How will recognition as a governance group influence the continuity of the GSS?
It’s the opinion of GSS executive officers and a majority of graduate students that have assisted in the process that this would significantly bolster our ability to improve programming and advocacy for graduate students. The movement has a history for at least three years. Fran Carr, the previous Vice President of research, was also in support of this initiative, and so were previous GSS executive officers. In fact, a request for governance recognition was submitted two years ago, however the Provost denied it because the GSS, as an organization, was very new at the time. Because recognition as a governance group from the Board of Trustees formally implements support mechanisms for the GSS across the institution, the continuity of current infrastructure would be enhanced significantly. This is important incase executive UVM leadership leaves (like President Fogel), because a new president or dean could essentially eliminate the GSS if they wanted by choosing not to support it and deny
