The Student Government Association Undergraduate Student Congress saw an act to add a $350 stipend per grant cycle to the Graduate Student Senate’s Ways and Means Chair and an auxiliary bill during its Tuesday evening meeting.
Graduate Student Senate Chair Claire Burch presented the bill, which would establish the GSS Ways and Means (WAM) Chair as a salaried position. She said the WAM chair coordinates “one of the biggest things” GSS undertakes, which are the travel and research grants graduate students who are in good standing can receive.
Burch said the chair is currently a volunteer position the senate “struggles” to fill. This bill recognizes the grant application process and the preparation and writing that goes into it.
“(This salary) hasn’t been something that’s ever been discussed, which is why it's coming forward now,” Burch said. “I have taken the initiative … to recognize the hard work that they do, but it just has not been a conversation that previous years considered.”
The bill passed unanimously and will move to the GSS for further consideration.
SGA Budgetary Committee Vice Chair Demetri Papahronis presented another auxiliary bill which allocates SGA money to 11 OU organizations. The bill passed unanimously and will move on to the GSS for further consideration.
The organizations listed were The United World, Engineers Serving Others, Real Estate Club, Crimson Robotics, Omani Students Association, Society of Physics Students, Arab Student Association, ASCE Concrete Canoe Team, Sustainable Energy Society, Model United Nations and the Sooner Chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives.
