Student Assembly

Minutes — February 9th, 2012
Cornell University Student Assembly
4:45 — 6:30pm 626 Thurston Avenue

I. Call to Order / Roll Call

N. Raps called the meeting to order at 4:48pm.

WBVR will be present at every meeting — live streaming at cornellradio.com.

Present

S. Balik, G. Block, S. Breedon, D. Brown, A. Chopra, B. Francisco, A. Gitlin, R. Gitlin, D. Goldberg, M. Gulrajani, G. Hoffman, J. Mueller, D. Muir, A. Nicoletti, A. Pinkney, N. Raps, J. Rau, P. Scelfo, E. Szulman, N. Treffeisen, A. Wolford, E. Yeterian, A. Santangelo

Arrived late

A. Meller, A. Raveret

Absent and Excused

J. Kay, J. Lee

Absent

R. Desai, H. Pittell

II. Approval of the 02/02/12 Meeting Minutes

• Minutes approved

III. Open Microphone

• None

IV. Dr. Renee Alexander
Associate Dean of Students and Director of Intercultural Programs

• 626 Thurston Avenue was her project and it has been very successful — Student Affairs and Academic Services moved to this building last year and now it is strictly a student activities space: LGBTQ, Alumni and Mentor Programs, Peer to Peer Mentoring, SWAG, etc.
• Currently working on Student Development Diversity Initiative — working on building bridges between every group. Looking for student leaders in this initiative
• Will be working with the acronym STUC (Students to Unite Cornell) — looking for leaders from every community to build relationships across differences on campus
• D. Brown: Believes that upperclassmen should work on initiatives for freshmen and incoming students — is there a way to possibly incorporate this during orientation?
• Dr. Alexander: Currently working on diversity discussions for freshmen to continue after watching Tapestry of Possibilities
• A. Nicoletti: Conversations about race and ethnicity tend to be very harsh and many are not comfortable talking about those issues. How will you take this into account if you want everyone involved in the conversation?
• Dr. Alexander: Though race and ethnicity is a main topic, it is not the only one. There does not have to be a direct conversation — there are many ways to open a discussion
• Moseh Cho ‘15: As a freshmen, feels more comfortable with groups that specifically targeted the Asian community. If diversity initiatives are going on, what is to say that he will want to join instead of staying with Asian-centered clubs?
• Dr. Alexander: There will not be a club, but rather a gathering schedule throughout the semester. If something is happening that is important and compelling, people will show
• Sasha Mack: Everyone has connections to different organizations on campus and as student leaders, the SA should lead by example
• Hannah Geiser: Liaison between SA and IFC. Would like to work together on residential house programs on campus

V. Announcements / Reports

Library Update — Emily Cusick

• Student Library Council: planning on consolidating the ILR, Hotel School, and Johnson Management Libraries
• Physical texts of Physical Sciences and Engineering libraries has been moved off campus — everything is now online. Overall response has been positive
• There is a new way to get articles online — directly brings up an article in the search engine: Summon. library.cornell.edu/summon/about
• New library considerations for the NYC Tech Campus: There does not seem to be a need for physical collections, so a virtual library is in the process of being set up
• Also, there will be a general campaign for collections for the library — trying to raise money to maintain the collections

Outreach Announcement — Nathaniel Treffeisen

• Many events coming up: Feminism and Food for Thought, Friday Black Jew Dialogue, Shabbat 11, Drag Brunch, MLK Jr. Commemorative Lecture, etc.

Greek IFC Update — Hannah Geiser

• IFC Meeting passed a 20/5/5 rule: each house charged $20/member if they are found with alcohol, $5/member if freshmen are present at their events, and $5/members if the event is not approved
• Greek community policy on medical amnesty: if someone makes a call at a house, the house is covered. If the person who needs help is called for outside of the house, then the NY Good Samaritan Law will cover them

University Assembly Announcement — Emily Yeterian

• Faculty members of the University Assembly are concerned that funding will be concentrated on the NYC Tech Campus
• Response from the Provost: money from the Ithaca Campus will never go toward the NYC Campus — only the other way around

CALS Outreach Update — Gregory Hoffman, Sarah Balik

Apple Cider Event held last week in Mann Library — response was good. Plan one discussing some suggestions with the Dean

CJC Committee Update — Peter Scelfo

• CJC: Codes and Judicial Committee
• The Committee will be approving a proposal by a faculty members to amend the Judicial Administrator for sexual harassment cases

Women’s Issues Announcement — Dara Brown

• The first meeting will be held on Sunday — initiatives for the semester are to be discussed

Elections Update — A. Raveret

• Election materials are due on Monday, February 20th
• No campaigning until the Wednesday, the 22nd — there will be a mandatory campaign meeting that day

SA Blog Announcement — M. Gulrajani

• For everyone that spoke, please post on the SA blog every couple of weeks
• A. Gitlin: The blog is not just for people to read — sometimes Cornell Sun and other media pick up the articles

VI. Business of the Day

Resolution 36: Medical Amnesty Decal Distribution — John Mueller, Adam Gitlin

• The IFC unanimously passed a nearly identical resolution (requiring annexes to put up decals) in their previous meeting — first time the Greek community and the SA have collaborated in such a way
• Decals are stickers that should be stuck on glass — after a meeting with the Collegetown landlords earlier, they all took a stack of decals

D. Muir: How will the requirements of the IFC be reinforced?

• J. Mueller: That is the responsibility of the IFC board. It is okay if not every house puts up decals — any help will be positive and welcome
• A. Meller: Is there a plan to make larger decals?
• J. Mueller: Gannett Health Services is working on them. There are currently larger decals on the TCAT busses. Working on larger posters for larger wall spaces
• A. Meller: Would it possible to require the satellite houses to have posters?
• J. Mueller: Plan to wait and see how well the stickers are enforced, then another resolution can be worked on
• E. Yeterian: What other efforts are there to advertise this more? Is there an effort to target North Campus (mailboxes, dining halls, etc.)?
• J. Mueller: One of the issues has been that some relevant information can be placed on the decal. Plan to incorporate some more information in the larger posters
• M. Gulrajani: Plan to put quarter cards into all the North campus mailboxes
• G. Hoffman: Have dorms and sororities been targeted?
• A. Gitlin: Dorms are a bit more complicated since there is an on campus medical amnesty protocol that is not quite the same as the NY one. The campus protocol is currently being reviewed. Some sororities have been reached
• D. Brown: Suggests sending a campus wide email, now that the SA has the ability to do so
• J. Mueller: Off-Campus Housing Office has said that they have sent an email to all off-campus residents already
• J. Mueller: To emphasize, this resolution is specifically for private, off-campus residences
• Call to question, seconded
• Roll call vote: 22–0−0

• Resolution 36 passes

VII. New Business

Resolution 39: “Never Walk Alone” Smartphone App — Ross Gitlin, Ashley Pinkney

• Resolution exactly as it sounds — creation of a smartphone app for students to search for other students to walk with
• A. Bores: Good idea — are you reaching through CIT? Also, how to this prevent people from tracking students?
• R. Gitlin: One of the major concerns is how safe it is — unsure how to ensure safety
• N. Raps: Since there is no infrastructure, the resolution cannot be voted on. Once the technology is there and the process if farther along, then it can be voted on as a formal resolution.
• Resolution 39 tabled

Meeting adjourned at 6:18pm

Respectfully submitted,

Chelsea Cheng