MINUTES
Cornell University Student Assembly
October 22, 2009
4:45 — 6:30pm
Memorial Room, Willard Straight Hall

I. Call to Order

R. Salem called the meeting to order at 4:46pm.

II. Roll Call

Voting Members Present: I. Akinpelu, V. Andrews, C. Basil, C. DeLencquesaing, M. Danzer, M. DeLucia, A. Gitlin, Z. Glasser, N. Junewicz, N. Kumar, A. Latella, J. Min, A. Nicoletti, G. Phillips, J. Rau, A. Raveret, R. Salem, U. Smith, K. Welch, H. Yang

Voting Members � Excused: N. Raps

Voting Members Excused Absent: R. Desai

Voting Members Unexcused: O. Williams

Non-Voting Members Present: A. Cowen

Non-Voting Members Absent: P. Eliasinski, A. Flye

III. Open Microphone

Daryn Lamar Jones and Imani Day from ALANA came to speak. The reason they’re here is because of the way the ALANA funding hearing went. It wasn’t optimal and was handled inappropriately. Since the backlash, they have been speaking with a lot of people, they have heard and recognized that it was handled inappropriately. They thanked them for realizing that. ALANA understands their point of view in that asking to make it an independent organization is a big step. They do understand why they would like more planning and more detailed. They are coming with a plan and would like to request a meeting. He is here to thank them for acknowledging what went wrong and they want to move forward to request a meeting.

VP Basil said that they are trying to get together a meeting with the SA executiveboard. He will email the rest, especially those in the Appropriations Committee. VP Kumar wanted to say thank you for being constructive. Hopefully they can find good solution. He also thanked VP Basil and President Salem for their leadership.

Emily Cusick came in to speak, she is part of a committee which meets 2 to 3 times per semester. They discussed the new library catalog, Worldcat, Cornell open access publication fund, and strategic planning for the future. The head librarian sent a report to the provost. Her recommendations were:
Exempting the materials budget from being cut; making the library a multi-institutional entity; having a digital infrastructure for digital archives; consolidate IT taskforce; cut back on amount of libraries.
The other thing they discussed was the Olin Library renovation. Currently, it doesn’t pass building codes. They’re looking to trustees to say yes to a 1.9 million dollar planning package to make sure it passes life and safety guidelines.
VP Basil said that while sitting in Libe Cafe yesterday, he had been commenting on ills the library system hands out. His pet peeve is that in Olin they have three categories of computers: full access, internet only, and catalogue only. Why can’t we put MS Word on all the computers? Emily said she would bring that up at the next meeting. For any questions, her email is: EGC43@cornell.edu

IV. Approval of Minutes

Pending changes discussed, the Minutes from the previous meeting were approved.

V. Announcements/Reports

Moment of Silence in Honor of Boon Jim Lim ‘13

There was a moment of silence to remember Boon Jim Lim.

Gannett Update�Janet Corson-Rikert, Executive Director of Gannett Health Services

J. Corson-Rikert started off by thanking all present and Tim Marshell. The number of flu cases have started to go up again to about 30 cases a day. Many students are not coming in. She wanted to know if they had thoughts on how to reach the student body again. They have gotten through one wave, with great loss. Gannett would like to see no tragic outcome during this wave. Probably 8–10% of the student population have been sick. Most pandemics have a 20–40% attack rate. There is lots of room of people to get sick. They have not reached the period of the worst of the flu. They are anticipating that worse outbreaks are ahead, unless we intervene in the form of vaccination. Vaccination is critical in the community. There are 30–45% of people with no underlying condition and underlying results. A majority of people had mild illness, but individual people who are more susceptible get sick dramatically and seriously. They are asking for help. They are confident of the vaccine. The H1N1 vaccine is made the same way as the seasonal flu vaccine. The scientists get together to figure out what is the biggest. They are not any more risks than seasonal vaccine. It seems to be very safe. They feel strongly about spreading the word.

M. Danzer thanked her for coming. He wanted to know more about the vaccination plan. Things could get much worse. What is the Gannett/Cornell worst case scenario? J. Corson-Rikert said that it is hard to make because we don’t know vaccine we’re getting. They are trying to target at risk students first. Everyone with underlying health conditions is getting a secure message letting people know about the vaccine. They are doing as they have vaccine. It is an anomaly that we got some doses of H1N1 flu-mist, some injectible. Although high-risk students are the targets, they can’t get flu-mist. They will be opening H1N1 flumist to non-high risk students. Some vaccines will go to high-risk employees. To go forward, an interdisciplinary team, is going through the process of de-briefing. Contingency planning for the event that the next phase is worse. They are thinking of ways to further boost staff. Possibly stopping non-flu care. If they think students are sick enough to be observed, they would try to put sick people in one place together. Last is it’s possible that if it mutates to come more severe, the CDC will change recommendations to suggest more social distancing.

