Council of Representatives Meeting Minutes
April 9, 2007
Big Red Barn Greenhouse
5:20–7:00pm

Emergency Assembly Session (5:20pm)

J. Vertesi called the emergency assembly session to order at 5:22pm.

I. Resolution 7 — Appendix B

J. Vertesi reintroduced this resolution regarding the GPSA funding policy. These are changes to Appendix B that should have been voted in a long time ago. The assembly saw these and discussed them in January. Are there any questions, changes, or concerns?

No questions. J. Vertesi moved to voting. 10–0−0. Resolution 7 passed.

II. Resolution 17 — Finance Commission Bylaw Changes

J. Vertesi moved the discussion to Resolution 17 about the GPSA Finance Commission bylaw changes. Y. Yu presented this at the last assembly meeting, and J. Vertesi sent out the changes through email. The changes are highlighted on this document. In particular, it now includes summer funding. She opened the floor to discussion or debate.

Y. Yu had nothing to add.

R. Harbison moved to vote. Z. Wang seconded. 12–0−0. Resolution 17 passed.

J. Vertesi adjourned the emergency assembly session meeting at 5:26pm.

Council Meeting (5:30pm)

I. Call to Order

M. Walsh called the meeting to order at 5:30pm. He welcomed all to the last Council of Representatives meeting of the year.

II. Open Forum

M. Walsh asked if anyone had an issue that needed to be brought to the attention of assembly and not on the agenda.

K. Nagel said this weekend in the Vet school is an open house. If you want to see what Vet students do, it’s from 10am to 4pm. You get to touch cows and stuff. The Vet school date auction is April 20th this year, and you can date a Vet student.

III. Computer Recycling Program — Al Heiman

M. Walsh welcomed Al Heiman from CIT.

A. Heiman introduced himself as a lab coordinator for CIT. He talked to Z. Wang about the student group, Cornell Computer Reuse Association. They come together to accumulate used equipment from campus, primarily computer equipment, and then they find international or national places to donate to them. It started 2 years ago when he was standing in front of a giant heap of computers in CIT that we were going to be sent to the trash. He used to teach school in Zambia and thought that these computers should be sent to Africa. They sent 40 computers (CPUs and monitors) to a high school in Ghana. It’s also a good way to get rid of this equipment. Zambia is centrally isolated and the points of entry are a long way away. He shelved the Zambia thing and began working with Teachers Without Borders. They visit places all over the world and teach the recent teaching techniques to local teachers and take equipment to those schools and leave them there. Through this way, they got more than 80 computers to other places in Africa.

He continued that the University keeps its computers updated and they have a turnaround of about two to three years. Some computers being recycled are very good machines, and this is not an effective way of using the equipment. He needs volunteers on campus to help reformat the computers, get them ready to go, and identify the places they are going to. This has only been in existence for one semester, but it’s getting its name out through The Ithaca Journal and The Chronicle. In this semester alone, they have sent the Zambian Children’s Fund computers, sent over 60 computers to schools and prisons in Africa, donated computers to IHS, and given 40 computers to a local program where people reformat and sell the computers for $100 or less. This program also allows them to teach high school students to work with computers too. This association has also worked with many groups, advocacy groups, etc. He was here today to tell about the program, and he’s looking for any donations (P3 PCs, G3 Macs, any laptops, scanners, etc). They need volunteers or monetary donations to get things going. At present, they have donated over 200 computers and they are constantly getting donations from all over campus.

M. Walsh asked for any questions.

A male representative asked for his contact information.

A. Heiman said his email is arh11, and the association’s email is ccrc-l.

IV. Executive Report

J. Vertesi gave the executive report. At the last meeting, the assembly passed a resolution about creating closer relations with Weill Cornell, and it gave a number of recommendations such as a cheaper or free bus system to connect the two campuses. They just passed the new Appendix B and bylaws for funding for student groups, which made it possible to get summer funding from the GPSAFC. This is a great opportunity, and they heard from a number of clubs that they wanted to have summer events. The GCI is definitely a go ahead, and they called for student representatives to be on the working group committee. They are finalizing appointments and they will get back to you. The President’s commission on climate change is creating a task force, so that’s going forward too. As for other news on campus, they are in the middle of Trustee elections. To remind the assembly, the GPSA and SA split the two student elected Trustee seats that was approved in January by the Board of Trustees. There are 13 candidates running for the undergraduate SA seat. The forum is going on tonight, and she encouraged everyone to go over or read about it in The Daily Sun later. Graduate students are still eligible to vote even though this is the undergraduate seat. She attended a meeting last week with President Skorton and other leaders on campus. The big issue right now is diversity groups. They have been disbanded and now they have a new diversity working group trying to decide how to best go ahead in the future. It is dedicated to racially themed parties on campus.

