The Council for Graduate Students, or COGS, approved a resolution Wednesday to move the group’s funds to on-campus based accounts, thus aligning with the university policy.
COGS President Stefan Fletcher said the group’s executive board has had extensive dialogue with Vice President for Student Affairs and Services Denise Maybank and Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Mark Haas.
“We’ve had a fairly robust dialogue, because I don’t think any of (the executive board members) wanted to present something to the (council representatives) that was not a good deal,” Fletcher said.
The resolution was put to a vote in a previous COGS meeting on Sep. 11, but was postponed because there were not enough representatives present.
Maybank said there was a commitment made by student and university leadership to stay engaged in conversation, adding that COGS leadership participated in negotiations with the administration with the student’s interest in mind.
COGS Parliamentarian Shannon Demlow said such a transition will have both advantages and disadvantages.
“A pro is that we will no longer be an autonomous group,” Demlow said. “Coming under the university’s tax status gives us a tax-exempt status on donations given to our organization.”
She said another advantage is the university will pick up some of the costs of the auditing procedures the organization is running, adding the university would also cover the student government’s insurance of fund liabilities.
On the other hand, some decisions and processes will require more time than before, since the student government won’t have the same access to funds when they are moved to on-campus accounts.
Maybank said a document was drafted outlining specifics about when the university would withhold or suspend the funds of the graduate student government.
COGS Vice President for Internal Affairs Kent Kovac said the three main deciding factors for the administration to withdraw the funds would be in the cases of violations of federal and state laws, the university Manual of Business Procedures and COGS bylaws.
Maybank said she will be meeting with MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon on Thursday to discuss the final document concerning the realignment of COGS with university policies, adding the final document should be finalized within the coming two weeks.
Fletcher said it is important for the safeguards made by the university to be meaningful and transparent.
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