About 250 graduate students congregated on the Mall yesterday to eat free food provided by the Graduate and Professional Student Council - although many of them were unsure what the GPSC is about.

Uniting the graduate students for Graduate and Professional Student Day was important because many are unaware of the graduate council and its function, GPSC representatives said.

Most of the students in line at the barbecue were unable to identify GPSC or the current legislation it is proposing.

"I couldn't even tell you what GPSC stands for," said Terry Mann, chemistry graduate student.

Zoe Forester, representative for the College of Medicine, said, "We're nothing if we're not getting feedback from students."

GPSC President Melanie Ayers said that creating a solid graduate voice was the council's number one concern.

"Right now, Ben speaks for everyone, which is OK, but sometimes we want our own voice," she said, referring to Associated Students President Ben Driggs.

The council is also working on TAB, a proposed package that would provide teaching assistants with tuition waivers and subsidized health care. The package would also require teaching assistants to go through a certification process, she said.

Robert Done, a management and policy graduate student at the barbecue, said he thought teaching assistants should have tuition waivers and a health care subsidy may also be a good idea.

"I think having some kind of certification system for TAs is a good idea because it would spread some equality through different sections of the same class," he said.

However, he said he thought it would most likely be too problematic to implement.

The day's activities also included five consecutive one-hour information sessions held in the Student Union Terrace Dining Room.

Ayers said about 45 students attended the information sessions.

John McCormack, atmospheric sciences graduate student, stopped in to find out about GPSC and discuss graduate health care.

He said several teaching assistants do not have access to adequate health care alternatives. Currently, graduate students can purchase the same health insurance as undergraduates through the Student Health Center.

Forester said, "The university underestimates the contribution of TAs. Without them, they'd never have an undergraduate program that works."

Forester said GPSC has been trying to get more information to graduate students. Recently, the council created a page on the World Wide Web to broadcast information.

Anita Bahppu, vice president of GPSC, said right now, the graduate council is getting lost under the ASUA umbrella.

She said yesterday's events may help strengthen the council's identity in the event that GPSC decides to become a separate entity apart from ASUA.

Alex Sugiyama, GPSC alternate representative for the College of Business and Public Administration, said, "The benefits of remaining under ASUA are much less than what we want. We are burdened by its structure."

Sugiyama said he was bothered by ASUA's lack of significant financial assistance.

Ayers said GPSC really subsidizes ASUA, considering that graduate students comprise 23 percent of the student body but receive only 10 percent of the budget.

GPSC receives $26,000 of ASUA's $260,000 annual budget.