Wednesday, October 23, 2024 

9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
LJH 325

Council in Attendance: 
Marc Giullian (Business) 
Rollin Beamish (Arts) 
Kari Perry (Student Representative) 
Craig Ogilvie (Dean of The Graduate School) 
Brennan Reeves (Office of International Programs) 
Katey Franklin (Health & Human Development) 
Amy Reines (Sciences) 
Sweeney Windchief (Education) 
Ryan Thum (Agriculture) 
Anna French (Student Representative) 
Rob Maher (Faculty Senate) 
Wade Hill (Nursing) 

Also in Attendance: 
Emily Peters (Graduate School) 
Lauren Cerretti (Graduate School) 

Absent 
Akash Gulati (Student Representative) 
Catherine Dunlop (Letters) 
Stephan Warnat (Engineering) 
Ezgi Balkanay (Architecture)  
Sarah Mannheimer (Library)  

Meeting started at 9:30 a.m. 

New Business 

  • Counseling and Psychological Services (Betsy Asserson, Amber Long) 
    • Overview of student wellness offerings in new facility 
      • Bringing all wellness services together: Counseling & Psychological Services, Student Health Services, Campus Rec, Health Advancement 
      • Vision: Create thriving culture of health and well-being at MSU 
      • Access to services: 7+ credits, no cost services: medical and counseling visits, wellness coaching, dietician, food pantry & basic needs, recreation center access, rec programs. Subsidized, low-cost services: dental care, lab, x-ray, pharmacy, immunizations, minor surgery 
      • Campus Rec: fitness center, fitness classes, intramural sports, MSU expeditions, outdoor trips, gear rental, trip planning 
      • Counseling & Psychological Services: free confidential counseling/telehealth, group counseling, crisis intervention, drop in “Let’s Talk”; licensed mental health clinicians and professional residents/interns, referrals  
      • Student Health Services: full range of health care services, urgent care services, ongoing primary care appointments, psychiatric, dieticians 
      • Health Advancement: public health approach, prevention, education, outreach, food pantry, emergent housing assistance, public resource assistance, travel health services  
    • Discussion 
      • Students taking 6 credits and lower can opt in to fees ($320/semester for access to medical and counseling services) 
        • Regardless of fees, all students can access crisis services, intake appointment, group counseling  
        • Open door, advise students on how to proceed (pay fee and continue services on campus or find long-term care in the community) 
          • Human Development clinic is low or no cost– can be advised in referral process 
      • Clarification that Bounty of the Bridgers is open to all students, regardless of fees  
        • Also provide preventative resources to help students that may qualify for WIC, SNAP, etc.  
      • CPS use by graduate students: 
        • AY 22-23: 177 grad students 
        • AY 23-24: 138 grad students 
        • AY 24-25: 76 grad students so far  
      • Transition to requiring fee for counseling services: numbers decreased in general, not just graduate students 
      • $155-250 per hour is the rate for counseling services in the community, fee is a great deal (also includes medical and dental) 
        • Care is more expensive in the community, but graduate students are not making that comparison. Making the comparison that access used to be free on campus.  
      • Concern for recruitment and retention of graduate students 
      • Is there data by race, gender, ethnicity?  
        • Clinical data shows increased access for most racial categories compared to student population  
        • Will email Healthy Minds survey data to UGC 
      • Do many grad students not have their fees paid? 
        • Maximum that have fee paid is 1/3 (GRAs), but likely closer to 25% 
        • GTAs are not having their fees paid – state funds can’t be used to cover the fees 
        • Discussion on inconsistency for graduate students on whether their fee is being covered or not 
        • GAP payment discussion  
      • Discussion on how to improve communication to graduate students that there is no barrier – the system can help in some way if they want to seek services 
        • Text that could be copy/pasted into grad manuals? Departments all agree on a policy to pay fees?  
          • Should be in orientation, graduate manual 
          • OHA attends GradCat Kickoff 
        • Office of Sponsored Programs updating grant budget template to include the fee as default 
        • Increase stipends to cover fees, food, rent, etc. then communicate this to students 
      • Suggest counseling should be covered by tuition (state dollars) instead of fees 
        • Counselors are contributing to the education just the same as faculty 
        • Moving to tuition would be a huge recruitment tool for departments that can offer tuition waivers  
      • Action items:  
        • Encourage department level decisions for consistently covering fees (research departments writing grants)  
        • Continue increase in stipends and communicate to students that part of this budget is holistic health 
        • Advocate for change to tuition model 

 

October 9, 2024 minutes 

  • Motion to approve by Giullian, Thum 2nd, 6 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstention  
     

Announcements 

  • Update from the Dean 
    • President Search Committee: graduate student representative on the search committee, several faculty that work with graduate students 
      • Campus listening sessions in November 
  • Faculty Senate update 
    • Meeting today:  
      • Discussion on proposal for Institute for National Security Research and Education (INSRE) 
      • Parking services discussion 
      • Grad courses and program proposal review 

 

Old Business  

  • Appeals Policy 
    • Updated proposal removed subcommittee, appeal process is now through the department then to The Graduate Dean (in consultation with relevant parties) 
    • Suggest matching requirement for Graduate Dean and Department Head meeting with full graduate committee or just committee chair (current policy says chair for Department Head level and full committee for Graduate Dean level) 
      • Suggest whole committee if there is one, most important piece of the whole process is hearing from the student’s committee  
      • Important to provide an opportunity for members of the committee that may have been outvoted  
      • Difficult to convene full committee, but could discuss individually or send email to full committee asking for feedback  
      • Extraordinary and unusual circumstance, so worthwhile to consult full committee even if it takes longer 
    • Friendly amendment approved: change Department Head review to include consulting with the full graduate committee 
    • Giullian motions to approve the proposal as amended, Beamish seconds 
      • Appeal policy passes: 7 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstained 

  • Doctoral and Advisor Committee Deadline 
    • Updated proposal, separated committee chair to 2ndsemester, leaving full committee appointment to 3rdsemester 
      • Review of some peer universities reviewed had full committee by the end of first year 
    • Advisor can be changed at any time  
    • If the deadline isn’t met, student would receive a registration hold  
    • Representatives will take updated policy to their colleges for feedback, potential vote next meeting  

  • Failed Comprehensive/Defense Exam Policy 
    • Pending feedback, JAGS has not reviewed yet  

 

Updates from subcommittees  

  • Curriculum committee: Issue coming up with CIP codes: 6-digit code, faculty noticing that codes do not match their program. Would like graduate council support to allow faculty to shift the SIP code 
    • Important for SIP to be correct. SIP codes treated by immigration services as STEM or not. Changes the OPT timeframe for students.  
  • Governance committee: discussion on JAGs review process  

 

Public comment 

 

Adjourned at 11:02 am 

Next scheduled meeting – November 6, 2024