Graduate and Professional Student Assembly

Minutes Business Meeting

Big Red Barn Greenhouse August 28, 2000 5:00–6:00 p.m.

Attendance: 2000–2001 GPSA Members 4/24 8/28 9/25 10/30 11/27 1/22 2/26 3/26 4/23 Debbie Anderson P P Virginia Augusta A P Pat Carr P P Stefan Hames P P Sergei Krasulya P P Bhaskar Krishnamachari P P Krysta Levac P P Krista Mowry P P Aaron Saathoff P P John Sebastian P P Lidija Sekaric P P Eric Sprague A A Lakshmi (Vatsa) Srivatsa A on-leave — resigned 8/00 Andrew Thomas A P Lotus Wang P P Others Present: Ileana Stoica, Sarah Johnson, Tanya Gwathmey, Hilary Ford, Mark J. Greenbaum, Bonnie Bailey, and Courtney Bolger

I. Call to Order

Pat Carr, At-Large Representative and President of the 2000–2001 GPSA, called the meeting to order at 5:07 p.m.

II. Open Forum

K. Mowry, At-Large Representative and GPSA Secreatry, asked if people had to sign a petition when they picked up their fellowship check at the graduate school.

Many members responded that they had.

S. Hames, Division of Biological Sciences Representative, said an informal poll the GPSA conducted last spring on this issue was essentially a “dead heat”.

A. Saathoff, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (Biological Sciences) Representative, expressed irritation that he was asked to sign the petition. He felt that the information provided on the petition was slanted and did not provide the full picture and he was concerned students would sign the petition without being accurately informed.

K. Mowry, At-Large Representative and GPSA Secretary, agreed that there wasn’t enough information provided. She felt it was not clearly outlined what you were signing for.

P. Carr announced that the Graduate Student Public Service Center Outreach Program had contacted him concerning their Open House scheduled for September 27. He asked members for their participation. Those interested should e-mail him at pmc1@cornell.edu.

D. Anderson, Architecture, Art and Planning (Social Sciences) Representative, requested the names of the people in her GPSA cluster to help her in devising a listserv so that she could reach out to other students in her field cluster. Bonnie Bailey, Office of the Assemblies, will help in providing this information to her.

III. Approval of GPSA Minutes

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

The minutes of the April 24, 1999 meeting of the 2000–2001 GPSA were approved as submitted.

IV. Announcements and Reports A. Executive Committee

P. Carr distributed a committee membership listing to those assembled and called attention to the 2000–2001 committee appointments. He pointed out that there are still openings on the Faculty Advisory Committee on Athletics and Physical Education, the West Campus Living/Learning Council, the Student Assembly Dining Committee, and positions on the Academic Integrity Committee of the Graduate School. He added that the Re-accreditation Steering Committee is asking for one person to fill a graduate/professional student position.

V. Augusta, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (Social Sciences) Representative, expressed interest in the Re-accreditation Steering Committee. She would like to know more about the time commitments.

S. Hames would like this information forwarded to him as well.

P. Carr informed members that Cris Gardner, Director of the Office of the Assemblies, retired in July. He has been part of the search committee and is helping with interviewing of people for the position.

P. Carr announced that he had received solicitation from gradresources.com which was trying to give out free phone cards. He ultimately found out that this offer was being sponsored by the Campus Crusade for Christ. He felt that Campus Crusade should approach people openly with this offer.

B. Communications Committee

L. Sekaric, Arts and Sciences (Physical Sciences) and Vice President of the GPSA, called attention to the GPSA Charter, p. 11 - Section 9.5. She stated that GPSA liaisons to the EA and SA were needed. She also brought up the issue of having the secretary publish the GPSA minutes.

Others felt that the GPSA minutes routinely appear on the website and that was good enough.

S. Johnson, Employee Assembly (EA) Member, said that providing a bulleted message highlighting important issues has been discussed by EA. She felt this would be a practical way to inform other assemblies of their proceedings.

L. Sekaric suggested that the GPSA might want to revise the information booklet, Life at Cornell, which is sent to new graduate students. She added that Hilary Ford, Assistant Dean of the Graduate School, is willing to work with interested people to include more relevant material.

B. Krishnamachari, Engineering Representative, stated that the engineering graduate students (EGSA) already provide new graduate students with this type of information.

L. Sekaric suggested that forming a website might be an easier way to keep information updated and accessible.

H. Ford said that Cornell would be revising the booklet, Life at Cornell, this fall so that it will be ready for publication in February. She added that they try to put information in the book that will not be out-of-date in two years. She suggested that information that might go out-of-date quickly be placed on a website so that it could be more easily updated.

L. Sekaric asked people to let her know if they were interested in working on the booklet. S. Hames said that he would be willing to read through the booklet and provide feedback . D. Anderson, K. Mowry and S. Krasulya, Engineering Representative, also said they’d be interested in helping. The members felt that there was no need to form a committee. Instead, people could volunteer and provide feedback on an interest basis.

H. Ford added that copies of the booklet are currently available at the graduate school and admissions office.

V. Business of the Day A. Annual Goal-Setting

Members were asked to go around the room and state their issues or ideas for the up-coming year.

