GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENT ASSEMBLY COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES NOTES

Big Red Barn Greenhouse September 11, 2000 5:00 — 6:00 p.m.

I. CALL TO ORDER

Lidija Sekaric, GPSA Vice President, called the meeting to order at 5:04 p.m.

II. OPEN FORUM

Stefan Hames, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, complained that he has noticed that some events at the Big Red Barn are being scheduled at the same time as GPSA and COR meetings. Examples he noted were the recent graduate student orientation and job fair. He felt there was a conflict of interest for some students who might want to attend both events. Since the GPSA provides funding to the Big Red Barn, he felt something should be done to address this concern and said the Big Red Barn should be more sensitive about scheduling events that directly conflict with the timing of the GPSA and COR meetings.

Bhaskar Krishnamachari, Engineering, told members he has been appointed to represent graduate and professional student interests on the Student Assembly Dining Committee. He felt that the meal plans are inconvenient for graduate students. He plans to send out an e-mail and perhaps a survey for students to complete and get feedback from their constituencies. He also mentioned “Meals-By-Design”, the graduate student dining option, which allows grads to pay $250 for Big Red Bucks per semester. In his opinion, this option was not very practical. Students pay a $50 administrative fee (10%) and only get an 8% discount on the tax of the meals. He felt people were not saving money this way.

Emily Meseck, Vet., mentioned that the Vet school uses a catering company, which sells $20 dining cards. These cards are tax-free.

Angus Jennings, City and Regional Planning, stated that minority student recruitment and retention were very low in his department. Although it is not a problem with the graduate school overall, he wanted to let other departments know that a group of students from his field will be contacting the university in regards to this issue. He would like people to e-mail him if there are other departments that are also facing this issue. His e-mail address is AGJ2@cornell.edu

Pat Carr, GPSA President and Geological Sciences Representative, wondered whether this was a problem within the specific department of CRP or with the Architecture, Art and Planning College.

A. Jennings replied that students in his department are concerned. He added that retention over the summer was devastating and that the number of minority students admitted for the incoming class was low.

P. Carr mentioned that Dean Cohen, Graduate School, would be a good person to talk to about this issue. Terry Plater, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Graduate School, was also mentioned as a helpful contact person who could help with this issue.

L. Sekaric brought up the Life at Cornell booklet. She said that they are looking for graduate input on this issue because the book is going to be revised later in the fall. Those interested in giving suggestions should contact Hilary Ford, Assistant Dean of the Graduate School and liaison to the GPSA, or L. Sekaric at LS63@cornell.edu.

III. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REPORTS A. GPSA UPDATE

P. Carr reviewed what the GPSA discussed at their business meeting last week. One of the discussion topics was identifying goals for the upcoming year. The group came up with some good ideas and they are hoping to come up with some action plans for the next meeting.

L. Sekaric and P. Carr recently met with Dean Cohen to discuss graduate issues. One of the Dean’s concerns was disparity in pay for graduate students. This results from those who have 12 month and 9 month appointments as well as pay differences between different departments. They also discussed TA training, which was a concern that undergraduates identified at the Assemblies’ Fall Advance. Another subject was the concept of graduate fellows, which will be discussed in more detail later in the meeting under “Business of the Day.”

P. Carr attended the September 7 Student Assembly meeting and one of the topics discussed was the University Academic Calendar. The GPSA approved the calendar last year, however the SA had unresolved problems with it and declined approving it. Bob Cooke, Dean of Faculty, has worked with the SA this year to put together a committee made up of students and faculty to try to figure out a viable compromise. One major point of contention for the students is that classes are scheduled on Labor Day. The GPSA had also noted this issue when considering its approval of the academic calendar, but their major concern was that support staff are not available and most offices are closed. The SA has postponed the issue until next week.

S. Hames wondered what the chances of having no classes on Labor Day at Cornell really is?

P. Carr said that some other Universities do have Labor Day off.

M. Greenbaum, SA Executive Vice President and SA Liaison to the GPSA, added that the SA would most likely postpone the issue until the committee with Dean Cooke has had time to examine the issues in more depth. He said that Dean Cooke offered to make some concessions, however he does not think that they will get Labor Day off.

L. Sekaric said that she did not know of any private universities that had Labor Day off.

John Sebastian, Medieval Studies, commented that at Georgetown they observed the holiday.

Kevin Thompson, Floriculture & Ornamental Horticulture, reminded the assembly that the University tries to schedule days so that no more than one day a week (per semester) is given off. This prohibits labs and other courses from missing too many days.