A. Gitlin said that in his opinion, a large contributor of the increase is the students letting their guards’ down because they think the worst is over. It would help to make the pandemic more visible. Ganett thought that it would be helpful to have a conversation about what form the message should go through. R. Salem thought that the “got soap” t-shirts were a wonderful idea. If anyone comes up with ideas, let him know The easiest Gannet contact would be Tim Marshell.

R. Salem noted that the Community Clause isn’t implemented until President Skorton signs off on it.

Students Helping Students Fund�Idris Akinpelu

There is an emergency fund for any undergrad to apply for if some expense comes out of the normal realm of financial aid. For example, a death in the family. They are trying to give this more visibility. They have applications at the financial aid office or email him at ioa2@cornell.edu.

R. Salem said that when he was chair of JFARC last year, visibility was a tricky issue. They want students to know about it, but there were a few fraud incidents. There has to be a balance between informing administrators and faculty members as opposed to fraudulent incidences. I. Akinpelu said that this will be mainly to administrators and they wanted to make sure the SA knows.

Strategic Planning�Chris Basil

He wanted to let them know, he’ll be sitting in on a working group as part of strategic planning. It will be him, a graduate student, and faculty administrators. He will try to make periodic updates. The first meeting is tomorrow.

Office Hours - Rammy Salem

His office hours are Saturday at Libe Caf� at 12:30.

Into the Streets - Rammy Salem

It occurs Saturday, Oct 31. They still have four open spots. They’ve ordered t-shirts.

Dining Update - Alex Latella

Next week, the Ivy Room is having its formal grand opening. There will be free give aways, raffles, blu-ray player, a camera. They are trying to get a lot of support.

Communications Committee Update — VP Andrews

They have a website, a profile typed up. There is a meeting at 6:30 with a potential student to run the website. Next week is an attempt to get PR campaign banners up. It will depend on how long it takes to get the UUP form approved. Also, he is going to start soliciting articles for the newsletter after this meeting. If you had housing issues, community clause, send him articles by next Wednesday. He is trying to get it out by the 1st week of November. Next meeting is next Wednesday.

Environmental Committee — Adam Ravaret

They had a committee meeting last Tuesday at 8. They’ve been working on a lot of things; they saw the arts quad classrooms still lit up at night. He is working on a resolution, working on changing the recycling system on North Campus. There have also heating problems on campus. If you saw on the Arts Quad, Cornell was awarded a 2009 tree campus USA University, so they were giving us 50 trees that were planted around the university today. He is having elections for positions next week, let him know.

Appropriations Committee Allocations - Chris Basil

EARS

It is part of a national organization. They staff dozens of students as counselors. They are requesting and were recommended at $1.25 at Appropriations Committee. Overall, they were very satisfied with EARS’ work. Questions about the fact that 50% of budget is on publicity, but committee members thought this was useful. They had concerns about EARS paying speaker honorariums to the Cornell staff members. SAFC has strict guidelines that no Cornell staff member can receive money, but activity fee doesn’t. They encouraged EARS to cut that in the future.
There was a call for acclimation. It was seconded with no dissent.

SAFC Appeals

There is some ambiguity in terms of rules. He had given groups the options to accept, so they weren’t automatically reheard. Like with byline-funded groups, they encourage questions to be considered, motion to table and discuss next Thursday

Club Baseball

Recommended with a vote of 5–2−1 at $3,263 for fall. Both Club Baseball and Hearsay missed the deadline for supporting documentation, but did make sincere attempts to rectify and turn in forms. Appropriations Committee chose to recognize this effort and that if Club Baseball isn’t funded, they can’t practice or compete. Baseball requested $5,608 and their original allocation is zero dollars.

N. Kumar called for acclimation. There was a second and no dissent. This was accepted.

Hearsay A Capella

They had the same issue as club baseball. They requested funds to hold their annual fall concert and for practice room reservations for practice space. Appropriations Committee funded them at $2,025 to fund the fall concert but chose not to fund room reservations for practice. They are operating under assumption that only fund for items that were ABSOLUTELY necessary. They felt that Hearsay had a binding commitment to Call Auditorium that made it a necessity. They way that the SAFC guidelines are written for both appropriations committee and assembly, the assembly’s only written responsibility is to interject when SAFC has erred in interpreting their own rules.

M. Danzer asked for the initial requests for Hearsay. VP Basil said that $2,475 was the overall request, $450 of which was for the room reservation for rehearsals. They didn’t fund for those. SAFC funded for 0 because of no documentation.

There was a motion for acclimation. It was seconded with no dissent. This was accepted.

