The following sections of the Governance of The Graduate School pertain directly to students and ensure rights to representation on program committees and expression of student opinion within programs and to Graduate Council.

The entire document regarding Governance of the Graduate Center (Revised: October 2016) is available online. More information on the Graduate Council Bylaws (Revised: May 2016) is available online.

Expression of student opinions

§3.2B Formal provisions shall be made for the expression of student opinions on decisions affecting appointments, promotion, and tenure of individual faculty members.

Program structure

§3.3C If at least 30 percent of the doctoral faculty or 30 percent of the matriculated students in a program sign a proposal to change the program’s structure, the proposal shall be considered by the Committee on Structure of the Graduate Council. If the Committee on Structure approves the proposal, it shall forward the proposal with its recommendation to Graduate Council for its approval.

Courses

§3.4D Courses to be offered each semester shall be determined by the Executive Officer after consultation with representative groups of faculty and students. The Executive Officer shall assign faculty to teach these courses.

New faculty appointments

§3.4E The Executive Officer shall work with chairs of CUNY college departments in the Executive Officer’s discipline to develop procedures for making new faculty appointments useful both to the college departments and to The Graduate School. The Executive Officer shall try to ensure that when department chairs recruit part-time faculty, they give preference to qualified students enrolled in the doctoral programs, in accordance with the policies of The City University of New York.

Meetings with the Executive Committee

§3.5B The Executive Committee shall have the authority for the operation of the program between the stated meetings of the program’s faculty subject to the policies established by the faculty. It shall meet at least once a semester with the students matriculated in the program. The Executive Officer shall serve as Chair of the Executive Committee (Section 9.4, CUNY Board of Trustees Bylaws).

§6.4A The Executive Committee shall call a meeting with the students of each program at least once each semester.

Student representation on Executive and Standing Committees

§6.4B The students shall have responsibility through student representatives to the Executive Committee and the Standing Committees of each program to make known their views on the policies of the program. All students on these committees shall be chosen by means of an election by mail by the students in the program. Any matriculated student shall be eligible to serve…

Direct recommendations to Graduate Council

6.4B Students of any program may make direct recommendations to the appropriate committee of Graduate Council or to the administration for immediate consideration on any matter that affects them if at least 10% of the students in that program support those recommendations.