Student Assembly

Minutes
Cornell University Student Assembly
March 18, 2010
4:46- 6:04pm
Willard Straight Hall, Memorial Room

I. Call to Order

R. Salem called called meeting to order at 4:46pm.

II. Roll Call

Voting Members present: V. Andrews, C. Basil, A. Brokman, M. Delucia, R. Desai, A. Gitlin, N. Kumar, A. Latella, J. Min, A. Nicoletti, S. Purdy, N. Raps, J. Rau, A. Raveret, R. Salem, U. Smith, K. Welch, H. Yang

Voting Members Unexcused Absent: I. Akinpelu, Z. Glasser, C. Moreno

Voting Members Excused Absent: V. Andrews, M. Danzer, N. Junewicz

III. Approval of Minutes

There was a call for acclamation. Seconded. The minutes from March 11th were approved.

IV. Announcements/Reports

1. Moment of Silence

There was a moment of silence for the recent suicides on campus.

2. Update about University Resources�Tim Marchell, Director of Mental Health Initiatives

K. Whang said that his update was related to the suicides that occurred on campus last week. He said that there are numerous examples around the world where putting up barriers around bridges decreases the suicide rate in these locations. The campus feels the need to take action as soon as possible to prevent another untimely death. Therefore, they will take advantage of students’ Spring Break to erect barriers on the bridges made out of chain link. This is only temporary and a more permanent solution is being discussed. For these long-term goals, they will need input from the community and they will bring in top bridge design architects in order to avoid constructing anything unsightly that would ruin the beauty of the campus.

R. Desai thanked K. Whang for coming. He said that he is in support of the university putting student safety first, over aesthetic appeal. He asked Whang for a list of possible long-term solutions for the bridges. He also wondered how long Cornell police officers would be posted on the bridges. Finally, what is the feasibility of putting nets under bridges? He mentioned that this had been implemented at the Golden Gate Bridge and that it worked well there.

K. Whang said that the police would continue their shifts on the bridges until the temporary protection is installed. However, they are considering posting officers even after the barriers are erected because human presences have been shown to decrease suicide rates. As to the design of permanent barriers, they are only in a preliminary planning process. However, they have begun to look at nets, because there are examples of their effectiveness at cutting suicide rates. Yet, all seven of our bridges are designed differently and they have to treat each bridge individually. Cornell has the best architecture school in country, so they will definitely be engaging students in the planning process.

R. Salem asked how long the chain link would be up and who is responsible for making these decisions within the next few days.

K. Whang said that the senior administration is deciding this along with the risk management board.

R. Salem asked if there will there be opportunities for student involvement.

K. Whang said the whole student body and architecture students should submit their input.

A. Nicoletti asked if there are any examples where putting up a barrier on a bridge will actually reduce the rate of suicides. Furthermore, he asked if this construction is necessary since our rate of suicides is on par with that of similar sized institutions. He is not sure if a chain link fence is the solution to the problem.

K. Whang said that his intial reaction was the same as A. Nicoletti’s but then he learned from experts on suicide and came to think differently.

T. Marchell said that the Harvard School of Public Health’s website contains facts about suicide prevention related to bridges. From research around the world, they have found that when you install a barrier, suicide rates drop and they don’t occur in nearby areas without barriers. Suicide among young adults is often an impulsive action, so if the access to a means to die is available, they may be more likely to kill themselves. For these reasons, a barrier could help buy time and has made a difference in various situations. However, student support will make the biggest difference when someone is having problems. Thus, it is important to stand together and to reach out to those who need help.

U. Smith said that it seems like there is a lot of focus on physical barriers when there should be a greater effort for faculty and professors to incorporate student issues into their training with mandatory seminars and training sessions on mental health issues. The administration should focus on finding the root of the problem and implementing resources to help students.

T. Marchell said that U. Smith is describing the public health approach to mental health. Cornell has many programs which individuals with mental health problems can utilize, such as EARS, peer counseling, Gannett counseling, and academic advising offices. Additionally, there is a new focus on faculty and staff mental health because they are under stress as well at times.

R. Salem said he encourages more student involvement in the planning process. He also fears that physical barriers will be a constant, morbid presence for students walking by bridges.

T. Marchell said that there is no evidence that barriers have led to increase in suicides. Although the short-term barriers will be unsightly, the campus is amid a crisis. Even though our suicide rate has been normal over a ten year period, recent patterns indicate that this unusual behavior that needs to be addressed.

R. Salem thanked the speakers for their time and thorough research.

3. Women’s Issues Committee�Natalie Raps

N. Raps said that she has been working in conjunction with a local taxi company to provide escort service for people to use 24 hours a day. With this service, every student would receive a pass at the beginning of the year with swipes counting for one use of the taxi. It would take only one swipe to go anywhere in the Ithaca area. This would provide a safe ride home from libraries or elsewhere at night.

C. Basil asked what this program will do to the time it takes to get taxi cab.

N. Raps said that this will make the taxi company more efficient because they will be able to expand and decrease the wait time to five minutes no matter where you are.

S. Purdy said that this program is something great we should pursue.

R. Desai said that the university currently pays for busses to go around late at night and this could replace those busses.

N. Raps said that we now have the blue light escort mobile service consisting of TCAT buses at night, but they only come once an hour. They are trying to make taxis replace this.

