By ryan March 6, 2001
Elections begin today for the 2000-2001 Student Assembly, University Assembly and Student-elected Trustee. Representatives serve for one year, and the Student-elected Trustee’s tenure is two years. This year, 37 candidates are running for 19 seats on the Student Assembly. There are four seats available for undesignated-at-large, two seats for minority liaison-at-large, one seat for international liaison-at-large, one seat for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/questioning, two seats for Agriculture and Life Sciences, one seat for Architecture, Art and Planning, three seats for Arts and Sciences, two seats for Engineering, one seat for Human Ecology, one seat for Hotel Administration and one seat for Industrial and Labor Relations. Five candidates are running for Student-elected Trustee. The four candidates for University Assembly will all receive seats, as there are four available. A hot topic for this year’s election is the Student Activity Fee (SAF), which will be set and allocated by next year’s Assembly. And now, without further ado, the candidates for Student Assembly … Undesignated-At-Large (7 candidates, 4 seats) Uzo Asonye ’02 served as S.A. president this past year, and “tried to move us past the disorder and eternal bickering that was ever-present last year … I really pride myself on moving the S.A. forward as a body.” He added, “Leading the S.A. is like herding a bunch of cats — you can’t tell them what to do,” but you can lead them, he said. If elected to the S.A. next year, Asonye would like to create and oversee a smoother SAF process and improve committees of the S.A. by getting more students involved and encouraging non-S.A. members to chair the committees. He is also involved in the Big Red Marching Band and Pep Band and the Cornell Democrats. Ray Beninato ’03 served on the S.A. Appropriations Committee last year. “I have extensive knowledge of budgets and the SAF process which will be key during this funding year,” Beninato said. He is an economics and history major. Beninato advocates Dining Dollars options for Sheldon Court and Cascadilla Hall residents, as well as stabilizing the SAF. Noah Doyle ’03 transferred to Cornell this year from Binghamton University, where he was a member of the Judicial Board and gained exposure to some of the same issues Cornell faces, he said. He is a member of several by-line funded groups, such as the Chamber Orchestra, and realizes why funding for campus organizations is important. He used his first semester here as a “listening semester” and also got involved in flag football and the Cornell Entrepreneur Organization. His platform is based on policy and making sure money gets to the groups quickly and efficiently. He wants to protect Greek autonomy, citing the decline of Dartmouth’s Greek system, and plans to “get as many people involved as possible,” in making S.A. decisions. Ryan M. Horn ’02 is a government major in the College of Arts and Sciences. As President of the Literary Society of Cornell and a member of various other campus organizations, he wants to work with a diverse group of students toward a common goal and to reach out to more students, showing that the S.A. can be effective. His two areas of focus are dining, where he wants to allow higher caps on meal equivalencies and allow equivalencies for all cash-op meals; and quality of life issues, such as shoveled walkways and higher-pressure shower heads. “I think it’s inhumane to expect people to be able to wash out shampoo with such little water pressure,” Horn said. Umair Khan ’03 has learned “the importance of compromise and flexibility in serving the needs of a diverse audience” through his work as Social Chair of his fraternity. He has worked with the Provost for Minority Affairs, as well as the International Programming Board, and wants to listen to the concerns and comments of his constituents and voice their views to the Assembly, he said. His goals include increasing funding for student groups, establishing a meal plan to accommodate students who are pledging the Greek system, and working to improve the University’s environmental policy. Tom Mendez ’03 served on the S.A. this year as minority liaison and Vice President of Internal Operations, where he staffed committees and kept them up to date. He says his most important accomplishment was building a relationship with the administration. “That’s priceless” he said, because it is much easier for him to approach the administration now. As a member of the appropriations committee, he “knows the ins and outs” of the process. Mendez is a strong advocate of giving student groups the funding they need and listening to their requests. “They know how much they need, and not us,” he said. Lindsay Patross ’02 has gained listening skills, leadership ability and experience in being well-prepared as Vice President of Programming for the Cornell Entrepreneur Organization, volunteering with OnSite and being Student Council President in high school. She plans to work on funding for student groups and cohesion among students through places where they can interact, such as the gym and coffeehouses. “There’s no reason the gym should close at 8 p.m. on a Saturday night if people want to be there,” she said. She’d also like the S.A. to make themselves known to the students and to work efficiently. “Communication definitely needs to be stepped up,” Patross said. Agriculture and Life Sciences (6 candidates, 2 seats) Cecilia Dobbs ’02 experienced the other side of SAF allocation last year as co-chair of the Orientation Steering Committee, when she waited beside other groups for three hours, only to have her group’s hearing postponed until the following week. “The Student Assembly needs to respect the fact that students invest large amounts of their time and energy making these organizations successful. They should not have to beg the S.A. for funding and defend their organizations’ worth,” she said. Dobbs wants the S.A. to collect statements from by-line funded organizations, so the S.A. can deal with controversial allocations at a separate meeting. The Assembly should also seek input “from the student body at large” when deciding funding priorities. She would also like Ag students to have a double-major option, and thinks distribution requirements should not count toward outside credit. Ari Tivon Epstein ’04 worked on Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign and has attained “general group-working skills.” He advocates extending the way endowed credits can be used, saying the current system prevents students in the statutory colleges from getting a liberal arts education. He would like for students in CALS to have the option to double major in an endowed college, and wishes to reform the pre-enrollment system for Ag school freshmen. Epstein also wants Cornell to comply with the Kyoto Now program by reducing energy waste. Looking back on last semester’s bias-related incidents, Epstein says it is not only important to denounce such acts, but that it is “equally important to stress the positive aspects of diversity” through programming and publicity of cultural events. Adam Fox ’04 ran for the New Student Representative At-large seat last semester. Through his experience, he said was able to look at what’s wrong with Cornell. Specifically, for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, he aims to work on academic and environmental issues. He would like to use CALS as a “vehicle” for biodegradable packaging in the dining halls, as he worked with the S.A. Dining Committee briefly on the issue last semester. Fox also would like to work out “some type of conversion system” so that students in the statutory schools will not have to use up their endowed credits to fill distribution requirements, and he advocat