GSO - summary of Thu, Apr 1, 99 meeting Here is a summary of what we did at yesterday's Graduate Student Organization meeting.  Our next general meeting will be on Thursday, April 15th, 5:30-6:45pm. --Rob Summary ======= 1. Committee Reports    Financial, Academic and Research Committee    ==========================================    (Formerly the "Funding Committee".  Their new e-mail is far@gso.bu.edu.)    Ann Walker  reported for this committee.    - They are working on a set of guidelines for advising at BU.    - They do not yet know whether a talk on "Intellectual Property"      will be possible this semester, but are still pursuing such a      talk with a potential speaker.    Healthcare Committee    ====================    Rob Pitts  reported for this committee.    - The committee's talk on "Student Healthcare" is on schedule.      Issues are:      - It will be Tuesday, April 6th, 12:30-1:30pm in MCS 135 (at 111        Cummington St.)      - This talk will have a Question & Answer format, moderated by the        Healthcare Committee.  Again, speakers will be one representative        from Chickering and one from BU's Student Health Services.      - They've sent some initial questions to the 2 speakers for them to        look over.      - The Student Union (the undergraduate student gov't) is        co-sponsoring the talk.  The Union is helping with advertising        (they have a newsletter and areas where they post notices for        undergrads).  They are also giving us $50 to buy snacks.  The        Union wasn't able to provide someone to attend the talk (to make        sure undergraduate issues are addressed).      - The committee sent ads for the talk to the BU newspapers (the        Daily Free Press and Bridge) as soon as they had confirmation from        the speakers.  They don't yet know whether these ads will appear        in the respective calendars.  Additional advertising is being done        via the usual flyer, mailing list and web page methods.    - The NAGPS's Healthcare Committee is trying to finalize revisions      of their national grad student health coverage survey.  They plan      to have NAGPS Board Members fill out the survey (for their schools)      as a test run.  After that, they'll ask grad orgs at various schools      to fill out the survey via the web or e-mail.  They will cover those      that do not respond with paper surveys.    Housing Committee    =================    Catherine Capuzzi  reported for this committee    by e-mail.  They have no new issues to discuss.    ----    Our liaison is still researching whether the accounts GRS wants to    set up for new students over the summer will give those students    access to Off-Campus Housing's listings.  Thus, the Housing Committee    will defer pursuing the "access for new students" issue until an    answer is obtained.    Liaison Committee    =================    Gary Garber  reported for this committee by e-mail.    - The Fall Reception that GRS is planning will just be for new      students.  Apparently, the larger event that GRS had hoped to have      (with everyone in GRS invited) was not doable for this year.  GRS      still hopes that the GSO will be well-represented at the event.    - GRS likes the idea of a BBQ, but thinks it poses too many weather-      related issues.    - Our contact in GRS is not yet sure if the e-mail addresses to be      established for new students over the summer will be temporary or      permanent and whether they will provide access to BU's housing      listings.    - GRS is willing to include a flyer about the GSO (that we provide)      in summer mailings to new students.  We should plan for the mailings      to be done (approximately) at the end of May.    - We may be able to have a flyer on the NAGPS Insurance Plan      available to grad--final word on that is still pending.    Social Committee    ================    Cassandra Celatka  submitted a written report    for this committee.    - March's Bowling event had approx. 25-30 people.    - For April's event, they are currently planning on billiards at      Boston Billiards.  No specific day and time has been chosen yet.      They are looking into whether Wednesday's are "Ladies Nights",      which would make it cheaper for some participants.    ----    They also mentioned that the Daily Free Press (DFP) event calendar    is printed on Monday (rather than Thursday as they had originally    thought).  There seems to be a different calendar that is published    in the DFP on Thursdays.    Steering Committee    ==================    Dave Morgan  and Jen Wenner     were present from this committee.  Their report consisted of a    presentation/discussion of the articles in the "Constitution,    Bylaws, etc." section below. 2. Constitution, Bylaws, etc.    We finished most of the "Committees of the GSO" article, adding some    language about "what committees are" exactly, and revising the    description of how their members are chosen and what duties    committees have to the group as a whole.    We made only minor changes to the "Officers of the GSO" article,    describing in more detail why the 2 main officers "stay in touch    with committees."    Remember to send your comments on articles (that have already been    sent out by e-mail) to steering@gso.bu.edu.