President Gregory Geoffroy addressed the Graduate and Professional Student Senate for the first time in three years Monday, during the senate’s first meeting of the new semester.

Answering a question from a GPSS senator, Geoffroy said that the number of books and staff at the ISU library falls short when compared to other universities in the country. He blamed part of the shortage on the escalating costs of journal subscriptions.

Geoffroy said that the university has allocated $500,000 to $600,000 to keep up with the inflationary costs of subscriptions, but that the university has had a hard time coming up with money to buy more books.

“It’s hard to identify a source of funds that can rectify that without taking from other parts of the institution,” he said.

Another issue raised by a GPSS senator dealt with the implementation of the new budget model. The senator expressed concern that the new model could hurt funding for smaller departments in design and the humanities.

Geoffroy said the university will be diligent in making sure that allocation of funds doesn’t favor only large departments, such as engineering and agriculture.

The GPSS voted on two bills during the meeting, and put off the vote for a third until the next meeting, which is set to take place in September.

The senate unanimously passed a bill to amend its constitution to comply with the Student Organization Recognition Policy.

SORP requires that GPSS senators maintain a 3.00 GPA and are enrolled in a minimum of six credits.

The third bill will amend the articles of cooperation for GPSS and the Government of the Student Body. The articles of cooperation specify that GPSS and GSB each appoint a member to sit as a non-voting member on the other organization. However, Ryan Myers, graduate senator and graduate in accounting, said the regulation has never been followed and that it should be stricken from the rules.

The senate was unable to vote on the bill, however, because an amendment to the articles would have required 2/3 of GPSS members to be present.

Greg Peiffer, graduate in agronomy, was elected the new vice president of GPSS.