MINUTES
Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
April 27th, 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, Nick Goldin, Stefan Hames, Gary Hartz, Cheryl Heinz, Sergey Kiselev, Yvonne Lamar, Larissa Minicucci, Mark Parsons, Yogesh Potdar, John Schwarz, Linda Yannone.

Others Present: Philip McPheron, Bonnie Bailey, 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

Bonnie Bailey requested that members who did not attend the President’s Reception pick up their certificates of appreciation from her before they leave.

IV. Announcements

A) First Meeting of the 1998–99 GPSA

G.Hartz stated that the first meeting of the 1998–99 GPSA will be after this meeting, at 6:00 PM in the Big Red Barn Greenhouse.

B) Idea from Dean Cohen for Health Insurance

G.Hartz stated that Dean Cohen has a new idea regarding health insurance. Because many competing universities offer health insurance as part of their overall package, Dean Cohen proposed that health insurance be added to benefits for research and teaching assistants. Initially, stipends would be decreased to fund this additional benefit.

Cheryl Heinz, Vice President, stated that this change would be incremental. Currently, stipends increase each year by four percent. Dean Cohen’s plan would decrease the rate of increase to two percent, and use the money saved to pay for health insurance. Eventually, all the health insurance will be completely paid for and the rate of increase for stipends would once again be at four percent.

G.Hartz stated that the GPSA should probably investigate to make sure that those not on the health insurance plan will not be adversely affected by such a plan. He asked for feedback from members on this topic.

Stefan Hames, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, stated that although the idea is an interesting one, because minimum stipends are at about $10,500, it would take several years worth of raises before anyone had their health care paid for.

C.Heinz stated that the people who would lose money are those who get their health insurance elsewhere. For the remainder of the students, the effect would be zero-sum.

John Schwarz, Government, stated that the plan may be positive sum. If one is employed, health insurance comes out of pre-taxed income. Therefore, one is not taxed for money used to pay for health care. If it is treated as an employee benefit, then the plan might actually provide a small tax benefit.

C.Heinz stated that one has to make a decision about pre-taxed benefits by a certain deadline, and most graduate students do not have their fall assistantships before that deadline.

J.Schwarz stated that there are entrance dates for health-care plans but not for taxes. He noted that this issue would have to be researched more.

G.Hartz stated that there will be people who do not benefit from this plan. Those will be people who have their own insurance, but whose stipends would still be affected by this plan.

Larissa Minicucci, Vet Med., asked that if such a plan goes through, the GPSA should still be a place to discuss all relevant health care issues. The professional students would not be included in any plan offered by the Graduate School, and there may be some graduate students who are paying for their own insurance.

S.Hames asked whether or not it would be possible to use the new computerized payroll system to keep track of those students who were not using the student health insurance plan, exclude them from this plan and thereby give them their full raises.

C.Heinz stated that the problem with such a suggestion is that there will probably be a very small amount of people affected in an adverse manner. Consequently it might be hard to easily make adjustments for that small number of people. She noted that some students may also decide to switch to the Cornell plan under a new system.

V. Approval of GPSA Minutes

The minutes of the February 23, 1998 meeting were approved as submitted. The minutes of the March 30, 1998 meeting were also approved as submitted.

VI. Business of the Day

A) Charter Change: Guidelines for Funded Organizations

C.Heinz stated that one of the changes is the name of the finance commission. The next change is the inclusion of items ten to thirteen under Self-Programming Organizations. Also, there are changes under Cornell Concert Commission; funding levels were changed in order to match those of the Student Assembly since the CCC gets their funding from the undergraduate and graduate student communities. There is also a section added on Sporting Events in order to reflect that a portion of the Graduate Student Fee next year will go to Athletics. C.Heinz asked if there were any comments of suggestions on this proposal.

J.Schwarz asked why the Cornell University Programming Board (CUPB) is required to bring speakers with an honoraria of not less than $6,000. J.Schwarz stated that he would like to know why such wording was used.

C.Heinz stated that the reasoning behind such wording is that the CUPB is supposed to bring in big name speakers. Even though the GPSAFC does not pay for honoraria, the SAFC does pay for honoraria, and usually big name speakers cost more.

L.Minicucci asked whether or not the increases in CCC funding levels correlate with the activity fee increase.

C.Heinz stated that the changes do not influence what the GPSAFC will give the CCC. What it influences is how CCC is able to use the money received. C.Heinz noted that the additions of ten to thirteen were made to match the SA’s guidelines.

Michael Cosh, Civil Engineering, expressed concern that the addition of number 10 may cause problems for Cornell Cinema.

C.Heinz noted that such a provision is already required by the SA, although she does not know its affect on the Cornell Cinema.

A vote was taken on the proposed charter changes, and passed 9–0−1.

B)Year End Report

G.Hartz stated that he has been putting together a draft of the report that will list all of the important issues covered by the GPSA this year. He attempted to cover all the critical issues, and all changes implemented this year. He asked for members for feedback on this draft. G.Hartz noted that he did not cover transportation issues since it was very complex. He asked that someone from the Transportation Advisory Committee write about those issues.

Katrina Ellis, Management, stated that she will write a paragraph on transportation issues.

C.Heinz stated that she has two changes to the draft. The first is that the Activity Fee is handled by the Funding Policy Committee. The second is that information about NAGPS health insurance will be placed on a web site instead of making a.

M.Cosh asked that information about the NAGPS web site and job bank be added to the annual report.

C.Heinz suggested that the report should also mention that NAGPS was heavily involved last year in the taxation and tuition issue.

G.Hartz thanked members for their input, and asked them to e-mail any other changes that they may have.

VII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned by G.Hartz at 5:40 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Stephanie Tinsley