Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Meeting

Monday, January 27, 2025

• Term:
  2024-2025
• Assembly/Committee: Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
• Date & Time:
  Mon, Jan 27, 2025 - 5:00pm
  to
  6:30pm
• Location:
  401 Physical Sciences Building/Zoom
• Agenda:
• Meeting Packet:
• Audio Recording:
  GPSA-20250127.MP3 (62.04 MB)
• Minutes:

  I. Call to Order
  a. O. Karim called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m.
  i. Members Present: A. Basquiat, N. Brennan, C. Chappel, J. Chobirko, C. Douglas, A. Garcia-Ortiz, I. Gatimi, A. George, D. Ghimire, S. Hampi, M. James, A. Kapoor, O. Karim, A. Koyyada, A. LaGressa, A. Lando, Z. Liu, Z. Lynch, S. Matan, C. Meffert, T. Nguyen, K. Patel, A. Puder, S. Raimondi, H. Xiao, I. Yaya, Y. Wu
  ii. Members Absent: D.A. Browne, S.K. Karaikal, S. Sepp, C. Wang
  iii. Also Present: K. Boor, M. El-Walid, M. Heeney, I. Kashyap, A. Vinson, J. Withers
  II. Approval of the December 2nd Meeting Minutes
  a. N. Brennan moved to amend the minutes to state that there are three GPSA representatives to the Big Red Barn Planning Committee, not two. The motion passed by unanimous consent.
  b. N. Brennan moved to approve the minutes. The motion passed by unanimous consent.
  III. Reports of Officers and Committee Updates
  a. Executive Committee
  i. N. Brennan updated the GPSA on the recent Ivy+ Summit and stated that the Executive Committee hopes to see more business happening in other committees, with less in the Executive Committee.
  ii. O. Karim gave updates on Interim President Kolitkoff’s responses to GPSA Resolution 4, concerning the CCEA Expressive Activity Policy Draft, and Resolution 5, on the University’s disciplinary actions towards Sriram Parasurama. O. Karim then fielded questions on the responses.
  b. Operations and Staffing
  i. Z. Lynch stated that the committee wants to revise the GPSA’s bylaws to remove long, redundant sections and to update outdated sections.
  ii. Z. Lynch also stated that the committee wants to promote member engagement and attendance.
  c. Appropriations
  i. None.
  d. Communications
  i. A. Garcia-Ortiz stated that the communique will include CampusGroups links to events like the Gala.
  e. Finance
  i. A. Koyyada announced funding for newly-founded clubs and some movement between funding tiers for existing clubs.
  f. Student Advocacy
  i. S. Hampi stated that the committee will present a response to the revised Expressive Activity Policy draft and encouraged interested members to attend committee meetings.
  g. Diversity and International Students
  i. A. Kapoor stated that DISC plans to release a survey in collaboration with the Office of Global Learning. She also stated that the team is getting in touch with Cornell Dining.
  h. Programming
  i. A. LaGressa announced updates to Gala planning.
  i. Faculty Teaching, Advising, and Mentorship Award
  i. J. Chobirko stated that award nominations are out.
  j. Graduate School
  i. Dean Boor stated that the Graduate School is moving into the final stages of hiring for two positions in career and professional development. She thanked the graduate and professional community for its input.
  IV. Legislation
  a. Resolution 6: Response to the December 18th, 2024 CCEA Final Expressive Activity Policy Recommendations (Sponsors: N. Brennan, M. El-Walid, E. Scales, C. Meffert, S. Hampi)
  i. Statement Regarding the Final Expressive Activity Policy Recommendations: the resolution’s sponsors criticized the lack of changes to the policy, focusing on the term “disruptive activity,” the definition of special settings, masking, etc.
  ii. In the questioning period, the sponsors took questions from members on hate speech, masking, and more. Also, members pointed out a couple of typos to be fixed by clerical adjustment.
  iii. During the discussion period, members discussed the resolution’s merits, potential effects on the mental health of students, and concerns with the sponsors’ recommendations.
  iv. M. James moved to the previous question. Without objections, the GPSA moved on to a roll call vote.
  v. Resolution 6 passed by a vote of 21-0-6.
  V. New Business
  a. O. Karim announced that the GPSA plans to roll out more presentations from committees during future meetings.
  VI. Open Forum
  a. A. George stated that she recently attended a meeting of the Coalition on Mental Health and that the group is interested in conducting a focus group with the GPSA. She then encouraged interested members to reach out.
  b. M. El-Walid voiced support for international and marginalized students in light of recent executive orders and stated that it is important for the GPSA to advocate for those students.
  c. N. Brennan stated that he is interested in increasing, with the other assemblies, the authority of the assemblies to oversee long-term Cornell policy changes, especially when concerning student life.
  i. A. LaGressa welcomed GPSA support for such a resolution from the University Assembly.
  d. S. Raimondi asked about the extent to which federal law affects Cornell, given that Cornell has “public” colleges.
  i. Dean Boor stated that Cornell is an entirely private institution “with a public mission”.
  The meeting was adjourned at 6:14 p.m.
  Respectfully Submitted,
  Anthony Wang
  Clerk of the Assembly

  GPSA-Minutes-Jan27.pdf (164.95 KB)