Student Assembly

Minutes
Cornell University Student Assembly
February 17, 2011
4:45pm — 6:30pm
Willard Straight Hall, Memorial Room

I. Call to Order

V. Andrews called the meeting to order at 4:47pm.

II. Roll Call

Members Present: V. Andrews, A. Bajaj, G. Block, C. Feng, A. Gitlin, M. Gulrajani, C. Jenkins, D. Kuhr, R. Mensah, A. Nicoletti, N. Raps, J. Rau, M. Scheff, U. Smith, A. Yozwiak

Members unexcused: A. Brokman, M. Finn, T. Lenardo

Members excused: J. Kay

Members � unexcused absence: S. Agard, M. Danzer, R. Desai, A. Pruce

III. Approval of Minutes

February 10th, 2011

The approval of minutes was postponed until next meeting.

IV. Open Microphone — Ray Mensah

No one came forth.

V. Announcements/Reports

1. AAP Update — Ulysses Smith

U. Smith talked about the new advising structure with mentors at AAP.

2. Elections Update — Charlie Feng

C. Feng said there are 5 people running for 4 seats on the UA, 36 people running for 20 open spots on the SA. It will be a competitive election.

3. Mental Health and Means Restriction Update (4:50pm)

Tim Marchell, the director of mental health initiatives at Gannett, gave an update on mental health at Cornell. He encouraged students to seek help when necessary and utilize the resources offered by the university. Gilbert Delgado, the university architect, gave an update on the development of the fences on the bridges. He showed different potential models for the fences.

U. Smith asked what new training will be implemented for RAs and RHDs for next year? T. Marcell said he gave a presentation to residential life staff this morning.

Lauren Sheppard, a community member, asked how much student input will influence which design is picked. G. Delgado said we will seek student comments and take them into consideration

M. Gould said the net will collect staff thrown over the bridge. How will this be solved? G. Delgado said the net will also collect leaves, debris, etc. The San Francisco bridge faces similar problems and we’ll deal with it the same way.

4. University Librarian Anne Kenney (5:10pm)

A. Kenney talked about the library strategic plan. Cornell will form stronger unions with other universities including Columbia, Harvard and Princeton, as well as universities outside the country like Tsinghua in China. There will also be extended benefits for newly graduated alums.

U. Smith asked about the developments with the new fine arts library. A. Kenney said most books will be returned to the library.

A. Bajaj asked about the connection with Tsinghua and construction at Olin. A. Kenney said Tsinghua is willing to open up their special collection to Cornell. Regarding Olin, the construction on 1st floor was wrapped up. We will try to move more staff from the second and third floor to first floor to free up more space for users.

5. Slope Day Programming Board (5:30pm)

Kate Tucci, the chair of the Slope Day Programming Board, talked about recycling plastic water bottles and composting on Slope Day. Peter Jacobs, the selection director for slope programming, talked about the selection process that ended with the selection of Nelly as the Slope Day artist.

R. Mensah asked about the information leaks regarding the Slope Day artist. K. Tucci said we tried to keep things under wraps but it’s difficult with such a large operation.

M. Gulrajani asked about the elimination of a food tent. Prithvideep Singh, the vice chair, said hot dogs and hamburgers don’t sell well so we are substituting something more appropriate and saving money.

VI. Business of the Day

VII. New Business

1. Resolution 56 — The Hangovers SAFC/SA Funding Decision

V. Andrews moved this to business of the day. There were no objections.

Jordan Toth from the Hangovers explained the events over the documentation of the fees for the guest performers. A. Nicoletti explained the resolution. Lauren Rosenblum, co-chair of the SAFC, elaborated on the events and reminded the SA this will be setting a precedent for funding groups who did not follow deadlines.

G. Block asked about where the funding would come from. V. Andrews explained half would be from SA’s surplus and the other half would be from SAFC.

R. Mensah said it would be unwise to leave a group stuck with a $5,000 bill. Hopefully this will be the last time this would happen. A. Nicoletti added there will be changes to the rules next year so the groups’ funds only revert at the end of the spring semester, not the fall semester.

R. Desai said this will be establishing a precedent. Many other groups were not funded because they didn’t submit documentation on time. While we don’t want to leave the group stuck with the bill, we still need punitive measures to make sure groups don’t all do this.

A. Nicoletti made an amendment to switch the order of “$5500” and “normal cap” in the resolution. It was approved.

U. Smith said the SA money should not be used as bail-out money.

G. Block made an amendment that would use only SAFC money, not SA money, to fund the Hangovers. There was dissent against the amendment.

C. Jenkins said the SAFC should not be punished for doing their job right.

M. Danzer the SAFC exists to fund the groups. It should use the $5,500 that rolled over and was not supposed to be there anyway.

There was a call to question on the amendment. It was seconded without dissent.

The amendment passed with a vote of 11–0−2.

A. Gitlin called the resolution to question. It was seconded without dissent.

The resolution passed with a vote of 8–2−3.

VIII. Unfinished Business

There was no time.

IX. Adjournment

V. Andrews adjourned the meeting at 6:31pm.