She continued that there are elections tonight for seats on the assembly, and the next time the assembly meets, there will be elections for the executive committee or committee chairs. She encouraged anyone interested to talk to the executive board or to talk to representatives. Next time, everyone is welcome to attend because it will be the GPSA wrap-up party on April 23rd. All members welcome to attend.

M. Walsh said the Trustee forum is over in Warren Hall after this.

J. Vertesi asked for questions. There were none.

V. Committee & Liaison Reports

Z. Wang updated everyone on the off-campus Housing Office reception held last week. The University finally established an off-campus Housing Office and they got people that we can talk with if we have landlord problems, roommate problems, etc. The Director and the office manager are people we can talk to. If you want more information, it will be on the Cornell website soon. This office is also for people from the local community. The office is trying to work with Cornell and the Ithaca community to make life better. They got in touch with local landlords, and if someone has an emergency and needs housing, a few local landlords are willing to open their own house to put students there for minimum charge, etc. That is an example of what the off-campus Housing Office can do for us. There will be more information later.

a. Grad Ball — GPSA Events Committee

M. Leinfelder said the main event is the Grad Ball on April 27th, and they have lots of promotional material.

C. Hamann said he’ll give it out. Please distribute it to your departments. He has cards, posters, etc. He said he’ll give them out after the meeting. They also have tickets.

M. Leinfelder said they’ll sell them, but they would appreciate if other members take tickets and sold them too. They will write your name down and you can take the tickets so they can keep track. Last year, they sold out, and this year they’ve got 500 for capacity and they hope to sell out.

C. Hamann said if anyone has department lists or other electronic means of communication, they have an electronic copy. If you don’t mind distributing that way, he will send them out to you.

E. Spero said the tickets are $10 before and $15 at the door.

C. Hamann said there is no guarantee there will be any tickets at the door.

K. Yasuda asked for his email address.

C. Hamann said cwh27.

Y. Yu said the FC is holding a big funding day this week where they will discuss annual budget allocation to all student groups that sent in their application by last Friday. She expects around 100 of them. She wants representatives from all fields or at least just the bigger fields like social science, humanities, biological sciences, and physical sciences. Right now, they only have FC committee members and at least half of them are from the Johnson School. If you don’t want to get underallocated, you should come and speak up. It’s on Saturday between 10–3pm. If you can only show up for a little bit, that’s ok. We’ll break down into groups. If you’re affiliated with other groups, you are also welcome to come, but you can’t allocate to that group. What you can do is give more information about that group. She doesn’t have the location yet, but you can email gpsafc@cornell.edu to get the specific information for the location.

E. Spero asked what the people who missed the deadline should do.

Y. Yu said they have to apply next year. The FC meets every month. The next committee meeting may happen at the end of September.

E. Spero asked for more information about summer funding.

Y. Yu said if it’s an old group, they can still apply because it’s not a part of the annual budget. The application should be submitted before the end of the semester or before May 30th. Because a few FC members may leave, you should submit early to ensure they have enough funding. She asked for a show of hands for who might come on Saturday. Five people raised their hands.

VI. New Just the Facts Presentation — Registrar’s Office

M. Walsh introduced Janet Gray and Kim Barrett to explain the new Just the Facts system.

K. Barrett said the project is called STARS, which represents the System for Tracking Administrative Records for Students. Right now, there are several administrative systems that come together to make enrollment and grading happen. Cornell is now looking at Peoplesoft software where it will all be integrated into one big system all in one. They are looking for five people to go a little deeper with them either on campus or at a training facility and give them more feedback. She said this with hesitation because much of the Peoplesoft software is already delivered and they can’t redesign the system because most of the software is delivered, etc. They are limited in what they can and can’t change, but they just want to make sure it does work.

