Graduate & Professional Student Assembly Minutes February 28, 2000 Big Red Barn Graduate & Professional Student Center Greenhouse 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Attendance: 1999 - 2000 GPSA Members 4/26 9/27 10/25 11/22 1/24 2/28 3/27 4/24 Jean Ahn P P P P P P Bill Bauerle P P P P P P Dennis Carlson P P P P Pat Carr P P P P E P Rong Fan P P A A P A Stefan Hames E P P P P P Wendy Harris P A A A A A Chitkala Kalidas P P A A A P Peter Kaskan P P E P P A Krysta Levac P Charles Marentette P P P P P Emily Meseck A P P P P E Krista Mowry P P P A P P John Schwarz P Uresh Sheth E Daniel Simmons P P P A A P Lakshmi (Vatsa) Srivatsa P A P P A P Kevin Sherper-Walker P P P E

Others Present: Keely Martin, Tania Schusler, Phil McPheron, and Bonnie Bailey

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Stefan Hames, President of the 1999–2000 GPSA, at 5:05 PM.

Open Forum

B.Bailey, Office of the Assemblies, reminded members that they have an opportunity to vote for the Student-elected Trustee seat in the elections that are taking place on March 7 and 8, 2000. She said that the student-elected trustee represents the interests of all Cornell students and it is in their best interest to take time to vote. She encouraged graduate and professional students to read the candidate’s statements ahead of time to help them in voting and said the statements are available via the assemblies webpage and also in the Cornell Daily Sun. B.Bailey said that locations throughout campus have been designated as polling locations. The Big Red Barn, Willard Straight, Sage, the Law School, the Vet School and Trillium are some of the places voters could go to vote.

S.Hames, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, asked members if they would like to vote on the University Academic calendar for the 2003/04 and 2004/05 years. He reminded members that the calendar was given to them last semester for approval and that a decision to do this was delayed while the SA and UA worked through this process. He said that the SA, in particular, had several objections to the calendar and the GPSA decided to delay voting to show their solidarity. He added that based on former conversations at COR/GPSA meetings the graduate/professional population did not feel as strongly about the issue as the undergraduates. He also mentioned that he now believed that the calendar has been printed, even without approval from the assemblies.

Members then wondered what the point in approving the calendar was, given the fact that the administration went ahead and printed it even without approval by the assemblies.

S.Hames responded that he felt the GPSA should vote on the issue at this time. He expressed that this was an opportunity the GPSA was given and that completely ignoring it would really serve no purpose since the GPSA didn’t object to the calendar anyway.  He added that a straw poll was taken at the last COR meeting and gave its approval of the academic calendar at their last meeting.

Members agreed to vote on the University academic calendar.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly approved the University Academic calendar for the years 2002/03 and 2003/04 by acclamation.

S.Hames told members that he received information from Philip McPheron, Graduate Student Housing, about a graduate student crisis line that he felt would be good information to share with constituents. He said he would post this information to gpsa-l and asked that B.Bailey add a link from the gpsa webpage. B.Bailey agreed to do this.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the January 24, 2000 meeting of the 1999–2000 GPSA were approved as submitted by acclamation.

Announcements and Reports A) Committee reports

Jean Ahn, Human Services, distributed updated information from Gannett Health Center related to student health insurance. She reported that this information was also posted to gpsa-l. It is anticipated that health care insurance premiums will increase approximately 8%, though she told members that Cornell is still in the negotiating process with Chickering to try to get the best health care coverage and to keep the rates as low as possible. 

J.Ahn told members that additional student involvement is needed for the Student Health Insurance Advisory Board and encouraged interested members to apply.

P.Carr, Geology, asked if there was more data for the GPSA to see related to the insurance comparison. He noted that the information provided seemed very brief and simplistic and wondered if a more complete analysis could be supplied.

J.Ahn replied there was additional information in a binder and she would try to bring more to the next meeting.

Krista Mowry, Nutrition, reported that the General Committee of the Graduate School recently met. They did discuss the health care package Dean Cohen has been working on. K.Mowry said that Dean Cohen would provide the GPSA with updated information as soon as he is able to put something together for the group.

