DRAFT
Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
Minutes
Big Red Barn
January 31, 2005
5:30–7:00 p.m.

I. Call to Order

B. Holmes called the meeting to order at 5:33 p.m.

II. Open Forum

D. Mitarotonda said that CU will be having a new large construction project-Thurston bridge. It will be partially closed beginning Fall ‘05 and then it will be completely closed Fall ‘06. Thurston Bridge will be widened so there will be bike lanes and wider sidewalks. This will be a year long project.

He said University Ave is not repaved because it is a Cornell problem but city property. They are unwilling to put money into it.

J. Nelson said that elections are coming up. He needs volunteers to serve on the elections committee, 2–3 people.

S. Hernandez said that Gannett doesn’t cover STD testing. A. Poduska said that it is mentioned in the Pay and Benefits survey. She said that they can use this information for the survey.

III. Approval of Minutes

a. November 29, 2004

Some corrections were made, and then the minutes were approved.

IV. Announcements and Updates

a. Council Update — H. Etienne

H. Etienne said the December council meeting was dominated by 2 conversations.
1. CIT spam blocking software
2. Pay and Benefits survey

b. CIT Proposal Update — B. Holmes

B. Holmes said he asked CIT to provide an opt out option for spam. The resolution was passed unanimously.

c. Pay and Benefits Survey Update — A. Poduska

A. Poduska said that she cleared the survey through professors. They needed to push back the survey date by a week because there is another survey.

On 2/14 an email will be sent out notifying people of the survey and on 2/21 the survey will be distributed.

d. GPSA Finance Commission Update — J. Woody

J. Woody said that he has gone through budget packets and prepared for next year. 3/2 or 3/3 will be the funding meeting. 4/8 is when the funding requests will be due.

e. Other updates

There were no other updates.

V. Old Business

a. GPSA Finance Commission Chair Election — B. Holmes

J. Woody was nominated. There were no other nominations so the nominations were closed. J. Woody was elected

b. Spring Ball — J. Vertesi

J. Vertesi said she is in the early stages of planning the spring ball. It will be held mid/late April. The ball will be maybe the 27th or the 29th.

The ball will be formal, maybe it will be held at the Statler.

J. Vertesi said there will be cocktails beforehand, jazz playing during dinner with a ballroom dancing teacher and a DJ for the rest of the night.

J. Vertesi said hopefully it will be under $20 for a ticket, possibly $10–15. YuYu suggested a discount for GPSA members and to ask the ballroom dancing club with ballroom dancing lessons.

A. Soule said they can have people co-sponsor the ball.

G. Curtis said they need to set a good precedent.

There are many graduate students (6000) and the Statler can sit at the most 200 people.

Somebody suggested tent rentals.

VI. New Business

a. Operations Review Committee — T. McConnochie

T. McConnochie said that the Operations Review Committee needs to review and revise/update the charter. This committee is from the internal operations committee

b. Trustee Nominating Committee Report — G. Hurley and Y. Yu

G. Hurley gave an overview of the committee.

Y. Yu mentioned deadlines and dates for the election information.

G. Hurley discussed rules and the process of the trustee nominating committee. He also discussed rules that will be discussed.

c. Executive Session

d. R. 6, Resolution Regarding the Graduate Leadership Network — B. Holmes

B. Holmes discussed R. 6. A. Soule moved the vote. There was a unanimous vote for the resolution. (15 people)

VII. Adjournment

B. Holmes adjourned the meeting at 6:50pm.

The GPSA went into executive session after the meeting was adjourned.