Student Assembly

Minutes
Cornell University Student Assembly
October 20, 2011
4:45pm — 6:30pm
Willard Straight Hall, Memorial Room

N. Raps called the meeting to order at 4:47pm

1.  I. Call to Order / Roll Call

• Voting members present: S. Balik, S. Breedon, D. Brown, A. Chopra, A. Gitlin, R. Gitlin, D. Goldberg, M. Gulrajani, G. Hoffman, J. Kay, D. Kuhr, J. Lee, J. Mueller, D. Muir, A. Nicoletti, A. Pinkney, N. Raps, J. Rau, U. Smith, E. Szulman, N. Treffeisen, A. Wolford, E. Yeterian
• Non voting members present: A. Bores, A. Raveret, A. Santangelo
• Unexcused absences: A. Meller, P. Scelfo
• Tardies: R. Desai

2.  II. Approval of the 10/13/11 Meeting Minutes

• Minutes approved

3.  III. Open Microphone

• None

4.  IV. Announcements / Reports

• Education Policy Committee Update (R.2) — D. Brown
  • Members of the committee were confused about the content of the resolution
  • Major issue: concern about confidentially of having a member of the SA on the committee
  • Considering amending the description of the student member on the committee
  • N. Raps: A new resolution can be made defining the role of the Education Policy Committee student seat
  • D. Kuhr: What qualifications did the committee have in mind for the student member?
  • D. Brown: The committee only wants the student member present at certain meetings, which would be unfair
  • Will keep the SA updated
• Medical Amnesty Program Update (R.9) — J. Mueller
  • Reminder: Amnesty Program works like Cornell’s on-campus policy: if you call for someone who is inebriated, you will not be penalized
  • J. Mueller working with Ithaca College and Gannett on decals
  • Wants to mention “overdose” as it is the main problem seen among students
  • Gannett wanted a slogan: “calling for help is not a crime” — concern about the amount of wordage on the decal
  • J. Mueller presented two decals: One with the slogan and one without
  • J. Mueller prefers decal without slogan for its simplicity
  • D. Kuhr: Also prefers decal without slogan
  • A. Goldberg: Also prefers decal without slogan, but would like the sentence about amnesty to be larger
  • N. Treffeisen: prefers the decal with the slogan, and also would like sentence on amnesty to be larger
• NYC Tech Campus Update (R.16) — E. Szulman
  • 19,300+ comments on blog — need about 615 more to reach goal of 20,000
  • cornellstudentsnyc.com
  • 2 student videos have been posted, 5 more in the works
    • Would like to feature students in extended schools in one of the videos (AAP, ILR, etc.)
  • There will be a new website soon to better incorporated the new media approach
  • There will be a big event coming up on the arts quad — will want SA to reach out to people to attend. Details to be withheld until later
  • Thanks to everyone who has been involved
• Campus Soap Announcement — G. Block
  • Three year plan to get soap in bathrooms
  • G. Block worked with the director of facilities management
  • This year there will be soap in the high rises, next year there will be soap in low rises 6, 7, and 8, and the year after there will be soap in low rises 9 and 10
  • N. Raps: Commends G. Block, as many people in the past have taken on this issue and ailed
• AAP Update — U. Smith
  • Architect of WSH discussed the vision he had for the building and how AAP fits in
  • Meeting will be held next Tuesday. Big topic: how to reprogram Sibley hall (library was moved to Rand Hall) — how each department will play a role in how the new space will be used
• Women’s Issues Update — D. Brown
  • Meetings will be held on Tuesday at 9 instead of on Sundays
  • Main issues: forcible touching
  • Will be helping with first minority women’s conference in November
  • Event next Friday (10/28/11): Love and Consent: Connecting Allies and Advocates. To be held from 2–4pm in the art gallery of WSH
• Into the Streets Announcement — U. Smith
  • SA will be participating on 10/29/11
  • Missing three members — asks SA to fill in for those spots
  • Mandatory training session on Sunday for participants
  • Project: light up Tompkins — going door to door
  • N. Raps: She and A. Gitlin commend Smith on his success as VP of outreach. Plan for the future: SA will take emails of people in the audience and send them updates from the meeting that they attended
• Dining Announcement — E. Szulman
  • Cornell dining has moved toward being more vegan-friendly
  • Pumpkin carving event at Appel next Thursday (10/27/11) — would like a contingent of the SA to attend
  • One of dining’s goals this year is marketing — a sub-committee was created for this purpose, N. Treffeisen as chair
• Meet and Greet Announcement — N. Treffeisen
  • Diversity Meeting Alumni Meet and Greet at 8:30
  • LGBTQ Alumni Meet and Great at 9:00 at the LGBTQ Resource Center at 626 Thurston

