The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) postponed voting on a new set of bylaws, had its first reading of the budget for fiscal year 2021 and passed a joint resolution with Student Government to endorsing renaming “Dead Week.”

The joint resolution passed by GPSS endorsed renaming “Dead Week” to “Prep Week.”

Sen. Kate Alucard from Student Government presented the bill.

“The name ‘Dead Week’ does instill a little bit of anxiety and fear because it does not represent what actually goes on,” Alucard said. “[…] The name itself is a misnomer.”

The bill passed by a vote of 49-4-6.

Following, GPSS moved to postpone voting on a bill adopting new GPSS bylaws recommended by the Committee for Constitutional Revision and a bill ratifying a new GPSS constitution recommended by the Committee for Constitutional Revision, referring both back to the committee for additional review and changes.

The committee was chaired by GPSS Vice President James Klimavicz, working alongside President Eleanor Field, Sen. Joe Eilers, Sen. Chelsea Iennarella-Servantez, Sen. Benjamin Robertson, Sen. Charles Wongus and Sen. at-large Carrie Ann Johnson.

“The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) Special Committee for Constitutional Revision […] was formed on Sept. 30th, 2019, to address serious shortcomings with the current GPSS constitution and bylaws, including a lack of procedural components and insufficient inclusion of the College of Veterinary Medicine,” according to the document.

Additionally, GPSS had the first reading of the budget for fiscal year 2021.

The budget set forth $166,955.52 as projected total income, with 61 percent of the money coming from Student Activity Fees.

The budget additionally marked expenditures on where the money is expected to go.

A total of $21,700 is projected to go towards the Executive Committee, $5,000 is projected to go towards the Social Committee, $32,500 is projected to go towards the Finance Committee, $0 is projected to go towards the University Relations Legislative Affairs Chair, $112,500 is projected to go towards the Professional Advancement Grant Committee and $4,000 is projected to go towards the Graduate and Professional Student Research Conference Chair.

That sets total expenditures at $175,700, which is $8,744.48 more than the expected total income.

“In the fall semester, we received $76,233.11 instead of [the] projected $74,602.50 from student activities fee,” according to the document. “If this trend continues, we may have a surplus. However, [if] the enrollment of graduate students keeps dropping (276 last semester), we will have a smaller budget than the current one.”

The next GPSS meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 24 in the Gallery in the Memorial Union.

All bills can be found on the GPSS website, as well as minutes of past GPSS meetings with additional information.