MINUTES
Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
GPSA Discussion Meeting
Monday, April 8th, 2013
Bache Auditorium, Malott Hall
5:30–7:00 P.M.

I. Welcome and Introductions

M. Paine called the meeting to order at 5:34 PM.

1. Introduction of voting members, 1 min.

Voting members present: N. Baran, D. Bunck, G. Danies Turano, J. Drewes, A. Enders, T. Gandhi, M. Holden, B. Kreuser, H. Liu, A. Moore, R. Moore, E. Newbury, M. Paine, E. Smith, M. Tootill, C. Yao

Voting members absent: M. Dumas, J. Hill, E. Rager

II. Guests

1. Kent Fuchs, Provost, 30 min.

Provost Fuchs said one of the most important activities he is involved in is the search for new Deans. He described the search process for a new Dean for Computing and Information Science. A new Dean will be announced in about a week or two. The search is also on for a new Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences. A hiring announcement should be made in about a week. There will also be replacements in the Senior Vice Provost and Vice President for International Relations positions. In the latter position, the administration is looking at restructuring the International Relations office and looking at new ways to work with the international community.

The Provost’s office is also working on the new budget model. This model will be put into effect on July 1st. In the past, each college dealt with costs and revenues differently, but the new model makes this process more consistent. He is looking for input on any issues with the new model, so please contact him if you would like to contribute your comments.

Provost Fuchs said his office is also trying to assess how Cornell compares to its competition. He has decided to compare Cornell with 20 U.S. Universities using a variety of metrics. Academic Analytics is a company that has created a process for measuring the impact and quality of different graduate programs within the U.S. This is the best tool available to compare the quality of our graduate programs to the quality of the competition. For example, this tool answers questions like: How many programs do we have that are ranked in the top ten departments nationwide compared with the other 20 universities? The results of this study will yield important information about where Cornell’s graduate and professional programs stand.

Another issue of concern is the aging of faculty. Cornell has 1500 to 1600 faculty members, not counting the medical school faculty. However, the number of faculty who are 55 and over has been growing, whereas the number younger than 55 has been decreasing. This means that the faculty are indeed aging. The reason for the high rate of aging faculty is that many were hired in large numbers 30–40 years ago. Additionally, many faculty members are working longer than in the past. The current ages of faculty also indicate that there will be many retirements in the next few years. Consequently, the University is trying to implement a “faculty renewal” plan by hiring new faculty members before current faculty members retire.

N. Baran asked whether a new graduate student center would be able to fit into the new budget model.

Provost Fuchs said the administration is at a point where they are only focusing on new projects that desperately need to be done. They have not received any money from one of their main building funds. As such, the budget is tight. The only new construction that will be launched in the near future is a project that will triple the size of Gannett.

P. Billing Ross said he chose to come to Cornell because he saw a list that showed how all recent graduates from his program were employed in their field upon graduating. He wanted to make sure that the Provost’s comparison of Cornell with other schools focused on this aspect of post-graduate life as well.

If anyone has further questions for Provost Fuchs, please send them to M. Paine.

III. Approval of the Minutes

1. March 25th, 2012, 1 min.

The minutes were approved with no dissent.

IV. New Business

1. Resolution 15, Creation of a GPCI Working Group, 3 min.

M. Paine introduced the resolution as a document that asks to formally work with the administration to further the goals of the GPCI.

D. Bunck asked who would lead the committee next year.

M. Paine said he expects that the next president would lead the committee.

The resolution passed by a vote of 14–0.

2. Resolution 16, Diversity & International Students Committee, 7 min.

Y. Izrayelit said this resolution would continue the work of the committee that analyzed diversity and international student issues during the GPCI renewal process. If approved, this will be one of the committees with a chair position up for grabs in the upcoming GPSA elections.

M. Paine said the Communications Committee is currently tasked with some diversity duties, but this resolution would move these duties to the Diversity & International Students Committee.

There were some minor grammatical errors amended.

