Student Assembly

MINUTES
Cornell University Student Assembly
September 11, 2008
4:45 — 6:30 P.M.
Memorial Room, Willard Straight Hall

I. Call to Order

R. Lavin called the meeting to order at 4:47PM

II. Roll Call

Representatives Andrews, Basil, Craig, DeLencquesaing, Englemeyer, Heinz, Junewicz, Kumar, Latella, Lavin, McDermott, Mezey, Miller, Salem, and Stein were all present.

Representative Diakow and Representative Smith were excused.

Liaisons Diaz and Tata were also present.

III. Open Microphone

R. Lavin called for any audience members present to speak about items not on the agenda.

No one took the stand.

IV. Announcements/Reports

Appointment of Liasons

In accordance with Rule 20 which states:

Any college or constituency who lacks representation can have a liason and representative.

R. Lavin appointed CALS, LGBTQ, and AAP liaisons from the nominees for election of those three seats due to the fact that they’re all running unopposed. Octavio Sandoval was appointed CALS liaison, Eric Shannon was appointed LGBTQ liaison, and Nate Baker was appointed AAP liaison. R. Lavin called for any questions. C. Basil called for Acclimation. It was seconded. No dissent. Thus it was acclaimed.

Executive Board Announcement

C. Basil wanted to let everyone know that the executive board meetings are open to all of SA. They happen on Tuesdays. Anyone from SA who wishes to come is welcome.

Orientation Steering Committee Report — Andrew Heilmann

A. Heilmann, co-chair of the Orientation Steering Committee (OSC) was here to give an update on Orientation this year. There were 14 committee members overseeing 56 OS, 170 OLs, and around 3700 new students (freshmen and transfers) were oriented. He believed that Orientation went very well this year. Step Africa was part of Diversity Night and gave a lot of history to the new students. Bailey Hall was filled with students from every year. A. Heilmann remarked that he had never seen Bailey Hall that full. The first night, there was group Play Fair. It was a large scale interactive icebreaking game. There were about 3000 freshmen on the quad between Dixon and Court. By the end of the night there were still around 2000 there, which is an incredible retention rate. The last event of Orientation week was Cornell night. The new student voted upon ice cream was given out then, which helped give a sense of unity because all years were there sharing the ice cream, not just the new students. A. Heilman asked for any questions.

C. Basil asked about the troubles with the other co-chair.  Heilmann responded that the other co-chair had to be kicked off, but they didn’t change the name of his position due to the sense of unity with the rest of the Orientation team.  R. Lavin remarked that he was an OS this year and that SA gave the OSC  $76,000 and they put out an amazing orientation program.  He also remarked that the handling of the situation with the other co-chair was done very well.  A. Heilmann responded that the money and funding was a great help to them and helped make them successful, thanking the SA.  R. Lavin added that it was put in appendix b that one event had to be culturally focused.  There were no questions.

GPSA Update — Vince Andrews

V. Andrews reported on the first meeting of the GPSA. They are doing all of the beginning of the year things and are looking forward to working with SA on transient issues. The goal is to fill their seat. Through talking to their president and vice-president, one issue they want to change is their financial charter so they can co-sponsor events with the SA. As of now, on their end they can’t. They were wondering if the SA can do it on our end to do events together. R. Lavin answered that the SA can co-sponsor events. V. Andrews responded that the GPSA is looking to change their charter so they can as well. R. Lavin said that would be a good thing to explore with the Appropriations committee.

UA Undergraduate Chair Introduction & UA Update — Mark Fontana and Asa Craig

M. Fontana introduced himself as the vice-chair of UA. They pinpointed the issue of PeopleSoft. There has been a committee formed and they are discussing the issue with Susan Murphy. There is a survey to be distributed to the heads of departments and then one for the students. The faculty were also disappointed with the system. M. Fontana and A. Craig want to work as a united front on this issue. The only other issue was involving Academic Integrity which C. Basil is heading up. One interesting issue brought up by a new member, B. McKinley, was the beginning of an ad-hoc research committee to make Cornell a smoke-free campus. This was not done in UA business but mentioned afterwards. To be noted is the fact that this is not an attempt to make Cornell a smoke-free campus, but research about what would happen were it to be done. R. Lavin remarked that the Sustainability Initiative from Cornell is officially releasing the carbon footprint report. A team of administrators have been dealing with this to gather data and research on our carbon footprint. They will be joining the SA at some point to see where SA as a whole fits into the Initiative. R. Lavin asked for questions or comments. There were none.

Ivy Council Presentation — Alex Latella

A. Latella remarked that he became aware of a more professional presentation about fifteen minutes before arriving, and it has been emailed to the SA listserve. The Ivy Council is a student-led and directed organization from the eight Ivy League institutions, more generally, all but Harvard regularly attend the conference. There is a big collaboration between all the schools. Student government members discuss issues concerning student life. There are three main conferences. Each semester there is a semi-annual conference, then there is also an Ivy Leadership and an IvyCORPs conference. The semi-annual conference is held at a different school each semester. Last semester it was held here, and this semester, it will be held at Columbia. The goal is to discuss various issues across the Ivy League. Some issues on the agenda for this semester include sustainability, dining, and social events. Each agenda changes. The Ivy Leadership is a two day conference, usually in February that brings together business leaders, academic professionals, and political people. IvyCORP is a community service arm. It brings together faculty, students and community members. There was recently a special event, IvyCHINA, which took place between May and June. Student Government leaders travelled to Beijing and Shanghai to discuss issues and brought the Ivy League into perspective in China. This semester’s conference at Columbia occurs during the weekend of our fall break. It begins Friday evening with a welcoming session. Saturday has discussion sessions, each comes prepared for different things. Saturday night is a formal. Feel free to email A. Latella. A. Latella asked for any questions. It was asked how many people can attend. A. Latella responded that between 20 and 30 can go, as Columbia is accommodating for 200 total from all the schools. R. Salem asked if applications are needed to be filled out by SA. A. Latella responded that the applications will be sent out and that yes, the SA members do need to fill them out, too, if they wish to attend. G. Mezey asked about the cost for the individuals going. A. Latella has been told that it will be between 20 and 30 dollars. In the past it has been as much as 50–55 and a bus has been chartered. There is reimbursement. A. Craig asked if there was a bus this year. A. Latella responded that he can look into the numbers to see what could be done.

Elections Update — Mike McDermott

M. McDermott said that the petitions were checked and only one person was eliminated from running. Additionally, one person asked to be dropped from the ballot. There are 22 freshmen candidates and 3 transfer candidates. The candidate for CALS, LGBTQ, and AAP are running unopposed. There are also 6 UA candidates for two seats. Putting this in perspective with previous years, in 2005 there were 11 freshmen candidates, in 2006 there were 22 freshmen candidates, and in 2007 there were 12 freshmen candidates. This is a great year for numbers. There is a forum on Tuesday on North Campus which is on the election calendars. There were no questions.

Noise Ordinance Update — Ryan Lavin

R. Lavin said that right now the student body has to figure out where to focus their efforts The law itself makes students feel powerless to fight. It takes time, money, resources, and lawyers that the students don’t have at their disposal. However, the idea is to work with the police and their methodology of the enforcement: the city council, administrators, and Collegetown residents. The police officers will be there and the goal is to work with the students and the police to form a mutually beneficial agreement. R. Lavin will be going to the city council meeting (which occurs the first Wednesday of each month. They cut off your speaking time at exactly three minutes. The SA is inviting members such as the Mayor, the police chief, and city council members to come to an SA meeting. The official invitation to come is for three dates in October. SA is open to any help, and this is a good way for new members to understand how to tackle issues.

A. Craig asked if R. Lavin had a general perception of Ithacans ideas of the rule. R. Lavin replied that the perception is diverse with some thinking that it is unconstitutional, unfair, and not productive. Students do not feel comfortable. Some people have the bad generalized perception of Cornell students as rich kids who don’t care about anything else. A. Craig asked if there is any administrative support. R. Lavin said that it was brought up to President Skorton. Gary Stewart is on the students’ side and is willing to help get city officials to the meeting.

Vice-President Miller asked what progress, overall, does he see Cornell students making. R. Lavin responded that they are going to be focusing on working with the police so they understand the needs of the students in order for the citation system to be more fair. Right now, they are putting a financial burden on multiple students in one house. The first step is to create collaboration, first with the police, and then to work out the system.

Vice-President Mezey inquired about the time of the meeting and R. Lavin said that he would email out all of the information.

