Dear Monet:

I am pleased to have an opportunity to respond to your email of February 12 enclosing GPSA Resolutions 7, 8 and 9. The GPSA has raised a number of weighty and complex issues. I will take each in turn.

Resolution 7: A Resolution to Amend the Bylaws Concerning GPSA External Committee Appointments reflects the careful and thoughtful administrative leadership demonstrated by the GPSA this year. I am supportive of the principles addressed in this resolution. Before I approve it, however, I am asking GPSA to correct two minor issues. First, on line 39 of the resolution, GPSA seeks to appoint two members to the Campus Planning Committee. My understanding, though, is that the charter of the Campus Planning Committee permits only one of the members at large to be a graduate/professional student. (The Transportation Hearing and Appeals Board in contrast has two slots for graduate/professional students.) I ask GPSA to resolve this issue either by amending the resolution or obtaining authorization from the Campus Planning Committee to appoint two members. Second, and a minor issue, line 36 should read “Family Life Advisory Board” rather than “Family Life Advisory.”

I am committed to the issues raised in Resolution 8: Cornell Investment and Divestment Strategies for a Sustainable Future. As I have expressed on several occasions, I believe that inequality and environmental sustainability are our most significant global challenges. I reiterated this in my response to the Faculty Senate’s Resolution on Cornell Investment and Divestment Strategies for a Sustainable Future passed in December 2013. My full response can be found at http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2014/02/skorton-responds-faculty-senate-call-divestment. I agree that this is an important topic and assure you that it is one which the Investment Office is considering carefully. As we move forward, we need always to consider the risk of any investment. We continue to look for opportunities in alternative energy/sustainable investments, an area of the portfolio which has grown to $71 million from $60 million a year ago. In addition, we are currently in discussions with our timber manager about the feasibility of setting aside a significant amount of acreage of timberlands for conservation. The Investment Office will continue to work with the Investment Committee and the Board of Trustees on this complex issue.

Cornell cares greatly about the well-being of all of its students, including its graduate students who receive various forms of financial aid to support their academic pursuits. Cornell provides a wide variety of medical and other benefits to its graduate students and takes seriously the concerns raised by the GPSA in Resolution 9. Cornell has always handled graduate student injuries on a case-by-case basis, often covering out-of-pocket medical costs, and for graduate students on assistantships and fellowships, providing stipend continuation and other support while the student is injured. I understand that you met recently with Dean Barbara Knuth and Craig McAllister and had received written responses prior to that meeting to questions you had raised, including Dean Knuth’s corrections to factual errors that appeared in Resolution 9. Dean Knuth has also convened a working group to report back to her by the end of this semester with recommendations for whether Cornell should adjust its practices for supporting injured graduate students. One of the important assignments for this working group will be to survey other private research institutions to learn and evaluate best practices regarding benefits for graduate students who are injured during their course of study. I will await the report of this working group before responding further to this resolution.

As we continue to work together on issues of importance to graduate/professional students and University leadership, I am confident that we can maintain a constructive dialogue. We share a common goal of creating a community in which all graduate and professional students can feel secure and confident pursuing their academic objectives. I look forward to our collective work.

Regards,

David Skorton