MINUTES
Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
GPSA Discussion Meeting
Monday, November 12th, 2012
Bache Auditorium, Malott Hall
5:30—7:00 P.M.

I. Welcome, Guests and Introductions (0:0:10)

M. Paine called the meeting to order at 5:32 P.M.

1. Introduction of voting members, 1 min.

Voting members present:

Voting members absent:

2. Presentations and guided discussion on transportation issues, 40 min. (0:1:24)

a. Cornell University Transportation & Mail Services

i. Joe Lalley III, Director of Facilities Operations, Facilities Services

ii. Helen Steh, Commuter Programs Administrator, Transportation & Mail Services (0:2:45)

‘ ’ ‘iii. Amy Ross, Manager of Parking Systems and Communications, Transportation and Mail Services′ ’

H. Steh gave a presentation over the phone. Her presentation has been posted to the GPSA website.

b. Tompkins Area Consolidated Transit (TCAT) (0:17:48)

i. Doug Swarts, Service Development Manager, TCAT

D. Swarts said last year, TCAT offered 3.94 million rides and they are aiming for 4 million rides this year.

ii. Patty Poist, Communications and Marketing Manager, TCAT

Nancy Oltz, TCAT Operations Manager, said that in 2011, TCAT was named the best transportation system of its size in North America.

P. Poist noted how it is a constant balancing act to find sources of funding. They are mostly funded by the state government and only a small portion of their funding comes from fares.

M. Paine noted how the most popular form of transportation for graduate and professional students on campus is public transportation. He encouraged everyone to consider this when they went into guided discussion sessions.

At this point, the meeting divided into guided discussion sessions.

II. Reports of Officers and Standing Committees, 26 min. (0:30:20)

1. Report from the Trustees (D. N. Evensen), 8 min. (0:31:14)

D.N. Evensen said the Cornell Board of Trustees is composed of 64 members. The University bylaws state “The Board of Trustees shall have supreme control over the University, including every college, school, and academic department, division and center thereof.” This year, the Trustees are excited about the GPSA’s work on the GCI and their strategic, long-term visions for the university. The Trustees also have a commitment to “internationalization”, are developing a plan of action on “MOOCs” (massive, open online classes), and are concerned about potential sequestration of the budget. To submit your input on these matters, contact D.N. Evensen at dte6@cornell.edu.

2. Executive Committee (0:37:49)

M. Paine announced the rescheduled dates for the Space Utilization Study Forums. They are: Wednesday, November 28 (Rice Hall) 4:30–5:45 or 5:30–6:45 or Thursday, November 29 (Rice Hall) 4:30–5:45 or 5:30–6:45.

a) National Association of Graduate-Professional Student (NAGPS) (M. Paine), 5 min. (0:40:17)

M. Paine said he attended the NAGPS conference a couple weeks ago and gave two presentations on engaging local government and strategic planning. He found that Cornell is very lucky to have a responsive administration. Additionally, the GPSA’s GCI is an extremely innovative document. One of the issues discussed during the conference was “budget sequestration”, which could occur if a budget agreement cannot be decided upon by Congress before January. This would have an extreme impact upon university life, including research funding. Those interested in going to Washington D.C. to lobby against budget sequestration should contact Mitch.

b) Ivy+ Summit (N. Baran), 5 min. (0:44:32) N. Baran said that while attending Ivy+ Summit, she noted how Cornell’s GPSA was the most government-oriented graduate student body in attendance.

Y. Izrayelit discussed his main take-away points from his interactions with other schools at Ivy+ Summit. He gained lots of insights into how to engage students and improve the GPSA. Starting this year, the GPSA will begin instituting exit surveys, which will help identify key areas that could be improved in graduate life.

3. Appropriations (W. Kreuser) (0:52:00)

W. Kreuser asked everyone to consider whether the activity fee is serving you in the way it should be serving you.

4. Graduate & Professional Student Programming Board (K. Roosa & G. Danies Turano) (0:52:50)

K. Roosa said there would be a mixer held on Thursday, November 15th.

5. Student Advocacy (Y. Izrayelit). (0:54:30)

Y. Izrayelit said the student advocacy town hall meeting would also be held on Thursday, November 15th.

III. Approval of the Minutes (0:54:46)

1. October 29th, 2012, 1 min.

The minutes were approved with no dissent.

IV. New Business

1. Resolution 10, GPSA Resolution to Support Women’s Professional Development (T. Gandhi), 8 min. (0:55:19)

The meeting was extended by 10 minutes at this point.

T. Gandhi said entering the academic or professional job market can create lots of problems for women who are considering planning their families and are thinking about other issues related to their futures. Establishing a stronger connection between the President’s Council on Cornell Women, facilitating outreach among female faculty, staff, and graduate and professional students on campus to help female students would be beneficial to Cornell’s female community.

A. Powell proposed several minor, grammatical amendments that were all amended without dissent.

There was a call to question with no dissent.

The resolution was passed by a vote of 15–0.

2. Election of Chair of the Award Committee, 10 min. (1:04:00)

M. Paine said last meeting, the GPSA passed a resolution to maintain the faculty award committee, but now the committee is in need of a chair.

Parag Mahanti was appointed the chair of the faculty award committee.

IV. Open Forum, 4 min. (1:07:12)

M. Paine urged those interested in donating items to Hurricane Sandy relief to drop them off at the Office of Assemblies, located at 109 Day Hall.

M. Paine adjourned the meeting at 7:08 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Allison Bazinet