Student Assembly

Minutes — October 25, 2012
Cornell University Student Assembly
4:45pm — 6:30pm, Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room

I. Call to Order/Roll Cal

A. Gitlin called the meeting to order at 4:45pm

Members present

S. Balik, J. Batista, G. Block, E. Bonatti, G. Braiak, S. Breedon, I. Chen, M. Cho, A. Chopra, R. Desai, A. Gitlin, R. Gitlin, T. Hittinger, D. Iwaoka, D. Kuhr, J. Lee, M. Lukasiewicz, J. Mueller, C. Pritchett, P. Scelfo, U. Smith, M. Stefanko, N. Terrones

Members tardy

I. Harris, T. Lovely, D. Muir

Members unexcused

J. Marshall

II. Approval of the 10/18/12 Minutes

• Minutes approved by unanimous consent

III. Open Microphone

• Sarah Loftus ‘13 and Kristina Chyn ‘14 — President and Co-Vice President of Society for Natural Resources Conservation
  • Planning to start a plastic bag tax staring in March 2013
  • Dining is on board (Bear Necessities and Jansen’s already agreed)
  • Wondering if SA can draft a resolution to max the tax more official

IV. Announcements/Reports

Teach for America Announcement — J. Mueller

• Another event coming up in November
• If interested in participating, he will help get you in contact with the Cornell rep as well as student reps

Elections Update — J. Weinberg

• They are in the process of brainstorming election rules for the Spring
• Would love input from SA members as they have gone through the process

Outreach Update — R. Gitlin

• Reminds SA members t hold their required outreach events

Safety Survey Announcement — A. Chopra

• Have gotten all the input they need for the survey — in the process of finalization and it will be sent out soon
• Will be walking around campus tonight to survey which areas are in need of more lighting

AAP Announcement — U. Smith

• AAP Outreach event held Tuesday — Coffee Hour: Imagine a Place
• Over 200 people in attendance and over 70 comment cards filled out — many ideas/topics to discuss with the Dean at their next meeting
• R. Desai: The comment cards are amazing — encourages members to talk to Ulysses to see how they can hold events similar to his

Appropriations Committee Announcement — R. Desai

• Will see Outdoor Odyssey next Monday

Sexual Assault Initiatives Announcement — J. Batista

• She and S. Breedon are familiarizing themselves with the resources at Gannett

Illuminate the Night Announcement — A. Gitlin

• Thanks members who attended and helped out at the event, especially N. Terrones and U. Smith for speaking
• Passes on thanks from President Skorton

Presentation Announcement - J. Mueller

• Tim Marchell will be giving a presentation next week on student health and their initiatives (Director of Mental Health at Gannett)
• John Keefe will present next week on the progress of the bridges — Stone Arch Bridge will hopefully be completed by next week (Project Manager)

SAFC Announcement — A. Gitlin

• SAFC Applications are now available — 2 questions and a resume
• SAFC liaison C. Pritchett will send out a link — asks that members send it to all their listservs
• Deadline is next Thursday

V. Business of the Day

Appropriations Committee Report — CRP — R. Desai

• Provides NY Times and USA Today on campus
• Recently began providing NY Times online to students
• Appropriations Committee felt that CRP should move their distribution areas to more public places on campus

Appropriations Committee Report — CU Tonight — R. Desai

• CU Tonight provides funding for late-night programming. Requires events to be held after 8:00pm and to have minimum 250 attendance
• Committee felt that CU Tonight should outline their goals more clearly
• Committee suggested finding a stricter way of tracking attendance
• Committee encourages CU Tonight to provide incentive for co-group sponsorship and for large events that will attract large groups

Resolution 13: Renaming of the Financial Aid Review Committee — D. Kuhr

• Major changes: elimination of the GPSA seat, and instead of 2 SA members plus the chair, reduced to 1 SA members plus the chair
• Motions to amend: After the first sentence of the last clause, add “It shall also be responsible for the administration of the Student Helping Students grant
• U. Smith: Is it possible to remove/change the 10-member cap?
  • Would not feel comfortable doing so due to the sensitivity of the topics discussed
• Call to question, seconded
  • Vote: 24–0−0
• Resolution 13 passes

Resolution 15: In Support of a Green Revolving Fund — Jacob Reisch, J. Lee, J. Msrahll, S. Balik, G. Braciak, N. Terrones, A. Chopra, E. Bonatti, I. Chen, C. Pritchett, T. Lovely

