SGA passes $25K bill for GSA

With $25,000 in the bag from Activity and Service Fees, graduate students can expect their very own haven for studying, presentations and discussions.

At the special sessions senate meeting in early April, the Student Government Association Senate passed a bill that would allow $25,000 to go toward the Graduate Student Center, a project that Sen. Sergio Tafur and members of the Graduate Student Association have been working on for nearly a year. Tafur sat on seat two of graduate studies until he resigned soon after the bill was passed.

"This will give a space for graduate students to meet and talk to one another and have available computers," said Bonnie Barry, GSA president. "Now graduate students can see their dollars from the ASF fee go toward something specifically for them."

Tafur said the idea for the center came about after a strong response on a survey given every three years to graduate students expressed a need for a student lounge specifically for graduate students.

According to Tafur, more than half of the 8,600 graduate students said in the comments section of the survey that they wanted a study-type lounge for graduate students.

"As soon as we heard that news [that our plan was approved] we rejoiced," Tafur said. "This was our goal. To have a place for grad students to get together and have interdisciplinary graduate level discussions, practice their thesis presentations and study."

The center will be a 2,500 square foot space in Colbourn Hall where the music department used to be. Tafur said having such a central location that's close to the library is ideal for the center's purpose.

The initial $25,000 will go toward manning the center for its first year and building on its initiatives. The facility's improvements will be paid by the College of Graduate Studies using one-time recurring money.

As far as furnishing the center, the executive committee of GSA is currently working to write a proposal for the technology fee committee to help establish services and build out the space with projectors, computers and TV screens.

Graduate students pay a larger portion of a technology fee, $12 per credit hour, whereas undergrads only pay $9 per credit hour.

The projectors would help graduate students practice their dissertation defenses and having the center would provide a space for professors from other universities to work with graduate students in their research and presentations, according to Barry.

Barry is hoping to see specialized technology in the center that could help each student within their area of study.

"Graduate students don't have a lot of space to study," Barry said. "Studying in the Student Union can be difficult, not only in finding a seat but it can get loud in there and the graduate study room in the library doesn't even have Internet access."

The Graduate Center is also going to be the place for the four required ethics seminars graduate students seeking a Ph.D. are required to take. As of right now, there is no dedicated space for the seminars.

Tafur is hoping that the center will improve retention rate and help graudate students become more involved.