She continued that Just the Facts will be coming out of Uportal. There is a tab on top for Just the Facts�the name will be kept�and on the page, there are several different channels or different sections of information. Before, the different channels were in different systems. Now they are going forward and everything will all be in the same system. Everything is point and click and menu driven, so it should be pretty simple. Under the “My Info” channel, you can see your name�preferred as well as primary. It is pretty simple and easy to use. Are there any questions?

K. Hubbell asked about updating contact information. As students move around campus, we want to know where they live and where we can reach them.

K. Barrett said they can update their own information in the “My Info” channel.

Z. Wong wondered what name�primary or preferred�would be reflected in the Cornell directory.

K. Barrett said the legal name will be put in or the primary name, not the preferred name.

A male representative asked if Blackboard would be covered here too.

K. Barrett said yes.

A male representative asked if it would be obvious how to change your address because he doesn’t want to waste time finding out how to change it because the website is also really slow. What you name channels or buttons might be good to consider too.

K. Barrett said that might be more important to talk about with CIT because they will put equipment on that to make it faster.

J. Vertesi had a question about an internet safety issue. She would rather not have her address listed in the directory. How can she make that clear�that she doesn’t want to list it, but she still wants to get mail? Grad students also take as well as teach classes. Can the information be put all in one place and not just like Blackboard does it now. How would that be managed? If you’re trying to put everything in one place, that might be something to think about.

K. Barrett said there are many different roles in the software, whether you are a student or a teacher.

J. Vertesi said it might be helpful to have access to information of your students when you are teaching a course.

K. Yasuda asked what the security of the page is like. For example, what if he left it open and left it on the computer desktop. Can people do anything they want?

K. Barrett said it is Kerberized, and they will still use CU Weblogin. It will be normal and the same. You must be logged in and authorized before you can make any changes.

J. Gray said but you shouldn’t forget to log off.

A female representative asked if Bear Access is going to be changed or if it would be phased out completely.

K. Barrett said it is getting phased out. They are looking in to keeping financial aid or something small that will be still left on that channel for people to access for history. All other links will be replaced by Peoplesoft links.

R. Harbison said when she changed her address, she had to change it in many places�on Uportal, then with the Bursars Office, etc. Will it be integrated and all in one in the future?

K. Barrett said yes. You will only have one record within the whole system, and all places will see only one record.

A male representative said currently, you can search course descriptions in Courses of Study. Can you search through those while you’re signing up for classes in the same browser?

K. Barrett said yes. She opened up an example class on the overhead projector. It gives a lot more information. There is a description, meeting time, class information, capacity, waitlist, etc.

J. Gray said there is a waitlist, which we don’t have in the current Legacy system. There is also a Swap function where you can go out and look for another class you want before you are dropped from a class you signed up for.

A male representative asked if it was possible to see all classes offered in one department.

K. Barrett said she didn’t think so, but you can see all the classes by subject. She has business cards and her email is kag6 if there are any volunteers to go into this with a little more detail and a little more feedback. She is also hoping the assembly can be promoters for this down the line. It’s difficult to reach everyone at Cornell no matter how hard they try. Word of mouth really is the best way to let everyone know about the STARS project.

J. Vertesi also had one announcement from the executive report that she forgot. Campus Life is putting together the graduate student housing survey that they test piloted with assembly members. They are releasing it to the Cornell community at the end of April. They are trying to figure out what we want and what to build for us, so we should tell them what we need.

VII. Slope Day Announcement — Liz Giorgos

L. Giorgos is the Chair of the Slope Day programming board, and she introduced the headliner for this year’s Slope Day: T.I. who is a famous rapper and won two Grammys. The first opener is TV on the Radio, an indie rock band that falls into multiple categories and is very eclectic. They are currently working on the third band, and they will announce it once they get more information. The aim for their lineup is for diversity of music, so there is something for everyone. The website has all the information we’re talking about, updates, etc.: slopeday.cornell.edu.

