recent appointments to councils and committees

the GSS has recently made the following appointments:

tom heydt-benjamin and julia beyer to the faculty senate's graduate council
arnold ssali to the faculty senate's health council
sally greenhouse and jeannie-marie brown to the university's arts council
nancy deprosse to the university's search committee for the new director of housing
tom taaffe to the university's search committee for the new vice chancellor for the center for student development.

all graduate students with an interest in serving on faculty senate or university councils and committees should contact me at gss-pres@resgs.umass.edu. this is a good way for grad students to provide input into university governance. i am especially interested in finding representatives for the following committees:

the faculty senate's research council
the faculty senate's program and budget council
the faculty senate's status of women council
the faculty senate's status of minorities council
commuter services and housing resource center advisory board (you must be a parent to serve on this committee)

there are also a number of standing and ad hoc GSS committees that we would like to fill, such as child care committee, finance committee, space issues committee, research committee, communications committee, social committee and elections committee. these committees are where much of the work of the graduate student senate gets done. there is no upper limit to involvement in these committees, and the more participation, the better. to get on one of these committees, you need to be appointed by the senate. contact me for more details.

wanted: umass director (of admissions)

the daily hampshire gazette reports today on the fact that umass has been without a director of admissions for 6 years, with the two finalists from the latest search turning the position down. i've speculated that this might have to do the fact that the position reports to mike gargano, and with the administration's hypocrisy on diversity-related recruitment and support issues. in the gazette article, gargano suggests that it has to do with the perpetually unsure status of state support for umass, and with "an antiquated admissions office that makes it harder to meet recruitment goals".

he adds: "i think the problem, actually, is a lot of folks just didn't know where this institution is headed". no doubt - a lot of folks in particular don't know where student affairs is headed under his own incompetent leadership. some professional student affairs staff don't even know if they'll have jobs at this time next week, and it's anybody's guess when or whether the many offices that have been "decapitated" under his rule - the offices whose directors have been removed and not replaced - will once again be allowed to function at full capacity.

the article notes that the average SAT and GPA of applicants is up this year, and that enrollment is expected to be higher than last year. given the well-known fact that SAT scores tend to correlate well with socioeconomic status, we can speculate that the rise in SAT scores indicates that the trend of purging low-SES students from umass is continuing.

although GPA is supposed to be a better indicator of academic prospects that SAT scores, there is a sociological factor affecting GPA that isn't often mentioned: weighted GPA. in massachusetts, advanced placement (AP) courses can produce "bonus" GPA points compared to regular courses. and AP courses are not offered at all high schools - they tend to be offered in high schools in higher-income neighborhoods. a trusted source in the umass admissions office assures me that the biasing effect of weighted GPA is not an important factor, but the question lingers.

the trend towards boosting out-of-state enrollment, mentioned in the gazette article as one of gargano's priorities, is yet another indication of the departure of umass's admissions practices from the university's responsibility to the massachusetts public. if it's true that umass students continue to come from higher income levels, it suggests that the quality of umass undergraduate students continues to deteriorate, by suggesting that qualified students from low-income backgrounds must obtain higher and higher SAT scores and GPA, and have higher and higher levels of motivation for enrolling in a university which increasingly excludes people like them.

one positive note in the article is that (according to gargano) there is no change in the number of applications from students of color, and a slight rise in the number of students of color putting down deposits. it's not clear to me how to reconcile these facts with the administration's attacks on diversity programs.

another positive point is the new "first choice, early action" program, which rewards students who name umass as their first choice. statistics are not currently collected on what other schools umass applicants apply to, but it's been argued that there are many umass undergraduates for whom umass is a "safety" school - often students who are privileged enough, but not qualified enough, to be able to attend more prestigious private institutions. such students have been blamed for much of the rowdiness associated with umass undergrads. it would seem to benefit the university to admit in their place students who appreciate what umass can offer them.

valley free: online classifieds

town of amherst planning committee seeks input

Grad students! The town of Amherst planning committee is looking for input on the future of the town. Should Amherst have more public transportation or less? More retirement housing, more stores, or both? More economic development to help stabilize taxes? More protection for green space or more sprawl? Come voice your thoughts at a public meeting to discuss planning issues.

Time: Thursday, June 16, 7 pm

Location: Parish Hall at 14 Spring Street, behind Grace Church in downtown Amherst.

Need more info? call Niels at the Amherst planning department: 256-4040.

the new umass mission statement

just got the minutes of the board of trustees series of meetings this past february (what's with the 4 month time lag?).

most of the transpiring were of the routine kind, such as appointments, setting tuition and fees, naming chairs, and financial stuff i don't understand.

one change that i found interesting is the revised mission statement, which reads as follows:

"The University's mission is to provide an affordable and accessible education of high quality and to conduct programs of research and public service that advance knowledge and improve the lives of the people of the Commonwealth, the nation and the world".

i found a different version on the umass amherst provost's website (why not on the trustees' website?), which i take to be the old version. The substantive differences are:

- the new mission statement adds "accessible" to "affordable" as a property of the kind of education that the university provides.

- the new mission statement adds the nation and the world as domains of people who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of the research and public service of the university.

these both seem like improvements to me. "accessible" is a broader notion than "affordability". it implies that the university endeavors to remove restrictions other than financial ones that might impede students' ability to earn a umass education, such as physical or religious restrictions that might require special accommodations. it might also be taken to imply a commitment to combatting the forms of social oppression that LGBT, female, minority and other students have to face during their tenure at umass.

wanna be a radio DJ?

(from kate harris)

WMUA, the campus/community radio station at UMass/Amherst, begins its summer DJ training this Tuesday, June 7th from 7-9pm at the WMUA studios, which are in the basement of the Campus Center building (take the elevator or escalator down from the concourse).

This training is provided free for all and will meet for four more
consecutive Tuesdays. There is still room - if you're interested, please
contact Glenn Siegel <advisor@wmua.org>, WMUA's Administrative Advisor.

Training specifics are available here.
Info about joining the station is here.

WMUA's Objective Statements:

WMUA will serve as a training facility in all facets of management and
operations of a non-profit radio station.
WMUA will promote and support student empowerment.
WMUA will serve as a forum for individuals and groups that historically
have not had access to broadcast media.
WMUA will provide programming and services that promote a sensitivity to
the different social and educational needs of the listening area.