WHEREAS, The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GPSA) serves as the official representative voice of all 7,000 graduate and professional students on the Ithaca and Geneva campuses of Cornell University; and

WHEREAS, Cornell University is currently devising a proposal to work with New York City to design, construct, and administer a campus for engineering and technological innovation, with a specific focus on commercialization of research and technology transfer; and

WHEREAS, This campus will be an extension of Cornell’s Ithaca campus and not a separate entity or institution; and

WHEREAS, The programmatic objectives of this proposed campus fit squarely within Cornell’s Strategic Plan, to which the GPSA contributed, addressing many strategic goals, particularly with respect to the central objectives of faculty growth and positive impact on society; and

WHEREAS, Cornell’s senior administration and Board of Trustees have committed to funding the first phase of this campus through philanthropy, thereby (1) building the campus through adherence to Cornell’s capital project spending guidelines and (2) extending Cornell’s already robust development base; and

WHEREAS, This philanthropy will not be drawing funds away from other critical initiatives on the Ithaca campus, but rather forwarding the goals of the Ithaca campus in a way not possible within the confines of Ithaca and Tompkins County; and

WHEREAS, This new campus would be designed based on “interdisciplinary hubs,” rather than traditional departments, mirroring and extending the academically-enriching structure of the field system currently used in Cornell’s Graduate School; and

WHEREAS, This interdisciplinary focus has immense potential to not only involve and further develop Cornell’s internationally acclaimed engineering, computing, and information sciences programs, but also to draw on and further develop our excellence in other physical, natural, and social sciences; and

WHEREAS, Members of the GPSA and graduate and professional students in general have consistently sought additional opportunities to learn about commercialization of research and technology transfer, and the new campus would allow for various experiential learning opportunities for students on the Ithaca campus to engage these topics through increased programs and burgeoning faculty expertise; and

WHEREAS, The GPSA has been included from the earliest stages in working with the Cornell administration, and the Provost in particular, to contribute to the vision for this campus; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the GPSA expresses its strong support not only for Cornell’s proposal to further extend our tradition of excellent graduate and professional student education to New York City, but also for its commitment to work within the University’s shared governance system to envision this future.

RESOLVED, That the GPSA looks forward to continuing its collaborative relationship with the President and Provost to envision how Cornell’s strong shared governance system will extend to the new campus, should Cornell’s proposal be selected by Mayor Bloomberg;

RESOLVED, That the GPSA praises the opportunities for interdisciplinary, cross-institutional, and transdisciplinary collaborations currently in Cornell’s proposal and greatly anticipates the positive benefits these opportunities and others will have on both graduate and professional students at Cornell and the City of New York, should the Mayor accept Cornell’s proposal.

RESOLVED, That the GPSA, above all else, is committed to creating a sense of community amongst graduate and professional students at Cornell, and as such, welcomes the opportunity to extend our vibrant community to New York City and to benefit from the prospects for community enrichment that come from New York City and Cornell’s potentially expanded presence there.

RESOLVED, That this resolution be sent to David Skorton, President of Cornell University; Kent Fuchs, Provost; Barbara Knuth, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School; Lance Collins, Dean of the College of Engineering; Daniel Huttenlocher, Dean of the Faculty of Computing and Information Sciences; Peter Meinig, Chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees; and Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City.

Respectfully submitted this 17th day of October 2011, by

Steven An
GPSA Physical Sciences Representative
Member of the Provost’s NYC Tech Campus Advisory Committee

Darrick Nighthawk Evensen
Graduate Student-elected Trustee

Evan Cortens
GPSA President and Humanities Representative

Chris Clarke
Former GPSA Social Sciences Representative

Cresten Mansfeldt
GPSA Civil and Environmental Engineering Representative and former President Member of the Provost’s NYC Tech Campus Advisory Committee

Yevgeniy Israelit
GPSA Physical Sciences Representative
Member of the Provost’s NYC Tech Campus Advisory Committee\\