Student Assembly

MINUTES
Cornell University Student Assembly
November 5, 2009
4:45 — 6:30pm
Memorial Room, Willard Straight Hall

I. Call to Order

R. Salem called the meeting to order at 4:45

II. Roll Call

Voting Members Present: I. Akinpelu, V. Andrews, C. DeLencquesaing, M. Danzer, R. Desai, A. Gitlin, N. Junewicz, N. Kumar, J. Min, A. Nicoletti, G. Phillips, N. Raps, J. Rau, A. Raveret, R. Salem, U. Smith, K. Welch, O. Williams, H. Yang

Voting Members Absent, Unexcused: M. DeLucia, Z. Glasser, A. Latella

Non-voting Members Present: A. Cowen, A. Flye

Non-voting Members Absent, Unexcused: Patricia Eliasinski

III. Open Microphone

Phoebe Yu from the student innovation council talked about the possible website. R. Desai asked how more people can be involved with the council. Phoebe Yu said to come to the meeting at RPCC on Sundays. People with questions can contact her at xy82@cornell.edu. N. Kumar added there is a rolling application process for the council.

IV. Approval of Minutes from Oct 29

There was a call for acclamation. It was seconded with no dissent. The minutes were approved.

V. Announcements/Reports

R. Salem moved the announcements/reports to after the business of the day.

Office Hours- Rammy Salem

R. Salem will not hold office hours this weekend because he is going to Dartmouth to meet with the leadership from other colleges.

Follow-up event to Student Leader Sustainability Summit�Rammy Salem

R. Salem reported the group’s first event is on Nov 10 at the Big Red Barn. It would be great to have a great SA turnout.

Commending Kristina Brooks ‘12�Rammy Salem

R. Salem congratulated K. Brooks for becoming a semifinalist for Oprah Winfrey’s Karaoke Challenge Contest.

GPSA Update�Roneal Desai

R. Desai gave a brief overview of the issues the GPSA talked about on Monday.

AAP Update�Ulysses Smith

U. Smith reported that $20,000 has been allocated for additional equipment for the college. Physical access to all buildings will be granted for all students. AAP111 may come back, where everyone can mingle and learn about the departments. There may also be some reconstruction for the Fine Arts Library.

By-line Funding Update�Chris Basil

C. Basil said we are 2/3 way through the process and gave an overall update. M. Danzer said we should go over the numbers to make sure they are correct, since some numbers have changed since the beginning of the process.

Appropriations Committee Allocations�Chris Basil

• CU Tonight

C. Basil explained that CU Tonight is a late night non-alcoholic social program board. They were funded at $9 last year, they requested $12, the committee voted 12–2 to fund them at $10 dollars.

C. Basil called for acclamation, no dissent. The allocation was approved.

• International Student Programming Board

The ISPB asked for a 14 cent increase because they want more events funded. The committee felt it was worthy and granted the increase by a vote of 11–0.

There was a call for acclamation, no dissent. The allocation was approved.

• Big Red Bikes

The project will start next year with 20 bikes spread out among the libraries. They asked $1. There was a call for acclamation, no dissent. The allocation was approved.

• ALANA

CCC may or may not be able to provide logistical support to the concerts. In the event that CCC doesn’t provide support, ALANA could have multiple smaller concerts. The committee voted 11–0 for the allocation of $7.25.

N. Kumar added that next semester we’ll remove appendix B that requires ALANA and CCC to work together to put on the concerts. ALANA is perfectly capable of putting on the concerts by itself.

There was a hand vote, and the allocation received unanimous approval.

VI. Business of the Day

Improving Town-Gown Communication Efforts�Gary Stewart

Gary Stewart from the Office of Community Relations talked about the town gown-relationships. He said the administration meets with elected officials on a regular basis. Cornell is a big supporter of the Ithaca community.

V. Andrews wanted to get some update on the Collegetown Urban Plan. G. Stewart said right now it’s in limbo. He will get an update next Tuesday (the meeting is on the 2nd Tuesday of every month). More students need to come to the council meetings to support the plan.