Club Gymnastics

Their only request is $3,000 dollars including a room reservation and coach fee. They go to a gym in downtown Ithaca. They were denied because they didn’t provide documentation for gym reservation. As you can see in rationale, multiple groups this semester using the same gym and these standards weren’t applied to them, and haven’t been required in past situations. SAFC erred in past, but chose not to penalize group in this semester, but encouraged groups to fix in future.

N. Kumar called for acclimation. There was a second and no dissent. The allocation was accepted.

InteMed

They appealed to the appropriations committee. They were denied by a vote of 8–0. They were requesting 380 dollars to have a networking event at Lynah. They were denied under grounds that it was a social event. The appropriations committee concurred.

VP Andrews called for acclimation. It was seconded with no dissent. The allocation was accepted.

SAFE

They all have a copy of the appeal application. It includes the original budget packet as well as appeal application. Last page can see overall summary for original requests and appeals. Byline funding is a big process every 2 years and they fund about 30 organizations, one of which is the SAFC. The SAFC gets around 79 dollars, of Student Activity fee money for 350 organizations. They allocated money through SAFC guidelines. They have strict objective guidelines. The role of SAFC is to prevent fraud, embezzlement and promote objectivity.

There were 2 issues that the appropriations committee considered. They requested money for the fall semester for the arts quad display about sexual health facts. That was listed as local events for 2 displays. Rules cap publicity at 20 dollars. It should’ve been under durable goods. Appropriations committee voted 7–0−1 to fully fund SAFE for fall semester for the arts quad displays. The committee did not believe SAFC erred in denying them 800 dollars for safe sex supplies under the grounds that they are personal use they do not fund for.

Yuliya said that they overlooked that appeal given that they concentrated on more controversial, for condoms, dental dams, and lube. They do have a durable goods clause. Section 9.5 on page 34 explains durable goods. The new clause is that we allow for goods that are able to exist without significant deterioration OR necessary for a group’s purpose. They also have prohibited expenses: they do not fund for personal use or giveaways. This duplicates functionality and service provided by Gannett. SAFC does not fund for items meant for personalized use, any giveaway is one person, which is why they could not fund.

VI. Business of the Day

Appropriations Committee Appeal�Lisa Opdycke ‘11 et al.

SAFE — Lisa Opdycke class of 2011, Yunji Choi 2011, and May 2011.
Lisa said that it is not a duplicated resource considering the fact that they said the items could “potentially” be gotten from Gannett or Planned Parenthood. A lot of people are not comfortable going there. She knows several students who have not stepped foot into Gannett. In addition, they are doing something different than Gannett. They are directly putting into hands of students so they CAN be used. Planned parenthood is not free and unreasonable to expect students to travel to obtain. With regard to personal use and giveaways, SAFC does fund art supplies for personal use to create art, essential to purpose, as providing sexual supplies is for them.

They are asking for 1 cent per item, which is less than quarter cards cost. She would argue that quarter cards are definition of give-away. It is a low cost high benefit opportunity. They are not simply handing to students. They are demonstrating. Use to demonstrate as educational tools, not personal use. As a sex health group, they are essential for mission. She has 26 pages of student names and IDs saying it is essential.

N. Raps, the chair for women’s issues committee was asked to talk about and to rethink decision of SAFC. She wanted to touch on points Lisa brought up. They are promoting personal health, know that when they decide if they should give money, make sure it helps all students as it’s part of OUR money. Personal health should be involved in every student. It’s not personal use to prevent STDs to spread to numerous students. It is their job to help not only politically and socially but also to increase health and health awareness. This is more safety issues than enjoyment and pleasure. Not just Gannett saying to you. Something peers are telling you.

M. Danzer wanted to ask SAFC questions. Seems like two main reasons for denying use and giveaway. He knows many people in his constituency and in general who don’t feel comfortable walking into Gannett, especially with the current swine flu outbreak. Having students willing to do this, is a great service for university. Yuliya agrees, but it is not the role of SAFC. As SA they do have ability to change guidelines, but as they stand now, everything that you said is fine, appropriations committee can deal with that. The problem is that the SAFC funds over 350 student organizations and allowing them to receive funds isn’t applicable to SAFC and what they stand for. The importance of safe sex is important to them, but guidelines are strict in what they fund. Appropriations committee does fund groups like EARS that are important for the entire student body. They are objective in terms of how they affect people. Sexual health is important but is not a guideline they look at. Objective guidelines they are aware of. This does not mean they should be looked at differently. It will effect how it looks. If SA feels it is important, there should be an appropriations committee venue for doing this. It is not the role of SAFC but doesn’t feel they should be ashamed.

