Graduate Student Association records
Collection
0050-UA
The Graduate Student Association was founded in 1981 to improve the quality of graduate-level education and to enhance graduate life at the University of Maryland. The collection spans from 1981 to 1985 and consists of organizational records and records of operation such as minutes, reports, surveys, membership, and the association's constitution and bylaws.
This collection is open for research.
Photocopies or digital surrogates may be provided in accordance with Special Collections and University Archives duplication policy.
Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.
Archival materials may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during our processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.
0.75 Linear Feet
English
This collection consists of the administrative records of the Graduate Student Association of the University of Maryland at College Park from 1981 to 1985. These records include minutes and agendas, correspondence, reports, surveys, and their constitution and bylaws.
The Graduate Student Association (GSA) of the University of Maryland at College Park was first recognized as a University organization during the 1981-82 school year. Though there had been numerous graduate student groups prior to its inception, the GSA was the first to include all graduate students at the University as members. In addition, there had not been a graduate student association at College Park in nearly six years, since the Chancellor's Graduate Student Advisory Council disbanded in 1975. The Graduate Council, a separate group of professors and other faculty members had no student representation.
Thus in 1981, the GSA was founded to "improve the quality of education and enhance graduate student life at the University of Maryland." To further this aim, the GSA undertook to:
1) provide graduate students an outlet for "discussion of internal and external issues";
2) express graduate student concerns to faculty and administration;
3) continue graduate student participation in levels of the University's governing structure; and,
4) enhance graduate student social life through activities and functions.
Through these activities, the GSA hoped to better the graduate students' situation at the University of Maryland. The Graduate Student Association has also tackled such issues as shuttle bus access, graduate student housing and fees, and the graduate students' position regarding taxes and the Internal Revenue Service.
This collection is organized as two series:
The Graduate Student Association records of the University of Maryland at College Park were donated to the College Park Libraries by then-president Sharon Sykora in 1986.
The Graduate Student Association records were transferred from their original folders into acid-neutral ones; all metal paper clips were removed and replaced by plastic ones over protective paper. In transferring the documents into other folders, they were also rearranged into the series listed above and placed in protective, acid-neutral boxes.
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives