Student Assembly

Minutes — March 1, 2012
Cornell University Student Assembly
4:45pm — 6:30pm, 401 Physical Sciences

I. Call to order / Roll Call

N. Raps called the meeting to order at 4:48pm

Members present

D. Brown, A. Chpra, R. Desai, B. Francisco, A. Gitlin, D. Goldberg, M. Gulrajani, G. Hoffman, J. Kay, A. Meller, J. Mueller, D. Muir, A. Nicoletti, A. Pinkney, H. Pittell, N. Raps, J. Rau, P. Scelfo, E. Szulman, N. Treffeisen, A. Wolford, E. Yeterian, A. Bores, A. Santangelo

Arrived late

G. Block

Absent and excused

S. Balik, R. Gitlin, J. Lee

Absent and unexcused

S. Breedon, A. Raveret

Also present

Ari Epstein, Amy Edwards, Dean Hubbell, Chelsea Cheng

II. Approval of the 02/23/12 Meeting Minutes

• Postponed until the next meeting

III. Open Microphone

• None

IV. Joseph DeMarco
Emergency Services Specialist, Cornell Department of Environmental Health & Safety

• Regarding fire safety: currently working on increasing outreach — hopes that the SA can help get the message of fire safety across to students
• A. Gitlin: In Collegetown and on campus, do the alarm systems connect directly to the police?
  • All alarms in Cornell go to Barton Hall, then they alert the fire department
  • Off campus building alarms connect to the Tompkins 911 center
  • Recommends students to save Cornell police number (609–205–1111) so that they don’t call Tompkins while on campus
• R. Desai: To what extent are students privy to their personal items during fire safety checks?
  • Inspection do not pry into students’ belongings — only meant to look for obvious safety hazards
• E. Szulman: How extensive is the signage?
  • Currently haphazard. Hoping to push them out more actively
• A. Chopra: How would you recommend that RAs reach out to their residents?
  • The best thing is just to stress the dangers
• H. Pittell: Suggests that they do something in collaboration with the fire drills
  • There is currently not enough staff to undertake that, and it is difficult to plan with RAs since safety drills are supposed to be unannounced, but it is a good idea

V. Melissa Lukasiewicz
Chair, University Assembly

• Last year in April, a Dear Colleague letter was sent out to schools saying that they needed to comply with Title IX
  • Allow for 3rd party to file for complaint on behalf of the student
  • Both parties need to have equal appeals
  • Standard of evidence needs to be lowered from clear and convincing to preponderance
  • Shorter time frame between when the issue is brought forward and when the decision is made
• Policy 6.4
  • Currently relates to everyone but students and does not have protections of rights that is in the Cornell Code of Conduct
• Code of Conduct
  • There is a hearing board to hear cases
  • Currently difficult for the hearing board to work with an issue within the time frame of Title IX
• Current question: modify the entire Code of Conduct to match Title IX or take sexual harassment cases out of the Code of Conduct and give it to Policy 6.4 which is separate)
• University Assembly Resolution 6 (also Appendix A to University Assembly Resolution 7)
  • 4 main points to change the Code of Conduct
    • Members of the hearing board are to be trained specifically for sexual harassment cases
    • The accused may opt for a hearing panel composed of faculty and employees if they do not want to speak in front of students
    • The process will be more private to avoid intimidation through questioning
    • Witnesses of the case would not hear the evidence prior to the hearing
• University Assembly Resolution 7
  • Currently has not passed though the University Assembly, but has passed through the Codes and Judicial Committee
  • Would want rights in favor of the accused maintained unless it is determined to not be compliant with Title IX
  • Would want sexual harassment cases to stay in the Code of Conduct unless it is determined to not be compliant with Title IX
  • Recommends that changes made in the University Assembly last year be removed
• The University Assembly would like a response from the Student Assembly about their thoughts and opinions about the two resolutions

VI. Announcements / Reports

WBVR Announcement — M. Gulrajani

• WBVR will be covering SA meetings from now on and there will be live streaming of the meetings online. They will also helping with public relation initiatives for the SA throughout the Ithaca community

Garbage Cans Announcement — R. Gitlin & P. Scelfo

• Met with Spring Buck (self-proclaimed recycling guru of Cornell) — currently going through reassignment of all garbage cans on campus
• The 3 garbage can locations (Helen Newman Hall, intersection of Dickson, Donlon, and Court Kay, and Balch Hall steps) approved last semester will be put up by the second week of April, weather permitting. Working to get the SA name on the three cans.

Student Trustee Announcement — A. Bores & N. Raps

• Next week the trustees will be on campus for the March meetings
• Part of the meetings will be held in open session — encourages SA members to attend

Asia Night Announcement — N. Treffeisen

• Asian night will be on 3/3/12. The SA will have a tent (Cornell trivia game) — asks SA members to sign up between 8pm and 1am

IthaQatar Update — N. Raps

• Needs at least 1 or 2 leaders on Ithaca campus to be ambassadors to medical students coming from Qatar

Women’s Issues Announcement — D. Brown

• There will be a guest speaker coming (Rachel Lloyd) — will be presenting next Tuesday and will be followed by a book signing

Greek Update — H. Geyser

• There was a conference in Connecticut — community was given 2 awards. No new policies or changes currently

Elections Update — A. Raveret

• Voting starts on Monday — working to get more voting booths around campus

VII. Business of the Day

• None

VIII. New Business

Resolution 39: Charter for the Umbrella Programming Fund — N. Raps, A. Nicoletti & R. Desai

• N. Raps removes herself as a sponsor — A. Gitlin to take her place
• Resolution is a follow-up and responses to the discussion at the end of Fall regarding multicultural community funding
• The UPF is to be asserted into the ALANA charter
• UPF provides funding for smaller groups directly (for groups that could not get funding from the SAFC or from ALANA)
• UPF will allow more freedom in the SAFC to allocate its funds
• Motion to move to business of the day, seconded, dissent expressed. Resolution remains New Business
• M. Gulrajani: Are there restrictions to prevent organizations from getting funding from the UPF, then the SAFC, then etc�?
  • There is no way that the UPF can fully fund its organizations, to a restriction would be unrealistic
  • The UPF does cut down on the ‘document maze’ since it has the ability to fund smaller groups — this way those groups do not have to go through the SAFC paperwork process
  • Current concern is how the SA will handle conflicts between groups regarding their allocations from the UPF — looking through proposals
• D. Brown: Regarding a proposal saying that allocations should be given based on population, keep in mind that group percentages change per year
• A. Meller: A 3rd party is necessary to help mediate conflict since all groups want funding. Is it realistic for members of ALANA to handle the UPF on their own?
  • There will be conflicts either way. After discussion, the groups said that they wanted the power to decide on their own allocation — no need for an outside party
• D. Goldberg: If a new group wants to join the umbrella, will they have to wait two years to join and receive funding?
  • Groups currently receiving a small amount of money from the SAFC that are part of ALANA will be getting funding from the UPF instead
  • As for new groups that want to join the umbrella, they can apply for and receive funding from the SAFC right away, then can apply for UPF in the next cycle (UPF will operate in a similar process to byline funding)

N. Raps adjourned the meeting at 6:30pm

Respectfully submitted,
Chelsea Cheng