Graduate and Professional Student Assembly

Business Meeting Minutes

Big Red Barn Greenhouse March 26, 2001 5:00–6:00p.m.

Attendance: 2000–01 GPSA Members 4/24 8/28 9/25 10/30 11/27 1/22 2/26 3/26 4/23 Debbie Anderson P P E A A A A A Virginia Augusta A P P P P P P P Pat Carr P P P P P P P P Erica Doerhoff P P P Stefan Hames P P P P P E P A Sergei Krasulya P P P P P P P P Bhaskar Krishnamachari P P P P P E A P Krysta Levac P P P P P P P P Aaron Saathoff P P P P P P P P John Sebastian P P P P P P P P Lidija Sekaric P P P P P P P P Eric Sprague A A A A A A A A Lakshmi (Vatsa) Srivatsa A on-leave — resigned 8/00 Andrew Thomas A P P A P P P P Lotus Wang P P P A A A P A Jessica Ward P P P P P P Krista Zanetti P P P P P P A P Others Present: B. Bailey, A. Pleasant, and M. Carvalho.

I. Call To Order

P. Carr, At-Large Representative and President of the 2000–2001 GPSA, called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m.

II. Open Forum

J. Ward, At-Large Representative, presented a complaint from students in her department that student health insurance does not cover dental care.

P. Carr replied that there was a dental add-on option that cost around $40.00.

B. Krishnamachari, Engineering Representative, interjected that there is no participating dentist in Ithaca.

L. Sekaric, Arts & Sciences (Physical Sciences) Representative, clarified that she believed there were 2 dentists that agreed to participate and they are located in the Fall Creek area. She reminded members that there are two committees that focus on health insurance and health coverage. She also added that Cornell negotiates with the dentists and this $40 add-on is supposed to be a discount plan, not actually insurance.

V. Augusta, CALS (Social Sciences) Representative, said that it ends up costing more than it is worth. She wondered if faculty and staff had dental insurance coverage.

B. Bailey, Office of the Assemblies, answered that endowed Cornell employees do not have dental insurance, but do have the option of joining a separate dental plan. Depending on individual circumstances, it may or may not be worth the cost. She thought that statutory staff members do have dental coverage included with their health insurance.

B. Krishnamachari told members that he needed help tallying the approximately 60 dining survey emails he received from graduate students regarding dining issues. He may also want to type up a brief report to present. A tentative deadline to complete this work would be the last GPSA meeting of this year.

A. Saathoff, CALS (Biological Sciences) Representative, volunteered to help.

J. Ward inquired if there were any developments regarding unionizing graduate students at Cornell.

P. Carr said ILR was planning a “unionization fest” which would include a speaker from the UAW who headed the NYU unionization efforts.

L. Sekaric believed that some history students were also inquiring about unionization and were surveying different departments to gain an understanding of feelings on the subject. She offered to forward the email if anyone is interested.

B. Krishnamachari informed members that he had a student complain about a policy for outdoor Physical Education courses. He said people had to register in the beginning of the semester for the outdoor courses that basically start in April. However, they implement a drop deadline in February. Their issue is that if the course starts in April and someone were to drop it after February, they would lose $150. To add the course later than February, they must also pay a late fee.

P. Carr said that he would look into it.

V. Augusta said she thought the policy was such that one could get a certain percentage of money back. She gave a personal example about how she would incur a $20 penalty if she misses more than 5 of her PE classes. She added that this is not a credit course.

L. Sekaric asked if it was a separate PE class or one of the classes that one could get into with a gym pass?

V. Augusta replied that it was a separate class.

B. Bailey reminded members that the deadline for COR members to submit names of the field representatives for the 2001–2002 year is Wednesday, March 28th. She asked that if anyone was interested in continuing to serve, or knew of someone interested, to please let her know. She would send out more reminder emails as well.

III. Approval of GPSA Minutes The February 26, 2001 GPSA minutes were approved as submitted.

IV. Announcements and Reports A. Red Robe Update

K. Levac, Other Representative, reported that she spoke to Connie Mabry, Commencement Coordinator, and found out that the red robe rental for Ph.D. students would cost approximately $40–45 and the black robe rental would cost $12. According to K. Levac’s survey, people would be willing to pay the extra money to rent the red robes. C. Mabry then spoke to a representative from Collegiate Cap and Gown who informed her that the timing was too tight to do anything for this year, but he would be willing to make it available starting next year.

K. Levac reported the problem is that ALL Ph.D. candidates would then be required to wear the red robes. There would be no choice of red or black robes any longer. Consequently, all candidates would also have to pay $40–45 in rental fees. This is a concern because some of the people surveyed said that they didn’t want to pay the extra money for the red robes.

