Resolution 17: GPSA Environmental Sustainability Committee

Whereas it has been acknowledged that Cornell is a leader in promoting excellence in environmental sustainability, serving as a role model for other universities;

Whereas Cornell leadership, faculty, alumni and students have made significant commitments to sustainability through planning, events, research, and in sustainability-related clubs; and

Whereas the GPSA Ad-hoc Sustainability Committee was established in 2009 in response to great interest by the graduate student body to join a committee on environmental sustainability; and

Whereas the GPSA passed two resolutions initiated by the Ad-hoc Sustainability Committee, R. 4 Lights Off, Cornell (10–0−1) and R. 10 Sustainability in Strategic Planning at Cornell (12–0−1) showing continued commitment to sustainability as it relates to energy and lighting on campus, as well as to overall integration into Cornell’s strategic planning process; and

Whereas the committee is working on several other ongoing initiatives including but not limited to: making GPSA meetings eco-friendly; a reusable mug campaign to encourage graduate students to bring their own mugs to TGIF (in collaboration with the Graduate School and the Big Red Barn); as well as a project to infuse sustainability themes into Graduate Fall orientation.

Be it therefore resolved that the GPSA strongly acknowledge the graduate student body’s commitment to sustainability by integrating environmental sustainability into its own charter, thereby guaranteeing the existence of a graduate committee on sustainability for years to come; and

Be it further resolved that Section 6.02 Standing Committees of the GPSA Charter read as follows:

• a. The standing committees of the GPSA shall be the Executive Committee, the Operations and Staffing Committee, the Elections Committee, the Appropriations Committee, the Communications Committee, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Finance Commission (GPSAFC), the Student Advocacy Committee, the Events Committee, and the Environmental Sustainability Committee.
• b. At the same meeting as the election of officers each spring, the voting members shall elect, by majority vote, the Chairs of the Appropriations Committee, Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Finance Commission, Student Advocacy Committee, Events Committee, and Environmental Sustainability Committee.

Be it further resolved that Section 6.02 Standing Committees — Specifics of the GPSA Charter read as follows:

• i. Environmental Sustainability Committee
  • i. The Environmental Sustainability Committee shall be charged with enhancing environmental awareness, commitment and activity within the graduate and professional student community
  • ii. The committee will aim to make the operations and activities of the GPSA more sustainable, working with other committees as needed.

Be it further resolved that the GPSA Bylaws, and specifically, Section III.9, articulate the details regarding the purpose, chairing, membership, duties and meetings of the Environmental Sustainability Committee as follows:

• Section III.9 Environmental Sustainability Committee.
  • a. Purpose
    • i. The Environmental Sustainability Committee will serve as a forum where graduate students with interests in sustainability can approach the GPSA for information, resources and guidance.
    • ii. The committee will provide a formal interface for the GPSA as a graduate and professional representative body to interact with other sustainability groups and efforts throughout campus.
    • iii. The committee will evaluate the impacts of GPSA operations on sustainability including, but not limited to, suggesting actions the GPSA could take to become more environmentally sustainable.
    • iv. The committee will work with existing GPSA committees to see how environmental sustainability can become a more prominent theme in both special and reoccurring graduate events and funding processes.
  • b. Chairperson
    • i. The Committee shall have a chairperson, elected by the GPSA, as described in Article 6.02 of the GPSA Charter.
    • ii. The Chairperson shall be responsible for the operations of the Committee: the Chairperson shall oversee the Committee’s actions and operating budget, as well as schedule and run the meetings of the Committee.
    • iii. The Chairperson is charged with contacting all appropriate administrative offices so that they and the committee are in regular contact throughout the year.
    • iv. The Chairperson shall submit a budget request outlining and justifying all planned expenditures to the Appropriations Committee Chair two weeks prior to the first GPSA business meeting, and shall submit an update on the status of their budget by the end of February.
  • c. Members
    • i. Any graduate or professional student is eligible to apply to become a member of the Committee. Applicants will be reviewed and staffed by the Operations and Staffing Committee. In addition, any graduate student who serves on the following University committees will be appointed as ex-officio members:
      1. University Sustainability Committee
      2. Committee on Dining Services
      3. Transportation Advisory Committee
    • ii. Ex-officio appointments to the Committee will be made with consent from the Operations and Staffing Committee.
    • iii. Termination of committee membership is at the discretion of the Chairperson when a committee member is absent for more than half of the scheduled committee meetings.
  • d. Duties
    • i. The Committee is responsible for staying abreast of environmental sustainability activities and initiatives on campus, and for maintaining open lines of communication with affiliated organizations and departments including, but not limited to, Facilities Planning, Cornell Dining and undergraduate and graduate student organizations working on sustainability issues.
    • ii. The committee will aim to promote sustainable behavior among graduate students during regular GPSA meetings, at Graduate Orientation in the fall, as well as at special and reoccurring graduate events, such as TGIF at the Big Red Barn.
  • e. Meetings
    • i. The Committee will meet once per month during the months of September, October, November, December, February, March, and April, and additionally, as necessary. All committee members are expected to attend these meetings unless informed otherwise.
    • ii. All Committee meetings shall be open to the graduate and professional student community. When a consensus cannot be reached, actions shall be determined by a majority vote of all committee members present.
    • iii. All meeting agendas and minutes shall be posted to the Committee’s website.
    • iv. It is the responsibility of the Committee to post and advertise any sustainability related material on its website and ensure that the website is kept current.

Be it finally resolved that this resolution be sent to Peggy Beach, Director of the Office of Assemblies; Kent Hubbell, Dean of Students; and Alison Power, Dean of the Graduate School, as well as to Dan Roth, the Sustainability Coordinator.

