SGCO Minutes

Date:         Thu Nov 09, 2006
Time:         1pm - 2pm
Location:     50-220 (GSC Office)
Attendance:   Emily Fox, Stephen Hou, Sharon Karackattu
Note Taker:   Stephen Hou

Ike Colbert Meeting
-------------------
* Sharon and Stephen met with Ike Colbert, Dean for Graduate Students, last
  Friday.
* Dean Colbert is very supportive of our initiative.  He agrees with our main
  points that in our world today, our students should be encouraged to learn
  things outside of their field.
* Colbert also outlined the path we should take to change policy.  He is
  confident that our proposal will be passed (as long as it is reasonable),
  even though there will certainly be opposition.
* As Emily told us before, the Committee for Graduate Student Programs (CGSP)
  has been disbanded.  It has been replaced with a new Committee on Graduate
  Programs (CGP).  Website is here:

  http://web.mit.edu/gso/gpp/oversight/cgp.html

* It is chaired by Prof. Melissa Nobles (Poli Sci), and Barrie Gleason is the
  staff to CGP.  Eric Weese and Shan Wu, the GSC President and Vice President,
  are ex officio members of CSP, so we should definitely get them up to speed
  on our activities before approaching the entire CGP.
* We should make an formal proposal to CGP.  When we have sufficient material
  to present, we should contact Prof. Nobles and Ms. Gleason to put it on their
  agenda.
* If they approve, it will go to the Faculty Policy Committee for a binding
  vote.

E-Mail to Professors
--------------------
* Sharon collected feedback from others on SGCO and has an e-mail that we can
  use to send to professors.
* Decided to hold off on using it (see below).

Proposal
--------
* Emily wrote a draft of the proposal and Stephen edited it.
* We need to work out several versions:   One as a report explaining each
  component of our new P/D/F policy, and one to publish in the Course Catalog
  as the policy itself.
* We do not know how much leeway to give departments in deciding how many
  subjects a student may take as P/D/F and when they may do so.  Giving them
  too little say may make the proposal difficult to push through, and giving
  them too much may render the whole supposedly Institute-wide P/D/F option
  useless.
* Master's vs. Doctoral Students:  We discussed whether to allow P/D/F to be
  used by all graduate students, or just doctoral students.  Although it may
  be underutilized by master's students, they may push to get it anyway in the
  future if the option were available only to doctoral students.
* We need to determine whether to give instructors the ability to limit the
  number of P/D/F students taking their subject.  Pros:  Necessary to control
  popular subjects.  Cons:  May be abused by professors to prevent students
  from using P/D/F.

CGP
---
* Since we have Ike Colbert's support, we should save ourselves extra work
  and talk to CGP as soon as we can. 
* Emily e-mailed Barrie Gleason, staff to CGP, to schedule a meeting with CGP
  to solicit their advice and feedback.

Decisions
---------
* We will go directly to CGP ASAP.
* Hold off on all other activities until CGP meeting, including developing the
  survey and e-mailing professors.
* Emily will edit proposal draft based on today's discussion.

Action Items
------------
* Based on response from CGP, next SGCO meeting will be scheduled shortly
  before that meeting.