Minutes
Commission on Graduate Studies & Policies 
March 1, 2000
206 Sandy Hall

Present: Dr. Julia Beamish, Mr. John Cosgriff, Dr. Ron Daniel, Ms.
Barbara Fraticelli, Dr. Peter W. Graham, Ms. Erin Hanley, Mr. Chris
Heine, Dr. Martha Johnson, Dr. Virginia Maxwell, Dr. Malcolm McPherson,
Mr. Tomoya Ochinero, Mr. Hunter Pittman, Dr. Doug Strickland, Dr.
Richard Veilleux, Dr. Mike Vorster and Mrs. Kathryn Young

Absent with Notification: Dr. Klaus Elgert, Mr. Marvin Foushee, Dr.
Eileen Hitchingham, Dr. Kent Nakamoto and Dr. Len Peters

Absent without Notice: Dr. Greg Amacher, Dr. Annette Burr, Ms. Christina
Coukos, Dr. Ellie Sturgis and Mr. Surya Vakkalanka

Invited Guests: Mr. Tom Brown, Dr. Roger Avery, Dr. John Eaton, Mrs.
Angie Webb and Ms. Angela Duncan


Dr. Julia Beamish, Chair, called the meeting to order.

Announcements-Ms. Erin Hanley handed out a calendar of events for the
School of the Arts. Also announced that the Rhinoceros was still playing
(2 for 1 coupon) and a special performance on Sunday with Opera Roanoke,
Radford Dance Company and the Virginia Tech Opera Workshop.

Approval of the agenda-Approved.

Approval of minutes from February 16, 2000-Approved.

Committee Reports
Graduate Curriculum Committee-Dr. Maxwell reported the GCC meet on
February 24th and asked for approval of the February 24th Minutes.
Minutes were approved.

Graduate Student Appeals-No Report.

Graduate Student Relations-Ms. Hanley announced that Dr. Roger Avery has
joined this committee. Their next meeting will be on March 8th at 3:30
PM in Squires, Room 232.

Ad Hoc ETD Advisory Committee-Dr. Eaton gave an update on the proposed
new approval form for ETD's. Dr. Eaton has received some responses and
will continue taking responses until March 15th.

DRSCAP-Mr. Pittman asked for a vote on the Resolution Regarding
Residency for Doctoral Candidates. Dr. Beamish asked for any questions,
comments or concerns regarding this resolution. After a further brief
discussion, the Resolution was approved as amended.

New Business-Dr. Ron Daniel introduced the guest, Tom Brown to the
Committee. Mr. Brown and Dr. Daniel wanted to present and discuss the
drafts for a Virginia Tech Creed. Faculty, staff and students have
complained about some people not being very nice and with some issues
facing the Provost Office, they decided to form a Steering Committee to
come up with a Virginia Tech Creed to use as a guiding set of
principles. The Steering Committee would like as many responses as
possible. The admission statement is specific where this creed would be
more philosophical. They want the creed to help foster a better
environment.

Other Reports

Graduate Student Assembly-Ms. Hanley announced the next Graduate Student
Assembly meeting will be on March 23rd. The selection for the Graduate
Student Representative for the Board of Visitors will be made on the 5th
of March by the BOV. An issue discussed at the last GSA meeting was the
INS Program that is being initiated to track international students. Dr.
Martha Johnson said the INS has a pilot program with several schools who
report to the Immigration Center in Georgia. INS is currently writing
the regulations and the regulations would instruct Virginia Tech on how
to handle this program. Currently, the international students are not
accountable for where they go when they enter into the USA. The Graduate
School issues I-20's but only half of the students come to Virginia
Tech. Another item discussed at the GSA meeting was the elimination of
the Parking Services Lock Out/Dead Battery position. Parking Services
wants to increase the ticketing patrol and stop helping students.
Handouts passed out by Ms. Hanley addressed the fund for the fire
victims/families at Foxridge, GSA Travel Fund Program and the GSA
Graduate Student of the Month Award. The abstract submission deadline
for the posters for the Research Symposium is March 10th.

Graduate Honor System-Ms. Fraticelli reported they had closed one case
today and will finish one next week.

University Library Committee-No Report.

Old Business-Dr. Beamish opened up the discussion on the Conflict of
Interest and Commitment Draft. Dr. McPherson reported that the draft had
been discussed at the Commission on Research, University Council,
Commission on Faculty Affairs and by two colleges. If the draft is
approved at the Commission on Research and the Commission on Faculty
Affairs, CGS&P will not have to vote on this. Any concerns could be
addressed at the University Council level. Dr. McPherson mentioned that
the background document did look out for the interests of the graduate
students. Dr. Avery commented that in the latest Science magazine, there
is an article about this issue at Harvard and how they are going to ease
their policies because they are concerned of losing faculty due to their
current policies being too restrictive.

Adjournment-
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted:
John L. Eaton, Associate Provost for Graduate Studies