J Min was there as the appeal was being discussed. He was one of the members on SAFC who mentioned Planned Parenthood. It is not as if they expect students to go there, it was a suggestion to collaborate with those organizations. He is in an organization himself that went to Planned Parenthood and they provided things for them. There are a lot more alternatives. This is personal use. The main thing is to allocation the Student Activity fee as effectively as possible. The main reason why clause is there is that they don’t want to use general fees to pay for random shirts. Consistently used year after year. Something like condoms is personalized use. One instance. And if main purpose is to support safe sex, would be in favor of diagrams and posters. It is not the purpose of the organization to fund for condoms. Lisa wanted to state that as they said in appeal, they are getting items through working with Planned Parenthood. Gannett cut over a million dollars and had to fight to keep condoms they give. SA funds personal travel. Think that is a huge “personal expense.”

N. Junewicz wanted them to explain events and how they educate people. Lisa said that the main thing with condoms is that they have a penis model. Demonstrate how to put on condoms. Distributions on ho plaza. They have a Collegetown bar project. They put small containers in Collegetown bars. They are asking for more than condoms. Asking for dental dams. Not funding them is sexist and heteronormative.

K Welch would argue that condoms and dental dams seem pivotal to group’s mission. It is beyond her how to not fund because its education. Yuliya said that they would fund a number for demonstrations. Can argue a multitude are essential but on one that are prohibited, cannot fund for that. They aren’t saying they shouldn’t get given money by special projects or Gannett. They are saying that as SAFC cannot fund because it opens up a whole Pandora’s box of personal use. Charlie Feng knows there are several kinds of organizations promoting sexual awareness. Understand from perspective that they require to do demonstrations. He would be fine with funding demonstrations, central problem they have is that when you request 4,000 condoms, it is clear that you aren’t going to have 4,000 demonstrations. You can say it’s related, but his point is that if this is essential, in theory, all others shouldn’t be in existence and they haven’t been funded for that.

VP Basil called to question. There was a second. There was dissent. By hand vote, the vote to vote was 13 — 7 not 2/3 majority and they thus continue discussion.

N. Kumar asked if these items were funded in the past. They were not.

A. Nicoletti said that his thoughts, he thinks they’re readily available and like J. Min said, posters and permanent items would be more efficient as well as quarter cards and ad supplies can get them. However, how much do you think dental dams are? The price is the same as condoms. A. Nicoletti said that his feeling are that they should get SAFC funding for THAT. He made a motion to disapprove. It was seconded VP Basil said that it has to pass by 2/3 vote. app comm. Decision stands. Yuliya had a point of clarification. This is an ongoing issue that is a real problem. It would be great for a one-time decision, is this something she has to look forward to every semester or is there an SA fund they can designate for special projects. How do you reach a sustainable decision to not overflow the system? VP Basil said they do have special projects. That said, the SA byline funding allocation is for SA functions, committees, admin, etc. SA budget has to be approved by each assembly each year. Doesn’t make it more sustainable. It is also problematic to allocate money via Student Activity Fee process to SAFC funded group to SA. It’s a conflict of interest, because why SAFE and not SHAG. As he’s thinking through, SA isn’t sustainable. Lisa noted that they could not go through Gannett to solve because they don’t have money.

A vote of yes disapproves the appropriations committee and then the allocation is re-considered. A vote of no is saying that SAFE still is funded at their fee.

By a roll call vote of 6–14–0, the Appropriations Committee decision stands.

VP Basil thanked Yuliya and Charlie, the SAFC, Terry and Ari for their help.

VII. New Business

R. 16- Expanding Membership of Committees�Mike De Lucia ‘12

At the beginning of the year, they voted to expand committees, but kept a certain number on size. With the recent passing of the Community Clause, it seems that the SA wants more student involvement. He proposed to take the cap off of all non-operational committees and put in clauses so everyone who wants to get involved has opportunity. The people would apply, the VP of Internal Operations brings it to the committee to have them added. Just at least clauses and how additional students will be added.

A. Cowen said that in 7.8.8.2 why did he strike how committee chairs are selected. That was a mistake.

N. Kumar said that it can be voted on internally.

J. Rau said asked what it meant under 7.5.a for dining and 7.5.a.2. M. De Lucia said that it means the Chair has the decision.

R. 17- Clarification of Executive Committee membership and executive session — N. Kumar and A. Cowen

The purpose is for clarification. In past, the Director of Elections, the parliamentarian, and the Executive Vice President were part of the exec committee. This resolution makes sense. It is mirrored in second strike out and insertion to specify. Was resolution to change it.

VP Basil said that changes are good, especially keeping standards for exec session. Still prevent liaisons. A. Cowen said that committee members could be invited. VP Basil asked why not make liaisons automatically allowed. A. Cowen said that essentially, the exec committee is exec session. As liaisons are not represented in exec committee, he thought not existing meant by default they shouldn’t necessarily be given invitation.

VIII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 6:24 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Brittany Rosen