M. Hjellming introduced herself as the Slopefest Director. This year at Slopefest, there will be airbrush tattoos, photo keychains, snapshot photos, a ladder climb, a high striker, a cupcake wheel, soda ring toss, and many other activities. There will be cotton candy, and the ice cream this year is called Urban Legends: a vanilla flavored ice cream with a coke swirl and poprocks. There will be a prize given away at 1:30pm, and you can get raffle tickets between 12pm and 1:15pm. At 1:40pm, the Cornell Idol will be performing. Cornell 2010 is currently putting on Cornell Idol right now in search of the performer. From 2–4pm, there will be an MGLC stroll competition.

L. Giorgos said all Slopefest things will be free. Guest tickets will follow the same procedure as last year. At April 18th at 8am, they will be $25 each, and each person can only buy two guest tickets. They are also partnering with Cornell Dining to have a presale for food tickets on the same website doing the guest ticket sales — cornellconcert.com. Food will be in the $1-$4 range. Each ticket is $1. Cornell Dining stepped up to do something more than just hot dogs and hamburgers this year. There will be pizza, philly cheese steaks, pulled pork sandwiches, turkey drumstick, fajitas, and a lot of other good food. They are looking for volunteers, and it’s open to undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and staff. Please sign up on the website.

L. Rapoport said they are going up for byline funding again next year. This is just a quick update, and they have begun the process for collecting 15% of all graduate signatures. They will be roaming through different graduate schools and they want support. If you know people, they will be in all schools. They have permission to be there, and they would appreciate all support, so look for them. They will be back for byline funding next semester.

L. Giorgos asked if there were any questions.

K. Yasuda asked if alumni have to buy tickets.

L. Giorgos said each alumni can purchase two guest tickets. All graduates and undergraduates can purchase only two tickets.

D. Day asked for clarification of when guest tickets go on sale: April 18th at 8 am?

L. Giorgos said yes.

J. Vertesi asked for an update of families on Slope Day.

L. Giorgos said at the Slope Day logistics meeting, they discussed risk management. They have come to the conclusion that they cannot have members that are younger than 18 on the Slope because of the alcohol.

J. Vertesi asked if they are still looking for people to be on the committee, and if they need graduate students.

L. Giorgos said they are always looking for more members. There is also an opening on the executive board. The SA is appointing someone, and the GPSA can do that too.

C. Hamann asked for the presale food tickets and where to pick them up.

L. Giorgos said during the week of Slope Day from Monday, April 30th through Thursday, May 3rd in WSH. You can pick them up at the same place as you pick up guest tickets.

A male representative asked if there would still be a survey for graduate students.

L. Giorgos said Gannett said they were only surveying undergraduates this year, but she told them she wanted graduates surveyed too. They will be paying to put that survey out to graduate students. They will be doing one.

S. Kong asked about freshmen who are under 18. Would they still be allowed to attend?

L. Giorgos said most are over 18 by the time it’s May, so usually it’s not a problem.

A female representative had a question that might be more of a question with Cornell Dining, but she had a problem last year when all central dining halls were closed on Slope Day because the law school students are in the middle of exams on Slope Day. They have to go into Collegetown for food, and it might be nice to open something else like Statler for food.

L. Giorgos said one or two dining halls will be open, but she’s not sure which. She offered to email if the female representative wanted.

The female representative responded that it was okay. She just wanted to give feedback.

L. Giorgos said it should be posted.

VIII. Master Plan Update and Discussion — Anne Beggs

M. Walsh introduced Anne Beggs.

A. Beggs said she’s the graduate student representative on the Campus Planning working committee, and they are currently working on the Campus Planning Master Plan that will look at the next 20 years out as the University develops. It’s chartered to keep in mind the possibility of planning to keep in mind the next 60 years. Consultants are currently putting together various options, and right now, it’s in its 2nd phase where they are processing information gathered from surveys, data, and individual interviews. She is here to talk about ideas and get feedback about locations specifically. How does the assembly feel about different sorts of locations for the Graduate Community Center and graduate housing. How do you feel about graduate housing on campus�some center or a residential initiative on the actual campus body? Is anyone interested in that as a housing option?

A female representative said as long as it’s affordable. The location is not as important of an issue.

A. Beggs asked because there are certain issues such as noise levels where some graduates may not want a certain setting for noise issues. We can talk about other campuses or having an urban social center. They are just interested in getting feedback about maybe trying to develop something as a part of campus.

M. Leinfelder asked what she foresees for the Maplewood site. It’s a huge piece of land, but it’s not optimized for the buildings currently on the plot.