V. Andrews asked if it was the Ithaca police who were the subject of the conversation, and R. Lavin replied that it is.

L. Englemeyer asked if this is a new issue or a long standing one which just has gotten worse. R. Lavin responded that the ordinance was enacted in 2004. Since then it has been changed to 25 feet. There is no warning needed nor is a citizen call needed. This is a clear infringement upon individual rights, but this year at Orientation week, hundreds of citations were given out.

L. Englemeyer wanted to know if this is just the police cracking down or if students were legitimately getting louder. R. Lavin is unsure and that is one of the things which we hope to find out. We want to help understand. There is a new police chief and wants to know if that is the cause or if there is something else causing this.

L. Englemeyer wanted to know if R. Lavin was going to take a consitutional stand about the issue. R. Lavin replied that he was definitely going to touch upon it but was going to focus on the fact that they would like to work with the city officials and the Ithaca police in mutually beneficial way. It is a controversial issue.

As Cornellians, we are eligible to vote if we register in Ithaca. We are a constituency. There are two student members of the city council typically. There is presently one vacant seat, but we are represented. This law has been changed a lot, and can still be changed.

N. Junewicz wanted to know if they’ve considered doing service instead of being fined. R. Lavin brought up that this issue was brought up, but as the judicial campus code now has jurisdiction off campus, you can be JA’ed for a noise violation. Maybe if they’re more understandanding with their citations, we can say we’ll involve the university, but we’re not sure if they’re willing to do that.

R. Salem asked if the police can issue a JA. S. Tata responded that no, however the citation can be made in addition to getting JA’ed. This might suggest to be careful because of the push on one end and spring up on the other. It might increase the JA caseload which is a worry of the JA office.

Liason O. Sandoval wanted to know how we are educating the students and if we are informing them of this and suggests that we need to take a more aggressive stand in terms of students and what they’re entitled to do.

R. Salem wants to know if the citation is referred to the JA, is the citation nullified. S. Tata doesn’t know from the legal perspective, just the JA perspective and suggested that R. Lavin could bring it up.

R. Lavin concluded that this is a general update and more information will be available in the coming weeks.

V. Business of the Day

R.2 — Creation of an ad-hoc Academic Integrity Drafting Committee - Chris Basil

C. Basil wanted to ask if there were any comments or questions on the resolution. The committee could be as large as 10 or 20 people. A. Craig asked if there were applications to join. C. Basil replied that as long as the person is a student here, they are able to be on it. Representative Salem called to question, it was seconded without dissent.

The resolution was passed with 11–0−0.

R.4 Charter Change Review

R. Lavin said that this was started at the end of last semester but the entire document was not voted on for approval, so they are starting from scratch. This is an ongoing process which will be done in probably three or more meetings. The veterans are asked for their insight.

A. Craig asks if voting is today. R. Lavin says no, voting is at the end, and amendments can be made, as the whole thing has to be presented to President Skorton as well.

C. Basil wants it to be known that the problem last year was spending 20 minutes on each change, and to please, come forth with amendments as soon as they are thought of, so as to avoid wasting time with an amendment which will be amending multiple times.

R. Lavin said to motion to amend, not to call to question.

G. Mezey wants to know if it is being broken up by chapter. C. Basil replied that yes, they are going through it slowly together to look at each section. Generally, they want everyone to come from the committee to identify problems and come up with the solutions. More than half of this is new.

The first part to be looked at states that

“The Office of Assemblies shall provide administrative support to the assembly, as well as all committees or activities sponsored by the assembly” 

The only possible issue with this line was that the Office of the Assemblies needed to be okay with it.

A. Epstein said that the director wanted to clarify that the Office wasn’t told. They stag the assembly meetings and there is always a clerk, but they do not do committee meetings or minutes and room reservations for committees. As long as the SA is comfortable with that, that is the position.

Vice-President Mezey asked if they help facilitate the administrative duties of committee transactions if the funds are coming from the SA, and A. Epstein answered yes.

On page 2, there is a semantic change from a vague paragraph form to a concrete list form. There were no issues with that.

They eliminated SA formulation of the calendar but wanted to move it to an appendix.

G. Mezey motions to move this to next week in order for a more productive discussion. It was seconded and there was no dissent.

VI. Executive Session

VII. Adjournment

Respectfully Submitted,
Brittany Rosen