Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
Council of Representatives
Minutes
G10 Biotech
September 13, 2004
5:30–7:00 p.m.

I. Welcome and Introductions

The officers and committee chairs introduced themselves.

II. Updates

A. Assembly — Brian Holmes

B. Holmes said that 8/30 was the first assembly meeting. And that the paying benefits and priorities resolution was passed which was a unanimous decision.

B. Communications Committee — Harley Etienne

H. Etienne said that the GPSA website is updated and new. He also mentioned that there is GPSA-L which is a new email service which updates members about new information.

Majority voted that it is okay if only the subscribers are able to make posts because of the issue with strangers posting spam.

C. Activity Fee — Kevin O’Neill

K. O’Neill said that the NAGPS membership amount was lowered. He also mentioned that hockey tickets will be on sale (he doesn’t know when) and the graduate students will have their own line, the tickets will be cheaper and they will have better seats.

D. Elections Committee — Joshua Nelson

J. Nelson was unable to attend, so B. Holmes did the update. B. Holmes stated that we need new representatives.

E. University Assembly — Doug Mitarotonda

D. Mitarotonda was unable to attend so T. McConnochie filled in for him. He mentioned that this is an organizational meeting and described the University Assembly. T. McConnochie said that they want to experiment with leadership by rotating chairs. He also encouraged people to contact a UA rep about any problems/grievances.

III. Committee Overview and Applications — Tim McConnochie

A. University Committees/Grad School Committees — Tim McConnochie

• General Committee — A.J. Felkey
  • A brief description of the General Committee was given.
• Codes and Judicial Committee — Rich Helms
  • A brief description of the codes and judicial committee was given.
  • T. McConnochie also discussed how to apply and how positions are appointed.

B. GPSA Committees

A review of the GPSA Committees was done.

• Pay and Benefits — Anne Poduska
  • A. Poduska stressed coherence and voice.
• Finance Commission — Ruchira Bhattamishra
  • R. Bhattamishra wants more people to apply for GPSA Committees
• Funding Policy — Kevin O’Neill
  • K. O’Neill mentioned more females are needed on the committee
• Events Planning — Michelle Leinfelder
  • M. Leinfelder would like to continue having a BBQ for graduate students at the end of the year.
• Elections — Joshua Nelson
  • J. Nelson would like more people from every area to be a representative.
• Communications — Harley Etienne
  • H. Etienne said that he would like to improve internal communications, and communication within the entire graduate professional area, he would also like to be able to tell the rest of the community what we are doing.

IV. GPSA Overview — Harley Etienne and Brian Holmes

There was an overview of the structure of the GPSA. B. Holmes also gave an explanation of the flow chart “constituency and leadership structure” he created.

V. Assembly Election — Harley Etienne and Joshua Nelson

H. Etienne asked for people to be allowed to participate in elections for the assembly seat.

Motion Passed

VI. ‘04-‘05 GPSA Issue Prioritizing — Harley Etienne and Tim McConnochie

Additional Issues — the members voted on which issues to discuss
”Green” Planting (3)
Campus-Town relations (2)
Personal safety on campus (6)
”Continuing education”/expanding diversity (1)
Housing (10)
Transparency of Policies
Career Services (3)
Exercise Facilities (2)
Academic Integrity (2)
Career Counseling for Ph. D. students pursuing academic careers (2)
Diversity (4)
Health Center Resources (6)
GPSA & Graduate School Communications (11)
Image and Marketing of Cornell University and its graduate Programs (4)
International graduate and professional students (4)
Mental health resources (1)
Students with families (7)
Pay and Benefits (4)
Transportation (12)
Workload Standards for TAs/RAs/Gas (1)

VII. Mock Election — Raj Shah

R. Shah mentioned a little bit about the mock election. It has a website which is mockelection.cornell.edu and R. Shah can be contacted through his net ID of RSS45.

VIII. Open Forum

Issues with transportation and parking were briefly discussed.

IX. Adjournment

H. Etienne adjourned the meeting at 7:03pm.

Respectfully submitted,
YuhLi Tsuei
Office of the Assemblies