MINUTES
Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
February 23rd, 1998
Big Red Barn Graduate & Professional Student Center Greenhouse
5:00 P.M.

I. Attendance:

97–98 GPSA Members  9/22, 10/27, 11/24, 1/26, 2/23, 3/30, 4/27

Matthew Abramovitz, Sumit Aggarwal, Todd Callaway, Michael Cosh, Kevin DeBorde, Katrina Ellis, Gary Hartz, Cheryl Heinz, Sergey Kiselev, Yvonne Lamar, Larissa Minicucci, Mark Parsons, Yogesh Potdar, John Schwarz, Linda Yannone.

Others Present: Hilary Ford, Philip McPheron, Bonnie Bailey, Cristen Gardner, and Stephanie Tinsley

II. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 5:10 PM by President R. Gary Hartz

III. Open Forum

Cris Gardner, Director of the Office of Assemblies, introduced Bonnie Bailey, the new special assistant to the GPSA.

Mark Parsons, Art, stated that he had spoken with Telephone Road, a long-distance telephone company, about arranging a plan for graduate students making international calls. The company will allow students to make international calls by calling a 1–800 number and the calls will be paid by credit card. Examples of the rates are $0.29 a minute for Austria and $0.23 a minute for France. M. Parsons stated that he will have more concrete information available at the next COR meeting.

Cheryl Heinz, Vice President, expressed concern over this plan. She was concerned about possible repercussions if a large number of students change to a different plan. For example, perhaps the rates for other types of phone calls, such as local calls, would increase.

M.Parsons stated that this plan will give students an alternate option to the rates charged by CIT. There is no commitment attached to this plan and students can switch back to using CIT if they wish.

C. Heinz stated that she believed that the money collected from CIT is lumped together to pay for other items such as CIT overhead and the Ethernet connections. Therefore, the GPSA should talk to CIT to make sure it understands the issues involved if it wants to pursue using an alternate carrier.

It was decided that Pete Siegel, Director of Information Technologies, CIT, will be approached about this topic. He has agreed to attend the April meeting of the GPSA and feels he will have more complete information to share at that time. M.Parsons volunteered to speak to P.Siegel about these items.

IV. Business of the Day

1. 1998–99 Council of Representatives and GPSA Elections

G.Hartz stated that the documentation for the 1997/98 elections is currently being modified for the 1998/99 by the Office of Assemblies. He noted that the April meetings will be doubled; the 1997/98 group will holds its normal meeting at 5:00 PM. Then, there will be a meeting at 6:00 PM for the new COR and GPSA. The GPSA will be selected from the COR at their April meeting, and at the GPSA meeting, officers will be elected. The new terms officially begin on June 1, 1998.

G.Hartz stated that e-mails will be sent to all students after the updates on election materials are finished. Also, all Directors of Graduate Studies, deans, and Graduate Field Assistants will also be informed of elections. This method may be slightly redundant, but the intent is to ensure that all graduate and professional students are informed of elections.

Katrina Ellis, Management, inquired about the rules regarding attendance at GPSA meetings. She stated that she believed that members could not miss three meetings, else they would lose their seats. She noted that according to the attendance sheet, there are two members who have missed three meetings or more.

B.Bailey stated that she has contacted both of those members. One stated that he would attend this meeting and is not present. The other stated that he has scheduling conflicts and will look for a replacement.

C.Heinz stated that the department has the option of finding a replacement in this situation. If no replacement is made, then the seat will become an at-large one.

G.Hartz stated that the Business and Law Schools will be contacted. If they do not have replacements, then these vacant seats will be filled at the next COR meeting.

Linda Yannone, Floriculture, asked that those members who are not returning advertise their seats now to members of their departments.

2. TA/RA Committee

G.Hartz stated that the Graduate School recently created a committee to address TA/RA concerns and that the GPSA received two seats on this committee. The two representatives are John Schwarz, Government, and Stefan Hames, Ecology. The committee has already met once. G.Hartz noted that currently J.Schwarz and S.Hames are looking for students to advise them on TA/RA issues.

Hilary Ford, Assistant Dean, Graduate Student Life, stated that the last meeting was attended by four faculty representatives, one staff representative, and the two GPSA representatives. It was noted that RA issues are different from TA issues and so those were set aside. More information is needed about RA concerns for the committee to address them. She stated that she plans to write a formal summary of the meeting.

J.Schwarz noted that since the Government Department only has TAs, he does not know much about RAs. He noted that S.Hames has some experience with RAs but he would still like additional information because the distinction of student side, apprentice side, and labor side of an RA is rather murky. He noted that any changes made will be left up to departments since different departments have different needs.

Members noted that several RA issues are the hours required, vacation hours, and when students work, but also gain personal benefits. One TA issue is the fact that some departments require graduate students to teach but do not pay them. There is also the question of standards for when a graduate student is required to work with toxic materials. Members noted that it is important to let students know about this requirement in advance. They felt that training in compliance with OSHA standards should be followed. Finally, for both TAs/RAs, there is the question of what are the terms of dismissal.

Yogesh Potdar, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, noted that during the first year of for a RA, the research output is not very high. Therefore, in subsequent years, graduate students feel obliged to make up for this time since a professor is paying for their work out of a research grant. Also, sometimes it is not possible for the student to meet with the professional during the week, so hours may have to be worked on the weekends.

In response to questions by members, Y.Potdar stated that research output is low in the beginning because the student is usually learning various items. Usually, there are ten to fifteen hours of work per week, but this work is not necessarily on research. Therefore, there is an implicit agreement that the student will make up for the time in later semesters since the professor is paying that student for a certain amount of research. He noted that RAs are generally paid more than TAs.

Michael Cosh, Civil and Environmental Engineering, stated that the RA is a member of a research team and often works closely with the professor. The professor is investing in the RA and wants the RA to produce a certain amount of work, which will naturally increase over time as the RA becomes more skilled.

J.Schwarz thanked members for their comments and stated that he would like to hold a forum on these and other issues.

3. Leadership Meeting Report

G.Hartz stated that the topic at the last leadership meeting was the cost of international long distance phone calls. It was explained at that meeting that CIT has overcharged international calls and that this problem will be corrected for the next fiscal year. He noted that P.Siegel will be asked to attend the April meeting to answer questions. He requested that members e-mail all topics and questions either to him, C.Heinz, or Yvonne Lamar, Secretary.

4. Letter to Mr.Mengle, 2/9/98, TCAT Services

G.Hartz stated that the e-mail vote on this letter was taken and that it was approved.

K.Ellis stated that she received a reply and that there will be another public meeting in April to address transportation issues.

V. Minutes

The minutes of the 11/23 meeting were amended as follows: the votes on the funding of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Finance Commission and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly were changed so that it shows only that both passed; no numbers will be given with the votes. The minutes of the 1/26 meeting were amended as follows: Yvonne Lamar, Secretary, will be marked as present, and the appropriate changes will be made under the “Minutes” section to reflect the changes made to the November minutes.

VI. Business of the Day

1. Funding Guidelines for the ISPB

This item will be postponed until the next meeting.

2. Health Insurance Options

This item will be postponed until the next meeting.

3. NAGPS Insurance Analysis

G.Hartz stated that people are needed to compare Cornell’s insurance plan with the NAGPS plan so that students will be able to easily determine which plan is best for them. Also, this committee will have the job of working out the mechanics of the plan, such as ensuring that there are service providers in the area.

J.Schwarz stated that the dental plan is available to all graduate and professional students as soon as the invoice is paid. However, it is a network plan and there are no dentists available in Tompkins County at this time. He suggested that the committee look into finding dentists willing to join so that this plan may be locally used.

VII.Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 6:05 PM.