To the Editor:
I stand in solidarity with the response of Travis Cabbell ’18. In response to the defamatory accusations presented against me and the Elections Committee throughout the course of this past election cycle, I would like to share that the committee and I have held ourselves to the highest standards of ethics and equality. The Elections Committee strives to uphold the process that the Student Assembly has adopted to ensure the fairness and integrity of all elections for all positions. If the individuals in question, community members or Student Assembly members do not like the rules that have been placed before us, I encourage any and all of them to speak up and be active in the process to revise them. We were given a set of rules to interpret and some cases on which we had to decide, and throughout this entire process, as public servants of the system of shared governance at Cornell with nothing to gain, we have faced harsh public scrutiny that has made some kind individuals have to stress about one more unnecessary thing.
I am disappointed in the ways in which certain individuals have behaved during this past election cycle. I, and the rest of Student Assembly Elections Committee acted with integrity and due diligence in working to uphold the process and fairness of the Student Assembly Elections. Furthermore, we ensured that we, as a body, did not place the importance of the race of any one position over another; we treated each and every case fairly and independently. We only considered the Student Assembly Election Rules and the facts presented at the time during the deliberation of each case. I, and the other members of both the Lending Library and the Elections Committee recused ourselves from the Lending Library vote to endorse Dale Barbaria.
It is unfortunate that the Student Assembly Elections Committee has lost a servant, and has had to face such harsh scrutiny, but I stand firmly behind the decisions of the Elections Committee, and furthermore, the process.
Terrill Malone ’21
voting member, Elections Committee