University Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
4:30 — 6:00 p.m.
701 Clark Hall

I. Call To Order

J. Marwell called the meeting to order at 4:40 p.m.

II. Roll Call

Roll was taken by sign-in sheet.

Present: C. Basil, J. Marwell, S. Matthews, A. Richter, T. Parado, H. Hall, B. Liddick, R. Orme, D. Brown, M. Hatch, E. Loew, D. Rosen, E. Sanders, R. Wayne.

Not Present: T. Lee, J. Glenn, T. Bishop, A. Stoock.

III. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

J. Marwell called for late additions to the agenda and A. Richter asked to add the discussion of the Childcare Committee as an ad hoc committee of the UA to the agenda.

IV. Introductions

Introductions were made around the table.

V. Executive Report

a. Review of UA Structure
J. Marwell gave a brief review of the committees the UA works with. She said some of the committees have not been active.

b. Committees
Codes and Judicial Committee
M. Hatch said he was reporting on behalf of the Codes and Judicial Committee, which met in sub-committees several times during the summer. The sub-committees’ charge during that period was to look at the code while keeping the suggestions for changes in mind. The sub-committee asked Kevin Clermont, of the Law School, to review the present code in response to suggestions. He said the President has requested that the final report on recommendations for the code by the end of this calendar year. The CJC is preparing to present the revised code to the community for feedback in an open forum during the first week of October. In early November, the CJC will give a report to the UA. Then in November or December, the UA will discuss the CJC’s report. Then at the end of December, the final report will be given to the President’s Office. He said the central administration provided significant support to the initiative.

c. Summary of Last Year
J. Marwell said last year the UA spent a lot of time reviewing and discussing committees. She said the UA should spend more time on this, especially after observing how much the CJC accomplished last year, by determining the status of different groups, and reopening the lines of communication.

d. Fall Elections
J. Marwell said 2 undergraduate seats for the University Assembly are still open and other constituencies are also trying to fill their vacancies. Elections will be soon, and they will have new undergraduate members by the September meetings. Voting will be from Tuesday, September 18 to Thursday, September 20, so if members know any undergraduate students, they should encourage them to run.

There was a discussion about the qualifications a candidate needs to run, and the process of running.

T. Pardo suggested they look into getting a PowerPoint slide or overhead included in some class lectures, since this is commonly done and it’s an efficient way to get the information about the elections distributed to the student body.

There was a discussion about bringing this idea to the attention of the SA Elections committee

e. Call for first meetings of CJC, TAC, and Campus Planning and Advisory Committee
J. Marwell said the UA needed to call for the first meetings of the CJC, TAC and Campus Planning and Advisory Committee. CJC plans to meet September 10 and the TAC meeting is coming up soon as well.

D. Brown said they had put out a call for new members. He said they have to push assemblies to appoint TAC members since only the constituents can do that; they need to ensure that they are represented.

A. Richter said that GPSA is trying to appoint their members early for some committees such as TAC and Campus Planning.

There was a discussion about the UA and TAC’s level of involvement with Transportation Services this year.

M. Hatch said that a Transportation Services representative is coming to the September 26 meeting.

D. Brown said he is planning to hold the first TAC meeting prior to that date.

A. Richter said that Transportation Services is presenting to all assemblies to keep them informed of the survey results.

M. Hatch said there were two workshops last year and a lot of information on the Internet. He said with the availability of information, they all should be well acquainted with what’s happening and should be prepared with a lot of good questions when the Transportation Services representative comes.

E. Sanders asked for the Planning Committee report. She said the construction on this campus was detrimental to the campus aesthetics and the well-being of the campus community, and that the committee needed to address this.

A. Epstein said that Campus Planning and Advisory Committee met today. He added they have been extremely active but haven’t been reporting to the UA regularly.

There was a discussion about interaction and contact between the UA and the Campus Planning and Advisory Committee.

M. Hatch said the UA needs to ensure that someone from the UA is always be present at the Campus Planning and Advisory Committee meetings, because they can’t have discussions about issues in which they are not involved. He said that whoever attends these meetings will need to report back to the UA so that the UA can affiliate itself with them.

