Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
Minutes
Big Red Barn
November 24, 2003
5:30–7:00 p.m.

Attendance:

Present: Larry Boyd, Sam Flaxman, Gavin Hurley, Curtis Jirsa, Dan Marques, Kurt Massey, Timothy McConnochie, Anne McNeil, Joan Moriarty, David Schmale III, Susannah Schmid, Cate Taylor, Ariana Vigil, Farbod Raiszadeh, Karen Trainor

Excused: Mark McGuire

Unexcused: Robb Willer

Others present: S. Davis, Matt Faiella, Huaqiang Wu, Ken Bedell, Brandon Smith, Phil McPheron, Victoria Blodgett, Harley Etienne, Kevin O’Neil, William Kennerly, Tammy Bishop, Tyng Tsuei

I. Call to Order

G. Hurley called the meeting to order at 5:35pm. He welcomed B. Holmes as the newest member of the GPSA.

II. Open Forum

There were no speakers.

R. 5, Resolution Regarding Cornell’s Logo S. Flaxman introduced the issue at the last meeting. He passed around some color pictures and noted that it is similar to JC Penny’s logo because they were designed by the same firm. He hates the logo, and feels it is a poor representation on what the university is. He hopes the resolution is considered by all the assemblies.

P. Cohl said he is the chair of the SA ad hoc committee on improving Cornell’s image. All other universities have a crest or seal as a logo and we look like a corporation. Our logo doesn’t work well on clothing. He is calling upon the university to return to the form of a crest that is reproducible on clothing and conveys Cornell as an Ivy.

C. Jirsa said he had some information on the inspiration behind the current logo. It is reproducible on goods, and they wanted to save on costs for font and chose to go down the road with least resistance.

K. Massey said he heard the logo was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and his work in architecture and Cornell’s architecture school.

There was a call to question and it was 2nded.

R. 5 passed.

III. Approval of Minutes

The minutes for October 27, 2003 were unanimously approved.

IV. Announcements & Updates

A) COR Update
D. Schmale said that at the last meeting there were concerns with dental/vision coverage, i.e. hours when information is available. The Pay and Benefits committee is looking into the matter. Frank Araneo from Athletics came to the meeting in regards to the student activity fee. An election was held for a vacant GPSA seat, and the nominees were Brian Holmes and Harley Etienne.

B) UA Update
D. Schmale said they are drafting a resolution to the Board of Trustees with what they are working on.

C) Leadership Update
D. Schmale said they had a leadership meeting last week with administration and they will talk more about it in the future.

D) Pay and Benefits Committee
S. Flaxman said that they set their goals for the year at their last meeting. They received a letter from President Lehman and distributed the letters to the GPSA. They talked about increasing stipends to help pay for insurance but there are flaws. They want to use collective buying power to keep costs low.

J. Moriarty said they received a pay increase of 7% this year, which is unusual but it made up for the underinflated increase in past years.

C. Taylor said they are hoping to make more progress later at the P&B meeting.

C. Jirsa asked how many students are eyeglass wearers?

J. Moriarty said about 80% of the student population wear them.

A student asked if students with no stipends get insurance from the university?

S. Flaxman said no, they are asking for equal treatment from the administration because previous plans didn’t help students out that didn’t have insurance.

J. Moriarty said they are working to let everybody be able to afford insurance.

E) Willard Straight Game Room
G. Hurley said that Kent Hubbell agreed to postpone Kinko’s opening next semester until alternate proposals are looked at by all the Assemblies. They need t pass a resolution saying that they prefer to keep the room as a meeting room rather than have a Kinko’s.

C. Jirsa said that they originally thought they had no alternatives but now are looking at it.

V. Blodgett said there is a fee charged by the WSHPB for spaces used by students and the new space will probably fall under having to pay jurisdiction.

An informal straw pull indicated that the group was not in favor of Kinko’s.

F) R. 6, Resolution Recommending 2004–2006 Graduate & Professional Student Activity Fee
J. Moriarty said that amendments were made to Athletics, GPSA, and GPSAFC. Athletics was changed from $4 to $6.

1) Frank Araneo (Athletics) said that they agreed with administration for a reserved # (250) of seats for hockey tickets for grad students in all sections, including A & B. They are looking at accommodations to make it less burdensome for grad students to get tickets. They will still have to wait but they will have their own line. If there are any tickets leftover from the 250, it goes back to the undergrads and if they go over 250, the grads will go after the undergrads have made their ticket purchases.

J. Moriarty said $4 to $6 is not increased funding because it goes back to what they asked for.

K. O’Neil asked will the lines be simultaneous?

F. Araneo said the details haven’t been ironed out yet.

D. Marques asked is there a guarantee that these terms will be continued for the next 2 years?

F. Araneo said the issues can be discussed and adjusted after the 1st year of the funding cycle, i.e. the # of seats can be increased.

There was a call to question and it was 2nded.

The Athletics amendment passed.

2) The GPSA amendment - $5 allocated to the Big Red Barn didn’t budget in the BBBQ or summer TGIF. J. Moriarty said we can’t increase the BRB by more than they ask for so she proposed that we increase the GPSA by $.75 to allocate to the BRB.

