Important topics regarding graduate students’ rights and responsibilities and revisions to the GPSS Constitution and bylaws are slated to be discussed during the Graduate and Professional Student Senate February meeting.

Graduate students do not currently have their own Bill of Rights. Instead, a section of chapter nine in the graduate handbook follows a course of what students may not do instead of laying out a prescribed set of rights.

GPSS has written a resolution to be voted on during the meeting to be sent to the Graduate Council to show support of the current draft of a Bill of Rights. The council will need to vote on the resolution in order for it to be passed.

GPSS also has a resolution on the docket that discusses the need of an extended deadline for graduate students to make changes to their schedule without suffering any penalty.

Graduate students currently have five days to change their schedule without a $12 fee. GPSS recognizes the need for graduate students to have more than five days and would like to see a 10-day deadline.

The ongoing issue of representation and how senators are elected will be addressed Monday night, with a proposal to amend how the GPSS Constitution deals with elections and representation.

The current constitution has senators elected by their department, not their major, which leaves some majors that cross between departments left out. Instead of going through the registrar’s broken link in the constitution, the proposed amendment will look to majors for senators to represent through Iowa State’s eData warehouse.

GPSS will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the South Ballroom of the Memorial Union.