Minutes
University Assembly Meeting
Friday, April 30, 2010
3: 30 � 5:00 p.m.
316 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

C. Walcott called the meeting to order at 3:39 p.m.

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

Also In Attendance: P. Beach, A. Epstein, A. O’Donnell, Y. Zhang

III. Approval of Minutes from 3/17/10

The minutes were moved, seconded, voted on and approved unanimously.

IV. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

A. Brokman said there is a new resolution about Nike sweatshops.

V. Resolution — Hearing and Review Board approvals — J. Cetta & K. Laden

K. Laden introduced the resolution. M. Hatch moved to accept the nominations. J. Blair seconded. The UA voted and unanimously passed the resolution.

VI. Resolution — CJC Recommended Changes to Code of Conduct — J. Cetta & K. Laden

K. Laden presented the resolution. M. Hatch made the amendment to change the number of students from 20 to 25 and the total number of members on the hearing and review boards from 50 to 55. J. Blair seconded. The amendment was passed unanimously.

II. Business of the Day — Open Discussion with President Skorton and VP Bruce

C. Walcott asked if there is any recovery in the major gifts to the university. D. Skorton said there are two parts to the gifts: the pledge to give and the fulfillment of the pledges. In bad economic times, we are worried about seeing a divergence between the two. At Cornell, we have seen no divergence. The cash gifts to be put to use in the current year (not to be put into endowment) are actually on the rise. The number of new pledges is way down but we might be turning the corner. Just today, D. Skorton said was working on a gift with an alum here meeting with faculty and students.

R. Wayne asked about the biology curriculum selection process and commented the president’s response took a long time and response that came gave an irrelevant website. D. Skorton said the extra time needed to respond was not for lack of interest, and he could not imagine he would have cited an irrelevant website and is embarrassed if he did. He said he could not comment on this because it is the domain of the Provost and this will be handled appropriately.

L. Lawrence asked about the immigration issue because many international students wish to stay at the university as professionals. D. Skorton said he is a first-generation American so this is especially important to him. He noted that he and presidents from other universities across New York State support the Dream Act, which allows the children of undocumented international visitors to become permanent residents and have access to higher education.

D. Skorton then discussed several things going on in the university. Cornell is in the final stages of admission for the class of 2014, which will be the most racially diverse class ever at Cornell. May 1st is the deposit due date so we will know more details after that. Tuition is still going up, but the rate has decreased significantly from last year. In terms of staff, we are down 7% of the workforce. It will go down a bit more but is coming to an end. Bain recommendations have helped reduce personnel losses. Faculty hiring rate is still below optimal but it is going back to the level we had in the past. We need to return to vigorous faculty hiring rate because it will help stabilize the situation.

M. Hatch asked about the Reimagining Cornell campaign. He said we should not lose some of the particular appeals Cornell has as a rural campus. It would be a shame to reimagine us to a point of trying to compete with urban universities. D. Skorton said he believes there are 3 things that attract students to Cornell. First, is an almost intangible experience. Second, is the complete list of offerings. Third, is the numerous out-of-classroom choices and fun experiences Cornell offers. The Reimagining Cornell campaign will mostly affect the administrative side of the university. It will have minimal impact on student life and financial aid. We are mostly over the hump now and reached a balance between financial aid and tuition.

E. Strong pointed out that the grad students are very attracted by the faculty at the university. D. Skorton said the GCI has to be brought back to life. He noted that post-docs are also important. One area that is striking out is national endowment. It has gone down by $5.6 million. Two-thirds of the support came from NEH and the NEH budget has been cut so much. He is lobbying for the return of NEH grants.

E. Sanders said she wished there was more money for students to do research in the humanities. She also said she is afraid the financial crisis will consolidate more power in the executive branch of the university by giving the provost power to distribute the resources. D. Skorton said he agrees the humanities should have resources for research and there should be shared governance. He emphasized that an appointed committee and an elected committee would probably do the same thing on most issues; because there are no major disagreements.

