The Graduate Student Organization elected a new vice president of external affairs as well as two new members to the University Senate on Wednesday during its first meeting of the semester.

Komal Dilshad, a first-year international student from Pakistan, was elected as the new vice president of external affairs. Dilshad took the former place of Sam Sallade, who stepped down last year.

The vice president of external affairs is predominantly responsible for GSO outreach and planning events that attract new members and international students who are unfamiliar with Syracuse University.

The vacant spots in the University Senate were filled by Brandi Williams and Rob Trudo, a former offensive lineman and team captain for SU’s football team. Senators can vote for new officials and are a part of GSO committees.

During the meeting, Sam Leitermann, vice president of internal affairs, revisited issues covered at GSO’s last meeting, including student health insurance, the use of surplus money and concerns regarding the university travel policy.

Leitermann and GSO President Can Aslan announced that SU officials would be at the next GSO meeting on Feb. 10 to discuss issues regarding the student insurance policy.

GSO will create focus groups to ask these officials questions regarding the policy. The results of discussion will affect the creation of a new University Senate committee for graduate student benefits and future actions for insurance options.

Aslan asked any GSO senators that are involved or interested in the graduate insurance policy to email him in order to be a part of the focus groups.

GSO also discussed the SU travel policy, which changes the way graduate students travel with domestic and international airlines. Students have encountered many issues with the policy, Aslan said.

A travel policy committee will meet to address these issues and help to create a better system for graduate students traveling through the university.

Additionally, a new committee concerned with increasing day care for graduate students is in the process of being formed by finance committee chair Dimple Dhanani. This group will look at current day care and focus on expanding and increasing day care availability to graduate students.

GSO senators also discussed a surplus of $100,000 to designate to a degree of organization actions, something that was also discussed at the last meeting in December. Led by Dhanani, the finance committee was asked to create a plan for how the money will be allotted. The committee’s decisions will be voted on at GSO’s next meeting on Feb. 10.

Published on January 20, 2016 at 10:15 pm

Contact Tara: trtolton@syr.edu