MINUTES
University Assembly Meeting
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
4:30–6:00 p.m.
316 Day Hall
1. I. Call to Order
- M. Lukasiewicz called the meeting to order at 4:37 p.m.
- Voting Members Present: Kyle Albert, Ramsey Ataya, William Candell, Evan Cortens, William Fry, Philip Goldstein, Howard Howland, Ned La Celle, Melissa Lukasiewicz, Sean Murphy, Randie Wayne
- Voting Members Absent: James Blair, Tanya Grove, Natalie Raps
- Also In Attendance: Amy O’Donnell, Ari T. Epstein, Bridget Schaffner, Alex Bores
2. II. Approval of the minutes from August 30, 2011
- M. Lukasiewicz moved to approve the minutes from August 30, 2011. She then asked if there was any objection to the previous minutes. E. Cortens had some amendments to the previous minutes. He said he would email the changes to the Office of the Assemblies. The amended minutes will be presented at the next UA meeting.
3. III. Call for any Late Additions to the Agenda
- Three issues were added to the existing agenda.
- Ramsey’s update on the Cornell Store Resolution
- Invitation of President Skorton to one of the UA meetings
- Ari Epstein’s communications with the Policy Office, Transportation and the Judicial Administrator’s Office.
4. IV. Committee Updates
- Executive Committee
- M. Lukasiewicz informed the members the executive committee had met and there were still some vacant positions to be filled.
- UA Vacancies
- There are at present, two faculty vacancies and two staff vacancies to be filled.
- Standing Committees Vacancies
- M. Lukasiewicz said the UA Vice-President of Operations, Sean Murphy is emailing the respective constituent assemblies to fill the remaining committee vacancies.
- Vice Chair for Operations appointment of Marilyn Migiel
- The executive committee decided to appoint Marilyn Migiel as the faculty member to the CJC. This is subject to approval from the UA later in the meeting. (During the course of the meeting, there was a motion passed to appointment her.)
- Committee Notice Timelines
- M. Lukasiewicz said the committees should inform the executive committee of any pending resolutions at least a week in advance. This way they could be on the agenda and posted in the Cornell Chronicle.
- Information Requests — Policy Office
- The executive committee, along with Ari Epstein, requested information from the Policy Office. The information conveyed by the Policy Office was given by Ari Epstein later in the meeting.
- Committee Engagement
- M. Lukasiewicz informed the UA the Welfare Committee would review policy changes, the Infrastructure Committee would review transportation changes, and the Codes and Judicial Committee would review changes to the Code of Conduct.
5. V. New Business
- Resolution: Bylaws Exception for Faculty Senate Appointment to the CJC Committee
- M. Lukasiewicz stated the Resolution Bylaws exception for the Faculty Senate appointment of Marilyn Migiel to the CJC Committee. A. Epstein explained the UA needed one more member from faculty, and there were no other candidates. E. Cortens made a motion the UA grant an exception to its bylaws to let Marilyn Migiel serve as the faculty member of the CJC. S. Murphy seconded. Since there was no further discussion, M. Lukasiewicz motioned to vote. The vote was 11–0−0. Therefore, the motion passed.
- E. Cortens suggested the UA keep its bylaws as they were and make exceptions on an “ad hoc” basis, with Professor Migiel to serve as the liaison between the UA and the different committees, to foster active communication. R. Ataya asked if it would be beneficial to put in the bylaws a general exception stating if there were no volunteers, the UA would have a process of appointing a member from another constituency. To this, M. Lukasiewicz responded saying the UA has a provision in the bylaws where the Vice Chair of Operations could appoint a member in the case of a vacancy. Ari Epstein suggested the Office of the Assemblies would be happy to entertain a proposal to change any existing procedures. E. Cortens said he prefer the position exist and remain vacant than for the position cease to exist. M. Lukasiewicz said a vacant position would encourage a faculty senate member to apply. E. Cortens agreed and said given its track record in the past, it was the responsibility of the UA to prove to the faculty the UA (and it’s various committees) are dedicated in their endeavor to undertake decisions and make a voice heard. This would ultimately propel the faculty to take the actions of the UA seriously, in turn leading to an improvement in its position.
- Second Meeting — “as needed”?
- E. Cortens said it was at the discretion of the executive committee to hold a second meeting. If they had no agenda items, then no second meeting. H. Howland said there was a schedule of meetings on the web and inquired if that would apply. Ari Epstein clarified there was a schedule of meetings on the web but it was at the discretion of the executive committee to hold the second meeting if needed. E. Cortens suggested the executive committee inform the UA at least a week in advance, if a second meeting was to be held. R. Wayne asked to extend to two weeks. M. Lukasiewicz said the UA executive committee would inform the assembly a minimum of one week in advance whether a second meeting was to be held. To this, Ramsey Ataya said having meetings twice a month was needed and if there was no significant agenda, they could adjourn early.
- E. Cortens asked for a “call for agenda items” email to go to the members at least a week before the meeting. M. Lukasiewicz agreed. N. LaCelle said he would rather have a scheduled set of meetings than have it fluctuate. R. Ataya reiterated the UA should hold two meetings per month, one meeting was not enough. M. Lucasiewicz said the executive committee would decide on the frequency of the second meeting based on whether they had sufficient agenda items to discuss for that month.
- Committee Issues/ Reports/ Resolutions
- M. Lukasiewicz informed the UA the committee positions were not all filled yet but asked the chairs of the committees if they would like to discuss some of the issues related to committee staffing.
