Student Assembly

MINUTES
Student Assembly
Thursday, March 20, 2014
4:45PM-6:30PM
Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room

I. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by U. Smith at 4:48pm.

Members Present

S. Ali Khan, S. Balik, J. Batista, Y. Bhandari, G. Block, E. Bonatti, I. Chen, T. Drucker, R. Gademsky, I. Harris, M. Henderson, T. Hittinger, J. Hutson, F. Jimenez, L. Liu, M. Lukasiewicz, S. Lutsic, N. Mileti, U. Smith, M. Stefanko, B. Thompson, N. Vasko

Members Absent (Unexcused)

T. Drucker, N. Vasko, Y. Ma, N. Tulsky

Members Absent (Unexcused)

T. Talbot, L. Wershaw, A. Zhou

Also Present

J. Berger, A. Mulgia, R. Gitlin

II. Open Mic

Lee Singer ‘14 and Casey Chamberlain ‘15, from the executive board of the Slope Day Programming Board, announced the artists playing at Slope Day 2014 and gave an update on the various safety and entry initiatives they have been working on.

III. Announcements and Reports

FARC Update — M. Henderson

• Fire in Collegetown last week, displaced 9 students and 1 recent grad, FARC giving them funds.
• Also donation collections for the fire victims are in progress.

Breaking the Silence Event Update — J. Batista

• In light of recent events, there will be another Breaking the Silence event.
• There are 32 co-sponsoring student organizations.

SADAC Update — U. Smith

• There will be a meeting in next week.

Communications Committee Update — I. Harris

• Organizations Spotlight: Cornell Forensics Society — they have helped to increase student involvement in the Student Assembly, especially for the debated. The world debate team is ranked first in the world.

Community Life Committee Update — M. Stefanko

• Meeting with Olin Library soon on the NetPrint Initiative.
• Trying to present a resolution on AMST2001 during today’s meeting.

SACIDI Update — L. Liu

• DIP meetings 13 groups out of the about 40 by-line funded groups.

IV. Business of the Day

R. 64: We the Cornellians Petitions Platform

• Motion to Amend. Changes in bold. “Be it finally resolved, that if any given petition garners at least 2,500 signatures, the President of the University, or a designee, must issue a statement responding to the petition’s content within 30 days.” Motion to Call the Question. No dissent. Amendment approved. 20–0−0.
• J. Batista: This is the platform to connect with students across campus, and recent online petitions have been quite successful.
• M. Henderson: Could this turn into a joke? Response: Someone would be screening the entries beforehand so that anything of that nature does not get posted.
• N. Mileti: How would you raise awareness that students can use this? Response: The response will come from the actions@assembly.cornell.edu, which includes the leaders of the Assembly and the University.
• Y. Bhandari: Have you spoken to President Skorton? Response: The administration is mostly in support, they are worried that this oversteps the bounds of the SA.
• U. Smith: Have you considered other Assemblies? Response: Spoken with the Office of the Assemblies, and they recommend
• Community Member: This will cause more trouble, and it creates a barrier for students who do not have the necessary report: Response: We believe this will increase transparency and enable student-supported idea to be actualized. Also, it is good to try it out.
• A. Muglia: How will this affect your response to students who come to you with an issue. Response: We have SA office hours and other ways to get in contact with individual members. This should not be used as a deferral.
• S. Ali Khan: Motion to Amend. Changes in bold. “Be it further resolved, that any member of the Cornell Community, excepted elected assembly members, can draft a petition and seek support for it through gathering additional signatures;”
• Discussion on proposed amendment.
• Sponsors: We think that all assembly members are some of the most involved members, and thus should be able to have ideas that they generated sponsored in this way.
• A. Muglia: There is a risk to this because. Response: It will be in the election ruled.
• S. Ali Khan: This is based on the White House model — Congress members do not use that platform to effect change.
• G. Block: Should not restrict use to a platform of this nature.
• Call to question. 2–19–0. Amendment fails.
• I. Chen: How do you verify that the people signing the petition are actual students? What about alumni? How will Presidential response be publicized? Will this go against a sense-of-the-body resolution? Response: NetID login is required. Can open that up to Alumni and other University members (staff, etc.). We don’t think that this will conflict with sense-of-the-body.
• Motion to extend time limit by 15 minutes. No dissent.
• T. Drucker: Is this an assent for students to use or more of an SA-owned item. Connected to constituencies by college or committee? Response: The SA leadership will delegate the proposals to the appropriate committee, etc.
• G. Block: 2500 signatures are a lot of signatures. Also, a lot of effort is required to get them, and the President might not always have an answer. Response: The number is arbitrary and the President’s office will likely request a different figure once we are at that stage.
• L. Liu: What if someone wants to create a petition outside of the system? Response: The key feature is that it requires the relevant leadership to respond.
• Motion to Amend. Change the president signature threshold to 1000. Found Friendly. No dissent, amendment adopted.
• E. Bonatti: Question about the flow to SA versus President Skorton. Response: It happens in parallel. If it reaches 1000 sponsors, the SA will be prepared.
• S. Ali Khan: This is going to be a political platform.
• N. Mileti: Motion to Amend. SA threshold level from 250 to 150.
• T. Drucker: This is unnecessary; no college population is below 250.
• Sponsors: 250 was less of an arbitrary number.
• Call to Question. No dissent. Amendment fails. 1–20–0.
• Call to Question. Resolution passes. 19–1−0.

