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S.A. Looks to Pres. Skorton to Approve Resolution 12

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Two weeks ago, the Student Assembly passed Resolution 12, which states that the president and executive vice president of the S.A. will be elected by the entire student body. Previously, only S.A. members voted for the top two executive officers. The S.A. is currently awaiting approval for the new resolution from President Skorton.
Article 2, Section 3 of the S.A. charter reads: “Amend­ments dealing with legislative authority belonging to the S.A. and with the membership and amendment procedure are subject to the approval of the President.”

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Famed Evolutionist Lynn Margulis Lectures for Darwin Days

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Prof. Lynn Margulis, geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, is known throughout the scientific community for her work in evolutionary biology. Yesterday, she delivered a lecture entitled “Darwin’s Truths and Symbiogenesis” as part of the Paleontological Research Institute at Cornell’s third annual Darwin Days celebration.
Margulis is well known for her contributions to the endosymbiotic theory, which explains that the organelles of cells are derived from bacteria. However, when she first suggested her ideas to the scientific community, she faced skepticism for many years.

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S.A. Votes ‘Yes’ on Direct Election of President, V.P.

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Cornell is no longer the only Ivy whose president and vice president of the governing student assembly are not elected by the student body.
Yesterday, the Student Assembly passed Resolution 12, which states that the president and executive vice president of the S.A. will be elected by the entire student body in all future elections. The resolution passed with a 15-1-3 vote.
Specifically, the resolution details that two of the eight at-large seats will be set aside as seats for the president and executive vice president. Now that the resolution is part of the S.A.’s charter, the first election it will affect will be in the 2008-2009 school year.

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Resolution Proposes That Student Body Elect S.A. President and V.P.

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Cornell is currently the only Ivy in which the president and vice president of the governing student association are not elected directly by the student body. However, tomorrow this may change after the Student Assembly votes on Resolution 12, which proposes that the entire student body elect the S.A. president and vice president directly.
Currently the president and executive vice president of the S.A. are elected by other assembly members.
The resolution was co-sponsored by Vince Hartman ’08, Arts and Sciences rep., and Director of Elections Mark Coombs ’08, rep. at large.
Hartman said, “Mark Coombs and I have always felt that the president and vice president should be elected by the student body because they directly represent the students.”

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Students Urged to Start Safe Ride Program

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At some point, many Cornell students who have cars face the dilemma of whether to drive after drinking at party. Today, many colleges have volunteer safe ride programs, where students can call and request someone to drive them home if they have been drinking and cannot drive themselves — Cornell however, does not have such a program, nor are there any real plans underway to create one.
One of the reasons that Cornell does not have such a program is that students usually walk around campus instead of drive.
“Usually students walk or take the bus,” said Irene Rodriguez ’11. She added that for the most part, she has not noticed problems with students driving drunk.

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Cost Remains High for New HPV Vaccine

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Ever since Gardasil was approved by the FDA in June 2006, it has been widely advertised by the manufacturers as “the only cervical cancer vaccine.” However, it comes with a steep price tag that might deter some women from getting the vaccine.
Full vaccination requires three shots that are 132 dollars apiece if not covered by health insurance.
Gardasil is designed for women aged nine to 26 and it protects against human papillomavirus strains six, 11, 16 and 18. Strains 6 and 11 cause 90 percent of genital warts, and strains 16 and 18 cause 70 percent of cervical cancers. The series of three shots is given over the course of six months, with the first two shots being two months apart and the last shot coming four months later.

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Prof. Brian Wansink Chosen to Lead Nutrition Center at USDA

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It is not unusual for a Cornell student to have taken part in an experiment conducted by the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. Free food and a stipend are enough to convince most students to give up some of their time for the research, but many are unaware that the lab is well-known for its nationally acclaimed research.
In a sign of the lab’s success and acclaim, Prof. Brian Wansink, nutrition, creator and director of the lab, has been named executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.
Nancy Johner, Agriculture Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services told the Cornell Press Office, “We feel quite fortunate in having Dr. Wansink join our team here at the USDA, and look forward to working with him.”

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CoursEnroll System to Undergo Major Upgrade

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The word “CoursEnroll” brings a groan from most Cornell students, often coupled with unpleasant memories of waking up at 6 a.m. to sit bleary-eyed by their computers. For many, CoursEnroll means several minutes of waiting with crossed fingers to see if they get into classes and often trying to rearrange schedules on the spot.
To help and deal with some of the problems students have found with CoursEnroll, a new system will be implemented for the Fall 2008 pre-enrollment .
The system, PeopleSoft, will have features such as course specific wait lists and “swap,” which would allow a student to drop an old class and add a new one simultaneously.

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Panhel Elects New Executive Board

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On a campus with one of the largest collegiate Greek system in the United States, the Panhellenic Association, the largest women’s association on campus, is the umbrella organization for Cornell’s sororities.
Panhel recently held its annual executive board elections. The current executive board will preside until the end of January, and then the new executive board will take over.
Katie O’Neill ’09 of Alpha Xi Delta will be president of the new board, Sarah Watterson ’09 of Kappa Kappa Gamma will be executive vice president and Rowena Perry ’09 of Alpha Phi will be vice president of communications.

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Law Schools Stay Competitive

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In an interesting conundrum, a survey conducted by Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions of law school admissions officers at 190 law schools across the country revealed that although the number of applicants to law schools has declined in the past few years, admittance is as competitive as ever.
According to Steve Marietti, pre-law programs director for Kaplan, the number of applicants to law schools dropped 4.8 percent two years ago, and 7.4 percent last year. However, last year there were still around 88,000 students who applied for 46,000 seats in the country.