MINUTES
Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
Monday, September 12th, 2011
Bache Auditorium, Malott Hall
5:30–7:00 P.M.

I. Welcome and Introductions (E. Cortens)

E. Cortens called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm.

1. Introduction of voting membres, 3 min.

The voting members stood up and introduced themselves.

Voting members present: K. Albert, B. Alkemeyer, S. An, N. Baran, Y. Chen, E. Cortens, C. Ferkinhoff, M. Hawkins, Y. Izrayelit, J. Keach, J. Pacelli, R. Robbins, E. Smith, M. Tootill, C. Wilson

Voting members late: M. White

Voting members excused absent: R. Adra, A. Nash

2. Brenda Wickes, Assistant Dean of Graduate Student Life, 5 min.

B. Wickes said she is an unofficial advisor to the GPSA and a resource for graduate and professional students at Cornell. She works closely with a number of the committees and works with career services and other services for these students. The GPSA is a respected body at Cornell, so she enjoys working with the group and with graduate and professional individuals. Her email address is bw32@cornell.edu, if anyone would like to get in touch with her.

II. Approval of the Minutes

1. August 29th, 2011, 2 min.

C. Heckman offered an amendment, clarifying the minutes to read that he was recruiting people to join his committee. Y. Chen corrected a spelling mistake. There was no objection to the approval of the minutes.

III. Report of Officers and Standing Committees, 10 min

1. Executive Committee (E. Cortens)

E. Cortens said that there are still many vacancies for field representatives. He also announced that Ivy Summit will be held November 4th-6th. Let Evan know if you’re interested. Also, sign up for committees. Contact Marquis if you have questions. The following committees were not initially on the web page but now are: Slope Day Programming Board and Cornell Cinema Advisory Board. Additionally, there are liaison positions still available for the EA, SA, and Faculty Senate.

M. Hawkins asked for a moment of silence for those who lost their lives on September 11th.

2. Appropriations (C. Heckman)

C. Heckman said the Appropriations Committee’s budget recommendation would be ready tonight.

3. Communications (S. An)

S. An inquired how people had found out about this meeting. Most had read about it in an email.

4. Finance Commission (M. Tootill)

M. Tootill said the Finance Commission prepared a budget as well.

5. Student Advocacy (R. Robbins)

R. Robbins said that there would be an information session for graduate and professional students on Thursday at 4:30 in the Big Red Barn.

6. Graduate & Professional Student Programming Board (Y. Chen)

Y. Chen said that there would be a Johnson Museum tour specifically for graduate students this weekend. Additionally, the first meeting for the Student Programming Board will be next week. Those interested in joining should apply online or contact her.

IV. Unfinished Business

1. Election of Masters student in an engineering program, 5 min.

E. Cortens called for nominations. John Ciecholewski nominated himself. There were no further nominations.

J. Ciecholewski introduced himself.

J. Ciecholewski was elected by voice vote.

V. New Business

1. Resolution 1, Approval of the Bylaws, 15 min.

E. Cortens said that the approval of the bylaws is a routine process that the GPSA goes through each year. The proposed amendments to the bylaws include fixing simple things like subject-verb agreement, spelling errors, punctuation, conflicting information, etc. There were other clarifications and non-substantive changes as well.

With a vote of 15–0, the resolution was adopted.

2. Resolution 2, Approval of the Internal Budget, 35 min.

C. Heckman said the budget is financed through each student’s activity fee. There have been many appropriations requests by various committees. The total requested amount exceeded the budget, so he was forced to cut some requests. He is requesting that all of the $16,800 from the activity fee is given to the committees, with none of the budget going to the savings account.

C. Heckman said the Communications Committee requested $500 and he recommended giving them $500. The Appropriations Committee requested $250 and he recommended giving them $250. The Events Committee requested $7,700 and he recommended giving them $7,000 because some of their events can be cut back, or ticket prices can be increased. The Executive Committee requested $8,635 and he recommended giving them $8,100. The Finance Commission requested $740 and he recommended giving them $650 dollars because they used much less money last year. The Student Advocacy Committee requested $300 and he recommended giving them $300.

E. Cortens declared that the GPSA would enter into formal debate and that amendments were in order.

J. Pacelli said he recommended that all spending be itemized in the spreadsheet next year. He was also concerned that 25 percent of the budget goes to food.