S. Hames said the issue of health insurance was important.

B. Krishnamachari said that one of his concerns was with the graduate students’ dining options. Many other graduate students had approached him with complaints about the high cost of meal plans.

P. Carr said the GPSA currently has a committee vancancy on the Student Assembly Dining Committee and asked if B. Krishnamachari would like to fill that vacancy?

B. Krishnamachari replied that he would be glad to do so.

K. Levac would like to communicate issues from the UA. She felt the GPSA should take a pro-active approach concerning issues.

K. Mowry hopes to see more and better communication between COR and GPSA. She wants increased awareness among the general population that the GPSA is the governing body.

V. Augusta also feels the GPSA should take a pro-active approach on issues and improve communication.

L. Wang, Veterinary Representative, wants to increase communication and awareness of the GPSA with Veterinary students.

A. Saathoff feels there is a lack of awareness concerning the Assembly and hopes to improve this situation.

S. Krasulya is concerned with health insurance issues. He felt that dealing with issues that affect many others would help to create interest in the GPSA.

A. Thomas, JGSM Representative, hopes to get the word out regarding the GPSA at the Johnson School. He also hopes to focus on parking issues.

J. Sebastian, Arts and Sciences (Humanities) Representative, agreed with previous members. He added that life at Cornell seems to revolve around undergraduates and that University life seems to stop when the undergraduates leave. He was frustrated that library hours were reduced in the summer when this is a time that large numbers of graduate and professional students still remain at Cornell to do work. He noted that dining halls were closed as well.

P. Carr asked for a show of hands to indicate how many graduate/professional students remained in Ithaca over this past summer. Almost all persons present indicated they were in Ithaca this past summer.

A. Saathoff wondered why the Big Red Barn closes when the undergraduates leave? After all, the Big Red Barn is the Graduate Student Center on Campus and many of the graduate students remain here for the summer.

D. Anderson would like to help others with organization funding issues.

J. Sebastian, Chair of the GPSAFC, said he would be sending out GPSAFC budget information soon.

L. Sekaric wants to make COR more like GPSA. Many COR members are interested in being able to vote. She hopes to encourage COR members to attend GPSA meetings.

D. Anderson asked why L. Sekaric wished to expand the GPSA to be more like the COR. D. Anderson felt decision-making in a smaller group was easier to pass.

P. Carr wanted to discuss making GPSA and COR one group.

In the discussion, S. Hames said that he agreed with L. Sekaric, but felt it was better to bring issues to COR and get feedback to forward to the GPSA.

P. Carr added that GPSA should be more action oriented than COR. The order of issues should be that an action is presented, a discussion occurs, and the act is voted on. He elaborated that he would like members to feel meetings are productive and avoid having COR/GPSA meetings where discussions simply duplicate themselves.

Ileana Stoica hopes to help advertise COR/GPSA.

T. Gwathmey, Physiology, is also concerned with the library’s summer hours. She also hopes to improve graduate social activities such as TGIF. V. Augusta added that other department happy hours sometimes compete against TGIF. P. Carr said that the Assembly should keep this issue in mind for the coming year.

B. Parking Charges

L. Sekaric mentioned that CC lot (by RPCC) is now off-limits for graduate students. This lot is convenient for students in the Physics and Chemistry departments. Parking in the CC lot has now been offered to undergraduate students whose parking spots were displaced due to construction on North Campus. Students have also been complaining about the lack of night parking. It was commented that many of these spaces are reserved for professors who are not on campus at night.

K. Mowry stated that she had a recent injury and investigated getting a handicapped parking permit. She was told that she’d be required to pay $70 a month to get the permit. She felt that this was an unfair policy. H. Ford advised the Assembly to pursue this concern further.

P. Carr said he would e-mail the Transportation representative concerning these issues.

L. Sekaric remarked that students should get a certain number of emergency parking permits. Many members questioned the University policy regarding this issue. It was agreed that it might be beneficial to invite someone from Transportation to speak to COR regarding transportation policies. R. Ghearing, General Manager of TCAT, was mentioned as a very approachable person to speak to about these concerns.

V. Augusta brought up the issue of carpooling. She wondered why graduate students who carpooled were not offered a discount on parking permits. Apparently, employees receive this benefit. S. Hames commented that offering a discount to graduate students would be in the University’s best interest.

K. Mowry would like to be involved in pursuing handicapped parking issues.

P. Carr stated that now would be the time to set up action steps such as contacting the transportation representative and speaking to COR about these concerns. D. Anderson added that the Assembly needs to clarify these complaints so that the issues can be resolved. S. Hames also commented that they need to set priorities and discuss what they need to pursue.

C. Graduate Student Dining Options

P. Carr suggested that they save the dining issues for discussion at COR. He will get in touch with B. Krishnamachari about the duties for the SA Dining Committee.

D. AAUP Statement on Graduate Student’s Rights

This was postponed due to lack of time. 

E. Approval of the University Calendar 2002–2005

This was postponed due to lack of time.

F. UMI Copyright Issues

This was postponed due to lack of time.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned by P. Carr at 6:05pm

Respectfully Submitted, Courtney Bolger, student clerk