CGE General Membership Meeting

4-21-2016, 5:30 PM, Corvallis Senior Center’s back yard

 

Welcome from CGE President Kris Osterloh

 

Executive Council Nominations

• For President: Kris Osterloh and Thomas Morrill
• For VP for Bargaining and Grievances: Dixie Daniels
• For VP for Organizing: Brittany MacPherson
• For VP for Communications: Lee Windom
• For Secretary-Treasurer: Chris Mihiar
• For External Relations Chair: Clint Mattox
• For Social Activities Chair: Erin Abernethy

 

AFT National Convention: This will be held in Minneapolis, July 18 – 21. CGE will send 2 delegates. Kevin Weitemier, Thomas Morrill, Dixie Daniels, Sami Al-AbdRabbuh, and Lee Windom are nominated.

 

(Brief!) Candidate Speeches

 

EC and Convention Delegate Elections: Members vote by secret ballot. The election committee is Jessie Armstrong, Kelsey Kean, and Riki York.

 

Grad Student Resources: Tori Byington is an Assistant Dean of the Graduate School. She talks to us about the resources that are available through the Grad School, especially for students dealing with difficult circumstances, such as needing to take a leave of absence or needing to find funding. Other resources include writing groups and professional development workshops. There is a lot of information available on the Grad School website, in particular on the Student Success menu.

 

Bargaining Update and Input: CGE’s bargaining team has been in negotiations with the OSU administration team since January. Our outgoing VP for Bargaining, Thomas Morrill, gives us an update about CGE’s proposals and Admin’s counterproposals on the topics of salary, international employee support, child care, health insurance, and parking permits. We have some discussions about the proposals, especially on the topic of reimbursing SEVIS and visa fees for international grads. Members have a sheet of paper with a table showing these proposals and space for them to indicate their thoughts on what’s necessary for a good contract. The bargaining team will use this member input to prioritize negotiations.

 

Election Results

• The 2016-2017 Executive Council will be Thomas, Dixie, Brittany, Lee, Chris, Clint, and Erin.
• The CGE delegates to AFT National Convention will be Kevin and Thomas.

 

Open Floor

• A CGE member from MIME, Sami Al-AbdRabbuh is running for office in the Oregon House of Representatives. He would appreciate hearing policy input from fellow grads, especially about issues related to higher education and science. Check out his website for more information.
• Our outgoing Social Chair, Zhian Kamvar, talks about the OSU student radio show he co-hosts, Inspiration Dissemination, where grads can talk about their research. People who have been guests on the show say it’s a lot of fun!

 

Singing of “Solidarity Forever” to Adjourn