Graduate Student and Professional Assembly
Business Meeting of the GPSA Voting Council
Monday, October 19, 2009
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Big Red Barn
Minutes

I. Welcome and Introductions (2 min.):

N. Evensen called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. and welcomed everyone to the 2nd business meeting of the year. Members introduced themselves. Guests included a reporter from the Cornell Sun, as well as Rose Casey, the author of a letter to be brought up later in the meeting.

II. Old Business:

1. Approval of minutes (4 min.)

B. Heavner motioned to approve the April 20, 2009 minutes. C. Mansfeldt seconded. The minutes for April were approved by a vote of 12 — 0 — 1.

B. Forster motioned to approve the September 21, 2009 minutes. C. Manfeldt seconded. The minutes were approved by a vote of 12 — 0 — 1.

2. Executive updates (5 min.)

a. President, Executive VP, and Operations VP

N. Evensen said he had no updates.

E. Gutierrez said they have been working hard on the website and a blog. B. Heavner said he can set up accounts to allow members to edit. They will start with voting members and he urged them to think of items they would like to share.

B. Forster said he has sent emails asking about committees. The responses are due October 31, 2009. The graduate mental health subcommittee was talked about at the advisory body meeting. After speaking with Gannett, the committee has been renamed the “Ad-hoc Committee on Graduate Mental Health.” Additionally, he noted he has set up a list-serve of all GPSA representatives to committees. The CALS Dean Search has 10 people, and a meeting will happen soon. Finally, there is a photo album site. Please send him any GPSA related pictures you have and he will get them posted.

3. Standing Committee Updates (6 min.)

a. Advocacy, Appropriations, Events, and Finance Commission

S. Murugesan, head of the Events Committee, said they recently had put together a “Grads night out” event that was well attended. There will be another next month. Before there was not much time to advertise, but this time around there is plenty time to send out emails. They are looking for ideas and especially for non-alcoholic, daytime events. The catch is space limitations. He also asked for input about ticket prices for such events.

A. Sikora was not present, so there was no update from the Finance Commission.

D. Walden said he will cover updates from the Appropriations Committee later in the meeting.

C. Mansfeldt, chair of the Advocacy Committee, said they had a concern about safety. They have been made aware of phone access issues and are trying to extend emergency phone access to the Vet School and Weill Hall in light of the recent murder of a grad student at Yale.

4. Report on Ivy Summit (5 min.)

N. Evensen said the Ivy Summit conference occurred two Fridays prior to the current meeting. He explained it is a meeting of Graduate and Professional Student governments from the 8 Ivy League schools and MIT. They discussed issues they have been focusing on, methods of data collecting, and how to reach out to constituents. There was lot of good networking also.

S. Murugesan said there were very good ideas from other Ivy Leagues and some have started working for our benefit. D. Walden said problems for grads are uniform across the Ivies. M. Walsh said other schools were impressed with the level of action and how involved initiatives are. One idea is a collaborative survey effort. Each school has had survey over the past 5 to 6 years. B. Forster said he will be putting notes on the site for each workshop. E. Gutierrez expressed the desire for a more official Ivy Summit site. N. Evensen said the University of Pennsylvania has one and perhaps they can add a link to the site.

III. New Business

1. Advocacy Report & Resolution on Child Care Grants — Cresten Mansfeldt (20 min.)

C. Mansfeldt presented the resolution. Rose Casey explained the history of the issue. The two main issues were; that funds won’t be dispersed in September any longer, they will now be dispersed in December. Additionally, she explained the distribution has been moved from HR being responsible to the Grad School, and now funding limits are being strictly enforced.

There were questions of clarification from the audience.

As of previous surveys, ~100 applications for child care funding are received annually. Seven to ten percent of the graduate community have dependents.

N. Evensen does not support the resolution in its current form. His rationale is that he cannot support the last paragraph of the letter, because these “funds” could be allocated from something else that could be a greater priority for the graduate and professional student community. He would support a group of Graduate and Professional Students sitting down to look at where funding would come from. However, without knowing where funding is coming from, he does not feel comfortable supporting the resolution in its current form.

B. Heavner said it was a good point but believed this was a separate issue. He would argue they are in a good position to say it is not a graduate student priority to cut these funds. He believes the goal of the resolution to be a re-evaluation of the reduction in funds.

J. Beekman said he thinks the GPSA should support the resolution. This is larger than a statement from the GPSA. He encourages them to follow through and support this. Many students, for instance people in the Law School, this has even more of an effect because they have no other source of funding.

Some friendly amendments were made. B. Forster proposed an amendment to the resolution, and then motioned to close debate and move to a vote. C. Clarke seconded. By a vote of 12–0−2, the motion passes.

2. Discussion & initial votes on by-line funding — D. Walden & Appropriations Cmte (40 min.)

D. Walden explained the timeline of what happened already and what will happen in the future. The fee must be an even, whole number.

