Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
Monday, February 25, 2008
Memorial Room, Willard Straight Hall
5:30–7:00pm

I. Call to Order

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

II. Approval of Minutes

A. Richter moved to approve the minutes from the January 21st GPSA meeting. M. Leinfelder seconded. There were no objections. The minutes were approved.

III. Open Forum

There were no announcements.

IV. Executive Updates

A. Richter said she is looking at the charter along with other colleagues and they are making recommendations for amending Appendix A (by-line funding procedure).

A. Richter also said that she had posters about the information sessions for the new Child Care Center that is opening. She said she is still looking for committee representatives.

M. Leinfelder said there are some developments about the Slope Day issue, graduate students will not be ticketed this year and will not be ticketed in the future if what was said to her will hold true. She said there will be equipment at Slope Day to swipe cards and see how many graduate students attend.

A. Cowan wanted to know if this system would be accurate and helpful.

A. Richter said the system is going to keep track how often people came through and for how long, meaning cards will be swiped when you enter and exit the Slope Day festivities.

Y. Yu said she has been preparing the report for the trustee board on March 7. She said the preliminary draft has been submitted and one major thing in the report will be about the graduate student center. Y. Yu noted she will not send the preliminary draft out but if somebody is interested in seeing it, please contact her for a copy.

Y. Yu sent out a proposal about intercampus collaboration with the Weill Medical School and she said people had some concerns about funding. She wanted to clarify that it is a proposal coming from the Weill Medical School. The medical school thought they had extra money but later found out it was used for faculty collaboration. Therefore the medical school is writing a proposal with their budget to get funding from the Weill Medical School. Y. Yu said the funding will definitely not come from the GPSA or the Ithaca Campus.

V. Committee Reports

a. CJC Updates — A. Cowan

A. Cowan gave a brief overview of the situation at hand starting from the Krauss Report being released to recommendations sent to the President and his response. The President approved many issues, but there are still a few unsettled items.

b. Events Committee Update

Tickets will be on sale March 10–14 and March 2–28 at Trillium’s TGIF and in the WSH Ticket Office.

Many assembly members suggested possibly having the ability to buy the tickets online or through a representative in that school.

M. Walsh said he is hesitant on implementing this because most people are probably aware that they can buy tickets at TGIF. He also mentioned that you lose a dollar when you purchase the tickets online.

VI. Presentation of NCAA — M. Opperman and J. Siliciano

A basic intoductory of the National Collegiate Athletic Association was given. We have to be accredited by a national body so our teams can play other teams. We are checked every 10 years and are required to do a study to report out to significant bodies on campus.

M. Opperman talked about details over Cornell and compliance with NCAA rules and what wasn’t meeting the rules and how/when they were corrected.

J. Siliciano went over details on academic integrity and what the NCAA is looking for.

M. Opperman summarized all of the information presented, she said essentially our self report found that we were not compliant with all NCAA requirements and identified what is not complaint. She said the University needs to take it upon itself to fix these issues.

M. Leinfelder hopes that the women’s facilities improve and become more compliant with the NCAA.

M. Opperman replied it was not a NCAA compliance issue, she said we have self identified it as a problem.

M. Walsh asked about academic integrity and said there are always issues with cheating and how this organization deals with Cornell in that regard.

M. Opperman replied, individual infractions of academic integrity is not reviewed by the NCAA, but the NCAA makes sure standards of evaluating and/or reviewing student and athletes are the same. The NCAA are honed in to see if athletes are treated the same as other students, especially when it comes to academic experience.

VII. Election of Pay and Benefits Chair

A. Richter gave a brief overview of the responsibilities of the Pay and Benefits Chair.

J. Kupferschmidt asked about the Pay and Benefits Survey.

M. Leinfelder replied that a lot of officers in the GPSA initiate their own events, the chair during 2005–2006 happened to want to initiate a survey and have the committee be willing to support it.

Cristian Morales nominated himself. A. Cowan seconded. Y. Mao added that he thought Cristian would do a good job, since he was helpful to him when he was creating a better health insurance policy for graduate students.

12 in favor, 0 opposed, 2 abstentions. Cristian is the new Pay and Benefits Chair.

VIII. Business of the Day

a. R. 6 on Academic Integrity — T. Pardo

T. Pardo gave a brief summary of the resolution saying that we recognize the UA’s effort in forming the subcommittee towards generalizing the issue of academic integrity here at Cornell. She said the GPSA as a unit will do our part in upholding this notion of academic integrity and representatives of our departments will help bring voice to these issues/ways to address upholding academic integrity. T. Pardo said we will help spread how important academic integrity is here at Cornell.

