On Nov. 13, the Student Assembly swore in the winners of its Fall 2025 election. Arman Fard ’29, Ellie Porter ’29, Jai Anand ’29 and Myshay Causey ’29 are the new first-year student representatives, and Zachary Yabut ’28 was elected as the transfer representative. The Sun spoke to the five new representatives to learn more about their priorities for the Assembly.
FIRST-YEAR STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES:
Ellie Porter
Porter, who is studying in government and China & Asia-Pacific studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she was inspired to run by her family’s close connection to civil service as part of a seventh-generation military family, as well as her own experience doing volunteer work.
“I volunteered with the Red Cross. I volunteered at Walter Reed. I just did a lot of … volunteer work, and I figured, at Cornell, a great way to make an impact would be through student government,” Porter said.
As a representative, Porter strives to elevate the voices of students and increase the transparency of the Assembly’s work to students. She aims to do this through establishing an automatic newsletter for the Assembly, including laundry and printing as part of CAMP and housing fees and advocating for inclusion and community groups.
Now that she has been elected, better inform the student body about the Student Assembly’s work .
“I'm most excited [to make] students feel like their voices are heard. I know that's a major problem with the assembly right now, [since] many students feel like they aren't represented in the assembly, or things [the assembly does] come as a surprise. So I really want to focus on fostering [more] avenues of communication,” Porter said.
When asked about her advice to anyone running for a student representative position in the future, Porter encouraged direct engagement with students.
“Just get out there and talk to your constituency because what people want in the Assembly is people that are willing to talk to and represent them, and that are transparent and communicative,” Porter said. “The best way to run is just get out there and talk to people.”
Jai Anand
Anand, studying biological engineering in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, was inspired to run after his first few weeks at Cornell when he learned how smaller issues, such as the cleanliness of facilities and the response times of the administration or student representatives could shape students’ experiences.
“I noticed how much pride people have in where they live and how frustrated … people can get when things slip,” Anand said in an interview with The Sun. “Seeing that made me want to be the person who listens and acts.”
With some encouragement from his friends, Anand launched his campaign, with a strong focus on transparency regarding housing logistics and better dormitory maintenance, improving mental health spaces and facilities on campus and upgrading dining options at Cornell.
Anand shared his takeaways from the campaign process, emphasizing a forward-thinking attitude.
“It taught me to focus on the next conversation I was going to have with someone new, instead of overthinking what I couldn't already control,” Anand said.
Since being elected, he will focus on equitable dorm assignment and maintenance to alleviate issues such as communal bathroom logistics so that students receive maintenance on a more regular basis. Further, Anand plans to send out notices on the work he has done as a student representative to improve transparency with the people he represents.
“For me, [being a good student representative] means being someone that students can speak up to and that students can trust to speak up for them and act when it matters,” Anand said. “[It means] working on problems that aren't most important to you but are important to someone else.”
Myshay Causey
Causey, studying public policy in the Brooks School of Public Policy, was motivated to run by her interest in education policy and advocacy — an interest backed by the experience of previously representing thousands of students in the Compton Unified School District.
“I figured I'd come to Cornell and continue on that road of fixing school systems and trying to make it better for students,” Causey said in an interview with The Sun.
Her campaign focused on transparency issues with the University. Specifically, she aims to improve transparency about mental health resources and encourage students to use them. She would also like to have more social events, limit fees in Cornell facilities such as laundry and expand mentorship programs to partner upperclassmen with new students.
“One of the first [proposals] that I'm excited to write is putting our laundry fees and cost on our financial aid package,” Causey said, emphasizing the need for students to know about these fees before they matriculate so that low income students are properly informed and can accommodate the expenses.
“I'd rather people pay for it upfront, and that seems to be the common consensus,” Causey said.
During her campaign, Causey sought to learn the needs of the first-year students by distributing a survey to find shared issues.
“I was pushing out my freshman survey and giving students a chance to tell me what their problems were [so] I could read over [them] and bring it with me into my campaign and the policies that I [now] hope to create,” Causey said.
While she is not exactly sure what she hopes to do beyond college, she is determined to work in education, whether teaching, lobbying or holding office.
Arman Fard
Fard, studying applied economics and management in the Dyson School of Business, was unable to meet with The Sun for an interview. According to his Student Assembly biography and Linkedin profile, in high school, Arman served as his high school class president, led a global nonprofit called STEM and Medical Exploration, led school board initiatives and was involved in research.
As a first-year student representative, Fard hopes to advocate for improved student amenities and communication by expanding water stations, dining hall hours and menu options and growing mentorship programs between upperclassmen and new students.
“I hope to make Cornell a place where all students can thrive and where every voice has a path to impact,” Arman wrote in his biography.
TRANSFER STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE:
Zachary Yabut
Yabut, studying hotel administration in the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, was inspired to run for Student Assembly because of the Hotel Schools’ motto, “Life is Service.” He had previously done volunteer and advocacy work raising money for underprivileged youth, running a food pantry in high school and representing 3,000 students as a member of the Hudson County Board of Education.
Yabut’s campaign focused on improving package and delivery logistics on campus. As an elected representative, he plans to help advocate for transfer students within Cornell by supporting prioritization of housing and providing them with spaces to form bonds with fellow transfer students.
Yabut believes that the housing arrangement for transfer students “isolates the transfer community itself, and it can be very harmful.”
Yabut also wants to help maintain the transparency of the Student Assembly to the general student body.
“A lot of people don't realize that the Student Assembly oversees a lot of the [student] organizations [and] funding special project funding,” Yabut said.
Rajorshi Chatterjee is a member of the Class of 2029 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He is a contributor for the News department and can be reached at rc978@cornell.edu.
