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Contact Information:
Phone: (413) 545-2897 or (413) 545-2896
Fax: (413) 545-2373
Office: 919 Campus Center, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Email: gss-info@resgs.umass.edu
To visit our Student Affairs page and learn more about the GSS, please click HERE
Download the GSS staff office hours for the Fall semester here (MS Word file)
Welcome to the web pages for UMass Amherst's Graduate Student Senate. The GSS is the voice of UMass Amherst's graduate students.
The Graduate Student Senate (GSS) is not nine people in an office on the 9th floor of the Campus Center. The GSS is a democratically elected council that directs those employees in a manner that the Senate feels will well serve the needs of graduate students. Those staff are to be of direct service to graduate students and, arguably more important, are to make it possible and encourage graduate students to take an active role in their university community.
Unlike a business, a research university is not to be run from President’s office. As an academic community the administration, the faculty, the undergraduate students and the graduate students all have roles to play in determining the direction and priorities of this institution. In recent years the level of student involvement in the direction of UMass has dropped and individuals in the administration have, bolstered by the President’s assertion that ‘this university will not be run by those who pass through’ have stepped forward to more than fill those absences.
If we, as graduate students, wish to study in an institution that serves our need we must exert the authority conferred on the Graduate Student Senate to assume responsibility for “for services and activities which are designed primarily to serve students”, to find ways to help each other, to advocate directly for our needs and to represent our interests in those places where it is possible for our voice to be heard.
Recently the administration of School of Education argued that graduate students’ failure to participate in school governance was reason to formally exclude us. So, at this time it would seem that if we don’t use the diminishing opportunities we have to shape our educational experience, we will lose even those. For all of those interests that extend beyond the role some of us have as GEO eligible employees, participation in the Graduate Senate is the vehicle for our efforts.
o Staff and Elected Members
Find out a little bit about who we are!
• GSS Constitution
• GSS Bylaws
• GSS Revenue Sharing Policy
• GSS Appointment/Reappointment Policy
• GSS FAQ
Read the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about the GSS
• Contact Info
If you have comments, ideas, concerns relevant to graduate students, please send us email at:
gss-info@resgs.umass.edu.
If you have problems or suggestions for the web page, send mail to gss-info@resgs.umass.edu
• Budget Information
The GSS projected budget can be found by clicking this link.
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