Minutes
University Assembly
Wednesday, August 27, 1997
Memorial Room, Willard Straight Hall
4:30 PM

I. Call to Order

M. Esposito called to order the meeting at 4:35 pm.

II. Introduction

M. Esposito welcomed everyone to the initial meeting of the 1997–98 University Assembly. He described today’s meeting as informal and relaxed. The various members of the UA introduced themselves, described their experience, gave their personal contact numbers, and stated their intentions of attending the Assemblies Annual Fall Retreat. The retreat was announced as being on Tuesday, September 2, at the Ithaca Yacht Club from 4:30 to 9:00 p.m.

III. Review of Responsibilities of the Members

M. Esposito stressed the importance of the responsibilities of the members of the University Assembly. He felt that last year’s Assembly strayed from their responsibility to their constituency and the University by following individualistic goals. According to him, personal feelings entered the picture in last year’s meetings, defeating the idealistic and universal goals of the UA. He reminded those assembled around the table that they represent another group of people. He emphasized a need for an exchange of ideas between the University Assembly and other various groups, be it the EA, Faculty Senate, etc. He mentioned additional responsibilities of the members of the UA includeing: attending the meetings on time; coming prepared for the meetings; and reviewing information from previous meetings. He added that members should be prepared to discuss information presented, converse with individual constituencies about the results of prior meetings and, finally, be prepared to vote in a manner representative of their constituency.

M. Esposito proposed the idea of a roll call voting system to be included in the UA minutes. He contended that this would allow the votes to become public information. He also stressed the fact that this would allow representative constituencies to learn how their representative voted on important issues. Various points were brought up as a result of this idea. First it was brought up that the UA has generally been run as a meeting with few parliamentary procedures. Another concern was knowing, prior to the votes, the repercussions of a vote, prior to it being cast. M. Esposito then re-addressed the idea of a mandatory role call vote. This proposition was dismissed.

IV. Committee Conveners/Liasons

M. Esposito stated that there are presently four committees without UA Conveners/Liaisons. These included Budget Planning, Campus Store, Financial Aid and Minority and Third World. He reviewed the people presently enrolled in the various committees on the UA. The Assemblies Systems Review is represented by Jeff Kozlow, the Health Services is represented by Dianne Geohring and Joy Johnson. He added that Campus Planning is represented by John Cisne, Codes & Judicial is represented by Henry Chung and the Committee on Committees is represented by Jeff Kozlow. Also, represented by UA members on the Transportation Advisory is Betty Lewis, and on CURW is Henry Chung and Marian Hartill. M. Esposito then asked for any volunteers for the four open committees. D. Grubb volunteered to be the committee convener/ liaison for the Budget Planning Committee. Concerns were raised for the validity of the Budget Planning Committee. M. Esposito responded by stating the importance of a convener provideing leadership for the committee. M. Esposito stated he would work with the Minority and Third World Committee S. Caldwell volunteered to be the committee convener/ liaison for the Campus Store. D. Levitsky volunteered to be the committee convener/ liaison for Financial Aid. It was asked that each individual committee E-mail the Assemblies Office notes of their meetings so that they in turn can be included in the UA minutes. This way, M. Esposito pointed out, if time conflicts arise with the committee reports everyone will have access to the information.

V. Discussion with the Dean of Faculty Peter Stien Regarding Relationship of the University Assembly to the Faculty Senate

M . Esposito requested a description of the Faculty Senate and it’s relationship to the University Assemblies. P. Stein began by saying that this year opens up the third year of the Senates existence and pointed out that many contentious issues have been addressed throughout the history of this body, yet at other points the meetings have been slow in actions. He then described the procedures of the Faculty Senate meetings. The meetings are generally made up of reports and motions. He explained that motions filed go through a process that prevent “surprise actions” on the floor. To get to the floor a motion must go through a number of stages allowing all members to become aware of its purpose. Items addressed by this group have included sexual harassment (multiple occurrences), a policy mandating program review for all academic units, the “infamous” medium grade policy, a revision of the Code of Academic Integrity and the creation of a procedure dealing with faculty tenure appointments. He noted that the tenure issue has not been resolved yet, and is proposed to become an issue of the Senate this year. He stated that the Faculty Senate meetings are open and the minutes are published. He asked if the Assembly had any questions and responded accordingly.

In response to a question concerning the meeting time and location, P. Stein stated that the meetings take place from 4:30 to 6:00 pm. on the second Wednesday of each month in Hollece Cornell Auditorium in Golden Smith Hall. P. Stein stated that wine, cheese, and cranberry juice are available at all meetings, but there are no excesses.

