Amidst the general upheaval created by the economy, a significant environmental initiative on campus and Reimagining Cornell, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly held their first meeting of the semester last night in the Straight with approximately 35 in attendance. In addition to the internal campus initiatives, the GPSA also began to discuss the Ivy Summit, an annual summit for all graduate-level assembly members on Ivy League campuses, which Cornell is hosting this year.

At its last meeting for this academic year, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly held elections last night for the assembly’s 2009-2010 executive council.

Darrick Evenson grad was elected the president of GPSA. Erica Gutierrez grad was elected executive vice president, and Brian M. Forster grad was elected the vice president of operations.

“The main issue I want to focus on is that the GPSA needs to be more representative of the graduate student body,” Evenson said. “While all 96 — including three professional schools — have a seat available in the non-voting body of the GPSA, only 42 percent are actually filled.”

As for Gutierrez, making sure Cornell is environmentally sustainable is her most pressing concern.

The GPSA met in the Big Red Barn yesterday for their first meeting of the semester to discuss the agenda for the upcoming year.

The Graduate and Professional Student Association met yesterday for the first meeting of the year in the Big Red Barn. In attendance were University President David Skorton and Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy ’73.

“Any non-academic policy issue that impacts the graduate student body is within our interests,” said Mario Guerrero grad. “This is a meeting where we talk about some of the advocacy issues we’re looking into.”

Dean of University Faculty Charles Walcott Ph.D ’59 raised concerns over academic integrity at Cornell at the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly’s Council of Representatives yesterday afternoon in Clark Hall.