The Graduate Student Senate is submitting a request to the Department of Residence for one of the new apartment buildings in Hawthorn Court to be designated solely for graduate students.

GSS passed a bill at its meeting Monday night to go forward with the request.

“It’s to make a separate point of letting them know that we have different needs and wants than other students,” said Rebecca Mack, parliamentarian of GSS.

According to the bill, graduate students have different expectations, study habits, needs and lifestyles than most undergraduate students, and their own building on campus would be the most effective solution.

“Part of the spirit of this bill is to send a wake-up call to the Department of Residence,” Mack said.

The bill states that incoming graduate students from foreign countries as well as faraway states should be guaranteed a place to live in this new building, at least for their first semesters of study.

“I think that we are justified in asking for a building for just graduate students,” said GSS Sen. Catherine Guise-Richardson. “It would solve a lot of problems in doing that.”

In addition to asking the Department of Residence for a graduate-only building, GSS has asked that low-cost housing be provided for graduate students and married students.

GSS also discussed and passed three other bills at its meeting. A bill to provide $1,500 to five graduate students to attend the Wakonse Conference was passed unanimously.

“The point of this conference is for people who are dedicated to teaching,” said GSS President Brian Crabb.

GSS provides money for students to attend the conference each year, and additional funding is provided by the Center for Teaching Excellence and the Graduate College. GSS will continue to give money to students in the future as long as the other two organizations continue their support.

“We want people to come and tell us that they want to learn,” said GSS Sen. Mark Freitag.

Another bill passed set guidelines for selecting Wakonse Conference participants.

“Last year, we were notified at the last minute with e-mails saying they wanted to participate,” Crabb said.

The proposed guidelines would require applicants to meet five criteria: one semester of teaching experience, one year of graduate school remaining, a statement of previous teaching experience and future teaching plans, a letter of reference and participation in monthly seminars held by the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Crabb said all five conference participants also must attend ISU the following year in order to lead the seminars. “They would be a good core group for those discussions,” he said.

The fourth bill GSS addressed was titled “Fall Allocations to Graduate/Professional Student Organizations,” which approved the money allocated by GSS to graduate student groups.

Shamsul Shaikh, treasurer, said GSS receives funding requests each semester. “Only one organization [per major] is eligible for funding from the GSS,” Shaikh said.

A list of allocations presented in the bill showed the largest amount given was $400 among 12 groups funded.