  B. ASSEMBLIES FALL ADVANCE

P. Carr told members that the Assemblies’ Fall Advance took place August 29. Members from each of the Assemblies and administrators affiliated with the assemblies were invited to this event. Personalizing the University was one of the major focal points at the Advance. The idea for developing a graduate fellows program was broached during one of the discussion periods.

L. Sekaric said that during the advance the GPSA talked with faculty, staff and undergraduates. One of the GPSA recommendations was that the University should try to work harder at retaining employees so that grads can get to know the employees working in their department. She added that the undergraduates voiced concerns with the teaching and English skills of TA’s. The undergraduates felt that the TA’s should go through a training program and non-native English speakers should be required to complete an English program before being allowed to TA classes.

Lynn Fletcher, Neurobiology & Behavior, asked what the spread of TA training was across the campus?

L. Sekaric said most departments do have some form of training, however some have more intensive programs than others. Some departments only require that the TA’s attend the one-day training program provided by the University. Yet, in Engineering the program is very structured and detailed.

S. Hames added that many graduate students do not even attend any training sessions.

P. Carr said some undergraduates seemed to generalize the issue and exaggerate the problems.

M. Greenbaum reminded him that it was only one SA member who overly exaggerated and that the issue is a real concern among many undergraduates.

Kerry O’Brien, Environmental Toxicology, felt it was important to train TA’s appropriately. She understood the undergraduate point of view because she had also faced this problem when she was an undergraduate at Cornell.

S. Hames said this problem is not unique to Cornell and frequently occurs at other universities.

L. Sekaric asked people to e-mail her with suggestions concerning this issue.

IV. BUSINESS OF THE DAY A. ELECTION OF ONE AT-LARGE GPSA MEMBER

P. Carr informed members they would be holding elections tonight for the At-Large GPSA member. This vacancy occurred because Vatsa Srivatsa, Engineering, left Cornell.

L. Sekaric said that those elected to the At-Large position would be required to attend one meeting a month for GPSA and one meeting a month for COR. There is also one general assembly meeting per semester that GPSA members must attend.

L. Sekaric said the floor was open for nominations and that self-nominations were in order.

Jessica Ward, Zoology, told members she was interested in running for the position.

Erica Doerhoff, German Studies, was nominated by J. Sebastian. She accepted the nomination.

J. Ward told the members that she was a first year graduate student. She served on a committee of students that discussed issues and concerns with the President and faculty of the University she formerly attended. She felt this provided her with plenty of experience for the position.

E. Doerhoff said she was a second year graduate student. She stated that she was interested in the issues of the GPSA and she felt she could represent her constituencies.

J. Ward was elected as the At-Large Representative by a vote of 21 - 12.

P. Carr announced there were also positions open on various committees. Members indicated interest and were thus appointed to the following committees:

Daniel Grossman, Computer Science — West Campus Living/Learning Council

Nicole Benjamin, Education — Faculty Advisory Committee on Athletics and Physical Education

B. PARKING AND TRANSPORTATION

P. Carr stated that transportation issues were brought up at the last GPSA meeting. Some of the concerns were: CC lot was off limits to graduate students, students had to pay for handicapped parking, carpooling discounts were not offered to students, and bus passes were not free. He said they would have a transportation representative come to the next COR meeting and discuss these concerns.

V. Augusta asked if it would be possible to incorporate the bus pass benefit with the health insurance package. She felt that both of these were benefits that could be offered to the students.

P. Carr replied that he thought the bus passes for employees were covered by the employee benefits pool. He added that the graduate students are not part of this pool.

K. O’Brien said she was appointed as a graduate student representative to the Transportation Advisory Committee. She has addressed some of these concerns before. She said it was not likely for students to get free bus passes. However, she felt it would be more reasonable to try to get a discount of the passes that are available. For example, the price allows riders to ride within a certain zone and many riders do not ride the scope of the zone.  If somehow the costs would reflect the actual length of the ride it might be more acceptable. Members wondered whether on-campus riders who only go from one area of campus to the other could be taken into account with pricing. K. O’Brien said she could bring up these ideas and suggestions at the monthly meeting. Those people who have transportation concerns can e-mail her at KAO6@cornell.edu

P. Carr said that it might not be impossible to try to get free on-campus bus passes to graduate students.

P. Carr told members that he was told CC lot is temporarily off limits for one or two years until construction on North Campus is finished. He suggested that people park in A lot.

K. Mowry wondered if parking in A lot was an option for graduate students because she thought it was reserved for employees.

P. Carr was not sure if this was the case.

It was asked if there was any student representation on the TCAT Board of Representatives?

P. Carr said the current TCAT Board members do not include student members. He added that members of the board who are from Cornell report to the Transportation Advisory Committee.

K. Levac said that the SA is currently working on a resolution to increase student input. They hope to get a student representative on the TCAT board. There was a complaint that fare increases went through without significant student input or knowledge.