R. Salem asked about possible student liaisons with city of Ithaca. G. Stewart replied there have been some students on the Common Council of the city.

Changes to Parental Notification Policies�Mary Beth Grant, Deborah Lewis, Kent Hubbell

K. Hubbell explained that Cornell has always treated students as adults. The parental notification policies are in place for the students’ health, not discipline.

C. Basil asked about the history of the policy. M. Grant said that starting in 1999, federal law allows institutions to contact parents when students get in trouble with alcohol or drugs issues. In 2002, Cornell put in place the policy of parental notification without student consent. Starting this semester, this policy will be solidified, but it’s not that different from what was started in 2002. There is no sharing of health information between JA and Gannett, so we need to make sure early on that any alcohol/drug incident do not develop into a medical problem.

D. Lewis added that if there’s a 2nd violation, before the notification letter is sent home, the student will be encouraged to communicate with Dean Hubbell and their parents. The letter can be canceled with discretion.

D. Lewis explained why we want to have something more formal and routine than a case-to-case policy. Students with 3 or more alcohol/drugs violations need more services than Gannett is able to provide. In a 2 year period, there were 30 students who had 3 or more alcohol/drug incidents. Among those 18 have the incidents within a 12-month period. We looked at the cases more closely. 12 were clearly cases of chemical dependency.

M. Danzer asked about medical amnesty and how that’s related to violations. M. Grant said medical amnesty cases will not count toward the number of violations and will not result in parental notification.

R. Desai said medical amnesty cases can be more serious than cases of being in the presence of alcohol. It can be really subjective to determine which cases warrant parental notification.

D. Lewis pointed out the severity of the problem isn’t necessarily related to the severity of the violation. Many times medical amnesty cases are one-time mistakes, and students tend to talk to their parents after going to the ER.

R. Desai asked more specifically about cases of being in the presence of alcohol. Would Dean Hubbell make the decision about whether the parents are notified? K. Hubbell replied that this is about the wellness of the student, not about discipline. The decision will be made with this in mind and with much consultation.

V. Andrews said he’s hesitant to support overzealous notification of parents. How will the policy changes be presented? M. Grant said this was a very transparent process, but the changes will not be shouted over a rooftop because it’s not that different from the previous policy. Students will be informed of what’s going on.

A. Gitlin asked if there is any distinction for class (freshman vs. senior)? M. Grant replied the timing and the frequency of incidents will be taken into consideration.

R. Desai asked if a severity scale of the different violations can be made. M. Grant said that again, existence of medical problem may not be related to the severity of the problem.

D. Lewis said that frequency, more than severity, of these incidents is a better indicator of a potential medical problem. By the third violation, parents often ask if this is such a severe problem, why is this the first time we’ve heard about it? So the administration decided to involve the parents by the 2nd offense.

Address on the Multicultural Community�Ola Williams ‘10

O. Williams said that today’s address is for everyone, not just the SA or any particular communities. The multi-cultural community’s needs are not being met. Mr. Kenneth Glover, the RHD of Ujamaa, has been part of a very good support system for 20 years. He should definitely not have been removed from his position.

O. Williams also said that this lack of attention toward the multicultural community has been an issue for a long time and we need to address it now. Class of 2013 has a large multi-cultural student body. There needs to be more support for them.

N. Kumar commended O. Williams for his courage. He pointed out resolutions like R. 19 and R.22 are just the first step toward making changes. We need to do a good follow-up job to make sure these changes are actually implemented.

R. 22- Reinstatement of Mr. Kenneth Glover as the Residential Housing Director of Ujamaa Residential College�Ebony Ray ‘10 and Ola Williams ‘10

E. Ray said that students can do a lot to change the policies when we unite, as can been seen in the founding of Ujamaa in 1972 and the takeover of Willard Straight in 1969. Resolution 15 about inclusion of students in the RHD selection process is a very good step.

O. Williams said the SA has a checks and balances system over the Department of Campus Life and the Office of the Dean of Students. Mr. Glover has not done anything to warrant his removal, and his continued support for the community is necessary.

