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MINUTES
Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
GPSA Discussion Meeting
Monday, March 25th, 2013
Bache Auditorium, Malott Hall
5:30–7:00 P.M.
M. Paine called the meeting to order at 5:33pm.
Voting members present: M. Tootill, T. Gandhi, -G. Danies Turano, J. Hill, E. Newbury, M. Paine, N. Baran, A. Moore, J. Drewes, M. Holden, R. Moore, E. Smith, D. Bunck, C. Yao, H. Liu, A. Enders, M. Dumas
Voting members absent: W. Kreuser, E. Rager
Report from NAGPS Legislative Action Days in Washington D.C. (A. Powell), 5 min. A. Powell, Plant Biology field representative, said he was in D.C. on March 2–3 to attend the National Association of Graduate and Professional Students (NAGPS) Legislative Action Days. The conference discussed research funding, international student issues, and open access, among other issues pertinent to graduate and professional students. Conference attendees also learned how to effectively get their stories across to members of Congress.
N. Baran discussed the primary updates to the GPCI regarding the graduate student center. The main objectives of this section of the GPCI are:
T. Gandhi asked whether the GPCI includes a section requiring key card access to enter the Big Red Barn, thereby restricting undergrads.
N. Baran said this is not included in the GPCI, because she doesn’t think that restricting access to undergraduate students is a viable option.
Then, E. Cortens began to discuss significant changes to the GPCI section concerning Career Resources.
The main objectives of the Career Resources sections are:
M. Holden moved to discuss the changes to the GPCI section on Mental Health & Well-being.
The objectives of Mental Health and Well-being include:
M. Holden described some amendments to this section of the GPCI.
K. Schlauraff suggested adding an amendment to the amendment calling for more hours at the Lynah Rink in addition to exercise classes swimming pools, and athletic courts.
The amendment to the amendment was approved.
There was a vote on M. Holden’s original amendment. The amendment was approved.
C. Yao stated she thought EARS counseling should be acknowledged in the introduction and the document should also mention the difficulties grad students are often faced with when using this service. She later proposed an amendment to include this. This amendment was approved.
Y. Izrayelit then discussed the objectives of the Diversity and International Students section:
There were a few grammatical, and consistency errors that were amended.
Y. Izrayelit proposed changing “LGBTQ” to “LGBT” to be consistent with the language used by Cornell.
M. Holden disagreed and said he thinks the “Q” and also an “I” should be used to incorporate more groups.
Y. Izrayelit’s amendment failed and N. Baran proposed changing “LGBTQ” to “LGBTQI”. The amendment passed.
M. Holden motioned to delete an action relating to LGBTQI identity or advocacy as a factor in awarding diversity-based fellowships.
E. Cortens proposed an amendment to Holden’s amendment. There was no opposition to the amendment to the amendment. The amendment to the amendment was passed.
There was no opposition to M. Holden’s amendment. The amendment was passed.
N. Baran discussed the changes made to the Family Services section:
M. Paine moved on to discuss changes to the Housing section:
M. Paine also discussed changes to the Transportation section:
G. Danies Turano made a motion to consider providing free OmniRide access to graduate and professional students before 8:00am during weekdays.
The amendment passed with no dissent.
K. Schlauraff proposed an amendment to “consider increasing the capacity of TCAT buses to carry bicycles.”
M. Paine said this amendment would probably be pretty expensive for TCAT to implement.
The amendment passed with no dissent.
E. Cortens moved to amend the section to require Gannett and/or transportation services/ student disability services to inform students with temporary limited mobility about Cornell’s parking and transportation options.
The amendment to the amendment was seconded. There was opposition and discussion. The amendment to the amendment was passed.
The amendment itself was passed.
N. Baran discussed the Sense of Community changes:
There was a discussion on amending this section and amendments were made.
There was no further discussion on the resolution text itself. Discussion moved to amendments on the resolution as a whole.
After further discussion, Resolution 14 was approved by a vote of 13–0.
R. Moore said he recently sat down with administrators to discuss how Cornell’s endowment is invested. Given the current wording of the resolution, he found the resolution simply isn’t feasible. He motioned to postpone the resolution indefinitely. Seconded. The motion was postponed.
M. Paine said he and N. Baran presented at the NAGPS-Northeast Regional Conference, held on March 15–17th in Boston.
No updates.
No updates.
V. Pagay said annual budgets for organizations for next year will be due Firday, April 26th at 4 pm online. There will also be a budget funding workshop held on Apil 6th from 2:00 pm-4:00 pm in the Plant Science Building, PS 22.
G. Danies Turano said there will be free pizza offered at the upcoming DJ competition at the Big Red Barn on Friday, March 29, 2013 at 7:00 pm.
No updates.
No updates.
There were no open forum discussions, so M. Paine adjourned the meeting at 7:18pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Allison Bazinet
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