K. Mowry said that TCAT did have weekly meetings for community members when they were considering raising the prices. This was a way for them to allow the students to voice their concerns. She said it isn’t fair to say there was no warning of the last price increase.

L. Sekaric also mentioned that TCAT has a few seats vacant that are designated At-Large. This is open for anyone living in the Ithaca area. TCAT also holds public hearings when they restructure the system.

S. Hames said that TCAT wanted input from the students when they changed routes. They were eager for students’ suggestions and they honored many of their requests.

K. Mowry said that although the pass prices did increase, the yearly Omni pass was decreased by $30.

D. Mahon, Student-elected Trustee, said that it was not an inherent right for students to serve on the board. He added that Uzo Asonye, SA President, is currently working on the issue.

P. Carr said that graduate students can carpool and have four license plate numbers on the tag.

Someone mentioned that the employees get a free parking pass if they carpool.

P. Carr said this was something that was subsidized by the Employee Benefit Fund.

S. Hames asked if the bulk of the money for the passes is actually from the Employee Benefits Funds. He thought that most of the money was from fees.

P. Carr said that he thought a large portion of the money also comes from fines.

C. BIG RED BARN OPERATION

K. Thompson discussed the closing of the Big Red Barn during the summer. He said that the dining facilities at Cornell were in competition with each other. Because of this, Cornell selectively choose which places to close down during non-peak times based on where they think the most students will dine. The employees of the Big Red Barn did try to campaign to keep it open during the summer. K. Thompson felt that because the Big Red Barn was identified as a “center” for the graduate students and more than simply a dining area, it should be kept open. However, this issue should be pursued by the GPSA as a body. In addition, he discussed other concerns about beer at the Big Red Barn. Last year, the GPSA approved funds for a kegerator and a new sound system for Happy Hour. The staff however, does not seem to know how to properly use the kegerator. He hopes this could be corrected.

P. Carr said that he would be meeting with Kris Corda, the new director of the Big Red Barn. He will bring up the concerns about summer hours and Happy Hour.

K. Thompson felt that the Big Red Barn should at least be open for lunch and for social events in the summer.

P. Carr invited K. Thompson to join him when he meets with Kris on Wednesday. K. Thompson agreed he would do this.

Adela Rosa Ramos, Microbiology, said that two years ago Happy Hour was great. However, last year the event was not as fun.

P. Carr said that the GPSA had a right to pursue the issue because the Big Red Barn is subsidized by the GPSA.

V. Augusta said they might want to think about local brewery donations. She felt that many would be willing to donate one or two kegs.

D. GRADUATE FELLOWS

P. Carr said that they hoped to establish a Graduate Fellows Program that would be similar to the Faculty Fellows Program. This would include activities such as taking students out to dinner, social activities, or even a panel discussion. He thought it would be great to have the involvement of graduate students. He said that even if only 5 to 10 people were interested, then that would be enough. It’s too early to say for sure, but perhaps the job would provide approximately $5,000 or thereabout per year for programs. A planning committee will include a SA member, a Residence-Life representative and himself. Others are welcome to join. Others who expressed interest were N. Benjamin, J. Sebastian, and V. Augusta.

K. Levac mentioned that people have discussed doing programs that involve more interactions with the undergraduates. One idea proposed holding a panel discussion that would focus on what graduate school was like.

K. Mowry said that her department discussed having a buddy system between graduate students and undergraduates.

P. Carr said that they discussed having a, “So you want to know what graduate life is like?” This would be a program run through each department to answer questions about their daily routines, etc. He suggested that the graduate students organize a night where they will explain what they do in their field.

K. Levac volunteered to be in charge of organizing this. She added that they could also break down into smaller, more discipline specific groups.

K. O’Brien said that she would be interested in helping. KAO6@cornell.edu

P. Carr again mentioned the buddy system. People would be working with K. Mowry to match new graduate students with older students.

Someone suggested that this should be something that is organized through specific departments.

K. Mowry said that this was an attempt by the graduate students to help personalize the University. A recommendation from the GPSA would be made to each department regarding organization of the event.

L. Sekaric said that all COR members are invited to attend the GPSA meetings. They would love to have more input.

There was a question regarding the disparity in pay between 9-month and 12-month appointed graduate students. L. Sekaric suggested that people come to lunch on Wednesday with the Dean. He is open to feedback from the students.

J. Sebastian asked if it was possible to change the day or timeslot for the lunch with the Dean. He said that he was always tied up in class during that time and would like an opportunity to meet. L. Sekaric said that she would bring it up with the Dean.

V. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned by L. Sekaric at 6.06p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Courtney Bolger, student clerk