Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Meeting

Monday, December 1, 2025

• Term:
  2025-2026
• Assembly/Committee: Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
• Date & Time:
  Mon, Dec 1, 2025 - 5:00pm
  to
  6:30pm
• Location:
  401 Physical Sciences Building/Zoom
• Agenda:

  I. Call to Order

  II. Roll Call

  III. 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 (SAC)

  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

  IV. Presentation I

  a. Student Code of Conduct and Procedures Review Committee

  i. Zora Patterson deRham, President of the Cornell University Student Assembly

  ii. Jenn Michael, Senior Director Student Services

  V. Appointments and Nominations

  a. Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty (AFPSF)

  b. Committee on Music (CoM)

  c. Educational Policy Committee (EPC)

  d. Generative AI in Education Working Group

  VI. New Business

  VII. Open Forum

  VIII. Adjournment

  Prepared by AnaFernanda Cardenas, GPSA Executive Vice President

  GPSA Agenda December 1 2025.pdf (326.19 KB)
• Meeting Packet:
• Audio Recording:
• Minutes:

  I. Call to Order
       a. N. Brennan called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m.
            i. Members Present: J. Alzayer, A. Basquiat, N. Brennan, A. Cardenas, P. Caruso, C. Chappel, A. Coogan, D. Freeman, E.R. Gallant, I. Gatimi, A. George, M. Hassler, M. James, Y. Khaled, C. King, A. Koyyada, Z. Liu, Z. Lynch, C. Meffert, T. Nguyen, S. Raimondi, S. Sepp, I. Smith, Y. Wu
            ii. Members Absent: V. Baruah, B. Candelaria, J. Chobirko, I. Di Tomassi, A. Garcia-Ortiz, M. Ortiz, K. Rohrbaugh
            iii. Also Present: T.A. Lewis, J. Withers

  
  II. Reports of Officers and Committee Updates
       a. Executive Committee
            i. A. Cardenas reminded the GPSA that this special meeting would be on the Student Code of Conduct Review and that the last meeting of the semester would be on December 8
       b. Operations and Staffing
            i. Z. Lynch shared that there would be appointments and nominations later in the meeting
       c. Appropriations
            i. None
       d. Communications
            i. None
       e. Finance
            i. None
       f. Student Advocacy
            i. I. Gatimi shared that the committee would participate a lot in the Code of Conduct Review discussion to come
       g. Programming
            i. None
       h. Diversity and International Students
            i. None
       i. Faculty Advising, Teaching, and Mentorship Award
            i. None
       j. Special Grants 
            i. None 
       k. Graduate School 
            i. Nothing major, but T.A. Lewis reported that application volume continues to be strong, and the admissions cycle is started 
  
  III. Presentations 
       a. Presentation I by Student Code of Conduct and Procedures Review Committee (Zora Patterson deRham, President of the Cornell University Student Assembly; Jenn Michael, Senior Director Student Services) 
            i. The presenters began by describing the committee and its purpose in sending representatives to the meeting. The committee is advisory and focused on gathering community feedback on the Student Code of Conduct and related procedures. The speakers also clarified the scope of today’s presentation (listening and note-taking rather than personnel complaints or debate). The speakers played an eleven-minute-long video explaining the code and procedures and different resolution pathways 
            ii. GPSA members provided feedback. Several members pointed to temporary suspensions as a biggest concern, with severe punitive measures for students (loss of funding, insurance, academic progress, immigration status) and members asked for greater thresholds. Members also asked for more transparent decision-making on punishments and appeals, with explanations of timeline, progress, and key steps. Members also mentioned overly long timelines, “paused” investigations, vague criteria, important decisions being made by one person, and an inconsistent review cycle (five-year gap between what is meant to be an annual code review) 
       iii. The speakers thanked the GPSA and stated that this was the first listening session with more to come. They will consolidate feedback to represent graduate and professional voices later on, and gave codeandprocedures@cornell.edu as a address for further feedback 
  
  IV. Appointments and Nominations 
       a. Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty (AFPSF) 
            i. N. Brennan opened the floor for nominations 
            ii. A. Cardenas and Y. Wu both self-nominated to be AFPSF representative iii. Seeing no other nominations, Z. Lynch motioned to close the floor for nominations. Without objection, N. Brennan closed the floor
            iv. Both candidates gave a two-minute speech and took limited questions from
  members
            v. An online vote resulted in a tie
            vi. C. King motioned to extend the meeting by two minutes, for a new end time of 6:32 p.m. The motion passed by unanimous consent
            vii. D. Freeman motioned to enter moderated debate without candidates present. The motion passed by unanimous consent
            viii. Z. Lynch motioned to extend the meeting by ten minutes, for a new end time of 6:42 p.m. The motion passed by unanimous consent
            ix. In a second vote, Y. Wu was elected as GPSA representative to the Committee on AFPSF
       b. Committee on Music (CoM)
       c. Educational Policy Committee (EPC)
       d. Generative AI in Education Working Group

  
  V. New Business
       a. None

  
  VI. Open Forum
       a. None

  
  The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m.

  GPSA-Minutes-120125.pdf (194.03 KB)