Announcement ends GPSO's 2-year effort to officially disband from IUSA

In recent letters to the officers of the Graduate and Professional Student Organization (GPSO), both President Myles Brand and Chancellor Sharon Stephens Brehm formally recognized the GPSO as the official governing body of IU's graduate and professional students. The administrative endorsement concludes the organizations two-year effort to gain autonomy from the IU Student Association. \n"In short, I am pleased to support and endorse the proposal for a separate student government for graduate and professional students at IUB," Brand stated in his letter. "A separate student government will better enable student representatives to articulate and advocate for graduate and professional students." \nBrehm joined Brand in supporting GPSO's independence. In a brief letter, she offered congratulations to GPSO officers for their "sustained and thoughtful effort to create this new organization that will be the voice of the graduate and professional students on the Bloomington campus."\nThis past May, graduate and professional students in 52 departments ratified the new GPSO constitution, which asserted the organizations independence from IUSA. Despite achieving the necessary majority of departmental votes for ratification, the organization continued to encourage departments to vote. \nGPSO moderator Rachel Anderson said nearly all graduate departments have endorsed the new constitution, indicating broad support for GPSO autonomy. But she said the organization was not truly independent until just recently when the administration offered its endorsement. \nWith administrative backing, the GPSO and IUSA will now concentrate their efforts on their own constituencies. Anderson said independence will not necessarily change the way the GPSO operates, but it will allow work to be divided more efficiently between the two organizations. \n"We can all be more effective if IUSA concentrates the majority of its efforts on undergraduate students' needs, the GPSO concentrates on graduate students' needs and we work together on issues that effect both groups," Anderson said. \nBrand agreed, stating the GPSO was "correct to observe that the areas of interest of the graduate and professional students diverge from those of undergraduate students. Issues such as assistant instructor training and mentoring, professional development and health insurance, to name only a few, pertain primarily, if not exclusively, to graduate and professional students. \n"While there are some issues that pertain to both graduate/professional and undergraduate students, such as information technology infrastructure, campus physical environment, and so on, these issues can be equally well -- or perhaps, even better -- addressed by both student governing bodies working in parallel or jointly." \nAfter investing effort into breaking away from the IUSA, the GPSO is now making it one of its first priorities to develop a strong working relationship with that very organization, Anderson said. \nRecently, GPSO officers met with junior Bill Gray, IUSA president, to discuss how they would stay in contact and work together effectively over the course of the next year. \nGPSO coordinator Andrea McDowell said the organization is particularly pleased to be working with the current IUSA administration, which openly supported GPSO independence as part of its Kirkwood platform. \n"With the two groups finally working together amicably instead of at odds, all IUB students should benefit from better representation and more effective student government," McDowell said.