At  a meeting Wednesday evening, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) reviewed changes in the policy for retroactive funding, approved funding for several student groups and discussed the failure of a ballot measure that would have raised the graduate student fee to close a budget deficit.

The GSC considered a proposal to change their rules on retroactive funding from a ban, as it currently stands, to permitting it under exceptional circumstances only. The latest proposal, which was not yet approved, would only allow retroactive funding if the request came to the GSC no more than 180 days after the event, if the request was under $1,000, if no more than one request every three years was filed by each group, if the event funding does not exceed the soft cap, if the GSC is not running low on funding and if the event conformed to funding guidelines. The proposal may see further action next week.

The GSC approved funding for graduate family events and events by Alliance Dance, the Stanford Association of New Zealand, the Russian Student Association, the Asian American Graduate Student Association, the Turkish Student Association and the Hong Kong Student Association.

The GSC also discussed several aspects of the recent election, including voter turnout. According to initial estimates reported in the meeting, there were 8,722 eligible student voters. Voter turnout was estimated to have ranged from 7.5 percent at the Graduate School of Business to 32.7 percent at the School of Earth Sciences. The proposal to raise the graduate student fee failed despite achieving a majority of cast votes due to inadequate voter turnout.

Contact Caleb Smith at Caleb17 ‘at’ stanford.edu.