University to fund graduate student center

This fall, $4.6 million will be reallocated to increase funding for Ph.D. students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, which will include the financing of a center for graduate students on the Morningside campus.

“The overarching purpose of the enhancement plan is to underscore the centrality of graduate studies in the university and to signify in tangible ways our determination to attract the very best students to our graduate programs,” said Carlos J. Alonso, acting dean of GSAS, in an email that went out to graduate students on Thursday.

Kristy Riggs, a Ph.D. student and vice president of the Graduate School Advisory Council, said that many graduate students have been waiting for a centralized place to interact with students across the University.

“GSAC members have been working towards the creation of a graduate student center at Columbia for over a decade. I am thrilled, along with my fellow GSAC members, to be a part of this long history and to see so much progress towards the center’s creation,” she said in an email to Spectator.

In a survey taken in April 2010 and presented to the Senate in September, 77 percent of graduate students said they did not feel that they were a part of a close-knit community outside of their respective schools—a response GSAC attributed to the absence of a central space for all graduate students.

“The film community’s like this weird hermetic crew … I don’t feel connected to graduate students outside the discipline,” said Matt Black, a film student in the School of the Arts.

In addition to a center, the enhancement plan will also fund five summers of guaranteed research for Ph.D. candidates and increase the basic stipend rate.

The announcement from Alonso comes four months after the University Senate voted to support a proposal by members of its Committee on Campus Planning and Physical Development to create an interim center for graduate students.

Alex Frouman, CC ’12 and a University senator, explained that the vote in September was not binding but did express support.

“What was passed in the senate was a document in support of the graduate student center and one that agrees with the need it would meet. It did not mandate its construction—the senate does not pass resolutions mandating capital construction,” he said.

Riggs said that decisions had not yet been made regarding the funding and location of the center, but she and other members of GSAC said they’d like the center to have multiple rooms for meeting spaces, a kitchen, and A/V equipment and to be accessible on nights and weekends.

According to Alonso’s email, the enhancement plan was designed by Executive Vice President for the Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks and Provost Claude Steele, who worked closely with GSAS.

“The enhancement package helps GSAS to be more competitive with our peer institutions in recruiting incoming graduate students and for graduating students on the job market,” Riggs said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the date of the student survey and implied that the Graduate School Advisory Council is a part of the University Senate, which it is not. Spectator regrets the error.

sonalee.rau@columbiaspectator.com