To our graduate and professional colleagues,

Please see below for a weekly update from the Graduate and Professional Student Government, which you should also be receiving from your department representative or college senator.

Upcoming events and opportunities:

• GPSG meetings
  • - Tuesdays 6:30pm
  • - Tuesdays 4pm
  • - Mondays 10am
  • Outreach Team - Tuesday 4:30 pm (as needed)
  • - Wednesday, Oct. 6 9am
• Presidential Search Committee nominations are open, tell anyone who may be interested to apply by October 21!
• Current open GPSG applications: ,
• Please continue to share any questions or concerns about campus COVID-19 policies via this .

Week in Review:

• Madeline Mader has stepped up as the new Speaker of the Assembly!
• COVID update from Chairs & Directors meeting: Boulder county transmission rate is currently 165/100k and mask mandate will not ease up until we hit about 50/100k. Student vaccination reporting rate is around 91% and CU is considered a fully vaccinated organization. 
• Classes will not be changing teaching modality unless there is a campus wide change in modality - from information we’ve been given this is extremely unlikely.
• Met with disability services last week. Grad students are encouraged to reach out to that office even if you only think you may qualify for services and accommodations. Accommodations extend to milestone exams in addition to coursework. They can also interface with the employee services office if you need accommodations related to teaching or research work.
• OIEC presented at Assembly about the campus culture survey, which will be administered this fall. Information about the survey is . Please encourage grad students you know to take the survey so we can get as much data as possible!

If any questions arise, you can reach out to your representative or contact us at gpsg@colorado.edu.

We hope you stay safe and have a great week,

Emily Jensen, Barra Peak, and Bobby Vondrasek

GPSG Executive Team

Off

To our graduate and professional colleagues,

We hope you had a safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend. Please see below for a weekly update from the Graduate and Professional Student Government, which you should also be receiving from your department representative or college senator.

Upcoming events and opportunities:

• GPSG meetings

  • - Tuesdays 6pm

  • - Tuesdays 4pm

  • - Mondays 10am

  • Outreach Team - Tuesday 4:30 pm (as needed)

• GPSG travel grants are open until this Friday, September 10 at 5pm. Please share with anyone who  will be presenting or needs some support for their professional development!

• Applications for open Senator positions and a variety of opportunities to sit on campus boards are open (most are paid). . They will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting September 15.

GPSG Week in Review:

• We met with the Pandemic Response Office about COVID-19 testing and other concerns about campus policies 

  • Wardenburg testing: You should be able to get a test. If you are turned away, the most likely reasons are:

    • It is too soon since the time of exposure

    • You are not officially enrolled for the semester (common issue with dissertation/thesis credits)

    • If you are turned away from Wardenburg, email Brenton.Klingemann@colorado.edu

  • Rec Center masking policy: The rec center has been granted an exemption to the mask mandate due to its classification as a “controlled access” rather than “public” space. Due to this, the lack of masks in the rec center is not in violation of the Boulder County mask mandate.

  • Instructor Guidance:

    • Department chairs are supposed to be sharing university instructional guidance and COVID-19 policies with grad student instructors. If this is not happening in your department please let us know.

    • Full unmasked student policy as of 8.31.21 . If this was not previously shared with you, please let us know. 

  • Monitoring Tests

    • Program ended due to low participation

    • Not reaching the population it actually would have helped monitor

    • University unwilling to enforce strict monitoring requirement

  • Please continue to share any questions or concerns about campus COVID-19 policies via this .

• We met with the Assistant Director of Grad Housing last week regarding housing policy changes. of the meeting. 

• We met with the CUSG executives on Tuesday morning to discuss priorities for the year and possible collaborations. We will post a summary of the meeting soon.

• Spotlights for Teaching and Research Excellence Awards from Spring 2021 are now posted on the website! Take a moment to support your peers and check out the cool things they are up to.

If any questions arise, you can reach out to your representative or contact us at gpsg@colorado.edu.

We hope you stay safe and have a great week,

Emily Jensen, Barra Peak, and Bobby Vondrasek

GPSG Executive Team

Off

To our graduate and professional colleagues,

Now that we are beginning to settle for the semester, the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) executive team is aiming to send a weekly update to provide transparency on what we are working on and provide the latest resources for you. These updates will be announced at Assembly Meetings on Tuesdays, with an updated version released to the campus later in the week.

Upcoming events and opportunities:

• GPSG meetings

  • - Tuesdays 6pm

  • - Tuesdays 4pm

  • - Mondays 10am

• For the latest campus-wide updates, be sure to read the ���������� Today Graduate Student Edition for upcoming workshops, seminars, and events. Be sure to subscribe, if you are not already receiving this in your email feed.

GPSG week in review:

• Interviewed candidates for the following positions: CUSG Senator, Strategic Alignment Committee (ratified in Assembly), and Standing Committee for Research Misconduct (ratified in Assembly).

• Planning meetings with Chancellor, Graduate School, and CUSG Executives

• Investigating potential opportunity to create grants for students with families, reaching out to Mines about their existing program

• Meeting with Graduate Housing on Thursday (9/2) to discuss lease policy changes. Share to oppose changes to grad housing. We encouraged the Assembly to draft a resolution to complement the UCW measures.

• We are collecting feedback on grad and professional student concerns about campus COVID-19 safety measures and procedures following comments made during Assembly. Please share this , which is completely anonymous if you wish. 

• Travel grants are now open on the GPSG website. Click here to apply, due September 10 at 5pm MST.

If any questions arise, you can reach out to your representative or contact us at gpsg@colorado.edu.

We hope you stay safe and have a great week,

Emily Jensen, Barra Peak, and Bobby Vondrasek

GPSG Executive Team

Off

Our Director of Legislative Affairs submitted this statement today to the Colorado Congressional Delegation (CODEL) on behalf of GPSG.

Statement to CODEL

On August 28^th, leaders of the Graduate Student Government at ���������� met with university administrators to discuss fiscal planning for the next budget cycle, and we were informed that the university was pursuing a 5% budget reduction across the university system. This budget cut could be disastrous for higher education in the state of Colorado, and we have little doubt that other university systems across the country will be placed in a similar financial position due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The University of Colorado system is initiating a series of employee furloughs and pay reductions for low-level faculty in order to begin preparing for this budget shortfall, placing the financial security of graduate students, faculty, and staff at risk. We are engaged in active efforts to lobby the Colorado State Legislature to nullify the TABOR Amendment and return Colorado to a progressive tax system, so the university has funding sources beyond catering to high-income out-of-state students for tuition and can better invest in communities in Colorado.

However, we are also asking Congress to consider implementing another round of funding under the CARES Act, in order for the university system to stave off the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its exacerbation of a broken economic system. It is our position that, without federal support, the university’s cost-cutting measures will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations within higher education. Students, faculty, and staff at ���������� already struggle with the extreme imbalance between a lack of guaranteed funding and low salaries with a constantly increasing cost of living in the Boulder and Denver areas. This manufactured financial crisis is only being worsened by the pandemic, and support at the federal level is desperately needed.

- Matt Harvey, Director of Legislative Affairs

edited on September 4 to correct the spelling of TABOR amendment

Off

Today, our Executive Officers presented a statement addresing the needs of graduate and professional students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this statement recognizes that students need to access resources on campus in order to complete their program requirements and more support is needed from faculty and staff to uphold campus health and safety guidelines.

This statement has been endorsed by Boulder Faculty Assembly and shared with other campus faculty members. The Executive Officers presented the statement to the Chairs and Directors of the University this morning. Finally, the statement has been sent to both Staff Council and CU Student Government leadership.

Read the Statement

Off