5.  V. Business of the Day

• Appropriations Committee Recommendation, Club Insurance — A. Nicoletti
  • Risk Management offers insurance to student organizations. Due to the increasing premium, students will have to pay an additional $0.40 for a total of $5.10
  • University will share the burden of the increase as well
  • Call to question, seconded
  • Vote: 23–0−0
  • SA approves funding
• Appropriations Committee Recommendation, Slope Media — A. Nicoletti
  • Slop Media Group is one of the two eligible groups that are considered to be “new” for the student activity fee for this funding cycle
  • Group will provide opportunities for students to be involved in communication: TV, radio, magazine, and a new photography department
  • Appropriations Committee felt that Slope Media Group has a large impact on campus due to its large members as well as the number of views that go to its website
  • Committee felt that the request for $1.50 was a little inflated so they recommended $1.25
  • Slope Media is unique because it is asking for capital expenditure funds — hard goods
    • In the future, there should be an appendix to keep track of the goods
  • D. Kuhr: Why did the committee think that programming / software should not be funded?
  • A. Nicoletti: Committee did not believe in funding a $2,000 salary for a student to work on the website — the group should work that out for themselves. This consideration went into the decrease from the initial request of $1.50 to $1.35
  • G. Block: Asked for numbers for the website — how many visitors, what are they getting out of the website, what specifically does Slope Media need from by-line funding? Will funding be for this year or for the future?
  • Ariella Weintraub (president of Slope Media Group): Numbers — 47,700 visits to their website this past year. 100,000+ page views. Over 50% of visitors were unique. They are applying for by-line funding, as SAFC funding and membership dues currently limit them. Restrictions on hardware/software are preventing them from buying what they need to update old programs. Requesting by-line funding to get equipment, continue improving, and providing for students in the opportunity — want them to be able to use the website to promote their organizations / events
  • Noah Kaminski ‘13: Present to read a letter from his friend — Nischay Rege ‘12 — expressing why the Slope Media Group should not be by-line funded. Main points:
    • One of Slope’s main arguments is that want to offer opportunities for journalism to students — other groups already do this.
    • By-line funding should be for groups that benefit the Cornell population — Slope does not reach everyone so does not fit the criteria to be by-line funded
  • N. Kaminski: If Slope Media Group receives by-line funding, they will be receiving 17K per year — personally thinks this number is inappropriate
  • N. Treffeisen: How did the Appropriations Committee vote down numbers from $1.50 to $1.25?
  • A. Nicoletti: $1.50 was the original request. $1.35 was the amount when $2,000 was taken out (intended to spend on web development). $1.25 was the amount when general bloating was taken out of the budget
  • Julia Buffinton ‘14: asks SA to evaluate each group that they are funding. There are already two other groups that provide journalism outlets for students, so that reason does not hold for Slope Media. As for their website, only 1.5% of undergraduates visit and 200 out of 350 are unique. In contrast, 57% of readers of the Daily Sun read the paper at least twice a week. Asks SA to reevaluate reasons why Slope Media Group is asking for funding. Only 2.7% of students are being reached — thinks that the group can do a lot with less money
  • A. Weintraub: Main reason why they are switching from SAFC to by-line funding is to see improvement. The group is relatively new (5 years) and they will be able to reach the entire student body given by-line funding. One way they can do this is by lending out equipment to students as they currently cannot
  • R. Desai: The Daily Sun takes pride in the fact that they are independent. All by-line funded organizations are subject to the rules of the SA — probably a reason why many groups have not applied. The Appropriations Committee agrees with concern for use of funding for social events, which is why they voted on $1.25 instead of $1.50. Slope Media Group does provide a unique need on campus: production, experience, media — not just journalism. Also, there is no other group on campus where students can get free equipment rentals
  • A. Chopra: Agrees with R. Desai. To Kaminski and Buffinton: You said $17,000 is too much — what is the reason? Did you have a better number in mind?
  • J. Buffinton: They did not have a specific number in mind. Both she and N. Kaminski work at WVBR. They are aware of the costs to manage a website and run a radio station and they are functioning with older equipment than that of Slope Media Group for only $10,000 per year — they are making do with what theyhave. They do not see $17,000 as necessary to run Slope Media Group.
  • N. Treffeisen: point of information: what was the SAFC funding Slope Media Group received before?
  • M. Gulrajani: Their allocation for fall was $7,000 — the year-long allocation was $13,000. The SA should be evaluating the recommendation not on how the $17,000 is being spent, but how the extra $4,000 will benefit the community
  • J. Mueller: What information did the Appropriations Committee use to make their decision?
  • A. Nicoletti: Everything on the website is what the Committee used
  • A. Gitlin: Slope Media does a very big service in terms of student organizations do on campus. The Daily Sun often turns down articles from students — Slope Media Group covers a lot of student groups that would not be covered otherwise. Believes that they are a terrific service in informing students of everything going on around campus