J. Marwell said the UA’s committee liaison could ask them to report to the October meeting.

M. Hatch said they’d like to have a report prior to the October meeting on the Campus Planning committee’s actions.

J. Marwell asked the liaison to have a report ready for the September meeting.

A. Epstein said issues were brought up at the Leadership Breakfast for committees the UA was not addressing. He said there might be other committees with which the community has issues that the UA may not be considering.

J. Marwell said to let her know if anyone had any committees in mind that they would like to see the UA focus on.

There was a discussion about the Campus Planning and Advisory Committee making meeting information available to the community.

J. Marwell said they would move on to the Childcare Committee item on the agenda.

A. Richter moved to add the Childcare committee as an ad hoc committee of the UA. M. Hatch seconded the motion. J. Marwell asked A. Richter to explain the motion.

A. Richter then gave a brief presentation about the status of the childcare center, the committee’s involvement and the UA’s proposed involvement.

There was a discussion regarding the funding of the childcare center. A. Richter said that Cornell is funding the building. She said the childcare grant structure and how to keep tuition affordable are examples of a couple of the subjects under discussion. The discussion continued regarding whether Cornell will be expecting the families to fully take on the burden on the service fees or if Cornell will be lending assistance. A. O’Donnell said Cornell has childcare grant structures in place and would like to continue subsidizing the service. She said the center would only be for Cornell community members use. She said that Bright Horizons currently has a five-year contract with Cornell to run the childcare center. She concluded by saying families signing up for the childcare center would be entering into a contract with Bright Horizons directly, not with Cornell.

There was a discussion regarding whether this new childcare service would be offered in addition to the childcare offered at Martha Van. A. Richter said that the childcare at Martha Van was going to be closing in the next year or so. She said that the offerings at the new center would be much more extensive.

D. Brown asked if there was any discussion about making the childcare initiative a more on-site initiative and whether other sites were being examined for this purpose. A. Richter replied by saying that they weren’t currently under consideration. She added the committee’s current focus was specific to the childcare center that is being built over by the A-Lot, but that in the future, they would be looking at childcare more holistically. She reiterated that the motion was to make this committee an ad hoc committee and that in the future it might evolve into a permanent committee.

A. Epstein said the childcare committee seemed to be going in the direction of being UA driven and that childcare was a high priority for the Office of Human Resources. He said the DHR feels that additional childcare centers would require a strong community of individuals invested in those centers, so they hope that this committee will become an advocate for the childcare services.

There was discussion about a possible playground for the Childcare Center that would provide an intriguing and educational environment for the children. R. Wayne said the playground should incorporate aspects of Cornell and the campus departments. M. Hatch said the next committee meeting has already had two virtual presentations of playground possibilities, and will likely have a presentation about this at their next meeting. A. Richter said the contract for building the playground may be separate from the contract for building the center.

T. Pardo said that removing the childcare center function from the human development program might be of concern to students who depended on access to the observations and data from this program in their research. She asked where students could go to express their concern about this and ensure that the childcare program is still available to them as a resource.

A. O’Donnell said this issue had been considered and that there were mechanisms in place to ensure that the childcare center would be available to students as a resource for obtaining observation information.

A. Epstein said they needed a resolution to make the committee an ad hoc committee of the UA. He said that A. Stroock is crafting a resolution to create a permanent committee, which should be ready by the next meeting.

The motion to add the childcare services committee as an ad hoc committee of the UA was withdrawn.

A. O’Donnell said that DHR announced at the last childcare committee meeting that a childcare liaison, Eileen Whang, has been hired to help families secure childcare in this area. She will also be heading up the childcare grant program for employees and grad students.

M. Hatch said that the committee had been discussing how many child spaces at the childcare center should be set aside as a recruitment tool — to offer as incentive for recruiting new employees — and how that would affect current employees.

M. Hatch said he would give up his seat on the Childcare Committee if someone else on the UA wanted it, because he is an interim member.

J. Marwell asked if there were any other issues anyone wanted to address.

A. Epstein asked to meet with the employee representatives after the meeting.

VI. Adjournment

J. Marwell adjourned the meeting at 5:40 p.m.