Minutes
University Assembly
November 20, 2002
International Lounge, WSH
4:30 — 6:00 pm.

I. Greetings and Call to Order

L. McNeill, Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:35 p.m.

Attendance:

Present: Stephanie Adams, J.S. Butler, Pat Haugen, Carl Jones, Jr., Josh Katcher, Ellis Loew, Alan Mathios, Timothy McConnochie, Peggy McKee, Leti McNeill, Bryan Preston, Dena Ruebusch, David Schmale III

Absent: Melissa Hines, Umair Khan, Michael Matly, Jane Mt. Pleasant, Gregory Pratt, Ken Reardon

Also Present: Hope Mandeville, Gerod Hall, Katrina Nobles, Josh Jacobs, Tammy Johnson, Tom Shelly, Bridget Tracy

II. Introductions

L. McNeill began the meeting by announcing that K. Reardon, Chair, was unable to attend and that she would chair the meeting.

III. Reports

Constituent Assemblies’ Reports

T. Johnson reported that the EA has not met recently.

J. Katcher said that the SA last discussed reforming the election process and issues on wind energy.

T. McConnochie said that the GPSA had nothing new to report.

University Assembly Reports

L. McNeill reported that the Assembly System Review Committee has reviewed the JA and will look at the Ombudsman position on a similar issue.

No one from the Campus Planning Committee was present to report.

P. Haugen reported that the Campus Store would have its next meeting on Tuesday, November 26, 2002.

E. Loew said that the Codes and Judicial Committee was tentatively planning on meeting during the upcoming study period. They last discussed petitioning the UA for funding for a retreat to examine the Code.

L. McNeill said that the Committee on Committees would meet soon to discuss the UA standing committee structure.

No one was present to speak for the CURW or Financial Aid Review.

A. Mathios spoke for Health Services and reported that their November 6th meeting set the agenda for the year. They are trying to cope with the ever increasing demands on Gannett, and decreasing the waiting period for non-emergency care at Gannett.

P. McKee represented the newly named JAMIC, which stands for the Joint Assemblies Multicultural Issues Committee. She said that JAMIC is primarily comprised of students, as it stems from the SA’s very active Minority Affairs Committee and very few Graduate students and Faculty. They had planned a Minority Summit for earlier in the semester that was postponed until February. It is a new committee that is experiencing some issues with uniting several groups that fall under the heading of Multicultural. P. McKee is Co-chair alongside the Minority liaison from the SA. Their next meeting is December 2, 2002 at 8:45 PM and all are welcome.

D. Ruebusch spoke for the Transportation Committee. TCAT announced that funding has been cut from the city and county for the buses by approximately $3000 each, and that, consequently, Cornell’s contribution to TCAT funding must also go down according to an agreement between the University and town that each part pay an equal share. TCAT has said that it will not raise fares in 2003 but that a hike can be expected in the future.

J. Katcher asked if it is possible for Cornell to pay the discrepancy in the budgets to prevent a hike and D. Ruebusch said that she would make inquiries.

IV. Approval of the Minutes

A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of October 30, 2002. The minutes were approved as amended.

V. Old Business

Letter Review

K. Nobles reminded the UA of the letters sent to the various Program Directors that it is attached to the agenda, and that Alan Mathios, Dena Ruebusch, and Pat Haugen have been mentioned in the letters as UA contacts for them.

A. Mathios mentioned that the people at Health Services are not enthusiastic about the additional report and have already contacted him.

VI. New Business

Committee Structure

L. McNeill began introductions of the UA and members from other constituencies present to work on the three taskforce issues determined in the previous UA meetings this semester. Those present from outside of the UA included: Josh Jacobs (SA), Gerod Hall (GPSA), Tammy Johnson (EA), and Tom Shelley (EA). The issues up for discussion were: campus governance, sustainability, and public service. The purpose of this meeting was to break out into groups, discuss these issues in taskforces, determine a charge for each taskforce, and a Chair.

G. Hall asked if there were any notes from the Fall Advance which introduced these topics and if so, could they be made available to give a better idea of why these issues were selected.

H. Mandeville stressed that these are issues for all the Assemblies to work on together and that it is a fairly unscripted process so far. The charge is in the hands of the taskforce.

L. McNeill then dismissed the members into the taskforce groups for discussion.

Taskforce Committees

The three groups reconvened to report their discussions to the UA.

E. Loew spoke for the group on sustainable development. He was selected as Chair and said that the group focused on Cornell’s ability to develop buildings and structures while balancing requirements for waste management and energy resources, etc. They wanted to start by making lists of what groups make decisions regarding Cornell’s waste management and environmental issues, etc. After making this list, the group would like to investigate their charges and authority and develop another list of groups that should provide the UA with annual reports on what is being done to improve Cornell.

J. S. Butler reported for the taskforce on campus governance and said that they narrowed down two goals. The first is to study the function of the monthly leadership meetings with the President. Is it informative or an opportunity to present ideas before the President? The second goal is to assess the function of the UA. One idea is that the UA should have more involvement in the activities of the other Assemblies. For example, the Assemblies might be required to send proposals to the UA for possible endorsement. An endorsement would give more support to a proposal, but lack of one would not end the proposal.

B. Preston spoke for the group on public service. He announced that Tammy Johnson was chosen as chair and that the group would work on investigating Cornell’s current commitment to public service and assessing it. They would also like to discover what the current efforts are to promote public service on campus. If public service is not as important as it should be how can Cornell make use of all its resources, faculty, staff, students, and alumni, to rectify it? They decided to meet following UA meetings.

VII. Next Meeting

E. Loew said that time should be allotted for discussion of each taskforce’s progress.

VIII. Adjournment

L. McNeill, Vice Chair, adjourned the meeting at 6:00pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Bridget Tracy