Graduate and Professional Assembly
September 24, 2007
Big Red Barn
5:30–7:00 p.m.

I. Call to Order

Y. Yu called the meeting to order at 5:34p.m.

II. Approval of Minutes, August 27, 2007

A. Richter moved to approve the minutes. R. Harbison seconded. The minutes were approved.

III. Executive and Committee Updates

a. Available council seats list

A. Richter gave updates for M. Leinfelder who was unable to attend the meeting. She said there are a lot of fields without representation.

A. Richter said the GPSA info will be going out this weekend and to please send any events to M. Leinfelder via e-mail.

b. Committee Recruiting

Y. Yu said that the events chair has been opened up.

A. Richter said there are also openings for non committee chairs on the events committee. She listed some committees that have openings.

c. Intercampus collaboration with Weill Medical School

Y. Yu suggested some events that we can have w/the Medical School. She said the purpose is to encourage intercampus communication. Y. Yu mentioned that there are some benefits that the medical school provides such as maybe cheaper broadway show tickets. She asked the medical school if tickets could be open to Cornell students as well, she is waiting for a response. Y. Yu said that’s an example of opportunities for the students they are trying to work on. Y. Yu said if she gets any updates she will let people know.

d. Retreat

Y. Yu said they just had a great retreat the other day at the Hoffman Challenge course. She said they came up w/some ideas for the GPSA such as a trivia night.

M. Walsh said suggesting the trivia night was a way to increase GPSA visibility. He said maybe the GPSA could have a sponsored trivia night associated with TGIF. Maybe they can have prizes, maybe beer tokens?

IV. Open Forum

A. Cowan said there will be a revision of the campus code of conduct, but it will not as intense as the Krauss. Report. He said they are making these revisions so it will be easier to read the campus code. A. Cowan said Some changes in the code might apply to grad students, such as expansion of off campus jurisdiction. He said Cornell is trying to have an open forum, if students cannot attend, to go to the online forum.

B. Wickes said there are 2 new virtual communities out of the grad school, will be included on the GPSA. She said there will be the spouse partner list in which they can have networking and programming. This is to help build a little community support. B. Wickes said there will be a grad careers list serve as well. She said it hasn’t been functional for a year or so, they are considering of talking about job fair information, individual 1 on 1 counseling on this list serve.

L. Diaz mentioned a vet school event, “one world one medicine.” There will be a lot of food and music and it will be held on Sept 29.

A. Knapp mentioned the “light the night walk” which will be held on Sept 27.

V. Budget Approval

S. Kong said the budget has 3 parts, operating expenses with a $200 increase, expenses for committee meetings and special funds. He said the total projected expenditure will be ~$15,000.

M. Guerrero moved to approve the budget. N. Brideau seconded. There was no discussion about the budget. A. Richter moved for a unanimous objection. There were none, the budget was approved.

VI. Housing Update

a. Guest: Susan Riley, Associate Director of Residential Programs-Hasbrouck follow-up

S. Riley said she was very pleased w/how things are going with the Hasbrouck situation. She said the opening in August went very smoothly. S. Riley said they got of the all transfer students into Hasbrouck w/minimal impact. She said from her perspective, it has been going pretty well lately. S. Riley said occasionally there is a noise complaint, but she thought there would be more negative feedback than that.

S. Riley said parking has not been an issue. They worked w/TCAT to make sure they have been providing enough bus service. She said they added additional undergrad staff such as RA’s to provide extra supervision in the Hasbrouck area. S. Riley said there are 6 RA’s for the undergrad students and 5 GCA’s which are graduate staff.

S. Riley said the construction on west is going on schedule. She said they could anticipate that houses 4 and 5 will open next fall. They are possibly slightly ahead of schedule right now.

S. Riley said everyone is good about sharing the space and there have been joint programming between the undergrads and grads.

b. Kim Fezza

K. Fezza brought some information about what her office does and how they can help grad students. She said their website is in the process of being overhauled and there will be more information on it soon. K. Fezza said there is plenty of housing out there and to not worry about rushing to find housing in the beginning of the semester. She said services such as workshops will be offered which are free and open to the public.

VII. T-GEIS: Transportation-focused Generic Environmental Impact Statement

a. Guest: David Jay Lieb, Assistant Director for Public Information, Cornell University Office of Transportation and Mail Services

D. Lieb gave a presentation about T-GEIS, the impact statement. He mentioned the results of the survey and gave some facts. D. Lieb said their strategy will be to move more people with fewer vehicles. He listed some solutions of how to get what we need. D. Lieb said there are also forums and opportunities for the community to get involved.

Assembly members made comments and asked D. Lieb questions.

VIII. Old Resolutions

a. Resolution 1 (Change of Secretary’s Role as UA Rep) by Amy Richter & Michael Walsh

A. Richter had an amendment concerning grammar to make on the resolution.. She moved to approve the amendment, B.Forster seconded. The motion passed with majority vote.

b. Resolution 2 (Committee Reporting) by Amy Richter

A. Richter moved to approve the resolution, B. Forster seconded. M. Walsh called to question. There were no objections. The resolution passed with majority vote.

IX. Election of University Assembly Representative (if Resolution 1 passes)

R. Rodriguez was nominated. A. Cowan seconded.

Whitney? nominated herself. A Richter seconded.

A. Ulianov nominated himself. A. Cowan seconded.

Each nominee said their speeches and answered questions.

R. Rodriguez is the new University Assembly Representative.

X. Resolution 3 (Slope day) By Michael Walsh

a. Guest: Elizabeth Rapoport et al, Slope Day Programming Board

Y. Yu motioned to extend the meeting to 7:10pm. The meeting was extended.

M. Walsh gave a brief background of resolution 3. He said that there are 2 types of organizations that can get byline funding: independent and university organizations. M. Walsh said they are not going to break the rules this year when giving byline funding, they going to suspend it. In the charter the GPSA is allowed to suspend certain rules such as procedural rules.

E. Rapoport et al said that they’ve been working really hard to make their relationship w/the GPSA better. She said they hope to have a relationship that they can sustain.

T. Pardo made a motion to make 2 amendments. A. Richter seconded the amendment. The majority vote opposed the amendment, the amendment did not pass.

R. Harbison moved to vote on the resolution. T. Pardo seconded. 11 was in favor of the resolution and none opposed. There was 1 abstention. The resolution passed.

XI. Adjournment

Y. Yu adjourned the meeting at 7:12pm.

Respectfully submitted,
YuhLi Tsuei
Office of the Assemblies