  • N. Kaminski: To be nit picky, Slope Media Group allocated $1,000 of funds (from a previous budget) on T-shirts. Why aren’t they being worn?
  • A. Weintraub: Slope Media Group only spent $400 on T-shirts — it was an investment as the shirts were used this semester as well
  • R. Gitlin: Organizations shouldn’t have to “make do” with what they have — want organizations to prosper and improve. Thinks that what Slope Media Group is doing with the money they have is a testament to how strong they are. Their request for funding should not be denied
  • Call to question, seconded
  • Vote: 23–1−0
  • SA approves funding
• Special Projects Request, NYC Tech Campus Ad-Hoc — A. Nicoletti
  • NYC Campus Ad-Hoc Committee was created
  • Committee asking for special projects funding to help in their effort
  • Asked for $1,600 for marketing, filming, paraphernalia, web hosting, and transportation to NYC
  • Appropriations Committee believed in the purpose of the fund, but thought $1,600 was too much — they agreed on $1,200
  • The budget is tentative. The SA will make sure that the money is spent efficiently
  • E. Szulman: The University cannot speak about the tech campus after the deadline at the end of October — he Ad-Hoc committee need funds to continue support where the University can no longer provide it
  • Call to question, seconded
  • Call for acclamation
  • Request granted
• Resolution 19: Fall 2011 SAFC Appeals — A. Nicoletti
  • Number of appeals went from 40 to 3 — students appreciated the second chance they were given to hand in proper documents
  • Cornell DDR Club
    • DDR Club wanted funding for dance pads
    • SA does not fund video games — SAFC felt that dance pads are part of the video game, therefore they denied funding for them
    • D. Kuhr: What was the logic behind that decision? Pads can be very expensive and may not come with the DDR game
    • A. Nicoletti: Pads cost about $700 each. Since DDR requires a console and a game, it is considered a video game
    • A. Goldberg; Does SAFC review the number of members of organizations that request funding?
    • A. Nicoletti: SAFC is currently very objective, so number of members does not factor into decision about funding. It could be a factor later on if the SAFC changes its process
    • Call to question, seconded
    • Call for acclamtion
    • SA upholds SAFC decision regarding DDR Club
  • Cornell Christian Fellowship
    • Requested a whole lot of books — in the range of 770 books
    • When asking for funding of books, SAFC requires documentation saying that Cornell libraries do not have the book and will not order them — these documents were not handed in
    • U. Smith: What books were asked for?
    • A. Nicoletti: Books for teaching and books to be written in (why library will not order them)
    • R. Desai: For the future, the process of asking for books should be changed. If an organization wants funding for books, they do not have to list every single one — the SAFC spend over 1.5 hours reviewing the Christian Fellowship budget
    • Call to question, seconded
    • Call for acclamation
    • SA upholds SAFC decision regarding Christian Fellowship
  • Sabor Latino Dance Ensemble
    • Failed to turn in proof of contact with speaker and proof of mileage where speaker was coming from
    • Stephanie Zimmerman: is not disputing lack of documents — is trying to get funding for the only annual concert put on by the ensemble in December. The concert is put on for Cornell and the Ithaca community. The documents were not turned in at the hearing due to a resident she had to take to the hospital (she is an RA).
    • N. Raps: How much is the ensemble asking for?
    • A. Nicoletti: Requesting $1,895 to make up the difference in funding they received with the cap
    • N. Treffeisen: What was the issue with timing?
    • S. Zimmerman: She had to go to State Street Theater to get documentation since the email she had was insufficient proof
    • A. Gitlin: How much did the ensemble receive from SAFC?
    • S. Zimmerman: About $715
    • J. Mueller: What impeded someone from bringing the documents? Explain the timing
    • S. Zimmerman: Had a little under a month to get documents: had to go through two separate people in State Street Theater, so the timing was very tight
    • D. Kuhr: Did the emergency with the resident prevent her from going to the theater to get the documents?
    • S. Zimmeran: yes
    • R. Desai: Was their any situations where it would have been possible to have the documentation by the hearing? As in, if there weren’t an emergency, would she have had the documents?
    • S. Zimmerman: Without the emergency, she would have had the documents. Unfortunately, the timing was very short — there was not other time to get the documents
    • R. Desai: Based on that information, the SAFC did not err in their decision, but the ensemble can apply for special projects funding
    • A. Nicoletti: special projects funding is money set aside for organizations that apply for funding for events that they did not foresee in the initial creation of the budget
    • D. Brown: Asked for more details about the concert to be held. How many people attend? What groups does it appeal to?
    • S. Zimmerman: 400–500 students attend the concerts. The ensemble has 30 members but the concert also showcases other groups
    • A. Chopra: How does State Street Theater factor into the lack of documentation for the speaker?
    • A. Nicoletti: SAFC was also confused on what was being appealed. Regardless, documentation was missing so they would not fulfill request
    • J. Mueller: Is there anything preventing the ensemble from applying for special funding?
    • N.Raps: Nothing at all
    • Call to question, seconded
    • Vote: 23–0−0
    • SA upholds decision of SAFC regarding Sabor Latino Dance Ensemble

