DRAFT MINUTES
University Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
4:30 — 6:00 p.m.
163 Day Hall

I. Call to Order
R. Orme called the meeting to order at 4:39 p.m.

II. Roll Call
Roll was taken via sign-in sheet. Present: R. Orme, M. Fontana, M. Hatch, S. Pardo, L. Lawrence, B. Liddick, R. Wayne, K. Speiser, A. Stroock, K. Laden, N. Brideau, A. Frieden, C. Robertson, A. Craig, R. Stein Not Present: J. Blair, E. Loew, E. Sanders, E. Strong Also In Attendance: A. O’Donnell, A. Epstein, P. Beach, K. Zoner, T. Bittner, E. Shin

R. Orme asked everyone to sign in and announced there would be a change in the order of the agenda to allow for the Gorge Safety presenters to go first.

V. Business of the Day
� Gorge Safety Discussion (#3) — Kathy Zoner from CU Police introduced herself and said she and Todd Bittner from Cornell Plantations were there to discuss how they were working to increase safety in the gorges. She explained Fall Creek is not CU property and this causes a problem in terms of forcing people out of the gorges for their own safety. She said if they could put a specific rule about this in the Campus Code of Conduct, CU Police would be no longer restricted on their enforcement. She said they did not have this problem in the Cascadilla Gorge. They will be reviewing the City Code to see if it is transferable to the Campus Code of Conduct. She said there were also educational efforts under way to inform students on Gorge safety. She then distributed “Gorge” brochures to the members and explained it needed to be more than a “safety recommendation,” there needed to be more emphasis on the very real possibility of serious injury or death. She also said there is a group that is looking for alternate sites for swimming. K. Laden asked about Beebe Lake. K. Zoner said it was used for swimming a long time ago, but it is only 7 feet deep and very dirty, so it would require a lot of maintenance to allow for swimming. L. Lawrence asked about a pool that could be used for swimming in summer, and possibly skating in winter. K. Zoner said for the long-term goal, they are looking at the Campus Master Plan to see if they could create an outdoor swimming pool on campus to help draw people away from the dangerous areas. R. Wayne asked if the “Flat Rock” area would be included in the off limits area. K. Zoner said they are primarily focused on the Fall Creek area below the dam. R. Wayne said he thought people would still go swimming in areas where there were elements of risk. He wanted to know if they could make those areas reasonably safer. K. Zoner said she did not know. She said this issue was brought up in another meeting where they talked about ideas such as changing the water flow, altering the area, etc. M. Hatch commented that saying it was “fixed” could be dangerous because people might think it was safe to swim there, and then if someone were hurt then the entity that said it was “fixed” could be held liable. K. Zoner said they would still regulate the area with enforcement no matter what they did. T. Bittner then said there was no way to provide safe swimming in this area, even with lifeguards. He said they recognize the Gorge is a significant place for resources, education, and recreational activities as well as enjoyable for its scenic beauty, but there needed to be regulations in place. He emphasized that more education, safe alternative swimming locations, and strict enforcement for dangerous areas were the solutions they were striving for. M. Hatch asked if they had a record of injuries and accidents for the last 30 years and K. Zoner said she did not. T. Bittner said as one part of the educational initiative, they plan to share a video with incoming freshmen specifically on Gorge safety, so they would know this is not from an isolated incident. K. Zoner added that the last person who drowned in this area was wading in a shallow area and fell into a deeper area and was pulled underwater by the undertow. M. Hatch said it was hard to patrol people’s movements other than to tell those who swim in the gorges they could be the next victim. He said he felt this message was stronger one than any enforcement or penalty. He added that he thought it would be a complicated item to write, what would be a violation-for example if someone was off the trail? Or in the water? What about more signs? T. Bittner said every sign they put up to indicate a “dangerous area” had been torn down almost immediately, so they had to close the trail entirely. He said he felt it was worth continuing to discuss what changes could be made to the Code, and whether it was advisable to have some trails be enforceable by the Code. R. Stein said she did not think those measures were going to stop people from going into the water. She suggested they attempt to make the area safer. K. Zoner said this was not the first meeting they had to discuss this, there have been many meetings over the years, but this year is the year it is all moving forward. T. Bittner added there was a student organization called “Friends of the Gorge” working on this also. He relayed a story about Scott Salino, who is an officer from CU police, had been there with safety harnesses and scuba gear. He said although he was trained for it, and had every bit of safety gear on, he later narrated the incident as harrowing. T. Bittner explained it was a natural area, so it could be safe 9 out of 10 days, but any weather changes could make it dangerous again. He also added that even with spending a tremendous amount of time and money, it would also be very difficult to engineer it, it would likely damage the area in the process, so he recommended they find a safe alternate location for people to have the same experience. K. Speiser said the university allocates funds for top priority projects first and it was unlikely engineering the Gorges to be safe for swimming would be high on the priority list. M. Hatch said the UA was looking forward to a resolution from CJC on this. S. Pardo said he would volunteer to help. A. Craig said there was a “Friends of the Gorge” meeting on October 27, and they are planning to work on finding more ways to educate students on this issue, provide busing to safe swimming areas, and work with CU police to keep students safe. He said they were working on minutes from the meeting now and hopefully by summer, they hope to have something out in cooperation with University Communications.