Approval of Updated SA Budget — G. Block

• Two changes: money comes from reserve account. Appropriations committee increase to host more meetings for upcoming changes in ALANA. Also, increase in Ivy Council funding for the policy council funding.
• E. Bonatti: Why extra meetings? Will there be developments on the endowment funding? Response: By-line funding cycle is not over, still working on Appendix B.
• Call to Question. No dissent. Budget approved. 20–0−0.

R. 66: Sense of the Body — F. Jiminez

• Motion to move item to Business of the Day. No dissent. Now open for general discussion.
• This is in support of Cornell’s Into the Streets day. Asks the SA to support the event.
• G. Block: What benefit do you get from the President declaring it “Into the Streets Day”? Response: It creates a bigger, Cornell-wide commitment for the event.
• J. Batista: On lines 17–18, what do you mean? Response: This means that the planning committee will report what date the event will be held. Motion to Amend. Add the word “annually” after May 1. Call to Question. No dissent. Amendment adopted.
• Call to Question. No dissent. Community Vote: 7–0−0. Two votes allocated in favor. Resolution adopted. 22–0−0.

R. 67: Qualifications for College-Specific Representatives — S. Balik, J. Berger, B. Thompson

• The Charter does not specify you have to remain a member of your constituency once you’re voting in to the assembly by a constituency. Very simple change.
• Motion to move to Business of the Day. No dissent. Now open for general discussion. (Note: this is a
• G. Block: In support of the resolution. Important change.
• I. Harris: In support of this resolution. Need to be representing the various constituencies properly.
• J. Hutson: In support of this resolution.
• E. Bonatti: In support of this resolution. Motion to Amend. Change to effectively immediately, not for 2014–2015 year.
• Several members including sponsors: Not good to change the rules of a sitting assembly mid-term.
• Call the Question. 0–18–2. Amendment fails.
• T. Drucker: Thought that I was obligated to stay in my constituency.
• Motion to Table. No dissent. Will be on next agenda.

V. New Business

Several members of the Assembly came forward with a resolution not already on the agenda. Given the nature of the issue, the resolution was expedited through the committee review process. The resolution number was not assigned until after the meeting, and is now officially known as R. 70: In Support of AMST 2001. The resolution was passed unanimously with little debate, except one amendment to clarify an administrative process created in the resolution.

U. Smith adjourned the meeting at 6:35pm.

Respectfully submitted, Brian Murphy Clerk, Office of the Assemblies