The responsibilities of a GSA Representative
1) Representatives must attend the general assembly meetings regularly. The meetings take place on every other Monday at 6PM. To add general assembly meetings to your google calendar, click here.
Attendance Policy:
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the GSA has operated its meetings remotely or in a hybrid format for the past several years. In an effort to strengthen the GSA community and focus more of our time on committee work and advocacy in the coming year, the 2024-25 GSA officers have adopted the following attendance policy, which prioritizes in-person attendance at GSA meetings (with some exceptions):
All members shall attend all meetings of the General Assembly and will be asked about their continued membership in the GSA after missing two (2) meetings. Each member shall be allowed to attend one (1) meeting per semester via Zoom with the prior written notice of the GSA Secretary, requested at least 24 hours before the meeting (hannah.schiller@yale.edu). This virtual attendance will count as being present at the meeting (and therefore does not count toward the two allowed absences per year).
Members who will be absent from New Haven for the semester but still enrolled full-time in the Graduate School (e.g. members pursuing dissertation research further afield) shall be allowed to attend meetings via Zoom for the entire semester(s) during which they are away. These members shall alert the GSA Secretary of this extended absence at the beginning of the term.
Members with extenuating circumstances not covered in this policy should write to the Parliamentarian and the Secretary about alternative arrangements for meeting attendance (benjamin.schafer@yale.edu; hannah.schiller@yale.edu).
2) Every representative must serve on one internal committee:
- Academics and Professional Development
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Facilities and Healthcare
- Transit and Security
- Public Relations
- Service
- Conference Travel Fellowship
- International Students
3) Representatives are required to hold a departmental meeting once per year at which they should discuss with their fellow graduate students suggestions and concerns. The representatives should provide an overview of the GSA (our goals, accomplishments, works in progress) and find out what issues students would like to see us address.
From time to time, representatives are asked to forward messages to the graduate students in their department.
Time Commitment
The time commitment required of a GSA representative is about three hours every two weeks. The General Assembly Meetings are held once every two weeks and last about an hour and a half and the remainder of the time is spent with one of the internal committees completing a project.