III. Reports from Constituent Assemblies — SA, GPSA, EA, FS
SA — A. Craig said they have been reviewing the SAFC funding and appeals process.

GPSA — S. Pardo said at the last GPSA meeting, they talked about the “Amethyst Initiative” and whether GPSA should take a position on this. He said they decided to send this to the Student Advocacy Committee for review. They are also discussing their budget and working on forming a charter review committee.

EA — B. Liddick said the EA’s main focus has been the President’s Address & Energy Fair that was held this past Monday, 10/27.

FS — M. Hatch had no report.

IV. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda\\ � Campus Planning Report (#1) — R. Wayne gave kudos to the committee and explained an addition to Goldwin Smith is being discussed, but there are many issues since some of it is being built underground so as not to take anything away from the green area. He said three buildings are in progress, the Plantations Welcome Center, the Humanities Building, and the Hotel School. They are also working on making the ILR Quad as green and sustainable as possible. A. Stroock asked about the group’s current feelings on sustainability. R. Wayne replied that Cornell is a model, and the committee is always looking for input, not for awards but for the best possible results. A. Stroock asked whether they had any set guidelines. R. Wayne said yes, and they were available on the website. M. Hatch said at the last Assembly’s Leadership Breakfast, John Kiefer, the Director of Project, Design and Construction, gave a presentation on campus construction projects. He said even though the university was putting a lot of effort into it, there were still areas that were not sustainable. He said they intended for LEED silver for Weill Hall and in the end received LEED gold. R. Wayne asked if all campus building were supposed to be LEED silver from now on. M. Hatch explained the plans for Milstein Hall were grandfathered in and voted on by the trustees before this rule. He said the costs for Milstein Hall were very high, and the building is only minimally sustainable. He said another great project was the Plantations Welcome Center. R. Orme said would ask A. O’ Donnell to distribute the handout from John Kiefer’s presentation via e-mail, and said he would invite him to the next meeting.

� Gannett Health Services Discussion (#2) — S. Pardo reported he had spoken with A. Epstein about the Board on University Health Services (BUHS). He said that communications between different committees had been poor in the past and then the committee was renamed as Gannett. Since then, Gannett had established its own boards to address various issues, but the board within Gannett had disappeared. He said they could propose a resolution to strike this committee from the University Assembly Charter or they could replace it with a liaison. He said the goal would be to have clear communication between the UA and Gannett via a liaison. He said A. Epstein had sent him a draft resolution, but S. Pardo said he wanted to meet with Sharon Dittman from Gannett before going ahead with it. He concluded by saying he would have something to present to the UA on this before the end of the semester. A. Stroock said this was another example of an administrative unit dealing with issues by themselves very effectively, and collapsing committees. He said this happens, but admitted it might not be a good idea in the long term because times and needs do change. S. Pardo said it doesn’t sound too different than it is now, just simpler and more fluid, and at least establish communication between the UA and Gannett because over the years, BUHS had become so broad it had become ineffective. He said they could use volunteer representatives on committees as needed. P. Beach explained they have committees in place now that appropriate reps, and Gannett does not wish to sever those ties, just establish a reporting line.

� Charter Review Committee Update (#4) — R. Orme asked A. O’Donnell to arrange a meeting.

VI. Additional Items from the Floor
M. Fontana said there was a group within the State Department called the “International Visitors Program.” He said he was very interested in making CU a stop on the visitors schedule, there are 7 other school that do this now. He said he spoke to VP Susan Murphy about this, and she is supportive. He asked members for their thoughts and comments, and then answered questions. P. Beach suggested he also talk to Alice Pell, the Associate Provost for International Relations.

R. Orme asked the members to review minutes from October 15th. K. Laden made a motion to approve the minutes. M. Fontana seconded. The membership voted and approved the minutes.

M. Fontana said they are still waiting to get PeopleSoft survey results. He reported thus far, the add/drop has gone well. R. Orme added his office (Registrar) was constantly making updates.

R. Orme announced there will be no meeting on November 12, 2008. On November 19th, they plan to discuss the Climate Neutrality Committee, Sustainability and SA elections.

VII. Adjournment
R. Orme asked for a motion to adjourn. M. Hatch made a motion to adjourn. K. Laden seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 6:02 p.m. by Rodney Orme.