Student Assembly

Minutes - Student Assembly’
September 12, 2013
4:45pm - 6:30pm
Willard Straight Hall

I. Call to Order

U. Smith called the meeting to order at 4:47pm

Members present

S. Balik, J. Batista, G. Block, E. Bonatti, T. Drucker, I. Harris, M. Henderson, L. Liu, M. Lukasiewicz, Y. Ma, A. Murphy, C. Pritchett, U. Smith, T. Talbot, B. Thompson, N. Tulsky, N. Vasko, L. Wershaw

Members tardy

T. Hittinger

Members unexcused

R. Gademsky, M. Stefanko

II. Approval of September 5, 2013 Minutes

Minutes approved by unanimous consent

III. Open Microphone

None

IV. Announcements and Reports

Elections Update — A. Muglia

Elections are underway! A lot of great ideas in candidate’s campaigns

Outreach Update — J. Batista

The first two weeks of outreach are underway

CIT Update — T. Hittinger

The Administration has commissioned a programming team to start work on a dining application

Community Life Committee Update — M. Stefanko

Presented by U. Smith: the first meeting was last Tuesday and had a good turnout — many good ideas were brought up in the discussion

Africana Library Announcement — T. Talbot

Working on an initiative to have the library open for later hours

V. Re-branding 6–2−6 The Center for Intercultural Dialogue — Dr. Renee Alexander ‘74

• 6–2−6 is the colloquial name of the building that is officially named the Center for Intercultural Dialogue
• It was designed to provide additional support for students of color across campus
• Currently stretched very thin — understaffed and under-resourced
• Tagline for their campaign: Students Uniting Cornell University
• Platform: to get people into a room to have difficult, timely discussion that ask people to step out of their comfort zones and discuss issues around campus
• Breaking Bread program: the idea is to get two groups with very different perspectives in the same room to have a facilitated discussion. Planning starting with MECA and Hillel
• There will be a lot of programming coming out of 626 — hoping to work with a lot of student leaders for ideas
• R. Gitlin: What can the SA help with?
  • It would be great to have members attend brainstorming sessions throughout the semester
• T. Talbot: Is the campaign trying to increase attendance and engagement among existing programs or is it trying something completely new?
  • Will continue to support what is being done, but plan to move implementation in a different direction

VI. Business of the Day

R.4: Re-Naming the Women’s Issues At-Large Representative — J. Batista

• Call to question, seconded
• Resolution 4 passed by a roll call vote of 17–0−0

VII. New Business

R.7: Restructuring the Elections Committee — E. Bonatti

• The resolution clarifies some rules that are not currently very clear
• A. Muglia: Appreciates the thought, but would have liked the concern to be brought up to the Committee first. What makes it different from other Committees in requiring at least 50% SA composition?
  • This is just a draft — willing to change the number, but would like a clear percentage.
• G. Block: Why the need for SA members? Why not just community members?
  • Thinks it is important to involve people that have gone through the process
• T. Hittinger: Why is the requirement for seniors?
  • The idea is that seniors cannot run again, s o they are more impartial
• I. Harris: What is the motivation for this resolution?
  • Members of the community have expressed concern with the non-clarity of the current committee composition
• N. Tulsky: What’s the rationale behind the rule that any member involved in a dispute cannot serve on the committee?
  • Similar rules are found throughout the nation
• L. Liu: Is the online application necessary in all cases?
  • U. Smith: The reasoning is two-fold: first for logistical reasons, it helps the administration keep records, and second it provides a basis for which comparisons can be made
• M. Henderson: Would recommend adding the phrase “and willing” to the SA seniors eligible for sitting on the committee
• Resolution 7 tabled until the next meeting

R.8: Diversity Plan 2013–2014 — C. Pritchett

• This year’s plan is modeled off of Towards New Destinations
• Initiatives
  • Outreach to communities that members do not traditionally come into contact with
  • Collaborative efforts for town halls
  • Improved composition for committees
  • Training programs to facilitate ongoing discussions of diversity
• R. Gitlin: How do you plan on involving administrators on SADAC?
  • There should be 2 administrators and 2 students per college sitting on SADAC. Still waiting for responses from AAP and HumEc but every other college has committed 1 administrator
• G. Block: Regarding committee composition, why did you specifically pick the characteristics of gender, race, sexual orientation, and nationality? What do you plan to do with the statistics?
  • M. Lukasiewicz: The plan is to focus effort to reach out to the specific groups that committees are lacking in
• J. Batista: What’ s the rationale behind the outreach initiative? Shouldn’t that be a focus of the VP Outreach?
  • The SA works more with some groups than others, so this initiative is just to actively try to reach out to groups that SA has little or no communication with
• Resolution 8 tabled until the next meeting

U. Smith adjourned the meeting at 6:31pm

Respectfully submitted,
Chelsea Cheng