Student Assembly

MINUTES
Cornell University Student Assembly
October 21, 2010
4:45pm — 6:30pm
Willard Straight Hall, Memorial Room

I. Call to Order

V. Andrews called the meeting to order at 4:4pm.

II. Roll Call

Representatives Present: Representatives Present: S. Agard, V. Andrews, A. Bajaj, G. Block, A. Brokman, M. Danzer, R. Desai, M. Finn, A. Gitlin, M. Gulrajani, C. Jenkins, J. Kay, D. Kuhr, T. Lenardo, R. Mensah, A. Nicoletti, S. Pendleton, A. Pruce, N. Raps, U. Smith, A. Yozwiak

Representative Absent Excused: J. Rau

Representative Absent Unexcused: C. Feng

III. Approval of Minutes

• October 14th, 2010

A. Bajaj made a correction that his absence should be marked as excused. The minutes were moved and approved by acclamation

IV. Open Microphone�Ray Mensah

No one came forward.

V. Announcements/Reports

1. Faculty Library Committee Update — Emily Cusick

E. Cusick said the libraries are reviewing the locations of the defibrillators on campus in the wake of the incident where a student fainted in the Kroch Library. There is also a collaboration project with Columbia with a joint hire.

V. Andrews asked if there will be more ways to connect to the police from Kroch. E. Cusick said there is already an emergency line down there.

2. Women’s Resource Center Report — Adam Nicoletti

A. Nicoletti said we heard from this group on Monday. Everything went pretty well and the group is having some helpful events and activities.

3. Cornell Caring Community Celebration — Jennifer Kay

J. Kay said the celebration will take place on Nov. 11 during the SA meeting for student groups to get involved.

M. Danzer asked if this is in place of the usual SA meeting? J. Kay said yes.

4. JAMIC Update — Roneal Desai

R. Desai reported that for the selection of the new vice provost, JAMIC is interested to add another student to the selection committee. JAMIC also worked on the committee resolution approval process. The discussion was tabled until next meeting. JAMIC is also working on community outreach from the minority perspective on mental health issues.

M. Gulrajani said SAORC will meet for the 3rd time this Sunday. We went through production and elections and reviewed 2 organizations with internal elections.

A. Yozwiak said he talked with Dean of Engineering about advising. The Dean offered an alternative way for advising, which would have faculty interest groups where students who want to apply to grad schools can go to a faculty member and get answers. They also discussed the mental health issue, and as a community we need to get over the uncomfortable nature of talking about suicide. They also talked about Resolution 24 to open up all minors.

M. Danzer commented that there are efforts from Gannett to make professors more comfortable about talking about suicide.

V. Andrews talked about the SAFC review process. The committee decided to advance 3 proposals, which will be forwarded to every officer of SAFC funded groups. The late night programming sub-committee discussed how to bring campus together.

VI. Unfinished Business

1. Resolution 24 — Opening Up Academic Minors to All

G. Block said he is not looking to have this voted on today because the resolution needs more research.

D. Kuhr asked about the relevant costs. G. Block said the colleges already pay for students to take classes in other colleges. Getting a minor is no different.

S. Agard asked if this would increase costs by having a lot more people taking classes out of their colleges. G. Block said people were going to do it anyway, 1 or 2 more classes shouldn’t have too much effects. Also, costs shouldn’t come into it.

U. Smith noted that minors require more than just taking classes. Some require people to events. etc.

M. Danzer said the costs should even out when students in all the colleges take classes outside of their colleges.

R. Desai said we need to talk to administrators. He asked why is it important to go from an unofficial minor to something printed on the diploma? G. Block said this increases visibility.

A. Nicoletti said an increased number of people would want to take a certain group of classes and the class size may not be able to change. Since the majors and minors must take those required classes, then only a selective number of people outside the college will be able to take it and those who want to take the class not for a minor will not get in.

A. Gitlin agreed that some majors already have fierce competition for some core classes. Opening up those classes for minors would make them more competitive to get into.

