Minutes - Student Assembly’
September 12, 2013
4:45pm - 6:30pm
Willard Straight Hall
I. Call to Order
U. Smith called the meeting to order at 4:47pm
- Members present
- S. Balik, J. Batista, G. Block, E. Bonatti, T. Drucker, I. Harris, M. Henderson, L. Liu, M. Lukasiewicz, Y. Ma, A. Murphy, C. Pritchett, U. Smith, T. Talbot, B. Thompson, N. Tulsky, N. Vasko, L. Wershaw
- Members tardy
- T. Hittinger
- Members unexcused
- R. Gademsky, M. Stefanko
II. Approval of September 5, 2013 Minutes
Minutes approved by unanimous consent
III. Open Microphone
None
IV. Announcements and Reports
Elections Update — A. Muglia
Elections are underway! A lot of great ideas in candidate’s campaigns
Outreach Update — J. Batista
The first two weeks of outreach are underway
CIT Update — T. Hittinger
The Administration has commissioned a programming team to start work on a dining application
Community Life Committee Update — M. Stefanko
Presented by U. Smith: the first meeting was last Tuesday and had a good turnout — many good ideas were brought up in the discussion
Africana Library Announcement — T. Talbot
Working on an initiative to have the library open for later hours
V. Re-branding 6–2−6 The Center for Intercultural Dialogue — Dr. Renee Alexander ‘74
- 6–2−6 is the colloquial name of the building that is officially named the Center for Intercultural Dialogue
- It was designed to provide additional support for students of color across campus
- Currently stretched very thin — understaffed and under-resourced
- Tagline for their campaign: Students Uniting Cornell University
- Platform: to get people into a room to have difficult, timely discussion that ask people to step out of their comfort zones and discuss issues around campus
- Breaking Bread program: the idea is to get two groups with very different perspectives in the same room to have a facilitated discussion. Planning starting with MECA and Hillel
- There will be a lot of programming coming out of 626 — hoping to work with a lot of student leaders for ideas
- R. Gitlin: What can the SA help with?
- It would be great to have members attend brainstorming sessions throughout the semester
- T. Talbot: Is the campaign trying to increase attendance and engagement among existing programs or is it trying something completely new?
- Will continue to support what is being done, but plan to move implementation in a different direction
VI. Business of the Day
R.4: Re-Naming the Women’s Issues At-Large Representative — J. Batista
- Call to question, seconded
- Resolution 4 passed by a roll call vote of 17–0−0
| S. Balik | Yes |
| J. Batista | Yes |
| G. Block | Yes |
| E. Bonatti | Yes |
| T. Drucker | Yes |
| R. Gademsky | Absent |
| I. Harris | Yes |
| M. Henderson | Yes |
| T. Hittinger | Yes |
| L. Liu | Yes |
| M. Lukasiewicz | Not present |
| Y. Ma | Yes |
| A. Murphy | Yes |
| C. Pritchett | Yes |
| M. Stefanko | Absent |
| T. Talbot | Yes |
| B. Thompson | Yes |
| N. Tulsky | Yes |
| N. Vasko | Yes |
| L. Wershaw | Yes |
VII. New Business
R.7: Restructuring the Elections Committee — E. Bonatti
- The resolution clarifies some rules that are not currently very clear
- A. Muglia: Appreciates the thought, but would have liked the concern to be brought up to the Committee first. What makes it different from other Committees in requiring at least 50% SA composition?
- This is just a draft — willing to change the number, but would like a clear percentage.
- G. Block: Why the need for SA members? Why not just community members?
- Thinks it is important to involve people that have gone through the process
- T. Hittinger: Why is the requirement for seniors?
- The idea is that seniors cannot run again, s o they are more impartial
- I. Harris: What is the motivation for this resolution?
- Members of the community have expressed concern with the non-clarity of the current committee composition
- N. Tulsky: What’s the rationale behind the rule that any member involved in a dispute cannot serve on the committee?
- Similar rules are found throughout the nation
- L. Liu: Is the online application necessary in all cases?
- U. Smith: The reasoning is two-fold: first for logistical reasons, it helps the administration keep records, and second it provides a basis for which comparisons can be made
- M. Henderson: Would recommend adding the phrase “and willing” to the SA seniors eligible for sitting on the committee
- Resolution 7 tabled until the next meeting
R.8: Diversity Plan 2013–2014 — C. Pritchett
- This year’s plan is modeled off of Towards New Destinations
- Initiatives
- Outreach to communities that members do not traditionally come into contact with
- Collaborative efforts for town halls
- Improved composition for committees
- Training programs to facilitate ongoing discussions of diversity
- R. Gitlin: How do you plan on involving administrators on SADAC?
- There should be 2 administrators and 2 students per college sitting on SADAC. Still waiting for responses from AAP and HumEc but every other college has committed 1 administrator
- G. Block: Regarding committee composition, why did you specifically pick the characteristics of gender, race, sexual orientation, and nationality? What do you plan to do with the statistics?
- M. Lukasiewicz: The plan is to focus effort to reach out to the specific groups that committees are lacking in
- J. Batista: What’ s the rationale behind the outreach initiative? Shouldn’t that be a focus of the VP Outreach?
- The SA works more with some groups than others, so this initiative is just to actively try to reach out to groups that SA has little or no communication with
- Resolution 8 tabled until the next meeting
U. Smith adjourned the meeting at 6:31pm
Respectfully submitted,
Chelsea Cheng