Last night at their weekly meeting, the Student Assembly (S.A.) heard a presentation on Into the Streets, debated diverting money from Slope Fest to Slope Day and passed a resolution regarding e-mail aliases.
Asking for the S.A.’s involvement in Into the Streets as student leaders, Jackie Janesk ’03 presented information on the upcoming event.
“We’ve tried to return to thoughtful community service. … We want students to be introduced to the community and then make a long-term commitment to it,” she said.
Into the Streets is a program of the Cornell Public Service Center and will be taking place today and tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“I want to encourage our campus leaders to take part in Into the Streets. [Janesk]’s commitment to public service is a great example for the Cornell community,” said S.A. President Noah Doyle ’03.
Today’s events focus on children, and tomorrow’s focus on activities ranging from visiting seniors and children to doing garden work.
Meanwhile, in the continuing debate over the logistics of Slope Day, the S.A. attempted to pass resolutions that would allow funding to be transferred from Slope Fest to Slope Day.
“Right now, Slope Fest is not being planned as usual. … In an attempt to focus entertainment on the Slope, … the money could be used to pay for the bands coming to the Slope,” said Stephen Blake ’05, undesignated representative and president of the Class of 2005.
In order to use the funding allotted to Slope Fest for the bands performing on the Slope, both the Slope Fest Steering Charter and the Slope Fest byline funding contract had to be amended, which was the purpose of the resolutions.
Several members raised objections over this transfer of funding, specifically out of concern for students who choose not to drink on Slope Day.
“There is no place for people to go who don’t want to be around people drinking,” said Jackie Koppell ’05.
“I really do not like the idea that Slope Fest wasn’t planned this year. … Whether you want to drink or not, you should have the choice,” agreed Vice President of Finance Erica Kagan ’05.
Another objection to the passage of these resolutions concerned the S.A.’s unresolved negotiations with the administration over the catering of Slope Day. If Slope Day is not catered, some S.A. members feel that the money should go toward a Slope Fest on West Campus.
“It’s clear to me that [using Slope Fest money to fund Slope Day bands] gives the administration exactly what they want and takes away our last bargaining chip,” said Josh Bronstein ’05, vice president of internal operations .
Other members doubt that the administration has any intentions to concede to the S.A.
“[President Hunter R. Rawlings III]’s charge has been non-negotiable for 10 months now; it’s not going to change because of a weakly worded Student Assembly resolution. It might, but I’d be astounded,” said Josh Roth ’03, College of Arts and Sciences representative, referring to the resolution passed last week conceding the fencing-off of Slope Day while opposing catering.
Although failing to pass these resolutions, the S.A. did pass one endorsing Cornell Information Technology’s “attempt to allow members of the Cornell community to choose their own e-mail aliases.”
This attempt stems from the problems encountered with using someone’s network ID as his or her e-mail address.
“If someone mistakes one letter or number, the e-mail goes to the wrong person [and] some people have obscene initials,” said College of Engineering Representative Erik Gilje ’04.
The way e-mail aliases would be chosen has not been decided yet, but under the plan, students would keep their network IDs for other purposes, such as registration.
“This is in the early stages of development. … We just wanted to see if there is interest in the Cornell community for pursuing this,” he said.
Archived article by Elizabeth Donald