The Student Assembly unanimously passed three resolutions in a March 7 meeting.
One resolution established a survey to remove the 18-credit limit for students in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and another requested data on class repeating to guide student transcript reforms. A final resolution proposed a survey for students to share concerns about access to gender-neutral restrooms.
Resolution 61 addresses the challenges ILR students face regarding their 18-credit limit, especially regarding completing Cornell Law School’s 3+3 Program, which provides students the opportunity to receive both their bachelor’s and Juris Doctor degrees in just six years.
“ILR students planning to apply to Cornell Law School’s 3+3 program are disadvantaged by the 18-credit limit, as it requires students to take a full load of 18 credits in all six of their undergraduate semesters, leaving no margin for scheduling errors or other life circumstances,” the resolution states.
The 3+3 Program requires ILR students to have completed up to 108 credits by the end of their junior year, effectively requiring ILR students to consistently take exactly 18 credits each semester to remain eligible for the program.
Claire Ting ’25, S.A. executive vice president, expressed how she has felt disadvantaged by ILR credit limits.
“I have personally been affected by this 18-credit limit and [it] has also disadvantaged me for the 3+3 applications,” Ting said.
Different colleges hold varying semester credit limits. For example, the College of Human Ecology restricts students to 18 credits per semester without petitioning, while the College of Engineering maintains a 20-credit limit and the College of Arts and Sciences holds a 22-credit limit.
The resolution calls for the establishment of a survey to be included within the Spring 2024 S.A. election for ILR students, allowing for students to be heard while increasing turnout in the elections.
“The goal here is to see whether or not ILR students approve this credit limit, what their thoughts on it are and then how we can begin that conversation with the entire ILR administration,” said Suraj Parikh ’24, vice-president of external affairs and minority student liaison at-large.
The S.A. also unanimously passed Resolution 62 which requests course statistics data from the different colleges at Cornell to see how many students are retaking classes that they have previously been enrolled in.
The resolution acknowledges that when a course is repeated, both of the grades are included in a transcript, having a potentially dramatic effect on students’ major and cumulative GPAs. Although both of the attempts in a given class will count towards a student’s GPA, only the latest grade will fulfill Cornell’s graduation requirements, the resolution states.
The resolution formally requests for each college to disclose how many students have been retaking the same classes to see if this phenomenon is a real issue for students.
In a statement to The Sun, Niles Hite ’26, college of agriculture and life sciences representative, wrote that this resolution is just the first step to hopefully create another resolution to call for the removal of students’ grades from repeated courses in the cumulative GPA.
“I want to continue to help students thrive in an equitable environment that gives them the best chance to succeed,” Hite said. “We as an academic institution should do what’s best to prevent any roadblocks that stand in the way of academic growth.”
The S.A. also unanimously passed Resolution 60 calling for a survey of the problems students face regarding access to on-campus gender-neutral restrooms.
The resolution details prior S.A. resolutions dealing with the issue of student access to gender-neutral restrooms from 2011 and 2018, highlighting how this has been a longstanding problem.
The resolution further expands upon the harms that students may face due to not having access to gender-neutral restrooms.
“The precedent set by our predecessors demonstrates the history of need from the transgender and gender-nonconforming students on campus feeling unsatisfied, unheard and unfulfilled by the University’s lack of inclusive bathroom spaces,” the resolution reads.
The resolution calls for the S.A. to send out a two-week, four-question survey to all students on their “experiences of bathroom accessibility on campus.” The survey sent to students will be anonymous to ensure the protection of students’ identities to “allow for free and open response and discourse,” according to the resolution.
Karys Everett ’25, LGBTQIA+ liaison at-large, reflected on why this resolution was brought forward as well as the need to survey students in an interview with The Sun.
“Over the years, the University has made a significant effort in trying to create gender-neutral spaces for individuals on campus, but unfortunately, our buildings are pretty old,” Everett said. “[Caleb Goillandeau ’26 committee member of CALS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and programming chair for Haven, the LGBTQ student union] came to me and said that he wanted to put something out where we can get a consensus from the student body to understand how they feel so we can have very concrete numbers and then take forward to the proper external committees.”
The resolution calls for the University to “take immediate action” after the survey is conducted to create gender-neutral restrooms “on campus, either through the repurposing of existing restrooms on campus or the construction of new restrooms, which should be inclusively designed and usable by as many people as reasonably possible.”
Goillandeau echoed in a statement to The Sun that the resolution is significant in ensuring the University’s inclusivity.
“Cornell deserves to be a welcoming place for all individuals,” Goillandeau wrote in a statement to The Sun. “This resolution seeks out responses on how we can improve our restrooms so everyone can feel more comfortable.”