- R. Ataya raised questions about the provisions of staffing of the various committees.
- R. Wayne’s recommendations for members to serve on the Welfare Committee were Linda Croll Howell and Brenda Marston as they were willing to serve on the committee. However, they will have to go through the process of being appointed by the Employee Assembly. E. Cortens seconded R. Wayne’s recommendations.
- P. Goldstein asked about the limits of Committee Staffing and if there needed to be a certain number of people from each constituency. M. Lucasiewicz said there were supposed to be 2 undergrads, 2 grads, 2 faculty members, 2 employees and 3 members of the UA on each committee. One of each of the members of the different constituencies needed to be a voting member.
- P. Goldstein said that since Jon Rau was responsible for staffing the SA committees, he should be informed about which alternatives would be available to choose from. E. Cortens explained how the selections for the various committees were made. He said one of the two should be a member of the SA.
- H. Howland suggested E. Cortens go to the Faculty Senate to appeal for more faculty members to volunteer for the committees. E. Cortens said he would be happy to go to the Faculty Senate and appeal to them to fill the faculty vacancies. There was no objection to this. E. Cortens said given the UA’s past, it needs to be more assertive in getting things done. The UA has considerable authority on university policies, which it needs to demonstrate. This would convince the Faculty Senate about its credibility.
- R. Ataya asked if it would be possible for the committees to start scheduling meetings. To this, M. Lukaciewicz said the executive committee had discussed to try and have all the committees meet before the 27th of September. S. Murphy agreed. R. Ataya had questions in terms of staffing and scheduling meetings.
- LATE ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA
- Ramsey’s Update on the Cornell Store Resolution
- R. Ataya informed the members he had scheduled a meeting with Gary Fisher from the Cornell Store, on September 22 to discuss his resolution and encouraged members to come if they wanted to find out about the proceedings. He said he would also take questions about the meeting over email.
- Invitation of President Skorton to one of the UA meetings
- R. Wayne said President Skorton should come and see how decisions were made in the University Assembly as he had said last year that its decision-making processes were opaque and secretive. R. Ataya asked what kind of questions the UA would ask and entertain if that were to happen. R. Wayne claimed this would be a good opportunity to discuss in an open forum, the workings and the transparency in decision-making processes of the university.
- E. Cortens said President Skorton could see the assemblies provided a great platform for students to voice their opinions and make decisions; it gave students a chance to express their opinions and reach out in a spirit of community bonding. If they could prove to the administration the UA is an effective platform for student’s voices to be heard, it would strengthen the position of the UA, beyond Day Hall and President Skorton. Additionally, it would also make the work of the administration easier as the UA could relieve it of some of its responsibilities by staffing committees that dealt with some important issues.
- H. Howland suggested the UA send an invitation to President Skorton, inviting him to a UA meeting. M. Lukaciewicz said she would send President Skorton an email invitation.
- Regarding better communication between the UA and the other assemblies and with the various constituencies, Ari Epstein suggested the use of the Cornell Chronicle. He said the Chronicle column for the assemblies (an online system which made it possible for the media, Cornell Chronicle, the administration and the student community to access decisions made at the Assembly meetings) was designed for the purpose of the assemblies communicating digitally about the decisions implemented at the meetings.
- E. Cortens commended the Chronicle as a step in the right direction but asked for an increase in the word limit on the Chronicle (more than 50 words per assembly) for communication between the assemblies and their constituencies about the work they did and the decisions implemented. H. Howland also asked for an increased word limit on the Chronicle. Ari Epstein agreed to this.
- Ari’s communications with the Policy Office, the Transportation Office and the Judicial Administrator’s Office.
- Mary Beth Grant
- Gorge safety — Code should prohibit community members from swimming in gorges
- Code should prohibit community members from restricting movement or egress of others
- Title IX issues — should be removed from Code and resolved through policy 6.4 or something similar
- Procedural issues — clarification needed (eg: off-campus jurisdiction of health/safety, jurisdiction of absent students)
- Fake ID — clarification of “fake ID” section in Code: violation for undergrad to possess the ID of a 21-year-old. If there is a legitimate purpose for having said ID, then it would not be a violation.
- Joseph Michael Lalley III
- Parking privileges for refugees — led by David Lieb
- Changes or Accessible Parking — led by David Lieb
- Joshua Adams
- VPs and Deans are the key contacts for information about new policies and policies in development
- UA is invited to seat a representative on the Policy Advisory Group that reviews all draft policies before they are promulgated
Responsible University officials shall consider designating the Assembly, or one of its constituent assemblies, as a stakeholder in each impacts statement, prepared under the terms of University Policy 4.1, Policy on the Formulation and Issuance of University Policies, which involves the interests or concerns the welfare of a substantial segment of the campus community. If the Assembly is not identified as a stakeholder, the impact statement should incorporate a brief explanation for this determination.
- Impact statement: elucidation of what constituents a policy will affect, how units will be affected, and reasoning/pathway for the policy effort — no requirement regarding explanation of why a particular stakeholder is not included on any particular policy
- Cornell University Policy Office Is very small — only manage the process of policies. Do not own, administer, or maintain drafts of policies. Does not know about new policies/updates until they are close to issuance (one, maybe two meetings in advance)
- If UA groups would like to be included as stakeholders, they should nurture relationships with VPs/administrators who make policies at the university
6. VI. Adjourn
- H. Howland moved to adjourn the meeting. N. La Celle seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 5:52 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Shriya Patnaik