Collegiate Cap and Gown also said that they would need to know by October 2001 the number of students who would be graduating in May 2002. This also poses a problem because many Ph.D. students do not know that early in the year if they will be walking in the graduation ceremonies in May.

K. Levac asked for feedback from the GPSA before C. Mabry moves forward.

A. Saathoff asked about the possibility of recycling the law school robes, as had been mentioned at an earlier meeting.

K. Levac responded that she would ask C. Mabry about it again. The problem with this solution is the tight turn-around time. The law school graduation is only 2 weeks before the big commencement ceremony and the company may not feel it could make an obligation to guarantee that the red robes are returned to them, laundered, and then returned to Cornell in that two week period. Another concern would be if there would be enough red robes from the law school graduation to cover all of the Ph.D. candidates walking in graduation.

B. Krishnamachari asked if they were supposed to find out how many people would be interested in getting the red robes.

K. Levac clarified that the problem they are facing is that all Ph.D. candidates would be forced to wear the red robes and therefore all would pay the higher cost.

V. Augusta asked if this is the way it worked at other schools. She elaborated that at her former institution the Ph.D. candidates wore black robes and the undergraduates wore the school colors.

J. Sebastian noted that people in his department that plan to go into academics do not all want to wear the red robes. Would they have to buy the black robes and also rent the red robes?

K. Levac said that she would ask about that.

P. Carr added that he did not think the extra cost was a big problem.

L. Sekaric disagreed, saying that people who did not care about wearing the red robes would still be forced to pay the extra money if this were implemented. She felt a problem with the survey is that its respondents included people who would be walking this year as well as people who may only be walking 4 years from now.

B. Krishnamachari wondered why the option allowing people to chose which color robe they wanted to rent would be lost. The only problem they may have is foreseeing the number of red robes they would need.

V. Augusta proposed a compromise to take to C. Mabry that would raise all students’ rental fees up to $20 and allow people to choose which color they would like to wear.

K. Levac said she would present all this feedback to C. Mabry and report back at the next meeting.

P. Carr asked if she could send out the information on gpsa-l@cornell.edu since the end of the year is so close.

B. Executive Committee

P. Carr announced an Ivy League Graduate and Professional Student Conference taking place in New Haven this Saturday. He went last year and felt it was informative and a lot of fun. He cannot go this year and is looking for another GPSA member to attend this event.

C. Buddy and Panel Discussion

K. Levac announced that efforts to get a Buddy System Program or Panel Discussion underway have continued. She and K. Zanetti, At-Large Representative, have tried to get these programs going, but no one showed up at the organizational meeting or responded to emails.

B.Krishnamachari said that the engineering school did a similar program called “Behind the scenes: life of a graduate student” and only about 10 undergraduates attended.

K. Zanetti added that no undergraduates showed up to their meeting.

K. Levac reported that she would wait until the end of the week to be contacted with anyone indicating interest. If she hears from no one, she would stop efforts as there appears be no interest.

B. Krishnamachari clarified that he felt that the engineering program’s problem was that it was not well advertised. However, the students that participated said that they got a lot out of it.

V. Business of the Day

B.Krishnamachari announced that he was no longer receiving emails from the Dining Committee.

B. Bailey said she wasn’t sure how frequently that committee was meeting, but she would notify the committee chair.

A. Saathoff remarked that he was appointed to the Budget Planning Committee. He has never heard anything from this committee and wondered if they ever meet.

B. Bailey responded that this committee has not gotten off the ground and does not meet.

A) R.3 — Resolution on Improving the Big Red Barn

A. Saathoff reported that he and K. Thompson, Horticulture Representative, had followed-up with CIT after the GPSA had talked about possibly using some of its surplus money for a computer-related project. CIT gave two estimates for installing ethernet ports upstairs in the Big Red Barn. 1. Putting outlets along the wall = $2,200. A. Saathoff said the cords would run across the walkway, which could be a hazardous condition. 2. Putting outlets across the table (black panels) = $2,900

A. Saathoff proposed that the GPSA spend $2,907 to install the jacks so they would have no problems with the cords. He felt this would be a tangible improvement and a benefit to graduate students. This cost would cover the installation costs only. After that initial installation cost, the Big Red Barn would be required to cover the maintenance fees of approximately $56 per month.

V. Augusta asked how many jacks they would have.

A. Saathoff replied there would be 2 quad jacks, or 4 per outlet to total 8 connections. He was also told that no IP number would be needed.

