MINUTES
Graduate & Professional Student Assembly
Meeting of the GPSA Voting Council
Monday, September 13th, 2010
Big Red Barn
5:30–7:00 P.M.

I. Welcome and Introductions

C. Mansfeldt called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. He welcomed everyone to the first business meeting of the semester.

1. Roll Call for the GPSA Voting Council

Members Present: K. Albert, S. An, T. Balcerski, N. Baran, C. Clarke, G. Choko, E. Cortens, B. Gould, B. Hartshorn, S. Harya, B. Heavner, N. Little, C. Mansfeldt, A. Sikora, J. Swartz Members Excused: R. Adra Members Unexcused: N. Yakubu

2. Introduction of Non-Voting Council Members

People who were not voting members went around and introduced themselves.

II. Announcements and Reports:

1. Executive Updates

• Staffing of Committees (T. Balcerski)

T. Balcerski explained the vacancies and how to apply. If you wish to be on an unstaffed committee, go to assembly.cornell.edu/staffing. There are also 2 liaison seats open for the EA and the SA. If you’re interested in them, please talk to him personally. He thanked the committee members for their hard work.

2. Standing Committee Introduction and Updates:

• Operations and Staffing Committee

The committee met and minutes were posted to the webpage. If you have a standing committee meeting, submit minutes to be posted. If you are part of another committee, such as an ad-hoc, send monthly reports to calendar@cornellgpsa.com.

• Communications Committee

There were no updates, but if anyone knows of people who wish to be liaisons, let her know. Also, they are still looking for more members.

• Student Advocacy Committee

They currently five people on the committee and they’re looking for two more, specifically PhD and non-masters professional students. If anyone has ideas, let them know. They’re still discussing when the town hall meeting will be.

• Events Committee

They have no significant updates, but one goal this year is to expand to include students with families and wellness events.

• Finance Commission

They still have vacancies. Their first meeting is October 5 at 6:30 p.m. Please make sure groups have special requests in on that Friday.

• Appropriations Committee

They have a budget.

• Ad-Hoc Sustainability Committee

They’re working for more members.

• Ad-Hoc Mental Health Committee

They are well staffed. Their first meeting is the end of September. Initiatives going forward are working with Gannett to discuss the graduate student mental health survey and Brenda Wickes to re-vamp the graduate website for mental health services.

3. Student-Elected Trustee Introduction and Update:

• Darrick Nighthawk Evensen

He gave an overview of the board of trustees. They control the broad university policy. There are several committees that are part of the board. He sits on student life, academic affairs, trustee community relations, and government affairs committee. A lot of what they discuss is removed from graduate students in a narrow sense. Buildings and properties has been looking at means restriction, that is to say, the fences on campus, and different solutions. They discussed a new recognition policy for the Greek system. The major initiative is the strategic plan. They’re focusing on faculty recruitment. One trustee donated 5 million dollars to start the drive on the 100 million dollar campaign. Over the next five years, they will be recruiting faculty strategically. He just signed up for a diversity task force. They wanted to look at diversity in hiring of faculty as well as with students. It begins in October. There is also a financial aid policy task force. The change in policy is a result of the task force. They will now be matching other peer institutions in financial aid packages.

III. Business of the Day:

1. R.1: Regarding the 2010–2011 Operating Bylaws of the Cornell Graduate & Professional Student Assembly (T. Balcerski)

T. Balcerski explained what he had to do as VP of Operations. As he presents the motion, not much changed. There were typographical errors and a few procedural issues that required changing. The spirit remained intact. A. Sikora seconded it. They moved to informal debate. They discussed the changes. B. Heavner made a friend amendment. He would like to add “including but not limited to�” T. Balcerski considered this friendly. There was more discussion on the exact wording of the bylaws.

N. Evensen wanted to comment on the proposal that charter revisions go in front of operations and staffing. He thinks it’s a great idea for someone to be reviewing it. In the charter it says any voting member can present a resolution. It doesn’t specify if there are limitations on that. If people were to vote for a change to the bylaws, they should have good reason to say that one type of resolution is qualitatively very different.

T. Balcerski motioned to consider R1 as presented with B. Heavner’s friendly amendment. It was seconded by E. Cortens. By a vote of 14–0−2 bylaws have passed.

2. Motion to Pass the Internal GPSA 2010–2011 Internal GPSA Budget (K. Albert)

They decided not to nitpick for committees’ internal funding and allow the chairs to allocate the money. He explained the budget.

As a part of formal debate, C. Heckman spoke against the budget. He thanked the committee for its good work. It appears to be a great start, but there are things that he doesn’t see if they can push forward with the current recommendation. He does not support communications being cut in half. Programs reaching out to students will not be able to reach out. The executive committee was 2/3 non-discretionary. The biggest chunk of the budget, 1/5 over all, is the grad ball. While a lot of that is important, they do things that shouldn’t be done. Two free drinks per student cost six thousand dollars. They can cut back to give one free drink and raise prices. He does not think this is a complete document.

They moved into informal debate. E. Cortens agreed with C. Heckman. He doesn’t think of this as a final document. B. Heavner made an amendment to remove the survey from this budget and apply funding to the communications with the idea that they will remove the survey. T. Balcerski seconded.

They voted on the amendment. By a vote of 7–2−7 the amendment passed.

C. Heckman moved to close debate and vote. A. Sikora seconded. By a vote of 12–0−3, the budget passed.

3. Motion to Approve the Student Advocacy Resource List (G. Choko and B. Forster)

B. Forster explained the resolution. They moved to formal debate. No one opposed the motion. They moved into general discussion. N. Baran said she responded with a few things that did not make sense. She was wondering if that was incorporated. G. Choko said some things still needed to be fixed. B. Forster said that he will verify once more before it goes up. A friendly amendment was made.

E. Cortens made a motion to close debate. A. Sikora seconded. By a vote of 14–0−1, the resolution passed.

IV. Strategic Planning

1. University Assembly Charter Review (E. Cortens)

E. Cortens explained the changes. Deadline for feedback is September 15. M. Walsh said the UA had the same charter for 30 years. He explained aspects of the charter. B. Heavner asked if there were any specifications of UA grad student members. M. Walsh said that it is up to the GPSA though they are thought to be aiming for 2 year staggered terms. Any more comments can be discussed with Evan Cortens, Mike Walsh, and Ed Strong.

2. GPSA Charter Review Process and Committee (T. Balcerski)

T. Balcerski explained the charter review process. They won’t hold any meetings until after the next discussion meeting.

E. Cortens motioned to extend the meeting to 7:15 p.m. C. Clarke seconded. T. Balcerski finished explaining the process.

3. Communications Committee GPSA Achievements Page (S. An)

S. An thought it would be great for the website to have a list of what the current things people are working on and past things that have been worked on.

V. Good and Welfare

C. Mansfeldt asked people to check out the website. There is a dance party on Saturday.

VI. Open Forum

N. Evensen commented on the membership list. The SA was discussing sending email to students. Should the GPSA follow suit? The GPSA can already do this with weeks of advance notice.

VII. Adjournment

B. Forster motioned to adjourn at 7:04 p.m. A. Sikora seconded.

Respectfully submitted,

Brittany Rosen