Graduate students propose fee changes at BFC meeting

The Bloomington Faculty Council met Tuesday at the Indiana Memorial Union for its fourth meeting of the semester.

One of the most discussed issues was a resolution presented to the council by Nicholas Clark, president of the IU Graduate and Professional Student Organization, and Brian Horne, a member of the Student Academic Appointee Affairs Committee within the BFC. The proposal was a recommendation to the administration to be more lenient about fees graduate students have to pay if they change their course schedule within the first week of classes.

Currently, if a graduate student drops one class for another within the first week, they lose a portion of tuition fees paid.

“There were very few students who could afford those fees,” Clark said.

Clark also said he has received many testimonials from graduate students saying their classes were canceled in the first week of the semester or syllabi were not ready, leaving them no time to judge the quality of the class and professor and avoid the penalty.

Members of the BFC had mixed reactions about the resolution, and many had questions. Registrar Roland Cote fielded some concerns and voiced his opinion about the resolution.

“One of the fears I have is the principles are good, but they’re also broadly applicable,” Cote said.

The resolution is not supposed to apply to undergraduates, law students and MBA students.

The BFC suggested Clark should revise the resolution.

The meeting also consisted of a resolution on intellectual property policy revenue distribution, and it finished with a discussion on changes to the BFC Constitution.
The next BFC meeting is March 24.