Minutes
University Assembly
February 25, 2004
Clark Hall
5:00 — 6:30 PM

I. Greeting and Call to Order

David Schmale III, Vice Chair, called the meeting to order.

Attendance:

Present: Denis Achacoso, Stephanie Adams, Pamela Dusseau, Harley Etienne, Jermaine Gause, Henry Granison, Melissa Hines, Elliot Klass, Douglas Kysar, Kurt Massey, Stephanie McConnell, David Schmale III, Timothy Setter, Randy Wayne

Absent: Alissa Fagadau, Michelle Fernandes, Vladamir Gogish, Ken Hover, Robert Kay, Ellis Loew

Also Present: Katrina Nobles, Mary Beth Grant (JA), Richard Helms (CJC)

II. Announcements

D. Schmale III announced that the UA is missing an Employee slot and there will be a draw from the employee pool to fill that slot: Henry, Dennis, Stephanie, and Pam. From there, when everyone is here, the UA can fill in a Vice-Chair. The position is the same as being on the UA except it also includes thins like leadership meetings.

Stephanie was nominated to fill in the slot.

D. Schmale III asked if there are any objects. None were made.

III. CJC Proposal

CJC is presenting a recommendation to the UA on possession of firearms and weapons under title three of the campus code of conduct. The rule states prohibiting the possession of firearms/weapons and calls for the enforcement to be initiated by the President or designee. The CJC recommends changing this to have the Cornell Police deal with these matters.

H. Etienne asked if there were any challenges to persecuting this?

M. B. Grant responded that those who violate the provision but place no danger can be an issue. Example: nunchaku is illegal in NY and a violation of campus code but educational step would be more appropriate and not full criminal prosecution.

Motion to vote was made. Motion was seconded.
Yes: everyone else
No: 0
Abstention: 2: H. Etienne and H. Granison
Motion passes

The CJC brought up another proposal. This one was on the policy for alcohol violation by underage drinkers. Last time this proposal was made to the UA there was a tie in votes. The current policy is to not have anything on the student’s record and the change would give full discretion to CJC and the JA Board.

The proposal went to the SA, the undergrad on the CJC, and the liaisons on the CJC from the U.A. The majority response was that this was the best one and should be re-submitted. (Pg. 3 of handouts)

This policy is a consistent code with the right message to send to students. The SA was unanimous in that they did not like the idea at all. The old undergrads on the CJC at that time votes on favor of it however the new undergrads in office have some concerns.

Pamela asked is the disciplinary record is followed by students in the future?

M. B. Grant responded that there are three types of possibilities. No record, Record till date of graduation, and permanent record-which will come up on graduate school admissions and government jobs.

The current policy in place creates confusion because there are no records when referred from Cornell Police. First offense student usually receive a oral warning, not on disciplinary record, and $35 dollar charge for a class.

H. Etienne asked, how would this effect the medial amnesty program?

M. B. Grant responded that it will not affect the program. The program stresses getting help and safety and what makes it strong is that those who use it, it will not be placed on permanent record.

D. Schmale III asked what are the concerns from the undergrads?

R. Holmes responded that students are concerned about it having a chilling effect on party fun and that placing this on their permanent record will keep them out of grad school. Based on evidence single violations do not handicap applications. It’s about consequences on a certain level.

Stephanie asked how do cases get referred into the JA office?

R. Helms responded cases can come through the Cornell Police or the Resident Halls. Harley mentioned that there is only one graduate representative here at the meeting and this discussion should wait till there are more undergrad representatives.

Motion made to table discussion. Motion seconded.

Yes: everyone else
No: Kurt Macy
Abstention: H. Etienne, R. Wayne, and D. Schmale III
Discussion tabled.

IV. Assembly Updates

Employee Assembly:

In the last meeting a new Executive Vice Chair for the EA will be Pam. This vacancy was due to Pat Haugen leaving for another job offer in Oregon.

GPSA:

There was an adoption of bylaws for GPSA funding committee. Before, there were different buckets for groups to apply for funding. Now the categories are condensed. Ad Hoc committee formed to encourage individual students to send response to president.

Faculty Senate:

No meeting this month.

SA:

They are focusing on the Call to Engagement and the elections and planning sessions on the C to E rather than an open form. Candidates will be announced tomorrow for all seats.

Leadership Meeting:

There was a discussion on academic integrity for 15 minutes and on the Cornell log.

H. Etienne asked if there has been someone hired yet to make changes to the logo?

A new individual will be handling the logo very soon.

D. Schmale III responded that there is no guarantee to change the logo. Currently the sentiment is for a transition from the current logo into the seal. Cornell’s current logo the same as J C Penny logo.

A motion was made to take the document about changing the Cornell Logo and have it as a UA resolution, changing GPSA into UA. Motion was seconded UA unanimous votes yes. Motion Passes.

V. Approval of Last Meeting’s Minutes

After some corrections on the attendance, a motion for approval of minute was made. Motion seconded.

Minutes approved.

VI. New Business

There was a resolution passes in US congress. These will be an advisory board, 3077, that will oversea on international research and overseas funding of about 40 million. Board Positions will be politically appointed. This is an issue because academic freedom is being compromised by politically appointed board members.

Students are concerned of having academic freedom threatened by the government.

This proposal against it does not have to be sanction by everyone and can come by the students and not as a university.

Concern was made against having university groups, such as the UA or the GPSA, to take a political stance they should not make.

A suggestion was made to sponsor a student and university dialog about the issue without making a political stance on the issue.

VII. Comments made to address Lehman’s Call to Engagement

1. Getting a response from the president on passed resolutions.
2. Have the President attend leadership meetings.
3. Would like to see responses from President actually come from the president.
4. What will the President’s tone be, regarding our money or search for discovery?
5. How can the UA become more involved with discussions made regarding the image and changes with in the university?
6. Encouragement towards President /administrative involvement with the UA and executive meetings.
7. Alumni donations (service center funding)
8. Is the curriculum meeting the needs of the students?
9. Ongoing commitment to the Assemblies
10. From the President’s perspective, should we add and/or take away specific pieces of business the UA deals with.
11. How does the President see the Assemblies working together?
12. Education of our own members. (organization)
13. Trustee issue.
14. Possibility getting trustee agenda items presented here first.
15. Where is this information (call to engagement) going to go?
16. Is there information coming into him that should be going out to the Assemblies or the Cornell community?

VIII. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 6:00 PM