Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
Council of Representatives
701 Clark Hall
April 7, 2008
5:30–7:00 p.m.

I. Welcome and Introductions

M. Leinfelder called the meeting to order at 5:39pm and briefly introduced the executive board.

II. Open Forum

J. Kupferschmidt said the GPSAFC has decided on their funding day and passed around a sign up sheet for people to volunteer to help allocate funding. J. Kupferschmidt said he will e-mail out updates.

B. Horgan said one of the student orgs had issues with summer funding. She said maybe we should include application for it as part of regular yearly funding and just have it as a different category. A. O’Donnell agreed and also thought trying to get summer funding was confusing.

N. Evensen replied and said they need to bring it to the funding policy committee because they create the bylaws.

Y. Yu said summer funding is new and just added. She said the GPSA doesn’t function over the summer and that the Office of the Assemblies cannot process the applications. Y. Yu said as a solution, maybe we can try to find people to substitute certain positions during the summer.

R. Harbison said she remembers this issue was discussed sometime last year.

A. Richter said there are some groups that have not received any GPSAFC deadline notifications at all. If a group has not received the notification, please notify the GPSA or J. Kupferschmidt now. They are trying to see what the problems are.

G. Gholkar said the grad ball was a huge success. R. Harbison said her constituents enjoyed it; their only complaint was the long line for drinks.

III. Executive Updates

Y. Yu said at the next assembly meeting there will be an election for officers and then a reception afterwards to recognize contributions of CoR and assembly members. She said the awards will be given at the end, which are normally nominated by members. Y. Yu emphasized that anyone is welcome to come to the meeting because some CoR members can run for the GPSA chair positions.

M. Leinfelder gave some feedback from the leadership workshop; she said most people found it useful. In the future, members should suggest topic ideas, and some people suggested to have this workshop at the beginning of the year. M. Leinfelder asked the workshop leader to have it be more career focused�but in the feedback, people wanted it to be more GPSA-focused.

M. Leinfelder said there will be another grads’ night out at Felicia’s on April 24.

A. Richter said she is looking for 2 people to be part of the GCI working group. Y. Yu noted it is not a very big time commitment; they probably meet only twice a year.

IV. Graduate/Professional Student Trustee Candidates Q&A

M. Leinfelder gave a brief overview of the Q&A session, she mentioned it is new for g/p students to get their own seat. The decision for a g/p seat was made just last year. She said it’s an honor to get our own seat for the graduate/professional students.

Each candidate gave a brief introduction. Then, the assembly members asked questions, in which each candidate was limited to a two minute response. Lastly, each candidate had the opportunity to say a closing statement.

a. Shawn Kong

S. Kong wants to run for the trustee position to make changes because student activities at Cornell do not seem as appealing as at other schools. He has also had a lot of governing and leadership experience.

b. Xiaoxiao Li

X. Li is aware of the responsibilities associated with this position and she wants to represent the sciences in this position.

c. Whitney Patross

W. Patross thinks Cornell has a lot of great resources that people do not take advantage of.

d. Mike Walsh

M. Walsh has been actively involved in the GPSA for the past 3 years and hopes to continue the things that the GPSA has been working on.

V. Elections for 2008–09 Assembly Seats

Each group split up into caucuses. M. Leinfelder said this is the time to nominate oneself, have a Q&A, and vote.

a. 4 Physical Sciences

J. Kupferschmidt, B. Horgan, A. Richter, and C. Mansfeldt

b. 4 Social Sciences

M. Guerrero, T. Pardo, A. Sikora, and D. Rose

c. 3 Biological Sciences

M. Leinfelder, N. Evensen, and N. Brideau

d. 3 Humanities

These three seats became three At-large seats because no Humanities students ran.

A. Richter moved to extend the meeting to 7:15. J. Kupferschmidt seconded.

Nominees: B. Forster, R. Harbison, and D. Appler

A. Richter made a motion to accept all 3 candidates, J. Kupferschmidt seconded.

VI. Adjournment

M. Leinfelder adjourned the meeting at 7:09p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
YuhLi Tsuei
Office of the Assemblies