Respectfully submitted,
The GPSA Ad-hoc Committee on Sustainability
Erica Gutierrez, Chair (City & Regional Planning); EVP, Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
Jolyon Bloomfield, Member (Physics)
Fred Cowett, Member (Horticulture); Graduate Representative, University Sustainability Committee
Billie Gould (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology)
Hadi Fathallah, Member (CIPA)
Chen Li, Member (Physics)
Tymothy McGuire (Public Administration)
Jaclyn Hood, Member (Johnson School)
Gabby Voeller, Member (City & Regional Planning); Member, Transportation Advisory Committee
Graduate & Professional Student Assembly Voting Members and Committee Chairs
Thomas Balcerski, Voting Member. Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
Christoffer Heckman, Voting Member, Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
Srich Murugesan, Chair, Events Committee, Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
Sarah Petraitis, Voting Member, Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
Leon Schneider, Voting Member, Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
Asia Sikora, Chair, Finance Commission, Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
Dave Walden, Chair, Appropriations Committee, Graduate & Professional Student Assembly

Other Supporters
Anurga Agrawal, Associate Director, Cornell University Center for a Sustainable Future
Christina Copeland, The Sustainability Hub at Cornell University
Adam Ravaret, Chair, Environmental Committee, Student Assembly
University Sustainable Committee (USC)

Letters
March 12, 2010

Dear Voting Members of the Graduate & Professional Student Assembly,

This letter accompanies Resolution 17: GPSA Environmental Sustainability Committee, which aims to convert the Ad-hoc Committee on Sustainability into a permanent standing committee of the GPSA. The primary reasons behind this initiative are as follows:

1. The committee itself was formed out of an organic pulse or demand by graduate students responding to a vacancy to join the University Sustainability Committee, which currently only has place for one graduate student, namely, Fred Cowett. In this sense it is filling a void, engaging graduate students and enhancing overall participation.

2. This new committee will send a strong statement about graduate student commitment to sustainability as part of a broader movement that encompasses faculty, staff, undergraduate students and alumni. The undergraduate Student Assembly has already formed their own committee dealing with environmental issues, currently headed by Adam Raveret.

3. The Ad-hoc committee has been very active this year. It proposed Resolution 4: Lights Off, Cornell, which passed with a 10–0−1 vote. This project has wide support in its pilot stage. The committee also recently proposed Resolution 10 Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Planning at Cornell, which passed with a 12–0−1 vote. This resolution urges the university to incorporate sustainability into strategic planning.

4. The committee aims to serve the entire graduate and professional student body, with initiatives such as the BYOMug campaign at the Big Red Barn and plans to include sustainability as a theme at Graduate Orientation. The committee also hopes to engage the GPSA in matters of how its own proceedings can be more sustainable.

5. The committee aims to work within the GPSA structure, gaining legitimacy and a formal connection with other committees such as Advocacy, Events, the Finance Commission and Appropriations, in planning regular or special events related to sustainability, such as for Earth Day, as well as in the long-term, aiming to create incentives for GPSA funded groups to act more sustainably.

6. The committee will be able to apply for a budget to operate and run meetings. This operating budget should be modest and within existing guidelines, subject to approval by the respective committee chairs.

7. In passing this resolution now, the momentum started this year will be continued most effectively, as it will be possible to elect a committee chair for 2010 — 2011 at the last Voting Council meeting, pending approval by President Skorton. Furthermore, the committee will be appropriately staffed at the start of the next academic year, as all other standing committees are.

We urge you to consider passing Resolution 17: GPSA Environmental Sustainability Committee and to continue the progress and commitment shown with the passage of Resolutions 4 and 10. The Ad-hoc Committee on Sustainability has served as a forum for information sharing and networking amongst graduate and other stakeholders, fostering student-drive initiatives and projects. It will be able to continue to do this work and grow as a formal part of the Graduate & Professional Student Assembly.

Sincerely,

The Ad-hoc Committee on Sustainability

March 8, 2010

Dear Members of the Voting Council of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly:

The Voting Council is scheduled to consider a resolution to make the GPSA Ad-hoc Sustainability Committee a permanent, standing committee of the GPSA.

The University Sustainability Committee supports passage of this resolution for the following reasons:

The Ad-hoc Sustainability Committee gives voice to graduate student interest in issues related to sustainability. Passage of this resolution will ensure that such interest, which should be expected to increase as sustainability related issues receive greater attention in the future, is given an appropriate forum for adequate and full expression.

The Ad-hoc Sustainability Committee has already made a contribution to sustainability at Cornell and within the GPSA by spearheading the Lights Off, Cornell campaign and prompting the GPSA to pass a resolution encouraging the strategic planning committee to incorporate sustainability into its strategic plan. Passage of this resolution would consolidate contributions already made and facilitate additional contributions such as a reusable mug campaign at the Big Red Barn and infusing sustainability themes into fall graduate student orientation.

The undergraduate Student Assembly already has an Environmental Committee that “debates and formulates recommendations on programs to improve Cornell’s environmental performance.” Passage of this resolution would demonstrate a parallel commitment by graduate students to sustainability at Cornell and emphasize to the entire Cornell community sustainability’s importance and significance.

Finally, the Ad-hoc Sustainability Committee has provided a valuable conduit of information between graduate students and the University Sustainability Committee. Passage of this resolution would maintain and strengthen these lines of communication and tie more closely together organizations on campus focusing on sustainability.

Respectfully yours,

The University Sustainability Committee

Martin Hatch (Chairman); Fil Eden (Student Assembly representative); Fred Cowett (GPSA representative); Jeannine Crouse (EA representative); Zellman Warhaft (Faculty Senate representative); Frank DiSalvo (Center for a Sustainable Future); Bert Bland (Office of Environmental Compliance and Sustainability); Daniel Roth (Cornell Sustainability Coordinator)