Minutes
University Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, March 17, 2009
4: 30 � 6:00 p.m.
G08 Uris Hall

I. Call to Order

C. Walcott called the meeting to order at 4:35 p.m.

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

II. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There were no late additions to the existing agenda.

III. Childcare Services Committee Discussion — Brenda Marston

C. Walcott said the Faculty Senate had read and approved the resolution discussed at the previous UA meeting.

Brenda Marston, chair of the Childcare Services Committee, began by giving some background on the childcare center and the committee’s history. The committee was formed to oversee the establishment of the center. We were assured Bright Horizons would provide top-notch early childhood education. She noted the center has been open for a year and a half now. The committee worked on rules and policies in the center for a while, but Human Resources (HR) had asked the committee to move on to other childcare issues once the center opened.

She said back in January we received results of a parent satisfaction survey and were shocked and disappointed by the results. The issue of greatest concern is teacher turnover rate, which is alarmingly and unusually high. Additionally, there have been an unusually high number of reports to the state. Bright Horizon’s contract with Cornell is in question so they have developed an action plan to improve things. There is an initiative to form an Ad-Hoc committee that will pool together information from professors with expertise on childcare and have a report by early fall.

M. Hatch said he voted against the resolution at the Faculty Senate because he felt it was not discussed for as long as needed. He added that he felt the faculty should not be looked to as the only ones that can get something done. If the situation is a crisis, the UA could draft a strong emergency resolution that would ask the president to act within a month.

J. Blair said we need to understand if the situation is an actual crisis or if it is a grave problem that can still be fixed. A. O’Donnell said she felt it was the latter. Bright Horizons has made some great strides in the past few months after the terrible survey results. E. Strong confirmed the improvements by explaining he had a conversation with a friend of his who has a child in the center, and she is no longer considering leaving.

M. Hatch said the Childcare Services Committee should move faster than the committee formed by the FS and take stronger actions.

C. Walcott asked if there was anything the UA could do to expedite the process, perhaps by putting more pressure on HR. B. Marston replied more pressure on HR and Bright Horizons could be beneficial. HR could take another survey to gauge the situation again. E. Strong suggested asking HR to set up some improvement goals for Bright Horizon to meet within a certain timeframe.

R. Wayne suggested inviting some people from HR to come to the next UA meeting and explain their standards for what is acceptable and if they will consider breaking the contract if the standards are not met.

C. Walcott said the committee could draft a resolution that requests improvements by June. M. Hatch said he would be happy to pass a resolution that outlines the standards and the consequences if the standards are not met by a certain deadline.

A. Epstein asked about the parent advisory committee at Bright Horizon. B. Marston explained that a lot of concerned parents on that committee have pulled their kids out of the center and left the committee.

E. Loew said more surveys may not be necessary. We can see if things are improving by the number of teachers and parents leaving the center. He suggested asking HR to come to the UA meeting and consider timelines.

J. Blair moved to invite HR to the next meeting. R. Wayne seconded. M. Hatch said he will draft a resolution for the next meeting.

IV. Approval of Minutes from February 24, 2010

The minutes from the February 24th meeting were voted on and approved unanimously.

V. Committee Updates from all UA Committees

E. Strong gave an update on the Childcare Committee, which has 15 active members. He also said the TAC is making progress on the vanpool program. He noted it now has a simplified payment process and easy access. The Big Red Bikes program is going ahead with SA funding and the GPSA may add to it next year. M. Hatch suggested TAC could help match people who live within a 4 to 10 mile radius into carpools/vanpools.

J. Cetta said the CJC was filling the seats on the hearing and review boards. He also noted there were two pending resolutions with the Code of Conduct that are related to active resolutions. He is waiting for the current ones to be resolved before presenting any new ones. K. Laden asked if there is a peer interview or an application to get on the hearing and review boards. J. Cetta said an application is filled out then an interview is conducted.

J. Blair gave an update on the last EA meeting, where the EA heard from Theater Arts representatives on the budget cuts in their department. He said the way the problem was presented was poorly handled in the beginning and is still problematic. C. Walcott suggested issuing a statement to the President to let him know about this situation to prevent similar problems in the future. J. Blair said the sense in the EA is there is not as much transparency as before, and feels there are many important decisions made in closed committees.

R. Wayne said the campus planning committee did not meet due to the lack of an agenda.

VI. Resolution — Support for Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act — J. Cetta and M. Fontana

J. Cetta said this has been endorsed by the President for the past 2 years. It is for non-profit student housing not owned by the university. M. Fontana added this would allow housing facilities to use tax-deductable donations. It is a relatively small niche but it still accounts for 1/3 of the student body in frats and sororities.

C. Walcott asked what this resolution would do and where it would go if the UA passed it. M. Fontana replied the UA passing this resolution would show that a cross section of the Cornell community, not just the President, supports this act.

M. Hatch asked how much of the 1/3 of the student body actually live in frats or sororities. E. Cusick estimated about 3,800 students. E. Strong asked about student agencies. Some of these contain retailing spaces. How would this be divided in the act? M. Fontana said he couldn’t say for sure. E. Cusick asked if co-ops are included in this act. M. Fontana said he believed so.

M. Hatch moved the resolution. W. Ghiorse seconded. By a vote of 12–0−0, the resolution passed unanimously.

VII. Items from the Floor

E. Strong said the GPSA wants to form its own sustainability committee. He said he was not pleased that a sub-committee approved this before it came in front the UA. He would like to know if the UA would be interested in increasing the number of graduate student seats on the UA Sustainability committee from 1 to 3? M. Hatch said the UA sustainability members are flexible and the GPSA could have more representatives there. He also thought the GPSA sustainability committee is an active group and he supports its activities. He said he did not think it would remove any of the UA’s power.

M. Walsh said there will be another sustainability committee assembled by the president soon. He said he feels there are too many groups working on this issue and so the talent is spread out and it is hard to coordinate since some committees’ charges are very specific, some are vague.

E. Strong said at the next GPSA meeting, he will bring up the increase of graduate student seats on the UA sustainability committee as an alternative way for grad students to get involved with the university-wide sustainability issue rather than forming another committee.

A. Brokman asked why the UA charter change referendum was not on the SA election ballot. E. Strong said it will be on the student trustee election ballot. A. Epstein explained this was in order to tag onto a student-wide election, not just an undergraduate student election.

J. Blair said that not everything needs to be part of the UA; resolutions should go through their proper routes, but agreed there needs to be more communication. He asked if the UA will meet with Mary Opperman and Lynette Chappell-Williams from HR. E. Strong said he will invite them to a future meeting.

VIII. Adjournment

R. Wayne moved to adjourn. E. Cusick seconded. E. Strong adjourned the meeting at 6:05 p.m.