• D. Kuhr: points out that the resolution should be a Recommendation, not Legislation
• Looking for student support — Green Revolving Fund is in place in a lot of universities already — average 29% return on investment
• D. Kuhr: Cautious — not under SA’s purview to deal with University finance. Administration tends to pass over resolutions like this — suggests that a petition might be a better way to go
• U. Smith: While SA passes many things not under its purview, it does show that students are interested and committed to those issues. While the project is a great idea, the University is wary with its spending and the return amount might not be large enough for the Administration to jump at
• G. Block: SA doesn’t have a say in how the University spends its endowment. If the project is so good, why hasn’t the University looked into already? How will SA support help accomplish this project?
  • The investment will come from multiple sources of funding
  • Many funds have been created because student support has helped push it through Administration
• M. Stefanko: Motion to amend the final clause to change the final clause to “seeded by the University”
  • R. Desai: Dissent — has a better amendment in mind
  • M. Stefanko: withdraws his motion
• R. Desai: Motion to amend: remove the last Whereas clause and amend the Be it therefore resolved clause to read: “that the SA strongly supports a Cornell University Green Revolving Fund to be funded by the operating budget, administrative budget, the endowment, cash reserves, or the Energy Conservation Initiative and be seeded by the endowment”
  • Call to question, seconded
    • Vote: 24–0−1
    • Amendment passes
• I. Harris: There are multiple kinds of green revolving funds — which are you pushing for? Would you be open to other options?
  • Currently pushing for the hybrid fund but open to whatever the Administration wants
• C. Pritchett: What other tactics are you using to supplement the resolution?
  • There is an online petition, Energy Core student group is actively pushing it forward, Administration is willing to help — they just mentioned that they want to see more student support
• Call to question, seconded
  • Vote: 24–1−0
• Resolution 15 passes

Resolution 18: Improving Student Assembly Voting Procedures — G. Block, A. Bores, D. Muir

• Tabled until the next meeting

V. Business of the Day

Resolution 20: Calling for the Hire of an Associate Dean of L.G.B.T.Q. Outreach — D. Iwaoka, Emily Bick, R. Desai, U. Smith, R. Gitlin

• Haven Exec board has been asking for this position for 4 years now — a resolution similar to this was passed two years ago but nothing happened — submitting it again
• 5 years ago, there were 3 positions open at the LGBT Resource Center which was cut down to 1 — Matthew Carcella currently in that position
• Haven is the only byline funded organization that doesn’t have a full time advisor — currently they are handling everything on their own which is extremely impressive
• Matthew Carcella is running the LGBT Resource Center and does not have the time needed to commit to being Haven’s advisor — reason why they are seeking someone to fill the position
• M. Lukasiewicz: What was the response to the old resolution? Have you considered adding more explicit information about the search committee in the Be it resolved clauses?
  • Never received a response
  • Did not want to micromanage the process
• M. Cho: How is this resolution different than the old one?
  • Haven wasn’t as developed back then and the SA now has a stronger relationship with Haven — can provide a more meaningful push
• A. Santangelo: Where will funding for this position come from and how does it compare to other organizations?
  • Staff members, with a couple exception, are not funded by byline funding
• C. Pritchett: Is it reasonable to expect this position to be filled?
  • Since the last resolution, Cornell has created a new office, a new Provost, and a new Associate Dean, and it is currently in search for another Associate Dean. Believes this is a good time to fill this position as well
• Motion to move to Business of the Day, seconded, dissent expressed
  • P. Scelfo: SA needs to take their time on deliberation of Resolutions and not rush to pass them
  • Vote to move to Business of the Day: 16–7−2
  • Moved to Business of the Day
• A. Apstein: Haven has to have an advisor — they wouldn’t have been able to register as an organization without one. Part of the reason the old resolution wasn’t passed was because it focused on a very particular solution — recommends outlining the specific problem and guiding the Administration toward a solution rather than explicitly giving them one
• P. Scelfo: Motions to table the Resolution, dissent expressed
  • Motion withdrawn
• J. Mueller: Where will the funding come from? Will the University have to create, for example, a $40–50,000 position for each new byline funded organization that needs an advisor?
  • When organization apply, they need to have already found an advisor — usually someone whose position already coincides with the goal of the organization, making it easy for them to take on the role of advisor
  • There is only one LGBT resource on campus and there isn’t enough support their to fill the advisor position — reason for this resolution
• M. Lukasiewicz: SA should point out student issues and recommend solutions — details about funding shouldn’t be discussed as it is the job of the University to work those out
• G. Block: Passage of this resolution will help the sponsors farther explore funding options — if this is a good idea, rest assured that the Administration will find a way to provide funding
• E. Bick (President of Haven): Haven funds 8 sub organization — they have not had an advisor for the past 4 years and the onus is on her and the exec board to pick up the slack. There has been a decrease in activities as a result

A. Gitlin adjourned the meeting at 6:30pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Chelsea Cheng