Zora deRham ’27 Seeks Another Term as Student Assembly President
By Anant Srinivasan
With a year under her belt as Student Assembly president, Zora deRham ’27 aims to apply her institutional knowledge and experience to another term.
“I’ve been honored to serve as Student Assembly President this past year,” deRham said in an interview with The Sun. “There are plenty of projects that have been started and I want to make sure I can see them to fruition.”
Last spring, deRham ran for the seat as a freshman, with a campaign centered around bringing “a fresh outlook on Cornell” to student government and pursuing far-reaching, long-term initiatives. That vision helped her win the support of Cornell’s student body, with a victory of 45.5 percent of qualified votes.
deRham said her biggest success as Student Assembly president has been “improving the Assembly’s engagement with the student body.”
During the fall semester, deRham organized an ice cream social outside of Willard Straight Hall asking students about what they liked and disliked about Cornell. Their feedback helped shape her policy direction.
Under her leadership, the Student Assembly passed a resolution urging the administration to implement meal swipes at Trillium eatery and staffed a liaison position with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee which had never previously been filled.
deRham believes her experience in the role and her “track record of promoting undergraduate needs on campus” make her the strongest candidate in this year’s race.
Having already navigated the complexities of university governance, deRham said she is well prepared to lead the Student Assembly through the upcoming byline funding cycle — a process that allocates over $6 million in student activity fees to clubs and campus initiatives. She warned that the process could be “overwhelming and time-consuming” for those without prior experience.
For deRham, student government requires long-term commitment and patience. “You can propose something everyone agrees on, and it’ll still take five years,” she said. “Patience is the virtue I’m always practicing.”
Looking ahead, deRham predicts that “the state of the world off campus is going to present challenges even on the Student Assembly.” She acknowledged that external events beyond Cornell can stress students and emphasized the importance of advancing campus issues “in the midst of really large global issues and national issues.”
Ameera Aftab ’26 Brings National and State Level Advocacy Experience to Student Assembly Presidential Race
By Anant Srinivasan
With a background that spans years of student advocacy at the local, state and federal level, Ameera Aftab ’26 is running for Student Assembly President with a focus on transparency and equity.
Aftab said her diverse educational background — attending school in Pakistan, community college in New York and now Cornell — shaped her passion for student advocacy. She currently serves as the minority students liaison at-large at the Student Assembly and sits on the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean’s Council.
“Turning funding into action” is a central theme of Aftab’s campaign. In the Student Assembly’s upcoming byline funding cycle, over $6 million in student activity fees will be distributed across clubs and campus initiatives,” Aftab said. “Students have a right to transparency about how that money is being spent.”
At Hudson Valley Community College, Aftab was elected as a representative for the SUNY Student Assembly, where she helped pass federal legislation expanding Pell Grant access and disability support. She asserted the value of “her experience of lobbying to Albany and Washington D.C.” to Cornell’s student government.
“I was representing 64 campuses, over 1.3 million students, and their voices,” Aftab said. “It was really gratifying to represent their voice on a federal level and state level … that felt like a huge success.”
At Cornell, she helped organize the Trailblazer Conference — a mentoring and community event for first-gen and low-income students — and co-wrote Resolution 37, which seeks to protect immigrant and undocumented students on campus.
If elected, Aftab plans to increase funding transparency through annual audit checks of student activities funding and better support identity-based organizations.
“I want to make students feel seen and part of the process,” she said.
She emphasized the importance of students working with administrators “on the same level” instead of “looking up to them.”
Aftab also hopes to bring affordable dining options to more areas of campus, expand “culturally competent” mental health services on campus and improve street lighting in the areas students frequent beyond North Campus.
Echoing widespread student frustration, Aftab criticized the timeline of on-campus construction projects. “Clock tower construction should go bye-bye before graduation … with the amount of resources Cornell has, there’s no need for construction to go on for two years,” she said.
“I’m not running for the title,” Aftab said. “I want to show that student government can actually work, and that it can work well.”
Eddy Pang ’28 Chooses to Embrace Transparency Through Listening to the Needs of His Peers on Campus
By Hope Thomas
After having the opportunity to create a strong community of friends and become involved in campus life, Eddy Pang ’28 wishes to provide this same experience to all of the Cornell community. He plans to do this through the simple act of listening.
“The main thing I am running on is being able to listen,” Pang said. “Coming from a first-year perspective, it’s easy as an upper-classman to think you know everything … I am the first to admit that I don’t know everything. I’m the last person to know the intricacies of Student Assembly, the mechanisms of resolutions, etc., but I’m here to listen and learn.”
Pang envisions an interconnected Cornell community that is fostered through Student Assembly sponsored events.
According to Pang, the first step to fostering community in Cornell is through increasing transparency and making students more aware of the role of the Student Assembly.
Pang envisioned increasing the visibility of the Assembly on campus through tabling or having events with free food.
Pang explained he wanted to “create spaces where people who don’t necessarily have friends to eat with [can] have community,” increasing how interconnected the student-body will feel.
Pang believes that another layer of transparency includes effectively communicating with clubs and organizations so they understand their funding status, allowing for comfortable communication between these organizations and the Student Assembly.
“For me, I want to be that person that is just learning and constantly absorbing information, being respectful of everyone, and having this accountability, and ultimately compassion. That’s what I think I'll bring to the table.”
Christian Flournoy ’27 Acts as an Advocate for Student Voices and the Cornell Community
By Hope Thomas
As Student Assembly undergraduate representative at-large and the vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, Christian Flournoy ‘27 is ready to use his experience as president of the Student Assembly.
According to Flournoy’s candidate biography, he wants to focus on “providing the student body with Transparency, Engagement, and Advocacy.”
Flournoy plans to implement transparency by being clearer about upcoming resolutions and providing more information on how the Assembly runs. He hopes that through greater transparency, the student body will have more confidence that the Assembly is adequately representing them, according to his published statement.
He hopes to have student organizations and campus officials become more involved so that the Assembly accurately reflects the Cornell student body and help the assembly to create a strong Cornell community.
Flournoy wrote, “I will continue to be an advocate for you and your desires.”
“The future of the Student Assembly —and Cornell as a whole —requires a new framework that prioritizes maximizing student voice and community representation,” wrote Flournoy.
Flournoy did not respond to an interview or video request from The Sun.
