Agenda — January 31, 2013
Cornell University Student Assembly
4:45pm — 6:30pm, Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room
I. Call to Order/Roll Call
A. Gitlin called the meeting to order at 4:45pm
- Members present
- S. Balik, J. Batista, G. Block, E. Bonatti, G. Braciak, S. Breedon, I. Chen, M. Cho, A. Chopra, R. Desai, A. Gitlin, R. Gitlin, I. Harris, T. Hittinger, D. Iwaoka, D. Kuhr, J. Lee, G. Lovely, M. Lukasieqicz, J. Marshall, J. Mueller, D. Muir, C. Pritchett, P. Scelfo, U. Smith, M. Stefanko, N. Terrones
- Also present
- Ari Epstein, Amy Edwards, Dr. Renee Alexander, Chelsea Cheng
II. Approval of the 11/29/12 Minutes
- Minutes approved by unanimous consent
III. Open Microphone
- Katarina Athanasiou ‘13: As a senior on campus, she is noting the gap between students and the Administration. Heard about town hall meetings that are being held — encourages these as well as other programs to help increase communication between the two groups
IV. Announcements/Reports
Announcement by Dr. Renee Alexander, Associate Dean of Students
- The University Diversity Council is in the middle of its second year
- Towards New Destinations is a marathon, not a sprint, and will evolve over time
- Launching a town hall meeting series — first meeting was last week for Black and Latino males
- Other groups in the works: Black women, first-years, graduates, Hispanic women
- Looking for collaboration and support from the SA to help gather large groups of students and begin a dialogue
- A. Gitlin had proposed having student organizations coming up with their own diversity initiatives (currently there is a heavy focus on faculty/Administration) — interested in flushing out the idea
- R. Desai: How do we involve students that don’t fit into the current spheres of conversation?
- It is definitely a challenge that is being tackled — no concrete answer
- Question of how to engage students and keep their interested
- D. Iwaoka: Working on a diversity initiative for Collegetown — would like to cooperate with the efforts being made on campus
- Katarina Thanasiou: Would like to see the formation of a consistent, non-targeted town hall meeting program where any student can go with any issue. The idea is to engage the average student — to provide them access to administrators to help them with their ideas
- The fractured relationship between students and the Administration is a large question to be addressed by multiple parties
- The town hall idea is great — encourages work with the SA to find a solution
- U. Smith: What can be done to facilitate the creation of a community within our communities?
- Currently underway with the beginning of campus dialogue— a lot of small steps must be taken
- As more resources become available, more programs will be seen
Public Safety Update — A. Chopra
- Fire safety, helmet safety, and BLUE are all in the works
- The ResCUer app was sent out with the monthly SA email — working with CU Collaborate to improve the app
North Campus Project Announcement — J. Batista and M. Stefanko
- North Campus Grounds Project — hoping to create a new landscape as the current area is looking worse for wear
- Outreach event to be held next Friday in RPCC
Elections Announcement — J. Weinberg
- Material is officially online — help get the word out!
Transfer Coffee Hour Announcement — I. Chen
- Outreach event happened last week — big success, thanks members who went
~75 students (both fall and spring transfers) and many exchange students
Appropriations Committee Announcement — R. Desai
- The Committee will see Cornell Cinema and Club Insurance next week
Finalized Late Night Safety Survey — S. Balik and R. Gitlin
- Survey was finally completed and sent out in the monthly email
Report on the Implementation of a Social Justice Requirement — Chelsea Cheng and U. Smith
- Goal: to look into the possibility of adding a social justice requirement across the university
- After meeting with deans from all the colleges and sitting down to analyze the various ideas discussed, there appeared to be 3 feasible options for the implementation of the requirement
- Creation of courses, using existing structures, integration
- G. Block: What’s the difference between social justice and diversity? How will this engage students and give them something to gain?
