Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Meeting

Monday, October 27, 2025

• Term:
  2025-2026
• Assembly/Committee: Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
• Date & Time:
  Mon, Oct 27, 2025 - 5:00pm
  to
  6:30pm
• Location:
  401 Physical Sciences Building/Zoom
• Agenda:

  I. Call to Order
  
  II. Roll Call
  
  III. Approval of the October 6th Meeting Minutes
  
  IV. Reports of Officers and Committee Updates
       a. Executive Committee
       b. Operations and Staffing Committee
       c. Appropriations Committee
       d. Communications Committee
       e. Finance Commission
       f. Student Advocacy Committee
       g. Programming Board
       h. Diversity & International Students Committee (DISC)
       i. Faculty Advising, Teaching, and Mentorship Award Committee (FATMAC)
       j. Special Grants Committee
       k. Graduate School
  
  V. Legislation
       a. Resolution 2: Funding Anabel’s Grocery
            i. Sponsors:
                 1. Nicholas J. Brennan, President
                 2. Siim Sepp, Vice President of Finance
                 3. Anurag Koyyada, Finance Commission Chair
  
  VI. Appointments and Nominations
       a. Call for nominations for Internal Vacancies
            i. Physical Science Representative (one representative)
  
  VII. Presentation I
       a. Presidential Task Force on Institutional Voice
            i. Jens Ohlin, the Allan R. Tessler Dean and Professor of Cornell Law School
  
  VIII. Presentation II
       a. International Graduate and Professional Students (IGPS)
            i. Guglielmo Papiri, IGPS President
  
  IX. New Business
  
  X. Open Forum
  
  XI. Adjournment

  GPSA Agenda_October 27th 2025_.pdf (260.06 KB)
• Meeting Packet:
  GPSAMeetingPacket10272025.pdf (567.89 KB)
• Audio Recording:
• Minutes:

  I. Call to Order
       a. N. Brennan called the meeting to order at 5:04 p.m.
            i. Members Present: I. Alzayer, V. Baruah, A. Basquiat, N. Brennan, A. Cardenas,P. Caruso, C. Chappel, A. Coogan, D. Freeman, E. Gallant, A. Garcia-Ortiz,I. Gatimi, A. George, M. Hassler, M. James, Y. Khaled, C. King, A.Koyyada, Z. Liu, Z. Lynch, C. Meffert, T. Nguyen, M. Ortiz, S. Raimondi,K. Rohrbaugh, S. Sepp, I. Smith, Y. Wu
            ii. Members Absent: B. Candelaria, J. Chobirko
            iii. Also Present: J. Withers, T. Lewis, J. LeMay, I. DiTomassi
  
  II. Approval of the October 6th Meeting Minutes
            a. Z. Lynch motioned to amend Section III.h to correct the committee name from “Faculty Teaching, Advising, and Mentorship Award Committee” to “Faculty Advising, Teaching, and Mentorship Award Committee (FATMAC).” The motion was passed by unanimous consent 
       b. Z. Lynch motioned to adopt the minutes as amended by unanimous consent. Hearing a second and no objections, the minutes were approved 
  
  III. Reports of Officers and Committee Updates
       a. Executive Committee
            i. A. Cardenas thanked GPSA representatives to the Ivy+ Conference, held at Brown. Cornell compared well against peers for its graduate student-specific spaces and strong relationships between students and University leadership. Any members interested in the GPSA WhatsApp should also contact her. N.Brennan noted that Cornell will host the Conference in two years and that planning for that is underway 
       b. Operations and Staffing Committee
            i. Z. Lynch finalized committee placements and members should expect communications from committee chairs. There will also be handoff reviews to keep track of best practices. Also, the Library Committee will meet soon
       c. Appropriations Committee
            i. S. Sepp shared that public funding hearings will take place from November 3-14, with the vast majority of organizations confirmed. Interested memberscan still join Appropriations
       d. Communications Committee
            i. A. Garcia-Ortiz announced a brief delay to the Communique
       e. Finance Commission
            i. None
       f. Student Advocacy Committee
            i. I. Gatimi shared that the committee will meet soon to discuss the three resolutions it is preparing. It will also share news on upcoming town halls dedicated to various issues
       g. Programming Board
            i. P. Caruso asked interested members to join and said that the board is preparing themes
       h. Diversity and International Students Committee
            i. A. George asked interested members to come to an upcoming meeting with a full committee. DISC will host a Fall mixer table and a larger Grateful Gathering event with food in November 
       i. Faculty Advising, Teaching, and Mentorship Award Committee
            i. On behalf of J. Chobirko, N. Brennan announced that the FATMAC nominations survey will go out in an upcoming GPSA Communique
       j. Special Grants Committee
            i. N. Brennan said that interest remains high, with an informational town hall coming soon. The committee also has special grants liasons available to assist with applications. Applications due Friday, November 14th
       k. Graduate School
            i. T. Lewis shared that the Graduate School is considering changes to admissions practices in response to broader funding constraints. The incoming PhD cohort will be smaller, but T. Lewis reiterated that the overall scale of cohorts remains large. There will also be a slight decrease to the number of incoming masters students, though again the total number will remain high. In spite of national decreases to international first-year masters students, Cornell will face only a 2-4% decrease. T. Lewis also spoke on focus areas, like making faculty feedback and mentorship stronger
  
