GSAC Charter (Draft)

This is the draft charter of Yale CS GSAC. We welcome feedback and will continue to update it for a vote planned for Spring 2022.

Revised May 4, 2022.
 

PURPOSES

  • To provide representation for graduate students in the Computer Science Department, that is, to provide a liaison between the faculty and the graduate students in matters pertaining to the Computer Science curriculum and the graduate students’ use of departmental resources.
  • To allocate those resources provided to Computer Science graduate students and to oversee their use. 
  • To act as an advisory board to the faculty in cases of violations of system rules, and in other cases requiring disciplinary actions.
  • To act as a forum for the discussion of issues of general interest to users of departmental facilities. 
  • To plan department-level social events for graduate students.

CONSTITUTION

A committee’s tenure will last exactly one year.
A committee will consist of 5 graduate students who satisfy the GSAC membership requirements as stated below. They will be chosen via the electoral process outlined below.
There will be no hierarchical organization of the committee. It will be a democratic body.
 

ELECTIONS

General elections are to be held in the spring of every academic year to select those who will be the GSAC for the following academic year. Elections are to be run by one or more non-candidate members of the committee. In the event that there aren’t any non-candidate members, the current members will find a volunteer. First there will be a call for candidates announced to all CS graduate students. Elections will be open to all students who meet the membership requirements and will be conducted thus:
 
  1. The names of the candidates will then be made public, and they will be invited to make their campaign statements over a period of one week.
  2. Voting will take place over a one-week period during which each voter will be allowed to cast a ballot naming five candidates of his or her choice.
  3. The five candidates with the highest vote counts will be the new GSAC. Any ties will be broken by a run-off election.
  4. If a candidate wishes to challenge the results, they must email cs-gsac AT mailman DOT yale DOT edu within 48 hours of the result announcement.
Soon after the elections, a meeting will be held for all departing and incoming members of GSAC, during which the new members will be initiated to the workings of the committee.
If GSAC loses members, a single spot may be filled by a unanimous vote of the other GSAC members. If more positions need to be filled, a new round of elections must be held.
 

MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS

Must be enrolled in either the Ph.D. or MCS program.
Registered in-person.
 

AMENDMENTS

Any part of this document may be amended by the vote of 4 or more members.