Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate membership announced


Dear Ithaca Campus Community,

Earlier in the semester, I asked the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations to engage with the Ithaca campus community in a clear and transparent manner to identify students, faculty and staff willing to serve on the Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate.

After a series of meetings and review of nearly 200 nominations, the Institute has recommended 36 individuals to serve on the task force. I thank the Scheinman Institute for their exceptional work and am pleased to accept their recommendations, which I believe represent a diverse group of voices and perspectives. In addition, I thank the many members of the campus community who were engaged in the feedback and nomination process set forth by the Scheinman Institute. The three subcommittees, their charges and membership are listed below.

The task force will solicit input from the campus community during the course of its work and will produce an intermediate report by spring break, with a final report of findings and recommendations by May 1, 2018. The intention is to provide recommendations that can be accomplished immediately while also developing processes that will enable us to institutionalize changes to the campus climate for the long term. The work of the task force will complement ongoing initiatives to advance diversity and inclusion as well as several new commitments that the university made this fall to enhance our efforts in this critical area.

While I fully expect that the task force will identify and make strong recommendations to address the issues preventing us from being the inclusive community we wish to be, changing our campus culture will take time, effort and commitment from all members of our community.

Campus Experience
The Campus Experience subcommittee will review and make recommendations to address:

  1. What, and how well, are we currently doing to promote an inclusive campus experience for our diverse community, both inside and outside the classroom?
  2. How can we improve the effectiveness of the resources and systems currently in place?
  3. What new resources and changes should be considered as we strive to achieve real inclusion in our campus experience?
  4. Provide a recommendation for an ongoing mechanism that will address diversity and inclusion issues.

Membership:

  • Co-Chair: Lisa Nishii, associate professor of human resource studies and incoming vice provost for undergraduate education
  • Reem Abdalla '20, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Nicole Agaronnik '19, College of Human Ecology
  • Brandon Cohen '18, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Breanne Kisselstein, graduate student, plant pathology and plant-microbe biology
  • Eugene Law, graduate student, soil and crop sciences
  • Dustin Liu '19, School of Industrial and Labor Relations
  • Verónica Martínez-Matsuda, assistant professor, School of Industrial and Labor Relations
  • Peggy Odom-Reed, M.S. '97, Ph.D. '07, lecturer, School of Hotel Administration, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
  • Alicia O'Neal '18, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
  • Neethu Putta '19, Law School
  • Jolene Rickard, associate professor, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Erin Sember-Chase, assistant director, Student Disability Services, Student and Campus Life
  • Trudy Vande Berg, head coach of women's volleyball, Athletics and Physical Education
  • Reginald White '80, senior management consultant, Organizational Development and Talent Management, Division of Human Resources

Regulation of Speech and Harassment
The Regulation of Speech and Harassment subcommittee will review and make recommendations to address:

  1. Has the university appropriately promulgated principles and regulations that address free speech on campus as well as prohibit discrimination and harassment?
  2. Are the Campus Code of Conduct or other policies the right vehicle(s) for establishing such regulations and principles?
  3. Are we sanctioning discrimination, harassment and related misconduct appropriately? Are enforcement mechanisms fair and clear?
  4. What legal mechanisms are available to the university to prevent, address and counter situations in which protected expression on campus is harmful to those vulnerable to its effects?

Membership:

  • Co-Chair: Madelyn Wessel, university counsel and secretary of the corporation
  • Florencia Ardon, adviser, Office of Internal Transfer and Concurrent Degrees
  • Weston Barker '21, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Michael Dorf, the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law, Law School
  • Mariela Núñez Santos, graduate student, molecular biology and genetics
  • Eduardo Peñalver '94, the Allan R. Tessler Dean and professor of law, Law School
  • Karen Smeda '18, Law School
  • Sruthi Srinivasan '21, College of Engineering
  • Ari Weiss, executive director, Cornell Hillel, Cornell United Religious Work

Campus Response
The Campus Response subcommittee will review and make recommendations to address:

  1. How should the university respond to any future incidents that infringe upon our core principles, whether they are local or broader in scope?
  2. Do we have the right mechanisms of support, communication and response in place or could these improve?
  3. What can individuals and campus groups do to counter unacceptable actions and act as positive forces that counter harmful incidents?
  4. Provide a recommendation on how to measure long-term success.

Membership:

  • Co-Chair: David Wooten, professor of marketing in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and associate dean and chief diversity officer of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
  • Lee Adler, lecturer, School of Industrial and Labor Relations
  • Stefan Antonsson '19, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Gary Cremeens, project associate, Transportation and Mail Services
  • Delmar Fears '19, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
  • Adi Grabiner Keinan, program director, Intergroup Dialogue Project
  • Jada Hamilton, physician, Cornell Health
  • Carolyn Headlam, administrative assistant, Law School
  • Stephen Kim, graduate student, English literature
  • Jenna Kyle '19, Law School
  • Samuel Lagasse, graduate student, English
  • Jamila Michener, assistant professor, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Vanessa Navarro Rodriguez '19, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Shivani Parikh '19, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
  • Kyonne Rowe '18, School of Industrial and Labor Relations

For additional information and updates, please visit president.cornell.edu/task-force/.

Sincerely,

Martha E. Pollack
President