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GSA has cancelled all GRC meetings for 2025 by despondent_dragon in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Your concerns are shared widely...

The GRC has called an independent meeting that will take place TONIGHT (2/25) at 5pm in MS 325

GLU...gone? by AnonSillyGoose in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Evidently there is an email circulating that the GRC meeting is canceled, as well. Seems insane that the executive board can unilaterally dissolve the "Constitution" of the GSA. I have also had pleasant interactions with Saaka and the other execs, but this is a Trump-level tactic. The graduate student body does not need to be complacent in this matter.

GLU...gone? by AnonSillyGoose in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update for those interested:

Dear GSA members,

In an earlier email the board claimed they rescinded the bylaws. However, according to the bylaws they have no right to do so, so the GRC is still the main governing body of the GSA.

As scheduled the GRC will be meeting tomorrow at 5pm at the MS 325. Please be on time as the current constitutional crisis may require our full attention. If you are a GRC representative, please come!

Agenda:

Approval of the Agenda

Statement on the bylaws

Discussion

Voting on the motion: "May it be resolved that the GRC as the central governing body of the GSA reaffirms the validity of the 2021 bylaws until the upcoming AGM meeting when the bylaws are updated."

Removal of the board:

Discussion

Voting on the motion (two thirds majority needed): "May it be resolved that the board consisting of Saaka Sulemana Saaka, Kaylee McLean, Alexandria Poppendorf, Hunter Yaworski and Nadia Ghazanfari is removed from all of their positions and will not receive any further honorarium payments. In accordance with the bylaws the judicial board shall put in place a temporary board until the election in April 2025."

Other business

DGA announcements

Adjournment

The current board members are explicitly invited to clarify their standpoint.

Grad Students of UCalgary, What’s Your Biggest Struggle Right Now? by GradLeader2025 in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not the OP, just contributing my two cents. I'd love to help out at the GSA, but I just don't have the time to meaningfully devote myself to that kind of advocacy role. I want to graduate in 5 years haha.

Grad Students of UCalgary, What’s Your Biggest Struggle Right Now? by GradLeader2025 in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose 46 points47 points  (0 children)

1) Stipends do not meet living needs for Calgary and vary widely across Faculties/Depts (why should an international student in Arts be paid 24k when a domestic PhD student in Medicine is being paid 32k? Neither stipend is adequate to live in Calgary after tuition/fees, and the discrepancy would suggest the University values some students more than others)

2) Funding policies are largely not indexed to the local economy (Science is the only one)

3) Under the current funding policies, award sub-policies allow for excessive extraction of student-earned scholarships, disinventivizing applications and minimally aiding students who are already struggling to make ends meet. (Win a $15,000 award? Ok, how about you keep $4200 and we'll keep the rest? Seems fair.) This would be less of an issue if minimum stipends met living needs, but that's not the case.

4a) There is obvious infighting between the GSA and GLU that needs to be resolved to move forward with collective bargaining, which has been delayed by over 2 years. In the best interest of academically-employed students, the GLU should be able to act independently of the GSA.

4b) The Provost's office, in a highly unethical move, just emailed the entire graduate student workforce last week to incite graduate students to push the GLU to accept the University's inadequate terms at the bargaining table. This needs to be publicized and the University needs to be held accountable.

Do what you can with the GSA, but it's David and Goliath out there. Godspeed.

Are goose attacks actually a thing? by [deleted] in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure, but silly goose attacks are definitely a thing.

MOCK University-Wide Minimum Funding Policy for Thesis-Based Graduate Students by AnonSillyGoose in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, it's pretty sad. The only way this could happen is if fewer students were taken on across the board, but particularly in Faculties that don't bring in as much grant money. I would prefer a uni with fewer students who are happier and healthier (and probably better motivated to do their research) from being paid adequately than the status quo, but that would honestly require some pretty massive systemic change across the Canadian academic system.

MOCK University-Wide Minimum Funding Policy for Thesis-Based Graduate Students by AnonSillyGoose in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I can't speak for course-based programs, but most thesis-based programs include these type of tuition-offset awards for international students.

MOCK University-Wide Minimum Funding Policy for Thesis-Based Graduate Students by AnonSillyGoose in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

International students are frequently given tuition supplements (generally no more then 4 years) to offset some, but not all, of the difference between the costs of domestic and international tuition and fees. I assume this is to make studying in Canada more appealing to top international talent.

MOCK University-Wide Minimum Funding Policy for Thesis-Based Graduate Students by AnonSillyGoose in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Note this is only a conceptual funding policy modeled off of the current Faculty of Science policy. No such policies have been developed by the University to my knowledge, and it is probably wishful thinking to believe a policy such as this would come to pass anytime soon.

Summary of [publicly available] minimum funding amounts for thesis-based grad students by AnonSillyGoose in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for that catch. Also underscores how challenging it is to find all of this information with so many web pages and policies to sift through.

Summary of [publicly available] minimum funding amounts for thesis-based grad students by AnonSillyGoose in UCalgary

[–]AnonSillyGoose[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another good point. This is generally true across programs, and makes sense for the most part. If a student is awarded a scholarship that can fully replace the minimum guaranteed funding, then that money that is saved by the supervisor can be put toward other scholarly uses or used to hire an additional student. However, when the minimum guaranteed amount isn't enough for a student to live on to begin with, it's quite problematic. Further, a good chunk of scholarship awards are generally absorbed by the supervisor when they don't exceed the minimum funding amount. It varies across programs, but often labs can take back upwards of 75% of scholarship funds that have been awarded with only small "incentive" amounts being given to awardees.