P. Stein commented, in response to an inquiry about “legislative authority”, that most of the business of the Senate does not fall within “legislative responsibility”. He explained that the majority of resolutions starts off with the Senate making recommendations to the administration. The area of legislative authority in the Senate is the calendar and educational policies that concern more than one college. On matters were the Senate has legislative authority, according to Dean Stein, the Senate is most interested in the student’s opinions as expressed though the Student Assembly. P. Stien stated an example of the gathering of student opinion in the process of editing the Code of Academic Integrity. He cited another example of the Senate’s relationship with the Student Assembly was the Statement of Community. The Statement of Community was brought to the Senate through the Student Assembly. The Senate listened to the issues the students presented and, inturn, issued their opinion on that subject matter. The Sexual Harassment Procedures was another area in which the Senate worked in consultation with the Assemblies. P. Stein recalled his addresses to all three Assemblies (Student, Employee, and University) in dealing with the sexual harassment issue. He took the opinions of all Assemblies back to the Senate and the Senate, in turn, presented a recommendation to the administration. He stated his interest in always working with the Assemblies and in sharing ideas and opinions and taking the feedback back to the Senate.

In response to a question dealing with obtaining floor time at the Senate meetings, P. Stein stressed the fact that floor time in the Senate meetings is extremely limited. A statement was made that the limited floor time, represents a feeling that the Senate is not working together with the other constituencies and a lack of sense of community. P. Stein stated that a sense of community is hard to establish and it is difficult to program a system to achieve such a goal. P. Stein stressed his attempts to inform the Senate of the actions of the other constituencies and to facilitate a relationship between the Assemblies and the Senate. He felt that last year a bond had been formed between the Student Assembly and the Senate and hopes that such connection could continue in the future. P. Stein queried those assembled as how to create this “sense of community”.

A member responded by stating that he would like to see a more consolidated effort among the groups in approaching identical topics, less individuality among the Assemblies and Senate, and a more uniform approach obtained in attacking universal issues. An example of such an issue cited was transportation. It was pointed out that in creating a uniform approach, the motion would be much more powerful than having separate groups present their views. P. Stein responded that there was already a committee on transportation formed to address such issues.

To another question about the sense of community P.Stein stated that a sense of community is hard to establish in a large community. He pointed out that good community exists in the individual departments, but as the sphere of community expands some of the bonds between groups break down, due to the expansion of ideas and differing outlooks. The major obstacle, according to the Dean, in creating a sense of community is that faculty members are more concerned with their individual groups and interests, than in the University as a whole and that is just a fact of the environment. P. Stein also stressed that the lack of community is not just occurring at Cornell, or even just throughout higher education. It is occurring throughout our whole society.

Another issue raised was the low salaries of the faculty and staff. This situation is making it harder to attract the best faculty and staff to this school. According to P. Stein, the salary level at Cornell is lower than those at other universities making it difficult to attract the best of the best in educators. This in turn leads to a decrease in the level of students being drawn into Cornell. P. Stein stressed there is a lot of concern for this issue. However, he pointed out, this issue does not present any easy or painless answers. This issue was brought up before the Senate last year, he reported, and will continue to be approached in the insuring years. He concluded that this issue relates back to the sense of community. Everyone is for establishing a greater sense of community and establishing higher salaries, however, it is not that easy to create solutions to these problems. It is easier said than done.

Dean Stein was thanked for his time. He stated that he will always be happy to come and listen to the concerns of the Assembly.

VI. 1997–8 University Goals and Objectives

M. Esposito stressed that he hopes in this year’s Assembly, discussion becomes a major factor, and that everyone will be willing to contribute to the Assembly. He commented that the better the discussion and communication, the more productive the Assembly will become. M. Esposito once more stressed the importance of coming to the meetings informed and prepared. He brought up the example of last year’s Transportation issue when community members raised issue with information that was already made available to the Assembly, but not challenged. M. Esposito also suggested that the members of the Assembly network throughout their friends and colleges. It is essential, according to M. Esposito, that the Assembly gain a feeling of campus involvement throughout the year. The Assembly should always be open to issues resulting from inquires from around the campus. M. Esposito stressed that the meetings are open and that community support is welcome.

A concern was presented dealing with the lack of publicity abut the University Assembly. This year publicity of the meetings should be expanded so the Cornell population is aware of these meetings and their results.

A request for every member of the UA to attend the Cornell Judicial System Orientation on September 9, 1997(4:30 p.m., Edward’s Room, Anabel Taylor Hall) was made. The UA has a major responsibility to this system and a strong request was made urging members to attend the informational session.

VII. Adjournment

A motion to adjourn was called by M. Esposito
The meeting on the UA of August 27,1997 adjourned at 5:40pm.