S.Hames reported that the GPSA executive committee meets with administrators monthly to discuss various issues. Communication has been a big issue and the constituent assemblies were asked to come up with ways to improve communication. S.Hames announced that the GPSA now has a newsgroup for it to use as a communication tool. It can be found with the newsgroups at cornell.org.gpsa. Stefan said a bulletin board was also established on the assemblies’ website, but he feels this is a bit problematic. He expressed concern over the fact that the bulletin board goes through a third party and non-Cornell people could post messages. He also stated that the bulletin board uses banner space to place commercial advertisements and he finds this annoying. He wondered if the advertising banner would bother other people as well.

B.Bailey, Office of the Assemblies, replied that one must register to join the bulletin board and the instructions say that a local, Cornell netid must be used. Anyone who tries to register without using a Cornell netid would be bumped off the bulletin board. She added that one positive feature of the bulletin board was that it allows registered users to place a poll on the site. If utilized, this could be a handy feature when the GPSA is wondering about constituent feelings or thoughts on a particular topic. She added that the SA had requested a bulletin board and that it was expanded to include the GPSA and EA when it was established for the SA.

P.Carr said he feels the newsgroup is the better vehicle to use since it was suggested by COR. He added that he could look into having gpsa-l messages automatically forward to the newsgroup if members wished.

S.Hames replied that he was not in favor of doing this. Other members agreed.

Krysta Levac, Nutrition and GPSA representative on the UA, reported on the most recent UA meeting. She reported that the alumni won the Cornell hockey tournament. She noted that Andy Noel, Director of Athletics; Ezra Cornell, Board of Trustees; and Lynette Chappell-Williams, Director, Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality attended the meeting. She said that A.Noel spoke about plans for the Athletics department and that there is going to be a big focus on hiring top-rate coaches. E.Cornell was very approachable and told the UA to contact him about Board of Trustee concerns any time. L.Chappell-Williams spoke to people about the changes with her office with regards to workforce diversity, equity & life quality and the development of a bias-related response system.

S. Hames asked if it was clear if the changes apply to everybody and if the office would report any bias incidents to that office?

K.Levac replied that she believes the focus of the office has expanded and that it is concerned with any issues related to workforce diversity, equity & life quality and it applies to everyone at the university.

K.Levac reported that J.Halpern, an undergraduate UA member, has been revising draft resolutions on holiday observances. They are trying to formalize a policy for faculty and students with regards to religious holiday observances.

Business of the Day A) Election of GPSA Secretary

S.Hames stated he would like to see the role of GPSA secretary increasingly become one that works to increase and improve communication. He feels this position should work more to advertise the existence of the GPSA to the general public.

S.Hames opened the floor to nominations for the position of GPSA Secretary.

P.Carr nominated Krista Mowry.

Daniel Simmons, Medieval Studies, seconded the nomination.

No other nominations were forthcoming, so the GPSA voted to appoint K.Mowry to the position of GPSA Secretary. This passed unanimously.

B) Resolution Regarding the “Shadows” Pilot Program

S.Hames distributed a shadows 2000 questionnaire and asked K.Levac if the shadows program was brought up at the last UA meeting.

K.Levac replied that it had been discussed and that it was given UA approval. She said that all members present thought it was a great idea and all were encouraged to participate.

S.Hames informed members that the Shadows 2000 program is a pilot program that the Student Assembly and Employee Assembly have been working on with a great deal of enthusiasm. The concept of Shadows 2000 is to have different constituent groups “shadow” one another for a minimum of four hours during a specified one week period. S.Hames commented that he personally does not believe this program will hold a great deal of appeal for most graduate or professional students due to the very nature of their category. He elaborated that most graduate/professional students are already very familiar with what a typical undergraduate or faculty day is like.

Another member mentioned that watching a grad. perform research does not seem as though it would be beneficial or provide someone with a good picture of what graduate life is like.

One member said that undergraduates might find it interesting to shadow a graduate or professional student, but that the reciprocal value wasn’t mutual. The member noted that as long as the time was mutually agreed ahead of time that something of value could be done during the shadowing timeframe.

Another member commented that the questionnaire seems very general and it seems as though pairing people would be difficult based on the limited information on the questionnaire.

S.Hames told members that the other assemblies were asking for GPSA support of Shadows 2000. He added that even though he did not personally see a great deal of value in Shadows 2000 for most of the graduate or professional community, he did write a resolution giving GPSA support for those who would be interested in participating. He added that the Employee Assembly passed a resolution giving enthusiastic support.

P.Carr proposed that the GPSA indefinitely postpone voting on a resolution offering support.

