The Graduate Student Council voted to approve changes to its constitution and by-laws, at its monthly general body meeting on Wednesday night.
The council also elected a new chair of nominations and treasurer to its executive board, replacing Dominique Barnes GS and Sofia Verba GS who were elected to new positions last month.
The new constitution mandates that elections for GSC’s executive board be held near the end of each academic year, instead of at the end of each calendar year, as was done previously. GSC President Kevin LoGiudice GS explained that this change would give newly elected officers time to acclimate themselves to their positions in the summer rather than being “bombarded with emails and questions immediately in the next semester.”
The new by-laws include an additional section describing the responsibilities of the chair of diversity, equity and inclusion. Jean Jerome, the current DEI chair, announced that the DEI committee is looking to boost its on and off campus outreach to address goals such as gender equity, faculty diversity, departmental diversity and food security.
The council elected Aysun Akhundlu GS as its new chair of nominations over two other candidates. Akhundlu’s responsibilities will include communicating changes in representation on University committees and overseeing graduate student group recognition.
Out of four candidates, the council voted for Nazanin Ahmadi Daryakenari GS to be its new treasurer. During her campaign speech, Ahmadi described her leadership and mentorship in Brown-affiliated organizations as well as her experience representing Brown’s Department of Engineering on a biosecurity panel.
Graduate Labor Organization president Michael Ziegler GS also addressed the council, sharing updates on GLO’s efforts to cover master’s students with research assistant positions in the union’s contract with the University.
Grace Hu is a senior staff writer covering graduate student life. She is a sophomore from Massachusetts studying English and Neuroscience.
