The Student Assembly’s decision to allow the student body to directly elect its next president and executive vice president was intended to “make the elections process both more open and more democratic,” according to Resolution 12, passed by the S.A. last spring.

At yesterday’s Student Assembly meeting, a major objective was to discuss a potential timeline of fiscal planning for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 byline funding. The S.A. discussed their expectations for each byline-funded group to submit a “preliminary application” due late April, specifying the amount they will be asking for. However, the S.A. stressed that the amount each organization requests in their preliminary application will not be final, and the S.A. will request an official application due early next fall.

Ryan Lavin ’09, president of the S.A., articulated that the purpose of the preliminary application is “to be as fiscally responsible as we can be … while maintaining the quality of student activities for undergraduates.”

The Student Assembly announced yesterday that the S.A. Appropriations Committee unanimously approved on Tuesday the decision to buy a $4,500 package from Zimride, a nation-wide online carpool and rideshare application service founded by a Cornell alumnus. Zimride is not free to the public, but Cornell will have access to its service after buying the package, which includes its Facebook application.

To the Editor:

Re: “S.A. Halts Creation of Student Groups,” News, Jan. 30 & “Taking Pause,” Editorial, Jan. 30

The Student Assembly passed Resolution 21 yesterday by a 12 to 6 margin, calling for a temporary moratorium on the formation of new student groups. It will take effect next Wednesday and terminate on June 1, 2009.

In addition to the moratorium, Resolution 21 also created the Registered Student Organization Auditing Task Force. The task force will examine and create solutions to a number of issues currently associated with the vast number of student groups on campus, as well as issues with the registration and funding processes.

The resolution was sponsored by S.A. President Ryan Lavin ’09, Vice President for Finance Gregory Mezey ’09 and Vice President for Internal Operations Anthony Miller ’10.

A resolution to create University committee to assist transfer students was passed at the Student Assembly meeting held yesterday. The resolution, proposed by Andrew Brokman ’11, Transfer Representative At-Large, and co-sponsored by Nikhil Kumar ’11, S.A. Minority Representative, was for the establishment for an ad-hoc committee, known as The Committee on Transfer Affairs, with the responsibility of maintaining transfer-related activities and legislation,

S.A. president Ryan Lavin ’09 said the resolution was the result of problems within the transfer community that had arisen, particularly since the transfer student center had been demolished in September 2006.

Yesterday the Student Assembly Elections Committee presented its Spring 2009 Election Rules to the S.A., which may revise policy to make candidates for S.A. president and vice president run on a joint presidential ticket.

In February, the S.A. amended its charter to include direct elections for president and vice president, and instructed the elections committee to draft a proposal. Yesterday the committee presented it framework for direct elections, with the addition to combine the presidential and vice presidential tickets. Although all other Ivy League schools have direct presidential elections, only Harvard institutes a joint ticket.

Mike McDermott ’09, director of elections for the S.A., said the proposed joint ticket would “allow for stability on the S.A.”

The Student Association held its weekly meeting yesterday in Willard Straight Hall.

Moran Nachum ’12 used the open microphone portion to bring forward concerns he had with the 10 gigabyte a month computer capacity limit. Nachum, who says he recently received a notification that he had used 95% of his storage capacity for this month, says the rule is not only irksome to many students but counterproductive to the flow of information and education. Nachum contended unlimited download capacities translates to unlimited access to information, something a large intellectual community should be conducive to.

The Student Assembly discussed the Recording Industry Association of America’s accountability policies for universities and student copyright infringement yesterday, during its weekly meeting in The Straight.

The Student Assembly decided to reject Cornell Organization for Labor Action’s appeal for funding as a result of the group’s failure to meet the Student Assembly Finance Committee’s deadlines. Although a veteran organization on Cornell’s campus, focused on seeking economic justice in the labor movement within Ithaca, the United States and around the world, COLA failed to receive funding because they turned in key facets of their paperwork well after their allotted due date.

According to Marlene Ramos, president of Cornell Students against Sweatshops, the club was unaware of what was initially required of them, and they depended upon their funding of $5,275 to pay for their guest speakers.