D.Simmons said that he would recommend approving the resolution because in theory it sounds like a good idea. He felt the GPSA might as well support it and noted that one could see the noble intent, though it doesn’t appear as though it will work as well for the graduate or professional student population in practice.

S.Hames agreed and noted that the resolution he wrote offers support, but does not volunteer GPSA participation.

P.Carr said he thought the words “joint assemblies” should be eliminated from the last part of the resolution that read: “Be it therefore resolved: that the graduate and Professional Student Assembly lend its support to the joint assemblies Shadows 2000 program”.

Members agreed to vote on the resolution, with the understanding that approval would not mean that the GPSA was volunteering to participate.

D.Simmons made a motion to vote on the resolution.

The GPSA voted and approved the Shadows 2000 resolution by acclamation.

The text of the approved resolution reads as follows:

Shadows 2000 Affirmation

Whereas: The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly is committed to creating and sustaining an understanding of and appreciation for an inclusive environment, and

Whereas: The Cornell environment includes a diversity of personalities, ideals, cultures and backgrounds, and

Whereas: the interaction of diverse populations will help to foster an inclusive environment with understanding and respect for all populations,

Be it therefore resolved: that the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly lend its support to the Shadows 2000 program.

Respectfully submitted,

Stefan Hames President, 1999–2000 GPSA

As approved by the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly by acclamation, 02/28/00.

C) Discussion of Summer Support

Tania Schusler, Natural Resources, distributed a table of data she compiled based on responses she received to the question she sent to gpsa-l regarding whether departments offer summer funding support.  She told members that some departments offer summer funding, and others have a shortage and students must compete for funds. She reported that overall it appeared that this doesn’t seem to be a big issue for most departments.  Some respondents said there was a shortage of summer funding in their department and grads were forced to find jobs in unrelated fields to get through the summer financially.

T.Schusler reported her field has spoken with the Associate Dean and that they hope to meet with Dean Cohen and the Chair of their department. She said it was helpful to get these responses from gpsa-l.

S.Hames asked members to go around the table and share how their department handles the issue of summer funding.

S. Hames said his field of ecology and evolutionary biology guaranteed summer support to all students for the first time last year. He reported that when he first came to Cornell that wasn’t the case. He said the effort to provide summer funding support is much better in his department now.

P.Carr reported that during the summer the GRA’s continue on their research grants and everyone else competes for funds in geological sciences. He believed that there are matching funds that are distributed as well.

K.Mowry reported that she thinks the GRA’s continue on their research grants and that unless “your boss” kicks in extra funds that there is a decrease in funds over the summer in nutrition. She believed that not everyone gets funding and that people have to compete for money over the summer.

K.Levac agreed, and said that some faculty are very good about bringing funding amounts up for the summer.

B.Bauerle, Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture, reported that his department provides $2,500 for the summer. He noted that this is only for those receiving assistantships in the department.

S. Hames commented that the number receiving assistantships in Horticulture is very low, such as three people.

B.Bauerle agreed the number is low and thought it might be six or seven people.

Chitkala Kalidas, Microbiology, stated summer funding is not a problem. The professor pays for the student when the student is accepted. If not, the department will pay for the student for the summer.

Keely Martin, Agricultural Economics, said they have mainly MS and Ph.D. students. She thought approximately 60–70% are funded through fellowships or assistantships. Most Ph.D. students receive funding through external sources or through their advisors. Approximately 40% do not get money from Cornell and it is a problem for international students.

Jean Ahn reported that she is with the Sloan program and probably considered part of the professional school. They are required to get a health-care residency and students in that category receive between $3,000-$8,000 over a ten week period. She believed that people unable to get a residency are helped by the school.

Mehul Motani, Electrical Engineering, reported that first year students are expected to find an advisor and work an assistantship for the first two semesters. If they don’t find an advisor they usually work an internship and then come back and find an advisor. He reported RA’s get research grants over the summer and that the student usually earns significantly more over the summer than over the academic year. He reported that in engineering in general, summer pay is higher than over the academic year.

D.Simmons, Medieval Studies, reported that summer funding is always available though it is sometimes unclear where the money is coming from. All second year students have to teach a writing seminar.

T.Schusler, reported they have a committee in their GSA and they are working on it for their department. She said she is willing to be a contact person if others wish to work with her or if they are interested in how they are progressing.

S.Hames said he would bring this issue to Dean Cohen when they next meet with him.

Adjournment

S.Hames adjourned the meeting at 6:05 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Bonnie Bailey, Office of the Assemblies