- There are many different names as we don’t know what the requirement looks like
- That is also one of our main concerns
- M. Lukasiewicz: Should ask what students would want to see covered in this requirement — go through college reps and outreach events
- G. Lovely: See option 2 as the most feasible — don’t see how changing course goals would help
- There are pros and cons to all the options. Option 3 is not asking that course goals be changed, but rather that a section be added so that professors teach matters of diversity in parallel with key concepts of the course — more feasible for some colleges than others
- Dr. Alexander: Recommends working with academic deans in each college — be consistent in keeping contact and stay persistent
- T. Hittinger: How did the deans respond? Have you considered other options?
- Every dean seemed eager to look into the idea
- Aside from the options in the report, others were considered but tossed out as they were infeasible
V. Business of the Day
R.29: Crisis Management Follow Up Process — M. Lukasiewicz
- Whenever a student experiences a crisis, a manager (faculty members) is assigned to help
- This resolution formalizes a follow up process after the crisis has been resolved
- A. Gitlin: How has this resolution changed since the one presented in December?
- Not much has changed — discussed it more with Tammie Hall (contact) and got confirmation from the Legal Council that this would be okay
- J. Marshall: Can you be more specific about the actual process?
- A procedure would be created in the Maxient system (used to logic crisis cases)
- Currently see it as a notification to the manager that a follow up is in order
- U. Smith: How many crisis managers are there? How many cases do they each see in a semester?
- Don’t have specific numbers, but Tammie Hall said that this is definitely feasible
- J. Batista: Why hasn’t this gone through any committees or task forces? The language is inconsistent and a bit vague — if this is to be a piece of legislation, it should be more succinct
- Brought it up in her task force — no words against it. As the subject didn’t fit into any committee’s jurisdiction, there seemed no need to bring it to them
- This resolution has been on the docket for 2 meetings now, as no one has brought up any issues, there shouldn’t be a problem with its passage
- D. Kuhr: Resolution is perfectly tailored to the need on campus — needs to be purposely vague as each students’ crisis is different
- Call to question, seconded, dissent expressed
- Vote to vote: 18–7−1 Move to vote
- Resolution 29 passed by a vote of 25–0−0
VII. New Business
R.32: Toward a Responsible Endowment: S. Balik, Rebecca Macies, Anna-Lisa Castle
- Friendly amendment: change resolution to a “Sense of the body”, not “Legislation”
- Anna-Lisa: A&S, senior, ex co-president of KyotoNOW
- Rebecca Macies: CALS, junior, ex co-president of KyotoNOW
- Would like to see endowment policies align with university goals
- Looking for a reasonable transition from fossil fuels to more sustainable sources — part of a national movement toward green investment
- S. Breedon: Can you defend the statemtn of “no negative financial impact”? How did you come up with 30% for the reinvestment of funds?
- Statement is telling the university not to put finances at risk (no decrease in endowment) — only want to see a responsible transition
- STARS (Sustainability Tracking and Rating System) — looking to move from rank gold to rank platinum (highest)
- D. Iwaoka: Have you spoken with the Administration? What was their response?
- No response from the Endowment office — unable to get facts and figures
- Investment and sustainability offices are familiar with this resolution
- M. Lukasiewicz: How large were previous endowment changes compared to this one? Would you be willing to revise the resolution to something along the lines of making a transition to the degree to which there won’t be a negative financial impact?
- That is the reason for the clause — they want the university to know that they are not asking for them to risk the endowment
- Unsure of how big the changes are — unable to get non-vague information on past divestments
- G. Block: Is the divestment predicated on the fact that the endowment won’t be negatively affected? What do you consider to be fossil fuels?
- Negatively affected means that the endowment shrinks, that invest money somehow disappears
- If the university cannot completely move away from fossil fuels, they are asking for them to invest in any better option
- T. Hittinger: As the endowment is a sensitive issue, would passing this resolution before getting in contact with the Endowment office be the best idea?
- Believe that getting this passed will be a way to facilitate communication with the office
- M. Cho: Where does the 30% figure come from?
- Reflection of standards in STARS — right now, Cornell is severely lacking in the investment category — 30% is a STARS perfect rating
Resolutions 33 and 34 tabled until the next meeting.
A. Gitlin adjourned the meeting at 6:28pm.