Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
Big Red Barn
September 25, 2006
5:30–7:00 p.m.

I. Call to Order

M. Walsh called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m.

II. Resolution 2 � S. Boutin

S. Boutin wanted to make a motion to move the resolution up which is at the bottom of the agenda.

Y. Yu second. There was a 2/3 vote, so the motion passed.

S. Boutin said the R. 2 is for the emergency specialty committee. The idea is if somebody came to the assembly that required immediate action, had a pressing deadline or had something that was going to greatly impact the number of graduate students that wouldn�t be able to come to a normal meeting scheduled; this committee would be an information gathering tool and provide a summary so that the GPSA can decide whether or not to do anything about the issue.

S. Boutin said he structured the resolution with the pre-existing charter so that the assembly doesn�t have to change it.

S. Boutin read the resolution out loud because there were not any written copies.

M. Walsh opened the floor for questions.

There were no questions.

M. Walsh opened the floor for debate.

G. Curtis did not think the conflict of interest is ever possible and used the Hasbrouk group from last year as an example. She does not think an issue can be addressed fully without having it done neutrally.

S. Boutin responded that it�s important that their interests be represented by being able to present themselves to the assembly. Hasbrouk would be able to sit with the people on the committee and tell them their case and then be summarized by the information gathering team. This is o that a biased view would not be put out.

S. Boutin said if people in the committee has a conflict of interest, the people in the committee will rotate (use different people).

G. Curtis wanted it to be stated more gently that their biases be put aside.

S. Boutin said that we�d all be able to decide and choose who can be put into the committee. He said hopefully only people who feel like they will do a good �objective� job will promote this. S. Boutin said everybody will be able to decide who should or shouldn�t serve on the committee.

A. McNamura said that it is perfectly fine the way it is. She thinks we should test it out and see how it works and then make changes if need be.

G. Curtis thinks that we should all agree on a summary before it comes out so that the executive committee won�t make the decision without them or circumvent the assembly.

S. Boutin said this resolution was meant to be somewhat flexible. He said he didn�t want to go too formal for a rule.

G. Curtis proposed to make an amendment during the debate on Article IV Section B to pull out �or executive committee.�

Nobody second it. The motion for the amendment failed.

There was no more debate on the topic.

The assembly voted on resolution 2. 12 voted for the resolution, 0 against, 1 abstain. R. 2 passed.

III. Approval of Minutes � August 28, 2006

Some changes were made in the minutes.

K. Nagel made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. E. Spero second it. With no dissent, the minutes were approved.

IV. Executive and Committee Updates

M. Walsh said that he and A. Epstein were able to meet a Cornell lobbyist in Albany. The lobbyist told them about a student lobbying day where students are allowed to go to Albany for a day and tell them what Cornell needs.

M. Walsh said that he hopes to see some graduate students involved this year. They are looking for students in statutory schools who can say how much good they do for NY State and ask for more money.

M. Walsh said he is looking for some people to take up to with Albany, which will probably take a full day. It is a good opportunity to see how state government works as well.

M. Walsh said the trip will probably be in December or February. He said that 3–4 grad students can go.

If interested, contact M. Walsh.

Y. Yu asked how successful the lobbying is.

M. Walsh replied by saying they are very successful. He said that for undergrads with financial aid it worked very well.

Y. Yu asked if they add contribution to Cornell, or set up scholarships.

M. Walsh responded by saying they write a budget and the legislature has an impact.

Y. Yu had a suggestion that students who don�t have summer funding can go.

M. Walsh replied by saying the government might be more willing to give building capital rather than funding at the graduate level but might they might have some room for that.

Y. Yu said she got an email about going to Washington DC to talk to congress to get funding. She said going there is another suggestion to try and get funding.

A. Chatterjee, said the major committees are well staffed and we got the numbers wanted. Field representation also got a good number which is a place that was traditionally under-represented. There are still some available positions:

• Graduate Resident Advisory Group
  • Schulyer
  • Hasbrouck
  • Thurston Ct
  • Maplewood
• Transportation Working Group
  • Faculty senate ad hoc committee
  • Transporation, Sustainability and Environment
• Joint Assemblies Committees
  • Joint assemblies financial aid review committee
• Student Assembly Committees Open to Graduate Students
  • Slope day steering committee
  • Student Assembly Committee on Dining services
• Faculty Senate Committees Open to Graduate Students
  • Faculty Senate Academic freedom and professional status of faculty
  • Faculty senate transportation representative
  • University faculty library committee
  • University lectures committee
• Other
  • grad school academic integrity committee
  • Committee on Alcohol and other Drugs
  • trustee nominating committee
  • committee on academic freedom and professional status of the faculty

V. Open Forum

A. McNamara was wondering if there was an update on the deer issue.

G. Curtis said that they did not make a decision and that she was the only person who said that there were some people who were opposed to culling. She said the committee actually can�t make a decision and that they�re not a body to make a decision.

VI. Budget Approval

Y. Yu distributed a handout�GPSA projected operating budget and gave a description of the budget and where she got the figures from.

Special funds: the ivy summit- e-board attends
Weil med school: 2 e-board members attend to keep in contact
Slope day: have no promised an amount this year, gave them 4k last year.

Y. Yu said the estimated proposed income is from the student activities fee.

Z. Wang asked about when the budget is approved, does it necessarily mean that $4,000 will be used for slope day.

M. Walsh said it�s a projected/preliminary budget and no group will be given MORE than the amount listed. He hopes to get the visit to the Weil medical school to be more subsidized.

M. Walsh said we need this budget passed because the office of assemblies has requested it.

Y. Yu said the budget is to just give people a good idea of the expenses.

A. Chatterjee asked if people noticed anything that needs to be changed on the budget.

G. Curtis made a statement that we seem to spend most of our money on pizza for the meeting, the ball and slope day which shows that is where we put our priorities.

