The Undergraduate Student Assembly discussed creating a representative position for students with disabilities, although no official decision was made at the S.A. meeting Thursday afternoon.
“This position is a beginning channel to allow students with disabilities to advocate for themselves to the administration through the Student Assembly,” said John Dominguez ’20, a cosponsor of the resolution, which “aims to provide better representation for Cornellians with disabilities in university governance by establishing an organizational liaison to the Student Assembly.”
Nineteen percent of Americans live with disabilities, according to the United States census data of 2007, which also “ties into the students attending Cornell,” Dominguez said.
The resolution indicated that the position would be titled “Students with Disabilities Representative” and the representative would be chosen from the Cornell Union for Disability Awareness.
According to Jaewon Sim ’21, another cosponsor of the proposal, the creation of this position will allow disabled students to be represented in “discussions … with the administration.”
At the same meeting, the S.A. also passed a resolution calling for the creation of a Student Health Advisory Committee, which aims to establish a committee “in conjunction with the GPSA and Cornell Health to improve quality of care and collaboration at Cornell Health.”
The resolution comes in response to an increased focus on student feedback and input on improving the quality of care from Cornell Health, and a committee would “serve the purpose of being a venue for students to work collaboratively with staff members at Cornell Health,” according to the resolution.
“It will most likely be the Director of Administrative Services, a representative from medical, and a representative from CAPS,” Anderson said, “along with ad-hoc members that the standing members can add depending on the discussion.”
The S.A. plans to have the committee fully established this semester, according to the resolution.