• Orientation

Orientation was recommended at $0.70. There was open discussion and questions. C. Mansfeldt motioned to close debate and move to a vote. A.Sikora seconded. By a 13–0−1, Orientation was approved for GPSA by-line funding, with an initial “yes” vote for the recommendation of $0.70.

• Club Insurance

Club Insurance was recommended at $5.10. There was open discussion and questions. N. Evensen motioned to close debate and move to a vote. A. Sikora seconded. By a vote of 12–0−2, Club Insurance was approved for GPSA by-line funding, with an initial “yes” vote for the recommendation of $5.10.

• GPSAFC

GPSAFC was recommended to be funded at $26.60. D. Walden explained what the funds were used for, and N. Evensen also added to the explanation. There was open discussion and questions. C. Mansfeldt motioned to close debate and move to a vote. A. Sikora seconded. By a vote of 13–0−1, GPSAFC was approved for GPSA by-line funding, with an initial “yes” vote for the recommendation of $26.60.

• GPSA

GPSA requested $3.50. D. Walden explained what the funds were used for, and N. Evensen also added to the explanation. The recommendation was $2.95. There was open discussion and questions. B. Forster motioned to close debate and move to a vote. B. Heavner seconded. By a vote of 13–0−1, GPSA was approved for GPSA by-line funding, with an initial “yes” vote for the recommendation of $2.95.

• Big Red Barn

Big Red Barn requested and was recommended for 7 dollars. D. Walden explained his rational for supporting the full amount. S. Murugesan motioned to end debate and move to a vote. A. Sikora seconded. By a vote of 13–0−1, the Big Red Barn was approved for GPSA by-line funding, with an initial “yes” vote for the recommendation of $7.00.

• International Students Programming Board

They were recommended at $1.46, the same amount they requested. The reason for the decrease is because of turnover in the organization; the new officers were not aware of how much the Board requested last year. The GPSA cannot fund over the amount requested. There was open discussion and questions. A. Sikora motioned to end debate and move to vote. J. Beekman seconded. By a vote of 12–0−2, ISPB was approved for GPSA by-line funding, with an initial “yes” vote for the recommendation of $1.46.

• Cornell Concert Commission

They requested $5.75, which was also the Appropriations Committee’s recommendation. There was open discussion and questions. B. Heavner moved to close debate and move to a vote. A. Sikora seconded. By a vote of 13–0−1, Cornell Concert Commission was approved for GPSA by-line funding, with an initial “yes” vote for the recommendation of $5.75.

• Cornell University Programming Board

They were recommended at $3.55. D. Walden explained they had lost money with Howie Mandel due to the economic crisis. They have decided not to hold events over parents’ weekend in the future. There was open discussion and questions. B. Heavner motioned to close debate and move to a vote. A. Sikora seconded. By a vote of 13–0−1, CUPB was approved for GPSA by-line funding, with an initial “yes” vote for the recommendation of $3.55.

• Cornell Cinema

Cornell Cinema requested $11.75, up from $11. $11.30 was the recommendation. They were primarily funded from grants. Because of the economy, they are set to lose 16,000 dollars in funding.

Mary F. from the Cornell Cinema said they have hard data from the 2005–2006 because of different prices for graduate and undergraduate tickets. In that time, they represented 24% of the graduate and professional student population. In April, they did an audience survey that revealed that 28% of the attendees were graduate students. Graduate students do take advantage of the range of films offered. She explained the ticket price will have to increase if the full funding is not allocated.

N. Evensen asked for a motion to extend the meeting to 7:15 p.m. C. Clarke made a motion to extend the meeting, B. Heavner seconded. By a vote of 14–0−0 the meeting was extended.

Questions and discussion continued.

C. Clarke moved to close discussion and got to a vote. A. Sikora seconded. By a vote of 8–2−3, Cornell Cinema was approved for GPSA by-line funding, with an initial “yes” vote for the recommendation of $11.30.

• Slope Day

D. Walden explained Slope Day has requested 4.00. The recommendation was $2.82. C. Mansfeldt said he felt graduate students didn’t utilize the event in the same way as undergrads. Additionally, they were vastly disappointed with the line-up of performers the last few years. There was speculation that many students entered and left the Slope quickly.

S. Murugesan said that many grads cannot take a significant portion of Friday off to attend Slope Day.

B. Forster added the committee this year has 3 or 4 grads on the Slope Day E-Board, so this year there is graduate student influence. They are helping put the event together not just financial support.

B. Heavner moved to lay the discussion on the table until next meeting, A. Sikora seconded.

D. Walden explained the format for the next Advisory Body meeting. He recommended the GPSA reach out to people. He wants as much input as possible on the subject of funding.

IV. Open Forum (8 min.)

M. Walsh reported the Board of Trustees were meeting here this week, and they were invited to attend TGIF at the Barn on Friday. Everyone is welcomed.

V. Adjournment

C. Clarke motioned to adjourn. C. Mansfeldt seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:16 p.m.