MINUTES
Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
November 22nd, 1999
Big Red Barn Graduate & Professional Student Center Greenhouse
5:00 P.M.

I. Attendance:

1999 - 2000 GPSA Members 4/26 9/27 10/25 11/22 1/24 2/28 3/27 4/24 Jean Ahn P P P P Bill Bauerle P P P P Dennis Carlson P P P P Pat Carr P P P P Rong Fan P P A A Stefan Hames E P P P Wendy Harris P A A A Chitkala Kalidas P P A A Peter Kaskan P P E P Charles Marentette P P P P Emily Meseck A P P P Krista Mowry P P P A John Schwarz P Daniel Simmons P P P A Lakshmi (Vatsa) Srivatsa P A P P Kevin Sherper-Walker P P

Others Present:, Bonnie Bailey, Philip McPheron, Stephanie Tinsley, and an International Students Programming Board (ISPB) Representative

II. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by S.Hames, GPSA President, at 5:10 p.m.

III. Open Forum

Kevin Sherper-Walker, City and Regional Planning, stated that he had a few concerns he would like to raise that were brought to him by people in his field. The situations involve a couple of cases regarding grants. The first situation involves a professor getting money from a grant, even though graduate students were responsible for the work done on the proposal. The second instance deals with a graduate student writing a draft proposal, which was then used by a professor, but no credit was given to the graduate student.

S.Hames stated that the second case is clearly plagiarism. In this case there are two options for the student. The student can either follow the Graduate School grievance policy or file a formal complaint with the Dean of the University Faculty. However, the student will have to prove that the professor did indeed commit plagiarism, and this could prove to be really difficult. S.Hames noted that he thinks that going through the Graduate School might be a less strenuous process than filing a charge of academic misconduct with the Dean of Faculty’s office.

Dennis Carlson, Statistics, agreed that the main problem is proving plagiarism occurred, since the burden of proof would be placed on the graduate student.

S.Hames stated that these issues can be discussed more fully after the meeting. He noted that in response to the first case, graduate students have to go through a professor in order to get money from research.

K.Sherper-Walker elaborated that the graduate students are not mentioned in the final product, even though they made the draft proposal. The end result is that it seems as if the principal investigators, who are two professors, did all the work.

S.Hames replied that he does not know if there is any recourse to the described situation.

K.Sherper-Walker stated that it would be useful to design a set of ethical standards for such gray areas.

S.Hames stated there are guidelines in the TA/RA report that addresses such issues. It spells out whom the appropriate authority to turn to is if violations occur.

IV. Approval of GPSA Minutes

The minutes of the October 25, 1999 GPSA meeting were approved as submitted.

V. Announcements and Reports

A) Committee Reports

S.Hames announced that he recently received an e-mail from Hilary Ford informing him that the Academic Deans and the Provost approved the TA/RA report. This means that the report is now Official University policy. The General Committee of the Graduate School has also supported this policy. S.Hames stated that the issue of training TAs will probably be the next one addressed.

D.Carlson informed members that the Campus Climate Committee would like all Assemblies to endorse their Statement on Diversity and Inclusion. He noted that it will probably be on the agenda at the December COR meeting. He asked members to remember that it is impossible to please everyone when they read the statement. Some people will inevitably think it is too strong while others will think that it is too weak.

S.Hames requested that the Diversity Statement be sent to members.

Bonnie Bailey, Office of the Assemblies, stated that she would take care of this.

VI. Business of the Day

A) Approval of Graduate Student Activity Fee

Charles Marentette distributed an information sheet to members that detailed the final recommendations of the Funding Policy Committee (FPC). He reported that there has been some improvement on the issue of Athletics. The requested contribution by Athletics has been lowered to $6 per capita instead of $7, with no decrease in benefits. This in turn affects the total amount of the Graduate Activity Fee, as the Funding Policy Committee was able to give increases in appropriations to other organizations, but still limit the fee to $50 instead of $52. C.Marentette proposed that the GPSA vote on the Student Activity Fee, item by item.

Members agreed to this procedure.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund the Big Red Barn at $4.00 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure passed, 10–0.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund EMS at $1.00 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure passed, 10–0.

C.Marentette informed members that in regards to Cornell Cinema, graduate student ticket prices are guaranteed to stay at the same levels, even if the undergraduates decide to fund Cornell Cinema at less than their current rate.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund Cornell Cinema at $7.00 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure passed, 10–0.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund the Cornell Concert Commission at $5.75 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure passed, 10–0.

C.Marentette stated that in regards to the ISPB, the information sheet states that the amount recommended by the FPC is $0.70. He informed members that the $0.95 requested by the organization was erroneous, and the FPC recommended amount of $0.70 is, in fact, supported by the ISPB.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund the ISPB at $0.70 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure failed, 9–1.

By general agreement, the floor was opened to debate.

C.Marentette again explained that the original request was erroneously calculated with incorrect numbers. The $0.70 recommended amount is actually enough for the ISPB’s purposes. They also get some money from the GPSAFC and from co-sponsorship of events.

Peter Kaskan, Psychology, commented that this allows some groups to get money twice.

S.Hames agreed, but noted that it has been explained that this is done because there are restrictions with money received from the GPSAFC. By-line funding allows groups to expand on what they can do with their money.