  IV. Legislation
      a. Resolution 2: Funding for Anabel’s Grocery (sponsors: Nicholas J. Brennan,President, Siim Sepp, Vice President of Finance, Anurag Koyyada, FinanceCommission Chair)
      i. As a sponsor, N. Brennan ceded the chair to A. Cardenas
      ii. In an intro speech, N. Brennan re-outlined the terms of Resolution 2,including the proposed GPSA $40k commitment to Anabel’s Grocery’s subsidy fund
      iii. A. Cardenas moved the GPSA on to a 5-minute Q-and-A period. 
          I. Smithmoved to end the Q-and-A period early. The motion passed by unanimous consent, moving the body on to a commenting period
      iv. Comments concerned the source of the funds and relationships betweenResolution 2 and Student Assembly efforts to give money to Anabel’s
      v. In the voting period, Resolution 2 passed, 26-0-0
      vi. A. Cardenas returned the chair to N. Brennan
      vii. In the interest of time, N. Brennan entertained motions to move the two presentations ahead of Appointments and Nominations in the meeting agenda. Hearing a motion and no dissent, Presentations I and II went before Appointments and Nominations
  
  V. Presentation I from Presidential Task Force on Institutional Voice by Jens Ohlin, Allan R.Tessler Dean and Professor of Cornell Law School
      a. J. Ohlin delivered a presentation on institutional voice and the task force’s recommendations (not formal policy). After a months long process of gathering feedback, discussion, and drafting, the recommendations focus on overarching institutional restraint, with the President and Provost as voices of the University and deans speaking for their departments and not for the University 
      b. In Q-and-A, J. Ohlin answered questions on administrators commenting on coursecontent, the availability of hypotheticals, and the scope of the task force’s mission
  
  VI. Presentation II from International Graduate and Professional Students (IGPS) by Guglielmo Papiri, IGPS President 
      a. G. Papiri gave a presentation on the IGPS, an organization founded to host community integration events for international students but open to all. The IGPS seeks more funding from GPSA to reach about $20k per year, largely to host more large events 
      b. IGPS leaders fielded questions from members on alumni engagement, particular events like the Spring Welcome, plans for upcoming events, and potential strategic partnerships with other organizations like DISC or the Office of Global Learning
      c. Z. Lynch motioned to extend the meeting by ten minutes for a new end time of 6:40PM. The motion passed by unanimous consent
  
  VII. Appointments and Nominations
      a. Call for nominations for Internal Vacancies
          i. N. Brennan opened the floor for nominations for Physical Science Representative (one seat). Z. Lynch nominated I. DiTomassi. Hearing no other nominations, N. Brennan closed the floor for nominations
          ii. I. DiTomassi was elected to Physical Science Representative
          iii. A. Coogan motioned to extend the meeting by ten minutes for a new end time of 6:50 PM. The motion passed by unanimous consent
  
  VIII. New Business
          a. None
  
  IX. Open Forum
      a. Z. Lynch spoke of an upcoming meeting and resolution to support libraries in theface of budget cuts. C. King spoke in support and related harms to Vet students
      b. K. Rohrbaugh spoke about potential expansion of emergency grants funding
  
  The meeting was adjourned at 6:47 p.m

  GPSA-Minutes-102725 (2).pdf (203.61 KB)