Minutes
University Assembly
January 30, 2002
Art Gallery, WSH
4:30 — 6:00 PM

I. Greetings and Call to Order

D. Tobias, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:39 p.m.

Attendance:

Present: Scott Beemer, J.S. Butler, Tyrell Haberkorn, Karsten Hueffer, Ellis Loew, Alan Mathios, Peggy McKee, Kristie McNamara, Tom Mendez, Jane Mt. Pleasant, Gregory Pratt, Ken Reardon, Aaron Saathoff, Adam Schleifer, Donald Tobias

Excused: Carol Bader, Dawne Martyniak

Absent: Mark Greenbaum

Also Present: H. Mandeville, K. Nobles, K. Riley, Barbara Krause

II. Reports

There were no reports.

III. Additions to the Agenda

T. Nobles announced that elections would be held soon, and election packets would be available by February 26, 2002. Student elections will be held through electronic voting, but employee elections use paper ballots.

IV. Approval of Minutes

J.S. Butler pointed out that the minutes say “�moved to the previous question�” in several instances. He explained it should be changed to “�moved the previous question�” A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of December 5, 2001. The minutes were approved as amended.

V. Business of the Day

Approval of New Faculty Member on University Hearing Board

D. Tobias announced that the UA has been asked to approve faculty member George Hay for the University Hearing Board.

J. Mt. Pleasant inquired about the process used to choose who would be asked to serve on the Board? H. Mandeville explained that there is a Nomination Committee that examines a list of faculty and decides who to invite to join the Board. Then they call that person and ask if they would be willing to serve on the Board.

A motion was made and seconded to approve Professor George Hay for the University Hearing Board. The motion passed unanimously.

CJC Business

D. Tobias explained that the Codes and Judicial Committee has submitted changed to the Campus Code of Conduct for the UA to review and vote on. He read the following note from D. Martyniak:

• “I have reviewed the CJC changes for the Campus Code of Conduct on Title Four: Judicial Structure and Procedure Article IX.Jurisdiction — I have read the changes made and compared them to the Policy Notebook. Checking the words changed and all I’s dotted, I think the changed should be accepted for Title Four changing the University Review Board to the University Hearing Board and revising text covering pages 41–42 and pages 35–38. Also to approve the changes for the Code requested by Mary Beth Grant, Judicial Administrator, to change the word “Penalty” to “Sanction” except where required by the Board of Trustees.”

S. Beemer asked if the changes to part F of Title Four were a change in policy, or just a clarification of existing procedures? E. Loew explained that the changes are a clarification, to make the code more consistent with the reality of how these situations are currently handled.

J. Mt. Pleasant asked for examples, to clarify what is considered a non-employment-related offense. Barbara Krause, former Judicial Administrator, explained that this kind of offense would include an employee who fails to dismount their bike in a “No Bike Zone,” or one who is abusive towards a traffic official.

K. Reardon questioned whether the status of graduate teaching assistants is considered student or employee? B. Krause explained that type of situation would most likely be handled on a case-by-case basis.

A motion was made and seconded to approve all the proposed changes to the Campus Code of Conduct. The changes were approved with a vote of 14 for, 0 against, with 1 abstention.

VI. Constituent Assemblies Reports

Employee Assembly

D. Tobias read D. Martyniak’s Employee Assembly report:

• “The EA had a Teambuilding Retreat on Goals and Objectives which was very well presented. From this retreat, a series of Forums and Meetings will be held over the next four EA scheduled meetings which are prior to the April elections. The first half hour of these forums will be information sessions to answer questions on the EA and promote knowledge and participation of the Cornell Community employees. The location of these meetings will be advertised in the Paw Print as follows:
  2/6/02, North Campus
  2/20/02, Humphries
  3/6/02, East Hill
  3/20/02, Central Campus
  The budget for the 2002–2003 is presently work in progress, revising committee structure in function responsibilities. There have been many new committee members, also new members within the Employee Assembly, so it is a good time to review the structure and charter for everyone.”

H. Mandeville also mentioned that the EA elections will be held soon, and she encouraged others to inform employees that any interested people can contact the Office of Assemblies.

Faculty Senate

No report.

Graduate and Professional Students Assembly

K. Hueffer announced that the GPSA has passed a resolution regarding the unionization of graduate students. The resolution recognized the rights of graduate students to unionize if they decide to do so, but gave no indications of bias in one direction or another.

Student Assembly

T. Mendez announced that the SA has been discussing administrative resolutions regarding two committees, the Slope Day and Hazing Committees. These two committees are looking for members. He also announced that M. Sellman will not be on the UA this semester, and the SA will choose his replacement at the next meeting.

VII. University Assembly Committee Reports

Assemblies System Review

S. Beemer explained that he is working on a list of members, and he will be contacting the members about organizing a meeting.

Campus Planning

K. Hueffer reported that there was no meeting on which to report. He did mention that there had been previous discussion about a possible location for the new Life Sciences building. The area next to the Biotech building, which currently has sports fields, has been discussed. It’s currently closed off to public access by fences, and is not aesthetically pleasing.

Campus Store

K. McNamara reported that the impact of the hiring freeze was discussed at the last meeting. Also discussed was the new repair plan for computers bought at the Campus Store and the Customer Satisfaction Survey that the store plans to conduct in the Spring.

Codes and Judicial Committee

E. Loew reported that the changes presented to the UA at this meeting were discussed at the last CJC meeting, along with more changes that will be coming to the UA in future meetings.

Committee on Committees

D. Tobias reported that a meeting will be held on Monday, February 4, 2002, at 10:30am, where they will discuss representation issues and the streamlining of the number of committees.

CURW

No report.

Financial Aid Review

No report.

Health Services

No report.

Minority Affairs

T. Mendez announced that he is working with the SA Minority Affairs committee to schedule a meeting to discuss combining the two committees.

Transportation Advisory

No report.

VIII. Adjournment

D. Tobias, Chair, adjourned the meeting at 5:35pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Kristen Riley