As everything is winding down at the end of the semester, there were a few orders of business at April’s GPSF meeting that I wanted to share with fellow SILS students. First of all, the referendum to separate student government into two governing bodies passed, so as of next fall, graduate students will have their own representative governing body! This also means that all fees paid to the university by graduate students will go to graduate student services, instead of being pooled and divided among undergrads and graduate students as they were in the past. Also, at the April meeting we confirmed Madelyn Percy as the next GPSF President. She’s an incredible leader, and I know she’ll be an excellent representative for graduate students to university administrators and members of the North Carolina government. If you have any questions about GPSF, feel free to contact me at aspoonts@live.unc.edu.

Starting after the spring general election, student government will separate into two separate governing bodies. Graduate and professional students having their own representative body for the first time in Carolina history, so this is a big deal! Here are the things that you need to know about this new government:

1. Student Government will be separated into two independent governing bodies for undergraduate and graduate/professional students. Each will have advocacy and legislative powers over a prescribed set of issues. There will also be proportional authority for appointments to the Student Supreme Court and the Board of Elections.
2. A joint council will be created to bring both groups (grads and undergrads) together to identify, discuss, and resolve issues of equal interest to all students.
3. Student Congress’ jurisdiction will be amended to fit the new student government format and graduate and professional students will be guaranteed fair representation on independent agencies such as the Student Fee Audit Committee, Student Safety & Security Committee, and the Hardship Parking Committee.
4. The GPSF President will continue to have the ability to speak to the Board of Trustees (BOT) and support graduate students on BOT committees. The BOT may consider having a designated Trustee from the University Affairs Committee assigned to graduate and professional student issues.
5. The student fee structure will be apportioned by population, meaning that GPSF’s operation budget should increase by $200,000, increasing our ability to fund initiatives and provide graduate focused programming.

Don’t forget to vote in the spring election, which will be held March 2nd!