Y. Yu said this is more like a operation budget. She said the most important things are funded with byline funding. Y. Yu said we are quite modest in our spending, other schools at the ivy summit held a lot more social events than we do.

M. Walsh said the events committee is a relatively new committee and people have suggested that it be part of byline funding.

M. Bhadauria asked about the room rental charge.

M. Walsh responded by saying we needed to spend $150 to rent the room in Biotech.

K. Chan asked how much of the activity fee goes to the GPSA.

Y. Yu replied by saying around $2.60 goes to the GPSA (this can be checked online).

D. Day asked what the $4.000 from went to for slope day.

M. Walsh replied by saying went into a band which was a co-sponsorship.

M. Bhadauria said he agreed with G. Curtis, maybe the assembly should put some money into the other committees to provide some services for the students.

M. Walsh asked like what.

M. Bhadauria replied by saying he doesn�t have a concrete thing but maybe he�ll think about it.

E. Spero said if you look at what the other committees do, they mainly talk which don�t cost money which aren�t reflected on the budget.

A. Chatterje said this is an operating budget to keep the GPSA afloat.

K. Nagel asked who sees this operating budget, if any other third party sees it.

M. Walsh replied by saying it goes to the office of assemblies so they can see what kind of plan we have. He said this is something new and it hasn�t been done before.

A. O�Neill said the budget is not concrete, all the assemblies were asked to give a preliminary budget. Then at end of the year it can be put into a resolution and then be presented as an official allocation for the GPSA budget for the year.

K. Nagel called the motion to question. Kenny 2nd it. There was no dissent. The debate was called to question.

13 people were not against the budget, 1 abstention, 0 against. The projected budget was passed.

VII. Events Ideas � E. Spero

E. Spero said the ball will be on April 14th in the Memorial room.

E. Spero said she got an email from a company (American express) to recruit grad students. She wanted to know what can be done to help the recruitment of grad students to companies. E. Spero said that branch didn�t go to career fair because it was mainly for undergrads.

Y. Yu said it could be included in the mailing list.

M. Walsh responded by saying he wanted to discourage it.

M. Bhaudauria said they usually contact the EGSA.

C. Sander said it is our role to lobby to the school to have a grad school career fair.

M. Walsh said he got word from the Cornell administration that a trustee from student life would like to come to TGIF on Oct 27. He hopes the assembly members will go to the big red barn for this event.

VIII. Disussion � GPSA Goals and University Executive

M. Walsh mentioned the inauguration and president skorton�s speech. He said that within the 5 points brought up, they didn�t really relate with grad students.

M. Walsh said that he and J. Vertesi hope to have 4–5 goals on what to lobby with the administration about. He said some might be parking and transportation, professional development and career, and development of an identity at Cornell (some people have said they feel like grad school is a very fragmented group).

M. Walsh asked what other issues need to be addressed.

M. Walsh said it is great for the GPSA to start thinking on the offensive by telling Cornell this is what we need and peer institutions get this so we need this. He asked the question, Are we getting the same privileges as other institutions? M. Walsh said the institution wants to hear this because it wants to get the best grad students here.

K. Nagel said 2/3 of the issues are already addressed in our committees.

Y. Yu said at the same time many resolutions were passed and suggestions were made to the school and nothing happened. She said forming a stronger identity will help in that sense.

K. Nagel asked how do we make a stronger identity?

K. Chan said that�s the issue at hand. He said many people don�t know we exist. And to be taken more seriously we need to ground GPSA and have a stronger identity and a voice. K. Chan said we need a sense of belonging. He said maybe attacking the apathetic issue with the GPSA is key and hopefully other issues will be tied into the strong identity part.

A. Gelzer said that we need to figure out a way to have people be less apathetic and care rather than having a one-way communication.

K. Chan said maybe we can allocate part of the budget to having a stronger communication.

C. Sander said it is not about apathy its about certain priorities. She asked, What does the GPSA have to offer? She doesn�t think identity is something that can be created out of nowhere. C. Sander asked what things can be offered to the grad students that would make them want to be less apathetic.

An assembly member said we can have large meetings in big assembly halls to ellicit all people to go to the meetings and be involved.

M. Walsh asked what kind of issues do you believe would bring out graduate students to the forefront and something that we can lobby the administration on?

Y. Yu thinks the job survey can be very helpful and it�s something that people do care about. She said the career networking opportunities can serve as a link between companies and students.

M. Walsh thinks this year we really have an opportunity to show president what we really want.

A. Gelzer asked why M. Walsh thinks this is a good opportunity.

M. Walsh said the president and his wife came to visit. The president�s wife possibly hopes to start up a class to teach students how to survive doing research. M. Walsh thinks maybe grad students weren�t stated in his speech because the grad students� voices have been overshadowed by other groups on campus. However, M. Walsh knows the president is receptive.

Y. Yu said that other schools don�t have problems filling in committees and having intermingling. She said they have more activities after meetings. Y. Y thinks maybe we can start from the internal first.

G. Curtis thinks the big red barn is a place to start an identity because the staff and activities are supposed to be for the grad students. If the grad student don�t fill it up, the big red barn would never be expanded.

K. Nagel said we already support it.

G. Curtis asked do the grad students actually attend the events? Are they aware of the events?

Anna thinks the GPSA should be more about tackling the issues. She hopes that we stay on track and actually reach our goals rather than just stating it.

If people have issues they can email it to the GPSA email.

A. Chatterjee made a motion to adjourn. C. Sanders 2nd it.

IX. Adjournment

M. Walsh adjourned the meeting at 7:01 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

YuhLi Tsuei
Office of the Assemblies