Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
Council of Representatives
Notes
Big Red Barn
December 8, 2003
5:30–7:00 p.m.

Attendance:

Present: Larry Boyd, Brian Holmes, Gavin Hurley, Curtis Jirsa, Dan Marques, Joan Moriarty, Ariana Vigil, Karen Trainor

Excused:

Unexcused: Sam Flaxman, Kurt Massey, Timothy McConnochie, Mark McGuire, Anne McNeil, David Schmale III, Susannah Schmid, Cate Taylor, Farbod Raiszadeh

Others present: J. Nelson, A. Rachamim, H. Etienne, E. Coryell, A. Martin, V. Blodgett, E. Stephens, H. O’Neil, G. Hall, E. Furlan, K. O’Neill, S. Munro, K. Bedell, J. Comeau, T. Wall, A. Poduska, R. Bhattamishra, G. Dahlberg, P. McPheron, S. Finckneiner, E. Stutzman, H. Corigan, I. Packman, T. Bishop, T. Tsuei

I. Call to Order

G. Hurley called the meeting to order at 5:35. He said D. Schmale couldn’t make the meeting and sends his apologies.

II. Open Forum

V. Blodgett said she attended a student affairs division heads meeting and they discussed President Lehmann’s Call for Engagement. They talked about how grad students can be involved, i.e. GPSA and COR.

Joshua Nelson said that faculty and staff get letters of distinguishment, grad students should get a letter also to accompany their resumes. His wife can’t find work as a result of this.

V. Blodgett offered to help.

Larry said the Johnson School has active spouse work.

Joshua said his email was JBN8.

III. Announcements & Updates

A) GPSA Update
G. Hurley said they finalized the student activity fee at $62, a $12 increase. Details are on the website. Athletics is reserving 250 hockey tickets for grad students, so funding for them is at $6. They passed a resolution on the Cornell logo. The undergrad committee is looking for grad input. The EA will pass something and the SA already has.

B. Holmes suggested working with the faculty senate.

G. Hurley said they passed a resolution on getting a grad trustee. The EA passed a resolution asking for a new seat. The SA introduced a resolution supporting the GPSA and the UA passed a resolution supporting them all.

T. Bishop said the student trustees and employee trustee are writing a letter in support too.

G. Hurley said they also passed a resolution on FAIR.

L. Boyd said he served in the military and the Jag officers were integral. Cornell is bad at inclusiveness and integration. The resolution isn’t attacking what should be attacked. They should go after the policy makers, not the military. He wouldn’t have voted for the resolution.

A. Vigil said the military violates the law school’s code of conduct, as a point of clarification. That’s the issue.

B. Holmes said that he is against the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. The resolution is narrowly construed not to take a position on the military.

B) Other Updates
Call to Engagment
G. Hurley said the GPSA should stay away from saying “this is what students want” due to the diversity of constituents. They should stay at a field level and are trying to come up with ideas on how the GPSA can contribute.

H. Etienne said the UA suggested town forum meetings. He is against it and wants different constituents to meet separately to make things more interesting.

E. Coryell asked is there any funding for doing activities?

G. Hurley said he isn’t sure.

B. Holmes suggested a retreat workshop.

T. Bishop said the EA is targeting various constituents.

V. Blodgett said Lehman thinks of the “Call to Engagement” as a loose-leaf binder full of ideas, it is very informal and he wants discussion.

K. Massey suggested an ad hoc committee and it was formed.

K. Massey said the UA is discussing the process of starting of university committees. Right now the committees are not functioning well, i.e. quorum, objectives, process of being on committees, and membership. He is asking for input and you can email him at KAM74.

H. Etienne said the Committee of Committees is a problem because D. Schmale is the only standing member and he is looking to fix that.

K. Massey said the issue is building awareness.

B) Other Assembly Updates
G. Hurley said the Kinko’s/Pool room issue has been postponed to next semester.

E. Coryell asked if that can be a “Call to Engagement” idea.

G. Hurley said Kent Hubbell proposed it to be a 2nd meeting space.

IV. Business of the Day

A) CINTAS
J. Moriarty said COLA wants to kick CINTAS off campus because they violate a lot of laws. They want to raise awareness to their discrimination. The SA passed a resolution. They want an apology from career services.

Hillary (undergrad) said she found out career services has a database of “troublemakers”, like a blacklist. Career services gave names and she was red flagged from CINTAS because of her union activity.

Iris (undergrad) said she got into the session and career services asked how did she get into the meeting and was asked “Hope you don’t fling mud today.”

J. Moriarty said a student wasn’t let in because he “didn’t look like a student.” CINTAS was trying to get Hillary fired from her job at the Statler too. At the next meeting they will submit a resolution.

K. Massey said career services should serve students, not companies. They need to bring this to high administration and a response needs to be strong.

J. Moriarty said they are not denying the existence of a blacklist. They are asking for a public apology from career services and the events management. They are also asking for a policy that no lists be made nor discrimination allowed. They want to punish CINTAS.

C. Jirsa asked who regulates student services?

J. Moriarty said Susan Murphy.

Hillary said Susan Murphy is working on an apology letter and once she finds it acceptable, Susan Murphy will publicize it.

C. Jirsa asked is there any history of this with career services?

J. Moriarty said no.

V. Blodgett said that she works with career services for grads and they have pre-registration for events. So they do have people to turn away non-desirables.

S. Flaxman said he’s heard different versions of this story.

Steve said they need to hear from career services.

V. Blodgett said she would be happy to be a liaison.

Steve said it is important not to turn the meeting with career services into a forum on labor law rights.

H. Etienne said this could be a call to engagement topic.

B. Holmes asked will the resolution ask them to acknowledge breaking the law?

Hillary said they already have in the letter.

B) Charter Revision
B. Holmes said they should work on cleaning it up next semester. There is confusion in names of groups as a whole and the 2 different groups (GPSA/COR versus 17 voting GPSA members). He suggested the Assembly vs Council of Representativves.

C) Improving GPSAFC
B. Holmes said that > Boyd and himself have sent an email out to group treasurers asking for problems to address.

L. Boyd said they want to streamline student funding.

Trevor said they need to find a way to give unused money back to GPSAFC. They should make social more proportional to group size.

L. Boyd said they are trying to make ideas into functional policies.

Trevor said they should combine line items.

K. Massey said he is a proponent of super scale allocating. He feels there is inequality in allocation.

L. Boyd agrees.

E. Coryell said oversight should be encouraged.

L. Boyd said they need to determine who should and shouldn’t be micromanaged.

D. Marques asked is there any way to police how the money is spent?

B. Holmes said if they find out money is being spent incorrectly, then there is no reimbursement.

Steve asked are there any groups that over apply for money?

L. Boyd said statistics are kept on request, allocation, and amount spent.

B. Holmes said they should penalize groups for not spending money if they don’t know the rules.

A student said it looks like allocation is arbitrary and the big issue is how much money to give and who deserves it.

A. Vigil said as treasurer of another group, she doesn’t see the issue to be who deserves money because it is strictly politics. She is satisfied with the current guidelines.

D. Marques said they need to make sure the groups are spending responsibly.

C. Jirsa said the main concern is a system that is too dependent on special projects requests.

B. Holmes said special project requests gives the finance committee more control.

V. Blodgett said giving value to projects is a slippery slope. They should award money based on “bonus points”, i.e. grad student involvement.

L. Boyd encourages equitable distribution of funds. Lots of clubs are in the Johnson School and few are funded above average and they are watering themselves down.

V. Adjournment

G. Hurley adjourned the meeting at 7:00.

Respectfully submitted,
Tyng Tsuei
Office of the Assemblies