Members of the Technology Committee meet and sign up new recruits.
Thursday night, the Graduate Assembly (GA) held its first delegates’ meeting of the 2009-2010 school year. Budget cuts and campus responses to them, including an at times heated debate of what official position the GA should take, dominated the evening’s discussion. Befitting an introductory meeting, GA officers also gave an overview of the structure and mission of the GA and GA committee chairs reported on their accomplishments from the previous year along with their goals for the coming year.
Mitch Celaya, Chief of the UCB Police Department, and Claudia Covello of University Health Services (UHS) discussed how their departments were coping with budget cuts. The Police Department has had 19% of its budget cut and UHS lost 23% of its campus funding, which amounts to roughly $2 million. Both departments have responded by cutting positions; the police department has lost seven officers and UHS has eliminated 20 staff positions. To meet their budget shortfall while continuing to provide care six days a week, UHS has also decided to add fees. Beginning September 21st, students will be charged a co-pay for visits to primary and urgent care. A primary care visit will now cost $15 and an urgent care visit will cost $30. The average graduate student uses campus medical services 2.2 times per year and can expect their medical costs to go up accordingly. Both these departments want to increase their engagement with students and encourage student input. You can email Mitch Celaya at ucpdchief@berkeley.edu or contact UHS via lmigdal@uhs.berkeley.edu.
Emotions ran high as delegates debated a resolution proposing that the GA support the faculty walkout on Thursday, September 24, and endorse the letter circulated by the Graduate Student Organizing Committee in favor of the walkout. (Follow these links to view the full text of the open letters to UC graduate students and UC faculty that have circulated this week.) The letters and walkout protest how the budget cuts have been managed by the University of California administration. After extensive debate, the GA passed a modified resolution directing the President of the GA to draft a letter from the GA in support of the faculty walkout. This letter will be written with input from the delegates and posted on the GA website. Over the course of the evening, delegates struggled with how to balance the time-sensitive nature of this resolution with having adequate time to discuss these issues with students in their department. The budget cuts and GA actions regarding the budget cuts promise to be an issue throughout the semester, so contact the delegate(s) from your department and let them know what you think.
For more detailed information, consult the meeting minutes, which will be posted on the GA website.