Graduate Community Initiative: February 19, 2008 Minutes

Graduate Community Initiative Working Group
Meeting Minutes
February 19, 2008

Attendees

Kris Corda, Cathy Dove, Edna Dugan (via telephone), Kent Hubbell, Susan Murphy, Brendan O’Brien, Janet Vertesi, Brenda Wickes, Donna Wilczynski, Ira Wasserman, and Yu Yu

Graduate Student Center

Since the Big Red Barn has been closed for structural repairs, how has the temporary solution been working? The students and Kris Corda report that the programs (i.e. TGIF and the International Coffee Hours) have been very well attended at Trillium. Using Trillium has exceeded their expectations.

The speed-dating event held in the Johnson Graduate School of Management was also well attended. Kris reports that having events in different locations spreads staff resources thin.

Programs that use the Big Red Barn for meetings have not found space (as readily) to conduct business.

Feedback from students has been:

• The alternate locations do not have the “homey” feel of the Big Red Barn.
• There are few offices or meeting spaces that do not come with a fee. Susan Murphy mentioned the Student and Academic Services Divisional Space Agreement. The agreement applies to all units within the Division of Student and Academic Services and all registered student groups. Through this agreement, these groups are not charged for the use of SAS spaces, unless the use requires a specialized set-up, specialized clean-up or media support. Other guidelines are found in the agreement, which will be shared with the GCIWG. Susan suggests looking at this document to organize possibilities and also look at staffing needs that arise out of the research.

Other alternatives for programming space: Hasbrouck community space. Could that be used with minor renovations? Off the beaten path, too small and overused by residents, was the response.

Maplewood community space is bigger and underutilized, but there is no convenient bus service.

Willard Straight Hall. Students asked if a room could be designated for “grads only.” Kent Hubbell suggested that the graduate students meet with the student union board of the Straight and see if they would approve. Kent believes this would open the conversation between graduate and undergraduate students, as he believes grads should also have a role in how the Straight is used.

Olin Library has expressed an interest in having a grad presence. That option is still to be investigated.

New Childcare Center. Cathy Dove raised the question of whether the new Cornell Childcare Center would be available nights and weekends for grad use. This building may come with strict regulations and that option will need to be investigated.

A.D. White House. This building is booked up often.

The students would like to see a list of “grad friendly/preferred” spaces on campus. Kent will work with Janet and Yu Yu to review the SAS available space as well as the space inventory gathered by Catherine Holmes in the Performance Space Task Force Report dated March 2005.

Susan reported that she and Sunny would, as co-chairs of the GCIWG, lead, with the chair of the subcommittees, Brenda Wickes and Edna Dugan, focused discussions on each subcommittee report to determine priority rankings and recommendations that needed further study and costing. The results of these smaller work group sessions would come back to the working group after spring break.

Minutes submitted by: D. Wilczynski

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