during mentoring week to tie it in. we will have a award session as well as dept events (guest speakers - good mentors/advisers in the field - or panel).
• If you want to volunteer your dept, let Stephen know

• Please show up next Weds we discuss much but few ppl attend

• Meetings at 7pm on weds when we do not have assembly meetings.
• You can all email all of us by emailing gsa listerv
• Met w/ admin to discuss shuttle last week
  • Concerns/comments/compliments from committee.
  • Upshot: Law school shuttle no matter what bus driver tells you should give rides to all students. On top and bottom of hours to E. rock. On the 15 and 45 go other way.
  • You can call minibus on weekend when there is no shuttle bus. Not enough use to justify the regular shuttle. Will track this to see if a weekend route would be feasible/used.
  • Prob: lack of midday service to E rock w/ orange line -.based on ridership è no real resolution
  • Bunching of blue line b/c blue line is more effective than orange line w/ new construction traffic. Will try to improve but that is why it has been bunched
  • Orange line in evening does not follow route - scatters at canner+whitney and picks up again at Edwards and whitney. May change that in the future. Follows route only if no riders on shuttle.
  • Q: new old bridge will open again? What happens to shuttle?
  • A: not even close to open!!!!!!
  • Q: it is scheduled by the end of the year! Ahead of schedule!
  • A: ????
  • Q: It used to be blue line would be at sci hill waiting and leave every 15 min - in parking lot - is that still happening?
  • A: I still see them waiting but d/n know frequency. It is used when there are more buses going around now. Maybe now more going around but less predictability of walking a block and finding a bus there?

• Siquan - discussed periodical subscriptions/journal subscriptions. Library having to cut 15% of budget. Kinda like sucking blood from a stone. Looking at savings and whatever else. Journals REALLY expensive.
• Back access to things that we used to have access to after the subscription ends.
• Costs A LOT! THE AMOUNT OF DATA IS A LOT, specifically but data storage is getting cheaper and cheaper.

• Meet on Mondays opp HGS. Sent survey to GSA before meeting today. Would appreciate if you fill it out and let us know about concerns/issues to direct efforts to group needs. Please respond for dept however that would be - we know error but maybe better than nothing.
• Q: there was an old teaching survey - does anyone know about it?
• A: NO

• Happy hour and survey
• Survey asks:
  • General how are you - we do every year so can compare
    • Generally happy. Increase concern w/ building safety. Not too many changes.
  • Specific timely issues/projects we do
    • Most dept said N/A for mental health. Of those responding, fairly netural. Results are posted now on website.

• New small (25 prsn) dept
• Issues
  • Health care - dental, not enough staff to do physical for fellowship.
  • Athletics - why don't we have FREE yoga
    • Free yoga in bass. There is a flyer. Email will be sent out.
  • On campus housing - not important
  • Off campus - website for rating land lords
  • Teaching - really complicated b/c everyone is in multiple dept. some central thing would help
  • Security - unsafe in parking lot on sci hill.

1. Summer funding: students are concerned about discrepancies between departments - whereas some labs operate on the humanities model (everyone is guaranteed the same amount), in others it is necessary for individuals to seek out their own funding (e.g. Physics).
2. Information Technology: students would like more information on how decisions are made for allocating money and resources, and about support contracts.
3. Teaching: students would like more explicit training for this aspect of becoming professors, and they would like to see a more centralized system of TF choices and assignments.
4. Funding / standing: although funding is in theory guaranteed to every student “in good standing,” there are unfair ways in which a PI may remove a student from good standing so that they lose their funding and are forced out of their program.

1. Students are concerned about the contracting out of stock rooms - they see both advantages and disadvantages.
2. Concerns about 6th year funding in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
3. Concerns about class size in some years of the BBS program - the faculty should be polled to see how many students each PI will be able to take on.
4. New students in Computational Biology are not provided with adequate information about all the possible labs they might be able to work in.
5. Transit issues: there are concerns about the MB&B split between Science Hill and the Medical School campus, and there are concerns about the split between the main campus and the growing West Campus.

1. Teaching assignments: This appears to be the most pressing issue for a large number of students in the humanities. There are multiple concerns:
   • Uncertainty over whether or not students in their 6th year will actually have teaching assignments: first of all, the average time to completion in humanities Ph.D. programs is over six years, yet we are only guaranteed funding for five, and it seems to be increasingly the case that there are fewer TF positions available for 6th year students. Second, many departments wait until the last minute to finalize teaching assignments, so that students don’t actually find out whether they have a job until just before or even during the first few weeks of the semester. This is especially a problem for international students, whose visas are at stake.
   • We want to make sure that, aside from grad students in their teaching years, 5th or 6th year grad students are given preference when assigning TF positions in the humanities over students from professional schools.
   • Concerns were raised that the number of hours-per-week actually required of the different teaching grades (TF1, TF2, TF3, TF4, and PTAI) are not reflected in the pay scale.
   • Students in language departments want to ensure that every student TFs for a literature class in at least one semester of their teaching years.
   • Students would like to see more teacher training within their departments, especially before the start of their third year (though they don’t necessarily want it to be mandatory). This could include an “apprenticeship week” in which students observe a professor’s class and then meet to discuss it. Students are worried that if the university starts cutting sections with fewer than five students it will be harder to find teaching positions (and it will mean fewer options for undergrads).
2. Library issues: students would like to see a single universal system of copy cards for all libraries, and they would like more access to the law library, which is open later than Sterling or Bass on weekends.

