The UA Graduate and Professional Student Council held its first meeting of the semester last night in the James E. Rogers College of Law building, marking a diverse start to the school year.

The hour-and-twenty-two-minute meeting covered an array of topics, mostly pertaining to internal concerns and an array of budget issues.

David Martinez, the new campus organizer from the Arizona Students’ Association, spoke briefly to the 22 assembled members at the beginning of the meeting, ensuring the GPSC that he would work to help make the university as affordable and accessible as possible.

ASA will be working closely with the Arizona Board of Regents’ Tuition Task Force, which recently had a graduate seat added to it, Martinez said.

ASA will also be working on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which will involve the GPSC as much as possible, he added.

“”I want you to see me as a trusting source of information and as an advocate,”” said Martinez, who served as a student regent on the Arizona Board of Regents from July 2007 to June 2009.

A large amount of time was spent during the meeting discussing the necessity of hiring an office manager.

“”My biggest priority right now is getting a budget approved to get out and hire an office manager,”” said GPSC President David Talenfeld.

Representative Lucy Blaney, a Spanish and Portuguese graduate student, wanted to make sure the office manager would have open office hours, while other representatives inquired about hiring an office manager from within the council.

Other topics included:

• The GPSC awards travel grants for graduate and professional students to attend or present research at academic or professional conferences. Representatives discussed the acceptance process of applications, and whether judges should continue to be able to see an applicant’s name or if there should be a switch to an anonymous system.

• On Nov. 6-7 the Student Showcase, an exhibition of undergraduate and graduate research, will be held on the UA Mall as the academic portion of Homecoming Weekend festivities.

• Representatives discussed the UA’s new $25 surcharge for dropping classes after the first week of the semester. Most decided it was an unreasonable fee.

• Of the 600 graduate students who signed up to attend the GPSC’s graduate orientation last month, only 530 showed up.