D. Evensen said he thinks this resolution represents the best way to represent diverse student groups and individuals on campus.

N. Baran agreed and voiced her opinion in favor of the resolution.

C. Yao proposed an amendment to the resolution to include “related issues” to the list of groups supported by the committee: “students of color, gender equality, LGBTQI students.”

The amendment passed with no dissent.

The resolution passed by a vote of 14–0.

3. Resolution 17, A Resolution Regarding Graduate Funding and Tuition in the Humanities, 10 min.

E. Cortens noted the following problems:

• International students without tuition funding are unable to stay on campus and use the library
• There is uneven treatment of external fellowships even if tuition is covered
• There is a lack of knowledge about tuition policies

The median time to a degree is .9 years longer for a humanities graduate student than someone from another area. In order to save money your sixth year of study, there are many obstacles faced by graduate students. For many there are only two options: you may take a leave of absence or you can become a student in absentia. Regardless of the status you choose, if you are an international student, you need to go home.

However, resolution 17 suggests:

• Tiered tuition for students without external tuition funding:
  • After 5 years?
  • After the A exam?
• Allow students, especially international students, to remain in Ithaca beyond their funding guarantee
  • Even if that means a fee!
• Clear and equitable policies for treatment of external awards
• Make these policies widely known, to DGSs and students, so that they can plan their funding
• Explore ways to reduce median time to degree in the humanities (7.1 yrs):
  • Prior Masters
  • Dissertations
  • A exams

M. Holden noted how the title suggests that this resolution only applies to the humanities.

E. Cortens said he wrote this resolution as a humanities student and did not want to speak for other graduate and professional students.

M. Holden offered an amendment to apply the resolution to all other graduate fields.

E. Newbury and others in attendance offered similar remarks on how to apply the resolution to all fields.

M. Paine said this resolution is kind of crossing the boundary into the academic sphere, which the GPSA typically does not do. So the resolution tries to not go into too much detail about academics.

M. Holden suggested an amendment to his amendment in order to place the emphasis on the resolution on the humanities but still include other fields.

This amendment to the amendment was approved.

The original amendment was approved.

There was a call to question. Seconded with no dissent. The resolution was approved by a vote of 13–1.

4. Election of 2013—14 Voting Members, 25 min.

The GPSA voted on 13 positions. The new voting members will hold these posts from June 1st, 2013 until May 31st 2014.

Everyone then broke out into caucuses to vote for new voting members.

After votes were tallied, there was a run-off in the Biological Sciences election.

After a re-vote, the new voting members for physical Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Biological Sciences were revealed.

V. Reports of Officers and Standing Committee, 10 min.

1. Executive Committee (M. Paine)

M. Paine said the GPCI is being rolled out and most administrators now have the document in their offices. He presented to the Board of Trustees on May 28th about what the GPSA has been up to this semester. The President, Executive Vice President, and Vice President for Operations will all be elected next meeting. You must be a voting member to run for one of these positions.

N. Baran said she is willing to be the counsel to the GPSA next year if she wins that election.

2. Appropriations (W. Kreuser)

There were no announcements.

3. Communications (M. Cerroni)

There were no announcements.

4. Finance Commission (V. Pagay)

V. Pagay said the deadline for budgets is coming up this month. Get your budgets in as soon as possible.

5. Graduate & Professional Student Programming Board (G. Danies Turano)

G. Danies Turano said Grad ball tickets are on sale so start buying them and getting the word out!

6. Student Advocacy (Y. Izrayelit)

Y. Izrayelit said there will be one more meeting this year. Look for the email coming out soon.

7. Award Committee (P. Mahanti)

P. Mahanti said the deadline for nominating your advisors is tonight. There have been many submissions so far. The awards ceremony is in May.

VI. Open Forum, 3 min.

F. Doerflinger said she is looking for people to join the Graduate and Professional Women’s Network, a new, umbrella women’s group that will help bridge all women’s groups together.

M. Paine adjourned the meeting at 7:10 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Allison Bazinet