J. Rau asked if the taxis would just go from libraries to dorms.

N. Raps said that they would go all around Ithaca for one swipe. This would make the campus much safer.

4. Cornell Mental Health and Wellness Committee�Kristen Welch

K. Welch said that the committee met last week and discussed peer advising and compared the different models of advising implemented in the biology, engineering, and veterinary programs.

5. AAP Update�Ulysses Smith

U. Smith said that the AAP Dean held and info session two weeks ago and he presented his plan about AAP Plus. Task forces will submit their ideas about this new program to the Dean.

J. Gardenhire said that the architecture students had been working hard to build a dragon for Dragon Day. Also, this week they held their traditional green streak, pranks, and nerd walk to prepare for Dragon Day on Friday before Spring Break. This is a very old Cornell tradition started over 100 years ago by Willard Straight. To raise money for this event, shirts are on sale across campus.

6. Collegiate Readership Program�Adam Raveret

A. Raveret said he went to Chicago two weeks ago to represent the Collegiate Readership Program and the other schools present were impressed with what Cornell has to offer.

7. Task Force Regarding an SA Judicial Committee�Andrew Brokman

A. Brokman said people interested in joining the task force should call or email him.

V. Unfinished Business

1. R. 52- Resolution in Support of the Student Statement on the Right to Research�Roneal Desai

R. Desai said that he explained this resolution a few weeks ago. It will have a significant impact on campus and is endorsed by the school.

N. Kumar said that the university library is excited about this. He called the resolution to question.

The call to question was seconded. There was a call for acclamation with dissent. By a vote of 14–1−3, including two votes from the community, the resolution passed.

2. R. 54- Removing the Charter Test for SA Members�Alex Cowen and Nikhil Kumar

The resolution passed by a vote of 16–0−0.

3. R. 55- Charter Amendments�Alex Cowen and Nikhil Kumar

There was a call to question. It was seconded and by a vote of 16–0−0, the resolution passed.

VI. New Business

1. R. 63- Required Orientation Event On Health�Andrew Brokman

A. Brokman motioned to co-sponsor.

R. Mensah, N. Raps, and R. Desai came forward to co-sponsor.

A. Brokman said the resolution concerns a community approach to health and covers drug abuse, sexual harassment and other important issues. It would be an additional event during Orientation. Many student leaders are in support of this.

N. Raps said they have been in contact with the OSC and CUPD and CUPD wants to get involved with students from beginning of their freshman year.

A representative from EARS said that EARS supports this resolution and that an orientation event could dispel certain myths about mental illness.

R. Desai said that there is a lot more planning to do, so he encourages anyone’s ideas.

A. Nicoletti motion to move the resolution to business of the day. He then yielded the remainder of his time to the next speaker.

C. Basil said that hardly anyone pays attention to any orientation week events. He asked if this one giant event is the right way to raise awareness.

A. Brokman said by calling this a required event, there will be a 70–80 percent attendence rate from freshmen.

B. Basil said he thought that everyone should step back and slow things down before creating another large orientation event.

The EARS representative said that there is so much energy and motivation around campus to do this and EARS has already proposed different ways to organize the event.

A. Brokman said this would be a different type of event from Tapestry. He said that the size and style of the event (whether large groups or small) would be left up to the administration.

By a vote of 8–6, the resolution was moved to business of the day.

U. Smith said he thought it would be a good idea to leave the planning up to experts. The resolution echoes the sentiments of the community right now so it is important for it to pass.

N. Kumar thanked A. Brokman for working on the resolution and for discussing it with relevant people around campus.

C. Basil asked if this would be a Dean of Students event.

K. Hubble said that such programming to awaken students to these issues early on in their college careers would be helpful. Mental illness begins in peoples’ teens and twenties with first bouts with depression. The more you know, understand and care for your friends, the better.

C. Basil asked if it is correct that next year’s orientation will be shortened by one day.

K. Hubble said they would like to have a variety of orientation events spread out throughout the year because the first five days may be too full to accommodate something they want students to remember. Thus, they will search for an optimal place for this proposed event during students’ freshman year.

C. Basil suggested the word “orientation” be stricken from the resolution in order to provide more flexibility.

A. Brokman said that orientation actually continues on for another couple of weeks past the first orientation week.

C. Basil said he was confused about what students consider “orientation.”

A. Gitlin suggested the resolution sponsors reach out to orientation leader organizations. Call to question.

The call to question was seconded with no dissent.

K. Welch asked if the content of the event will only contain the things outlined in the resolution.

A. Brokman said that these are just suggestions and further planning is to be decided by Dr. Marchell.

S. Purdy said he researched articles on preventing suicide in universities and he feels that a single orientation event would be a short sided plan and there needs to be more long-term initiatives enacted.

A. Brokman said there is a lot of support behind this orientation event and he is also in favor of things throughout year, but that would entail another resolution.

A. Gitlin said that this resolution is just getting the ball rolling. It is not detailed because it simply lets the administration know how we feel.

B. Basil asked if they discussed the option for a later event with administrators.

A. Brokman said that didn’t come up, but they talked about infusing mental health issues with Tapestry.

N. Raps said people should always be on guard in our community and this will be engrained into their minds at the beginning of their college experience. It is important to maintain this event during orientation week.

A. Nicoletti said, as there is so much support right now. They should pass the resolution now. Call to question. The call to question was seconded with no dissent.

By a vote of 15–0−1, the resolution passes.

VII. Adjournment

R. Salem adjourned the meeting at 6:04 pm.

Respectfully submitted, Allison Bazinet