A. Beggs agreed that Maplewood is on its way out.

K. Hubbell said it’s up for redesign.

A. Beggs said that is an option for further development because that land could be used for several other ways.

M. Walsh suggested a parking lot.

A. Beggs suggested more fields. How does the assembly feel about other locations and centers of social areas. Do you want something on central campus near Ho Plaza and WSH or something closer to West? Is centrality important?

E. Spero said Maplewood may be important. It’s close enough to campus, but still in a graduate area so people don’t feel like they’re living with undergraduates. Optimizing Maplewood might be a really good idea.

K. Yasuda said you can event get to East Hill Plaza by walking.

Y. Yu said it would be good for short-term students. If the students come from elsewhere or other campuses and they just search on the Cornell website, it’s hard to figure out housing options. They won’t care about location, as long as it’s managed by the University and near campus, it will be fine. On campus might be better actually.

A. Gezler said a center on campus may be better.

A. Beggs clarified that they want a center and housing both to be together, or other housing ideas that are strictly for graduate students and are non-mixed. Some graduates might consider living on campus as a type of urban living.

T. Pardo asks who owns the warehouse on top of Gun Hill. Can Cornell take that over to develop it?

A. Beggs said that site is actually toxic, and the state is trying to find ways to make it less toxic.

A male representative asked if housing would be available for graduate and professional students, young staff, entry level faculty, and Ph.D. students. Does that sound appealing or attractive? Some members agreed.

A. Beggs said the graduate housing and social center might be aligned near a faculty center. That would be a good idea.

J. Vertesi said that’s an opportunity for post-doctorates to live in residence. It would be amazing if faculty could live with students because they would have actual mentors living in. It would become a neat center for intellectual experience. To create a more urban experience, you might consider building in shops, etc.

A. Beggs couldn’t remember if the survey had a comments section. A member clarified that the survey did in fact have a comments section. A. Beggs then said to put down comments because the master planners will look at them.

A female representative asked if the housing was geared towards graduate students, not married, not families, or both. Will they be living together or in separate buildings?

A. Beggs said all constituencies are being considered. Decisions about how units will be designated will be handled by Campus Life in the future.

A female representative said that might be things to be concerned about. Some students may want to live near children and others wouldn’t.

A. Beggs said to put those concerns in the comments. For example as a single graduate student, you might prefer a residential area separate from family-targeted housing. There will be workshops for members of all constituencies when the master planners will present. The plan is coming out later this year, and she will keep the assembly posted. She thanked the assembly.

IX. Elections

J. Vertesi said they are looking to elect the new assembly members for next year. You can run to be on the executive board in 2 weeks for next year’s term. Now, they are going to divide into four caucuses to elect the graduate side of the assembly: humanities, social sciences, biological sciences, and physical sciences. Well-established assembly members will help out with the election process in each caucus. Each caucuses will elect three or four members. Seats available after these caucuses will be elected for at-large assembly members. The assembly split up into the four departments for their individual caucuses.

X. Announcement of Results & Wrap-Up

M. Walsh congratulated the newly elected members. From the Physical Sciences department, four new seats were elected to Rebecca Harbison, Michael Walsh, Briony Horgan, and Leon Chen. In the Biological Sciences department, newly elected members are Michelle Leinfelder, Bethsabe Romero, and Nick Brideau. In the Humanities department, there were no newly elected members, but at-large representatives can be elected in their place. In the Social Sciences department, seats were elected to Yu Yu, Philia Rentea, Tamara Pardo, and Shawn Kung.

J. Vertesi said since there were no seats elected in the Humanities department, the assembly can have three at-large members, or the assembly can have an election again in two weeks for larger elections. If anyone is interested, she encouraged them to speak up.

Brian Forster from the Microbiology department nominated himself.

M. Walsh nominated Amy Richter from the Chemistry department. She couldn’t be here because she had another commitment. He asked if there was any opposition from the assembly. There was no opposition. Both candidates were approved for seats on the assembly.

XI. Adjournment

J. Vertesi adjourned the meeting at 7:01pm. She reminded the assembly not to forget to come to the next meeting for the election for new committee chairs and the executive board. There will also be the wrap-up party and Grad Ball tickets to sell.