Michael Cosh, Civil Engineering, remarked that asking for co-sponsorships isn’t so unusual and that the Cornell Concert Commission also asks for money from other places.

D.Carlson stated that he is opposed to the idea of double-dipping. He stated that the international students he consulted on this matter all said that they derived no benefit from the events sponsored by the ISPB.

C.Marentette stated that because the SA also funds this organization, the graduate and professional students get more bang for their buck.

A representative from the ISPB informed the assembled members that people may attend events and not know that the ISPB is behind a specific event. She stated that the International Festival is held each spring and is quite successful and well attended. The ISPB tries to sponsor events that are open to the entire community.

C.Marentette observed there is a lot of talk going around on campus on the issue of diversity. He stated there is something that is brought to the University as a whole by this organization that is not person-specific.

Pat Carr, GPSA Vice President, asked D.Carlson what funding level is he comfortable with?

D.Carlson stated that he is agreeable to the current level of $0.50 per capita. He asked what is the purpose of the increase?

C.Marentette replied that it is mainly for the expansion of the International Festival.

The representative from the ISPB stated they had requested $1.10 from the SA but received only $1.06. The ISPB would like to expand the International Festival and perhaps bring a speaker to Cornell. However, if the GPSA funded the ISPB less than the recommended amount, it would be difficult to carry out these plans.

D.Carlson stated that he believes the increase to be rather large. He expressed that he has nothing personal against the ISPB in particular, but his constituents do not like the fees that they are paying already.

P.Carr noted that the GPSA may want to consider modifying the GPSAFC Treasurer’s Handbook to allow more flexibility for funding items such as food.

S.Hames stated that as this discussion was taking quite some time it would be preferable for the GPSA to vote on the remaining items and then discuss any problems.

Members agreed to this proposal.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund the CUPB at $3.00 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure passed, 10–0.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund Athletics at $6.00 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure passed, 10–0.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund Club Insurance at $3.30 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure passed, 10–0.

C.Marentette noted that the Graduate and Professional Orientation was recommended to receive $0.65 instead of $0.80. He suggested that the GPSA should become more involved with this event, especially since this organization was amenable to increased GPSA input. He noted that the money would be used to hold more events and redo the brochures.

P.Carr informed members that the FPC believed that attendance falls off drastically after the first week and eliminating some of the more expensive events held after that time makes sense. Therefore, the FPC is recommending a raise from $0.50 to $0.65, but couldn’t justify going all the way to requested amount of $0.80.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund Graduate and Professional Student Orientation at $0.65 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure failed, 8–2.

C.Marentette stated that the level of funding for the GPSA was decreased five cents, from $1.10 to $1.05. This decrease was needed in order to keep the fee at a even, whole-dollar amount. This particular organization was selected because the GPSA does not currently use all of its money.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund the GPSA at $1.05 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure passed, 10–0.

C.Marentette noted that the GPSAFC is recommended to receive $17.50 and that, based on the guidelines, it cannot receive less than that amount because the figure must at least equal 35% of the total fee.

Members asked why the level of 35% was chosen?

S.Hames stated that the committee formed by the Board of Trustees to work on establishing guidelines for the setting of the Student Activity Fee determined that this level was necessary to ensure that smaller organizations would still be funded from the fee through the Finance Commissions.

M.Cosh stated that there was a time when the GPSAFC had received over 50% of its funds from the Activity Fee. This proportion was severely decreased two years ago.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to fund the Graduate and Professional Student Finance Commission at $17.50 per capita from the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee.

This measure passed, 10–0.

By general agreement, the floor was open to discussion of any concerns regarding the Activity Fee.

D.Carlson stated that in regards to the funding given to the GPSA, more money might be needed so that the GPSA can work on improving communications. He stated he would like to see the $0.05 reinstated.

S.Hames estimated the difference in the total amount of money being discussed to be approximately $250. He stated that the GPSA currently has an excess of money that far exceeds this amount. Therefore, this money would not really make a difference.

D.Carlson agreed that it is not needed because of the surplus available.

Lakshmi Srivatsa, Electrical Engineering, questioned the benefit derived from the Graduate and Professional Student Orientation. He noted that the EGSA has its own orientation.

C.Marentette replied that this particular orientation is based on the entire student body, not just a particular college such as Engineering or JGSM. He concluded that he also thinks that this event can help connect students from different Cornell communities.

Emily Meseck, Vet Med, stated that in that case, it is imperative that the GPSA become more involved with the organization and planning of this event.

S.Hames affirmed that he personally agrees to the recommended funding level if the GPSA does actually have more input.

C.Marentette stated that the Activity Fee still needs to be voted on. He requested that the members vote on the entire fee amount of $50.00, using the levels recommended by the Funding Policy Committee.

Members agreed to this proposal.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted to set the Graduate and Professional Student Activity Fee at $50.00 per capita, with the allocations being the ones recommended by the Funding Policy Committee.

This measure passed, 10–0.

B) Election of the GPSA Secretary

S.Hames urged members to consider running for the vacant position of GPSA Secretary. This item was not discussed further due to lack of time.

C) Academic Calendar

This item was not discussed due to lack of time.

VII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned by S.Hames at 6:10 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted, Stephanie Tinsley