D. Schmale asked why $.75?

J. Moriarty said she took the amount used for the BBQ and TGIF and divided by the number of students and it came out to about $.75 per student.

T. McConnochie said the summer TGIF had a good turn out of about 100 people. He had doubts about the end of the year BBQ, he thought the DJ sucked and doesn’t see a need to fund them at the same levels as last year.

J. Moriarty amended the amendment to $2.25, due to a typo.

G. Hurley said they gave $1400 last year for the BBQ and TGIF summer was given $2000.

3) Total amount needs to be an even number divisible by two. J. Moriarty proposed an amendment from $24.31 to $25.36 which yields $64 for the student activity fee.

G. Hurley suggested they should get an amendment from other line items and deal with GPSAFC last.

D. Schmale said we can use the GPSA as a buffer as well instead of swelling up the GPSAFC.

K. Massey asked where would the rollover go?

G. Hurley said it would stay in the GPSA account.

B. Holmes said the GPSAFC amount balances out the student activity amount.

S. Flaxman suggested taking off 11 cents off every item.

G. Hurley said that would be unfair to groups affected.

K. Bedell asked if the guidelines were driven to tighten up the reins?

G. Hurley said the issue right now is clarity, because groups get confused.

B. Holmes said they want to make things easier for the finance committee. The system will continue if changes are not made.

A. McNeil what is the hardship of subtracting 11 cents?

B. Holmes said the GPSAFC wanted a high amount for the investment account.

The amendment for the finance committee to receive $23.56 was found friendly.

V. Blodgett asked for somebody to explain what the chart passed out a few weeks ago meant.

B. Holmes said that Larry and David projected what the finance committee would need

C. Jirsa said he doesn’t mind paying an extra $1 to ensure that the finance committee gets cushioning

T. McConnochie said the finance committee should have some growth in what they’re spending but they need to be mitigated so he advocates rounding down.

S. Flaxman said he gave an informal poll to his constituents and they want it to be closer to a $10 increase than a $15 increase.

H. Etienne said some student groups don’t feel like they are being funded enough.

K. Bedell said he knows of duplicate groups forming and therefore changes to guidelines need to be made accordingly.

There was a call to question and it was 2nded.

The amendment passed.

There was a motion to approve the $62 student activity.

R. 6 passed.

V. Business of the Day

A) Election to fill University Assembly Vacancy
G. Hurley said that Robb Willer had to step down from the GPSA and was also the UA member.

B. Holmes nominated Harley Etienne.

T. McConnochie nominated himself.

B. Holmes said that Harley has broad experience in work and academics and would be a valuable asset.

H. Etienne said he worked in Philly and was a grad student at Temple in Urban Studies. He was involved in education with the University. There is the issue of plagiarism in CRP of freshman and they were ill advised and appealed to the same people in the lower court. If he is on the UA he can help out.

T. McConnochie said he has been on the UA before for a year so he has experience. He wants to figure out how to make the UA effective and this year is good because of a new President. He was in charge of the Campus Governance Task Force and ideas are starting to move forward, i.e. Trustee seat for grads. Transportation and parking issues are also important and he wants to find out the true costs of parking.

D. Schmale said that as vice chair of UA, he asked for time commitments because meetings are long and they need time to assimilate and join lots of subcommittees.

H. Etienne said he had conversation with B. Holmes about it and will be able to do it.

T. McConnochie said he has no conflicts with UA meetings and has flexible time.

B. Holmes asked them to express their voice and philosophy.

H. Etienne said he considers himself an ethnographer and collects information.

T. McConnochie said he likes to steer conversations towards clear cut issues like parking and wants to engage COR members and their constituents.

H. Etienne was elected to be the new UA member.

C) R. 3, Resolution Recommending to Add a Graduate and Professional Student-elected Trustee
G. Hurley said the trustees are meeting on December 11 and they want to present them a package of proposed increased seats for the EA and the GPSA.

There was a call to question and it was 2nded.

R. 3 passed.

D) R. 4, Resolution for Equal Opportunity in Law School Recruitment
S. Schmid said the military practices in discrimination and Congress has threatened to rescind funding from any university that doesn’t let military recruiters on campus. This violates Cornell’s own policy against discrimination in recruiting.

B. Holmes said he views this as extortion and they are not asking to join a lawsuit, the resolution says they will support it.

A. McNeil asked why is this being brought to GPSA? People can join FAIR without legal liability.

M. Faiella said the law school originally wanted to fight but the university didn’t want to and now it looks like there is no legality against it and they are bringing it to the administration and with GPSA support that strengthens it.

B. Holmes said if the government rescinds funding, will this affect all students on campus?

B. Smith asked why haven’t some law schools joined if they can join anonymously

M. Faiella said they didn’t want to join anonymously and they are concerned with legal liability and the university council said over the phone that there is no legal liability. They fear retaliation from the Department of Defense.

There was a call to question and it was 2nded.

R. 4 passed.

VI. Adjournment

G. Hurley adjourned the meeting at 7:00.

Respectfully submitted,
Tyng Tsuei
Office of the Assemblies