Office of the Assemblies

Dear Ekarina,

Thank you for transmitting GPSA Resolution #9, "In Support of EA R8: Institutional Commitment to all LGBTQ+ Members of the Cornell Community.” I appreciate the dedication of the GPSA in advocating for members of the LGBTQ+ community at Cornell.

As noted in the resolution, members of the administration and Interim Director of the LGBT Resource Center (LGBTRC) Aiden Cropsey met with the sponsors of this resolution in March to clarify how the LGBTRC will engage with LGBTQ+ community members. Dean of Students Vijay Pendakur and Director of Inclusion and Workforce Diversity in Human Resources Angela Winfield subsequently composed a letter that spelled out the arrangements and provided reasoning behind the decision to shift supporting LGBTQ+ faculty and staff to a focused unit within the Division of Human Resources. That letter has recently been sent to the LGBTRC, to the representatives from the assemblies who attended the March meeting, to the LGBTQ Colleague Network Group, and was also included in my response to Employee Assembly Resolution 8 on this topic. I encourage each of the concerned shared governance bodies and the LGBTRC to distribute the letter among their constituents. I do not believe that a university-wide communication would provide an additional benefit.

We want to ensure Cornell has an appropriate support infrastructure that meets the needs of our LGBTQ+ students, faculty and staff. As the needs of these populations are often very different, I remain convinced that staff and faculty are best served by the dedicated and professional members of Cornell’s Human Resources office, while students are more effectively supported by the Dean of Students office via the LGBTRC. Senior Associate Dean for Diversity and Equity Marla Love and Vijay Pendakur have signified their willingness to meet with the LGBTRC, Human Resources, and other relevant staff members once per semester to check in and assess whether our programs for LGBTQ+ Cornellians are effectively meeting the needs of the LGBTQ+ community under this arrangement. The university also sponsors an LGBTQ+ Colleague Network Group for faculty and staff that can serve as a valuable resource for its participants. It is my opinion that creating a new council on LGBTQ+ affairs would duplicate these efforts.

Finally, with respect to lines 126-128 in the resolution, I want to note that there are no plans in place to further expand the LGBTRC. The university has committed to employing two full-time staff members in the LGTBRC, a positive step that represented a significant financial commitment. This staffing model is also on par with the other identity and cultural resource centers within the Office of the Dean of Students. As is the case with all services at the university, the center will be evaluated and its programs reconsidered on a regular basis to ensure the LGBTRC is meeting the current needs at Cornell.

The university remains fully committed to supporting the LGBTRC both today and in the future as the needs of the community evolve.

Sincerely,

Martha E. Pollack

President, Cornell University

300 Day Hall

Ithaca, NY 14853

(607) 255-5201

www.cornell.edu