D. Skorton said in order to allocate the money, someone has to make the decision. E. Sanders said she believes 40 people on a committee is better. D. Skorton said large committees often do not work. Most times decisions are more faculty-centric, coming from a more shared government. Occasionally, there are decisions that need to be made quickly and with executive privilege, like the decision to put fences on the bridges. Eighteen months ago, things were in such dire straits that someone had to act quickly. D. Skorton said he would love to talk more about the new budget model and shared governance in future meetings to make sure everyone is on the same page.

VI. Resolution — CJC Recommended Changes to Code of Conduct — J. Cetta & K. Laden

K. Laden explained more about each point in the resolution. Hazing’s definition needed to be expanded. The statute of limitations for fraud cases will be extended from 60 days to 3 years. A. Epstein explained it is important in fraud cases to have the extra time but for other issues the extra time may not be important.

The start of the terms of office for the Hearing and Review Boards has been changed to June 1 because they might need to convene over the summer. J. Blair asked what is “emergency convening” and who decides if it is an emergency? It was explained the JA’s office will notify there is a need for convening and the boards are short of panel members.

There was a call to question, M. Hatch seconded. The resolution was unanimously approved.

VII. President’s Appointment of the Ombudsman

M. Hatch moved to accept the appointment. It was seconded. The appointment was unanimously approved.

VIII. Appointment of JCC

M. Hatch moved to accept the appointment. It seconded. The appointment of JCC was also unanimously approved.

IX. Resolution — Upholding Cornell’s Code of Conduct

One of the Sponsors, Alex Bores, presented this resolution that was passed by the Student Assembly the day before. He explained two of Nike’s subcontractors in Honduras closed without warning and left 1,700 workers unemployed, without severance pay and health insurance even though deductions were made from the workers’ salary. CLC stipulates the Code of Conduct says Cornell’s contractors are responsible for their subcontractors. He said he feels Cornell should sever its contracts with Nike unless the problems are realigned. A. Brokman seconded the resolution.

J. Blair asked where the facts came from and if there is a time frame for severing ties with Nike. A. Bores said the facts came from the Honduras Labor Ministry and the Labor Workers’ Rights Consortium. Also, the resolution does not include a specific enforcement schedule yet. Nike is denying responsibility since it’s their subcontractors who violated the code.

A. Brokman said the UA has legislative authority over the Cornell Store and Nike has contracts to make Cornell apparel. W. Ghiorse asked what the consequences are for the athletic department if the contracts are terminated. A. Bores said they would need to find another vendor. J. Blair asked if there are any conflicts of interest. A. Bores said there are none known. E. Sanders asked about the independent monitoring organization. Bill Peterson, another sponsor of the resolution, explained it was established in 2003 to increase transparency so Nike would have to disclose where factories were, etc.

E. Strong moved to extend the meeting by 15 minutes. It was seconded by K. Laden. There was no dissent from the members.

The resolution was passed unanimously.

X. Conversation: Envisioned productive role of the UA & Charter Amendments

E. Strong said the student and employee referendum about UA charter changes had the required 20% turnout and a positive outcome. There was an extension to the voting to reach the 20% turnout, but the decision for the extension was made when the executive committee still did not know the voting results. This answered A. Brokman’s question about the ethics of the extension. All wording and publicity regarding the referendum just encouraged voting, no specific response.

A. Epstein said about 10–20 people responded negatively and asked to not receive any more e-mails about the voting. B. Webb-Binder said grad students asked her about the checks and balances regarding the UA. E. Sanders said the UA does not have too much power.

M. Walsh said he had lunch with some of the people who wrote the charter more than 2 decades ago. It is worthwhile to look into the past and see the rationale behind the charter.

C. Walcott said the UA needs to consider where to devote its energy: childcare, transportation, etc. The UA members should think about this over the summer and prioritize.

XI. Adjournment

C. Walcott asked to adjourn the meeting, A. Brokman seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 5:18 p.m.