M. Walsh called to question. J. Kupferschmidt seconded. There were no objections to vote.

M. Walsh made a motion for unanimous consent. J. Kupferschmidt seconded. There were no objections. R. 6 passed with unanimous consent.

b. R. 7 on Graduate Student Center — J. Kupferschmidt

J. Kupferschmidt said his basic motivation for this resolution comes from the fact that the Barn is closed again and we need to send a message as a body to the University that we need a student center. J. Kupferschmidt went through points which he found most important saying that the Big Red Barn was founded in 1992 and that graduate students are important to the university. He said that a center is important to graduate students and that other schools have graduate centers. A graduate center is important for the recruitment of students and this issue is on the GCI. J. Kupferschmidt said this resolution is trying to say there is a master plan about the graduate center and how everything needs to fit into master plan, but they need the graduate center more immediately.

Y. Yu said the Master Plan group recommended a timeline for graduate center to be completed in 20 years which would be near East Hill Plaza. This location is far away from central campus and a long term solution. Y. Yu said nobody is currently talking about the long term construction of a graduate student center. She said they are currently thinking of using underutilized rooms in the present for a graduate center.

N. Brideau said he is concerned with the five year opening time frame on the resolution. He thinks it is saying we are giving the university the opportunity to use an existing building.

J. Kupferschmidt replied, if the Barn is going to be closed in 5 years, there should be some substitute. He thought it was better to set a time rather than saying “as soon as possible.”

M. Ye suggested amending the wording of part of the resolution. M. Leinfelder also made some suggestions.

M. Leinfelder made a motion to make an amendment to the resolution. A. Cowan seconded.

There was some discussion on the amendment.

A. Cowan said it is not necessary to nitpick at every detail because the administration is not going to deny the resolution just because the wording may be improper.

T. Pardo said she wanted to amend the amendment by using language that restates the mission of the GCI.

R. Harbison noted that keeping the resolution broad would be beneficial.

M. Walsh said that T. Pardo’s amendment changes the current issue.

T. Pardo withdrew her amendment and made an amendment similar to the statement that M. Ye made. A. Cowan seconded. There was no discussion.

13 in favor, 0 opposed 0 abstained. The amendment passed.

T. Pardo proposed another amendment at the sixth whereas. J. Kupferschmidt accepted it as a friendly amendment.

R. Harbison made a motion to extend the meeting to 7:15 p.m. A. Richter seconded.

M. Walsh motioned to make a friendly amendment. J. Kupferschmidt accepted.

A. Knapp said she is still concerned about the five-year time frame stated in the resolution. She suggested having a committee to determine the time line.

M. Ye explained the timeline on how long it would take for us to get a graduate student center. He said if we want it completed in five years we need to make a decision now.

A. Cowan proposed an amendment saying we do not need a graduate center in five years, but we need a place if the Big Red Barn falls apart again. M. Leinfelder seconded the motion for an amendment.

A. Knapp wondered if we could add something about developing a realistic timeline. J. Kupferschmidt accepted A. Knapp’s suggestion as a friendly amendment and amended the amendment.

13 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstained. R. 7 passed unanimously.

Y. Yu said this resolution will be sent to the University Officials.

IX. New Business

a. Update of Charter — A. Richter

A. Richter said she has been working on this. The Secretary’s position does not do typical duties as a Secretary would do in other committees or assemblies. By making these changes, she wants to make the position more appealing so others may be interested in the future and also to help relationships with committees and administrators. This will be voted on at the March GPSA meeting. If anyone has comments, please contact A. Richter directly. There was no further discussion on this.

b. Update of Charter — Change the role of Pay and Benefits Committee — M. Walsh

M. Walsh said he is disappointed in the lack of movement by this committee. A few years ago this committee was very active after conducting a comprehensive survey. The survey revealed many issues in lack of health insurance. Z. Wang worked hard last year getting the off-campus housing office off the ground almost by herself without much committee support. M. Walsh added that he wrote this to change the committee into something a little different that emphasizes the really important issues. He also said he is happy that C. Morales has stepped forward, and would be happy to hand this issue over to him. There were several good comments and questions made by the members. This will also be voted on at the March GPSA meeting. He admitted there are a few items that need adjustments and re-writes. If anyone has any additional comments, please contact M. Walsh directly.

c. Update of Charter Appendix B — S. Kong

S. Kong updated the membership on the most recent version of Appendix B. He also had a handout that highlighted the changes. A. Richter added clarification about free events and cost events for the Big Red Barn. A. Richter also added a clarification to the wording about purchase of hockey tickets. M. Walsh asked that the wording for Slope Day allowed for free attendance since there is nothing in writing about this agreement. A. Richter agreed this was a good idea since this is currently only a “verbal” agreement. M. Walsh also voiced concerns about the “grad zone” that segregates grads from undergrads. There were a few other comments from the members helping to strengthen the wording of the resolution.

A. Richter made the motion to extend the meeting for 5 more minutes, M. Leinfelder seconded.

M. Leinfelder asked Shawn to verify and chanage that Appendix B has the headings listed the same as the applications that were received.

Y. Yu thanked everyone for staying late.

X. Adjournment

Y. Yu adjourned the meeting at 7:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
YuhLi Tsuei
Office of the Assemblies