The Council of Graduate Students planned to approve its budget for the next year Wednesday but couldn’t. The assembly was one member short of quorum - the number of representatives required to be present to legitimately vote on issues.
MSU’s graduate student government will reconvene at 5:30 p.m. June 26 in 328 Student Services in the hopes enough representatives will show up.
The proposed budget, which was recently fine-tuned, calls for more than $155,000 in expenses. The graduate group’s annual tax collection was lower than some COGS members expected.
“This is a little surprising,” Treasurer Kimberly Yake said. “But the number of grad students is declining.”
With lower numbers of students paying the COGS student tax, the group’s projected expenses outweighed its income by more than $8,000. An extra $20,000 will come from the group’s surplus funds built up during past years, Yake said.
Despite budget problems and a declining number of graduate students, the group is still working to help graduate students.
Jim Ciszewski said despite the university’s recognition of the Graduate Employees Union in May, COGS still carries an important role in the student community.
The COGS president said the union’s formation will allow the council to focus its attention on academic life while leaving financial aspects to newly recognized bargainers.
GEU spokeswoman Jenn Nichols agreed COGS’s role on campus is still prominent.
“The GEU has stepped in to become the voice of the graduate employees,” she said. “I think COGS performs and important service, especially since it serves as an umbrella for all the other graduate student organizations of campus.”