A. Thomas, JGSM Representative, asked about the possibility of getting extra cords for the Big Red Barn.

P. Carr said that the Big Red Barn might be able to pay for extra cords.

A. Saathoff told members he has communicated with the Big Red Barn personnel regarding this proposal and they agree with what he is reporting. They are not present at the meeting because he was unable to get in touch with them beforehand.

V. Augusta asked about the status of getting a public kiosk for the Big Red Barn.

A. Saathoff said CIT would provide a public kiosk early this summer. The kiosk is a 400-megahertz Dell system. Since it looks as if the Big Red Barn will be able to get the kiosk, the GPSA does not have to worry about this as one of its issues any longer.

L. Sekaric asked what the amount of the GPSA surplus was.

B. Bailey responded that it was staying steady at approximately $18,000.

P. McPheron, Director of Graduate Student Housing, spoke about some of the technical problems at Cornell. He wondered if they were getting the latest wiring available so they would not be facing having to upgrade in the near future.

B.Krishnamachari asked if CIT would be responsible for any problems that may occur with the ports?

A. Saathoff responded that they would.

K. Zanetti told of a problem she had with her computer in the lab and was told by CIT that she didn’t need an IP address. After 3 days they figured out that that is exactly what she needed.

J .Sebastian volunteered to find out more information. He said he’d check with Lincoln Hall because they have a new set up and he would try to see how it has been working and if they have had any problems with it.

K. Zanetti asked if someone from CIT would be specifically assigned to handle technical problems that may occur at the Big Red Barn.

A. Saathoff said that CIT didn’t bring that up to him, but he would find out.

P. Carr suggested that the IP address could be written on each port.

P. McPheron said that Cornell is behind technologically right now. They are in the process of building up their infrastructure, but that takes times. He told members that right now, most new systems are 10/100. In this case, they may be offering to provide obsolete equipment that would need to be re-wired. It would work for the short-term, but in a few years the wires would need to be replaced by new wires and there would be costs associated with that.

A. Saathoff moved to table the discussion until he gets further information to bring back to the group at the next meeting.

B) Grievance Advocate

P. Carr announced that Walter Cohen, Dean of the Graduate School, would bring up the GPSA’s concerns to the General Committee.

A. Pleasant asked who wrote the Code of Academic Integrity? He felt it appeared to have been written by a faculty member from the position of a faculty member, as opposed to that of a student.

A. Pleasant, quoted from the Red Policy Book, stated his concern with the fact that the faculty member that charges the student is also the first judge of the validity of the claim.

J. Sebastian clarified that the second faculty member is only there as a witness so if it goes to Committee they can validate what was said at the meeting.

P. Carr commented that perhaps graduates should be separated from undergraduates for that procedure. Graduate student advisors play a big role in the graduate students’ future.

A. Pleasant requested Section 2, Subsection B be changed so that an independent party would be the judge of the student’s hearings.

J. Sebastian clarified that the reason for it is that it streamlines the process and allows it to get resolved as soon as possible. The larger issue is that in the case discussed at the last meeting, the faculty jumped in and took action before the process even occurred.

A. Pleasant asked how often this occurs?

K. Levac argued that from the beginning of the process, the graduate school should be informed. Before the primary hearing, the student should meet with someone from the graduate school to explain the process.

A. Pleasant clarified that they are given such options but most students aren’t aware of these options.

K .Levac asked if it should then be required that it be explained to the students first?

P. Carr asked if members felt that graduates should have a separate graduate school policy.

V. Augusta noted a major difference between graduate and undergraduate students, saying that undergraduate students may be asked to leave for a semester, however a graduate student loses funds, fellowships, etc.

L. Sekaric volunteered to look into how practical it would be to change it for graduate students.

V. Augusta said that most undergraduates would just receive an F because the professors don’t want to deal with all of the administration.

A. Pleasant said that in the case discussed at the last meeting, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

J. Sebastian added that the student’s status was lowered and funding was cut off.

A. Pleasant asked how often this happens?

P. Carr responded that he thinks it occurs approximately once every 2 years or so.

A. Pleasant said that the problem is that in this case people in the graduate school know and are talking about what happened.

P. Carr said that he would talk to Walter, do his research on it and talk about it at the next COR meeting.

A. Pleasant concluded that options are available to students, but students are not aware of them.

P. Carr announced that Leslie Barkemeyer was elected as the new Student-elected Trustee during the recent elections in March. Approximately 213 graduate students voted.

J. Sebastian added that the Big Red Barn was closed on one of the voting days due to inclement weather and this may have been a factor in the turnout number.

VI. Adjournment

P. Carr adjourned the meeting at 6:10p.m.

Respectfully Submitted, Melissa Carvalho, student clerk