The Graduate Student Association (GSA) is suffering from a lack of participation after the university cut 92 percent of the organization's scholarship money last year.

Last night's meeting had three executive officers present and the minimum number of delegates -- nine -- needed to vote on resolutions. About 40 members went to meetings last year.

GSA President Brian Borawski said that the conditions haven't improved since the officers were denied their scholarship opportunities. He added that the problems affect the entire association. "When officers don't do their jobs, there's not as much to present to the delegates and not as much to do," he said. "I've taken every avenue I can think of and done every thing I'm allowed to do."

GSA has spent the past semester recovering from the changes and continues to adapt to its new situation.

The changes the members have had to make must be added to the constitution by the GSA judicial committee this semester or more problems could arise. The constitution has not been amended since 1986.

Borawski said that about half of GSA committees are inactive because of the lack of participation, and the judicial committee may be one of those.

Another resolution proposed and passed was to reduce the traditional number of meetings a year from seven to four. Borawski said General Assembly meetings are becoming useless.

The time allotted for General Assembly meetings will now be mandatory for committees, in hopes of increasing involvement, Borawski said. "There's a lot of work we need to get done," he said. "This will basically jump start the committees."

Also at the meeting, the assembly voted to move the election date from the end of the semester to Feb. 22.

Borawski said that in the past, officers have not had enough time to transition into their positions before their predecessor graduates. This timeline will allow officers more time to adjust and to be able to do their jobs more effectively, he said.

GSA also discussed its position on the upcoming increase of student activity fees.

The majority of delegates voted to support the increase under certain stipulations that would guarantee graduate students financial protection.

The stipulations have yet to be established, but the assembly hopes to talk to Board of Trustee members before coming to a final agreement. One possibility discussed was to divide the money into percentages based on graduate and undergraduate population. "We don't have as many clubs or organizations as undergraduates, so we just don't ask for as much," Borawski said. "We wouldn't lose anything."

The assembly also talked about the possibility of giving money back to undergraduate programs if it had excess.