Minutes
University Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, February 24, 2009
4: 30 � 6:00 p.m.
316 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

C. Walcott called the meeting to order at 4:32 p.m.

Roll was taken via sign-in sheet.
Voting Members Present: A. Brokman, J. Cetta, K. Laden, J. Spiegel, E. Cusick, S. Zhang, J. Blair, M. Hatch, E. Loew, E. Sanders, C. Walcott, R. Wayne
Voting Members Absent: A. Nicoletti, E. Strong, B. Webb-Binder, L. Lawrence, K. Spieser, W. Ghiorse
Non-voting Members Absent: B. McKinney A. Craig, M. Walsh
Also In Attendance: P. Streeter, C. Mansfeldt, P. Beach, A. Epstein, A. O’Donnell, Y. Zhang

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There were no late additions.

III. Invited Speaker — Paul Streeter

P. Streeter spoke about the university’s budget model that was reduced from four models to one. A copy of the work force planning task reports are online and can be found in the Provost’s Office and the Office of the Assemblies. P. Streeter explained some ideas that have discussed in order to save costs for the university. The biggest theme is to treat similar revenues and expenses the same way across the schools. The university is considering pooling undergraduate tuition money so each college would not receive it directly. It would be distributed back to the colleges based on enrollment, educational costs and priorities. The university is also considering forming a university support pool by taxing the revenue streams. This would be the central resource for the Provost, but it would be only a small percentage of the revenues.

There was some discussion on who would oversee the tuition pools if all tuition were funneled through the Provost.

M. Hatch asked how the revenue pool would reflect the fact that state schools charge less tuition. P. Streeter said the tuition gap between in-state residents and all other students would be filled by state appropriation money. M. Hatch then asked if this distribution of revenue pool would create a big incentive for colleges to try to have higher enrollment and teach more students. P. Streeter replied the system would make it so the incentives are not so direct.

E. Sanders said she thought the university was in this position due to the decisions of a few people, so she said she felt it might not be a good idea to centralize more power in the office of the Provost. P. Streeter said the distribution of funds would likely be decided by an advisory body. I f anyone has any suggestions or feedback on this, they could submit their input on the “Reimagining Cornell” website.

P. Streeter then reported on budget reductions so far and what is coming in the future months. The university is at a deficit of $68 million, and if nothing is done to correct the problem, it could grow to $86 million by next year. The university will be going forward strategically and is looking to save money through better procurement practices. There will be IT support and development of new applications on how to standardize the procedures.

M. Hatch asked about academic programs. P. Streeter said the university is trying to cut from non-academic areas to get out of the deficit.

E. Sanders asked about saving energy around the campus. P. Streeter said that is included in the plan. She then commented how changes in procurement will most certainly hurt many local businesses. P. Streeter said the people responsible for looking for vendors and purchasing will take that into account but not laying employees off will help the community in general.

VI. Resolution — Faculty Senate/Childcare Services Committee

Cresten Mansfeldt from the committee presented the resolution. M. Hatch said the UA should have had better connections with the committee. He then asked C. Mansfeldt to ask someone from the committee to report regularly to the UA.

C. Walcott asked what an additional committee could do to help the situation. C. Mansfeldt said it can help by increasing the number of stakeholders involved in the oversight of the center. E. Loew said it’s not just the faculty that utilize the Bright Horizons childcare center and said he felt it would be more inclusive for the UA to form an ad-hoc committee if one is formed.

M. Hatch moved to table the resolution. E. Loew seconded, emphasizing this issue is the responsibility of the UA and shouldn’t be removed because it crosses the boundaries between the constituencies. By a vote of 10–0−0, the UA decided to table the resolution.

M. Hatch nominated E. Loew to be the UA representative to the Family Services Committee. J. Blair seconded. E. Loew accepted the nomination. The UA then voted and unanimously approved the nomination.

IV. Approval of Minutes from February 10, 2010

The minutes from the February 10th UA meeting were voted on and unanimously approved by the members.

V. Committee Updates

J. Cetta reported the CJC voted on two changes to the Code of Conduct and said he will have more information about the changes at the next meeting. He explained the changes involve the policy regarding hazing and the statute of limitations.

M. Hatch asked J. Cetta about the previous resolution regarding suspension length changes. J. Cetta clarified the change was put in place for the benefit of the charged and the victim so there is some intermediate sentence between 1-year suspension and indefinite suspension.

There was some discussion on whether the title of the previous resolution regarding harassment was changed from “discrimination” to “harassment.” M. Hatch wanted to make sure the minutes reflected the change.

R. Wayne then asked if there had been any responses or news on the two resolutions the UA sent to the President last semester. C. Walcott said there hasn’t been a reply on either of those yet so he will contact the President’s office again to find out.

J. Blair introduced himself and said he is the newest employee representative to the UA. He explained he was formerly a faculty representative to the UA, and looks forward to his new role representing employees.

K. Laden then introduced Emily Cusick as the newest undergraduate representative to the UA.

VII. Adjournment

C. Walcott adjourned the meeting at 5:52 p.m.