I. Akinpelu said that he is a big supporter of Ken Glover, but he is worried about the wording of the resolution, which makes it sound like SA just supports what has been happening anyway. He doesn’t think Mr. Glover’s support will diminish if he was moved to another residential house. There may also be a bright side: it may bring another person in to continue the fight. Ujamaa is not going to die because of the removal of Ken Glover. This may be an employee issue and may not involve the whole multi-cultural community.

O. Williams said but Mr. Glover has not done anything wrong and this removal is baseless.

I. Akinpelu said that Mr. Glover will still be here, just at another residential house. He can still support the community. We can even bring in someone younger to help us fight any injustice.

A. Nicoletti noted the screening committee does hiring, firing and review. This resolution takes into account the review process so both sides can be brought out to light.

Meghan Lawson, chairman of Black Students United, stressed that Mr. Glover does have a strong impact on student life. Students feel the abrupt removal of Mr. Glover did not allow the student voice to be heard. We need to be reassured that the resources Mr. Glover provided for us will still be there.

C. Basil pointed out SA has no purview over the financial and staffing decisions and have no access to the relevant information. He was not comfortable with the “Be it therefore resolved” clause, but he agreed with everything else in the resolution.

E. Ray said Mr. Glover is being transferred and in some sense promoted, since he will be overseeing a larger residential house. If there was a budget cut reason or if there was anything negative in Mr. Glover’s records, this promotion would not have happened.

Z. Murray said this is about fairness and student voice. Students could have been informed. The administration has few satisfying answers for us as to why Mr. Glover was moved.

V. Andrews said this is now a legislative issue that determines the strength of the SA charter. More “majority” students can be involved to be a part of this issue.

A community member said that most of the student body already know about this issue.

R. Desai said Mr. Glover should be put back in place unless reasons can be given. With that he called to question. It was seconded, but there was dissent. There was a vote for the call, which passed by 11–5.

The SA went into voting, and by a vote of 14–2−1, Resolution 22 passed.

VII. New Business

R. 23- Lights Off, Cornell�Adam Raveret ‘12, Jolyon Bloomfield, Erica Gutierrez

J. Bloomfield introduced the resolution. Data was taken on which halls have lights on during the night. $300 a month can be saved by turning off lights in unused classrooms in Rockefeller alone. Extrapolated across campus, this can help save $60000 a year. A. Raveret said this will save administration a considerable amount of money to help solve the budget problem.

N. Kumar called to question. It was seconded without dissent.

By a hand vote of 14–0−0, the resolution passed.

R. Salem extended meeting by 15 minutes.

VIII. Unfinished Business

R. 17- Clarification of Executive Committee membership and executive session�Nikhil Kumar ‘12 and Alex Cowen ‘10

The sponsor struck one of the clauses from the resolution.

C. Basil asked if the Parliamentarian and the archivist will be required to attend executive committee meetings. A. Cowen replied no. C. Basil called to question. V. Andrews second. There was no dissent.

Since this was a change to the SA charter, it needed 16 votes. There were only 16 voting members (including the chair) left at the meeting at this point. There was a vote of 15–0−0. Chair Salem voted yes, and the resolution passed with a vote of 16–0−0.

R. 18- Regarding Availability of Task Force Reports�Vincent Andrews ‘11, Nikhil Kumar ‘11, Matt Danzer ‘12

C. Basil call to question. There was another call for acclamation. There was no dissent. The resolution passed.

R. 19- Regarding Joint Assemblies Multicultural Issues Committee�Ola Williams ‘10

R. Desai called to question. It was seconded without dissent. This was also a charter change. There was a vote of 15–0−0, R. Salem voted yes to push it to 16. Resolution 19 passed.

R. 20- Supporting the ICSD’s Lift of the Student Volunteer Freeze�Adam Gitlin ‘13

A. Gitlin presented the background of the resolution. This was an invitation for Cornell students to do community services again.

C. Basil called for acclamation. There was no dissent. The resolution passed.

R. 21- Opposition to Legislation A07638�Matt Danzer ‘12 and Kristen Welch ‘10

This resolution was tabled.

IX. Adjournment

R. Salem adjourned the meeting at 6:40.