1. Healthcare for students doing summer (or winter) internships: This year the administration made it so that students who took paying internships with more than 10 hours / week of work lost not only their stipend but also their healthcare and other student benefits. Previously only the stipend amount was lost. This is an issue for students in some social science fields where corporate internships are often considered an important part of the curriculum; we know this is an actual problem in statistics, but it seems probably to be an issue in at least economics and psychology as well.
2. We are not really sure what the "social sciences" are exactly. None of us are particularly happy with the label.

On Thurs, Nov 12, at 3 pm, in webland, we have a hypothetical event!

This sentence contains hypothetical details about that event.

1. What are your biggest concerns regarding your teaching at Yale? Please rate your satisfaction with the following areas:
 
Very dissatisfied
Dissatisfied
Neutral
Satisfied
Very satisfied
Response
Count
The importance your department places on teaching
9.5% (2)
14.3% (3)
28.6% (6)
42.9% (9)
4.8% (1)
21
The transparency of the teaching assignment process
14.3% (3)
23.8% (5)
28.6% (6)
23.8% (5)
9.5% (2)
21
The appropriateness of the courses you're teaching to your future plans
0.0% (0)
19.0% (4)
19.0% (4)
57.1% (12)
4.8% (1)
21
The number of hours spent teaching, as it relates to your teaching grade (See Teaching Assistance Types And Levels Descriptions http://www.yale.edu/yalecol/verification/descriptions.html)
0.0% (0)
9.5% (2)
33.3% (7)
57.1% (12)
0.0% (0)
21
The amount of training and preparation you were given for the course you are teaching
0.0% (0)
33.3% (7)
38.1% (8)
28.6% (6)
0.0% (0)
21
The amount of feedback and mentoring to grow in your teaching ability
14.3% (3)
23.8% (5)
42.9% (9)
19.0% (4)
0.0% (0)
21
The level of integration between the teaching component and research, as it relates to your preparedness to find jobs
4.8% (1)
38.1% (8)
42.9% (9)
14.3% (3)
0.0% (0)
21

2. Do you feel you're able to teach the amount you'd like?

yes

76.2%
16
no

23.8%
5

3. To whom are you most likely to express grievances concerning your teaching experience?

Dean
 
0.0%
0
DGS

28.6%
6
course coordinator

47.6%
10
other instructor(s)

19.0%
4
a fellow student

52.4%
11

4. Do you feel you have the appropriate opportunities to mentor a student (such as an undergraduate) on an individual basis?
 
yes

71.4%
15
no

28.6%
6
 
5. If not, would you like such an opportunity?
 
yes

54.5%
6
no
 
0.0%
0
indifferent

45.5%

1. What are your biggest concerns regarding your teaching at Yale? Please rate your satisfaction with the following areas:
 
Very dissatisfied
Dissatisfied
Neutral
Satisfied
Very satisfied
Response
Count
The importance your department places on teaching
9.5% (2)
14.3% (3)
28.6% (6)
42.9% (9)
4.8% (1)
21
The transparency of the teaching assignment process
14.3% (3)
23.8% (5)
28.6% (6)
23.8% (5)
9.5% (2)
21
The appropriateness of the courses you're teaching to your future plans
0.0% (0)
19.0% (4)
19.0% (4)
57.1% (12)
4.8% (1)
21
The number of hours spent teaching, as it relates to your teaching grade (See Teaching Assistance Types And Levels Descriptions http://www.yale.edu/yalecol/verification/descriptions.html)
0.0% (0)
9.5% (2)
33.3% (7)
57.1% (12)
0.0% (0)
21
The amount of training and preparation you were given for the course you are teaching
0.0% (0)
33.3% (7)
38.1% (8)
28.6% (6)
0.0% (0)
21
The amount of feedback and mentoring to grow in your teaching ability
14.3% (3)
23.8% (5)
42.9% (9)
19.0% (4)
0.0% (0)
21
The level of integration between the teaching component and research, as it relates to your preparedness to find jobs
4.8% (1)
38.1% (8)
42.9% (9)
14.3% (3)
0.0% (0)
21

2. Do you feel you're able to teach the amount you'd like?

yes

76.2%
16
no

23.8%
5

3. To whom are you most likely to express grievances concerning your teaching experience?

Dean
 
0.0%
0
DGS

28.6%
6
course coordinator

47.6%
10
other instructor(s)

19.0%
4
a fellow student

52.4%
11

4. Do you feel you have the appropriate opportunities to mentor a student (such as an undergraduate) on an individual basis?
 
yes

71.4%
15
no

28.6%
6
 
5. If not, would you like such an opportunity?
 
yes

54.5%
6
no
 
0.0%
0
indifferent

45.5%