C. Heckman said the itemizing suggestion is a good idea, yet he thinks that the amount of money assigned to buying food is an acceptable amount.

M. Hawkins asked if the rollover savings is a rainy day fund or if it is not to be touched at all.

C. Heckman said he hasn’t asked if this money can be used or not yet.

A. O’Donnell said she was unaware this money existed, so she is unsure whether it can be used at the discretion of the GPSA.

Y. Chen said the 2010–2011 amount allocated to the Events Committee, according to C. Heckman’s spreadsheet, differs dramatically from the numbers she has for that committee.

N. Baran agreed that it did differ.

C. Heckman said things might not have been categorized properly and he may have missed something but he doubts that there are other drastic errors in the budget spreadsheet.

Y. Izrayelit asked what happens when committees don’t use all of their allocated money in a year.

C. Heckman said that this money would then go into the committee’s rollover savings.

C. Heckman said the NAGPS has an annual summit of graduate and professional student governments across the country. If they decide to allocate $500 to the NAGPS, they could benefit from this organization.

E. Cortens recommended that the GPSA seriously discuss joining the NAGPS.

Y. Chen asked for more of an explanation about the merits of joining the NAGPS.

C. Heckman said that membership would allow the GPSA to expand their network with other bodies in order to bring in new ideas. This is easily worth $500 dollars a year.

E. Cortens said there are no current plans to attend the NAGPS conference this year. Anyone can attend the conference, but you must be a paid member of the NAGPS in order to vote.

M. White asked whether it would be possible to make a separate account for Ivy Summit savings because part of the rollover savings has been designated for Ivy Summit and some has remained in the rollover savings account.

A. O’Donnell said the Office of Assemblies would consider creating a separate account.

J. Bloomfield moved to consider informally. Seconded by J. Pacelli. Without objection, the motion was adopted.

R. Robbins said that the Advocacy Committee puts on events for the community in general that don’t just benefit members of the committee.

J. Ciecholewski asked that healthier foods be provided at various committee and GPSA meetings.

C. Heckman said healthy food is more expensive, so there is a trade off between attracting people to the meetings and providing healthy food.

W. Kreuser suggested it would be helpful to examine committees and the number of people who typically attend their meetings in order to make more informed budget decisions for them.

C. Heckman said he has served on several committees and he knows where the give and take is for each of them in terms of how much funding they need.

J. Pacelli said the GPSA should explore contracting opportunities, like making a deal with a pizza place or Wegmans.

A. O’Donnell said the GPSA already saves money because they are tax exempt. But food costs money.

J. Pacelli asked whether they could consider contracting with a particular food establishment each year that would be their sole provider, and therefore provide discounts.

C. Heckman said that the procedures for buying food might make this complicated.

E. Cortens said he thinks the food budget is probably too high, but it is better to be too high than to run out of money.

Y. Chen said she accepts Heckman’s recommendation for the Events Committee’s budget.

R. Robbins asked about the turnout for the Events Committee’s planned events.

Y. Chen said it varies by event.

N. Baran said that the Iron Chef competition from last year was a great event and was well attended. The Programming Board’s budget is historically small, yet it is the only organization on campus providing events for all graduate students to get together. In many cases, graduate students still pay for their own food, drink, etc.

E. Cortens said Slope Day Programming Board is funded three dollars per graduate student, while the Programming Board puts on events all year and is only funded one dollar per graduate student. With a show of hands, the resolution was adopted 16–0.

3. Resolution 3, Initial presentation of Amendments to the Byline Funding Procedures and Criteria, 10 min.

E. Cortens said this resolution would resolve ambiguities in the amendments to the GPSAs byline funding allocation procedures. These are straightforward amendments. There is only one substantive change, concerning the number of meetings before byline funding voting. Voting on this resolution will take place at the next meeting on September 26th.

VI. Open Forum, 5 min.

W. Kreuser suggested the GPSA come out with some documentation for how the Ivy Summit and membership in the NAGPS benefits the average graduate student.

E. Cortens said both of these institutions allow the GPSA to do their job more effectively.

Y. Izrayelit said he liked the new location for the GPSA meetings in the Bache Auditorium of Malott Hall.

M. Hawkins moved to adjourn. Seconded by S. An. Without objection, the meeting was adjourned at 6:54 pm.