6.  VI. New Business

• Resolution 18: SUNY Legislative Agenda 2012 — S. Balik
  • Resolution about approving SUNY SA legislative agenda for the 2012 year
  • Making sure funds stay with students in SUNY schools (public school system of New York). Land grant schools at Cornell are also part of SUNY (CALS, Hum Ec, etc.)
  • N. Raps: Thanks S. Balik for being SUNY representative, along with Matt Danzer
  • Motion to move to business of the day, seconded
  • Call to question, seconded
  • Vote: 23–0−0
• Memorandum: Why a Pub is Needed More Than Ever Before — N. Raps, E. Szulman, Rob Callahan
  • Rob Callahan ‘14 (head of Pub Committee): planning first semester of events and preparing by-line funding application — pub will have a full litany of programming covering the semester until slope day next semester
    • Example of some plans: Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day Dance, Greek events
  • Memorandum explains why the pub is necessary — gives students a place to go instead of Collegetown
  • Upcoming resolution will meet the concern of Cornell dining — how the student body will help the pub if it is not profitable
  • E. Szulman: A main concern is that Cornell dining cannot go into the red if the pub is successful
  • A. Gitlin: Resolution 20 is not in the agenda as it was lost in correspondence
  • N. Raps: SA will look for ways to help fund the pub if it goes into the red in three years
  • G. Block: Is alcohol at the pub going to be just as expensive as everywhere else?
  • E. Szulman: The idea is that prices have to be competitive, so alcohol will be the same as or cheaper than alcohol in Collegetown. The pub will only have beer and wine — not fancy cocktails
  • R. Callahan: Committee is working on specials — idea to bring people into the pub during odd hours
  • J. Rau: Keep in mind that the student activity fee cannot be used for anything alcohol related
  • N. Treffeisen: Has a cap been considered for this?
  • R. Callahan: Has been discussed, but there must be a significant deficit for the cap to matter
  • N. Raps: Resolution 20 should be looked over by the SA, as the resolution states that the SA will consider donating funds and not placing a cap
  • J. Mueller: language of the resolution is “strongly consider” so the SA is no bound to anything
  • E. Szulman: The resolution is a general sentiment that the SA supports the pub
  • N. Treffeisen: Does the administration think that the resolution is strong enough for the SA to show its support?
  • N. Raps: Yes, the resolution would be sufficient

7.  VII. Executive Session

Meeting adjourned at 6:30pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Chelsea Cheng