R. Mensah made a motion to postpone the resolution. S. Agard seconded. No dissent. There was a call for acclamation. No dissent. The resolution was postponed.

2. Resolution 25 — Mandating Soap in Dorm Bathrooms

G. Block said the bathrooms need soap to make sure people wash their hands properly. R. Desai and A. Pruce supported the resolution.

U. Smith amended to make sure the soap dispenser is checked and refilled regardless of the current level. M. Finn said that could be wasteful.

A. Bajaj amended the amendment to say the soap dispenser is checked and refilled on a cleaning schedule that ensures the continued presence of soap throughout the week.

M. Danzer moved for acclamation. No dissent. The amendment was passed.

M. Danzer called for acclamation. No dissent. The resolution was passed.

A. Nicoletti made a motion to move R. 28, 29, 30, and 31 to Business of the Day. He called for acclamation. S. Agard seconded. No dissent. The motion was approved

VII. New Business

1. Resolution 26 — Clarification of Designated At-Large Seats

M. Danzer said this is a charter amendment passed last year but it fell through the cracks. Currently there are 4 designated seats for under-represented populations (2 minority, 1 LGBTQ and 1 international), but they can be removed by majority vote. This resolution would move them to be a part of the charter and any seat in the charter can only be removed by 2/3 vote to change the charter. Since this is New Business, it cannot be voted on this week.

2. Resolution 27 — Creation of the Greek-LGBTQ Relations Ad-Hoc Committee

M. Danzer said the two communities have overlap and given the recent tragedies involving the LGBTQ community and the discussion about the Greek community, this is the perfect opportunity to start a conversation between the two communities. This committee will give familiarity between the groups.

U. Smith asked why do we need to establish a new committee and not go to the existing committees? M. Danzer said the bigger committees have more focuses and wouldn’t be as effective.

E. Cusick asked if the committee would have any non-voting members. M. Danzer said yes, we want to keep the committee open to the public.

E. Cusick said this is probably not the most urgent issue for the Greek community. How do you propose to create some buy-in? M. Danzer said most houses have at least 1 LGBTQ member. It is also an incentive to make houses more welcoming.

E. Cusick asked if he has talked to OSFA? They may have more funding and more resources. M. Danzer said not yet, but he plans to.

M. Finn said this was presented at JAMIC but we needed more clarification so we tabled this until the next meeting. What was the source that this stemmed from and what concrete goals does the ad-hoc committee have? Someone from Tri-Council should be here to support this.

M. Danzer said this stemmed from the unspoken conflict between the two communities. The committee will find the issues and come up with solutions and achieve informal decisions that can be voted in the Tri-council, HAVEN, or some of the other committees.

VIII. Business of the Day

1. Resolution 28 — Fall 2010 SAFC Appeals — SAFE

A. Nicoletti said the committee ruled the SAFC did not err. The group was not responsive. SAFC does not fund for costumes and the group did not have proper quote documentation.

R. Desai called to question. It was seconded. There was a hand vote.

By a vote of 18–0−1, the resolution was passed.

2. Resolution 29 — Fall 2010 SAFC Appeals — The Chordials

A. Nicoletti said the committee felt the SAFC did err in terms of the spending on intellectual property so they gave the group the funding.

R. Desai called to question. It was seconded. There was a hand vote.

By a vote of 18–0−1, the resolution was passed.

3. Resolution 30 — Fall 2010 SAFC Appeals — Recreational Tennis

A. Nicoletti said the club needs membership at a local club to practice. The club applied for this under durable goods and this was a gray area. SAFC felt the guideline was not very clear so they decided to give the group the funding.

S. Agard called to question. It was seconded. No dissent. There was a hand vote.

By a vote of 19–0−0, the resolution passed

4. Resolution 31 — Fall 2010 SAFC Appeals — SAGE

The committee felt the SAFC did not err because the group did not provide proper price quote documentation.

M. Finn called to question. M. Danzer seconded. There was a hand vote.

By a vote of 19–0−0, the resolution passed.

IX. Adjournment

V. Andrews adjourned the meeting at 6:11 pm.