Current Initiatives

Graduate students, as well as many members of the Upper Valley, are suffering from the lack of affordable housing in this area. The GSC is regularly meeting with the Dartmouth EVP about this issue, as well as the staff at the Summit on Juniper complex. We are collecting and analyzing housing data to report on our specific housing needs as graduate students, and presenting this to Dartmouth Senior Leadership. Additionally, we are troubleshooting the many issues that have arisen with Summit on Juniper by meeting with Summit on Juniper’s upper management and Dartmouth administration.

The 2020-21 Benefits Committee compiled the 2021 Benefits Report, which goes over graduate student benefits for the 2021 academic year and compares them to the benefits given by other Ivy+ institutions. We have shared this report with the Guarini administration, which helped advocate for increased stipends. The GSC has now formed a Healthcare Committee to address the areas where our healthcare is lacking.

We are exploring ways to evaluate graduate students advisors, PIs, and mentors. We are working on a Code of Conduct for any faculty who mentor Guarini students, as well as exploring ways to implement regular feedback mechanisms.

The External Affairs committee will increase graduate student awareness on local, national, and international policies that effect our community. Part of this will entail maintaining a strong connection with Dartmouth’s Office of Visa and Immigration Services (OVIS). It follows that we will be in better standing to advocate for graduate student needs and push back against what hinders our ability to be Dartmouth students.

Mental health is an incredibly important and often neglected part of graduate student life. The GSC created the Resource Guide to help connect students to Dartmouth resources that support mental health, wellbeing, and many other aspects of student life. As shown by the Benefits Report, Dartmouth has a long way to go to support graduate student mental health. To help, the GSC is continuing to grow its connection with the Student Wellness Center (through the Wellness Coaching program, for example) and the Counseling Center, as well as advocate for increased mental health benefits.

The GSC recognizes that it is our duty to speak out when members of our community are experiencing pain, oppression, racism, and disrespect. To directly address systemic racism and institutional equity, the GSC formed the Committee for Addressing Racism and Equity (CARE) standing committee whose goal is to assess how policies, practices, and climate within Guarini and Dartmouth can be changed to ensure equity and anti-racism within the institution. Secondly, CARE will provide actionable implementations for short-term and long-term institutional changes. The GSC is aware that many areas of student life where we lack benefits or support disproportionately effect people of color, international students, and students with lower income backgrounds. We continue to shape our advocacy efforts to uplift the needs of these students.

All students, including graduate students, are sorted into Houses to build community. However, many graduate students were not notified of their House assignment, were not aware graduate students are openly invited to participate in the House system, or had troubles accessing their own House resources (such as The Onion or The Cube) in the past. To tackle these issues, the GSC has created a new Executive Board position, the Inter-House Graduate Liaison, to ensure smooth involvement of graduate students with the House system.