The Doctoral and Graduate Students’ Council is the sole policy-making body representing students in doctoral and master’s programs at the Graduate Center.
We are located in the Robert E. Gilleece Student Center on the fifth floor. The main office is Room 5495; telephone: 212.817.7888 or 212.817.7845; email: dgsc@cunydgsc.org.
The Council and its officers are charged with representing student interests before the administration and external bodies.
In addition to informal and ongoing communications, the DGSC officers meet with members of Graduate Center administration to report activities and exchange information.
Students may have issues presented by their DGSC representatives or the DGSC Executive Committee before the Doctoral Students’ Council, or can personally address the Council by requesting to be put on the DGSC agenda for an upcoming meeting. This may, in turn, result in discussion or actions taken within the DSC or between the DSC and the administration.
The DGSC members also act as advocates for graduate student interests at the Board of Trustees, University Student Senate, University Faculty Senate, New York State Assembly, the Mayor’s Office, and with Graduate Center administration.
The mission of the DGSC is to foster a sense of community among graduate students; reflect and encourage the expression of their diversity; develop reciprocal channels of communication among graduate students, undergraduates, faculty, staff, and the administration of the Graduate Center; generate a space of discussion on Graduate Center issues; project the students’ voice in Graduate Center affairs; and provide students with valuable resources for advancing their professional careers and enjoying their personal time. The DGSC is especially proud of and shares CUNY’s historic mission of providing access to higher education to low-income communities and communities of color in New York City and the nation.
Article II
The purposes of the DGSC shall include but not be limited to:
- a. promoting an atmosphere of community and sociability for the commonweal of students at the Graduate School of the Graduate School and University Center (hereafter, “The Graduate Center”);
- b. promoting the democratization of the City University of New York (hereafter, “CUNY”) in order to enable its students, faculty, and staff to participate in the important social, political, and economic decisions that affect the quality of their lives and of their community;
- c. promoting transparency and facilitating political participation by making its documents and bylaws publicly accessible;
- d. representing the interests of and establishing and enacting policy for all Graduate Center students, making its bylaws publicly available for review;
- e. seeking reciprocal channels of communication among CUNY graduate and undergraduate students, faculty and staff, and the administration;
- f. securing voting participation in the decision-making entities that impact Graduate Center students;
- g. serving as the allocating body for Student Government Fees as a portion of all Student Activity Fees, subject to review by the Graduate Center College Association;
- h. organizing and funding, via Student Activity Fee monies, Graduate Center student activities, organizations, and services such as colloquia, seminars, and other functions of general, professional, cultural, and social interest to Graduate Center.